CyberAlert -- 12/15/1998 -- Worried Clinton Out of Time
Worried Clinton Out of Time; Rivera Advising Clinton; "Stone Henry Hyde to Death!" >>> There's still time to cast your ballot! The MRC's Best of NQ Voting Procedures Committee (that's me), has met (that's me talking to myself), and decided to extend by 24 hours the voting time for the special Web edition of "The Best Notable Quotables of 1998: The Eleventh Annual Awards for the Year's Worst Reporting." Instead of cutting off balloting at 9am ET Tuesday you can make your choices until 9am ET Wednesday, December 16. For sharing your choices, you'll get a free "Don't Believe the Liberal Media" magnet. Results will be posted Friday. To vote, click on the "Best of NQ" button at http://www.mrc.org. Or, go directly to the sign-up page: http://www.mediaresearch.org/nqbest/nq1998signupa.html <<< Corrections. You weren't seeing double. The December 14 CyberAlert was distributed twice, about an hour apart, on Monday morning. Twice the CyberAlert meant twice the errors: As my MRC associate Tim Graham delighted in pointing out, I once again referred to Florida's Democratic Congressman Robert Wexler as Robert Trexler.
Here are some highlights from the Monday evening, December 14, broadcast shows: -- ABC's World
News Tonight opened with Sam Donaldson with Bill Clinton and how he became
the first President to visit Palestinian territory. Donaldson ominously
concluded: John Cochran profiled the undeclared Ann Northrup, Republican in a Democratic district in Kentucky, and noted that previously undecided Frank LoBiondo of New Jersey will vote for impeachment. Anchor Peter Jennings then highlighted two ABC News/Washington Post polls results. "Should the President be Impeached?" No said 61 percent, yes replied 38 percent. "If impeached Clinton should" resign replied 58 percent, fight said 38 percent. After and ad break, Jennings held an "Impeachment Watch" discussion with Cokie Roberts, George Stephanopoulos and Bill Kristol. Sharyl Attkisson looked at how a sure no vote, Chris Shays, is now wavering, as Frank LoBiondo and Zach Wamp came out for impeachment while two dozen remain undecided and are feeling the pressure. From the White House Bill Plante reported how Al Gore attacked the GOP as out of step and that People for the American Way, which Plante actually described as a "liberal lobbying group," is buying radio ads in DC, Columbus, Ohio and Philadelphia with a "move on" message. After all that,
Rather brought the show to a halt: President Al Gore? Maybe we should just move on.
Lisa Myers checked in on the moderates who are getting pressure from both sides: Jay Dickey, Bob Ney and Brian Bilbray. Later in the show, Andrea Mitchell examined how Hillary is no longer Bill's "Defender-in-Chief," as she's now pushing her issues instead as aides concede their relationship has turned icy with her now riding in a separate Air Force One compartment.
On the December 14 The News with Brian Williams, aired at 9pm ET and PT on MSNBC and 10pm ET/7pm PT on CNBC, he inquired of Republican Congressman Peter King: "Were you surprised at Henry Hyde, after presiding over the hearings and taking great pains to say that we're trying to do this in a bipartisan way, went on one of the Sunday morning talk shows and called on the President to resign?" Several segments
later Williams asked Democratic Congressman Howard Berman, a member of the
Judiciary Committee:
But barely a minute later, he had been transformed into a moderate as McRee inquired: "But this weekend that was rejected, so let's set that aside and say that censure option is not going to be available. The key for the President are all of the moderate Republicans, like yourself. How many of you are there this morning?" Good to see McRee back on message. In the current media lexicon a "moderate" is anyone who is opposed to impeachment.
