CBS Skips Durbin, Picks Up Repub's Shot at Dems as Anti-Christian --6/23/2005

1. CBS Skips Durbin, Picks Up Repub's Shot at Dems as Anti-Christian
The CBS Evening News has yet to inform its viewers about Democratic Senator Dick Durbin's comparison on June 14 of interrogation techniques at Guantanamo to those employed by "Nazis, Soviets in their gulags," nor his June 22 apology, but on Wednesday night, in story on how "there are allegations Christian Evangelicals at the [Air Force] academy have been harassing cadets of other faiths," David Martin highlighted a Republican Congressman's charge which had enraged Democrats. Martin relayed how the "explosive charge of religious intolerance" at the service academy "triggered this heated exchange when Democrat David Obey brought it up on the floor of the House." Viewers saw a clip from Monday of Republican Congressman John Hostettler of Indiana: "Like a moth to a flame, Democrats can't help themselves when it comes to denigrating and demonizing Christians." CBS then showed Obey's rebuke: "I move the gentleman's words be taken down."

2. MSNBC's Countdown Finally Gets to Durbin, But Only to Scold GOP
MSNBC's Countdown has been a lot more interested in Nazi comparisons by Republicans than Democrats. In May, Keith Olbermann castigated Republican Senator Rick Santorum for criticizing another Senator's Nazi reference and dug out video from 2003 of Santorum "comparing the New York Times to Nazis," but not until Wednesday night of this week did the show mention Democratic Senator Dick Durbin's comparison of treatment of detainees at Guantanamo to how the Nazis behaved. Fill-in host Alison Stewart asserted that Republicans were the hypocrites since "the outcry comes from leaders in the Republican Party whose own members and supporters have used that word, even made it a suffix -- i.e., 'feminazi.'" Stewart reminded viewers that "Durbin is not the only lawmaker to attack a practice or policy by comparing it to Nazis. Let's take a walk down memory lane, shall we?" She then cited three Nazi quotes from GOP Senators before Craig Crawford rued how "the Democrats lost the portrayal of these remarks by Durbin to the spin from the Republican side."

3. Lauer Asks Biden for Good News from Iraq, Then Returns to Usual
For a brief, fleeting moment on Wednesday morning's Today Matt Lauer allowed some good news about Iraq. But then it was quickly back to the usual. Interviewing Democratic Senator Joe Biden, who had delivered a speech the day before railing against how White House claims don't match the dire reality of Iraq, Lauer acknowledged how "I think sometimes there's a fear that in the media we don't spend enough time talking about the accomplishments. What's going right there?" After Biden's answer, Lauer returned to the usual: "Having said that it's still a very dangerous and violent place. Insurgent attacks have been maintaining a consistent level not only against our military but against civilians as well..." Lauer also found time to ask Biden about the Bolton nomination and his fundraising challenge for his possible 2008 presidential bid, but not about fellow Democratic Senator Dick Durbin's apology the night before.

4. Tom Brokaw Bought a Dude Ranch with Clinton Admin's Robert Rubin
Last year Tom Brokaw bought a Montana "dude ranch" with several others, including Clinton administration Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, actor Michael Keaton, one of the other partners, revealed on Wednesday's Late Show with David Letterman. The February issue of Sunset magazine reported the purchase and how the buyers turned the ranch into a private fishing camp, but didn't mention Rubin's involvement: "Last spring...an out-of-state partnership including former anchorman Tom Brokaw and actor Michael Keaton purchased a 640-acre ranch for a reported $8 million, creating a private hunting and fishing preserve."

5. "Top Ten Reasons Saddam Hussein Loves Doritos"
Letterman's "Top Ten Reasons Saddam Hussein Loves Doritos."

CBS Skips Durbin, Picks Up Repub's Shot
at Dems as Anti-Christian

The CBS Evening News has yet to inform its viewers about Democratic Senator Dick Durbin's comparison on June 14 of interrogation techniques at Guantanamo to those employed by "Nazis, Soviets in their gulags," nor his June 22 apology, but on Wednesday night, in story on how "there are allegations Christian Evangelicals at the [Air Force] academy have been harassing cadets of other faiths," David Martin highlighted a Republican Congressman's charge which had enraged Democrats. Martin relayed how the "explosive charge of religious intolerance" at the service academy "triggered this heated exchange when Democrat David Obey brought it up on the floor of the House." Viewers saw a clip from Monday of Republican Congressman John Hostettler of Indiana: "Like a moth to a flame, Democrats can't help themselves when it comes to denigrating and demonizing Christians." CBS then showed Obey's rebuke: "I move the gentleman's words be taken down."

