60 Minutes: Can't See Palin as President, 'Fact' Race Costs Obama --9/22/2008
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2. NBC Raises 9/11 & Pushes Quote to Hurt McCain, ABC Ties in Iraq
3. ABC Train Trip: 28 Minutes to Democratic Guests; Only 14 to GOP
4. On Nightline, Terry Moran Slams McCain as Two-Faced Hypocrite
5. National Journal's Taylor: 'Media Adding to Obama's Distortions'
6. PDS in Action: Sullivan's Vitriolic 'S**t Fit' Too Much for Maher
7. Streisand: 'Lovely Democratic Mem'ries/Of the Way We Were'
Steve Kroft again got the sit-down with Obama and when Obama contended that if he loses, his race will not be the cause, Kroft countered that he knows "for a fact...there are a lot of people out there...who won't vote for you because you're black." Kroft declared as the two sat in Elko, Nevada: "I know, for a fact, that there are a lot of people out there, there are a lot of people right here in Elko, who won't vote for you because you're black. I mean, there's not much you can do. But how do you deal with it? I mean, are there ways that, from a political point of view, that you can deal with it? And how do you fight that?" [This item, by the MRC's Brent Baker, was posted Sunday night on the MRC;s blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]
Pelley pressed McCain on why Plain isn't more available to the media: "Senator Biden, Senator Obama's running mate, has done 84 interviews and news conferences by our count. And Governor Palin has done two. And I wonder why that is. There's a perception that you might be nervous about what she might say, that you're not putting her in front of reporters." The two interviews each aired in two parts on the four-segment 60 Minutes of Sunday, September 21. The CBSNews.com posted transcript and video of Pelley with McCain: www.cbsnews.com And of Kroft with Obama: www.cbsnews.com The September 2 CyberAlert oosting, "Kroft Cues Up Obama to Agree Palin 'Has Less Experience than You,'" recounted: CBS's 60 Minutes led Sunday night with a taped interview with the Democratic ticket and in the piece Steve Kroft, who couldn't resist labeling Sarah Palin as a "conservative" while never tagging Joe Biden, presumed as fact that Palin "has less experience" than Obama and cued up Obama to agree with his own campaign's rhetoric about how Palin undermines McCain's experience argument: "Does the fact that he chose as his Vice President someone who has less experience than you take that weapon out of his arsenal?"... Palin was first elected to the Wasilla city council in 1992 and has held statewide office since 2003 (chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission before becoming Governor in December of 2006). Obama assumed his state senate seat in 1997 and, though a U.S. Senator since 2005, he soon after launched his presidential run and has hardly been working as a Senator. Bottom line: As traditionally measured for politicians, neither has all that much experience, especially compared to McCain or Biden, and while whose life experience makes them better-qualified to become the #2 or #1 can be debated, it was ridiculous for Kroft to assert as a fact that Palin "has less experience" than Obama, especially since he's going for the top spot. Kroft also, as noted above, never applied an ideological label to either Obama or Biden, but didn't hesitate with Palin: "Senator McCain tried to steal the Democrats' thunder by announcing that Alaska's conservative first-term Governor, 44-year-old Sarah Palin, would be his running mate."... For the rest of the previous CyberAlert article: www.mrc.org # Portion of the Pelley/McCain session dealing with Palin:
PELLEY: The criticism of Governor Palin is that she was a brilliant marketing choice for the campaign, but she's not well versed on the economy or foreign affairs.
ABC's World News brought up Iraq as David Muir referred to how a man in Manhattan "asked today what about the more than $600 billion already spent on Iraq?" Muir also read an e-mail: "Why make the little people bail out these companies?" Of course, the "little people" won't since they barely or don't pay any income tax. One-third of those who file pay nothing or get money back while the bottom 50 percent ($32,000 down), who earn 12 percent of the total income, pay less than 3 percent of taxes collected. The top 25 percent ($65,000 up) pay 86 percent and the top 1 percent ($389,000) pay 40 percent, so maybe the wealthier will get something for all they put in. See: www.taxfoundation.org [This item, by the MRC's Brent Baker, was posted Friday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] Fuller quotes from the September 19 NBC and ABC evening newscasts, in sequence: # NBC Nightly News: JIM CRAMER OF CNBC: This is about avoiding the Great Depression II. This is about going to your automatic teller machine and having money still come out. This was necessary. I've been a relentless critic of this administration, not today. This was well done. ...
