Brian Williams (not quite) under enemy fire...

[mrkelley23]

Oh, for God's sake, Niles...

Uh, I think you mean "Nilez."

[Vandal]

[jarnon]

Dan Rather found a document backing up the story, and adds that President Bush himself was flying the chopper.

[silverscreenselect]

[flockofseagulls104]

Yeah. Now it's a big joke. Ha ha.

[Jeemie]

Yeah. Now it's a big joke. Ha ha.

Actually, the pictures are quite funny.

You should stop being so serious.

[flockofseagulls104]

Yeah. Now it's a big joke. Ha ha.

Actually, the pictures are quite funny.

You should stop being so serious.

I see the humor in it. But that's how they will get away with it. Big joke on Brian Williams. Nothing to see here, move along. And they will continue embellishing their stories to support their narrative. MSNBC is just one big fat narrative.

Like I said before, 'Fat chance'.

[elwoodblues]

Why are some people more angry at Brian Williams for lying about Iraq than they are at the Bush administration for lying about Iraq?

[tlynn78]

Why are some people more angry at Brian Williams for lying about Iraq than they are at the Bush administration for lying about Iraq?

LMAO - who had the over/under for when this became Bush's fault?

[elwoodblues]

Why are some people more angry at Brian Williams for lying about Iraq than they are at the Bush administration for lying about Iraq?

LMAO - who had the over/under for when this became Bush's fault?

The war in Iraq always was Bush's fault.

[tlynn78]

Why are some people more angry at Brian Williams for lying about Iraq than they are at the Bush administration for lying about Iraq?

LMAO - who had the over/under for when this became Bush's fault?

The war in Iraq always was Bush's fault.

Of course it was, dear.

[CarShark]

Brian Williams Suspended From 'NBC Nightly News' for Six Months

I don't think he's getting away with anything.

[littlebeast13]

Yeah. Now it's a big joke. Ha ha.

Actually, the pictures are quite funny.

You should stop being so serious.

I see the humor in it. But that's how they will get away with it. Big joke on Brian Williams. Nothing to see here, move along. And they will continue embellishing their stories to support their narrative. MSNBC is just one big fat narrative.

Like I said before, 'Fat chance'.

Everyone embellishes the stories they tell, whether they're telling a national audience or just their grandkids, whether it's just a little trumping up of the details, or a complete Somerset Frisby job. I would imagine people in the news industry are even better at it than regular folks since it's part of their job...

lb13

[BackInTex]

Of course it was, dear.

I miss the rec button.

[Jeemie]

Why are some people more angry at Brian Williams for lying about Iraq than they are at the Bush administration for lying about Iraq?

LMAO - who had the over/under for when this became Bush's fault?

Whether the war was Bush's "fault" will be a matter of debate until the end of time.

HOWEVER...Brian Williams' embellishments damaged his reputation and not much else...and he's now paying for it with a six-month suspension.

The Bush Administration's embellishments of the intelligence assessments regarding Iraq's WMD capabilities cost the US lives and money.

I'm not sure how this can even be debated. Of course...if you don't think his administration embellished the intelligence assessments, then I'm sure you can debate it...but the evidence is pretty clear on that matter, IMO.

At any rate...I'm supposed to get outraged over Brian Williams because he embellished (or made up out of whole cloth) his role in news stories?

Why, exactly, should I be outraged about that, rather than just understand this is a commentary about where we've gotten with "celebrity" journalism in this country?

Seriously people...you act like this is some damaging blow to the entire nation, when it's just damaging to Williams and NBC.

[silverscreenselect]

HOWEVER...Brian Williams' embellishments damaged his reputation and not much else...and he's now paying for it with a six-month suspension.

Seriously people...you act like this is some damaging blow to the entire nation, when it's just damaging to Williams and NBC.

Brian Williams' trustworthiness rating drops from #23 in the US to #835, 20 places behind Willis Robertson, star of Duck Dynasty.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainmen ... -1.2109591

[tlynn78]

Why are some people more angry at Brian Williams for lying about Iraq than they are at the Bush administration for lying about Iraq?

