Why Does Byron York Hate The Truth?

Look, I don’t mind the likes of Bryon York, of the National Review showing up at conferences like Yearly Kos or Take Back America, which ends today in Washington, DC. Even conservatives need to come out into the light of day occasionally and it's good that guys like York choose to sometimes visit the hopeful side of the political divide.

But, if he's going to be here, he can at least avoid nodding off during important speeches and missing so much dialog that he has to start making stuff up.

Byron is at it again, having presumably attended the same Hillary Clinton speech I saw at 8:00 AM today and writing about the time that Clinton was indeed resoundingly booed by the standing-room-only crowd.

Here's Yorkie:

Sen. Hillary Clinton was booed again this morning at the Take Back America conference, sponsored by the lefty activist group Campaign for America's Future here in Washington. At this same conference last year, Sen. Clinton was booed for her position on the war in Iraq. This morning, she was enthusiastically received as she bashed the Bush administration — "a stunning record of secrecy and corruption" — but the crowd became less friendly when, at the end of her speech, she turned to Iraq.

"We're going to end the war in Iraq and finally bring home the troops," she said as a number of Code Pink protesters stood up in the audience. When she declared, "The American military has done its job," boos began to be heard around the room. As the boos increased, Sen. Clinton raised her voice. "The American military has succeeded," she said, to more boos…."

Uh, Byron, wake up -- your snoring is getting annoying.

There were actually no boos whatsoever when Clinton said "The American military has done its job." She then talked for another 25 seconds, during which there were no boos. The booing started when she gave the line about the Iraqi government being to blame for the continuing sectarian violence when she said "It is the Iraqi government which has failed to make the tough decisions that are important for their own people."

But don't take my word for it… Have a look at a clip of that part of the speech. You'll hear no booing whatsoever when York claims it started. I even have in my reporter's notebook that the booing started during the line about the culpability of the Iraqi government -- a note that has nothing going for it except that it's the truth.



But I guess that reality wouldn’t have allowed York to imply that liberal activists hate the troops enough to boo the notion that they're doing a good job with the hand they've been dealt.

And, after all, that's exactly what he was trying to do.