An open letter to Pat Kessler
Pat Kessler is the local Twin Cities WCCO television news political reporter (now also with his own radio talk show on 100.3 FM). In my book, Pat is at the top of the heap with Star Tribune reporter Kevin Duchschere as the straightest shooter in the Twin Cities media. (Both of them, incidentally, are among the nicest folks in the business as well.) But I thought that Pat's "Reality Check" finding the first of the Progress for America advertisements deficient on a number of grounds was not up to his usual standards. Former Pima County (Arizona) Attorney Steve Neely performed his own "reality check" on Pat's "Reality Check" and wrote him as follows:
Dear Mr. Kessler:To the extent that Mr. Neely's message attributes malicious motives or willful deception to Pat, it is off the mark. It is otherwise a useful counterpoint to Pat's "Reality Check."
I found my way to your "reality check" of the Midwestern Heroes' ads. You have misled your viewers and you should be ashamed of yourself.
You completely misrepresented the finding of the MRC study by taking the 61% figure out of context. In fact as you are no doubt aware the media coverage of the war in Iraq is overwhelmingly negative. In case you didn't bother to read the MRC report, the link is cited below. Also, there is a cite to a blogspot, now retired, with a daily roundup via Google of imbalanced media activity on Iraq that is shocking.
http://chrenkoff.blogspot.com/2005/01/bad-news-from-iraq.html
http://www.mrc.org/SpecialReports/2005/sum/sum101405.asp
By the way, isn't there a difference between talk shows and the news media?
The links below are among those that reference the presence of al Zarqawi, hence al Qaeda, in Iraq before the invasion. Your "subsequently moved in there" statement is a media fabrication at odds with intelligence reports and a mass of evidence documenting the presence of al Qaeda in Iraq prior to the invasion. There is no credible evidence to the contrary!
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=5571
http://www.cpt-mi.org/Ansar%20al-Islam%20Final.pdf
I'm sure you don't need me to point out the other nuances you used to dupe your viewers into believing that the Iraq veterans lied to them, but I wanted you to know that there are folks out here who can see how you operate.
Incidentally, I am a retired, five-term elected Democrat who believes the invasion of Iraq was probably a mistake. And, I think the news media puts a negative spin on the war and dishonors our troops. and their families.
Steve Neely
Ashland, Oregon
