Brooke Baldwin apologizes to veterans
Our buddy, media critic, Eric Wemple, reports in the Washington Post that Brook Baldwin, the CNN reporter who accused veterans of being the cause for the riots in Baltimore, apologized yesterday morning;
Wemple says that Baldwin “shows the rest of the media how to apologize”, and I’ll admit that it is a good apology, it was better than many and certainly puts Brian William apologies to shame. I have no doubt that Baldwin is contrite and I can tell that she is contrite by her words, but that’s not the problem.
I made a mistake yesterday. We were in the middle of live TV, I was talking to a member of Congress, and I was recounting a story, a conversation I had had recently just referring to police. And I absolutely misspoke, I inartfully chose my words 100 percent and I just wish speaking to all of you this morning: I wholeheartedly retract what I said. And I’ve thought tremendously about this, and to our nation’s veterans, to you — this is just who I want to speak with this morning — I have the utmost respect for our men and women in uniform. And I wanted you to know that this morning, so to all of you, I owe a tremendous apology. I am truly sorry.
If, for example, I had made the statement that all Black people are savages who would act like the looters and pillagers in Baltimore if given the chance, how many apologies would I have to make? Would an apology ever make that statement go away? OK, so what if I mitigated the completely racist and unsupported statement by telling you, that it is OK that I said that because members of my family and some of my best friends are Black – would you accept that as an excuse? Of course not, and you shouldn’t. My friends and family members who are Black, probably wouldn’t forgive me either.
But that is what Baldwin said essentially in her first Tweet on her insensitive statement;
Folks. Please don't misunderstand me. Dear friends/family of mine are veterans. I was repeating a concern vocalized to me lately. That's it.
— Brooke Baldwin (@BrookeBCNN) April 28, 2015
And then, the great defender of veterans’ reputations, Paul Reickhoff rode to her defense with some nebulous friendship that Baldwin has with veterans that only Reickhoff knows about, because, aside from being a valor thief, he’s a selfish little twit and this is how he feathers his nest by sucking up to the media;
.@BrookeBCNN's been a friend to vets always–and covered our issues when few others would. Enough already. Let's move on to real problems.
— Paul (PJ) Rieckhoff (@PaulRieckhoff) April 29, 2015
Here’s the whole problem in a nutshell – Baldwin should not have said that veterans are ticking time bombs just waiting to explode on their communities. The culture in many news organizations makes it OK to disparage veterans and the veteran culture by blaming that which they don’t understand for all of society’s problems.
Millions of veterans don’t commit violent crime every day, thousands of veterans in police uniforms act honorably every day while saving the world from itself. But the Brooke Baldwins of many of the media outlets don’t find that sexy enough to report – it’s easier to make veterans out to be monsters and to blame those monsters for all of society’s ills – instead of looking at the real problems, the problems that are politically incorrect to talk about.
Yeah, that was a nice apology, probably the best I’ve heard, but the problem is that the statement she made can’t be apologized away. That statement is indicative of a larger problem that the media has with reporting about veterans.
Category: Media
I regard her “apology” the same way I do “Hanoi Jane” Fonda’s so-called “apologies” for what she did. I’m certain she’s only sorry her comment backfired on her and it might impact her job! I’m also sure she’ll do it again, it’s only a matter of time!
Yes, that is a well crafted apology. I, for one, will accept it. But, forgiving her is quite different from forgetting that she is a twit, with apparent ties (just because Rieckhoff claims it doesn’t make it so) to less than stellar examples of US military veterans. Her opinion of veterans is formed by who she selects to believe, thus she remains willfully ignorant.
Well said. As I opined/asked on facebook; given her lack of knowledge or analytical skills, what did she bring to the table to get an anchor job at CNN? Followed by, she is a walking and talking example of why CNN is now in the ratings and public respect toilet.
My guess on what’s she brings to the table for the anchor slot is a 36B. But my guestimate could be off.
Yeah, it was a nice apology. And I still say f— her. Here’s why: stop and think for a moment what sort of person, what sort of American, could even think what she thought, let alone give voice to those thoughts? She is no kid, fresh from college indoctrination classes. She’s a 35 or 36 year old woman whose very job it is to think on her feet. No, I believe she meant what she said. She let the cat out of the bag. That’s all.
As I told Jonn last night, I do think she was sincere. I think she really did open her mouth and insert her foot without thinking, and I’d like to think that she really doesn’t believe this kind of crap. She owned what she said, and that goes a long way with me.
That said… I agree there’s a bigger problem at large here. People feel they can disparage veterans, and I would wager a guess that some of them think they can mitigate it away with the thought process that these poor, traumatized souls come home from war completely fucked up, and BAD WAR… I would be willing to bet that they don’t even think what they’re saying is disparaging until they are forced to think about it. That does indicate a large problem.
Agree with your comments 100% Nicki. You said it much better than I could have.
One other thing. She stated in her first BS apology that she has family who are Veterans. I would love to know whether that is even true. I seriously doubt it and I noticed that she never mentioned that again after she first said it. If it were true, she would have said, ‘My gosh, my own brother/sister/father/mother/whatever is a Veteran! But she didn’t. My BS gauge arrow is in the red zone.
You nailed it Jonn.
