Wednesday, December 22, 2004
The "Planted Question" That Wasn't (Planted, That Is)
By now, it's accepted as fact in the US press: An AP journalist planted a question with a soldier, who then in turn used the planted question to attack and embarrass Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld during a recent photo-op visit to Iraq.
There's only one problem: The question wasn't planted.
Both the journalist and the soldier agree that the only thing the AP guy did was talk with that soldier, and many other soldiers, about questions that could be asked of Rumsfeld during his visit. The AP guy didn't plant any specific questions -- the soldiers came up with those all by themselves.
And the questions, to judge from the applause they got from the soldiers present when they were asked, were definitely ones worth the asking.
More blogs about politics.