BRIAN WILLIAMS: This was the kind of jittery week in New York a lot of people had to go back to 9/11 to remember how they felt then. How do you feel going into this weekend? ... WILLIAMS TO CHUCK TODD: A Democratic politico said to me this week, if the Democrats do their job, they'll make this "fundamentals of the economy" quote to McCain what "mission accomplished" was to President Bush. I presume when you and I see each other in a week ast the first presidential debate it will come up.
DAVID MUIR: ...Not acting, economists say, would have made things far worse. The grease that keeps the economy going would have dried up. Stocks tumbling, 401 k's taking huge hits. They say banks could have collapsed, putting personal savings in danger. And there could have been a freeze on loans for homes, cars and so much else. Still, the scope of this bailout is unsettling for so many Americans. One viewer e-mailed us: "Does the government just look at this as Monopoly money? Why make the little people bail out these companies?"And this man asked today, what about the more than $600 billion already spent on Iraq?
Additionally, while Senator McCain appeared jointly with his wife on Wednesday, Barack Obama alone received two segments on Monday, totaling nearly eight and a half minutes. Michelle Obama was featured, along with Senator Biden's wife, on Friday for another five and a half minutes. (McCain's brief appearance on Tuesday was not originally announced in the ABC schedule, lasted less than three minutes and only dealt with the financial problems on Wall Street.) [This item, by the MRC's Scott Whitlock, was posted Friday morning on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] The tone of the Democratic interviews also varied from those with the McCains. While Diane Sawyer pressed John and Cindy McCain on abortion on Wednesday, reporter Kate Snow on Thursday simply quizzed Joe Biden on why the Democrats were not further ahead in the polls. (Correspondent Claire Shipman did briefly discuss the issue with Jill Biden and Michelle Obama, but she didn't question the Democrats as to whether their position was too liberal for America.)
The only tough interview came when news anchor Chris Cuomo grilled Obama on Monday about a new campaign spot that implies McCain is out of touch and too elderly to be commander in chief. He pressed at one point, "But the ad is a negative ad. You paint him as an old man. You say he can't use a computer. He's never sent an e-mail. What does that all mean?"
For additional details about Sawyer's questioning of John McCain about abortion and Roe V. Wade, see a September 18 CyberAlert posting: www.mrc.org See a September 16 NewsBusters post for more on Sawyer's attempt to get Hillary Clinton to agree with the contention that McCain is too old: newsbusters.org Finally, for a recap of Chris Cuomo's surprisingly tough interview with Barack Obama, check out a September 17 CyberAlert posting: www.mrc.org
She also whined: "With just 47 days to the election, is the Straight Talk Express shifting course? Will the real John McCain please stand up?" Moran's tone dripped with sarcasm as he ripped into the Arizona Senator's supposed hypocrisy. The ABC journalist fretted that McCain "clearly decided he's got to change. Change a lot, in some ways, in order to win this thing." As old and new clips of the candidate were spliced together, Moran added: "John McCain meet John McCain." [This item, by the MRC's Scott Whitlock, was posted Friday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] This same journalist who now is horrified over McCain's candidacy has repeatedly and enthusiastically rhapsodized about Barack Obama. On November 6, 2006, he cooed, "You can see it in the crowds. The thrill, the hope. How they surge toward him. You're looking at an American political phenomenon." See a November 8, 2006 CyberAlert posting for more www.mrc.org On Thursday, Moran provided zero examples of Obama switching positions, despite the fact that there are many available. (Obama pledged to accept public financing if he became the Democratic nominee. He ultimately abandoned that promise. He's flip-flopped on oil drilling.) Instead, Moran simply slimed McCain as a practitioner of gutter politics: "Finally, the old John McCain repeatedly promised voters a different kind of campaign. Nobler, less nasty, better...That was then. This is now." Perhaps Moran isn't aware of the fact that Obama's campaign has started airing Spanish language ads that smear radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh as a racist. See a MRC press release for more on that: www.mrc.org Also, the MRC's Rich Noyes highlighted