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Saving
it, that is, for my speech, when I could address CNN's Gary
Tuchman from the podium, instead of just going up to him and
telling him what an asshole he is. My enmity was born of a
convention report that I saw him and his crew put together
that served as a platform for Hagelin – in effect, a televised
version of the Hagelin-Verney-Fulani legal brief to the Federal
Election Commission (FEC), making the case that Buchanan had
basically committed election fraud, that had run the previous
night. It was Tuchman I was thinking of when I told the delegates
that "the sad collection of cranks and would be party
bosses who walked out of our convention have more of a following
in the CNN Newsroom" than in the Reform Party" –
and he knew it. As I headed for the press room right after
uttering those words, Yoshi came running up to me and said
"CNN is looking for you! They asked about you!"
Yeah, I'll just bet, I thought, with a great deal of
satisfaction. Well then, let them come and get me. . .
.
HITTING
BACK
Tuchman's
blonde female producer-assistant-whatever? gave me a really
dirty look as I walked into the room, the angular cut
of her chin jutting upward, her eyes narrowed with contempt
– one of the hated "weirdoes" had hit back, and
you could tell she didn't like it, not one little bit. Well,
tough. I smiled (inwardly) and started packing up my
laptop; as I passed Tuchman on the way out he turned to me
and asked:
"By
the way, I'm Gary Tuchman of CNN. What media organization
are you with?"
Holding
up my yellow media badge to eye level, I replied: "Antiwar.com
– we're your competition."
"You
seem to have some complaints about our coverage."
GOING
FOR THE JUGULAR
I
didn't even bother with the example of the previous night's
broadcast. Instead, I went straight for the jugular:
"Yes,"
I said, "there was that little business about reporting
100,000 Kosovars supposedly murdered by the Serbs during the
Kosovo war; Christiane Amanpour reported that figure. Then
it was reduced to 50,000, then 10,000, then even less—without
ever acknowledging any change." He looked worried, even
a little upset, his boyish features wrinkled by the moral
impact of such a critique: A kinder gentler Justin Raimondo
might have taken pity on him: but, alas, no such creature
exists. I was determined to make him cry.
THE
REASON FOR THE RATINGS
"And
then there was the little matter of those military 'interns'
who somehow wound up working for your 'news organization'
during the Kosovo war," I continued. "What was up
with that? I mean, here we had US military 'journalists'
covering the war even as they were fighting it – and using
CNN as a front." I then noted, with ill-concealed glee,
that they seemed to have completely lost their credibility
over that incident; and suggested that perhaps this was the
reason for their sinking ratings.
IS
IT JUST MY IMAGINATION?
Was
that a tear I saw sliding down his cheek? Naaaah –
maybe it was my imagination, but I could've sworn I saw a
bit of moisture gather a the tip of his eyelash, a glint of
remorse for his sins. It was on that basis that I took his
hand when he offered it, in a kind of peace handshake – as
well as out of gratitude for giving me enough material for
at least part of a column.
Read
previous dispatches from the Reform Party convention
Buchananism
or Barbarism
8/11/00
Ezola
Foster for Veep; Halloween in August
8/11/00
Long
Beach – My Battleground
8/10/00 PM
With
Buchanan in Long Beach: The Inside Story
8/10/00
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