Comments on: Senator Levin responds to Military Coup in Honduras

By: Jeff Smith

Jeff Smith — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 15:23:04 +0000

Peter, that tends to be the spectrum of opinion on official state enemies of the US. Patrick Ireland had an interesting response to the PBS Frontline slam of Chavez that you might find interesting.
http://www.counterpunch.org/irelan11252008.html

By: Peter Ruark

Peter Ruark — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:13:29 +0000

Thanks, Jeff, for the book recommendation. I recall a few years ago when PBS News Hour presented “opposing viewpoints” on Hugo Chavez: one person arguing that Chavez was crazy, bad for Venezuela and a threat to the U.S., and the other arguing that he was just crazy and bad for Venezuela.

By: Jeff Smith

Jeff Smith — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:36:46 +0000

Peter, I am unaware of any US member of Congress who has condemned the coup or made statements in support of Zelaya. I have not done an exhaustive investigation, but even progressive members of Congress like Russ Feingold and Dennis Kucinich have not made any formal statements on this issue.

Thanks for mentioning the PBS News Hour, which tends to rely on many of the same sources as the networks. People often think that the News Hour is better journalism, but author William Hoynes shows in his book “By Invitation Only” that the News Hour tends to rely on many of the same guests and sources for their show as the networks and cable news programs.

By: Peter Ruark

Peter Ruark — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 23:46:57 +0000

Are there any members of the U.S. House or Senate who have made statements in support of Zelaya or condemning the coup?

(The day after it happened, on PBS News Hour a former Bush administration official even denied it was a coup!)