LMAO - who had the over/under for when this became Bush's fault?

Whether the war was Bush's "fault" will be a matter of debate until the end of time.

HOWEVER...Brian Williams' embellishments damaged his reputation and not much else...and he's now paying for it with a six-month suspension.

The Bush Administration's embellishments of the intelligence assessments regarding Iraq's WMD capabilities cost the US lives and money.

I'm not sure how this can even be debated. Of course...if you don't think his administration embellished the intelligence assessments, then I'm sure you can debate it...but the evidence is pretty clear on that matter, IMO.

At any rate...I'm supposed to get outraged over Brian Williams because he embellished (or made up out of whole cloth) his role in news stories?

Why, exactly, should I be outraged about that, rather than just understand this is a commentary about where we've gotten with "celebrity" journalism in this country?

Seriously people...you act like this is some damaging blow to the entire nation, when it's just damaging to Williams and NBC.

I'm not acting "like this is some..." in any way. Just sick of the one-way thinking of a lot of people. If a (R) tells a lie, he's a lying liar forever. If a (D) tells a lie, it's "embellishing," "embroidering," or "improving the dialog." I also find it rather pathetic and tiresome that any time a left-leaning individual is "caught," it takes virtually zero time for the response "Well, Bush...(fill in the blank). I'm not even a little bit outraged by Williams - pretty much business as usual; I generally discount about 80% of anything I hear on the 'actual' news, and I don't believe I've ever watched so-called "newsmen (or women)" wearing their "celebrity" hats on the talk show rounds.
The damage is cumulative, and started a long time ago, and (sorry, Skoop) for me, most mainstream journalists have very little credibility. Newscasters stopped reporting news, and started fabricating it, a long time ago.

[Jeemie]

a) It didn't take "no time" for the "Bush's fault" argument to come up.

The Brian Williams thing is over a week old- this thread was the first mention of Bush I have seen. But in this case, it probably was a legitimate question- flock seems to be wanting to lead a pitchfork and torches campaign against Brian Williams, but seemingly has tolerated more egregious lying.

b) As for "lie" v "embellish", for me it comes down to the seriousness of the lie. Yeah- Brian Williams lied. He probably never will be trusted again. He's probably reduced to being a pretty face reading the news on TV when he comes back- he'll never be able to truly report on anything again.

But in the end, he's that guy we all know who makes up stuff in stories to assign more glory to his part. It's sad...but does it really make Brian Williams a lying liar we should all despise? Is it really that serious a thing?

[tlynn78]

a) It didn't take "no time" for the "Bush's fault" argument to come up.

The Brian Williams thing is over a week old- this thread was the first mention of Bush I have seen. But in this case, it probably was a legitimate question- flock seems to be wanting to lead a pitchfork and torches campaign against Brian Williams, but seemingly has tolerated more egregious lying.

b) As for "lie" v "embellish", for me it comes down to the seriousness of the lie. Yeah- Brian Williams lied. He probably never will be trusted again. He's probably reduced to being a pretty face reading the news on TV when he comes back- he'll never be able to truly report on anything again.

But in the end, he's that guy we all know who makes up stuff in stories to assign more glory to his part. It's sad...but does it really make Brian Williams a lying liar we should all despise? Is it really that serious a thing?

It's popped up elsewhere, and sooner. And sorry, but a lie's a lie. If he was an old man, reminiscing and telling stories to his grandkids, I'll grant you, that's one thing. This is a major news announcer on a major network. I'm not picking up any pitchforks, but as I said, the deflecting is disgusting and ignorant. Until we as a nation stop accepting egregious behavior because it comes from "our" side, and demonizing the other side for the same behaviors, we'll just keep going down the same paths. And that's just sad.

