Monday, July 17, 2006

Eleanor Clift: BUSTED

When watching The McLaughlin Group this weekend, I was floored by a comment made by Eleanor Clift.

It was extreme even for a Bush-hating lib like her.

I immediately put the quote up on my Wall of Shame (scroll down the sidebar to view), but I think it deserves at least a mention in a post.

NewsBusters has the video and audio clips, as well as the transcript.

While discussing the G8 Summit, referring to Vladimir Putin, Clift said:

"He's the only one of those leaders who goes in there with a commanding popularity among his own people, because he is perceived to be an effective dictator."

That's weird enough, but then she went completely over the edge and said:

"What we have in this country is a dictator who's ineffective."

Clift wasn't kidding or using hyperbole. She said it in all seriousness.

Chrystia Freeland didn't let Clift get away with that. Clift was shamed and forced to backpedal, calling Bush an "authoritarian President," as if that's a more accurate statement.

I think Clift realized that she went too far. Perhaps she momentarily forgot that she wasn't chatting among a friendly circle of her like-minded extremist cohorts in the insular lib media bubble.

Clift says many stupid things, but this remark was so over the top that it should be noted and it should diminish what little credibility she has left as a journalist.


Does she know what a dictator is? Does Clift think that Bush has done away with the three branches of American government? Does she think there are no longer checks and balances?
"What we have in this country is a dictator who's ineffective."

I'd like Clift to compile a list of the world's effective and ineffective dictators -- a nice neat record, like Santa's list of good and bad boys and girls.

That would make for an interesting read.




No comments: