Terrorist Killer Tripp; Stale Hit on Starr; Couric Ties Right to Harming Gays 1) At ABC News it's Slobodan Milosevic, Osama bin Ladin, Saddam Hussein and.......Linda Tripp. All in the same category. 2) On the budget deal, ABC emphasized how both sides took credit; CNN how scandal hurt Clinton; NBC how Republicans were rolled. 3) FNC uniquely pointed out that media speculation about Starr abusing his office in quizzing Larry Cockell was wrong. CNN furthered White House spin in highlighting another old charge. 4) Geraldo accepted pat on the back from Starr but denounced him anyway. Rivera also suggested Republicans... continue reading
Murderers Doing Work of Congress & Right; Cronkite Denounces Starr 1) Dan Rather's alliteration: "Republican-led Congress's fast-approaching impeach-the-President inquiry." Only FNC picked up on NPR's hit on Starr's ethics for advising Gil Davis in 1994. 2) Tuesday night Sam Donaldson gave a clause to the GOP take on education spending and CBS's Scott Pelley actually raised the ethics of Clinton fundraising for a Judiciary Committee member. 3) Those who murdered the gay student were "doing the work of the Congress," claimed ABC's Bill Maher. Katie Couric cited a "climate of anti-Gay hate" that's "fostered by" the "political right." 4) Walter... continue reading
GOP Budget Views Shutdown; Orwellian Starr "Stained" the U.S. 1) ABC and NBC gave Clinton unanswered soundbites to denounce the Republicans on the budget. ABC highlighted wasteful spending by Gingrich and Lott and mourned the loss of campaign finance reform. 2) The House voted, but "America shrugged," argued Newsweek's Jonathan Alter on NBC Nightly News. 3) ABC's Lisa McRee wondered if it's "too hopeful" to think that Democrats will not vote for articles of impeachment. Cokie Roberts corrected GMA which means she corrected herself. 4) "As much as Clinton stained the dress, Starr stained the country to nail him for... continue reading
Geraldo Depressed; Gloomy Network Reporters; Judge Stops Abortion 1) Hillary Clinton is going to Bulgaria while Geraldo Riverastews: "So melancholy on this rainy day. God, give me an aspirin." 2) Nets find "not a lot to be happy about." CBS featured a poll showing most oppose an inquiry. Robert Bennett rebuked Clinton, saying that Lewinsky's affidavit was false. Zilch on ABC, CBS and CNN. 3) CNN's Bill Schneider posed a series of "what ifs" about how the scandal could have been avoided, but none dealt with Clinton's actions. 4) CBS decried: "Locked inside this Ohio jail is a 21-year-old pregnant... continue reading
"Clique" of "Clinton Haters"; Moyers' Liberal Diatribe; Blumenthal Admonished 1) ABC and NBC avoided the impeachment debate Tuesday night while Dan Rather said the Republicans are set to probe "President Clinton, his sex life and lies he told to hide it." 2) Latest from Geraldo Rivera: "David Hale's testimony was bought and paid for by a clique of right-wing Clinton haters" funded by "that prince of Clinton haters -- Richard Mellon Scaife." 3) "Both parties contrived to bend and break the law," Bill Moyers argued on Frontline with Republicans more culpable because they bury campaign finance reform "so the arms... continue reading
Rivera: Hillary "Right About a Right-Wing Conspiracy"; "Easy" to Hate Tripp 1) All the nets focused on the partisan split in the committee. CBS relayed a White House complaint that House Republicans are not displaying "statesmanship." Ford's idea "resonates" for NBC. 2) Geraldo Rivera wondered if Hillary was "right about a conservative cabal" out for her husband and insisted that a New York Times story "raises the question of whether Mr. Starr lied." 3) NBC's Katie Couric warned of a backlash against Republicans. ABC's Lisa McRee suggested there's proof that Clinton was the victim of a political hit and it's... continue reading
"More Ammunition" for the VRWC; Tripp as the "Conniving Villain" 1) Time's Margaret Carlson regrets that Monica Lewinsky didn't Bobbittize Bill Clinton. 2) "More ammunition" for Hillary's "vast right-wing conspiracy" charge found by ABC's Mike von Fremd. ABC's John Cochran argued that even Republicans know they are "using the scandal as a smokescreen to hide the slow pace of legislative action." 3) Friday night all the networks featured the attack on Starr and Tripp by new Clinton counsel Greg Craig. ABC's Jeffrey Toobin claimed Tripp "comes off as a conniving and...not a likable person." 4) White House steward Bayani Nelvis... continue reading
Starr = Stalin; Did Turner Tilt CNN's Cold War?; Lockhart's Spins 1) Ominous world economic news and Kosovo massacres dominated Thursday night. FNC exclusively disclosed how Democrats haven't bothered seeing the Starr evidence and noted Espy's trial start. 2) "We haven't seen anything like this since Josef Stalin's days or the Nazi days," declared actress Vanessa Redgrave of Ken Starr. 3) CNN's Cold War series has begun. Ted Turner demanded it be "unjingoistic" and non-triumphant. He also said Kent State was as bad as Tiananmen and blamed the "right-wing media" for blocking peace. 4) Joe Lockhart, Clinton's new Press Secretary,... continue reading
Surplus Credit; CBS Admired Hillary; Starr "Worrisome" to Time 1) The surplus got stories on all the networks, but none noted it's only a surplus if you count Social Security revenue and none mentioned spending has soared since Reagan. Another Clinton donor was indicted, but ABC, CBS and NBC skipped the development. 2) Tuesday night CBS and CNN blamed pork-barrel spending by Congress, not Clinton cuts, for the military's readiness problems. 3) CBS's Bill Plante admired how Hillary is overcoming adversity: "To the astonishment of many," she's still "intensely supportive of the President and his agenda." 4) "Bill Clinton may... continue reading
Middle East Summit Motives Skipped; Nickelodeon: Lying Legally OK 1) ABC, CBS and CNN focused on the Middle East peace talks at the White House, but ignored Clinton's ulterior motives. FNC and NBC explored how Clinton trumped up a summit so he'd look presidential. 2) "Enough Already" declares the headline over the Newsweek cover story. The subhead: "In the real world," outside Washington, "people want the Monica Madness to end." So does Newsweek's Evan Thomas. 3) For Nickelodeon's Clinton special Linda Ellerbee joined up with a Team Clinton lawyer to tell the kids that Clinton did not commit perjury, the... continue reading