a National Journal article by Stuart Taylor which asserts: "Many in the media have been one-sided, sometimes adding to Obama's distortions rather than acting as impartial reporters of fact and referees of the mud fights." See #5 below. The Nightline co-anchor even attacked McCain for using a teleprompter: "McCain is on message all the time now. He's often using a teleprompter, reading scripted speeches." This is something that Obama routinely does during his speeches. But, again, Moran didn't mention that. A transcript of the September 18 segment: CYNTHIA MCFADDEN: And John McCain, 2.0. With just 47 days to the election, is the Straight Talk Express shifting course? Will the real John McCain please stand up? MCFADDEN: We begin tonight with presidential politics. It might be called a tale of two John McCains. The John McCain Americans have come to know over his 25 years in Congress and the John McCain who has emerged in the final phase of this hotly contested presidential race. Make no mistake, John McCain very well may defeat Barack Obama. But to do so, has he compromised principles in the style that got him this far? My co-anchor Terry Moran is in Green Bay, Wisconsin, taking a hard look at that question. Terry?
TERRY MORAN: Cynthia, just a couple of hours ago, John McCain and Sarah Palin packed this arena here behind me for a big rally. Wisconsin is one of those battle ground states, of course. They had a good crowd here. You know, it is fascinating to watch John McCain campaign these days This is a very different candidate from the guy who won the Republican nomination this spring. He's in a tough race for the presidency in a tough year for Republicans and he has clearly decided he's got to change. Change a lot, in some ways, in order to win this thing. John McCain meet John McCain.
Taylor declared: "Many in the media have been one-sided, sometimes adding to Obama's distortions rather than acting as impartial reporters of fact and referees of the mud fights." Rather than cleaning up the record, Taylor reported several instances when the media are themselves guilty of perpetuating partisan disinformation. [This item, by the MRC's Rich Noyes, was posted Friday morning on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] An excerpt from Taylor's September 20 column, "Campaign Lies, Media Double Standards": ....We still have many great journalists, but I no longer trust the major newspapers or television networks to provide consistently accurate and fair reporting and analysis of all the charges and countercharges. This in an era when the noise produced by highly partisan TV hosts and blogs creates a crying need for at least one newspaper that we can count on to play it straight. Indeed, one reason that candidates get away with dishonest campaign ads and speeches may be that it is so hard for undecided voters like me to discern which charges are true, which are exaggerated, and which are false. Most people can't spend hours every day cross-checking diverse sources of information to verify the accuracy of slanted stories and broadcasts such as these: # In Sarah Palin's first big media interview, on September 11, Charlie Gibson of ABC News asked: "You said recently, in your old church, 'Our national leaders are sending U.S. soldiers on a task that is from God.' Are we fighting a holy war?" Palin responded: "You know, I don't know if that was my exact quote." Gibson pressed: "Exact words." Viewers had no way of knowing that, in fact, Gibson was distorting Palin's meaning by leaving out critical context and thus making an unremarkable exhortation to prayer sound like a declaration of holy war. Palin had not said that the war was a task from God. She had urged her listeners to "pray" that it was a task from God. [See: www.mrc.org ] A September 3 Associated Press report by Gene Johnson distorted Palin's meaning in exactly the same way. # A front-page story in the September 12 Washington Post, by Anne Kornblut, was headlined: "Palin Links Iraq to Sept. 11 in Talk to Troops in Alaska." This was misleading, as were the first two paragraphs. They implied that Palin had advanced the long-discredited "idea that the Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein helped Al Qaeda plan the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon." In fact, Palin's reasonably clear meaning was not that Saddam had a role in the 9/11 attacks but that (as the article backhandedly acknowledged) the troops would be fighting Al Qaeda in Iraq, which is related to the group that launched the 9/11 attacks.... I was deeply dismayed by the 72-year-old McCain's reckless choice of the inexperienced and untested Palin to