If young Gore [Al Gore III] is found guilty of this third-on-his-record alleged lawbreaking, the driving at 100 miles an hour while using pot and transporting a small drug store must beg the question: Did Scooter Libby do anything as potentially dangerous to his fellow citizens as Al Gore the Third?
Given that Libby helped to out an undercover CIA agent who headed a counterproliferation operation focused on Iraq, and in doing so exposed a CIA front company, thus endangering the covers and possibly the lives of an untold number of CIA operatives, we suggest that the answer is yes.
Kinsolving Can't Get His Facts Straight Topic: The Daily Les
According to a July 4 WorldNetDaily article, Les Kinsolving referenced "convicted perjurer Bill Clinton" during the July 3 White House press conference.
As we explained the last time Kinsolving made this error, Clinton was never convicted of perjury; in the civil (not criminal) case Paula Jones filed against Clinton, the judge ruled that Clinton gave "intentionally false" testimony about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky -- which is not perjury.
Kinsolving can't get simple facts right. How does he get to be a White House correspondent? Oh, yeah -- there are nostandards.
In his Feb. 27 WorldNetDaily column, Les Kinsolving wrote of Bill Clinton: "He was indicted, tried and found guilty of both perjury and obstruction of justice."
Wrong. To refresh Kinsolving's memory: Clinton was never indicted, let alone tried and found guilty, on criminal charges of perjury or obstruction of justice. The House of Representatives voted to impeach Clinton (the political equivalent of an indictment) on charges of providing "perjurious, false and misleading testimony" -- not the same thing as criminal perjury -- and obstruction of justice. A political trial was conducted in the Senate, with a two-thirds majority needed to convict.
Kinsolving overstates the case by claiming that Clinton "came within a handful of votes of being removed from office by the U.S. Senate." In fact, the "perjurious, false and misleading testimony" count received only 45 of the 67 votes required for conviction; the obstruction of justice charges received 50 of 67.
Kinsolving then huffed, "For these crimes he was merely fined, rather than imprisoned." Again, Clinton was never convicted of a "crime" in a criminal court; in the civil case Paula Jones filed against Clinton, the judge ruled that Clinton gave "intentionally false" testimony about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky -- again, not perjury.
Consider this a reminder that his goofyquestions at the White House aren't the only thing to "fear" from Kinsolving; he mangles facts, too.
WND Crops Snow's Ridicule of Kinsolving Topic: The Daily Les
A Feb. 7 WorldNetDaily article on Les Kinsolving's daily questions to White House press secretary Tony Snow sticks to the straight answers Snow gave, ignoring Snow's ridicule of Kinsolving's questions.
Kinsolving recited WND's cause celebre, the case of the convicted Border Patrol agents, asking if the procedures President Bush claims he needs to follow in considering the pardon of the agents that conservatives have been agitating for were "followed when President Jerry Ford pardoned President Nixon even before he was tried; when President Carter pardoned all those draft resisters?" WND omitted the first part of Snow's response, as detailed in the official White House transcript: "You know, that is one of the most preposterous comparisons I've ever heard."
And on the question of whether "the president believe[s] that Texas Republican Poe, another Republican congressman, and hundreds of thousands of petition signers on this issue are all wrong" in their criticism of the case, WND printed only Snow's response that "I think what the president has done is spend more money on border security than any president in American history." In fact, there was a contentious exchange between Snow and Kinsolving. From the transcript:
SNOW: You have just conflated two entirely different stories, Les, and I want to congratulate you for it. I think what the President has done is spend more money on border security than any President in American history. And there have been more --
KINSOLVING: But the wall -- why isn't the wall in the budget? The wall was cut out.
SNOW: It's a fence, and it is in the budget. Sorry.
KINSOLVING: The report is that it's not.
SNOW: No, the report is about how much can be afforded, and that is a fiscal question.
Shouldn't WND readers be alerted to how little respect Snow apparently has for Kinsolving -- or Kinsolving's silly grandstanding?
