1. Margaret Carlson "Afraid" GOP Will Hold House Time's Margaret Carlson is "afraid" that Republicans will maintain control of the House after Tuesday's elections. Suggesting appointed Senator Jean Carnahan, who had never won election to anything before she was appointed to replace her husband, is "not up to the job," is a "smear" Republicans "use against women," Carlson also charged on CNN's Capital Gang. 2. Erskine Bowles a "Conservative" to CBS's Bob Schieffer CBS's strange definition of a "conservative." Bob Schieffer described North Carolina Senate candidate Erskine Bowles, who opposes school vouchers, supports the most expansive prescription drug welfare entitlement... continue reading
1. Schieffer Overlooks MN Democratic Post-Crash Maneuvering Media blinders to Democratic shenanigans. CBS's Bob Schieffer contended that Democrats turning the Wellstone memorial service into a political rally was no worse than how "even before they had separated and identified the remains in the plane crash that took Paul Wellstone's life, you had Republicans running polls and attacking Walter Mondale." But Minnesota and national liberals played politics too behind the scenes in drafting Mondale, maneuvering, columnist Bob Novak reported, which included rejecting as a candidate, because he is black, the highest vote-getting liberal in the state. 2. Scant Network Attention to... continue reading
1. Rather Counters Minn. Controversy with Outrage at GOP in Georgia Dan Rather couldn't let bad Democratic behavior stand alone, so he balanced how Democrats misused the Wellstone memorial service with two manufactured controversies. First, he treated a Georgia TV ad from weeks ago as fresh news: "Six days to the elections and the campaign has taken a dirty and decidedly negative turn. In a U.S. Senate race in Georgia the Republican challenger questions the patriotism of the Democratic incumbent." Second, after noting how the Wellstone memorial service "was made into a partisan Democratic rally," Rather added, as if it... continue reading
Back to today's CyberAlert 1. Morning Shows Downplay or Ignore How Wellstone Memorial Service Turned Into a Liberal, Anti-Conservative Political Rally "What began as a solemn memorial ended sounding like a Democratic convention," the St. Paul Pioneer Press observed Wednesday morning. But after days of relaying Democratic harangues about how Minnesota Republicans were shamefully politicking even before the Tuesday night memorial service for the late Senator Paul Wellstone, the morning shows, especially NBC's Today and CBS's Early Show, barely hinted at how the memorial service was turned into a partisan, pro-Democratic and pro-liberal rally. CNN totally ignored it. Tom Harkin... continue reading
1. Lamenting That Election About War, Not Economy CBS's John Roberts rued the election focus: "With the sputtering recovery, the slumping stock market, and a plunge from record surpluses to deficits, it should be all about the economy. Instead, it's all about war." Roberts recounted how Democrats, "who hoped to be having a field day with the economic numbers, can't get passed a blizzard of headlines about terror at home and abroad. But even if they could," Roberts noted, "voters don't seem in a vindictive mood." 2. CBS Blames Cheney for Wellstone Snub CBS's Dan Rather uniquely blamed Vice President... continue reading
1. Castigating GOP for Politics "Even Before Wellstone is Buried" Minnesota Democrats applied political calculation in deciding upon the well-known Walter Mondale to replace the late Paul Wellstone, but when Republicans dared to do some polling and comment on Mondale's record Democrats howled with outrage matched only by CNN's Judy Woodruff. On Monday's Inside Politics she plugged an interview with Senate Majority Whip Harry Reid: "Up next, I will ask the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, Harry Reid of Nevada, if some Republicans in Minnesota are going on the attack even before Paul Wellstone is buried." 2. Like NBC,... continue reading
1. Gun Control Integral to War on Terrorism NPR reporter Nina Totenberg on Inside Washington: "If we think we're going to fight the war on terrorism without some sort of significant gun control, we are crazy." Charles Krauthammer: "al-Qaeda doesn't observe gun laws." 2. Hume Observes Reticence to Tie Sniper to Nation of Islam On Fox News Sunday Brit Hume noted how the media, which tied Timothy McVeigh to militia groups and anti-government attitudes, have identified the Washington, DC area snipers as a "Gulf War veteran" and his "companion," when they just as easily could have been characterized as a... continue reading
Snipers an "Army Veteran" & "Jamaican Teenager," Not a Muslim Terrorist & Illegal Alien; More Interest in Gulf War Service Than Nation of Islam; Reuters: Military Created a Killer?; Brokaw Links Sniper Weapon to Bush Campaign; Simultaneous Exclusives With Same Man on CNN & MSNBC; Jennings Highlights 200 Anti-Bush Protestors; Turner Opposes Bush on Iraq; Dan Rather Laments "Whopping Deficit" 1) The two sniper suspects were a Muslim tied to the Nation of Islam and an illegal alien, but not to the networks on Thursday night. Instead, the networks labeled John Allen Muhammad a "Gulf War veteran" and only implied... continue reading
CNN's Woodruff Exploits Sniper to Push Gun Control; NBC Finds Nationwide Fear of Sniper; Two Weeks After National Review, ABC Finds Terrorist Visa Foul-Up; Kevin Spacey: Dems "Help People" While Repubs Want Power 1) CNN's Judy Woodruff seemed baffled about why the sniper case hasn't helped the gun control cause: "I will ask gun control activist Sarah Brady why the sniper spree has not prompted more politicians to talk up her cause." Woodruff treated Brady as overwhelmed by "powerful and relentless" forces. Earlier, Woodruff obsessed about how Maryland's GOP gubernatorial candidate is "on the defensive" over guns, but she assigned... continue reading
Jennings Relays How North Koreans See Bush as "Hostile"; FNC Warns Viewers About Iraqi Monitoring of Reporters; BBC Reporter: Bush "Glovepuppet" of Cheney & Rumsfeld; Today Promotes Jane Goodall's Animal Rights Cause; SNL Audience Applauds McCain's Zingers at Streisand 1) Equal time from ABC for communist thugs as for a U.S. President. On Monday night Peter Jennings relayed how the North Korean regime, just days after admitting it has broken an agreement and is pursuing nuclear weapons, says the Bush administration, in Jennings' words, "must be less hostile." 2) From the "fair and balanced" network fair warning that FNC stories... continue reading