CBS Evening News anchor Bob Schieffer set up the June 22 story: "For years the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs has been racked by charges of sexual harassment and sexual assault against female cadets, but in recent months there have been charges of an entirely different nature that born again Evangelical Christians were harassing non-Christian cadets. An official investigation of this has just been completed, and David Martin has the findings."

Martin began: "Most of the cadets who graduate from the Air Force Academy to join the military chain of command call themselves Christians. But now there are allegations Christian Evangelicals at the academy have been harassing cadets of other faiths, an explosive charge of religious intolerance that triggered this heated exchange when Democrat David Obey brought it up on the floor of the House."
Rep. John Hostettler (R-IN) on the House floor, June 20: "Like a moth to a flame, Democrats can't help themselves when it comes to denigrating and demonizing Christians."
Rep. David Obey (D-WI), also on the House floor: "I move the gentleman's words be taken down."

MSNBC's Countdown Finally Gets to Durbin,
But Only to Scold GOP

MSNBC's Countdown has been a lot more interested in Nazi comparisons by Republicans than Democrats. In May, Keith Olbermann castigated Republican Senator Rick Santorum for criticizing another Senator's Nazi reference and dug out video from 2003 of Santorum "comparing the New York Times to Nazis," but not until Wednesday night of this week did the show mention Democratic Senator Dick Durbin's comparison of treatment of detainees at Guantanamo to how the Nazis behaved. Fill-in host Alison Stewart asserted that Republicans were the hypocrites since "the outcry comes from leaders in the Republican Party whose own members and supporters have used that word, even made it a suffix -- i.e., 'feminazi.'" Stewart reminded viewers that "Durbin is not the only lawmaker to attack a practice or policy by comparing it to Nazis. Let's take a walk down memory lane, shall we?" She then cited three Nazi quotes from GOP Senators before Craig Crawford rued how "the Democrats lost the portrayal of these remarks by Durbin to the spin from the Republican side."

Stewart, the MRC's Brad Wilmouth noticed, plugged the upcoming segment, on the June 22 Countdown, by questioning why Durbin was pilloried: "Coming up, the Nazi name-calling on Capitol Hill: Senator Dick Durbin issued an apology for his remarks, but what about everyone else who's been throwing around Nazi comparisons? The politics of an apology: We'll discuss it next with Craig Crawford."

Fourteen minutes into the show, Stewart introduced her #4 segment: "A Democratic politician says something that crosses a line, gets blasted for it, and later apologizes. Business as usual? Not when it revolves around the word 'Nazi,' and when the outcry comes from leaders in the Republican Party whose own members and supporters have used that word, even made it a suffix -- i.e., 'feminazi.' Words used to attack the opposition. You have our number four story in the Countdown tonight, Senator Dick Durbin has apologized for comparing practices at the Guantanamo prison camp to Nazis and other repressive regimes. His comments last week drew condemnation from the White House and in Congress. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld even compared Durbin's remarks to Jane Fonda's criticism of U.S. soldiers during Vietnam. Senator Durbin had been quoting from an FBI agent's memo describing detainees at Gitmo."
Richard Durbin, Assistant Senate Minority Leader on the Senate floor on June 14: "If I read this to you and didn't tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have happened by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime, Pol Pot or others that had no-"
Stewart: "Yesterday, Senator Durbin said he was sorry if he had caused any pain to those with bitter memories of the Holocaust, but his regrets did not end there."
Durbin on Senate floor, June 21: "I'm also sorry if anything I said in any way cast a negative light on our fine men and women in the military. I went to Iraq just a few months ago with Senator Harry Reid and the delegation, bipartisan delegation. The President was part of it. When you look into the eyes of those soldiers, you see your son, you see your daughter. They're the best. I never ever intended any disrespect for them. Some may believe that my remarks crossed the line. To them I extend my heartfelt apologies. [edit jump] In the end, I don't want anything in my public career to detract from my love for this country, my respect for those who serve it, and this great Senate."

