Flashback: Wallace Mocks Bush's Smarts, Belief in Freeing People --10/2/2006

1. Flashback: Wallace Mocks Bush's Smarts, Belief in Freeing People
Sunday's 60 Minutes featured Mike Wallace's interview with Bob Woodward about Woodward's new book, State of Denial, full of charges of Bush administration misdeeds. The last time the duo got together -- in 2004 when 60 Minutes similarly promoted a Woodward book, Plan of Attack -- Wallace ridiculed President Bush and Woodward played along. CyberAlert recounted how on the April 18, 2004 edition of 60 Minutes, Wallace mocked President's Bush's smarts and belief in freeing people from oppression. Wallace demanded: "Who gave George Bush the duty to free people around the world?" Wallace also jeeringly proposed: "The President of the United States, without a great deal of background in foreign policy, makes up his mind and believes he was sent by somebody to free the people -- not just in Iraq, but around the world?" Woodward shared Wallace's concern: "It is far-reaching, and ambitious, and I think will cause many people to tremble." Having established Bush's irrationality, Wallace moved on to wondering "how deep a man is President George W. Bush?" Woodward contended: "He is not an intellectual. He is not what I guess would be called a deep thinker."

2. Ted Turner: Do What Muslim Extremists 'Would Like to See Us Do'
During an interview aired Friday on CNBC's The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, when asked by host Deutsch how he would go about fighting terrorism, CNN founder Ted Turner argued that "you don't win people over by bombing them, you win them over by being friends with them," and soon recommended giving Muslim extremists what they want as a solution to terrorism. Turner, who in 2002 claimed that Israelis were guilty of "terrorism" against the Palestinians, on Friday's show advocated "being more even-handed in our dealing with the Palestinians and the Israelis," negotiating peace in the Middle East "so we can stop at some point furnishing military aid to Israel," and "pulling our military forces out of the Middle East." Turner labeled these moves as "things that they've asked of us" and "things that the Muslim extremists and a lot of other Muslims, too, would like to see us do."

3. Borger Highlights GOP YouTube Moments, Especially 'Stupid' Allen
Thursday's CBS Evening News pondered the new technology used by political campaigns at YouTube, but national political correspondent Gloria Borger dwelled on the videos embarrassing to Republicans -- Sen. George Allen's "Macaca" remarks, a Florida House candidate's blacks-can't-swim comment, and Sen. Conrad Burns snoozing. At least when CBS's The Early Show had Bill Plante study the phenomenon last Tuesday morning, he balanced Allen with a Democrat, Sen. Joe Biden joking about needing an Indian accent to walk into a 7-Eleven. Borger underlined Allen as an idiot: "Virginia Senator George Allen has become a poster child for what can go wrong when a candidate gets caught saying something stupid...the controversy paved the way for new charges this week that Allen has a racist past."

4. Anti-War Iraq War Draft Paranoia Espoused on CBS's Survivor
On CBS's racially-segregated Survivor reality show Thursday night, an Asian man named "Cao Boi" (pronounced Cowboy) went on a rant against the Iraq war and insisted American teenagers are going to be drafted and sent to Iraq en masse -- unless you're privileged, "unless you're Mr. Bush children."

5. The View Cheers on Chilean Socialist; Shocked by Woman with Guns
The feminist spirit was alive and well on Friday's edition of ABC's The View. The women were shocked by the concept of women with concealed weapons, and positively giddy over Ted Turner's recent remarks that men should be banned from public office for a hundred years. Barbara Walters enthused: "We particularly like this quote, because we have this remarkable woman on with us today...Ted Turner, when he was talking about the United Nations, said, quote, 'Men should be barred from public office for a hundred years in every part of the world. It would be a much kinder, gentler, more intelligently-run world. Men have had millions of years and we've screwed it up hopelessly. Let's give it to the women.'" Rosie O'Donnell: "Yeah! I say bravo! Go, Ted."

6. NewsBusters Contest: Who'll Be the First to Leave The View?
Submit your entry in a contest on the MRC's NewsBusters blog. Since Rosie O'Donnell has joined the ABC-syndicated show The View, tensions have risen pretty dramatically on the set between the co-hosts. Elisabeth Hasselbeck, the lone right-of-center host has reportedly brought to tears repeatedly. The rest of the show's staff is also upset. Your task: Predict who will be the first to leave the show and when. The person closest to the date will become the winner of your very own Rosie O'Donnell doll, voodoo pins not included, and any conservative book of your choosing.

