1. Foley Scandal as Doomsday for GOP: 'Too Late for Damage Control' "It could be too late for damage control," CBS anchor Katie Couric intoned Monday night in painting the worst-possible scenario for continued GOP control of the House in the wake of the Mark Foley scandal. Reporter Gloria Borger declared: "There is no getting around it: The unraveling of the page scandal could be the undoing of some House Republican leaders, if not their hold on Congress." With the words on screen, she highlighted how "one senior House Republican tells CBS News that this scandal 'could be the congressional... continue reading
1. Flashback: Wallace Mocks Bush's Smarts, Belief in Freeing People Sunday's 60 Minutes featured Mike Wallace's interview with Bob Woodward about Woodward's new book, State of Denial, full of charges of Bush administration misdeeds. The last time the duo got together -- in 2004 when 60 Minutes similarly promoted a Woodward book, Plan of Attack -- Wallace ridiculed President Bush and Woodward played along. CyberAlert recounted how on the April 18, 2004 edition of 60 Minutes, Wallace mocked President's Bush's smarts and belief in freeing people from oppression. Wallace demanded: "Who gave George Bush the duty to free people around... continue reading
1. NBC as CBS's PR Agent: Plugs 60 Minutes on Bush Iraq 'Deception' Is NBC News the publicity agency for CBS News? While Thursday's CBS Evening News had nothing on Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward's new book, for which he sat for an interview with Mike Wallace set to air on this Sunday's 60 Minutes, the NBC Nightly News led with the "explosive new book" about the Bush administration's "deception" on Iraq. NBC anchor Brian Williams hyped: "It alleges that attacks by insurgents on coalition forces in Iraq are worse than Americans have been led to believe. It also alleges... continue reading
1. CNN's Cafferty to Bush on Terrorism: 'You're Part of the Problem' On Wednesday's Situation Room on CNN, Jack Cafferty went on a rant over the Bush administration's handling of the war on terror. After noting that Presidents Musharraf and Karzai, of Pakistan and Afghanistan respectively, are publically feuding over dealing with al-Qaeda and the Taliban, Cafferty "spoke" the words he believed the two men wish to say, but can't: "I think both of these guys are probably reluctant to say, 'You know President Bush, you're part of the problem. You decided to invade Iraq. You had the Taliban on... continue reading
1. Today's Idea of Balanced Guests: James Carville and Paul Begala? Viewers of this Tuesday's Today expecting a balanced panel discussing Bill Clinton's outburst at Fox News were greeted with James Carville debating Paul Begala. Meredith Vieira, for the most part, sat back as Carville and Begala pumped up Clinton, rallied the Democratic base and attacked everything from the administration's war on terror to Condoleezza Rice, to Fox News. There was no Michael Smerconish or any other vaguely right-of-center counterpart to make points against Clinton's outburst. Vieira did at least challenge the Clinton duo a few times, but she also... continue reading
1. Olbermann Demeans Wallace as 'Monkey,' Bush Not 'True American' Keith Olbermann ended Monday's Countdown with his latest "Special Comment" rant, complete with video from a man on a rack in the movie 1984 as Olbermann described President's Bush's supposedly awful deeds. In praising how, in his interview aired on Fox News Sunday, "Bill Clinton did what almost none of us have done in five years. He has spoken the truth about 9/11, and the current presidential administration," Olbermann portrayed Chris Wallace, who conducted the interview, as an agent of the White House and delivered the lowest of insults, calling... continue reading
1. Couric Cites Daughter to Rice: 'Who Made Us the Boss of Them?' In a profile of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice which led Sunday's 60 Minutes, Katie Couric explained how Rice "rejects the notion that the U.S. is a bully, imposing its values on the world." CBS then ran a soundbite from Rice as she sat a few feet in front of Couric: "What's wrong with assistance so that people can have their full and complete right to the very liberties and freedoms that we enjoy?" To which, Couric retorted by inserting one of her kids into the story:... continue reading
1. CBS Airs Concealed Illegal Alien Pleading to Stay in U.S. On Thursday night, for the second time in about two weeks, the CBS Evening News turned over its "freeSpeech" segment to a sympathetic person pleading for the rights of illegal aliens, this time a successful illegal who's done well. (So far, CBS has not run a commentary from anyone advocating a crackdown on illegal aliens.) Identifying him as an "illegal immigrant," CBS concealed the identity of "Carlos" by using a fake name and putting him in shadow. He explained: "I cannot show you my face tonight because if I... continue reading
1. Falling Gas Prices Leads NBC, But Williams Raises Election Motive NBC anchor Brian Williams deserves kudos for, on one night at least, giving as high a priority to declining gas prices as he and the media gave when they were rising, but then he suggested a political motive. Williams led Wednesday's NBC Nightly News by acknowledging the plunging prices and his own newscast's inaccurate predictions: "If you have filled your tank lately, then you've noticed. After some dire predictions on this broadcast and elsewhere that prices were rocketing to $4 a gallon, gas prices are coming down" to an... continue reading
1. Bush & GOP Congress Up in Poll, CBS Sees Landscape Good for Dems On the very day a USA Today/Gallup poll was released showing President Bush's approval rating up to 44 percent, "his highest rating in a year" according to USA Today's front page story on the survey, a poll that also found the generic Democrat versus Republican choice for Congress even at 48 to 48 percent amongst "likely voters" -- closing from a ten point advantage for Democrats (53 to 43 percent) in a CNN poll of "likely voters" just two weeks ago -- Tuesday's CBS Evening News... continue reading