Thursday, September 29, 2005

Neil Cavuto: Bad Journalist, Bad American

From the September 27 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes: (ed note: via Media Matters)

COLMES: Neil, listen, I love your commentaries, many of which are in their book. They're witty. But you can love America -- You have Iraq and patriotism, you have a piece on that. You can be against the war and still be a patriot.

CAVUTO: Absolutely.

COLMES: We're not all flag-burners because we don't agree with this particular mission. And you use the word "flag-burning," for example, in one of your commentaries, right?

CAVUTO: Yes, I do.

COLMES: I mean, we're not flag burners -- we're haters if we disagree.

CAVUTO: No, because my view, guys is very -- and I'll tell you, Alan, my view is very simple. A lot of people make fun and they're like, "Oh, you know, you're a Yankee doodle dandy, the flag pin." As [Fox News chairman and CEO] Roger Ailes has indicated, I'm pro-choice on flag pins. If you don't want to wear them, that's fine. I am saying this, though, that I would much sooner go down as a pretty good American when I try to be versus a good journalist. The good journalist thing is not nearly as important.

HANNITY: Well, I think you're a great American.
So let me get this straight:

In order to be a good journalist, you have to be a bad American, and in order to be a good American, you have to be a bad journalist?

But freedom of the press is SO important that the Founding Fathers put it right at the top of the list of the rights we have? So that means the Founding Fathers supported bad Americans?

Well, Neal, let me say it this way.

You're a shitty journalist.

And a shitty American.

Especially for thinking this way.

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