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Sunday, November 13, 2011

Bill Kurtis dishes rumors

Esteemed local TV newsman Bill Kurtis is now formerly esteemed local TV newsman Bill Kurtis in the wake of this, as reported in Salon:


UPDATE -- Thanks to reader "Cynthia" for the link to the audio of this appearance:




No worse than the smear and harrassment campaigns against Monica Lewinski and Linda Tripp.

--What exactly does Kurtis do?

I thought he had some kind of ranch thingy out west where he petted all of his cows until he put them down and cut them up for meat?

I hear his wife is a Daley-darling, taking over control of Millennium Park.

So is he a dude...or a city cliff-dweller?

All I hear about him makes him seem like some social gadfly flitting around, no doubt with his arms flapping limply like wings of a gliding condor.

Why does anyone care what he thinks?

I heard the audio clip of Bill Kurtis online. It was disturbing. The boys had a big yuckfest. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqhML444-p8

Kurtis lost what little credibility he had.

Kurtis is the mouthpiece of the Gibson male old-folks home. He depends on them for fund-raising and support, so he isn't going to say anything to anger them, exactly the opposite: he's going to spout the rich male geezer line.

I was surprised to hear that by Bill Kurtis, and he really sank low in my book. I will never see him the same way.

What is funny Eric Zorn, is it is Bill Kurtis who has journalistic integrity and the respect of his audience.

You Eric Zorn, are the problem. You are the lamestream, biased reporting that people in America has to deal with now. No one can trust what the media reports, because the media has actively tried to dictate opinion, instead of reporting facts, for YEARS now.

The woman has a reputation that Bill could attest to, the story on Herman Cain is dead as toast.

Can we get back to the economy now? You know, what is REALLY important?

Kurtis should be ashamed of himself.

The reference to some sort of sleazy reputation was unfair to say the least coming from a respected TV newsman. It's akin to an old boss telling the new boss to beware of "her" based on something he was told by someone else without actually verifying whether the hearsay was valid or not. This type of thing perpetuates false perceptions. It happens everyday in corporate America and careers are destroyed because of it.


That's right, your candidate's campaign has fallen apart, you're angry, you need someone to blame, so you go after Eric Zorn. Sorry, friend, that's just sad. Time to man up and recognize that Cain is a sleaze and a liar. There must be some conservative out there who can win your respect. Don't lavish it on an object as cravenly unworthy as Herman Cain.

(disclaimer: I've known Eric for a long time. He has integrity.)

The politically correct, press-accepted narrative is this:

1) Ms. Bialek was fired from her job a the N.R.A. (We are not allowed to ask why).

2) She then flew to Washington and asked for an audience with Herman Cain, the head of the N.R.A. (I mean, who doesn't do that when they get fired?)

3) She and Cain met for what is described in the press as a "business dinner." (We are not allowed to ask what business was discussed at this business dinner)

4) She then wound up in a car with Cain. Cain slide his hand up her skirt and she shouted, "Mr. Cain! What kind of girl do you think I am?" (She apparently didn't get the job)

Ms Bialek has a child out of wedlock whose father is described in the press as a "media executive." (We are not told who he is). When the child was born, the media executive reportedly filed a paternity suit. (Isn't it usually the other way around?) We are not allowed to hear the media executive's opinion of Ms. Bialek. Instead, we get to hear from a man with an English accent named Mark Harwood, whom the press describes as her fiance. (Except that he now denies being her fiance and says she does not live with him)

Sure, I buy this story. What's not to buy?

"Their roles may have been reversed .... "? Gosh - that would mean Cain came to her looking for a job. I hadn't heard *that* rumor before ...

Well, look at what happened to Dan Rather when it was revealed he knowingly and deliberately published a false rumor about George Bush, only to be outed by a blogger. If Kurtis has done the same (and I'm skeptical at this point on that), may the same happen to him. But what if he is being honest after all?

ZORN REPLY -- No one is questioning his honesty. I believe that he heard or overheard this talk in an elevator. I've heard a lot of talk, too. Why, do you know which noted local politicians are secretly gay? I've heard it many times. I wouldn't ever go on the radio (or this blog) to repeat it.

"Rumors are bad. Hey, did you hear the one about Herman Cain?"

ZORN REPLY -- It's not a rumor the the Nat. Rest. Assn. settled two complaints ; when a person accuses him and puts her own name to the accusaion, that's not rumor.
What rumors are you talking about?

--With her financial history, she is one step above a con artist. There is a reason employers check your credit history.

There but by the grace of God go you, my friend.

Go on, conservatives, keep defending Cain. Don't let us stop you from digging yourselves into that hole.

@ Jimmy G: "When the child was born, the media executive reportedly filed a paternity suit. (Isn't it usually the other way around?)"

"Usually", maybe. But now that most jurisdictions have provided a way for a man to get a legal determination of paternity, what the exec did is not that uncommon. Such a determination provides him with rights that he would not otherwise have, such as the ability to seek custody of, or visitation with, the child.

I think healthy skepticism is in order concerning the Bialek charges, and I would expect sensible people to reserve judgment rather than accepting (or rejecting) them at face value. That's not the issue, though. The issue is whether a journalist compromises himself by repeating on the air elevator gossip of questionable relevance to tar someone's reputation. Cain is trumpeting this on his website as if it constituted actual reporting and should be the last word on the subject. I've seen comments from his supporters along the lines of, "Thank goodness there are still some journalists left with integrity." I've always thought well of Kurtis, but this really made him look small-minded to me. Moreover, he didn't even imply that Bialek had a reputation for untruthfulness. If I interpret his innuendo correctly, he only implied that Bialek had a reputation for enjoying the company of men, which should be neither here nor there.

I got past the skepticism I had about Bialek when I saw the accused go through several gyrations about what he knew and what he remembered. It became plain to me that we were witnessing dishonesty about his present recollection relevant to the event. So on the one hand we have somebody who is being dishonest with us about this event, or about his memory of it, and on the other, we have an accuser about whom we're skeptical because she's in bad financial straits. And we also have multiple accusers, similar story. And we have a Cain story (that his comments concerned an accuser's height) that I found very implausible.

Preponderance of the evidence is with Bialek.

I would expect Kurtis later today to issue a statement making clear that there is nothing behind his comments and they should be accorded no weight.

Does an esteemed local TV newsman who has been living unmarried with a girlfriend for decades have a "history" or a "track record"?

Dr. Victor Zuckerman, an ex-boyfriend of Sharon Bialek, confirmed that Bialek returned "upset" from a dinner with Herman Cain in Washington, D.C., and said that she told him at the time that "something had happened and that Mr. Cain had touched her in an inappropriate matter." http://goo.gl/HY9PK

-- MrJM

Cain is toast, we should move on to bashing the next candidate.

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