Homeland Dept. to "Throw Government into Chaos"; Clinton Staff Vandalism Skipped; Diane Sawyer Wrestled Son in Bikini; Howell Raines Drew a Picture of Lewinsky; Mike Tyson Read Goldberg's Bias 1) And that's a bad thing? "The Bush administration often seems to be completely engrossed with the campaign against terrorism," Peter Jennings observed on Tuesday's World News Tonight before highlighting how Bush's Homeland Security Department "is running into significant opposition on Capitol Hill" with "some" coming "from members of Mr. Bush's own party." Linda Douglass found just one Republican before she relayed how one House member warned, "'Let's just hope it... continue reading
CNN's First Concern: Dirty Bomber's Civil Rights; Rather Imputed Illogical Political Motives to Bush; John "Joe McCarthy" Ashcroft; Russert's Anti-Tax Cut Mantra 1) Terrorists had a plan to detonate a dirty nuclear bomb, but CNN's Aaron Brown was much more interested in the rights of the captured suspect. Brown's lead: "An American citizen, Abdullah al Muhajir, is being held in a military brig with no access to a lawyer, none of the other rights afforded to a citizen..." CBS's Dan Rather fretted about John Ashcroft's motives: "The arrest was made May 8th. It's not clear why Ashcroft chose to reveal... continue reading
Dan Rather Obsessed with "Timing" of Bush Speech; Conservative Concerns About Big Government Raised; Rooney Conceded Liberal Bias, Rather is "Transparently Liberal" 1) Dan Rather was obsessed with applying nefarious motives to the timing of President Bush's prime time address. He led with it in prime time and on the CBS Evening News: "President Bush moved to take the spotlight away from the hearing" into FBI failures "and capture the headlines by suddenly asking for national television time tonight." MSNBC, CNN and NBC also raised the timing, but they at least treated it as a subject to be noted only... continue reading
Bush U-Turn After He "Conceded" Warming Reality; Conservative Upset with Bush Noted by ABC; Ashcroft Hit from Left; Rather Insisted He Was "Fair" to Ashcroft; ABC's "Secret" Reported by NBC 1) In noting how President Bush distanced himself from an EPA report, NBC used terminology which assumed the liberal environmental line is beyond dispute. Tom Brokaw referred to how Bush was "acknowledging" that global warming is caused by human pollution and David Gregory insisted the EPA had "conceded" that reality. Gregory pointed out how Bush had "received a lot of political flak from conservatives, mainly talk show host Rush Limbaugh,... continue reading
Nets Cheered How Bush "Acknowledged" & "Conceded" Global Warming Caused by Man; Many Scientists Don't Buy the Media Line; Clift Claimed Hillary Is a "Centrist" 1) Without bothering to cite any contrary scientific voices, on Monday night the broadcast networks cheered how the Bush administration had "acknowledged" and "conceded" that global warming is real and is being fueled by industry. CBS failed to address its own contradiction of accepting as fact dire prospects from global warming just five weeks after the network warned of impending global "cooling." 2) Scientists aren't as uniformly in line with global warming scare-mongers as the... continue reading
Donaldson: FBI Rules "Trample" on Rights, "Intimidate" Worshipers; NPR: They Take Us Back to "the Hoover Era"; Peter Jennings' One-Sided Indictment of the Pharmaceutical Industry 1) ABC's Sam Donaldson pressed Attorney General John Ashcroft only from the left in questioning him about the FBI's new operational guidelines, demanding he respond to charges the new rules will lead to the "trampling" of rights and to worshipers at Mosques being "intimidated." But on Fox News Sunday, Brit Hume managed to do what Donaldson didn't even attempt: hit Ashcroft from both sides. After raising concerns that the new rules go to far, Hume... continue reading
"Testy" Bush Had a "Hissy Fit"?; Woodruff's Softballs to Tom and Linda Daschle; Name "Jesus" Bleeped by ABC; More of Brian Williams' Liberal Slant 1) Some leading journalists claimed President Bush had a "hissy fit" and a "testy" reaction to NBC reporter David Gregory's decision to switch to French to ask a question of the French President. In fact, a chuckling Bush quipped: "The guy memorizes four words and he plays like he's intercontinental!" Bush then laughed as the press corps also erupted in laughter. For a real example of a President lashing out in anger at a reporter, recall... continue reading
Rick "RATS Ad" Berke Promoted by New York Times ; More on Rather's Insinuation that Ashcroft Selfishly Protected Himself; Miller & Walters Praised Regulation 1) Rick Berke, the New York Times reporter whose gullibility the Gore campaign exploited in 2000 to write a story about the supposedly subliminal word "RATS" in an anti-Gore TV ad, has been promoted to Washington editor. Berke conceded on PBS to how a Gore campaign operative had pointed out to him the "RATS" lettering. That wasn't the only time Berke has reported through a liberal prism in which he assumes conservatives are distasteful. 2) More... continue reading
Anti-Bush Communists Unlabeled; Dan Rather Lashed Out at Ashcroft for Daring to Counter Slanderous Charge; Jeffords Acted on "Principle"; An Actor Who Won't Vote for Hillary 1) CBS's John Roberts and NBC's Campbell Brown failed to label a few German legislature who unfurled an anti-Bush banner during Bush's Thursday address in the German Bundestag, thus implying they were in the mainstream. But ABC's Terry Moran realized they were "far-left legislators" and FNC's Jim Angle called them "members of a leftist party." 2) On Friday morning Dan Rather lashed out at John Ashcroft for daring to question Rather's claim that Ashcroft's... continue reading
Europeans "Fearful" of Bush the "Rambo-Like Cowboy"; Rather Pushed "What Did Bush Know"; Rather Relayed False Story Impugning Ashcroft; Lauer Assumed Conservatives Intolerant; CNN's Health Care Expert: Actress Laura Dern 1) ABC and NBC trumpeted anti-Bush attitudes in Europe. ABC's Terry Moran stressed that "is exceptional since Berlin has hailed and cheered so many American presidents in the past" as a "lot of...ordinary Europeans are fearful of Mr. Bush's leadership." NBC's Campbell Brown marveled at how "even the German media" is "portraying Bush as a Rambo-like cowboy." The problem: Going it "alone" by "rejecting the Kyoto environmental treaty." 2) Dan... continue reading