Flashback: Wallace Mocks Bush's Smarts,
Belief in Freeing People

Sunday's 60 Minutes featured Mike Wallace's interview with Bob Woodward about Woodward's new book, State of Denial, full of charges of Bush administration misdeeds. The last time the duo got together -- in 2004 when 60 Minutes similarly promoted a Woodward book, Plan of Attack -- Wallace ridiculed President Bush and Woodward played along. CyberAlert recounted how on the April 18, 2004 edition of 60 Minutes, Wallace mocked President's Bush's smarts and belief in freeing people from oppression.

Wallace demanded: "Who gave George Bush the duty to free people around the world?" Wallace also jeeringly proposed: "The President of the United States, without a great deal of background in foreign policy, makes up his mind and believes he was sent by somebody to free the people -- not just in Iraq, but around the world?" Woodward shared Wallace's concern: "It is far-reaching, and ambitious, and I think will cause many people to tremble." Having established Bush's irrationality, Wallace moved on to wondering "how deep a man is President George W. Bush?" Woodward contended: "He is not an intellectual. He is not what I guess would be called a deep thinker."

An excerpt from the April 19, 2004 MRC CyberAlert:

....The second of the two April 18 60 Minutes segments promoting Woodward's book ended with this discussion between Wallace and Woodward, who holds the title of Assistant Managing Editor of the Washington Post:

Woodward, referring to Bush on Iraq: "The President still believes, with some conviction, that this was absolutely the right thing, that he has the duty to free people, to liberate people, and this was his moment."

Wallace: "Who gave George Bush the duty to free people around the world?"

Woodward: "That's a really good question. The Constitution doesn't say that's part of the Commander-in-Chief's duties."

Wallace, acting astonished: "The President of the United States, without a great deal of background in foreign policy, makes up his mind and believes he was sent by somebody to free the people -- not just in Iraq, but around the world?"

Woodward "That's his stated purpose. It is far-reaching, and ambitious, and I think will cause many people to tremble."

Wallace: "How deep a man is President George W. Bush?"

Woodward: "He is not an intellectual. He is not what I guess would be called a deep thinker. He chastised me at one point because I said people were concerned about the failure to find weapons of mass destruction. And he said, 'Well you travel in elite circles.' I think he feels there is an intellectual world and he has indicated he's not a part of it."

Wallace: "Has a disdain for it."

Woodward confirmed: "He has expressed that. That's right."

Wallace chipped in: "For the intellectual world."

Woodward: "The 'fancy pants' intellectual world. What he calls 'the elite.'"

Wallace: "How does the President think history will judge him for going to war in Iraq?"

Woodward: "After the second interview with him on December 11th, we got up and walked over to one of the doors. There are all of these doors in the Oval Office that lead outside. And he had his hands in his pocket, and I just asked, 'Well, how is history likely to judge your Iraq war.' "And he said, 'History,' and then he took his hands out of his pocket and kind of shrugged and extended his hands as if this is a way off. And then he said, 'History, we won't know. We'll all be dead.'"

With that, 60 Minutes went to Wallace for some final comments on the 60 Minutes set. After claiming that keeping the book's allegations secret prevented them from getting a White House reaction, which they would welcome for next week, Wallace noted how Viacom owns both CBS News and the publisher of Woodward's book, but his words betrayed his disdain for the suggestion of any improper influence: "Incidentally, for the record, though it had nothing to do with our reporting this story, Bob Woodward's publisher, Simon and Schuster, is owned by the same company we are, Viacom."

END of Excerpt

The April 19, 2004 CyberAlert www.mrc.org

Simon and Schuster is also the publisher of State of Denial.

Ted Turner: Do What Muslim Extremists
'Would Like to See Us Do'

During an interview aired Friday on CNBC's The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, when asked by host Deutsch how he would go about fighting terrorism, CNN founder Ted Turner argued that "you don't win people over by bombing them, you win them over by being friends with them," and soon recommended giving Muslim extremists what they want as a solution to terrorism. Turner, who in 2002 claimed that Israelis were guilty of "terrorism" against the Palestinians, on Friday's show advocated "being more even-handed in our dealing with the Palestinians and the Israelis," negotiating peace in the Middle East "so we can stop at some point furnishing military aid to Israel," and "pulling our military forces out of the Middle East." Turner labeled these moves as "things that they've asked of us" and "things that the Muslim extremists and a lot of other Muslims, too, would like to see us do."

