ABC's Stephanopoulos Resurrects Vietnam Election Headline --2/2/2005

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 there for six more years."

2. Zakaria: W Less Rational Ayatollah, Stewart: Afraid Bush Right
Prompting cheers from the audience, on Monday's Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Comedy Central, Newsweek International Editor Fareed Zakaria passed along how an Iraqi politician told him that "there are two Grand Ayatollahs running Iraq: Bush and Sistani -- and Sistani seems the more rational." Stewart, a Bush-bashing opponent of the war who has called John Kerry "my guy," admitted that his "great fear" is that if Bush "has been right about this all along I feel like my world view will not sustain itself and I may...implode." Stewart soon sarcastically suggested that the Bush team has "convinced themselves that the whole reason we went to Iraq was for the election, I don't think they even remember that there was a whole weapons thing." But Stewart also took a shot at Ted Kennedy: "He doesn't have great timing... Literally the night before the election he was like, [mimicking Kennedy] 'This will never work.'"

3. Richard Gere: "Saddam Hussein and Us, We Are Not Separate"
Asked on CBS's Early Show to explain "Healing the Divide," actor Richard Gere bafflingly replied that "the world is a symbolic representation." Gere incomprehensibly elaborated about the group he supports: "You and I are not separate. The Iraqis and us are not separate. Even Saddam Hussein and us, we are not separate. We're all in this together. All deeply connected. And when we can start bridging that divide -- the primitive, ignorant divide of that -- then wars go away. All wars go away."

4. Couric Pleads for AG to Take on SUVs Which Could "Squash" Her
Anti-SUV efforts not anti-SUV enough for NBC's Katie Couric. In a Tuesday Today segment about an SUV safety advertising campaign, Couric, who admitted that SUVs "scare me a little bit because I feel like they could squash me like a bug," demanded of Connecticut's liberal crusading Attorney General, Richard Blumenthal: "What about the environmental impact of these cars? They're huge gas guzzlers, they're not particularly good for the environment. How come you're not emphasizing that as well?" Couric interviewed Blumenthal outside as the two stood in a front of the huge mascot for the campaign, ESUVEE, which the AP described as "a monster...that resembles a woolly mammoth with headlights."

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 there for six more years."

The remainder of the show, which looked at the successful security measures employed on election day in Iraq, refrained from Vietnam analogies, observed the MRC's Jessica Barnes.

Stephanopoulos led the January 31 Nightline: "It would take a heart of stone not to be moved by those scenes from yesterday: millions of Iraqis literally taking their lives in their hands, defying death by dipping their finger in ink and voting. But 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. It wouldn't be the first time that the promise of elections went unfulfilled. Take a look at this headline from the New York Times. The date was September 3rd, 1967. The place was Vietnam. The turnout was 83 percent and the U.S. was 'encouraged,' but our troops were there for six more years. Iraq is not Vietnam. History rarely repeats itself in exactly the same way..."

But.

Zakaria: W Less Rational Ayatollah,
Stewart: Afraid Bush Right

Prompting cheers from the audience, on Monday's Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Comedy Central, Newsweek International Editor Fareed Zakaria passed along how an Iraqi politician told him that "there are two Grand Ayatollahs running Iraq: Bush and Sistani -- and Sistani seems the more rational." Stewart, a Bush-bashing opponent of the war who has called John Kerry "my guy," admitted that his "great fear" is that if Bush "has been right about this all along I feel like my world view will not sustain itself and I may...implode." Stewart soon sarcastically suggested that the Bush team has "convinced themselves that the whole reason we went to Iraq was for the election, I don't think they even remember that there was a whole weapons thing." But Stewart also took a shot at Ted Kennedy: "He doesn't have great timing... Literally the night before the election he was like, [mimicking Kennedy] 'This will never work.'"

The MRC's Brian Boyd took down parts of the January 31 interview:

Stewart: "The Shia will be in control, the Kurds will be in second and the Sunni were in control when Saddam was there."
Zakaria: "Exactly."
Stewart: "So the Shia then will persecute the Sunni?"
Zakaria: "You've got Iraq 101 down pretty well."
Stewart: "I'm unbelievable with this and it's only taken two and a half years of an occupation. So the Shia then, you fear, will persecute the Sunni?"
Zakaria: "Right, and the problem there is the Sunni aren't, probably aren't going to take it lying down. They already have an insurgency going on. So you could see a fairly nasty civil war break out. I'm not saying any of that is going to happen, what I'm saying is that you and Ted Kennedy have to stop telling us to get out of there."
Stewart: "What?"
Zakaria: "Because-"
Stewart: "Ted Kennedy? Yeah, he doesn't have great timing, Ted Kennedy. Literally the night before the election he was like, [mimicking Kennedy] 'This will never work.'"

A couple of minutes later, in a discussion about how the Shia have refrained from attacking Sunnis, Stewart described Ayatollah Sistani as "seemingly a very reasonable man."

That cued Zakaria, a regular panelist on ABC's This Week, to recall: "He seems to be a very reasonable guy. There's an Iraqi politician who said to me, I quote him in last week's column, he said 'there are two grand Ayatollahs running Iraq: Bush and Sistani and Sistani seems the more rational.'"

