October 5, 2005, - 12:39 am
Al Jazeera’s American Boob
By Debbie Schlussel
Meet America’s latest big boob. No, it’s not one of Anna Nicole Smith’s.
His name is Josh Rushing, the Village Voice’s fave former Marine Captain. And he’s very excited about his latest showbiz role: chief American monkey for Al Jazeera.
When we last saw Rushing, he was out of a job (he was Al-Jazeera’s press liaison at Central Command), going on “Nightline,” Bill Moyers’ “NOW” on PBS, and whatever other liberal media sop would have him and his “somebody give me a job” pronouncements. Ted Koppel gushed over him.
Rushing was looking for a job because he was essentially fired from the U.S. military after his moronic starring role in the Al-Jazeera propaganda fluff film, “Control Room.”
Not only is he a bigger boob than Anna Nicole Smith’s entire chest combined, Rushing also shares her intellect and the politics of . . . well, Al-Jazeera. Maybe that’s why Al-Jazeera just hired Rushing to be it’s American propagandist . . . er, correspondent.
His pronouncements in “Control Room” were replete with comparisons of FOX News Channel to Al-Jazeera and wishes to make a career of promoting “the Palestinian issue.”
“Control Room” was the 2004 one-sided promotional vehicle for the terrorist news network. American military press aides–especially Rushing–were portrayed as stupid (in Rushing’s case, not a stretch) and insensitive. American military personnel were portrayed as murderers, liars, and everything else bad you can think of. Al-Jazeera, of course, was portrayed as a noble, non-biased bastion of journalism. Why, its chief producer was upset when, at the start of the War in Iraq, a booker chose a far-left American-basher instead of someone “more balanced.” Yeah, right.
Detroit Free Press film critic, no conservative, wrote of “Control Room” that it “leaves unanswered far too many critical questions about Al Jazeera’s mission, its funding, its status in Arab countries, and its standing among international media.”
Rushing–loved by most mainstream media as “genuinely committed” (Entertainment Weekly), “articulate” (Time Magazine), and “impressive” (Seattle’s KING5) – had some interesting comments in “Control Room,” when he wasn’t stumbling over his words.
On FOX News Channel: “We’re watching Al-Jazeera and I can tell what they’re showing, and then I can tell what they’re not showing by choice. . . . Same thing when I watch FOX on the other end of the spectrum. It benefits Al-Jazeera to play to Arab nationalism because that’s their audience, just like FOX plays to American patriotism for the exact same reason–American nationalism.”
Huh?
FOX News Channel is not a government-run media outlet. Al-Jazeera, founded and funded by Qatar’s Royal Al-Thani family, is. FOX News doesn’t employ “journalists” who moonlight as terrorists. Al-Jazeera does. Days ago, Taysir Alouni, an Al-Jazeera war correspondent, was convicted in Spain of financing, recruiting and logistically supporting Al Qaeda. An Al-Jazeera reporter was arrested in 2004 for providing monetary and other aid to Palestinian terrorists. I don’t see Brit Hume or Sean Hannity doing that anytime soon.
Al Jazeera features a weekly religious show hosted by terrorist group Muslim Brotherhood’s spiritual leader, Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi–who issues fatwas urging homicide bombings in Israel and against U.S. soldiers in Iraq. FOX News does no such thing.
But Josh Rushing is too dense to see a difference. Now working for Jazeera, Rushing says he’d “like to go on FOX News as much as possible.” Good luck.
Then there is Rushing on Israel. When bloated Al-Jazeera “journalist” Hassan Ibrahim complains about “Palestine” and compares it to Iraq and the Israelis to Americans, Rushing responds, “I absolutely agree with you. If I get out of the Marine Corps and do anything, I wanna do something with the Palestinian issue. I don’t think Americans are getting good information about it. I really don’t.”
Funny how none of these comments made it into the recent USA Today cover story puff piece on Rushing.
Rushing tells Al-Jazeera how its footage of Iraqi bombing victims “didn’t affect me as much” as footage of dead American soldiers and hostages and that he just forgot about it and went to dinner. “It upset me on a profound level that I wasn’t as bothered as much.”
There’s more of Rushing’s servile “tell ’em what they wanna hear about us evil Americans” pronouncements. He can’t help it. He just wants to be loved. As Detroit Free Press film critic Lawson writes of Rushing, “he often seems to be auditioning for a best friend role.” Sometimes “serving your country” isn’t really much of a service.
When “Control Room” came out, Pentagon brass realized what a mistake they made allowing this fawning, airheaded charmer to appear in this Islamist version of Leni Riefenstahl Productions. They demoted Rushing back to the graveyard of Hollywood studio liaison and made it clear he wouldn’t be moving up again. They also forbade him from ever talking to the press again.
So Rushing quit the Marine Corps, and begged for a job on “Nightline” and everywhere else. And his dream of “do[ing] something with the Palestinian issue” came true when the only employer that would have him–his old friends at Jazeera–came-a-calling. The marine didn’t see working for this murder-enabling network as disloyal. They’re paying him much more than the $70,000 the Marines paid. Don’t expect someone without a brain to have a conscience.
Now this enemy-pandering nimrod, Josh Rushing, is the new face of America to billions of radical Muslims worldwide.
No wonder they disdain us.
Tags: Al Jazeera's mission, Al-Jazeera "journalist" Hassan Ibrahim, al-Qaeda, America, Anna Nicole Smith, Bill Moyers, Brit Hume, Captain, Central Command, chief producer, Control Room, correspondent, Debbie Schlussel Meet, Detroit Free Press, Entertainment Weekly, film critic, government-run media outlet, Iraq, Israel, Josh Rushing, Josh Rushing His, liberal media sop, mainstream media, murder-enabling network, Muslim Brotherhood, News Channel, Nightline, NOW, Palestine, Pentagon, Qatar, reporter, Sean Hannity, Seattle, Spain, spiritual leader, Taysir Alouni, Ted Koppel, terrorist news network, the Village Voice, TIME Magazine, U.S. military, United States, United States Marine Corps, USA Today, USD, war correspondent, Yusuf Al-Qaradawi
“Rushing has the intellect of Anna Nicole Smith and the politics of . . . well, Al Jazeera.” Really Deb? This moron was defending America??? Gad zooks!
KOAJaps on October 4, 2005 at 1:22 pm