4 But first, the
latest liberal rant from Rivera. Here's an exchange from Monday's
Upfront Tonight on CNBC: Now to the December 14 New York magazine profile by David Brock, once of the American Spectator, or at least I assume it's the same guy who denounced his conservative past. He's never identified. Headlined "Geraldo's Last Laugh," here's the top of the article summary: "Just when Geraldo Rivera scored a $36 million NBC contract and a shot at network legitimacy, he came out as Bill Clinton's passionate prime-time defender, driving his already scornful brethren mad. does broadcasting's outlaw really want to join the establishment, or is he having too much fun being himself?" Brock was impressed with Rivera's exploration of the vast right-wing conspiracy, insisting: "Time and again, Rivera's journalistic instincts -- from seriously pursuing the 'right-wing conspiracy' to pointing out the political implications of the racial divide on the scandal -- have proved prescient. In a media sea of scolds and hysterics, Geraldo Rivera has emerged as the voice of reason." Here are the most interesting items from the rest of Brock's story: -- Rivera has long mixed his politics into his journalism: "In 1970, the telegenic attorney was spotted by the news director of WABC, who offered him a job as a reporter, but not before suggesting that Gerald change his name to Geraldo to exploit his Hispanic roots. From the start, he had difficulty balancing journalistic notions of objectivity with his personal passion. In 1972, he was suspended from the station for his vocal support of George McGovern's presidential candidacy. In a subsequent effort to embarrass Rivera, a conservative radio-show host put out the false story that Rivera's surname was actually Rivers, painting him as an ethnic opportunist." -- Bloom won't go on air with him: "NBC White House correspondent David Bloom won't appear live on any Rivera broadcast because he doesn't want to 'get beat up by Geraldo,' according to one NBC exec. The feeling is mutual. One evening off-air, Rivera referred to NBC reporter David Gregory as a 'slightly less-well-informed guest.'" -- Calls Jennings and Donaldson hypocrites. "On a recent Rivera Live, Rivera became so impassioned in demanding that the New York Times apologize to Clinton for its incessant coverage of the Whitewater scandal that he threw his note cards at the camera and went to an early break. 'My wife yelled at me for losing it,' he says. Another time, he railed against the 'pretense and hypocrisy' of those who set themselves up as moral arbiters, referring to 'a network anchor and his White House reporter' who have been 'married eight times between them.' (Off-air, he says he was talking about ABC's Peter Jennings and Sam Donaldson.) On the Today show, where he appears as an NBC 'legal analyst,' his friend Katie Couric upbraided Rivera for his lack of balance." -- Advising the President's team while reporting on them. Picking up on Couric's point, in the next paragraph of the profile Brock revealed: "Certainly, eyebrows would be raised at NBC if his bosses knew, as Rivera confesses, that he also offers political advice to the Clinton team privately while reporting the story. 'They try out ideas on me and see what my reaction to it is,' he says. 'There was a time when I thought they had lost their courage, they were droopy and scared. I stiffened them up.' Far from being repentant about his bias, Rivera charges that his view of the scandal as a sexual witch hunt is impeding his career at NBC News. NBC executives, he says, have 'shot down' his proposal to do a Clinton-scandal special on the network. Now that NBC knows about his crossing the line into political consulting, what will they do about it?
Baldwin is a well-known defender of Clinton who held a fundraiser for him last summer at his Long Island home. Monday night on CNBC's Upfront Tonight he charged that "the ultimate goal" of impeachment advocates "is what I would call 'election nullification'" as "this is a group of people who want to undo the '96 election." On the December 11 NBC show host Conan O'Brien wrapped up his interview with Baldwin by asking Baldwin about Clinton's plight. Baldwin answers but as he proceeds his voice rises as he jumps up from his chair and is screaming and flailing his arms by the time he's finished. Cutting to the punch line, O'Brien then jumps up and puts an air mask over Baldwin's mouth to calm him down. Funny political satire or, even if meant in jest, mean-spirited and violence-inciting words that would be condemned if uttered by a conservative? Here's the
exchange as transcribed by MRC news analyst Paul Smith. Now, in your mind substitute the name Al Gore or Hillary Clinton for Henry Hyde and the name of a conservative for Baldwin. What kind of reaction would the media establishment be expressing? To see this exchange, go to the MRC home page where MRC Webmaster Eric Pairel has posted a RealPlayer clip of what is transcribed above. Unfortunately, we taped the show on a bad VCR so, Sean reports, the sound level is rather low but if you turn your volume way up you should be able to hear it. After all, Baldwin is yelling. -- Brent Baker
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