be a heartbeat away from the presidency. But I am also deeply skeptical when I see front-page headlines like "As Mayor of Wasilla, Palin Cut Own Duties, Left Trail of Bad Blood" (Washington Post, September 14), or "Once Elected, Palin Hired Friends and Lashed Foes" (New York Times, same day). Such loaded language is a badge not of a newsroom committed to impartial investigation but of an ideological echo chamber. Many media commentators also exude a conviction that Republicans have long played dirtier and more dishonest political hardball than do Democrats. Maybe, but I'm not so sure. We are often reminded of Republican sins ranging from the (accurate) Willie Horton ads of 1988 to the (over-the-top) "Swiftboating" of 2004. We hear a lot less about Democratic sins such as President Clinton's distortions of Bob Dole's position on Medicare in 1996 and the NAACP's stunningly scurrilous ad campaign in 2000 associating George W. Bush's opposition to a hate crimes bill with the racist murderers who dragged James Byrd behind a truck.... END of Excerpt For Taylor's piece in full: www.nationaljournal.com
Leading into Sullivan on the Friday night show, left-wing journalist Naomi Klein called Palin "Bush in drag" and "when you add the hunting you got Cheney," prompting musician William Adams, who goes by "will.i.am," to complain: "You know what scares me about Palin, is that we're talking about Palin and we're not talking about how to get out of the hole." That set off Sullivan, a frequent contributor to Time magazine and the New York Times, his voice getting louder and his hands gesticulating more as he proceeded: [This item, by the MRC's Brent Baker, was posted Saturday afternoon, with video, on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] As Sulivan was drowned out by loud applause from the Los Angeles audience, Maher tried to calm him down: "Okay....you're little shit fit...I agree with you, but-" Sullivan was undeterred: "It was not a shit fit. This is an outrage, an outrage! And after three weeks, no press conference. What is this, Putin's Russia?" Maher tried again: "I know, we're all upset about it." Sullivan, in full rage: "We need to be more upset. We need to be much more upset!" Maher, mimicking an ape: "Grrrrrr!"
Sullivan's blog: andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com Sullivan fancies himself a conservative and a couple of years ago authored the book, 'The Conservative Soul: Fundamentalism, Freedom, and the Future of the Right,' in which he "makes an impassioned call to rescue conservatism from the corruption of the Republican far right." Barnes and Nobles page for the book: search.barnesandnoble.com The Atlantic's bio for Sullivan which lists his many news media positions over the years: andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com HBO's page for Real Time: www.hbo.com
The customized stanzas from her 'Miseries' adaption of the 'Way We Were' as played on the October 2, 2002 Special Report with Brit Hume: Scattered pictures Of the House we left behind. Lovely Democratic mem'ries Of the way we were. Unprecedented growth in the economy. The Dow was up, the deficit was down. As long as Democrats were the majority, I could sleep nights, Not weep nights. [This item, by the MRC's Brent Baker, was posted Saturday night, with video, on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] Brit Hume introduced that clip: "You've probably heard or read that at a Democratic Party fundraiser in Los Angeles over the weekend, Barbra Streisand performed a re-worked version of her famous hit song Memories from the movie The Way We Were. You may have heard that it was called Miseries and was about life under this Republican administration. You may not have believed that this actually happened. Well:" Afterward, Hume, unable to control his laughter, barely managed to get through his standard closing line: "And that's Special Report for this time. Please come again next time, and in the meantime stay tuned for news: fair, balanced and unafraid." (Video re-rendered from the MRC's archive by Michelle Humphrey.) From Tapper's September 17 posting about the stars who attended the two Obama-Biden fundraisers: ...Somewhere between 250 and 300 others signed up for the dinner, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Lee Curtis, Will Farrell -- known for, among other characters, his devastating impersonation of President George W. Bush -- as well as Jodie Foster, Toby McGuire, and Chris Rock. Not to mention the man Sen. John McCain, D-Ariz., said was his favorite Hollywood "president," Dennis Haysbert, who played the assassinated President David Palmer on Fox's "24."...