Following audience cheers, Stewart expressed his concern: "I've watched this thing unfold from the start and here's the great fear that I have: What if Bush, the President, ours, has been right about this all along? I feel like my world view will not sustain itself and I may, and again I don't know if I can physically do this, implode. This whole idea that first of all they, I think, have convinced themselves that the whole reason we went to Iraq was for the election, I don't think they even remember that there was a whole weapons thing. But, what if this whole idea that freedom really is this flower that once planted in Iraq, spreads through the Middle East and the world is suddenly buying, you know, each other Cokes and the whole thing is, how do we then, in our minds thinking that was so naive, rationalize that?"
Zakaria found an area to praise Bush: "Well here's what Bush was right about and is right about. He's right that people around the world want democracy, that this is not some kind of Western product that nobody else will buy. That the Arabs in particular want it, that Iraq will be a powerful example because this is the first election in this whole region. I mean you have 300 million people, they've never had a free election before. Now-"
Stewart: "But the Palestinians, didn't the Palestinians just have an election? Right before it?"
Zakaria: "Well, that's not for a real government in a sense. Right? The Palestinian Authority doesn't control very much, but fine, so you've had the first two elections in decades really. And the region is really filled with these tyrannical regimes. People will look at this and say 'Hey, why not us?' So I think that part is true."
Stewart: "This is great. So this throws the whole region into civil war. I had no idea."

For a picture of Zakaria: www.fareedzakaria.com

He did indeed conclude an article, in the January 24 Newsweek, with the same anecdote he recounted on the Daily Show:
"In the words of one of his [Sistani's] aides, 'the representation of our Sunni brethren in the coming government must be effective, regardless of the results of the elections.' As an Iraqi politician said to me, 'There are currently two Grand Ayatollahs running Iraq: Sistani and Bush. Most of us feel that Sistani is the more rational.'" See: www.fareedzakaria.com

Home page for the Daily Show: www.comedycentral.com

Stewart's page on the site: www.comedycentral.com

Richard Gere: "Saddam Hussein and Us,
We Are Not Separate"

Asked on CBS's Early Show to explain "Healing the Divide," actor Richard Gere bafflingly replied that "the world is a symbolic representation." Gere incomprehensibly elaborated about the group he supports: "You and I are not separate. The Iraqis and us are not separate. Even Saddam Hussein and us, we are not separate. We're all in this together. All deeply connected. And when we can start bridging that divide -- the primitive, ignorant divide of that -- then wars go away. All wars go away."

No mention of bringing democracies to nations, a proven way to avoid wars.

In a graphic, Tuesday's Early Show helpfully directed viewers to CBSNews.com in order to "learn more about" the group.

CBS used its taped session with Gere to kick off a new series in conjunction with the AARP, "The Big 5-0," as in 50 years-old or, in Gere's case, older. Harry Smith touted Gere as a "leading voice for the people of Tibet" and "the driving force behind Healing the Divide, a group with a mission to erase the barriers that can lead to conflict."

The MRC's Brian Boyd caught this from the interview aired at the end of the 8:30am half hour on the February 1 program:

Smith: "So if I was sitting on an airplane with you and we're going down and I said, 'So explain Heal the Divide to me' how would you do it? Succinctly."
Gere: "This is a hard one. We've been lumbering with this for years. How do we explain this? The world is a symbolic representation." [Smith laughs]
Gere: "And, we're down, we crash. It was too late, too late [Smith laughs]. You and I are not separate. The Iraqis and us are not separate. Even Saddam Hussein and us, we are not separate. We're all in this together. All deeply connected. And when we can start bridging that divide -- the primitive, ignorant divide of that -- then wars go away. All wars go away."

For CBS's posted version of Smith's interview with Gere: www.cbsnews.com

The Web site for Healing the Divide provides this description of their goals:
"Healing the Divide was created to challenge existing, failed modes of thought and action and to foster the kind of revolutionary transformations needed to break the bonds of ignorance, intolerance and injustice.
"We are committed to generating innovative ideas, supporting courageous change, and seizing this critical moment. Through creative programs, we are bringing people and communities together to build a better world now and for generations to come.
"In all of our activities, we are guided by the following principles:
- Inclusiveness
- Cultural Sensitivity
- Compassion
"We believe each of us is responsible for and to one another. Our actions have consequence, and in an age of instantaneous global communication we must always be mindful that what we do to help or harm can be felt around the world in ways we do not always intend...."

The group's home page: www.healingthedivide.org

Couric Pleads for AG to Take on SUVs
Which Could "Squash" Her

Anti-SUV efforts not anti-SUV enough for NBC's Katie Couric. In a Tuesday Today segment about an SUV safety advertising campaign, Couric, who admitted that SUVs "scare me a little bit because I feel like they could squash me like a bug," demanded of Connecticut's liberal crusading Attorney General, Richard Blumenthal: "What about the environmental impact of these cars? They're huge gas guzzlers, they're not particularly good for the environment. How come you're not emphasizing that as well?" Couric interviewed Blumenthal outside as the two stood in a front of the huge mascot for the campaign, ESUVEE, which the AP described as "a monster...that resembles a woolly mammoth with headlights."

(See the posted version of this item for a still shot of Couric, Blumenthal and the monster which is much bigger than either of them.)

Today invited Blumenthal aboard to promote the advertising campaign, aimed at young SUV drivers, which is being paid for by a settlement by state attorneys general with Ford, which supposedly made false safety claims about its SUVs.

For an AP story on the campaign, "New Ad Campaign Urges Safe SUV Driving," go to: news.yahoo.com

In the 7:30am half hour interview on the February 1 Today, Couric complained: "When I see a lot of SUVs on the road, and I don't drive one, they scare me a little bit because I feel like they could squash me like a bug in the event of an accident."

At the very end of segment, after running through the safety tips promoted by the campaign, Couric, the MRC's Geoff Dickens noticed, inserted some blatant politics:
"And very quickly before we go, what about the environmental impact of these cars? They're huge gas guzzlers, they're not particularly good for the environment. How come you're not emphasizing that as well?"
Blumenthal promised: "Well we will. Stay tuned. Next campaign."

A campaign which NBC surely will eagerly publicize.

For the campaign's home page: esuvee.com

For a picture of ESUVEE, the mascot: esuvee.com

-- Brent Baker