soldiers
Posted at 10:32am on Apr. 8, 2008 ABC News' Raddatz: Our troops in Iraq have a crush on Obama.
Spinning anecdotes is a journalistic game.
By Mark Kilmer
ABC News reporter Martha Raddatz has a piece at their dot-com, Surprising Political Endorsements By U.S. Troops, in which she has a few anecdotes from a few, carefully selected soldiers about whom they support in the upcoming Presidential contest.
By my count, she spoke to nine soldiers. One of them supported Hillary, four supported Obama, and four didn't specify but maintained that they would support the candidate who would get them out of Iraq the fastest.
Though the military is generally a more conservative group, soldiers like Sgt. Justin Sarbaum are just as eager for a pull-out as the Democratic candidates.
Of course most would sooner be home with their families than engaging in the nasty business of warfare, but there is ugly work to be done. If it is fair to refer to Sgt. Sarbaum – whom I'm certain has concerns – as a merchant of surrender along the lines of Clinton or Obama, I would be very surprised. Otherwsie, Radditz owes him an apology.
Remember, folks, a small collection of anecdotes chosen to tell the story a reporter wants to be told is not scientific, is not journalism, and is indicative only of the reporter's dishonesty. It is not news that some of our soldiers are registered or even partisan Democrats who support their party's potential candidates; after all, they come from amongst Americans. It is disingenuous to misrepresent the words a few of them to attempt to indicate that the entire military supports Obama because they believe Iraq is an unjust war which we should surrender immediately. That is the province of Barry and Hillary and Raddatz; our soldiers can speak for themselves without the journalistic spin.
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