ABC Promotes Liberal Protests; NBC to Ken Starr: "Have You No Shame?" 1) Back to the real issues. Tom Brokaw framed the issue as Clinton wished: saving Social Security versus a tax cut. ABC picked up on two liberal causes: protests over sweatshops and Indian logos. 2) "Is she thinking about running for President or Vice President in 2000, instead of for the Senate?" speculated Dan Rather about Hillary Clinton. 3) Geraldo Rivera can't move on, griping about funding by "Richard Mellon Scaife, the same Clinton-hating billionaire who bankrolled the project that dug up the dirt that lead the world... continue reading
SPECIAL ALERT A viewing alert for two NBC dramas this week and a note about the slant of CNN's Tuesday night town meeting: > NBC shows "ripped from today's headlines"? In a crossover story line airing on NBC's Wednesday night Law & Order and Friday night Homicide: Life on the Street, an Independent Counsel impedes the investigation of a murder. (Law & Order is a 10pm ET/PT drama set in New York City which follows a criminal case from the investigation by detectives through prosecution in the courtroom. The 10pm ET/PT Homicide: Life on the Street follows homicide detectives in... continue reading
CBS: GOP Must Move Left; Tripp a Bad Mom; CNN's Liberal Night 1) The Republican Party must "move toward the middle, away from the far-right social conservatives" who pushed the impeachment process, contended the CBS Evening News Monday night. 2) Larry King seriously asked Linda Tripp if without the DNA evidence "there never would have been an admission by the President of any relationship?" Tripp revealed that Clinton's DNA evidence "was everywhere" on the dress. 3) Friday night NBC's Dateline introduced highlights of the Tripp interview with a broadside against her. And on CNN Al Hunt insisted most wouldn't want... continue reading
Snowe, Collins & Chafee "In Touch"; Clinton Vindicated?; People's Fawning 1) Northeastern Republicans who voted not guilty are the only Republicans "still in touch with the people," Eleanor Clift insisted. 2) Clinton vindicated like Gingrich? Equating the Senate vote on Clinton with the IRS ruling on Gingrich, Juan Williams demanded that Brit Hume "apologize to Clinton since he's been cleared." 3) The Clintons may have complained, but People delivered a fawning portrait of the Hillary-Chelsea relationship and revealed that in 6th grade Chelsea alerted mom to how her stock was doing. 4) The February 8 edition of Notable Quotables. 1... continue reading
SPECIAL EXTRA EDITION NBC's Today on Linda Tripp: A Betrayer Responsible for the Scandal 1) Just after the vote NBC's Tim Russert listed Arlen Specter and Fred Thompson as among the "very conservative Republicans" who voted not guilty on perjury. 2) Today subjected Linda Tripp to a one-sided interview which assumed that she had done wrong and should regret it as "the country has gone through a year of scandal which many people blame you for." Instead of praising her for preserving the dress, which made Clinton admit his activity, Gangel scolded: "It sounds like you're manipulating Monica to implicate... continue reading
Revenge Rejected; Hero Heckler; Racist GOP; Oops: NBC Showed a Broaddrick Sign 1) Forget what Clinton did. NBC's Jamie Gangel to Linda Tripp: "The country has gone through a year of scandal which many people blame you for. Was it worth it?" 2) Wolf Blitzer and Sam Donaldson assured viewers the story that Clinton is plotting revenge is not true. The White House will be busy saving Social Security, Blitzer relayed, "so they say there's not going to be a whole lot of time for vendettas or revenge." 3) Al Hunt declared the Senate gallery heckler the real "hero" and... continue reading
Geraldo in Full-Gloat Mode; Actor Ron Silver Repudiates "Right-Wing Fringe" 1) Those opposed to censure, Bob Schieffer argued, "sound like a prosecutor telling a jury if you don't give this defendant the death penalty then just let him go." Rather jumped on the probe of Starr, but no one is questioning the timing or asking who leaked. 2) "You go Tom!" Geraldo Rivera exulted as he clapped. "Iowa should be proud of Senator Harkin for...singling out Ken Starr's conduct as the conduct most deserving of contempt." 3) Geraldo Rivera is gloating, rejoicing in the probe of Starr, the "narcissistic legal... continue reading
ABC Put Sex Survey Ahead of "Real Issues"; CNN: Clinton Accepts Responsibility 1) Instead of using a slow day on the Lewinsky sex scandal front to delve into "real issues," ABC led with how "sexual dysfunction in America is a very serious problem." 2) CNN devoted a piece to how Clinton's friends "say he accepts his responsibility for his misbehavior." Bob Franken dismissed the call for a probe of phone call tapes as "one more sideshow." 3) "Who gives a rat's tail about Sidney Blumenthal?" demanded Geraldo Rivera in badmouthing Christopher Hitchens as "Snitchens." 4) Mayors are suing gun makers,... continue reading
More Trial Would "Terrify People"; Hitchens: "A Male Linda Tripp" 1) Cokie Roberts admitted she was perplexed by GOP opposition to censure, declaring continued debate "depressing." NBC avoided any clips of the House managers while NBC's Lisa Myers looked at how the trial has hurt Republican support, even in Hyde's district. 2) CNN relayed White House blame shifting. Chris Black highlighted the charge that Christopher Hitchens is "a male Linda Tripp" as she zeroed in on how Hitchens violated journalist ethics. 3) In Monday afternoon coverage Peter Jennings worried that the idea the Senate trial may continue could "terrify people"... continue reading
All a "Partisan Hit Job"; Donaldson: "Expel" Clinton; Newt Deserved It 1) Two reporters, Evan Thomas and Nina Totenberg, were less impressed with the managers than a liberal columnist. Thomas: Clinton's lawyers "absolutely demolished the prosecutor's case." 2) ABC's Linda Douglass insisted the Blumenthal/Hitchens conflict is "likely to have little bearing on the case" against Clinton. CBS's Bill Plante relayed how Clinton supporters think in 20 years people will realize "that the whole thing was a partisan hit job." 3) Christopher Hitchens may be a left-winger who opposes Clinton, but he told Tim Russert he won't testify against Blumenthal. 4)... continue reading