Reflex Lying
(Via Atrios ) 2 nights ago, Letterman played a hilarious clip of W trying to give a speech in Florida with this kid right behind him, bored out of his mind and amusing himself. It was so funny that CNN played it a few times during the day yesterday, the first time wondering if the pictures had been faked (the kid is totally ignored by everyone around him), the next 2 times indicating they have been assured by the White House that it is fake. Apparently denial is the first White House response, no matter the truth, whether the charge is national security failure from an insider, or just giving a boring speech, as charged by a late-night comedian. The Bush people got to CNN anchor Daryn Kagan quick. She showed the clip before a commercial break, and then right after it, said this:

"KAGAN: All right, had a good giggle before the break, that video from David Letterman. We're being told by the White House that the kid, as funny as he was, was edited into that video, which would explain why the people around him weren't really reacting. So that from the White House."

Later in the day, with anchor Kyra Phillips (who is truly awful), the denial got more specific:

"PHILLIPS: OK. We're told that that kid was there at that event, but not necessarily standing behind the president. So you can put it all together."

In the next day's show, Dave was peeved because, of course, the White House totally lied, or at least think they can just make stuff up when it will help. No transcript from the show, but a recap on the website gives details:

"Dave says what the CNN reporter said was an out and out 100% lie. A couple hours later, CNN anchor person Kyra Phillips reported that the kid was at the speech but not where the Late Show had him. Dave again makes the claim, 'That's an out and out absolute 100% lie. That kid was exactly where we said he was.' It's true. The speech was at a Florida Rally on March 20th at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. Dave is irked that the White House was trying to make him look like a jerk. But he's glad he got his side of the story out in the open."

Is it possible the White House will find a way to offend every on-air comedian? Howard Stern's website is now almost completely devoted to anti-Bush links, appeals to register to vote, and links to contribute to Kerry. If we can get the sex-crazed, male voyeur vote for Kerry (or if at least I'm no longer the only one...), does Bush stand a chance?

{UPDATE: The links to media I posted yesterday don't work today; they're just too popular. This may work for viewing the original Letterman piece, from Horkulated.}

{UPDATE 2 (Thursday): This story keeps getting weirder. ON CNN today, Kagan acknowledged that the footage was not faked, but claimed that in fact the White House never called to say it was:

"KAGAN: All right, now we need to do something that you'll probably see on 'David Letterman' later tonight. We need to clear up something from a couple days ago. You might recall that we had some fun with some tape that we took from the Letterman show. It's of a kid who had trouble staying alert during a presidential speech in Orlando last month.

So we aired it on this show and then after we did, they had me come on here and tell you that the White House called and told us it was faked.

Well, it turns out due to a, what we might say a misunderstanding among the folks who are usually so fantastic behind me here in the newsrooms, it turns out that was not true. The White House, it turns out, I guess never did call us about the tape. The Letterman show, if you've been watching at night, strongly denies it was fake. Boy, do they strongly deny that. And we've been looking through our tapes and apparently we now see no evidence that it was faked."

Problem is, last night, in a statement CNN surely knew about when they aired that Kagan retraction, Letterman came out claiming that their show had a strong source who assures them the White House indeed DID call:

"CNN is now saying the White House never called them. But why would CNN say the White House HAD called if the White House never did? Hmmm. And Dave reveals that our source, a very good source, confirms the White House DID call the CNN. Hoo boy, this is getting interesting."

Weirder still, the Washington Post gives a nice account of this tale, but about last night says: "Letterman recapped the story and joked that he's hearing that maybe the White House did speak to CNN about 'George W. Bush Invigorates America's Youth.'" But if you watched the show last night it was obvious he was not joking about having a source that assures him the call came from the White House. This makes CNN and the White House look really bad. CNN should know better, and should stop being the White House's poodle. As for the White House, as Letterman producer Rob Burnett said, "we don't need to doctor footage to make our politicians look silly."}