Stewart set out to show that Durbin didn't say anything unusual, with the text on screen of the other quotes she read: "But Senator Durbin is not the only lawmaker to attack a practice or policy by comparing it to Nazis. Let's take a walk down memory lane, shall we? Last year, Republican Senator James Inhofe said the Kyoto climate treaty, quote, 'would deal a powerful blow on the whole [of] humanity similar to the one humanity experienced when Nazism and Communism flourished.' Republican Senator Jeff Sessions, in his opposition to stem cell research last year, said, quote, 'We certainly have all seen the rejections of Nazi Germany's abuses of science.' And most recently, Republican Senator Rick Santorum said that Democrats' opposition to losing the filibuster was, quote, 'the equivalent of Adolf Hitler in 1942 saying, "I'm in Paris. How dare you invade me?"' Which prompted Democratic Senator Robert Byrd to return fire, quote, 'Many times in our history, we have taken up arms to protect a minority against the tyrannical majority in other lands. We, unlike Nazi Germany or Mussolini's Italy, have never stopped being a nation of laws, not of men.' You get the point. I'm joined now by MSNBC's political analyst, Craig Crawford, our expert on all things congressional, the parries and the thrusts. Craig, good evening to you."
Craig Crawford, from Washington, DC: "Hi, Alison. I think it's almost time for Seinfeld to apologize for 'soup Nazi.'"
Stewart: "I think he had to, didn't he? I believe he did actually. We talk about, those are some of the examples of both parties playing the rhetorical Nazi card, but not all of those examples were followed by apologies. Why did Senator Dick Durbin have to apologize?"
Crawford fretted about how Republicans are able to impugn Democratic criticism: "Alison, this is planting season for the coming campaign for the control of Congress just 16 months away, the congressional elections, so both parties are working out themes here, messages, and that's what Durbin was doing. The Democrats are clearly going to run against the Republicans on mismanagement of the war, and Republicans are countering with an effort to portray Democrats as aiding and abetting the enemy. So here you had an opportunity for Republicans in a television ad not too far down the road to use this clip for that charge, and the Democrats wanted Durbin to apologize to hopefully get that off the table."
Stewart: "Now, the condemnation started about two days after he made these comments. How does that pick up steam?"
Crawford: "Well, it's like the old P.T. Barnham rules of marketing: Say it loud and say it often. The talking points were out, the Republicans were on the march, if that's not too dangerous to say, I guess, the Democrats on this, and the blogs were working on it. And so, you know, it was a real effort and, I think, a test marketing of this theme that the Republicans will use against Democrats, that they're aiding and abetting the enemy, that they don't really support the war, they don't support the troops."
Stewart: "Is that the ace in the hole these days? If you can tie something someone has said to not supporting the troops, then you win?"
Crawford: "That's it. Yeah. That has almost become a form of censorship in our political speech and dialogue, and Democrats have struggled, and not very successfully, to find a way to be war critics and support the troops. And Republicans have usually been able to get them on the ropes, as they just did with Durbin."
Stewart: "Let's talk about Durbin so we can put it in context. Is he someone that usually uses this kind of high rhetoric?"
Crawford insisted he's a great guy: "No, he's a very genial man who actually can crack a good joke now and then, and is not a firebrand, not one of the show Senators who gets up there and hurls the hyperbole out there. And I think it's important -- you ran the clip -- but it is important to focus on what he actually said was that if you read this FBI report, you would get this impression about comparing the prison in Guantanamo to those in dictatorships, and so it's a little different than calling the troops Nazis, but that's how it got portrayed, and that's why he ended up having to apologize. The Democrats lost the portrayal of these remarks by Durbin to the spin from the Republican side."
Stewart: "Well, let's talk about a Congressman who does often use colorful language, Congressman Charles Rangel from New York. He compared the silence about all the terrible things happening in and around the Iraq war to the silence, to those who stood by as the Holocaust happened. Not a huge outcry, not the big headlines like we saw with Durbin. What's the difference here politically?"
Crawford: "Well, I think Charlie Rangel almost has a little more running room because he has a reputation for that kind of speech and a little bit of hyperbole, and a very aggressive style. Durbin looks a little more like '€˜call central casting' for a Senate Democrat and one that would, I think, be a more dangerous target for Democrats if Republicans used him in, for example, television ads, his comments about Nazis."
Stewart: "How much longer are we going to be talking about this, Craig?"
Crawford bemoaned: "Oh, it's only going to get worse, Alison. The closer we get to the election, I mean, the battle for control of Congress, it's the Superbowl times ten in Washington, and the Republicans got to hold the House and Senate, and that election may be 16 months away, which is a long time for regular people, but for political activists, it's right around the corner."

