“President Bush fine-tuned his prime-time speech during most of the ride to Fort Bragg on Tuesday afternoon but paused long enough to greet his guests — three members of Congress from North Carolina — in the Distinguished Visitors Cabin aboard Air Force One,” reports the Charlotte Observer.
Excluded from the “Distinguished Visitors Cabin”: Rep. Walter “Freedom Fries” Jones, a Republican “who made national headlines this month by calling on the president to set a timetable for bringing home the troops.”
“Said Jones spokeswoman Kathleen Joyce:'”He hasn’t been specifically invited or requested to go’,” quotes the Observer.
The three invited members included Rep. Robin Hayes.
Rep. Hayes made more news yesterday when he was grilled by CNN’s Carol Costello over his insistence on a connection between Saddam and 9/11. Here’s a sampling via CJR Daily:
Hayes: Ma’am, I’m sorry but you’re mistaken. There is evidence everywhere. We get access to it. Unfortunately, others don’t. But the evidence is very clear. … More below:
CJR Daily‘s “Echo Chamber” comments on the Costello/Hayes exchange:
The latest came this morning around 6:20 a.m. on CNN’s “Daybreak” when Carol Costello interviewed Rep. Robin Hayes, R-N.C. (Fort Bragg, the location of Bush’s speech last night, is in Hayes’ district.) The transcript is worth a read because it’s a rare example of a television reporter challenging an elected official who the reporter knows to be peddling falsehoods:
Carol Costello: President Bush said in his speech, “We’re there to fight terrorists.” But he failed to explain how a war to remove a dictator bent on using nuclear weapons has turned into a fight against Muslim militants. Doesn’t he owe us an explanation?
Rep. Robin Hayes: He gave us a very good explanation of what the war’s about. It’s winning the war against terror and people who would kill us, innocent woman and children. This is about a military action against ruthless, brutal killers who have no conscience whatsoever about destroying us.
Costello: We understand that, but that’s not what it started out [as], when the United States invaded Iraq. It’s changed, hasn’t it?
Hayes: I don’t think it’s changed at all. It’s very clear that terrorists are connected to what Saddam Hussein was all about. That again faces us as the most severe threat going forward.
Costello: But there is no evidence that Saddam Hussein was connected, in any way, to al Qaeda.
Hayes: Ma’am, I’m sorry but you’re mistaken. There is evidence everywhere. We get access to it. Unfortunately, others don’t. But the evidence is very clear.
Costello: What evidence is there?
Hayes: The connection between individuals who are connected to Saddam Hussein, folks who worked for him. We’ve seen it time and time again. But the issue is, where are we now? Nobody disputes 9/11. They would do that again, if not prevented. Preventing 9/11 wherever it might happen in America, winning the war overseas, not bringing it here to our shores is the issue in that regard.
Costello: Are you saying that Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9/11?
Hayes: I’m saying that Saddam Hussein — and I think you’re losing track of what we are talking about here — Saddam Hussein and people like him were very much involved in 9/11. Did he make a phone call [trail off] …
Costello: There’s no evidence of that.
Hayes: I’m sorry you haven’t looked in the right places.
Costello: I must not have. Because I know of no evidence connecting Saddam Hussein to Osama bin Laden or al Qaeda …
Perhaps Costello became a little fixated, continuing to hammer Hayes on a statement that she had already made clear was not true. And that’s good; it’s about time TV news drew a line in the sand about acknowledged fact and refused to let people cross that line just because they are elected officials.
CNN became a little fixated itself — so much so that the Hayes-Costello exchange was replayed all morning on CNN, on CNN Headline News, and on CNN Europe — and that’s not so good.
[Oh, I don’t know about that!]
Read all at CJR Daily.
Emphases mine.