A few days ago I transcribed the Ralph Nader / Randi Rhodes interview for a dKos diary entry. Newsmax read it and snipped pieces of it for an article called "Nader Blasts Hot Air America". Though I'm just a transcriber, rather than Nader or Rhodes, I was amused enough with vicarious misquoting that I thought I'd point out their distortions.
Here's the Newsmax story:
Some selected highlights, as transcribed by the Web site "The Daily Kos":
On Clinton
RHODES: You know the Democrats' policy, you know when the Republicans talk about regime change was the Clinton administration's policy, but it was regime change from within. It was never military action on our part on Iraq. That was not the policy ...
NADER: ... You know, Clinton was a draft-dodger so he wasn't willing to take on the Pentagon. And he wasn't willing to take on the Congress on many huge military expenditures and that starved many of the necessities back home among the American people. ...
So, Nader was saying that Clinton would've invaded Iraq if only he wasn't a craven draft dodger who wouldn't stand up to the Pentagon?
But wait. Why would Clinton have to stand up to the Pentagon in order to invade Iraq? Nader's on crack, right?
Well, no. Here's the full transcription of that passage:
Randi: You know the Democrat's policy, you know when the Republicans talk about regime change was the Clinton administration's policy, but it was regime change from within. It was never military action on our part on Iraq. That was not the policy. The policy was to get these people to forgive us for slaughtering them when the Republican president Bush the First told them ``rise up, and we'll get your back'', and they saw American helicopters that we sold to Saddam come and slaughter them. Those are the people in the mass graves and everybody knows it -- or they need to know it -- but, but we can't afford you this year Ralph!
Nader: You're quite right on what Bush One did in terms of urging the Shiites and the Kurds to rise up against Saddam and then ...
Randi: Slaughtered 'em.
Nader: ... Saddam slaughtered them. But remember that the Democrats had a very aggressive foreign military policy when they were in power, a huge military budget. You know, Clinton was a draft-dodger so he wasn't willing to take on the pentagon. And he wasn't willing to take on the Congress on many huge military expenditures and that starved many of the necessities back home among the American people --
So, was Nader saying that Clinton wouldn't stand up to the Pentagon to invade Iraq, or that he wouldn't stand up to the Pentagon to cut military spending for a bigger peace dividend? It depends on which news source you read.
It's also interesting that Newsmax didn't think that the passage about George H. W. Bush was worth including. I'm shocked.