The media has moved away from reporting on events to creating something to report. they look for angles that do not exist and hype up the smallest details until they over shadow the real news.
The truth in the matter of Baltimore and Ferguson is the the media hyped those events so much with out real facts that they drove the civil unrest. Then they look around and try to make everyone accountable but refuse to admit they are large part of the problem.
What she did in her street interview was push her own agenda, i.e., veterans in police departments are to blame for what a bunch of hooligans did. Her adrenaline level was high enough to make her rattle that out without thinking.
She can’t retract what she originally said. While she can apologize to the end of her days, it won’t work because too many people got the real message – that her personal bias colors everything she says and does.
hmmmm…..
In my best company commander voice….
Bullshit, LT. Bullshit.
Myself, after having stuck my foot in my mouth on numerous occasions I am inclined to forgive and while not forget but just to file it away for further use should the need arise.
I understand how it can happen when you are in the heat of the debate or being led somewhere by someone that you shouldn’t be following.
So I do forgive her but will hang on to the hoof and mouth disease moniker for however long I still have enough brain cells to remember it.
That may be next week, considering I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s.
Um, no. An OOPS moment. She wouldn’t have said it if she didn’t believe it.
凸(｀0´)凸
Forgive? Maybe.
Forget? Not a fucking chance.
And as for that member of Congress who was standing next to her? In the ear with a frozen trout. He pretty much expressed how he felt about veterans as well, but we’ll never hear an apology from him.
What she said originally was to push an agenda. And she would have let it hang out there without further comment, except for the push back and blow back that the Left Libtard media are now getting from flyover country. And even at that, the “apology” is carefully crafted to say nothing while appeasing the conservative yokels and still maintain their bona fides with the socialists.
Paul Stookey used to talk about what he called “person impersonal” speech – like saying “We’d like to welcome you to Nashville” – but then they never do. That’s what I get out of her apology “I owe a big apology to all the veterans”. Her apology is better than most… but when someone slugs me and then says they are sorry, my jaw still hurts.
Well, lady – an apology alone doesn’t undo the damage you caused, even if inadvertently. How about you come talk to us again after you’ve made a real attempt to repair that damage?
Freudian Slips represent the core beliefs within all of us. Media persons spend a lot of their time searching for these types of utterances to nail blame on celebrities and private citizens in all walks of life. And, when they find it, they grind the axe of negativity relentlessly often directing the outcome of events from their lofty perch which destroys lives and careers. Brooke Baldwin should expect no less. This isn’t her first rodeo and my opinion is that she shouldn’t be allowed to continue in a domain such as CNN where facts matter and slips of the tongue shatter. Note: Comment submitted by a 100% Disabled Vietnam Veteran.
Brooke showed her true colors… and Rieckhoff trying to defect from her “misspeak” doesn’t help (he just reiterates the Hollywood/limousine liberal ideas that vets are brain damaged nutcases looking to cause trouble).
Paul Rieckhoff. The cherry on the turd sundae of this whole story. Shitbag.
Word.
A pretty face does not make you any less of an idiot.
Pretty is as pretty does (or says) — and ‘Sorry’ doesn’t cut it. As far as I’m concerned, she’s proved that she’s nothing more than another militarily ignorant tv twit.
She’s a useless turd. People like her are another reason why I quit watching any of the so called major news outlets years ago.
Babbling liberals, – *PTUI!*
What an outlaw point of view. (smile)
Ten Bears sees iron in your words.
“I notice when you get to DIS-likin’ someone they ain’t around for long neither.”
I would really prefer we take a pass on becoming just another of the “perpetually aggrieved” outfits.
She screwed up. She then admitted, with a lack of weasel words, that she screwed up.
And, there is a bit of a thing in the general drift. There is a problem with police forces, metro and rural, militarizing in attitudes, techniques and equipment. It would be very easy for outsiders to see that as veterans having an impact on police forces.
But seriously. Why do I have to be the nice guy on this? You all know I suck at it.
Knock it the f*** off! K?
I accept it as a sincere apology. But I also believe that she showed her biases probably more than she realizes.
Forgive? OK.
Forget? Never.
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As I have stated elsewhere on these interweb’s….She can go suck start a Mac truck for all I care.
Preferably an old Mack “B” Model, one of the old ones that always belched big clouds of soot every time the driver stepped on the foot feed pedal!
OK, the stupid broad apologized. But there are things worth remembering here.
Real reporters simply report what they see and leave their opinions at home.
Tabloid reporters make things up, promote an agenda and frequently have ulterior motives when they interview people.
This dumb broad is not a repoter. She’s on the level of the tabloid reporter or gossip columnist – whiever you like – and her entire motivation was fear-mongering.
She can make all the apologies she wants to, but when she rattled out her personal opinion, she showed her true colors and her ignorance, which she can’t take back. She knows nothing about what active duty servicemembers do on deployment, but just assumes they’re all out in the field, shooting at things, which is completely not true. She also assumes that all AD peeps get deployed, which is also not true. I think she’d love to have a chance to fan the flames of prejudice so that she could be on top of the heap of people scrambling to get the story.
Her ‘apology’ was manufactured to appease the people she offended, which makes it meaningless.
At this point, she’s not much more than a propaganda machine for the liberal pols.