Letterman vs White House

[JesFine]

Watch this (real player, ~2.0 Mb, ~1:14)

Then watch this. (real player, ~5.6 Mb, ~3:26)

For those of you who don't want to watch, the first video is a Letterman sketch which shows a 12 or 13 year old kid standing behind Bush as he gives a speech. The kid is bored out of his mind and yawns, stretches, looks at his watch, etc. It's pretty funny, but that's not the point. The point comes in the SECOND video. CNN shows the same clip but then says "We're being told by the White House, that the kid, as funny as he was, was edited into that video". This is, of course, a total lie. Later on in the second video CNN says "That kid was there at that event, but not necessarily standing behind the president, so you can put it all together". Which, AGAIN, is a total lie! Then apparently, later on in the show (no clip) Letterman says "CNN has just phoned and, according to this information, the anchorwoman misspoke, they never got a comment from the White House. It was a CNN mistake." And tonight apparently (also no clip), Letterman said that in fact, the White House did contact CNN about the clip.

So one of two things is happening here:
a) CNN is preemptively lying for the White House for no reason.
b) The White House is blatantly lying for no reason.
(ok also possiblity c) This is another weird April Fool's joke that I was not let in on)

So my question is: Why? Why the hell would anyone go out of their way to lie about some useless crap like this? And why, (prediction time) do I get the feeling that this will make headlines when some of the more egregious lies get little or no coverage. Can anyone who saw any of this comment on it? Can anyone explain why CNN and/or the White House felt the need to lie about this?

 

[RandFan]

So one of two things is happening here:
a) CNN is preemptively lying for the White House for no reason.
b) The White House is blatantly lying for no reason.
(ok also possiblity c) This is another weird April Fool's joke that I was not let in on)

Wow, you make so many assumptions without evidence (or you are not giving the evidence to us).

Are there really no other options?

Who took the video?

Why should CNN know that it was or wasn't edited?

Why should the White House know that it was or wasn't edited?

Could someone have mistakenly told someone else that it was edited?

Could someone other than the White House lie to CNN telling them that it was edited?

Could someone have lied to embarrass the White House telling them that it was edited?

So my question is: Why? Why the hell would anyone go out of their way to lie about some useless crap like this? And why, (prediction time) do I get the feeling that this will make headlines when some of the more egregious lies get little or no coverage. Can anyone who saw any of this comment on it? Can anyone explain why CNN and/or the White House felt the need to lie about this?

My question is why would someone jump to such blanket conclusions without all of the evidence?

You know, critical thinking isn't just questioning those who you disagree with but questioning your own intuitions as well.

 

[shemp]

If this was edited video, it would be a simple matter for the White House to find the unedited version and present it. Several news organizations must have copies of the entire speech. So if it's fake, why doesn't the White House just present the true version?

My personal opinion is that the video smells funny, but I'll reserve judgment until more evidence is presented.

 

[hgc]

I have a theory as to why CNN would lie about this (or accipurposely goof it up).

Fox News has rising ratings, at the expense of CNN.

Fox News shills for the Republican Party and protects this administration as much as it can.

CNN will follow a winning formula.

 

[Reginald]

That's an hours footage edited down to approx a min. If the kid was there he was only doing one silly thing every 10 or so mins (pretty good going for a kid!).

So if he was there, he did well to only do those few things.

I have to agree with Shemp, it's a little (tiny bit) suspicious. It just looks a little "wrong", but then normal footage can look "wrong".

It's a very minor thing. I certainly wouldn't be worrying about the state of our democracy in the UK over something like this.

 

[Beerina]

It's obvious they had a clip with the kid yawning, then someone built upon that by pasting in some actor stretching, cracking his neck, and so on.

For Letterman's show, it's fine.

For a news show to broadcast it as if real is stupid.

 

[Thanz]

Re: Re: Letterman vs White House

Why should the White House know that it was or wasn't edited?

Well, since W was there, I would imagine others from the White House were there as well. I'd be shocked if the White House did not know if it was edited or not.

Could someone have mistakenly told someone else that it was edited?

My bet is that there is a bit of miscommunication, as the clip is obviously edited down from the entire speech to show the funny bits. So, yes it is edited, but not edited to add the kid.

Could someone other than the White House lie to CNN telling them that it was edited?

I suppose they could, but CNN said specifically that they were informed by the White House.

Could someone have lied to embarrass the White House telling them that it was edited?

This seems a bit far fetched and conspiracy theory like.

 

[RandFan]

Re: Re: Re: Letterman vs White House

Well, since W was there, I would imagine others from the White House were there as well. I'd be shocked if the White House did not know if it was edited or not.

Who took the video?

Why is the White House expected to know if the video was edited or not. The conclusion does not follow from your premise.

My bet is that there is a bit of miscommunication, as the clip is obviously edited down from the entire speech to show the funny bits. So, yes it is edited, but not edited to add the kid.

Sounds reasonable.