Stewart's approach matched that of Olbermann, who while not on the air Wednesday night, filed a Bloggermann blog posting at 12:05pm EDT titled: "Enough with the Nazi references!"

An excerpt:

A message to Dick Durbin, Rick Santorum, and Robert Byrd -- as they combine to delay my reports to you about the night I inadvertently offered Bill Clinton my New York City subway pass, and my experiences behind the scenes at The Tonight Show, and my private eight minutes with Mary Carey.

The message is this: Boys, just don't say "Nazi" ever again in your life.

There's no place for the reference in this culture. Not about the Republican tactics, not about the Democratic tactics, not about Guantanamo Bay.

The Republicans are not the SS, and the Democrats are not the Gestapo, and Gitmo is not Buchenwald....

END of Excerpt

But Durbin's claim about Guantanamo didn't concern Olbermann enough to do an item on it.

To read his blog entry in full: www.msnbc.msn.com

In May, the MRC's Brad Wilmouth remembered, Olbermann pounced on Santorum for criticizing a Nazi comparison made by Senator Robert Byrd.

On the Monday May 23 Countdown, in the midst of coverage of the cloture vote on a judicial nominee, Olbermann asserted:
"The filibuster, and again, as Senator Frist comes to the floor, we will go to that in a few minutes. He's expected at 10 past. We'll see whether or not that happens. But it's just, the filibuster's just the start of the war news in politics tonight. There's also Rick Santorum, Tom DeLay, Howard Dean, and the first one of these subjects, they, they're contentious times. They've brought out the best in our elected officials. Senator Byrd made comparisons between Republicans seeking to end the filibuster and the Nazis. Senator Santorum slammed him, then last week Santorum described the Democrats trying to continue the filibuster, compared them to Hitler when he'd ridden into Paris, and he said, 'How dare you invade me? How dare you bomb my city? It's mine.' But it actually turns out that Santorum leads Byrd two to one in recent Nazi references because a tape turned up of him comparing the New York Times to Nazis, and doing it at the Institute for Public Affairs, which is the public policy arm of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America. And the speech was in November of 2003, the organization put it up on its own Web site. Let's take a look at this clip of this speech first, Craig, and then I want to get your response."
Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) in Web video from November 10, 2003: "If you look at the other alternatives to religious pluralism, and that is, radical secularism, and there are many in our society -- some of them happen to be at the New York Times -- who believe in that. [edit jump] I just want to remind people of the societies over the last couple Of centuries that have been secular in nature and see what the results of that, starting with the French Revolution, moving on to the last century, to the fascists, and, yes, the Nazis. And then the communists, then the Ba'athists. All of those, purely secularist, hated religion, tried to crush religion. That's the kind of peaceful public square that the New York Times would advocate for."
Olbermann: "So it's the Soviets, the Ba'athists, the French Revolution, presumably including Robespierre, the Nazis, and the New York Times. Is Senator Santorum's threshold for comparing things to Nazis a little lower than we thought?"
Crawford: "Apparently he's up for free tickets to South America, I think. Santorum is using these Nazi references, he has, it has to be knowing in some way, I mean, it's going to be a problem. You almost have to wonder, after a while, if it's some sort of weird strategy on his part."

