Jewish World Review July 21, 2003 / 21 Tamuz, 5763

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White House smear?


http://www.jewishworldreview.com | WASHINGTON Some folks in the White House were apparently hopping mad when ABC News correspondent Jeffrey Kofman did a story on Tuesday's "World News Tonight" about the plummeting morale of U.S. soldiers stationed in Iraq.

So angry, in fact, that the next day, a White House operative alerted cyber-gossip Matt Drudge to the fact that Kofman is not only openly gay, he's Canadian.

Drudge told us he was unaware of the ABC story until "someone from the White House communications shop tipped me to it," along with a profile of Kofman in the gay-oriented magazine The Advocate. On Wednesday, the Drudge Report bannered Kofman's widely quoted ABC story -- in which enlisted people questioned the Army's credibility and one irked soldier went on camera to call on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign -- and linked to The Advocate piece with the understated headline "ABC NEWS REPORTER WHO FILED TROOP COMPLAINT STORY IS CANADIAN."

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan "is having a rough first week," Drudge said. "The White House press office is under new management and has become slightly more aggressive about contacting reporters. This story has certainly become talk radio fodder about the cultural wars-slash-liberal bias in the media."

A network insider was less sanguine about the tactic: "Playing hardball is one thing. But appealing to homophobia and jingoism is simply ugly."

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Kofman said from Baghdad, where he is covering the 3rd Infantry Division: "This morning I had a meeting with one of the commanding officers, and we talked about my report and the response back home. He said he'd read about it on the Drudge Report and had just one question. 'Is it true that you're Canadian?' I just smiled and said, 'My life is an open book.' "

ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider told us: "Sadly, when people feel wounded by a truthful report, they attempt to attack the messenger." A White House spokesman, meanwhile, disavowed the incident: "This is the first we've heard of it, and it would be totally inappropriate if true."

CANNIBALISM ON THE RIGHT

The most dangerous place in Washington is between Rep. Joseph Pitts (R-Pa.), chairman of the conservative Values Action Team, and the Rev. Lou Sheldon and his daughter Andrea Lafferty of the Traditional Values Coalition.

Judging by the letter Pitts sent Sheldon and Lafferty on Thursday, he'd just as soon strangle them as write to them.

"Dear Lou and Andrea," Pitts began his scorching missive, in which he kicked their group off the Values Action Team. "As you are now well aware, your recent conduct has infuriated the pro-life community in Washington."

Sheldon and Lafferty's staunchly antiabortion group recently sent out direct-mail pieces attacking 25 Republican House members for allegedly letting the abortion drug RU486 into the United States by supporting the importation of cheap pharmaceuticals from Canada. "Your willingness to attack Members of Congress whom you should regard as friends without so much a warning is offensive," Pitts raged. "Your unwillingness to return calls or accept an invitation to discuss this matter betrays a lack of forthrightness or good will."

Sheldon and Lafferty didn't return our phone call, either.

THIS JUST IN ...

-- Looks like possible California gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger has already won the crucial Jean-Claude Van Damme Primary. "Arnold is a cool guy," the fading action star told reporters at the Ischia Film & Music Global Fest near Naples, Italy. "He works out in the gym every day. He is very smart and intelligent. He's a pal of mine. I love him. I will vote for him. He's responsible, and that's important in politics." All the Belgian-born Van Damme has to do now is become an American citizen.

-- Looking at George W. Bush's White House, we can hardly believe there was a time when presidents enjoyed good relations with the news media. At the National Press Club, Jerry Ford reminded folks that there was indeed such a time. The 90-year-old ex-president, joined by his 85-year-old wife, Betty, handed out the Gerald R. Ford Prizes -- for distinguished reporting on the presidency to the Washington Post's Bob Woodward and Dan Balz, and for national defense reporting to the Wall Street Journal's Greg Jaffe. "In four decades as a reporter, Gerald Ford was the nicest, most decent person I ever covered," CBS News veteran Bob Schieffer told the lunchtime crowd. "Mr. President, we love you."



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Up

07/17/03: Yet another intern scandal; it's her party and she can pay if she wants to
07/14/03: On the auction block: JFK'S boxer shorts; love bytes the maestro
07/10/03: A hairy situation at Homeland Security; Van Susteren v. Orth
06/30/03: Rep. Patrick Kennedy: I've never worked a (bleeping) day in my life; Drudge's dressing down; Ken Lay's Kerry connection
06/26/03: Rapping the beat
06/23/03: Another Watergate scandal?; AL GORE TV!
06/19/03: Tony Snow, rocker?; that won't be crow on Mr. Carlson's plate
06/16/03: Missing dog, ransom demand, Hollywood ending
06/12/03: Giving both parties the needle
06/09/03: WHAT DID SHE KNOW, AND WHEN DID SHE KNOW IT?
06/05/03: Incoming from Barbara Bush?
06/02/03: Bob Dole's plan for fighting unemployment
05/29/03: Newt's new novel
05/27/03: Hitchens & Blumenthal, together again; He still believes in a man called Hope
05/09/03: Close, but no cigar; Romeo & Juliet with a happy ending?; Geraldo to help Heebs?
05/05/03: So Bill Gates and Tom Brokaw walk into a coffee bar . . .; hotel hell; more

© 2003, Creators Syndicate