Mark Shields on Saturday: "The Recall Will, In Fact, Fail" --10/8/2003

1. Mark Shields on Saturday: "The Recall Will, In Fact, Fail"
Columnist Mark Shields owes a six pack to his Capital Gang colleagues, all of whom on Saturday predicted the recall would win while he bet a six pack that it would not. Shields had declared: "I will bet a six pack that the recall will, in fact, fail, closely."

2. Gergen Advises Schwarzenegger to Get Along by Raising Taxes
Now that Arnold Schwarzenegger has won after a pledge to not raise taxes, what should he do? He should raise taxes, David Gergen of U.S. News & World Report advised on Nightline.

3. Jennings Hears Recall Used for "Nefarious Ends" to Reverse Vote
Hours before the polls closed, ABC's Peter Jennings delighted in "the irony" of how the recall, which "conservative Republicans had engineered" to "get rid of a moderate Democratic Governor," had led Gray Davis to sign "a lot of legislation pushed by liberals." And when Jennings went to the streets, he found a man who told him that the recall mechanism had been "usurped for...nefarious ends" and a woman who charged that "it's the Republicans' way of overturning a vote that they lost....it's undermining the democratic process."

4. Williams Grants How Conservatives See Liberal Bias at LA Times
On election day NBC News acknowledged conservative backlash against the liberal bias of the Los Angeles Times for launching a last minute hit piece on Arnold Schwarzenegger, but Tom Brokaw and Brian Williams couldn't resist forwarding the usual media stereotypes about how only angry white men tune in to talk radio. Picking up on what has been animating California talk radio, Brian Williams actually uttered the words "liberal bias" as he identified the target of talk radio wrath: "It involves the news media and charges of liberal bias, specifically the groping accusations against Arnold Schwarzenegger and the LA Times." Williams contended: "LA remains pretty much a one-paper town. A liberal paper, at that, if you ask conservatives."

5. GMA Gives Huffington Election Day Forum to Trash Schwarzenegger
Arianna Huffington, who dropped out of the recall race, remained a vociferous critic of Arnold Schwarzenegger but, nonetheless, ABC's Good Morning America brought her aboard on Tuesday to assess the campaign as if she were some kind of independent analyst. She took the opportunity to raise the word "rape" as she trashed Schwarzenegger: "It's very hard to dismiss 15 women whose stories are all independently corroborated. In fact, I think it is really offensive to dismiss them because that's what makes it so hard for women to come forward and talk about stories of sexual harassment or even rape. Only one in 10 women come forward to talk when they've been raped."

6. On Monday Night Football, Al Michaels Cracks on Huffington
During this week's game, Monday Night Football play-by-play announcer Al Michaels took an accurate shot at Arianna Huffington, commenting on how a player who zig-zagged through the other team's defensive line to pick up nearly 20 yards had shown "more change of direction than Arianna Huffington," an obvious crack at how she's moved from right to left.

7. "Top Ten Possible California Newspaper Headlines for Tomorrow"
Letterman's "Top Ten Possible California Newspaper Headlines for Tomorrow." That would now be today.

Mark Shields on Saturday: "The Recall
Will, In Fact, Fail"

Columnist and PBS analyst Mark Shields owes a six pack to his CNN Capital Gang colleagues, all of whom on Saturday predicted the recall would win while he bet a six pack that it would not.

Shields declared on the October 4 Capital Gang on CNN: "I will bet a six pack that the recall will, in fact, fail, closely."

Well, it succeeded, big. So Bob Novak, Margaret Carlson, Kate O'Beirne and Al Hunt should be awaiting delivery of their beer.

For a picture of Shields, who serves as the liberal political analyst every Friday on PBS's NewsHour: www.cnn.com

Gergen Advises Schwarzenegger to Get
Along by Raising Taxes

Now that Arnold Schwarzenegger has won after a pledge to not raise taxes, what should he do? He should raise taxes, David Gergen of U.S. News & World Report advised on Tuesday's Nightline.

Koppel put the burden on Schwarzenegger for creating a bad atmosphere as he asked Gergen, who appeared with Clinton's Chief-of-Staff, Leon Panetta: "Are the Democrats in Sacramento, after all the nasty things he's said about them, are they going to be in a mood to deal?"