For more on Turner's 2002 comment, see the June 19, 2002 CyberAlert: www.mrc.org

Turner was also asked by Deutsch about his recent suggestion that "men should be barred from holding public office for a hundred years," prompting Turner to speak approvingly of the possibility that, with women in control, "military budgets all over the place would be slashed maybe to nothing" in favor of more social spending, as he suggested this could be the only way to prevent nuclear war and global warming disasters: "I think if we don't do something like that, we're going to have a nuclear, full-scale nuclear war at some point, or with global climate change, we're going to turn the world into such a hot house it will be unfit for humans to live in. So we need to change the way we're doing things right away and give some new ideas a chance or we're sunk."

[This item, by Brad Wilmouth, was posted Saturday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

The September 22 CyberAlert, "Turner Takes Credit for Ending Cold War, Spouts Other Silliness," recounted:
Two days after CNN founder Ted Turner told journalists at the Reuters office in Manhattan that the war in Iraq was one of the "dumbest" decisions in history, that only women should be allowed to run for office -- though he simultaneously touted the male Al Gore, a "great leader," for President -- and argued Iran should be able to have nuclear weapons since "we have 28,000. Why can't they have ten?", he appeared Thursday night on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman where he spouted fresh silliness.
Recalling for Letterman his activities in the 1980s, Turner implied that he ended the Cold War: "I was trying to bring the Cold War, help bring it to and end with the Goodwill Games and a bunch of our initiatives that we worked on with the Russians and it worked." Turner described Cuba as "a wonderful place" and fretted: "I think it's crazy that we don't have relations with Cuba when we made normalized relations with Vietnam after the Vietnam war." He argued: "If we wanted democracy to function and capitalism in Cuba, what we need to do is send a whole lot of tourists down there to get everybody materialistic like we are up here. And then we would have already, I'm sure, I believe, that communism would have been gone from there if we'd have just been friends with them."

For more:
www.mrc.org

Back to CNBC on Friday night, September 29. Early in the interview, Deutsch repeated Turner's recent statement that the Iraq invasion was "one of the dumbest moves" in history and wondered how Turner thought the $300 billion spent so far on the Iraq War might have been better spent to fight terrorism. Turner suggested using it to "try and improve the world" and to "give people hope.":
"Well, I think, I think what we need to do is try and improve the world. The best way to stop terrorism is to give people hope for a better future. People don't blow themselves up if they think things are going to get better."

Turner also soon suggested that instead of bombing, which only "does a lot of damage and makes people angry," that the best way to win people over is "by being friends with them":
"I think the days of bombing to try and achieve any kind of objectives are behind us. All that bombs do is a lot of damage and make people angry, you know, you don't, you don't win people over by bombing them; you win them over by being friends with them."

Deutsch re-phrased the question to shift the focus of the discussion away from Iraq to the general worldwide War on Terrorism, wondering how do you get along with the "fundamentalist faction" of the world's one billion Muslims. Turner voiced support for a troop withdrawal from the Middle East as the CNN founder said "I don't know why they're there in the first place," and suggested being "more even-handed in our dealing with the Palestinians and the Israelis":
"Well, I would give strong consideration to pulling our military forces out of the Middle East. I don't know why they're there in the first place. We have thousands of troops in Saudi Arabia. The things that they've asked of us, and I think we need to, we need to really make a real solid serious effort to concentrate on bringing peace to the Middle East as far as Israel and its neighbors are concerned so that we can stop at some point furnishing military aid to Israel. Those are, I think, the two things that the Muslim extremists and a lot of other Muslims, too, would like to see us do, is get our military out of the Middle East. I mean, we're, what are they there for, anyway? And also to be more even-handed in our dealing with the Palestinians and the Israelis."

Deutsch soon brought up Turner's recent suggestion that only women should be allowed to rule the world, an idea which the CNN founder had also discussed during his September 21 appearance on CBS's The Late Show with David Letterman. Turner again marveled at the possibility of "military budgets" being "slashed maybe to nothing" and the money spent on social programs because, unlike men, women "don't have as much testosterone" and "don't want to start wars all the time":
"Men can still be in education, they can have their businesses, they can do everything else, but if the big change that would occur if women were running the world on a daily basis instead of men, is the military budgets all over the place would be slashed maybe to nothing, and a lot more money would go into education, health care, family planning, the things that really matter because women don't have as much testosterone as men. I mean, they don't want to start wars all the time. Women really would rather have things be peaceful. ... And I think if we don't do something like that, we're going to have a nuclear, full-scale nuclear war at some point, or with global climate change, we're going to turn the world into such a hot house it will be unfit for humans to live in. So we need to change the way we're doing things right away and give some new ideas a chance or we're sunk."

