Monday, April 02, 2007

MICHAEL WARE DENIES HECKLING MCCAIN: Well, sort of.

Ware's sort-of-denial isn't winning over Paul Mirengoff:

As Scott notes in his post below, CNN's Michael Ware has denied heckling Sen. McCain during a press conference (he doesn't say whether or not he laughed at McCain). However, Ware's appearance with Soledad O'Brien, as quoted by Scott, is enough to condemn him as unfit to cover the war....

Ware claims he never got to ask a question and, in fact, just as he raised his hand to do so, the press conference ended. Since Ware knows the tape of the presser is going to be shown and scrutinized, one would have to say at this point that he is telling the truth – at least the truth as he perceives it to be.

But I also believe that the story itself is true; that Ware – an irreverent sort of fellow who tries to project the hard-bitten, world-weary, cynical war reporter image – no doubt laughed and mocked the politicians who were trying to put the best face on what is still a very dicey situation in Baghdad. NBC aired a report that McCain’s claims of being able to walk freely through a Baghdad market – about 3 minutes across the Tigris river from the Green Zone – were something less than honest. He was surrounded by 100 American soldiers and screened by 3 Blackhawk helicopters and 2 Apache gunships. The left and the press is having a field day with this info, never mentioning the fact that John McCain is a serious candidate for President of the United States and that this kind of security is not only necessary but expected.