Kinsolving Hides Source of HUD Chief's Quote Topic: The Daily Les
According to a Jan. 5 WorldNetDaily article, Les Kinsolving asked the following question at a Jan. 4 White House briefing:
There's a news report quoting the Secretary of HUD, [Alphonso] Jackson, as saying that 'Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and Julian Bond have created an industry. If we don't become victims, they have no income. White folks have nothing to do with the fact that seven out of every 10 black children born in this country are born out of wedlock and we have more black males in prison than we do in college.' And my question: Does the president disagree with this statement by his Secretary of HUD?
But neither Kinsolving nor WND disclose the source of that "news report": a fluff piece by Ronald Kessler at WND's rival, NewsMax. While, unlike NewsMax, WND reported Jackson's claim that he refused to award a government contract to a winning bidder who didn't like Bush, the article dismissed it as merely one of the "blunt expressions of his opinions" rather than the admission of cronyism WND purports to be opposed to when it purports a desire to expose "wrongdoing, corruption and abuse of power."
Kinsolving Sucks Up to Tony Snow Topic: The Daily Les
An Oct. 31 WorldNetDaily column by Les Kinsolving reports that he scored a brief sit-down interview with White House press secretary Tony Snow. None of Kinsolving's notorious badgering questions here -- he's in softball mode. Some of Kinsolving's queries:
"Am I correct in my assumption that you are aware that daily newspapers – almost all of which are editorially Democrat-inclined – are almost all suffering serious losses, in both circulation and ad revenue?"
"Am I correct in my assumption that you are aware that the Old Big Media TV networks, ABC, CBS and NBC – which once had more than 90 percent of all TV viewers in the nation – are now reduced to around 30 percent – which led NBC to those massive job cuts?"
"Am I correct in my assumption that it is not only your basic fairness as a person that keeps you from ever refusing to let me ask two questions – but because I represent the New Big Media – on both the Internet newssite WorldNetDaily.com and its 6 million visitors, as well as on talk radio?"
"Would I be wrong in my impression that the president, despite your past criticism of him, wanted you in this office enough to provide you the understanding and full support so essential to your being able to function with integrity?"
That's why Kinsolving gets the big bucks -- and a sit-down with Tony Snow.
KINSOLVING: Since Hezbollah is a terrorist organization that has killed hundreds of Americans, why is it that the president wants Israel to cut short its war to destroy its infrastructure, since that is what the president pledged to do to all international terrorist organizations after September the 11th?
SNOW: Counselor, the question is argumentative, presumptuous and makes assumptions not in evidence.
Kinsolving then added in his WND article: "WND told Snow the query was a 'network question,' meaning it had come from WorldNetDaily headquarters." Um, so? Is there some level of question from Kinsolving that Snow must answer seriously no matter what? Do other media outlets have this same level of access?
On the other hand, Snow clearly knows what he's dealingwith in Kinsolving.
The Daily Les, 4/17 Topic: The Daily Les
Les Kinsolving once again brings his creepy obsession with non-heterosexual sex into the White House briefing room. Today's question:
KINSOLVING: Since this morning's annual White House Easter Egg Roll welcomed everybody, including those wearing rainbow leis promoting their sexual orientation, will next year's event include all sexual orientations, including those wearing arm bands proclaiming that pain is pleasure, or not?
The Daily Les, 3/6 Topic: The Daily Les
Judging by his March 7 WorldNetDaily column, Les Kinsolving seems pretty proud of asking this question at a White House press briefing yesterday:
KINSOLVING: Did the president watch any of the Academy Awards for prostitution and sodomy last night?
Scott McClellan actually issued an appropriate answer to Kinsolving's line of questioning: "I'm not going to dignify any more with a response."
Which prompted Kinsolving to grumble in his column: "With that, I was cut off from any more questions about what so many millions of Americans had seen the previous evening – whose pro-prostitution and pro-sodomy awards simply must have been known to Scott."
