Ken Berwitz

When I was very young, maybe 3 or 4, I was very active.  I used to flail my arms, flail my arms and scream out god only knows what.  My parents called it my "crazy dance".

The "crazy dance" period was probably for a matter of months and was long gone before I hit kindergarten.  But, strangely, some of us continue to "crazy dance" in one form or another even as adults.

With this in mind, please read the following piece, about congressperson Patrick Kennedy, by Brent Baker of www.newsbusters.org:

NBC’s Williams Showcases ‘Gripping’ Kennedy Screaming Against Media from the Left

By Brent Baker (Bio | Archive)
Thu, 03/11/2010 - 02:19 ET 

 

When conservatives take to the House floor to criticize the news media’s liberal distortions, that’s not newsworthy to NBC, but Wednesday’s NBC Nightly News made time to showcase an unhinged liberal Democrat, Representative Patrick Kennedy, screaming against the media during House floor remarks in favor of a Dennis Kucinich-backed resolution to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year, a fringe proposition which was soundly defeated 356 to 65.

Left wing blogs, such as Huffington Post, also jumped to publicize Kennedy’s rant, with Talking Points Memo calling it “a must-see moment.”

Anchor Brian Williams characterized Kennedy’s yelling tirade as “a gripping moment,” describing how Kennedy railed against “U.S. strategy in the war, then he turned on the news media and how few have bothered to show up to cover the debate.” Williams’ embracing set up, with “Speaking Out” as the on-screen heading:

 

There was a gripping moment this afternoon here in Washington. It happened on the floor of the House of Representatives as the House was debating withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Congressman Patrick Kennedy, a Democrat who represents Rhode Island, the son of the late Ted Kennedy, got up and gave a loud, emotional and angry speech about U.S. losses in the war, U.S. strategy in the war, then he turned on the news media and how few have bothered to show up to cover the debate.

 

Viewers were then treated to a screaming Kennedy:

 

If anybody wants to know where cynicism is, cynicism is that there's one, two press people in this gallery! We’re talking about Eric Massa 24/7 on the TV. We’re talking about war and peace, $3 billion, 1,000 lives and no press? No press?! You want to know why the American public is fit? They’re fit because they’re not seeing their Congress do the work they are sent to do. It's because the press, the press of the United States is not covering the most significant issue of national importance, and that's the laying of lives down in the nation for the service of our country! It's despicable the national press corps right now.

Audio:   MP3 clip, with Kennedy's screaming.    Video:   Click here

Williams finished up without mentioning the overwhelming defeat for the measure: “Congressman Patrick Kennedy, who recently announced in the wake of his father’s death, he will not run for re-election to Congress. He’s coming to the end of his eighth term in office.”

-There is no point to Mr. Kennedy's anger over how few media were in the chamber. Afghanistan is covered in the media every day, often as a front page, even lead, story. The fact that a debate over Dennis Kucinich's resolution, which had no chance at all of passing, was not well covered, is more a statement of how futile a gesture it was than any effort to underreport Afghanistan;

-I notice that Mr. Kennedy's attack was exclusively against the media. This leads me to wonder why he did not attack his own party, since a vast majority of Democrats (over 3/4 of them) voted against the Kucinich resolution. Using his logic, doesn't this mean that Democrats are despicable too?;

-The most remarkable part of Mr. Kennedy's statement was when he described his belief that we should not be trying to secure ground in Afghanistan. Instead, according to Kennedy, "We ought to be going after the taliban, the terrorists, anybody who is organizing to strike at our country". Other than Kabul, the country's capital, wasn't that, in large part, President Bush's policy in Afghanistan?   I wonder if Patrick Kennedy realized as much while his arms flailed and his voice screamed;.

-One last point:  That was a helluva reporting job by Brian Williams.  "Gripping"?  Kennedy's rant was only "gripping" because it made him look like an uncontrollable nutjob who just took a double dose of uppers.....oh, wait, this is Patrick Kennedy, isn't it?  Hey, maybe......

Mercifully, Mr. Kennedy has declined to run for a 9th term in congress.  Maybe, instead of the alcohol and/or drug rehabs he has been to in the past, he can find a place where they address people who rave and gesticulate in public places.