Public Eye
April 2, 2007 10:12 AM

Heckling At A Press Conference?

(Getty Images/AFP/Sabah Arar)
I was watching CNN this morning and caught an interesting exchange between Soledad O'Brien and reporter Michael Ware, who is following Senator John McCain and his Republican Congressional delegation in Baghdad. The comments aren't online yet, but I've transcribed them below.


O'Brien: Let me ask you a question. There was a report that said you were heckling, and you were laughing, during the senator's press conference. Is that true?

Ware: Well, let's bear in mind that this is a report that was leaked by an unnamed official of some kind to a blog. To somewhere on the Internet. No one has gone and put their name forward, we certainly haven't heard Senator McCain say anything about it, or any of his staff have come forward to say anything about it.

I did not heckle the senator. Indeed, I didn't say a word, I didn't even ask a question. In fact, when I raised my hand to ask a question, the press conference abruptly ended. So what I would suggest is that anyone who has any queries about whether I heckled watch the videotape of the press conference.
The "blog" in question is the Drudge Report, and here's what Drudge wrote, in part:
During a live press conference in Baghdad, Senators McCain and Graham were heckled by CNN reporter Michael Ware. An official at the press conference called Ware’s conduct “outrageous,” saying, “here you have two United States Senators in Bagdad giving first-hand reports while Ware is laughing and mocking their comments. I’ve never witnessed such disrespect. This guy is an activist not a reporter.”
The report is now making its way through the conservative blogosphere, where Ware has never been particularly popular. Writes Powerline: "Having publicly committed himself to the proposition that everything that happens in Iraq is a disaster, having publicly ridiculed those who pointed to optimistic developments, how can anyone trust that Ware's future reporting is giving us anything like the straight story from Iraq?" Kesher Talk (which I should note bills itself as offering "a hawkish liberal Jewish perspective") writes that Ware is "flaunting his partisan persona, and I guess CNN is OK with that." Newsbusters asks if the story of Ware's heckling will "be swept under the rug as usual." The supposed heckling is framed as a news story here; it's even on his Wikipedia page.

Ware has publicly criticized McCain's comments that "[t]here are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods today," saying this to CNN's Wolf Blitzer: "I don't know what part of Neverland Senator McCain is talking about when he says we can go strolling in Baghdad."

If anyone has seen the video of the press conference, please point out where it can be found, and I'll update this post with a link and comments.

UPDATE: Raw Story has posted video of the press conference. There does not appear to be any heckling, though one cannot say with absolutely certainty. Thanks to commenter Bo234 for the pointer.
Tags:
john mccain ,
michael ware
Topics:
Other Guys' Problems
Add a Comment
by r9119111 April 2, 2007 8:55 PM EDT
Could this be just one more attempt by the far right to discredit any one who doesn't fall head over heals in line with the agenda? God forbid that we should ever get the unfettered truth. We might form more intelligent and informed decision. What a threat that would be! Truth just can't be tolerated least it taint the agenda.
Reply to this comment
by yorkark April 2, 2007 7:53 PM EDT
I believe the reporter when he says he did not heckle but McCain is not for real. He has been Bush all the way on this war. You would think that he would want to spare young men and women the possible fate that he was subjected to. But instead he is a war monger, either that or he wants the war to last long enough so if he is elected he can stop the war. Not for real.
Reply to this comment
by mattcat25 April 2, 2007 5:18 PM EDT
Who would be more foolish%u2026the fool, or the fools that follow the fool?
Reply to this comment
by mattcat25 April 2, 2007 5:18 PM EDT
Who would be more foolish%u2026the fool, or the fools that follow the fool?
Reply to this comment
by bo234 April 2, 2007 5:09 PM EDT
Rawstory has the video of the full press conference:
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/CNN_reporter_slams_Drudges_charge_that_0402.html
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by ikez78 April 2, 2007 4:47 PM EDT
Looks like you lefties love to cite and quote McCain as impeccable when he is trashing Bush but now he is suddenly a liar or bumbling fool?

Looks like your outright hatred of Bush (BDS) prevents you from seeing ANY topic objectively that Bush has anything to do with it. Grow up and think for yourself already.
Reply to this comment
by peterbaldwin-2009 April 2, 2007 4:30 PM EDT
McCain is now exposed as another outed loon like Chaney and Bush. Wolf, the straight man, played this Saturday Night Live episode to the hilt and ware delivered with feigned exasperation at McCain's stupidity.

looking back, the famously photographed Bush-McCain hugfest had us all scratching our heads, but like with Reagan, it appears that age-related dementia or Alzheimers was creeping up on this poor elderly man.

Hopefully someone from his family will protect him and get him out of politics.
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by mattcat25 April 2, 2007 2:33 PM EDT
In accordance to what John McCain as been saying, if everything is going %u201Cso well%u201D finally in Iraq, then we really don%u2019t need any further surge, and $billions more in supplemental funding%u2026bring the troops home!
Reply to this comment
by ikez78 April 2, 2007 2:10 PM EDT
Here is the video of Ware on CNN talking about it but no video of the alleged heckling.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fr1sR3Zdc4g
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