Bumiller and Wilgoren (boo!) screwed up. Again. Here's my letter to the Times, which I sent to the public editor, the editor-in-chief, and the Washington newsdesk.
Here are their graphs:
The president also accused Mr. Kerry of changing his mind on the question of whether Iraq is part of the war against terrorism. In New York on Monday, Mr. Kerry mentioned Osama bin Laden four times as he argued that the Iraq operation was a distraction from other terror hot spots, but Mr. Bush said his opponent had "acknowledged that confronting Saddam Hussein was critical to the war on terror."
Campaign aides said he was referring to Mr. Kerry's statement on May 15 on Fox News that "Iraq may not be the war on terror itself, but it is critical to the outcome of the war on terror."
And here's my letter:
In an article purporting to analyze Kerry's statements on Sept 20th, Wilgoren and Bumiller report that Bush "campaign aides said he was referring to Mr. Kerry's statement on May 15 on Fox News that 'Iraq may not be the war on terror itself, but it is critical to the outcome of the war on terror.'"
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/21/politics/campaign/21campaign.html?pagewanted=2
The Republicans are using this quotation to try to argue that Kerry linked Hussein and terror. The quote itself says nothing about Hussein.
But, more to the point, the quote is not from May 15th. It's from December 15th, 2003, that is, the day after Hussein was arrested. The full quote, according to the Boston Globe, 12.16.2003, is, "Iraq may not be the war on terror itself, but it is critical to the outcome of the war on terror, and therefore any advance in Iraq is an advance forward in that."
The date of the statement is important, since what Kerry said was in direct response to Hussein's capture. Also, the tenor of the statement becomes clear if the date is presented correctly: Hussein's capture is an "advance," but its benefit to the so-called war on terror is an ancillary, not a substantial benefit. Nowhere does Kerry connect Hussein and terror.
Two questions: a) why didn't Wilgoren and Bumiller fact-check this; b) if they got the date from staffers for the Bush campaign, why is the Bush campaign changing the date of Kerry's statement?
Signature redacted.
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