!! Was Aaron Brown taken in by Wilkinson story??

[grasswire]

MODS: this is not copyrighted material.

Look at this from the Media Research Center's email alert written by Brent Bozell:

> 2) Like ABC, CNN's NewsNight with Aaron Brown led with
attacks on the administration's credibility, but Brown stretched
his own credibility by picking up on a rumor, "a story that's been
circulating on the Web today that there was at some point a
conversation between the President and a CIA consultant where the
consultant directly told the President that this African uranium
deal was bogus." Brown's raising of such an uncorroborated story
befuddled CNN reporter David Ensor, who speaking slowly as he
fumbled for words, told Brown: "I have no way to confirm that
story and it is somewhat suspect, I would say..."

In a cursory check of a bunch of Web sites and news sources
online, I could not find a reference to any such allegation. But
then I'm not on the left-wing mailing lists which CNN must peruse.

Brown launched his July 9 program: "We begin with the question
of credibility now dogging the White House even half a world away
on President Bush's trip to Africa. Today, a State Department
intelligence official who retired during the run-up to the war
accused the Bush administration of practicing 'faith-based
intelligence when it comes to Iraq.'"

Following the lead story from David Ensor about the day's
developments on the Niger story front and questions about how
President Bush could have conveyed such a bogus claim, Brown
confronted Ensor with an unsubstantiated rumor of his own:
"A couple things, David. There is, as you know, a story that's
been circulating on the Web today that there was at some point a
conversation between the President and a CIA consultant where the
consultant directly told the President that this African uranium
deal was bogus. Do you have any reporting that supports the idea
that the President was directly told it was fake before he
included it in the State of the Union speech?"
A clearly flummoxed Ensor, speaking slowly as he fumbled for
words, struggled for a reply now that he was on the spot and
probably afraid of upsetting Brown if he condemned such rumor-
mongering: "I have no way to confirm that story and it is somewhat
suspect I would say but we'll have to check it."
Brown pressed again: "Alright, and any other information that
would suggest the President knew in advance this was bogus?"
Ensor: "None at this point, no."
Brown: "Thank you, David, David Ensor in Washington."

Brown stayed on point: "David Sanger has been reporting on the
case against Iraq and the political tussle over it for the New
York Times. Mr. Sanger joins us from Washington, good to see you
David, thank you. Same question, do you have any -- have you in
your reporting seen anything that suggests that at any point the
President before the speech was told this information was phony?"
Sanger: "No, we've not found anything along those lines. If
one read into the footnotes of some of the earlier intelligence
reports, which there's no reason to expect the President or even
many of his top aides do, there were just hints that there were
doubts about it."

There goes a great conspiracy theory.

[Cocoa]

1. maybe no such thing happened on CNN

and it doesn't sound like they were taken in at all, even if it's true. They gave it the appropriate skepticism.

Maybe Media Research Center is behind the whole thing, and they're making it look like they took in CNN.

Note that in LBN there is a similar-sounding story that might be the real one, in the BBC I believe. Maybe that's the one that Media Research Center and CapitolHillBlue are trying to get everyone confused about.

[htuttle]

2. Yes

There is an absolutely iron-clad account of this thing from a guy named Wilson. This came out about a day before the 'Wilkinson' story. There is a heavy effort right now to confuse the two.

There is also another account from a state dept. official named Theilmann (sp?) that recently came out.

[ROakes1019]

3. Theilman

Greg Theilman is the intelligence agent who said Bush's claim about Niger was "faith based."

[papau]

4. Media Research Center are right wing spinners/liars

Brown said that the story was not verified.

I guess when the GOP falls into Bush shit, they have to pretend that those that notice are misinforming us.

[grasswire]

5. yes, yes, yes

We know that MRC is VRWC.

And we know that the exchange did in fact take place. The transcript of newsnight is available here: http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0307/09/asb.00.html

What's interesting is that Aaron Brown was apparently following the Capitol Hill Blue story either on freerepublic or here at DU.

What's more interesting is that this has worked to benefit the WH. Confusion reigns in the minds of Bush's base. They think the discrediting of the Wilkinson story means that the Wilson story is debunked.

We're seeing the tip of a massive disinformation blitz. It can only get worse.

[grasswire]

6. and a big shout out to....

....freeper Mo1, who is lurking here and reporting back to the dark side.

[qanda]

7. I've never seen more stupidity...

Than when I visited FR! Some were so confused that they began asking when the major media would figure out that the Wilson story was a fraud. They are so S-T-U-P-I-D!!!!

[librechik]

8. yes, I was dismayed to see Aaron mention this bogus story

simply becasue it would discredit the truth of other, similar reports. Freepers are too eager to debunk, and don't stand around for subtle distinctions to sink in.