Around 800 people -- including Sarah Silverman, Ron Howard, Magic Johnson, and Pierce Brosnan -- were there, each paying $2,500 to the Obama Victory Fund. We are told, though the press was not permitted (inflicted?) with permission to hear her, that Barbra Streisand ran through little parts of songs, though not entire numbers.... For the full blog posting: blogs.abcnews.com -- Brent Baker
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Three Sundays ago, in a 60 Minutes interview CBS's Steve Kroft cued up Barack Obama with Sarah Palin's presumed lack of qualifications compared to him: "Does the fact that he chose as his Vice President someone who has less experience than you take that weapon out of his arsenal?" But on Sunday night, in a 60 Minutes devoted to new interviews with both Obama and John McCain, Scott Pelley also hit McCain from the same angle on Palin's qualifications, telling him "the criticism of Governor Palin is that she was a brilliant marketing choice for the campaign, but she's not well versed on the economy or foreign affairs," before he demanded: "In your judgment, can you see her as President of the United States?" When McCain replied "Absolutely," Pelley's voice betrayed astonishment as he fired back: "As President of the United States?" 
Kroft did at least challenge Obama with whether it's "a good idea to be raising taxes at a time when the country seems to be broke?" and how if his legislation to pull "all the troops out" of Iraq in 16 months had passed, "we would have missed the surge, we would have missed the reduction in violence." 
KROFT: When we did our very first interview, and I asked you, I said "Do you think the country's ready for a black President," you said that you didn't think it would hold you back. That if you don't win this race it will be because of other factors. Do you still believe that? 
Notes on Friday night coverage of the Wall Street bail out: On the NBC Nightly News, the always hyperbolic Jim Cramer saw "Great Depression II" avoided by the rescue effort, anchor Brian Williams raised 9/11 as he contended "this was the kind of jittery week in New York a lot of people had to go back to 9/11 to remember how they felt then," prompting an "oh, wow" from CNBC's Maria Bartiromo, and Williams passed along how "a Democratic politico said to me this week, if the Democrats do their job, they'll make this 'fundamentals of the economy' quote to McCain what 'mission accomplished' was to President Bush." 
MAN IN MANHATTAN: We are bankrupting this nation, but I don't know what choice we have. 
On Friday, Good Morning America concluded its week long train trip to election battleground states and ended up devoting 28 minutes to high profile Democrats and just over 14 to Republicans, a disparity of two-to-one. The tour, which was designed to see what average Americans think about the presidential election, featured mostly Democratic guests. Senator Barack Obama appeared on Monday, Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, Joe Biden on Thursday and Michelle Obama and Jill Biden on Friday. The only GOP representation came in the form of a short interview with John McCain on Tuesday and another on Wednesday with the Senator and Cindy McCain. 
Similarly, Sawyer gushed to Hillary Clinton on Tuesday that people had come up to her with a request that she ask a certain question: "And several of them said to me, I'd like to know, have there been hard days since June and how she's [Clinton] dealt with them?" When she challenged the New York senator, it was mostly on issues related to not being tough enough. The host also prompted Clinton to endorse a statement that McCain is too old to be president. 
To read more about Snow's interview with Joe Biden, see a September 19 CyberAlert posting: 
On Thursday's Nightline, co-anchor Terry Moran trashed John McCain for running a hypocritical, dishonest campaign against Barack Obama. He accused the Republican of doing "the kind of thing that George W. Bush and his supporters did to McCain in South Carolina in 2000." The segment, which featured no examples of sleazy campaigning by Barack Obama, began with co-anchor Cynthia McFadden complaining: "Make no mistake, John McCain very well may defeat Barack Obama. But to do so, has he compromised principles in the style that got him this far?" 
Over the next six weeks, as the candidates trade charges and counter-charges, the self-appointed media umpires will act as if they are the ultimate fact-finders in Campaign '08. Writing for National Journal, columnist Stuart Taylor asserted that the media's track record thus far makes him just as skeptical of the press. 
That finally silenced Sullivan and Maher moved on to how while other groups have returned to the pre-conventions split, white women are still going for McCain-Palin by a wide margin. 
Obama then went to the ballroom at the Regent Beverly Wilshire. 