I suppose they could, but CNN said specifically that they were informed by the White House.

And if there was one mistake there couldn't have been another? How do you KNOW it was the White House?

This seems a bit far fetched and conspiracy theory like.

Not really. It wouldn't take a conspiracy just someone trying to make the White House look stupid. Do I think that is what happened? I think it is unlikely which is probably what your sentiment actually was.

 

[Tmy]

Isnt there a Letterman clip where Bush cleans his glasses on some Late Shpe staffers dress when shes not looking. Now thats embarrasing./

 

[Thanz]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Letterman vs White House

Who took the video?

Why is the White House expected to know if the video was edited or not. The conclusion does not follow from your premise.

It doesn't really matter who took the video. If the WH staffers were there, shouldn't somebody know if there was a kid yawning behind the president? Shouldn't they be able to get a copy of a video - any video - of the event that would show the speech and the people behind them?

And if there was one mistake there couldn't have been another? How do you KNOW it was the White House?

Possible, but I would submit that it is unlikely that it did not come from some low level staffer at the WH. They referenced the WH twice.

Not really. It wouldn't take a conspiracy just someone trying to make the White House look stupid. Do I think that is what happened? I think it is unlikely which is probably what your sentiment actually was.

Agreed. It would take someone impersionating a WH staffer, and CNN believing them, etc. I just don't see it.

I see it as likely miscommunication and nothing more. Funny video though.

 

[Doubt]

Antoher take on this:

Contradictory Statement/Action

"Dave says what the CNN reporter [Daryn Kagan] said was an out and out 100% lie. A couple hours later, CNN anchor person Kyra Phillips reported that the kid was at the speech but not where the Late Show had him. Dave again makes the claim, 'That's an out and out absolute 100% lie. That kid was exactly where we said he was.' It's true. The speech was at a Florida Rally on March 20th at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. Dave is irked that the White House was trying to make him look like a jerk. But he's glad he got his side of the story out in the open."

The Wahoo Gazette, CBS.com, Mar. 31, 2004

http://www.whoslying.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=505&Itemid=26

Still waiting for facts on this one. Sounds like a lot of people have gone off half cocked.

 

[zenith-nadir]

CNN just apologized to Letterman on the air. The tape is unedited.

 

[Tmy]

Foxnews ran a line on the tickerthat Stern was pulled offthe air today. Of cousre the whole thing was an April Fools stunt. FN ran an apology later.

Its amazing how reckless the news channels are. Do they check anything?????

Theres a crank caller whos often on the Stern show. His MO is to call these news stations as some sort of expert or witness for whatever breaking news is happening. He gets on the air all the time, and then cracks a joke before he gets dumped. Its amazing how he gets air time so easy. THey check nothing in their race to be first on the scene.

 

[Frank Newgent]

Thanks JesFine

 

[WildCat]

That was hilarious! The first clip, I mean.

 

[gnome]

I am wondering how many of these "goofs" it is going to take before people realize how little attention there is to accuracy in even mainstream news...

and what kind of backlash would force them to improve? What form would it have to take to be meaningful to the news companies?

And yet one little flub in the lip synching track can bring down Milli Vanilli's career--but the news is immune?

 

[Malachi151]

Its not a lie, I've seen the C-SPAN footage that shows, from different angles, the same boy standing in the same place.

rtsp://video.c-span.org/project/c04/c04032004_bush.rm

Time index: 8:25

Why should we be suprized? Bush and co. are pathological liars, and now they are caught "red handed" as if they weren't already in every other sense.

 

[WildCat]

Its not a lie, I've seen the C-SPAN footage that shows, from different angles, the same boy standing in the same place.

rtsp://video.c-span.org/project/c04/c04032004_bush.rm

Time index: 8:25

Why should we be suprized? Bush and co. are pathological liars, and now they are caught "red handed" as if they weren't already in every other sense.

It was a CNN error!

 

[WildCat]

More:

Two comedy bits later, Letterman read one of his trademark cards that he's always fiddling with, and started to laugh: "God almighty, my life just gets more and more complicated. You know, just a minute ago . . . I was ranting and raving about the White House. According to this, CNN has just phoned and, according to this information, the anchorwoman misspoke, they never got a comment from the White House. It was a CNN mistake.

"What good does that do me? . . . I've already now called them liars. I think from now on we're going to have to start looking into things," Letterman said.

"Why start now?" his bandleader Paul Shaffer said.

"Because everything was fine, except now I've called the White House liars, and you know what that means -- they're going to start looking into my taxes!"

 

[Silicon]

The conspiracy theorist in me wants the Whitehouse to have said the kid wasn't there, and then gotten CNN to lie and say that they never said that.


I guess that's what you get when you have 24 hour news channels. Nobody check their sources anymore.

They run the clip without checking it.

They say the whitehouse denys it WITHOUT checking it or attributing it to a source.

Fox runs the story about stern without checking it.

Dumbasses