"DIRTY TRICKS" ON SUNDAY

Tim Lambert, renowned far and wide for his fact-checking skills, is none too happy with Channel Nine's tricky treatment of friend and colleague Waleed Kadous. Specifically, Lambert is upset – forgot Lambert bounces my links, copy and paste http://timlambert.org/2005/10/sunday/ – that the following from Kadous went to air on Nine's Sunday program:

I'm sure that there are some in the community who are involved in terrorism, but it is important not to exaggerate either the threat or the number. I would — actually, can I retract that. Let me just think of a way to phrase that better. If they do exist — and I'm not sure that they do exist — we only have ASIO's word to say that.

Lambert claims a one hour Kadous interview was edited down to less than a minute. This seems a bit odd in that the Sunday transcript seems to be from some sort of round table discussion, not an interview. But, not having seen the program, it's hard to know for certain.

Anyway, Lambert thinks it a "dirty trick" for Nine to broadcast what Kadous actually said:

Waleed misspoke and corrected himself, but “Sunday” chose to broadcast his mistake rather than something substantive. I think that demonstrates that they are interested in stirring up controversy and promoting division rather than reasoned debate.

Tim Blair also cops a serve:

Naturally, the verbal equivalent of a typo didn’t escape Tim Blair, Australia’s most superficial blogger, – copy and paste http://timlambert.org/2005/07/lamest-post-ever/ – who has a go at “Australian Muslim Waleed Kadous”. I really don’t recommend looking at the comments to Blair’s post unless you are interested in reading paroxysms of anti-Muslim hatred and bigotry from the Blair fan club.

To be fair, Waleed Kadous is an Australian Muslim and, considering the silliness of his rephrasing, could have been treated much more harshly by Blair. As for the "paroxysms of anti-Muslim hatred and bigotry from the Blair fan club", Lambert has a vivid imagination; it just didn't happen. Fact-check boy indeed.

Update: In comments – http://timlambert.org/2005/10/sunday/ – Lambert tries to back up his "paroxysms of anti-Muslim hatred and bigotry" claim by noting:

"Blairorrhoids... called Waleed a 'liar', a 'Terrorist-PR flunky', 'scum' and a 'shit-head' who should 'piss off' out of Australia..."

Of course, commenters who express such opinions need not be anti-Muslim or filled with hate and bigotry. Lambert's really groping on this one. Maybe Lambert's just especially sensitive to negative comments from RWDBs in general, after all, he did stealthily delete a comment asking if he is an idiot; such an enquiry apparently violating his "personal attack" policy. Anyway, there's no point in going to Lambert's blog to ask if he's an idiot, all one need do is read some of his stuff for the truth to be revealed.

Update II: For the latest on Lambert, go here.