Tax Cut Eating Into Surplus; CBS Pushed Prescription Entitlement; PBS's Ifill: HMOs "Fighting Dirty"; Condit a "Right-Wing Democrat" 1) ABC marked the implementation of Bush's tax cut by trying to discredit its viability. Josh Gerstein warned that "budget surpluses this year may be much smaller than anticipated, raising doubts about whether there will be enough cash to pay for the tax cut." Gerstein relayed the usual liberal scaremongering: "The Senate's top Democrat said today that may force the government to tap Social Security or Medicare funds." 2) After marking progress toward one liberal goal, with Senate passage of a bill... continue reading
CBS's New Respect for Robertson; Mitchell's Showed Castro Saying Bush "Appointed"; Stossel: "Totalitarian Left" Afraid of Critics 1) To Dan Rather, now that Pat Robertson is being oppressed by "Big Oil," he has gone from part of the "self-described religious right," to an "entrepreneur" who is a victim of "possible market manipulation in the energy business to maximize profits." 2) A day after Katherine Harris's retort to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Dan Rather picked up on it. CBS also ran a short story on a new dollars-for-pardons charge against Roger Clinton. 3) NBC's Andrea Mitchell had an amiable... continue reading
Rather Stressed Brock's Recant; Bush Losing Support; Counter to Civil Rights Report Skipped; Fidel Wise in Picking NBC's Mitchell 1) Dan Rather highlighted how David Brock says that in his book on Anita Hill "he was lying to discredit Hill after she testified against" Clarence Thomas. Rather gratuitously added that Brock describes himself as "a witting cog in the Republican sleaze machine." But though a Washington Post story carried the headline, "Author Says He Lied in Book on Anita Hill," all Brock is claiming is that in a review of another book he improperly discredited a witness to how Thomas... continue reading
CBS Took Up Case Against Rove; Today Highlighted Claim Clinton Was First "Real" President; Supreme Court "Treason"; Stossel Impugned 1) Though Senate Democrats have demurred on any investigation against Karl Rove over supposed stock ownership conflicts, that didn't dissuade CBS News. John Roberts complained: "Republicans in Congress, who spent eight years investigating President Clinton, today refused to look into Rove's dealings." But, as FNC reported, Dan Burton pointed out the committee had not pursued stock ownership conflicts involving several Clinton officials. 2) Today featured a New York City high school student who got Bill Clinton to address her graduating class... continue reading
"Big Boost" for McCain's Reform; Liberal = "Reformer"; Newsweek's Thomas: Bush Painted "in Pocket of Oil"; Schundler "Hard Right" 1) "A big boost for campaign finance reform," an excited Dan Rather announced Monday night as he insisted a Supreme Court ruling "puts pressure on Congress to act on" McCain's bill "to stop or at least stem the flood of unregulated special interest money into political campaigns." Bob Schieffer called it "just terrific news for campaign reformers." ABC and NBC also delivered matching, but shorter, items. 2) In addition to calling liberal campaign finance advocates "reformers," CBS's Bob Schieffer last week... continue reading
Upset by Thanks to Congress & Bush; Ferraro a "Hero to Millions"; Anti-Soft Money Ban Ruling Skipped; Couric Dated Clinton Spinner 1) A letter from the IRS informing taxpayers that thanks to Congress and the President they will be getting a tax cut disturbed CBS. "Democrats who didn't vote for the tax bill pointed out that the mailing will cost over $20 million and called the letter shamelessly political," Bill Plante intoned. 2) "Australia has now joined the U.S. in rejecting the Kyoto global warming treaty and for similar reasons," FNC Brit Hume uniquely reported Tuesday night. 3) Geraldine Ferraro's... continue reading
FERC "Finally Stepped In"; Upset by Cheney Task Force But Not by Hillary's; "Victimized by the Free Market"; Liberal Night on PBS 1) Dan Rather celebrated federal intervention in California's electricity market by FERC, which he said "finally stepped in today." But he worried: "Whether this is too little too late remains to be seen." 2) The networks ignored a lawsuit and federal judicial rulings rebuking the Clinton White House for the secret membership of Hillary's health care task force. But on Monday night, the CBS Evening News jumped on Democratic demands to know who attended meetings of Dick Cheney's... continue reading
Media's Green Agenda Conceded; ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos; Missile Defense "Extreme"; Abortion Ship Lionized 1) ABC's This Week with Cokie Roberts and George Stephanopoulos? On Sunday the Clintonista served as co-host of the program and betrayed his personal agenda in favor of the more liberal so-called patients' bill of rights. 2) "We launder our views through quote 'objective critics,'" conceded Newsweek's Evan Thomas as he acknowledged: "The rank and file press is pretty green and they're going to use the Europeans to take the Bush's to task." 3) It was the AP's Ron Fournier who at an EU... continue reading
EU's Non-Ratification Ignored; Fodder to Show Bush Unintelligent; Bush Criticized the Right on Vieques; Senators Only "Conservative" 1) During an EU press conference, a reporter noted how none of the nations criticizing Bush for dumping Kyoto had ratified it. But unless you watched the event live, you'd only know about that question from FNC. While NBC Nightly News gave a clause to the fact, ABC, CBC and CNN remained focused on anger at Bush's stance. "Most Europeans insist the science is in and any delay amounts to fiddling while the planet burns," CNN insisted. CBS lamented how Bush's "defiant stance... continue reading
Fear of New "Cold War Dynamic"; Momentum for Liberal Patients Bill Trumpeted by CBS; Rather's Refutable Claim About Bush Twins 1) Bush will "build a missile defense system whether the allies like it or not," ABC's Charles Gibson asserted. NBC's Tom Brokaw offered hostility: "It's very expensive and takes the arms race in a whole new direction." Campbell Brown focused on how "key allies" expressed "doubts" over whether it will work as they fear setting aside the ABM treaty "will rekindle the Cold War dynamic." 2) After running a bunch of mostly negative soundbites about Bush from Europeans, such as... continue reading