1. CBS & NBC Spike Woodward's CIA Leak Revelation That Boosts Libby Bob Woodward's revelations, in a Wednesday Washington Post front page story, "Woodward Was Told of Plame More Than Two Years Ago," seemingly undermined two premises of special prosecutor Peter Fitzgerald's case against Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's former Chief-of-Staff -- that he was the first to tell a reporter about Valerie Plame and that everyone involved remembers when they were told about Plame. But while the developments animated cable television all day, all the broadcast networks ignored it in the morning and in the evening both CBS... continue reading
1. ABC: "Stinging Rebuke" of Bush, CBS: Senate Finally Reins Him In The networks pounced Tuesday night on the Senate's non-binding resolution calling for Iraqis to take responsibility for their own security so that U.S. troops can start coming home next year. With "Stinging Rebuke" on screen, Elizabeth Vargas teased World News Tonight: "A stinging rebuke for President Bush on Iraq. For the first time, his own party demands more accountability for the war. Democrats say there is no exit strategy." She opened the newscast: "In Washington today, there was a powerful sign of the growing frustration in the country... continue reading
1. CBS Focuses on Concerns of "Moderate" Republicans on Alito All the networks jumped on the revelation Monday, that in applying for a job with Ed Meese in 1985, Samuel Alito boasted of his belief "the constitution does not protect a right to an abortion." Of the broadcast network stories, CBS's Gloria Borger and Bob Schieffer, however, displayed the most interest in the concerns of "moderate" Republicans and whether the disclosure could block his confirmation. After a soundbite from an former clerk to Alito that Alito's "personal beliefs are irrelevant when he's working on a case," Borger ran a clip... continue reading
1. Mapes: Liberal & Conservative, Unaware If Registered as Democrat Asked by Bill O'Reilly Thursday night on FNC whether she's a liberal, Mary Mapes, the CBS News producer fired in January for her role in the forged National Guard memos and representations she made to her colleagues, first put up the usual avoidance device of a liberal -- "I'm not sure what a liberal is" -- before insisting that "like a lot of Americans, I'm all over the map." In the taped interview, O'Reilly then pressed her: "Are you registered Democrat?" Mapes seriously responded: "I don't know." O'Reilly scoffed: "You... continue reading
1. Nets Paint Vote as Slap at Bush, In '97 Saw No Rebuke of Clinton Eight years ago, when a Democrat was President and Republicans won the governorships in New Jersey and Virginia, CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather gave the results a piddling 12 seconds, didn't even utter the names of the winners and made clear that local issues -- "the high cost of automobile insurance and a tax on car ownership" -- were "the key issues." But on Wednesday night, the same newscast gave a minute and thirty seconds to the election results which included names as anchor... continue reading
1. ABC's GMA Compares Bush's Low Approval with LBJ's During Vietnam Catching up with some reporting from late last week, on Friday's Good Morning America Claire Shipman declared that for President Bush's low approval rating "the best overall comparison may be between two wartime Presidents. President Bush's drop in approval ratings mirrors none so closely as Lyndon Johnson's as he became further enmeshed in Vietnam." As she spoke, viewers saw side-by-side pictures of Presidents Bush and Johnson followed by a graphic with a series of bar graphs, over a video of soldiers in a Vietnam jungle, comparing Johnson and Bush... continue reading
1. Clift: "Next Logical Step is Impeachment" of President Bush On this past weekend's McLaughlin Group, veteran Newsweek Washington bureau reporter Eleanor Clift hailed the secret session of the Senate stunt as "a welcome show of spine that Democrats needed." She proceeded to predict that "the Democrats are going to push" the contention that President Bush "abused his authority" in going to war and so "frankly, if the country, according to the polls, believes by a margin of 55 percent that President Bush misled us into war, the next logical step is impeachment and I think you're going to hear... continue reading
1. CBS Again Cites Negative Bush Numbers in Poll With Skewed Sample In a Thursday CBS Evening News story on how Karl Rove is a "distraction" in the West Wing, Gloria Borger cited how "a new CBS News poll shows that only 39 percent of Americans say that President Bush has more honesty and integrity than most people in public life, down eleven points since early last year." But that number comes from the same poll, it turns out, that CBS News skewed by weighting it to undercount Republicans and over-count independents. The Wednesday CyberAlert recounted how on that night's... continue reading
1. CBS Highlights How Only Nixon Had Lower Approval in Second Term Wednesday's CBS Evening News touted a new poll by the network which found, as anchor Bob Schieffer relayed, that "the President's job approval has reached the lowest level yet" at "only 35 percent" with Congress "rated even lower" at a mere "34 percent," but Bush and Congress are doing a lot better than Vice President Cheney whose "favorable rating is down nine points this year to just 19 percent." Over side-by-side head-shot videos on screen of Richard Nixon and George W. Bush, with Bush's 35 percent approval below... continue reading
1. Cafferty Unleashes Tirade on View "We Were Lied To" Pre Iraq War The stunt by Senate Democrats who forced the chamber into closed session so they could get publicity for demands for an immediate probe into administration use of pre-war intelligence, earned a favorable tirade Tuesday afternoon from CNN's Jack Cafferty who charged that "there's a perception in this country that we were lied to about the run-up to the war in Iraq." Most believe they were "lied" to? More like Cafferty channeled the claims of the radical left. Cafferty proceeded to concede that "maybe we were, and maybe... continue reading