Actually, we're not sure "so many millions of Americans" care about Kinsolving's obsession with gay sex.
The Daily Les, 2/13 Topic: The Daily Les
Les Kinsolving was on a roll:
KINSOLVING: WorldNetDaily has just reported that Navy Chaplain James Klingenschmitt's statement that under the new guidelines the Air Force will continue to punish and exclude chaplains who pray in Jesus's name, while Rabbi Arnold Oretznikov (phonetic) points out, "the bottom line has not changed; clergy may not invoke the name of Jesus Christ while offering prayers at official government ceremonies."
MR. McCLELLAN: Les, I don't know about those specific --
KINSOLVING: And my question -- my question: Why is a devout Christian like the Commander-in-Chief continuing to allow this censorship of Jesus?
The Daily Les, 2/9 Topic: The Daily Les
Les Kinsolving was in full Gannon mode today:
KINSOLVING: The New York Post notes the following – and this is a quote – "Jimmy Carter's disgraceful performance at Coretta Scott King's funeral marks him as the most shameless," while The New York Times Page 1 report mentioned "the overt political jibes." And my question: Did any of the King sons or daughters thank the president for his tribute to their mother and his extraordinary control, despite the performances of Jimmy Carter and Joe Lowery?
[...]
The New York Post also noted, "Carter couldn't quite bring himself to note that the wiretappings of Dr. King was conducted under Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, and was originally ordered by Attorney General Robert Kennedy, all Democrats." And my question: Can the president deny that Jimmy Carter was, in this statement, revenging himself on Teddy Kennedy for running against Carter's re-election [in 1980]?
The Daily Les, 1/18 Topic: The Daily Les
It involved two things near and dear to Les Kinsolving's heart -- gays and the White House -- so you know he just couldn't resist asking about it in the White House press briefing:
KINSOLVING: There's been extensive reporting of a homosexual group, Soulforce, calling on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual and trans-gender Americans to be the first in line at this year's White House Easter Egg Roll on April 17th, as a way to show the nation their so-called families. And my question: Will the President take any measures to prevent these activists from using this non-political event as a way to push their agenda on the rest of us?
The Daily Les, Back at Last Topic: The Daily Les
We've been remiss on detailing The Daily Les lately -- he's been pretty erratic of late, and we discovered that the Holden's Obsession With the Gaggle section of the First Draft blog features does its own Daily Les. But Romenesko catches Les Kinsolving doing his best Jeff Gannon -- acting as a respite from questions about the reported Bush-authorized spying on U.S. residents by serving up a softball about conservative talk-show hosts at the White House.
Romenesko also links to an interesting Baltimore City Paper profile of Kinsolving.
The Daily Les, 10/25 Topic: The Daily Les
Not that exciting, really. A question about reports that the Army was assisting the Border Patrol in New Mexico (ask the Northern Command about it, McClellan says) and another question about whether President Bush favors birth control that McClellan again refused to answer (which didn't make it into his WorldNetDaily article).
The Daily Les, 10/24 Topic: The Daily Les
Les Kinsolving is at his best (good or bad) when he's asking about his odd little obsessions. He managed to merge two of them in today's first question (the second question was about immigration, which offers nothing new) -- his recent fear that Harriet Miers favors banning abortions in the case of rape and incest, and his occasional attempts to get an answer as to whether President Bush opposes the legalization of birth control -- and made a good question out of it:
KINSOLVING: The Washington Post reports that after Senator Specter told reporters that nominee Harriet Miers had endorsed Griswold [v. Connecticut, the 1965 Supreme Court case that legalized contraception], she telephoned him to say that she had not endorsed Griswold," said WND. "And my question: Since the case of Griswold versus Connecticut resulted in the court overturning Connecticut's law against selling or even counseling about contraceptives, isn't her opposition to this as serious in the president's mind as her expressed disagreement with what is his support of abortion in cases of rape and incest?
