Katie Couric
asked Tim Russert: "Tim, let's talk about the big news this
morning. It's that the Democratic National Committee will not file its
required final statement of campaign finances by November 5th. Which is
really unheard of. Why are they doing this?"
Russert responded: "Because they are afraid of what's in there
Katie, obviously. This has become an obscene process! It is outrageous the
amount of money that is pouring into both these political parties! I do
think the Democrats have probably taken it to a new level, a lower
level...."
Couric then asked: "Well Tim if Republicans are doing the same
thing what are people supposed to think?"
Russert: "Well I think If anything comes of this is that the
American people and the media and other people of good intentions in the
political process will say, Hey we embarrassed ourselves! We elevated or
lowered, excuse me, this political process to levels of cynicism where the
American people said, Oh you all take foreign money.' And they finally,
finally do something to clean up this mess. Because it has become a sewer
Katie."
On the CBS
Evening News Tuesday night, Rita Braver concluded her story from the trail
with Clinton: "Aides say he will probably deliver a speech on
campaign finance reform later in the week, trying to paint Bob Dole and
Newt Gingrich as the people who stopped tougher laws."
Tom Brokaw
opened the October 29 NBC Nightly News: "If this campaign has an
unofficial motto, it is this: Wake me when it's over.' But, beyond the
tedium of the day to day campaigning, there's another much more alarming
development this year -- money. Huge amounts of money pouring into both
parties, raising very serious questions about influence and conflict of
interest."
That led into
story from Andrea Mitchell in which she asserted: "Of course
Republicans, including Bob Dole and Jesse Helms, have also tapped into
foreign fundraising. And none of these investigations will produce answers
until months, or years, after election day."
Brokaw and
Mitchell failed to distinguish between accepting money from foreign
nationals for campaign spending, which is illegal, and getting money from
Taiwan businessmen for a foundation-run museum, as Helms did, which is
legal.
Later, on
MSNBC's The News with Brian Williams, NBC reporter Jim Miklaszewski
offered a nice spin that had the Clinton campaign "admitting"
the Republican are just a bad: "On campaign finance, White House
officials admit that both sides are dirty. The best defense: Republicans
do it too."
Harsh yes, but
Braver could have noted the charge has no basis in reality.
As pointed out to
me by MRC analyst Clay Waters, The New York Times has a pretty broad
definition of civil rights. In a box beside the Holmes story, the paper
listed "promises in the civil rights area that President Clinton made
as a candidate in 1992." Here are some:
4) Mikhail's
Gorbachev's book tour brought him to MSNBC's InterNight on Tuesday night,
October 29. Tom Brokaw opened the show:
"It's likely that your view of Mikhail Gorbachev depends on your
point of view. From the perspective of the West, the former President of
the Soviet Union of course was a courageous, far-seeing prophet whose
reforms set in motion the collapse of the Soviet dictatorship and the end
of the Cold War."
Thirty minutes
later Brokaw concluded the interview with another salute to the communist:
"We always welcome you in this country, Mikhail Gorbachev. We're
especially pleased to have you tonight on InterNight. And we offer our
very best, of course, to Raisa Gorbachev and we hope that you'll have a
long and happy life. Perhaps one day again we'll see you in political
office in Russia. We know that you've devoted your life to peace and to
changing your country and those of us who have gotten to know you count
ourselves among the privileged."
From the
perspective of a Western journalist, maybe, ignoring both the internal
collapse of communism despite Gorbachev's efforts to save it and the role
of Ronald Reagan.
