The Washington Post does it again
Last week, The Washington Post reported a series of comments made by [Bishop Victor] Curry just prior to Bill McBride appearing on his morning radio program.
According to The Post story:
Curry charged on the air that the Bush family and the bin Laden family are business "partners" seeking to profit from war. "These people are on a neo-Nazi, right-wing mission the American people," he continued, adding that the Bush administration is a "godless, wicked regime."
The Post story has haunted McBride ever since, and became a point of rancor during Tuesday night's gubernatorial debate.
So what really happened?
Curry's station, WMBM-AM (1490), provided me a recording of his show. While the quotes attributed to Curry are largely, although not entirely, correct, what's missing is the context.
...Curry charged that President Bush is moving toward a war with Iraq to divert attention from the souring economy. One of the other guests questioned the cozy history between the bin Laden and Bush families.
"They're partners in the Carlyle Group," Curry noted. "The bin Laden family and the Bush family, they were in a group called the Carlyle Group that manufactures defense weapons. They work together."
Curry even made reference to several newspaper stories.
And ultimately, he's more right than wrong.
...
The "neo-Nazi" comment came several minutes later. Earlier, Curry and the group had been talking about the erosion of civil rights under the Homeland Security measures proposed by the White House. A caller said he didn't trust Bush, and Curry's exact statement was:
"This regime does not care about the American public. That's what I've been saying, that the Bush administration, all the way down to Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell and Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld and John Ashcroft, these people are on a mission. They are on a neo-Nazi, right-wing mission. They do not mean this country good. And I keep telling you all somebody is going to wake up. Black people are going to wake up. White people are going to wake up. Hispanics are going to wake up. America is going to wake up and they are going to rebel against this ungodly, wicked regime."
Soon thereafter, McBride entered the studio and the conversation turned rather banal.
...
There is no doubt, Curry's statements are strong. And I don't agree with everything Curry said. But I don't think they are anti-Semitic, as some people charged. And I don't believe -- when taken in context -- they were particularly outrageous either.
The Post story makes them seem worse than they are. And Jeb Bush has been able to make political hay out of it, demonizing Curry in the process.
Jesus, compared to what comes out of RushLiddySavage on a daily basis this is baby stuff. And, Timmy-Boy dutifully badgered McBride about this.