Lauer Asks Biden for Good News from Iraq,
Then Returns to Usual

For a brief, fleeting moment on Wednesday morning's Today Matt Lauer allowed some good news about Iraq. But then it was quickly back to the usual. Interviewing Democratic Senator Joe Biden, who had delivered a speech the day before railing against how White House claims don't match the dire reality of Iraq, Lauer acknowledged how "I think sometimes there's a fear that in the media we don't spend enough time talking about the accomplishments. What's going right there?" After Biden's answer, Lauer returned to the usual: "Having said that it's still a very dangerous and violent place. Insurgent attacks have been maintaining a consistent level not only against our military but against civilians as well..." Lauer also found time to ask Biden about the Bolton nomination and his fundraising challenge for his possible 2008 presidential bid, but not about fellow Democratic Senator Dick Durbin's apology the night before.

As recounted in the June 22 CyberAlert, on Wednesday morning, Today news reader Natalie Morales related this brief item, but not until the 8am news update: "Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois is apologizing for comparing interrogators at Guantanamo Bay to Nazis. Durbin's voice cracked as he apologized for his, quote, 'poor choice of words' on the Senate floor Tuesday. His comments came after an FBI report said detainees were chained to the floor at the prison without food or water."

For more on the avoidance of Durbin by the broadcast networks: www.mediaresearch.org

Lauer set up the 7am half hour live June 22 interview: "He could be a contender. Democratic Senator Joe Biden from Delaware is making plans to run for President. And on Tuesday he laid out his foreign policy ideas in what he called The New Compact for Iraq. Senator Biden good to see you, good morning."

The MRC's Geoff Dickens caught the unusual angle of Lauer's first inquiry: "Before we talk about what's wrong in Iraq and you went into pretty good detail on Tuesday let's talk about what's right there because you've made several trips to Iraq and I think sometimes there's a fear that in the media we don't spend enough time talking about the accomplishments. What's going right there?"
Biden, from Wilmington, Delaware: "What's going right there is you have all of the confessional folks of the Shia, the Kurds wanting very much to put a government together. We've actually had an election that was a real election, it was consequential. We have really good trainers on the ground now and General Petrais actually really beginning to train an Iraqi army. We changed the training regime for the Iraqi police. That's really underway now. And there's a lot of good that is happening. We have first rate people there and so there is still, in my view -- I still believe we can succeed in Iraq and we must succeed in Iraq."
Lauer: "Having said that it's still a very dangerous and violent place. Insurgent attacks have been maintaining a consistent level not only against our military but against civilians as well. In your opinion what is the main reason that the U.S. military has been unable to crush the insurgency?"
Biden: "Not enough troops. Not enough people. And the inability to seal the border with Syria and having squandered 18 months in a real definite training program for the Iraqi police and the Iraqi military..."
Lauer: "Let me ask you about troop strength. What are we gonna do about that? Let's say you were President today, how would you address the troop strength issue when you consider that already the U.S. military is spread thin and other countries are not adding troops they're pulling troops out?"
Biden: Because of our lack of leadership.
Lauer: "Let me ask you a specific question. How many Iraqi troops right now do you think have been adequately trained and prepared to defend their country?"
Biden: 2,500 that don't need us.
Lauer: "Which is, which is a tiny number compared to what's said to be needed."
Biden cited the "gap between rhetoric and reality."
Lauer: "Two subjects in 30 seconds. John Bolton. It could be that President Bush makes him a July 4th recess appointment taking Congress out of this allowing him to serve for 18 months as UN ambassador. How would you feel about that?"
Biden: "A mistake."
Lauer: "Alright and finally you say you're gonna run for president in 2008. You ran in 1998, you didn't win a primary. Why would it be different this time around? In particular, in particular facing huge fundraisers like Hillary Clinton and John Kerry?"

Tom Brokaw Bought a Dude Ranch with Clinton
Admin's Robert Rubin

Last year Tom Brokaw bought a Montana "dude ranch" with several others, including Clinton administration Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, actor Michael Keaton, one of the other partners, revealed on Wednesday's Late Show with David Letterman. The February issue of Sunset magazine reported the purchase and how the buyers turned the ranch into a private fishing camp, but didn't mention Rubin's involvement: "Last spring...an out-of-state partnership including former anchorman Tom Brokaw and actor Michael Keaton purchased a 640-acre ranch for a reported $8 million, creating a private hunting and fishing preserve."

