Contributed by: filbert Monday, March 27 2006 @ 08:14 AM CST
Gateway Pundit[*1] has most of the story. Click over there to get this party started, now . . .
But, one blog story isn’t enough to fully document pretty Lara’s bad day. The real punchline is in this exchange between pretty Lara and Reliable Sources host Howard Kurtz, courtesy Newsbusters.org[*2] :
KURTZ: I want to play for you a piece of tape involving Laura Ingraham, the conservative radio talk show how who was on “The Today Show” earlier this week and criticized “The Today Show” for not doing more from Iraq.
Let’s listen to what she had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAURA INGRAHAM, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: To do a show from Iraq means to talk to the Iraqi military, to go out with the Iraqi military, to actually have a conversation with the people instead of reporting from hotel balconies about the latest IEDs going off.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KURTZ: What do you make of that comment about reporting from hotel balconies?
LOGAN: Well, I think it’s outrageous. I mean, Laura Ingraham should come to Iraq and not be talking about what journalists are doing from the comfort of her studio in the United States, the comfort and the safety.
I mean, I don’t know any journalist that wants to just sit in a hotel room in Iraq. Does anybody understand that for us we used to be able to drive to Ramadi, we used to drive to Falluja, we used to drive to Najaf. We could travel all over this country without having to fly in military helicopters.
That’s the only way we can move around here. So, it’s when the military can accommodate us, if the military can accommodate us, then we can go out and see.
I have been out with Iraqi security forces over and over again. And you know what? When bob Woodruff was out with Iraqi security forces and he was injured, the first thing that people were asking was, oh, was he being responsible by placing himself in this position with Iraqi forces? And they started to question his responsibility and integrity as a journalist.
I mean, we just can’t win. I think it’s an outrage to point the finger at journalists and say that this is our fault. I really do. And I think it shows an abject lack of respect for any journalist that’s prepared to come to this country and risk their lives.
KURTZ: All right. I do…
LOGAN: And that’s not just me. That’s the crews, that’s all the people that make up our teams here.
KURTZ: I do want to point out that Laura Ingraham was in Iraq last month for eight days, and that was part of the reason for her appearance.
Hm. Maybe Lara wasn’t hired for her looks, after all. Maybe it was her incisive knack for getting the facts right. Yeah, that must be it.
Update: In re-reading pretty Lara’s rant, she did say something I totally agree with:
I think it shows an abject lack of respect for any journalist that’s prepared to come to this country and risk their lives.
Yes, Lara, it does show a lack of respect. But you see, respect is not given. It is earned. Go out and earn it, like Michael Totten[*3] , Michael Yon[*4] , and so many other Internet reporters have.