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ABC's Terry Moran:
Character Assassin

05/06/2002
Here is the ultimate example of twisting words! ABC's Terry Moran has made House Majority Leader Dick Armey into the equivalent of Slobodan Milosevic! Wednesday evening, 05/01/2002, on MSNBC's Hardball, Rep. Armey made the statement that "there are many Arab nations that have many hundreds of thousands of acres of land and soil and property and opportunity to create a Palestinian state." He further explained:

"I am content to have Israel occupy that land that it now occupies and to have those people who have been aggressors against Israel retire to some other arena and I would be happy to have them make a home. I would be happy to have all of these Arab nations that have been so Hell-bent to drive Israel out of the Middle East, to get together, find some land and make a home for the Palestinians. I think it can be done."

As I read it, this is simply Dick Armey's opinion, an idea tossed out on the table. Yet look what this idea becomes in the liberal mind of Terry Moran. At the White House briefing Thursday, 05/02//2002, he initiated the following exchange with Ari Fleischer:

Moran: "One more on a different subject, the House Majority Leader, Mr. Armey, suggested on an appearance on Hardball that it would be preferable for Israel to keep the West Bank and for the Palestinian people there to be transferred, ethnically cleansed. What does the President think of this? He [Armey] didn't use those words."
Fleischer: "Yeah. Did the Majority Leader use those words?" Moran: "He said that they should leave."
Fleischer, answering his own question: "He did not."
Moran: "That's the way Milosevic said it, he never said ethnic cleansing either. And I wondered what the President felt about this high official of the United States government calling for the forcible transfer of -"
Fleischer: "Well, Terry, given your characterization of it I think it's only fair to go back and read the words with precision before I would give you a comment on something based on the way you've asked the question."

We all know what kind of ethnic cleansing Milosevic practiced! Certainly Rep. Armey was not suggesting the mass murder of the Palestinian people. And it seems unlikely his idea would ever get off the ground. Perhaps it is most accurately described as an expression of frustration with the so-called "Middle East peace process" and the lack of positive involvement from Islamic countries that claim to care.

Yet common sense will never deter a reporter from ABC News from attempting to place a Republican, a conservative, in a bad light. Even so, the Milosevic comparison is truly an outrageous stretch. As NewsMax.com asked, "How about a forcible transfer of Terry Moran from the White House?" You could call it "Ethical cleansing."

If you would like to express your disgust with Moran's distortion, the contact information is below:

ABC News
77 West 66th Street
New York, New York 10023
Phone 212-456-7777
FAX 212-456-4292

World News Tonight e-mail contact page

Read more here:

MRC CyberAlert, 05/03/2002
NewsMax.com: ABC's Terry Moran Distorts Armey's Remarks



When you feel your personal media bias tolerance gauge rising into the red zone, don't throw stuff at the TV screen! Send your suggestion to outrage@fairpress.org! Each week, one hideous example of media bias will be selected for closer examination. Hmmmmmm . . .

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