CBS aired Ben Stein commentary defending Rove without rebuttal

http://mediamatters.org/items/200507270001

From the July 24 broadcast of CBS' Sunday Morning:

STEIN: Dear President Bush, may I presume upon our friendship and my longtime support to offer you some thoughts about Karl Rove? First of all, I just had a very thorough exam of my prostate by a Democrat doctor, so I have a good idea of what you both are going through, and it's not fun. But I worked for a president named Richard Nixon who was an extraordinary genius but who handled this kind of thing totally wrong, so maybe we can learn from him. Let's begin with the obvious:

Karl Rove did nothing wrong in the Valerie Plame case. He did not "knowingly" out her as a CIA secret overseas undercover agent because, among other things, she was not a secret overseas agent. She worked at a desk at Langley, Virginia, at the CIA headquarters. That ain't secret overseas work. So he didn't commit any kind of crime at all. Next, he's incredibly important to you and to the whole conservative agenda. You called him the "architect" of your victory over Sen. (John) Kerry (D-MA), and you were right to call him that. It's most questionable whether you'd be sitting in the Oval Office without him. The liberals know that. That's why they're after him. They know he's vital to you and to the whole movement you represent. If you fail to give him your entire support, if you throw him overboard to the Sen. Chuck Schumers (D-NY) and the (Senate Minority Leader) Harry Reids (D-NV), you accomplish nothing. They, who loathe you and everything you stand for, will just chase you even harder with more of a scent of blood in their nostrils.

I saw this happen with Mr. Nixon when I worked for him decades ago. Whenever Mr. Nixon tossed an aide off the sled for the wolves to eat, the wolves just got hungrier. Nixon's enemies' target was Nixon, not his aides. Once they devoured his helpers, the enemies just got stronger and Nixon got weaker. There's a lesson there for you: Chuck Schumer's after you, Mr. President, not Karl Rove.

If you do not give Karl Rove your full support, which he has earned in spades, you signal weakness, not strength, to your enemies. With him gone, they'll find a way to attack you, and he won't be there to protect you or your agenda. Learn from the mistakes of my old boss, Mr. Nixon. Don't try to please the ones who are going to hate you no matter what. Use your strength to protect Rove and both of you will come out of this with smiles on your faces. Throw him to the wolves and you embarrass yourself before history, and you'll live to regret it.

"Use your strength to protect Rove and both of you will come out of this with smiles on your faces"...

I'd have to say YES.

That's what this is really all about...right or wrong, crime or no crime, treason or no treason, use your strength and keep smiling.

:grr:

Ferris Bueller. I can't stand that man and he is full of hot air.

'kay Ben. That sorta sums it up.

Since CBS had to eat crow for the Dan Rather bit (by the way, I still believe Rather was correct and became a scapegoat...an offering to the right wing cabal diety)CBS has been VERY right tilting in it's effort to become just like FAUX ---- "fair and balanced". The one exception is Bob Schieffer, who seems truly fair and balanced and who takes no instructions from the corporate lackeys.

Even if it did move him up the ladder. I mean, he does that thing where he asks a "DUH!" question just to get someone to answer it, and that annoyed me at first. Something like, "Well, , have we seen any signs that the violence in Iraq is subuing?" Then I remembered that most people had probably never heard honest answers to questions like that on television before, and that's generally what he gets.

Charles Kuralt died. But hiring Ben Stein to opine on air added insult to injury. Write in and complain. Try to get a bunch of people to join you in complaining.

.....just remember, this dope has always (as he is here) defended Nixon and considers him to have been a victim of a political smear, as opposed to the self-dealing, lying, crook weasal that he was proven to be. Also remember that Benjie defended disgraced VP Spiro Agnew, a convicted felon who resigned mid-term.

disseminating Administration misinformation?

The man can't find his way through his own argument. It's dueling quotes:

"It's most questionable whether you'd be sitting in the Oval Office without (Rove). The liberals know that. That's why they're after him."

versus

"There's a lesson there for you: Chuck Schumer's after you, Mr. President, not Karl Rove."

Dumbest. Commentary. Ever.

Mostly

PS There's also the fact that "it's most questionable whether you'd be sitting in the Oval Office without (Rove)." ummm, err, ain't that a tacit admission that the Republicans won on campaigning, and not on issues? Ain't that a tacit admission that the Dems were RIGHT and the Pubs were WRONG? I think it is.

Never mind, after Guckert apparently no one requires qualifications

of Herbert Stein and if you didn't already know being a son of someone who actually accomplished is qualification ennough. Poweel, Rehnquist,BushMurkoski, Scalia etc.