How Jane Fonda and the BBC put you in danger: that is the subject of this evening's "Talking Points Memo."
As you may know, I was in Europe last week. And whenever the discussion turned to Iraq, it was not about deposing Saddam's brutal regime, or about allowing millions of Iraqis to vote for the first time in decades, or about the terrorist Zarqawi (search) beheading civilians and blowing up women and children.
No, on the telly, Iraq was all about Abu Ghraib (search) and Guantanamo Bay (search). Thank you, left-wing media.
The anti-Bush press and the people who aid them have greatly succeed in turning the war on terror into a "bash America" fest. You have to hand it to those people. They are effective.
But that was before the London terror attack. Will things change now? Don't count on it. That's because media like the BBC won't stop at spin. While in Ireland, I watched in amazement as a BBC interviewer named Gavin Essler baited an incredibly dim Jane Fonda into putting the worst possible face on her country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GAVIN ESSLER, BBC: But is it like the Vietnam days in the sense that — is it even worse than the Vietnam days in some ways— because people around the world don't think that the Bush administration is telling the truth about why they went to war and what the consequences of war in Iraq might be?
JANE FONDA, ACTRESS: I don't know about better or worse than Vietnam. Externally, I'm not sure it's worse than Vietnam. We were being so severely criticized around the world because of the war in Vietnam, which is one of the reasons that it ended, because of world opinion.
But I think that the situation inside the United States right now is worse than then. It's really scary.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
What is really scary is that millions of people all over the world believe what Miss Fonda is saying. They believe the USA is going through another Vietnam-like upheaval, which is far from the truth.
Most Americans are solidly behind the War on Terror. And even the division on Iraq is based on performance, rather than ideology.
The big problem with all this America bashing is that it makes it almost impossible for the USA to get a fair hearing on terror strategy. We've been stigmatized. Anything we do to hunt down the true evil-doers is either suspect or rejected out of hand.
Once again, "Talking Points" urges all Americans to understand that people like Jane Fonda (search) do damage to the country, even though the woman probably doesn't realize it. The only way to defeat worldwide terrorism is for the world to unite against it and overcome differences in support of that greater good.
Maybe the London killings will help in that effort. What say you, BBC? And that's "The Memo."
The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day
I know many of you feel that being a news reporter is a pretty soft job, but it isn't true, especially if you're Geraldo, who went down to cover Hurricane Dennis, and down is the right word.
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GERALDO RIVERA, HOST, "AT LARGE": We have plenty of this. Oh, gee. Oh, my goodness. I'll be right back after this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: Messed up the hair. Did you see that?! Messed up the hair. Ridiculous? Well, Geraldo got some new pants out of it. So...
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