Back on the May 12, 1999 NBC Nightly News, the day Rubin resigned from his Treasury post, Tom Brokaw praised Rubin, telling viewers he "is going back to private life after quietly and very skillfully positioning the government to help fuel these extraordinarily good times."

On Wednesday's Late Show, Michael Keaton, a star of the new movie for kids, Herbie: Fully Loaded, brought up fishing and that prompted David Letterman to ask: "Recently, I've heard from Tom Brokaw, that you and Tom purchased a fishing camp."
Michael Keaton: "Yeah."
Letterman: "Now, what is that? Is that on the up and up?"
Keaton: "Yeah, yeah. It's a friend of our's, Skip Herman, and Tom and Robert Rubin, actually, who was in the Clinton administration, Secretary of the Treasury. And, of course, you know, we were smart enough to, like, make him, like, you know, like, groundskeeper, instead of taking care of the money. Hey, Robert, you mow the lawn or something. Shouldn't I take care of the money? No, Tom will do that, don't worry about it!"
Letterman: "What goes on there? What happens there?"
Keaton: "Oh, I could never tell you about that."
Letterman: "I mean, you guys get together, like once a week-"
Keaton: "No, no, what we did, it was more to preserve it than anything. It was an old dude ranch that had been in the family -- it's right up the valley from me -- and, you know, the guy would let us fish there after the dudes had gone, you know -- I know-" (cut off by audience laughter)
Letterman: "After the dudes had gone."
Keaton: "So we bought it, just really to save it. It's a really pristine section of the river, and a beautiful section. We just all went together to buy it. It's really beautiful."
Letterman: "And you're not running around snapping each other with towels."
Keaton: "Well, yeah, I mean, that happens. (Audience laughter) Yeah, yeah, we have a sign, like an old rickety sign that says, 'no girls!'" (laughter)

(The MRC's Brian Boyd corrected the closed-captioning against the video of the June 22 Late Show.)

To see where this ranch is located and if anyone had reported this Brokaw-Rubin venture, I performed some Nexis searches and came up with only one article, in Sunset magazine, which reported the 2004 transaction for the ranch in the area of Big Timber, Montana. (Letterman also owns property in Montana.) The article cited Brokaw and Keaton, but not Rubin.

An excerpt from the story in the February edition of Sunset magazine, "Home on the range: Meet Montana ranching families want to raise healthier beef for you -- and save their way of life," by Jeff Phillips:

The town of Big Timber, once the region's largest wool producer, today has only 1,700 residents, but Montana State University Extension agent Marc King, who works with both farmers and government agencies in Sweet Grass County, says the face of that population is starting to change. "Most every ranch in this county has been in the family for at least three or four generations," explains King, "but as those families are forced to sell, new owners are taking the land out of production."

Last spring, for example, an out-of-state partnership including former anchorman Tom Brokaw and actor Michael Keaton purchased a 640-acre ranch for a reported $8 million, creating a private hunting and fishing preserve. Members of that partnership now own at least 12,000 acres of ranchland in the heart of the region.

END of Excerpt

The article is posted online, but you'll need to be an AOL member or pay to read it: www.sunset.com

In a later letter to the magazine, Brokaw corrected the price to $7 million.

The Internet Movie Database's bio page for Michael Douglas, who is better known by his stage name of Michael Keaton: www.imdb.com

"Top Ten Reasons Saddam Hussein Loves
Doritos"

From the June 22 Late Show with David Letterman, the "Top Ten Reasons Saddam Hussein Loves Doritos." Late Show home page: www.cbs.com

10. Three-cornered chips remind him of the Sunni Triangle

9. Chemical Ali taught him how to convert the spicy powder into a nerve agent

8. The "crunch" sounds like the breaking of a dissident's bones

7. Pringles are for Kurds

6. They are corn chips of mass deliciousness

5. Goes perfectly with a tall glass of camel milk

4. Endorsed by his favorite late night television host, Al-Asaad Muhammed Leno

3. "Cool ranch" flavor is a preview of the paradise that awaits a martyr

2. When beard is full of orange crumbs, he can do hilarious "Yosemite Saddam"

1. Delicious taste allows him to momentarily forget he'll spend eternity in Hell

# CyberAlert countdown to the 2,000th edition: one to go.

-- Brent Baker