Gergen argued: "I think they might if he does what Reagan did and that is, you know, Reagan broke the mold, he raised taxes after saying he wouldn't. But I just can't imagine in these circumstances Schwarzenegger's going to do that easily, so that's the hard part of it."

Jennings Hears Recall Used for "Nefarious
Ends" to Reverse Vote

Hours before the polls closed, ABC's Peter Jennings delighted in "the irony" of how the recall, which "conservative Republicans had engineered" to "get rid of a moderate Democratic Governor," had led Gray Davis to sign "a lot of legislation pushed by liberals." And when Jennings went to the streets, he found a man who told him that the recall mechanism had been "usurped for...nefarious ends" and a woman who charged that "it's the Republicans' way of overturning a vote that they lost....it's undermining the democratic process."

Up against those two loaded quotes about a Republican or conservative coup d'etat, Jennings highlighted a woman who made the vague observation that "California is ready for any kind of change" and another woman who insisted that Cubans "don't like anything that is not true Republican right wing."

Jennings himself, in Los Angeles, narrated the "A Closer Look" segment on the October 7 World News Tonight. He began, as taken down by MRC analyst Brad Wilmouth: "Well, we're going to take another somewhat closer look now at the California recall election. As we were discussing with George Stephanopoulos, in almost every state these last few weeks, political activists have been watching the state, and so let's take it a step farther on the lessons to be learned when the public has lost confidence in the government's ability to manage their money.
"In Los Angeles today, we didn't meet many voters who were mad as hell and wouldn't take it anymore, though Arnold Schwarzenegger used the line from a movie in the campaign. Many voters recognize the irony. Conservative Republicans had engineered the recall to get rid of a moderate Democratic Governor. And, as the recall gained momentum, he reacted by signing a lot of legislation pushed by liberals that he hoped might vote for him: Better terms for gay unions, drivers licences for illegal immigrants, legislation that forces small businesses to ante up for their workers' health care. And when Governor Davis realized he was as threatened as he was, he stacked the bureaucracy with people bound to make it difficult if Mr. Schwarzenegger wins. The California legislature is already dominated by Democrats. It is, say California reporters, the makings of a noxious cocktail.
"Out on the streets today, a reporter could find any and all political opinion. Did the recall energize the democratic system?"
A man asserted: "I think that recall initiative, referendum, were all great political mechanisms. But I think that this has been usurped for, you know, nefarious ends."
A woman maintained: "I think it's the Republicans' way of overturning a vote that they lost. That's what I think. And it's undermining the democratic process."
A second woman: "California is ready for any kind of change."
And a third woman, apparently Cuban: "Voting for Arnold, yeah. Cubans are Republicans by nature. We don't like anything that is not true Republican right wing."
Jennings: "Do you think the recall election is a good idea?"
A second man: "No, but we live in 'Holly-weird.'"
Jennings: "Yes, he said 'Holly-weird' for 'Hollywood.' People elsewhere do make fun of California, but this man has a point."
The first man again, sitting outside in front of a store or restaurant: "I think Californians express emotionally or express in action what the rest of the country is feeling, which is fed up with-"
Jennings cut off the soundbite so he could conclude: "Fed up, he said, so many people said it. Fed up with a lack of leadership in politics, a bad economy, a terrible deficit, and Gray Davis."

And fed up with, as NBC noticed as detailed in item #4 below, the liberal media.

Williams Grants How Conservatives See
Liberal Bias at LA Times

On election day NBC News acknowledged conservative backlash against the liberal bias of the Los Angeles Times for launching a last minute hit piece on Arnold Schwarzenegger, but Tom Brokaw and Brian Williams couldn't resist forwarding the usual media stereotypes about how only angry white men tune in to talk radio.

