Topic: Media Research Center
We've detailed how the Media Research Center has tried to equivocate and distract attention from Don Imus' "nappy-headed ho" remark. Brent Bozell keeps it up in an April 20 column, calling Imus' insult nothing worse than a "botched joke" and attacking CBS executives for being "craven" in firing him.
Speaking of craven, it's worth looking at the MRC's reaction to another recent "botched joke" -- John Kerry's misstatement prior to the 2006 midterm elections that students who don't perform well "get stuck in Iraq." The MRC wasn't in such a forgiving mood then; a Nov. 6, 2006, CyberAlert called the remark an "insult of troops" and looked down on NBC's Matt Lauer for daring to suggest that Kerry never "meant to question the intelligence of U.S. troops in Iraq."
A Dec. 28, 2006, Times Watch item by Clay Waters attacked the New York Times for "giv[ing] Kerry the benefit of the doubt in assuming he didn't actually mean what came out of his mouth."
A Jan. 25 Times Watch item by Waters (repeated in a Jan. 26 CyberAlert) criticized the Times again for "repeating a pro-Kerry explanation for his 'botched joke.'" In noting the Times' statement that "Republicans quickly turned" the remark "into a defining caricature of him," Waters added: "One could also quibble with the word "caricature," as if Kerry's remark somehow didn't reflect what he really thought about the war."
An Oct. 31, 2006, NewsBusters post by Noel Sheppard didn't give Kerry the same benefit of the doubt he gave Imus. (If you'll recall, Sheppard found Imus' firing, but not Imus' insult, "deplorable.") Sheppard declared that Kerry made an "extrordinarily demeaning statement" and attacked CNN for telling Kerry's side of the story: "Fascinating. So, Kerry insults America’s troops on Monday, and on Tuesday, CNN is advancing the notion that this all a strategy for Kerry to go 'head to head with the president again.' Isn't that special?" A Nov. 1, 2006, post by Sheppard compared Kerry's remark to Trent Lott's remark about Strom Thurmond, declaring that "America’s media are much more receptive and tolerant of Democrat jokes and/or mistatements than those from Republicans."
And Sheppard is much more receptive and tolerant of and/or mistatements by Imus than by Democrats. Why is that?