Below is a transcript of relevant portions of the Friday September 29 The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch:

Donny Deutsch: "The war in Iraq, you said, quote, 'It will go down in history, is already being seen in history as one of the dumbest moves that was ever made by anybody.'"
Ted Turner: "Yup. I stand by that."
Deutsch: "I stand by that also."
Turner: "It's hard to believe."
Deutsch: "Okay. But it's easy to throw stones. I say to you now, sir, okay, instead of the $300 billion that Bush has spent in Iraq to fight terrorism, how, wind back the clock because that's the math he makes, that's the way we fight terrorism in Iraq."
Turner: "Fights Saddam Hussein."
Deutsch: "Yeah, but that's the math he makes. So intead of saying you were just wrong, you and I got that $300 billion to spend, to fight terrorism. How do you spend it?"
Turner: "Well, I think, I think what we need to do is try and improve the world. The best way to stop terrorism is to give people hope for a better future. People don't blow themselves up if they think things are going to get better."
Deutsch: "So let's say now, once again, you and I are business, we're co-CEOs of the United States of America right now, we've got $300 billion to spend to do that. Instead of bombing, what do we do?"
Turner: "It takes more than money; it takes good ideas that are implemented. I mean, we have to make some fundamental changes in the world, and they are based on information that we've just really gotten in the last few years. I think the days of bombing to try and achieve any kind of objectives are behind us. All that bombs do is a lot of damage and make people angry, you know, you don't, you don't win people over by bombing them; you win them over by being friends with them."
Deutsch: "That's great in theory."
Turner: "It works."
Deutsch: "In reality-"
Turner: "It worked for me."
Deutsch: "Okay, it worked for you-"
Turner: "Didn't work for George Bush. He was so busy bombing that he didn't get a chance to."
Deutsch: "But when you've got the enemy who flies planes into our buildings-"
Turner: "But there wasn't any Iraqis that did that. There was not a single Iraqi in the group."
Deutsch: "Take Iraq aside. We're fighting terrorism now. I agree going to Iraq is not the best way to fight terrorism, so I'm asking you now, sir, we've got hatred in the world, we've got, you know, right now we've got a world, we've got a billion Muslims. Obviously, it's only the fundamentalists that are problems."

At this point, Turner jumped in cross-talking with Deutsch, which led to Turner not hearing Deutsch specify that he was talking about how to fight Muslim fundamentalists.
Turner: "One billion, one hundred fifty million."
Deutsch: "What do we do to fight this new enemy? I'm putting you in charge."
Turner: "The Muslims?"
Deutsch: "No, the terrorists, the fundamentalists-"
Turner again interrupted Deutsch before he could finish specifying that he was talking about Muslim fundamentalists.
Turner: "Because the Muslims are just like us-"
Deutsch: "I know they are. But I'm just saying there is a fundamentalist faction, that we all know. What do we do with these terrorists? You are in charge. You are Mr. Anti-Terrorism now. We both agree Iraq was not the right way in. Obviously, Hussein had to go, certainly not, shouldn't be top of agenda. So what do we do?"
Turner: "Well, I would give strong consideration to pulling our military forces out of the Middle East. I don't know why they're there in the first place. We have thousands of troops in Saudi Arabia. The things that they've asked of us, and I think we need to, we need to really make a real solid serious effort to concentrate on bringing peace to the Middle East as far as Israel and its neighbors are concerned so that we can stop at some point furnishing military aid to Israel. Those are, I think, the two things that the Muslim extremists and a lot of other Muslims, too, would like to see us do, is get our military out of the Middle East. I mean, we're, what are they there for, anyway? And also to be more even-handed in our dealing with the Palestinians and the Israelis."

About 13 minutes into the segment, the discussion turned to Turner's idea to bar men from holding political office.