Picking up on what has been animating California talk radio, in piece aired Tuesday night on the NBC Nightly News, CNBC's The News with Brian Williams and MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Brian Williams actually uttered the words "liberal bias" as he identified the target of talk radio wrath: "It involves the news media and charges of liberal bias, specifically the groping accusations against Arnold Schwarzenegger and the LA Times." (I don't think he meant that the newspaper groped anyone.) Williams added: "Talk radio is on fire. People here are angry, and all the incoming fire is directed at a California colossus: the Los Angeles Times." And Williams contended: "LA remains pretty much a one-paper town. A liberal paper, at that, if you ask conservatives."

Tom Brokaw saw only males motivated by talk radio as he noted how the Los Angeles Times "became the target of some of Schwarzenegger's most passionate defenders, especially radio talk show commentators. In the end, that may have helped motivate Schwarzenegger's male voters." Williams contended: "The angriest listeners appear to be mostly white male conservatives with a sprinkling of Reagan Democrats."

Brokaw introduced the Williams story as aired on Tuesday's NBC Nightly News: "In the closing days of the campaign a lot of the coverage centered on the claims of 15 women who said that Arnold Schwarzenegger grabbed them sexually and made lewd remarks. Most of those stories originated in the Los Angeles Times and the Times quickly became the target of some of Schwarzenegger's most passionate defenders, especially radio talk show commentators. In the end, that may have helped motivate Schwarzenegger's male voters."

Williams began from Los Angeles: "An interesting subplot has developed during the closing days of this campaign here, and it mirrors a split in the nation as a whole. It involves the news media and charges of liberal bias, specifically the groping accusations against Arnold Schwarzenegger and the LA Times. The paper insists it was not a Gray Davis campaign leak that it was publishing. But Schwarzenegger's supporters say it all has too familiar a ring to it, and the AM airwaves here have become the battleground."
Bill Handel on KFI in Los Angeles: "Now, the politics of the LA Times, you know, I found it astounding."
Williams: "It is all you hear in Los Angeles and, for that matter, north to San Francisco and beyond."
Male caller: "I will never buy one of those papers again."
Female caller: "I don't like their politics and their liberal spin on things."
Williams: "Talk radio is on fire. People here are angry, and all the incoming fire is directed at a California colossus: the Los Angeles Times."
Man: "I think the times is absolutely, I think it's a rag."
Williams, over a shot of the LA Times building in downtown Los Angeles: "This is what all the excitement is about. In journalism circles, it's called a 'late hit,' a front-page story six days before the election detailing alleged groping incidents involving Arnold Schwarzenegger. The paper says it ran the story the minute it was nailed down. It's a big story, in part because it's a big newspaper. Even despite infiltration by USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, LA remains pretty much a one-paper town. A liberal paper, at that, if you ask conservatives."
Handel: "Perception is major newspapers are liberal, CNN is liberal, the networks are liberal, talk radio is conservative. I think the LA Times has left a very bad taste in, in my listeners' minds."
Williams: "The angriest listeners appear to be mostly white male conservatives with a sprinkling of Reagan Democrats. The Times says over a thousand readers have cancelled their subscriptions. One of the paper's political writers says people should judge the Times by its work over time."
Mark Barabak, Los Angeles Times: "You have to look at our coverage in its totality. And I would point out that a lot of the criticisms, a lot of the notions that Gray Davis has his hand out, that he hasn't been a good Governor, that he's been a pay to play for Governor, is a result of stories in the LA Times."
Williams: "Journalism veterans say papers used to think long and hard before dropping a bombshell on any given candidate right before an election, but those unwritten rules may be changing."
Tom Rosenstiel, Project for Excellence in Journalism: "The reason for the gray spirit, usually, is that, is an understanding that it takes some time for voters to sort out what something means."
Williams: "Today many Schwarzenegger voters were making it clear:"
Man: "I'm going to vote for Arnold Schwarzenegger for Governor."

Williams, anchoring live his CNBC show, then noted in that airing of his piece: "A yes vote for their man is a no vote for a media monolith in California."

Williams proceeded to interview Phil Bronstein, Editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, about the role of the California media in the recall campaign and whether the LA Times aided Schwarzenegger's opponents. The last question from Williams to Bronstein: "Final question, 15 seconds, if you please: Should more newspapers sometimes come out and say yeah, we probably lean left of center, we're not a conservative paper, it's just the way we are. That was a big complaint in LA today."

