1. On Tuesday
Bob Dole responded positively to a supporter in a crowd who
yelled "Get the bozo out of the White House." The ABC and
NBC evening shows focused on the remark as CNN's Bernard Shaw
wondered "Did Bob Dole lower the level of civility a
notch?"
2. Instead of
exploring FBI file revelations and Whitewater,
the host of This Morning on CBS complained about how
"Whitewater did rear its ugly head" during the debate.
3. Clinton
scandals may not interest reporters, but Newt Gingrich had to
answer six questions in a row about his ethics situation. On NBC's
Today Matt Lauer asked whether he's "been completely forthright
and truthful in providing information" to the House ethics
committee and if he'll be forced to resign.
4. Katie Couric asked
Elizabeth Dole whether Bob Dole is paying the price for a
Republican Congress which was "simply too harsh or too
draconian."
1)
On Tuesday night (October 8) ABC's World News Tonight and NBC
Nightly News aired stories on the big spending by labor unions to
defeat freshmen Republicans. The CBS Evening News and ABC's World
News Tonight featured pieces with clips of their correspondent
interviewing Bob Dole on his bus.
The big
news of the day: Bozo. A man in a crowd yelled at Dole that he
should get bozo out of the White House. Dole shot back:
"Bozo's on his way out."
CNN's
Bernard Shaw opened Inside Politics: "Was he borrowing the
words of an over-enthusiastic supporter, or did Bob Dole lower the
level of civility a notch in his contest with Bill Clinton?"
On World
News Tonight, ABC's John Cochran began his piece: "Under
pressure from critics in his own party to get personal with the
President, today Dole said he's ready to do just that. In a series
of interviews Dole admitted he was too soft on the President in
their first debate, especially on White House access to FBI files
on well-known Republicans...."
Noting
that Dole failed to demand that Clinton promise not the pardon
those involved in Whitewater, Cochran ran a clip of Dole
explaining: "It would seem to me, particularly in the first
debate, when there's this myth out there about the mean Bob Dole,
if I'd done anything that even appeared to be stepping over the
line, that would have been the story."
Cochran
continued: "That was exactly what happened today when a
supporter asked Dole to please get the bozo out of the White
House. Dole said bozo's on his way out."
Of
course, Cochran made it the story. He didn't have to. The CBS
Evening News didn't mention the exchange.
2) Cochran didn't use Dole's admission that he went too easy on
Clinton on the FBI files as an opportunity to report how an aide
to Craig Livingstone had contradicted his story. But he's not the
only reporter with an aversion to Clinton scandals. On Monday's
This Morning (October 7) Mark McEwen discussed the debate with Bob
Beckel and Fred Barnes. McEwen told Barnes: "Senator Dole
said he wasn't going to mention Whitewater, then Whitewater did
rear its ugly head last night."
3) NBC's Today has also failed to report anything on the
deposition from Craig Livingstone's aide (see October 6 CyberAlert
for details). But, on Tuesday morning Today's Matt Lauer
repeatedly pressed Newt Gingrich about his ethics case.
