By Scott Tibbs, October 11, 2011
On ABC's This Week on October 2, political "reporter" Jonathan Karl said that Ron Paul was a political "loser" this week because he said that the death of Anwar al-Awlaki was "sad." Except that is not what Paul said. What Paul actually said was that it is sad that the U.S. is engaging in extrajudicial assassinations of American citizens, without the benefit of a trial. While the other Republicans lined up behind President Obama, Paul (and Dennis Kucinich) stood on principle against it.
It was incredibly dishonest to paint Paul as somehow soft on terrorism or sympathetic to terrorists because of his concerns about targeted assassinations of American citizens. Paul's concerns were about whether government should have the power to kill American citizens without judicial review, and the precedent this establishes for further erosion of civil liberties. As I asked yesterday, is there really a fundamental difference between Tim McVeigh and al-Awlaki? Can we execute American citizens without a trial on American soil if we designate them as enemy combatants?
This is why we cannot have a reasonable conversation about where the limits should be in our prosecution of the War on Terrorism. Both opportunistic politicians and cynical journalists spin legitimate concerns about government power into something that bears absolutely no resemblance to what was actually said. The same can be said for civil liberties concerns in the War on Crime.
Jonathan Karl is a shameless, despicable liar who should be fired from his position at ABC News. It greatly undermines the credibility of ABC News to have him on staff after Sunday's shameful display of yellow journalism. Rather than honestly examining Paul's views and offering viewers a reasonable, honest and factual discussion of this killing, a so-called "reporter" decided to smear and lie about what a candidate for President said about a major foreign policy decision.
Keep in mind that I am not a Ron Paul supporter; I am supporting Rick Perry. Paul is not in my top five choices of Republicans running for President. What I have a problem with is "journalists" who shamelessly lie rather than report the facts. This should serve to remind Republicans why we cannot trust the mainstream media. Now that Jonathan Karl has revealed his true colors and complete lack of integrity, Republicans would be wise to freeze him out , refusing to talk to him about anything.