How about more anchors and reporters for cable news networks coming clean?

Liberal bias at the LA Times isn't a matter of dispute: The paper's Editor sees it himself. As recounted in the May 29 CyberAlert:
A critic has accused the Los Angeles Times of publishing a story, on an abortion bill in Texas, that demonstrated the "occasional reality" that the LA Times is a "liberal, 'politically correct' newspaper." That critic? John Carroll, the Editor and Executive Vice President of the Los Angeles Times. Carroll chastised his staff: "The apparent bias of the writer and/or the desk reveals itself in the third paragraph, which characterizes such bills in Texas and elsewhere as requiring 'so-called counseling of patients.' I don't think people on the anti-abortion side would consider it 'so-called,' a phrase that is loaded with derision." Carroll insisted: "We are not going to push a liberal agenda in the news pages of the Times." See: www.mediaresearch.org

GMA Gives Huffington Election Day Forum
to Trash Schwarzenegger

Arianna Huffington, who dropped out of the recall race, remained a vociferous critic of Arnold Schwarzenegger but, nonetheless, ABC's Good Morning America brought her aboard on Tuesday to assess the campaign as if she were some kind of independent analyst.

Robin Roberts asked her to suggest how difficult it has been for Maria Shriver "to hear these very public accusations against her husband?" Huffington endorsed the credibility of the accusers as she raised the word "rape" in her answer: "It's very hard to dismiss 15 women whose stories are all independently corroborated. In fact, I think it is really offensive to dismiss them because that's what makes it so hard for women to come forward and talk about stories of sexual harassment or even rape. Only one in 10 women come forward to talk when they've been raped."

Roberts brought up the claim from "the Internet" about how Gray Davis has "a violent temper against some of his staff members." But unlike the allegations against Schwarzenegger, Roberts tagged that "dirty politics" as she asked Huffington: "So is this just more of dirty politics this close to election?" Huffington, naturally, saw the case against Schwarzenegger as being much stronger.

MRC analyst Jessica Anderson transcribed Huffington's session via satellite from Los Angeles during the first half hour of the October 7 GMA.

Roberts set up the segment: "We want to turn now to Arianna Huffington, the columnist and commentator who has entered the recall race as an independent, but who recently dropped out of the race for Governor. Her name remains on the very lengthy ballot and she joins us now."

Referring to a previous story on how Shriver weathered the charges against her husband, Roberts first inquired of Huffington: "Off the heels of Linda Douglass's story with Maria Shriver, you know her, Maria Shriver, very well. She is a strong, independent, career woman. How difficult has this been for her to hear these very public accusations against her husband?"
Huffington, identified on screen as a "columnist and commentator," replied: "Well, when the accusations first came out on the front page of the Los Angeles Times, my heart really went out to her as a mother because she's a wonderful mother, and there can't be anything worse than knowing that your children are going to be reading these very graphic stories about their father. And I know she's doing a great job campaigning and hiding whatever her own inner feelings may be, but it can't be easy."
Roberts: "You know some of these women who have come forward accusing Arnold Schwarzenegger -- you know one woman in particular. Many people question the credibility and the timing of these accusations."
Huffington: "Well, the first women who came forward were all sought out by the LA Times -- none of them volunteered, all their stories were corroborated. I know one woman who had told me her story a long time ago, and again, she never came forward to say anything like that until the LA Times story appeared. So it's very hard to dismiss 15 women whose stories are all independently corroborated. In fact, I think it is really offensive to dismiss them because that's what makes it so hard for women to come forward and talk about stories of sexual harassment or even rape. Only one in 10 women come forward to talk when they've been raped."
Roberts: "Now we're hearing, this morning, accusations against Gray Davis. In Brian Rooney's report, he said on the Internet there are accusations of him having a violent temper against some of his staff members, so is this just more of dirty politics this close to election?"
Huffington: "Well, these are two very different stories. There is one journalist who wrote a piece on the Internet, uncorroborated, without any woman coming forward to say or verify anything that she had said. We are talking about 15 women who have come forward, who have worked with him in most cases, and give very, very graphic, detailed descriptions of whatever. And more important, he admitted it when he apologized and he said he was deeply sorry, so I don't even know why we're questioning it. In fact, this is a very strange strategy on behalf of Arnold Schwarzenegger. First he denies everything, then he blames the Davis camp, then he apologizes, and now full circle again, he's denying them."