[BackInTex]

I guess the seriousness of Williams lies is relative to one's value placed on the Constitution's freedom of the press and freedom of speech clauses. He and NBC will use the freedom of the press clause to access information (and gain situational access such as being embedded with the military) and then supposedly, as their role of the press, report to the citizenry the information. If they are not going to truthfully report the information they obtain under their rights as the press, then I think it is a very serious matter.

Freedom of the Press is only as valuable as the truthfulness of that press.

[Jeemie]

I guess the seriousness of Williams lies is relative to one's value placed on the Constitution's freedom of the press and freedom of speech clauses. He and NBC will use the freedom of the press clause to access information (and gain situational access such as being embedded with the military) and then supposedly, as their role of the press, report to the citizenry the information. If they are not going to truthfully report the information they obtain under their rights as the press, then I think it is a very serious matter.

Freedom of the Press is only as valuable as the truthfulness of that press.

Until more news on what he reported during Katrina (where Williams may have seriously altered facts, and if that proves to be true, then he should be fired), none of his confirmed lies have seriously altered our perception of events he was reporting on.

So he said he was on a helicopter that was shot at. That seriously altered the reporting so that we have to "worry about the freedom of the press"?

Seriously, BiT?

Let's talk when/if the Katrina information comes out.

Until then, I am not defending Brian Williams, merely keeping what he has so far been proved to have done in proper perspective.

He deserves his suspension for lying about his helicopter being shot at.

He deserves to be out on his ass if the stories of the dead bodies floating and the gangs in the hotels prove not to have happened.

There's a difference between the two lies, and if you can't see it...well, there's no helping you.

[tlynn78]

I guess the seriousness of Williams lies is relative to one's value placed on the Constitution's freedom of the press and freedom of speech clauses. He and NBC will use the freedom of the press clause to access information (and gain situational access such as being embedded with the military) and then supposedly, as their role of the press, report to the citizenry the information. If they are not going to truthfully report the information they obtain under their rights as the press, then I think it is a very serious matter.

Freedom of the Press is only as valuable as the truthfulness of that press.

Until more news on what he reported during Katrina (where Williams may have seriously altered facts, and if that proves to be true, then he should be fired), none of his confirmed lies have seriously altered our perception of events he was reporting on.

So he said he was on a helicopter that was shot at. That seriously altered the reporting so that we have to "worry about the freedom of the press"?

Seriously, BiT?

Let's talk when/if the Katrina information comes out.

Until then, I am not defending Brian Williams, merely keeping what he has so far been proved to have done in proper perspective.

He deserves his suspension for lying about his helicopter being shot at.

He deserves to be out on his ass if the stories of the dead bodies floating and the gangs in the hotels prove not to have happened.

There's a difference between the two lies, and if you can't see it...well, there's no helping you.

Clearly, it's all about perspective. If you want to believe he'd only 'embellish' things you consider to be unimportant, but that it shouldn't affect our perception of his veracity in other areas - good luck with that. I guess it depends on what "is" is.

[Estonut]

So he said he was on a helicopter that was shot at.

Uh, no. He said he was on a helicopter that was hit and forced down by RPG fire. "Shot at" and "shot down by RPG" are 2 very different things. How could one possibly misremember the second?

[Jeemie]

If you want to believe he'd only 'embellish' things you consider to be unimportant, but that it shouldn't affect our perception of his veracity in other areas - good luck with that. I guess it depends on what "is" is.

I believe he would embellish things that assign a greater "glory" to his part therein. That seems to fit this pattern.

9 times out of 10, that would lead to embellishment rather than a lie that alters the story significantly, and thus threatens our entire freedom of the press as BiT was trying to say.

[BackInTex]

I believe he would embellish things that assign a greater "glory" to his part therein. That seems to fit this pattern.

9 times out of 10, that would lead to embellishment rather than a lie that alters the story significantly, and thus threatens our entire freedom of the press as BiT was trying to say.

A lie is a lie.

A couple of quotes (from the Internet so they may or may not be accurately attributed):

“I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche

“A lie that is half-truth is the darkest of all lies.” ― Alfred Tennyson