CNN's King Offer Mixed Bag On Iraq, Calls It A 'Fact Check'

CNN sent correspondent John King to Iraq to offer the network's viewers some fifth-anniversary perspective on the developments of the Iraq War. Having just made a visit, King focused attention on presidential hopeful John McCain, who has based his candidacy almost entirely upon the success of the "Surge" and the positive outcomes it has yielded. Ultimately, King held that Iraq was the debate that McCain has to win to gain the presidency:

KING: The biggest obstacle for John McCain is if he loses the debate he's trying to frame, which is he wants to view the Iraq debate from here forward.

If this is a debate about why did George W. Bush go to war, why do the American people think the war is a disaster, how fast can you get the troops home, John McCain will lose that debate. And he knows it.

If he can make it about a debate that, look, Iraq is broken. There's no purpose served looking backwards and having a debate about how he got into the war, but let's look, McCain will argue, at the judgment and the experience and who is best to get out of Iraq and at what pace.

He needs to make it a debate about who do you trust to get out of Iraq and protect the United States' interests in doing so and convince the American people that, even if you oppose the war, even if you think George Bush made a fundamental, galactic mistake coming into Iraq, if the Democrats pull the troops out so fast, this country will collapse into even greater chaos.

All well and good, but debates are underpinned by facts. Facts that persist in the face of how Presidential candidates manipulate perceptions. Facts that are obtainable and judgeable by reporters. And King's segment was specifically introduced by host Anderson Cooper as one that would yield, first and foremost, facts: "John King is on the ground with Senator McCain. He's got a fact check for us."

This "fact check," however, was something that King failed to deliver, instead offering a series of ups and downs, positives and negatives, hopes and fears and almosts and maybes, none of which were sufficient enough to either make or rebut McCain's case.

On the one hand, we have a neighborhood that seems safe, but on the other hand, some say other neighborhoods are dangerous. "Markets are open" in one place, but the "security improvements are hardly universal." The neighborhood McCain patrolled with an armed escort in a prior visit "remains highly volatile, unsafe for an American to visit," but McCain is allowed to offer a weak retort: "All I can say is that, yet, there are other neighborhoods of Baghdad where kids are out playing soccer and people are in the street." Maybe because sectarian forces have cleansed that neighborhood of people they didn't like? Nobody asks, so nobody gets an answer. And if maybes and buts were candy and nuts maybe we could busy ourselves stuffing our faces and run out of time to hold John McCain responsible for substantiating his claims. And on we go. Same time next year?

[WATCH.]

Comments

[newpotusplease]

don't you get a little worried though, King is converting to Judaism in marrying Bash this May and then when you see him reporting from Israel with a headline that says "McCain Is For Israel"- it makes me wonder how unbiased he might or might not be-- also Campbell Brown has a similar story in her 2006 marriage to a Bush Aide. Don't you wonder about that? and then there is wolf blitzer and his cozy friendship with Charlie Crist...Oye!

[realpolitic]

CNN at times seems to be cheerleading the war, especially with Tom Foreman and his This Week at War series. He always seemed to be pressing interview subjects, "but, overall, don't you think things are getting better?" No, Tom, we do not think so.

[BaManu]

"McCain will argue, at the judgment and the experience and who is best to get out of Iraq and at what pace."

John King please do not stuff words into McGaffe's mouth. His view is plain and clear; withdrawal is defeat and this is a 100 year war.

[Tankan]

Nearly four thousand troops dead, thousands more maimed, over ninety thousand Iraqi civillians dead, forty seven percent of the population have lost a family member, but who's counting or gives a damm!
The dammed oil justifies the loss of life in the eyes of warmongers and profiteers!

[Zhonni]

Jason, I have been trying to add you to my favorites list, but I can't seem to find the feature. Has it been disabled? I really like your work/post.

[newpotusplease]

i think king and his fiancee dana bash of cnn are partisan in favor of McCain.

[Mattie]

I don't know, that is one of the things I like about King, I can't tell who he likes. To me that is what a journalist is supposed to do, keep their bias to themselves. I'll pay closer attention, I have heard that before that he favors McCain, I know he covers him a lot. He is truly one of the few journalists I trust to be impartial, they are few and far between.