Deutsche: "I want to move to a less complicated subject, actually more complicated: Women. Quote, you've said, 'I've said for years and I'm really serious about it, I think men should be barred from holding public office for a hundred years. The men have been running the world for the last thousands of years and they've mucked it up something awful.' I built my business surrounding myself with women. I find women more superior to men in business-"
Turner: "The only area that I'm advocating this is in politics, that all elected offices for a hundred years, only women could run. Men can still be in education, they can have their businesses, they can do everything else, but if the big change that would occur if women were running the world on a daily basis instead of men, is the military budgets all over the place would be slashed maybe to nothing, and a lot more money would go into education, health care, family planning, the things that really matter because women don't have as much testosterone as men. I mean, they don't want to start wars all the time. Women really would rather have things be peaceful."
Deutsch: "I happen to think that's a great idea."
Turner: "And this one really could be done very quickly and very easily. All we have to do is change the laws, and in a hundred years then men can run again. And I think if we don't do something like that, we're going to have a nuclear, full-scale nuclear war at some point, or with global climate change, we're going to turn the world into such a hot house it will be unfit for humans to live in. So we need to change the way we're doing things right away and give some new ideas a chance or we're sunk."

Borger Highlights GOP YouTube Moments,
Especially 'Stupid' Allen

Thursday's CBS Evening News pondered the new technology used by political campaigns at YouTube, but national political correspondent Gloria Borger dwelled on the videos embarrassing to Republicans -- Sen. George Allen's "Macaca" remarks, a Florida House candidate's blacks-can't-swim comment, and Sen. Conrad Burns snoozing. (There was fleeting attention on the George W. Bush-Joe Lieberman "kiss" and its clearly Bush-loathing flavor.)

At least when CBS's The Early Show had Bill Plante study the phenomenon last Tuesday morning, he balanced Allen with a Democrat, Sen. Joe Biden joking about needing an Indian accent to walk into a 7-Eleven. Borger underlined Allen as an idiot: "Virginia Senator George Allen has become a poster child for what can go wrong when a candidate gets caught saying something stupid...the controversy paved the way for new charges this week that Allen has a racist past."

[This item, by Tim Graham, was posted Friday on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

On the September 28 CBS Evening News, anchor Katie Couric introduced the latest way to rehash the Allen remark into one of the most media-transmitted gaffes by a Senate candidate in recent history: "Now that the Republicans have chosen Minneapolis-St. Paul as the site of their 2008 national convention, the Democrats say they are down to a choice between New York and Denver. Meanwhile, since the last conventions, running for office has become even more unconventional, thanks to the Internet. Politicians are finding that once they put their foot in their mouth, it's hard to get it out. Gloria Borger has tonight's Eye on Politics."

Gloria Borger began: "Back in the '90s, a forgettable movie, EdTV, made comedy out of the idea of following someone around with a camera 24/7."
Clip from movie: "I can't take it anymore, Ed! I have no privacy!"
Borger, over YouTube images of the Bush-Lieberman "kiss," Conrad Burns nodding off and George Allen: "Well, fiction has become reality in political campaigns across the country. The idea is to catch candidates making mistakes and then post them on the Internet where they can be seen worldwide with the click of a mouse on Web sites like YouTube.com."
George Allen at campaign event, via YouTube: "This fellow over here with the yellow shirt, Macaca, or whatever his name is."
Borger: "Virginia Senator George Allen has become a poster child for what can go wrong when a candidate gets caught saying something stupid."
Allen: "Let's give a welcome to Macaca here. Welcome to America."
Borger: "Macaca means monkey to some, not at a smart thing to call your opponent's campaign aide when he's got a camera pointing right at you. It all wound up on YouTube and the controversy paved the way for new charges this week [montage of headlines] that Allen has a racist past. And he's not the only politician who's been caught on tape. Florida Republican Tramm Hudson lost his primary this month [to replace U.S. Rep. Katharine Harris, who's running for Senate] after this video appeared on a political Web site."
Tramm Hudson at campaign event: "I know this from my own experience that blacks are not the greatest swimmers or may not even know how to swim."
Borger: "The video was posted on the Web on a Thursday. By Friday, the story was making headlines in the local press. On Tuesday, the once-unknown Tram Hudson was a punch line on the Daily Show." [Comedy Central is a Viacom network, just like CBS.]
Daily Show "senior black correspondent" Larry Wilmore: "Exactly, Jon, blacks can't swim? Come on man, everybody's known that since 1973."
Borger: "Hudson's political consultant, Dan Hazelwood, did his best to control the damage."
Dan Hazelwood, pointing to video on a computer screen: "What you see here is the political equivalent of a drive-by shooting."
Borger: "Hudson may have shot himself, but his campaign believes the video was shot and delivered to the Web by his political enemies, a form of guerrilla warfare that's now a fact of life."
Hazelwood: "You have to have your person out there videotaping the other side. You got to have the staff traveling with you taping them, and you probably need a backup in case one of them needs to run an errand. It's 24/7 now for everybody."

