1. After Pushing for Big Drug Entitlement, Cost Now Upsets Networks After spending two years pushing for the creation of prescription drug entitlement programs by employing emotional anecdotes about the plight of seniors, and then complaining that the GOP/Bush plan didn't go far enough, the hypocritical networks on Wednesday night led by expressing shock and outrage over how the price tag for the entitlement has soared. "It's going to cost you, the taxpayers, a whole lot more than you were told" for "the controversial new Medicare prescription drug plan," Dan Rather scolded on CBS. ABC's Peter Jennings rued "a multibillion-dollar... continue reading
1. Schieffer Suggests Tax Hike Since We've "Got" to Fund Programs Two days after Bob Schieffer denied that there's any significant liberal bias in the media, on Tuesday's Early Show the soon-to-be interim anchor of the CBS Evening News, when asked by Hannah Storm whether President Bush can "realistically" cut the deficit in half "without raising taxes?", responded: "I frankly don't think so. I think in the end this President will raise taxes before his term is out, just like Ronald Reagan raised taxes after he enacted those enormous tax cuts at the beginning of his program." Suggesting a tax... continue reading
1. Nets, Especially CBS, Paint "Cuts" Hurting "Homeless" & "Hungry" All of the media have pounced on the Bush administration's desire to "cut" spending on a few programs, focusing on how some small spending adjustments will hurt the poor, but none more so than CBS on Monday night. Lee Cowan devoted a full story to how "the proposed cuts hit the heartland like a mountain of unwanted news, from the soy bean fields of Iowa...to large cities like Minneapolis, where block grant programs help the homeless and the hungry." Cowan, who failed to cite a single proposed budget number, showcased... continue reading
1. CBS Takes on Bush SS Plan: "Takes the Safety Out of Safety Net" Twenty-one hours after President Bush outlined his plan for Social Security, CBS News began its campaign to discredit it. "He claims it would guarantee future retirees a nest egg," John Roberts relayed before countering that "as the last market crash proved, investments are hardly a sure thing." Though polls show young adults overwhelming support the idea of putting some money into personal accounts, Roberts couldn't find one. Instead, he highlighted two college students, one who "thinks the President's plan takes the safety out of safety net."... continue reading
1. MSNBC's Matthews & Reagan Argue Hug Choreographed to Boost Bush To Ron Reagan's hearty affirmation, MSNBC's Chris Matthews asked if the hug during the State of the Union, between an Iraqi woman who voted on Sunday and the mother of a Marine who was killed in Iraq, was engineered by President Bush in order "to push his numbers on Social Security reform, just to get his general appeal up a bit, a couple of points?" Matthews proceeded to suggest that Bush's "PR guys around the White House did this to promote the President's agenda" Reagan enthusiastically agreed: "Well, of... continue reading
1. ABC's Stephanopoulos Resurrects Vietnam Election Headline ABC's George Stephanopoulos opened Monday's Nightline by contending that "you don't have to be a cynic to wonder if the current Iraqi Prime Minister got just a little ahead of himself when he declared today that the terrorists now know they cannot win." With a vintage 1967 New York Times headline on screen, "U.S. Encouraged by Vietnam Vote: Officials Cite 83% Turnout Despite Vietcong Terror," Stephanopoulos asserted that "it wouldn't be the first time that the promise of elections went unfulfilled." After reading the Vietnam headline, Stephanopoulos pointed out how "our troops were... continue reading
1. After Vote Success, NBC Asks: "What If the U.S. Fails in Iraq?" NBC News decided that a night after the resounding success of the election in Iraq, in which the majority were not intimidated by the threat from the murderous insurgents, would be a good time to examine, as NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams put it, "The gamble in Iraq. What are the consequences if U.S. policy fails?" David Gregory acknowledged the election success, but insisted that "even on a day filled with hope for the future, Americans are forced to confront another possibility: What if the U.S... continue reading
1. Jennings: Iraq "Bleak," Williams: "Unease," Rather: "Inspiring" On the election in Iraq, the three broadcast network anchors on scene in Baghdad delivered very different assessments on Sunday. ABC's Peter Jennings played skeptic, NBC's Brian Williams remained dour while CBS's Dan Rather, in contrast, was quite upbeat. "All over Baghdad today there is no question that it looked like an occupation," maintained Jennings over video of U.S. troops patrolling the streets. Insisting that in Sunni areas "it looks as if the election process has been rejected," Jennings declared: "This is a huge problem for Iraq as a whole. Without Sunni... continue reading
1. CBS & NBC Paint Dire Picture of Violence In Iraq, But Not ABC CBS's Dan Rather and NBC's Brian Williams painted a dire picture of Iraq a few days before the election, but ABC's Peter Jennings wasn't so downbeat. With "Deadly Surge" on screen over video of burned out cars and bomb-damaged buildings, Rather teased at the top of Thursday's CBS Evening News: "Tonight from Iraq, a new surge of deadly pre-election violence as Iraqi election officials quit in fear." NBC Nightly News viewers were greeted with these words covering the full screen, "Violence Before the Vote," as Williams... continue reading
1. Moran Hits Bush with Obscure Case, WPost Delights He's "Stumped" In a "gotcha" moment at Wednesday's presidential news conference, ABC's Terry Moran raised the case of a man in Jordan jailed for "slander" after he claimed the Jordanian government uses U.S. weapons against its own people. Moran snidely asked President Bush to square that arrest with his Inaugural address: "I wonder if here and now you will specifically condemn this abuse of human rights by a key American ally, and if you won't, sir, then what in a practical sense do your fine words mean?" In Thursday's Washington Post,... continue reading