The story about Davis may be circulating the Internet, but it's based on a Saturday column in the LA Daily News by Jill Stewart, who disclosed: "Since at least 1997, the [Los Angeles] Times has been sitting on information that Gov. Gray Davis is an 'office batterer' who has attacked female members of his staff, thrown objects at subservients and launched into red-faced fits, screaming the f-word until staffers cower....When I spoke to a reporter involved, he said editors at the Times were against attacking a major political figure using anonymous sources. Just what they did last week to Schwarzenegger."

As Roberts noted, ABC's Brian Rooney raised the item during his update on the Davis campaign: "Now, as to the question of whether Gray Davis really is a dull guy, there's been a report circulating on the Internet by a columnist named Jill Stewart claiming that he has a violent temper and has, at times, either struck or shoved some his employees at the state house. This is unverified otherwise. It is making the rounds of the Internet. It does not seem to have had any effect on the campaign so far. Gray Davis says the margin is razor thin. There is no independent polling to verify that and as the politicians like to say, the only poll that counts for Gray Davis is the one today."

For Stewart's Saturday column in full: www.dailynews.com

The American Reporter Web site has posted Stewart's 1997 story for New Times LA on the allegation about Davis being violent in the office: www.american-reporter.com

On Monday Night Football, Al Michaels
Cracks on Huffington

During this week's game, Monday Night Football play-by-play announcer Al Michaels took an accurate shot at Arianna Huffington, commenting on how a player who zig-zagged through the other team's defensive line to pick up nearly 20 yards had shown "more change of direction than Arianna Huffington," an obvious crack at how she's moved from right to left.

The MRC's Kristina Sewell caught the quip from Michaels which occurred with about 13:40 to go in the 2nd quarter of the October 6 game on ABC with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers up 14-0, in a game they eventually lost 38-35 in overtime to the Indianapolis Colts.

As the Buccaneers ran a play, Michaels described the forward movement of running back Michael Pittman: "2nd down and 2 from the 27 yard line. [after play complete:] Pittman showing more change of direction than Arianna Huffington, breaking a tackle and picking up a first down."

For a picture of Al Michaels: espn.go.com

For a rundown of earlier conservative comments from Michaels on Monday Night Football, praising Katherine Harris and Peggy Noonan and mocking Paul Begala, see the January 9, 2002 CyberAlert: www.mediaresearch.org

"Top Ten Possible California Newspaper
Headlines for Tomorrow"

From the October 7 Late Show with David Letterman, taped before the polls closed in California, the "Top Ten Possible California Newspaper Headlines for Tomorrow." That would now be today. Late Show Web site: www.cbs.com

10. "135-Way Tie Throws State Into Confusion"

9. "Gray Davis Fails To Convince Self To Vote for Self"

8. "Governor Gary Coleman Names Lieutenant Governor Urkel"

7. "Recall Election Just Elaborate 'Punk'd' Prank"

6. "Dejected Comedian Gallagher Takes Sledgehammer To Own Head"

5. "Screw the Recall, How Did the Cubs and the Red Sox Get In the Playoffs?"

4. "Millions of Californians Move to Nevada"

3. "Confused Al Gore Demands Recount"

2. "Bush Reminds Nation 'You Can't Recall a President'"

1. "Maria To Arnold: 'Why Don't You Ever Grope Me?'"

# I don't know what happened to Dennis Miller. The Tonight Show guest page ( www.nbc.com ) had him listed on Tuesday afternoon as a Tuesday night guest. He was not on and Geraldo Rivera was on last night. Chris Matthews is listed as a scheduled guest for tonight, Wednesday.

And Senator Hillary Clinton is scheduled to appear Wednesday night on Comedy Central's Daily Show with Jon Stewart, airing at 11pm, 1am, 10am and 7pm, all times EDT, Wednesday night through early Thursday evening.

-- Brent Baker