This month, KOIN's Dave Erickson once more receives the top award, in this case for, on March 24, at approximately 5:40 A.M., PST, reporting that the Bush administration had been criticised for failure to go after Osama bin Laden after the attack on the U.S.S. Cole by terrorists.

Many liberals feel that the criticism here is not justified, but then to be a liberal requires feelings to supercede neuronal activity in the logic areas of the human brain.  Mr. Erickson, a liberal, exemplifies this process for the following reason.

On Thursday, October 12, 2000, 17 young lives were taken in a terrorist attack on the USS Cole, docked in the port of Yemen to take on fuel. In January of 2001, George W. Bush was sworn in for his first term as President of the United States.

October 12, 2000 as dates go, did not occur after January of 2001, but rather happened before it..  It's a calendar thing.  All the calendars show it that way.  This means that Black Hawk Down, the first bombing of the World Trade Center and the U.S.S. Cole (all terrorist-sponsored events) took place during the presidency of William Jefferson Blythe Spirit Clinton, and the shadow presidency of Hillary Rodham "Let's pardon some terrorists on the way out" Clinton.

According to recent (late Eighteenth Century) U.S. law, a president cannot send troops, bombs or missles to capture or kill terrorists unless said president actually is president -- that is, has been sworn in as president.  The attack on the U.S.S. Cole took place three months and 8 days before George W. Bush was given the oath.

Now, it is true that G.W. could have sent a flock of missles into Afghanistan after Osama bin Laden on the afternoon of January 20, 2001, but there are a couple of reasons why that would not be likely to happen.  First, Dave Erickson, Dan Rather and the entire Democrat leadership would have raised the cry of "warmongering cowboy" against Bush.  Second, it is necessary to know just where a terrorist is if you are to stick a missle in his ear.  While there is proof that the Clinton administration knew precisely where Osama bin Laden was on one occasion, and did nothing about it, there is neither claim nor evidence that such circumstances ocurred following the inauguration of Bush.  

To be criticized for failing to capture or shoot somebody, part of the responsibility of those who make the criticism is to provide evidence that the person who is charged with failure had the ability to do the deed.   In this case, that would be proof that Bush also at some time knew bin Laden's precise location and did not take action.

Those of you who watched the missles drop on the capitol of Iraq a few hours before the troops crossed the southern border are aware that Bush is not one to miss a good chance to take out a bad guy.

It is for all these reasons that Mr. Dave Erickson of KOIN-TV, Portland, Oregon, stands out as the premier source of really bad journalism in this state as of this writing. Considering the ineptitude of his fellow Oregon broadcast journalists, it was a difficult choice for the panel of judges, but in the end we think excellence in incompetence prevailed.  Besides the trophy, a brass megaphone with a plugged big end, he will receive instructions on how to access the White House website so he can determine who was president during the time any historical event took place after 1779.

© 2004 Oregon Magazine