Media Push for McCain's "Reform"; Turner: "Wrong Man is President"; Will Media Notice Dirkhising? Reagan a "Mediocrity" 1) The media campaign for "campaign finance reform" has begun. Tim Russert discussed strategy with John McCain, but with Mitch McConnell Russert demanded he defend the system. ABC's This Week featured only McCain proponent Warren Buffet, to whom Cokie Roberts tossed softball prompts. To a summarization of the reform case, Sam Donaldson asserted: "We all know that you're correct." 2) Tim Russert confronted Tom Daschle, who complained about how Bush is talking down the economy, with how back on January 3 Dick Gephardt... continue reading
"Massive" Tax Cut "Too Small"; Liberal Whining About Quoting JFK; CNN Vet Quit Over Turner's "Jesus Freaks"; Harvard Honored Turner 1) Dan Rather: "President Bush insisted today that he was not caving in to big money contributors, big-time lobbyists, and overall industry pressure when he broke a campaign promise to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants." CBS promised "both sides of the story," but delivered only one side. 2) Tom Brokaw regularly refers to Bush's tax cut as "massive," but on Wednesday night David Gregory, after calling Bush's proposal "a big tax cut," promoted the view that the cut... continue reading
CBS Conceded Tax Cut Support, But; Same Show, Two Stories on Gore's Confused Voters; "More and More" Questioning Tax Cut 1) Thirteen days after skipping its own poll showing support for Bush's tax cut, the CBS Evening News did report on a new CBS poll showing tax cuts are the public's top priority. John Roberts emphasized how more think Bush's cut "benefits the rich" than is "fair to all," but he failed to note how more believe Bush's plan than the Democratic one "would be fairest to people like them." Viewers also didn't hear how 71 percent oppose the estate... continue reading
NBC's Florida Recount Disparity; Cokie and Steve Roberts Disagreed on Popularity of Tax Cut; Lack of Bi-Partisanship Rued; Byrd Cited 1) NBC Nightly News highlighted a Palm Beach Post review which claimed that about 6,000 who voted for more than one candidate intended for vote for Al Gore, but last month NBC ignored a story about how if Gore had gotten the recount he wanted in four Democratic counties he still would have come up short. 2) A split in the Roberts household. Cokie Roberts on ABC: "It's a popular tax bill." Steve Roberts on CNN: "The polls still show... continue reading
Tax Vote Ruined Bi-Partisanship; Odd Definitions of "Solid" Versus "Narrow" by LA Times; Morning Shows Pushed Federal Action on Guns 1) Bush won the tax cut vote in the House, but CBS's John Roberts asserted, "his pledge to change the tone in Washington was shattered on the House floor." ABC's Linda Douglass: "So much for bi-partisanship....The Republicans rammed through this tax cut." Warned NBC's Lisa Myers: "This victory comes at a price." NBC reported a poll found 57 percent favor the tax cut. 2) To the Los Angeles Times, the 55 percent its poll learned support the Democratic tax and... continue reading
Linda Douglass: Only GOP Guilty; More of Dan Rather's Liberal Blather on His 20th Anniversary as Anchor 1) Only Republicans ruin bi-partisanship. "So much for bi-partisanship," complained ABC's Linda Douglass about how "Republicans rammed through" Bush's tax cut. But on CBS back in 1993, Douglass did not castigate Democrats for ramming through Clinton's economic bill without GOP support. 2) Today, March 9, marks Dan Rather's 20th anniversary as anchor of the CBS Evening News. His bias has been too prolific to all fit into yesterday's CyberAlert, so here are some more examples of his liberal advocacy over the years. >>>... continue reading
SPECIAL EDITION: On Dan Rather's 20th Anniversary as Anchor, His Most Obnoxious Liberal Advocacy. Plus: "Ratherisms" 1) "20 Years of Liberal Spin from Gunga Dan." A collection of 21 examples of Dan Rather's liberal advocacy as distributed today in a two-page "Media Reality Check" fax report. Five years ago Rather promised, "you can sooner expect a tall talking broccoli stick to offer to mow your lawn for free" than expect to find him still in the anchor chair after the year 2000. 2) BONUS for CyberAlert readers: Another set of quotes from Rather culled from the MRC's bias library. 3)... continue reading
Bush's Anti-Minority Census; No Outrage Over Byrd's Racially-Derogatory Comment; Ted Turner: Are You "a Bunch of Jesus Freaks?" 1) Without noting how the civil service staff at the Census Bureau had recommended against using statistically-adjusted numbers, the ABC, CBS and NBC evening shows all asserted that the standard numerical count, favored by Commerce Secretary Don Evans, missed many minorities and the poor. 2) The cable and broadcast networks have ignored how the Senate's senior Democrat used a racially-derogatory term in a TV interview, the panel on FNC's Special Report with Brit Hume observed. "There would have been a huge uproar"... continue reading
Tax Cuts Will Bring Back Deficit; Reagan: "Eight Years of Tough Times"; Most Want Bush's or Larger Tax Cut?; Dan "McCarthy" Burton 1) Tax cuts, not spending hikes, concern the media. On Face the Nation Bob Schieffer warned Dick Cheney about how "you're putting tax cuts in place" but if "the surplus is not there, the tax rate would still be there, which means that you could put the government back into deficit." 2) Reagan's tax cuts led to "eight years of tough times." Yes, a Washington reporter actually believes that. 3) Brit Hume on Fox News Sunday and Eric... continue reading
ABC's Denise $ Spin Contradicted; CBS Relayed ABC Poll on How Democratic Tax Plan Favored; Rivera Steadfast for Clinton 1) Twice last month ABC's Jackie Judd insisted there was no link between donations from Denise Rich and the pardon since she gave the money before the pardon request. Thursday night, without noting how it contradicted her earlier spin, Judd reported the pardon effort began before some large donations. 2) For the second night the CBS Evening News refused to report how a CBS News poll found 67 percent support Bush's tax cut plan. Instead, John Roberts asserted that "new polls...show... continue reading