[mari2JJ]

I think King is right on. Unfortunately an Iraqi would have to be brain dead to forget the horrors this war has brought on that sensitive region, on the Iraqi people in particular, who now look at the days of electricity, fuel. medical assistance and transportation, all that by these standards now, seemed to be abundant in the pre-war era of Sadaam. Surely Sadaam was a despot, but in the end, the havoc this President and his cohorts like McCain have presided over has not improved things for Iraqis one bit. In the end, those benefiting from the war, the invasion, the surge and the occupation of Iraq are the industrial complex manufacturing war stuff, the private no-bid contractors who do not even pay taxes or social security to their employees. Remember the employees of these no-bid contractors are coming home having earned a pile of money over there while being exposed to all sorts of health hazards. So, Social Security and Medicare will be stuck for the bill for them all the while the Halliburton types make out like bandits. Yep, McCain is stuck with this mess right around his neck. And not only so far, but he really did say we might be there for 50 to 100 years. And look at the wall to wall mess in Iraq. Think of all that when you go to vote,and realize that the brunt of paying for this mess will not be born by those rich who get all sorts of tax breaks, but by us, the middle and lower class folks.

[newpotusplease]

don't you get a little worried though, King is converting to Judaism in marrying Bash this May and then when you see him reporting from Israel with a headline that says "McCain Is For Israel"- it makes me wonder how unbiased he might or might not be-- also Campbell Brown has a similar story in her 2006 marriage to a Bush Aide. Don't you wonder about that? and then there is wolf blitzer and his cozy friendship with Charlie Crist...Oye!

[Zhonni]

John King's fiancee is Dana Bash? Who knew?

[mamamay]

They all got the message re Iran and Iraq wrong today. It took Joe Lieb to whisper in McC's ear that he told the wrong thing to the Public today. JMcC came back and said oh I got it wrong, it was this way not that. No this war hero is not ready for President. He is being baby sit by Cheney so he doen't blow his own cover before his time. Plus, This is why his experience is being overshadowed by his dementia and Alheimer's moments. Obama will beat him in a heart's beat.

[researcher]

it was and is about oil. black gold and at over 100 dollars a barrel black diamonds.

oh the fruits of capitalism. corp fascism is here cannot be stopped. must self destruct on its own. it will but on its own time frame.

hope americans that resist this corp fascism like to waterboard. ask cheney he says it is not so bad.

[poppyseed]

One wonders if John King regularly offers John McCain a pillow for his bottom. He clearly likes McCain and so softballs him, to keep in his good graces. Can we please stop getting reporters who are more interested in being liked by the powerful, and so become pliant stenographers willing to mush their "reporting of facts" into an unrecognizable pile of excrement?

I guess the second string guys ended up on tv. The real reporters like Sy Hersh or the reporters from McClatchy are the only professionals left.

[sammy333]

John King is a sweet albeit castrated imitator of investigational journalism. Do not blame him. His damn job is to creatively interpret what his employer wants. If he fails at it, he is out.

[dwillisno1]

This is all pretty much consistent with the Bush Administration's prescription for the health of a nation. National crisis like 9/11, everybody should go shopping, deep financial crisis "here's 600 bucks, go shopping." The measure of success in Iraq? "here we are in this market and people are shopping." Never mind that while he is strolling in the market, 72 people killed in and around Baghdad , including two American soldiers. How pitiful.

[Durango]

Why are we hearing from this fool?

Why don't we hear from Iraqi journalists? Or at least Arab? Someone who speaks the language, has grown up in the culture. Knows a Shia from a Sunni, unlike senator McCain?

Go to the Guardian website and watch a report from an Iraqi.

If British media can do it why can't the US media? The answer is of course: Profound racism. we can't hear from Iraqi's. Everyone knows they have a profound Arab/Iraqi bias. Might contradict todays talking points!

[madashellvoter]

John King is a Republican simpleton who tries’s everything in his power to make the argument that McCain is one for the white house. It’s really sad to watch King make a fool of himselve.

[PacificGatePost]

Good one Jason.

It appeared rather disingenuous of King to report from what was probably the only semi-safe square acre in Iraq, wearing what had to be a flak jacket.

Nevertheless, the real question facing America on Iraq is being ignored by all candidates, not just media like CNN.... the beckoning Iraqi oil. >>

http://pacificgatepost.blogspot.com/2008/03/iraqi-oils-siren-song.html

[JoeBlough]

Five years down, five years to go. By that time the U.S.will be completely bankrupt. We can then turn this war over to the next super power. Let's hope they have the moral and financial ability to keep this thing going on. It was great being the home of the Brave. But Bush kind of killed that with his scare tactics. Oh Well..