I promise this diary will be worth it, PLEASE bear with me..
My wife and I recently had a baby. As anyone who has one knows, teamwork is a necessity.
We live in NYC but have a house in Shaftsbury VT just north of Bennington (I married up). It is a very sleepy little area in the southwestern corner of VT that can't seem to get economically viable. It's sad actually because it is gorgeous, right in the heart of the VT Green Mountains. We were there this past weekend and Sunday morning was my wife's morning to sleep in. So as is my routine, I got up, I put the kid in the car and drove down to a local Dunkin Donuts to sit and have coffee and hang out with my daughter. We always have a great time.
By coincidence a worker at the Dunkin Donuts starts talking to me since the store is empty and it's still dark out at about 6:30 am. He asks if I am from the area and I proceed to tell him our story about how my wife and I live in Brooklyn but we have a house in the area; Conversation winds down and I return to my sandwich and daughter. About ten minutes later I hear the employee say to a balding man who had come in and approached the register if he and I knew eachother. We are both taken aback and the employee( I assume trying to be funny) says "Well, you are both from NY I figured you might know eachother." Ha ha.
As it happens it does get a basically "surface" interaction started ("Where do you live? What area? etc.) He asks how I like the area. I was assuming that he is inquiring as to his own prospects of maybe buying, so I pull out my "sell the area" shoes and I give him the whole speech about how I came to be a home owner around Bennington VT and I tell him about how a chance visit to Williamstown in 2002, my wife and I took a drive and realized that prices wern't so bad in southern VT; The great place my wife and managed to get we got for a great price because the area is cheaper than most of VT and we actually could afford this housing market.
To fill an awkward pause I asked him what he does and he mutters "I'm in the news." I didn't quite understand him and asked him to repeat himself.
"I work in the news business." He says loudly. Pause
"I work for Fox News."
I nearly shit.
It turns out he is a producer for The Bill O'Reilly show and he is in the area doing an "investigative story" for "Bill" about a State's Attorney who let a convicted child molester get off with a suspended sentence. He told me this event with immense outrage and looked to me to be equally outraged. I held my tongue and gave him my best poker face. He then proceeded to tell me about why O'Reilly was pursuing this story. Apparently, according to him, the entire VT judical/legislative community is corrupt. He held forth about how no one would talk to him because he was with Fox News and he got doors slammed in his face without any reaction to his inquiries about the travesty that had taken place. He said that the local paper didn't carry it!! He then backed off and ammended the statement by stating that they HAD indeed run the AP story-- twice-- but to this producer's AMAZEMENT...NO local stories had been written. NO local reporters dug in to find out why this corrupt liberal attorney in cahoots with the judge, let this sick bastard walk away from molesting a four year old boy (As it turns out it was the molester's son). The producer then expressed how unbelievalbly liberal the whole area was starting with the Bennington Banner, the local newspaper.
Friends, I have always wanted to be in this position, and yet there I was, sitting there with bed-head, feeding my kid bagel, sleep in my eyes and trying to wake, and here I was; With my guns loaded, aimed and cocked...
I decided to be civil and see where I could take this since he felt that I must be "on his side" because I didn't instantly marginalize him for working for Fox as he had encountered. He informed/warned me how the area was "unbelievably far-left liberal!" He ran down the list and INCLUDED Pat Leahy as one of the enormously corrupt politicians because when asked for a comment on the story, Leahy, that un-American, liar, HAD NO COMMENT!!
I tried to be (ahem) fair and balanced and I agreed that "the area was quite liberal-- however, I could not blame them because Fox News was admittedly pretty far right."
He stuffed his hands in his pockets hunched forward gave a look as though he was actually processing my observation and quickly retorted, "No we're not."
I sat stunned for a bit. He recovered with, "But I know many people THINK that."
I explained to him that first of all, my own experience with Vermonters was that if I asked them if they were D or R they all reply without exception, "I'm a Vermonter.", meaning that they refuse to pigeon-holed; That both parties have a tendency to be full of shit.
And that people in the area possibly suspected that he was on a political mission rather than a "journalistic" altruistic endeavor; That perhaps the reason why no local papers had done a big story on it because the area is hard-pressed for economic vilability. This wwas nothign but bad press for an area of the country taht just doesn't need another slap. Wal-Mart moved in and took away small business. My wife and I used to go to privately owned garages to fix our car, but many coporate garages had moved in recently and stolen most all business and people are forced to either work for them at lower wages OR not play ball and they end up trying to find other work. Many are depressed, poor and lost in addiction. And yet there is a very eager and diligent community who would like to encourage visitors, get the tourist trade going, get families jobs and bring this town back from the brink and create a successful community. I told him that Fox News has a very big soap box and to run a national story that implicates the whole community as some "Liberal oasis" does a great disservice to those who have no connection nor any relation to the albeit tawdry events that SHOULD be exposed if they are in fact true. I agreed that from what he had explained, it sounded like a worthy story but to be so one-sided about their disagreement with the "liberal" point of view regarding rehabilitation (rather than the tried and failed answer of lock'em up and throw away the key.) was destructive to many good people.
He pulled back a bit and said and tried to truly hear me. ( No fooling)."I understand your justification. I see what you are saying in their defense." He said.
I replied that I was neither justifying or defending; I was giving him the context. He agreed that in the past he had only done "Man on the Street" reaction but perhaps he should speak to the mayor or selectmen to get more opinions. He started asking all of the employees if they knew who he shoudl speak to. He then gave me his card (!!!!) and asked that I watch the segment which will air tonight, and get back to him to give him my reaction.
He went outside and climbed in to a huge black Ford SUV with tinted windows (of course). He and his cameraman drove away and he waved to me they drove away.
At that moment I realized something. In their eagerness to "expose" liberals, Fox News and Republicans like them, don't ever even consider the collateral impact on their witch-hunts. They unflinchingly will stomp entire populations if they can use it to advance the propaganda of a failed political philosophy. Their abuse not only slanders those whom they intend to slur and lie about, but as well as any poor bastard who happens to standing next to them.
It's the wingnut version of the baghdad car bomb.
It is they and producers like Bill O'Reilly's that are very own domestic terrorists. They deeply believe that they are right and if winning means some unintended casualties, then so be it.
UPDATE!!! According to a commentor who saw the segment on FoxNews.com. It turned into a total hit job on the area. I ASK ALL KOSSACKS TO EMAIL OREILLY AND THE PRODUCER WHOSE NAME IS PORTER BERRY. His Email address is porter.berry@foxnews.com since he gave me his card, I am simply passing his card on to you all.
The local; paper DID cover the story by running the AP wire's TWICE. They are liars!!! Expose them and write to them and if anyone knows Keith OLbermann...TELL HIM ABOUT THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE!!