Catching the mainstream media redhanded

Here's an exchange of emails between USA Today columnist Richard Benedetto and a Loaded Mouth, reader who will remain anonymous. She dares to ask the USA Today columnist why he's paying more attention to the Mary Cheney bullshit rather than Bush's actual lies in this debate. He had some candid comments in response. So candid, in fact, that it looked like he tried forwarding her email to a buddy but hit "reply" by mistake. My thanks to anonymous (you know who you are) for bringing this to my attention.

From: [anonymous]
Sent: Saturday, October 16, 2004 3:30 PM
To: Benedetto, Richard
Cc: USAT ED Letters to the Editor; loudobbs@cnn.com
Subject: Truth and Lies

Why is it that you are covering Kerry's mentioning of Mary Cheney with such fervor yet you are not talking about Bush's whopper of a lie about not caring about Bin Laden's whereabouts?

Why is it that Kerry's truth is making bigger headlines than Bush's lie?

KERRY: Six months after he said Osama bin Laden must be caught dead or alive, this president was asked, "Where is Osama bin Laden? " He said, "I don't know. I don't really think about him very much. I'm not that concerned. We need a president who stays deadly focused on the real war on terror.
SCHIEFFER: Mr. President?
BUSH: Gosh, I just don't think I ever said I'm not worried about Osama bin Laden. It's kind of one of those exaggerations.

Exaggerations? Cut to a March 13, 2003 press conference:

Q: Mr. President, in your speeches now, you rarely talk or mention Osama bin Laden. Why is that? [...]
BUSH: ... I don't know where he is. Nor -- you know, I just don't spend that much time on him really, to be honest with you [...]
Q: Do you believe the threat that bin Laden posed won't truly be eliminated until he is found either dead of alive?
BUSH: As I say, we hadn't heard much from him. And I wouldn't necessarily say he's at the center of any command structure. And, you know, again, I don't know where he is.
I'll repeat what I said: I truly am not that concerned about him.

Much of this whole election year has been based on "Terror terror terror." Yet you turn away from it the second it should really get coverage. The Mary Cheney statements should have gotten next-to-no press because you should have been busy talking about the biggest lie about the biggest issue of our times (or so you, the media, says.) Your taking of the bait and distractions that Lynn Cheney put out is infuriating and disappointing.

-=-=-

From: Benedetto, Richard [mailto:rbenedet@usatoday.com]
Sent: Saturday, October 16, 2004 12:04 PM
To: [anonymous]
Subject: RE: Truth and Lies

more proof that the Kerry people are worried about the Mary Cheney comments. This is organized stuff, not a random email by someone who read my column

-=-=-

[no header provided for her reply]

Did you accidentally hit reply instead of forward? Don’t discredit my email by saying I’m a robot who is lead by an organization. I’m a lesbian and I can tell you that the only people angry by Kerry’s comments are Lynne and Dick Cheney who are probably embarrassed that their daughter is gay in the first place.

Why did you not address my point? Maybe because you didn’t actually reply to me.