Blitzer: Sniper Video Wasn't Propaganda; We Said It Was Propaganda

Confusing? It should be. Wolf Blitzer interviewed Lynne Cheney on Friday, and they got to talking about CNN's decision to run the terrorists-shooting-an-American-serviceman video. It didn't take long for Wolf to contradict himself. This exchange starts at about 3:55 into the interview, and it goes for just over one minute. [I put this transcript together; it's not perfect in regards to the crosstalk, but the full substance is there.]

LYNNE CHENEY: What is CNN doing running terrorist tape of terrorists shooting Americans? I mean, I thought Duncan Hunter asked you a very good question, and you didn't answer it. Do you want us to win?

WOLF BLITZER: The answer of course is we want the United States to win. We are Americans, there is no doubt about that. You think we want terrorists to win?

LYNNE CHENEY: Then why are you running... why are you running terrorist propaganda?

WOLF BLITZER: With all due respect... with all due respect, this is not terrorist propaganda. This is reporting the news, which is what we do. We're not partisan...

LYNNE CHENEY: Where did you get the film?

WOLF BLITZER: We got the film... look, this is an issue that has been widely discussed. This is an issue that we reported on extensively. We make no apologies for showing that. That was a very carefully considered decision why we did that, and I think...

LYNNE CHENEY: Well, I think it's shocking.

WOLF BLITZER: ...and I think that if you're a serious journalist you want to report the news. Sometimes the news is good, sometimes the news isn't so good.

LYNNE CHENEY: But, Wolf, there's a difference between news and terrorist propaganda. Why do you give the terrorists a forum?

WOLF BLITZER: And if you put it in context... if you put in context, that's what news is. We said it was propaganda. We didn't distort where we got it. We didn't distort anything about it. We gave it the context.

So it wasn't terrorist propaganda, Wolf? But you said moments later that CNN said that it was propaganda. So, is it or is it not propaganda? If it is propaganda, then please answer Mrs. Cheney's question: Why are you running terrorist propaganda? If it isn't propaganda, then why did you say that it was?

You can't have it both ways, Wolf. Were you lying then, or were you lying only a minute later?

Watch the whole interview if you can. Mrs. Cheney does a great job and hits Blitzer, and CNN, hard and accurately.

USMC 9971 OUT