This Is Really Pissing Me Off

ThinkProgress has two posts on more Right Wing Noise Machine (RWNM) swift boat flack shot across the bow toward the just released Jill Carroll. First, more from the hilarious Don Imus show, which his executive producer Bernard McGuirk commenting on her apparent weight gain:

MCGUIRK: She’s carrying Zarqawi’s baby. No doubt about it.

IMUS: Man, you are a such a, you’re a…

MCGUIRK: Did you hear her comments yesterday? She’s wearing the terrorist headgear. And everything points to that.

…

MCGUIRK: She’s Taliban Janie, this girl. Taliban Jill or whatever.

The WaPo notes:

Three months without exercise had made her face round. Her captors had treated her well, she said, and she never dared turn down their offers of meals or candy for fear of giving offense. I'm fat, she said.

Secondly, LATimes columnist/National Review writer Jonah Goldberg says that, "Jill Carroll is increasingly starting to bug me."

[I]t would be nice to hear her say something remotely critical of her captors, particularly about the fact that they murdered her translator in cold blood. I’m very glad she’s alive, but I’m getting a very bad vibe.

But David Edwards over at Veredictum notes that Carroll was probably not sure that she was truly free to speak her mind (it comes complete with video of some CNN reportage as well as the interview video):

The Christian Science Monitor reports that Jill Carroll was not aware that the first (and most replayed) video taped interview would be broadcast in Iraq or internationally. In fact Carroll may not even been certain that she was free during the interview.

[...]

Jill Carroll's kidnappers simply left her at the offices of the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP) in the city of Amariyah. She had not been released to American or Iraqi officials at the time of the first interview.

Carroll was told that the interview would be for 'internal' party use. The IIP owns Baghdad TV so maybe it isn't surprising that they broadcast the interview.

I'm guessing we'll be hearing a much less candy-coated story from Carroll once she gets back to the States. I'm also guessing that these RWNM assholes will be offering no apologies.

[PS] Also check out comments from the WaPo's Howard Kurtz in this morning's news roundup. And for more smears, see this post from yesterday...