In a good example of fake balance, Democrats are featured in the story, but only to underline how savvy they are about the new technology:
Borger: "Including the candidate. Democratic Senator Evan Bayh is running for President and he's even joined the popular college site Facebook to woo young voters. But he also knows negative news can pop up on line instantly, anonymously, and cheaply."
Senator Evan Bayh, D-Indiana: "There's no such thing as open and off-Broadway anymore. It's all prime time and it's all real time, so everything you say is out there are for public consumption for better and occasionally for worse."
Borger, over YouTube video of Burns nodding off in front of a microphone: "Its used to be that 90 percent of life was showing up. Well, not anymore. Watch Montana Senator Conrad Burns. Now you have to stay awake, too. Gloria Borger, CBS News, Washington."

On The Early Show on Tuesday, September 26, Bill Plante had the same story, with a more balanced spin, using Republican and Democratic experts as well as Republican and Democratic candidates:

Bill Plante: "Today the newest political phenomenon on the net, YouTube, the video-sharing website, also known for phony diaries and stupid animal antics. YouTube video postings of this picture helped fuel Joe Lieberman's primary loss to anti-war candidate Ned Lamont. And Virginia Senator George Allen, running for re-election, has seen his once large lead in the polls slip to just a few points. One big reason? This video on YouTube of Allen's remarks to the man with the camera, seen by many as a racial slur."
Matthew Dowd: "With the internet and YouTube, there is no discussion. It's automatically posted."
Bill Plante: "Matthew Dowd and author of the book 'Applebee's America' is a long-time Bush strategist. He worries about a loss of spontaneity in politics."
Matthew Dowd: "When at a time the public wants authenticity, I think the internet and YouTube is causing people and politicians to actually be less authentic because they worry about what's going to get caught on the internet."
Bill Plante: "Because politicians do get caught being, well, let's say, less than perfect."
Joe Biden, Delaware Senator: "You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I'm not joking."
Bill Plante: "But the newest tool in techno-politics is welcome news to some political pros."
Joe Trippi: "You can influence it, but you can't control it anymore. And so, you have to let go a little bit."
Bill Plante: "Democratic strategist Joe Trippi ran the internet-fueled Dean campaign in 2004, and he sees YoutTube as a tool for weeding out overly manufactured candidates."
Joe Trippi: "I think if you think you have to be perfect all the time, you're finished now. The best way to think about it is, no, I have to be who I am all the time, and I have to hope and believe that the American people will like who I am."
Bill Plante: "So just be yourself? Well, it might work better for some politicians than others. But you better get used to it, though, because it doesn't matter where you are, the whole world could be watching and listening. Bill Plante, CBS News, somewhere in cyberspace."

Anti-War Iraq War Draft Paranoia Espoused
on CBS's Survivor

On CBS's racially-segregated Survivor reality show Thursday night, an Asian man named "Cao Boi" (pronounced Cowboy) went on a rant against the Iraq war and insisted American teenagers are going to be drafted and sent to Iraq en masse -- unless you're privileged, "unless you're Mr. Bush children." He was telling a story about a conversation he had at a restaurant:
"This old man he said, 'I come to United States, I'm so lonely, all my friends are in Vietnam.' He's like fifty-something. And he just missed the old days. 'But I come to United States for my children's future.' I go, 'how old are your children?' 'Fifteen and sixteen.' Ha Ha Ha Ha! Fifteen and sixteen! They trick you. They trick you. He go 'what'? Fifteen and sixteen, you think in a couple of more years they'll be in Iraq? '€˜I'm sorry. For what?' You're Vietnamese. You should know better about war. You should know all about war."

[This item, by Tim Graham, was posted Friday on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

That's not to say this rant went un-rebutted. Brad the fashion director quickly concluded: "The guy just does not shut up."

Then another contestant asked what if the teens went to college? Cao Boi scoffed: "So what if they go to college? If there's a draft, your ass is going. College! Unless you're a Senator's child -- or a Congressman's children, you're going, unless you're Mr. Bush children [sic]. Your lineage is blue or something."

Brad piled on more ridicule: "I don't think he's all there." Or will "ever be there...unless he's medicated."

The View Cheers on Chilean Socialist;
Shocked by Woman with Guns

The feminist spirit was alive and well on Friday's edition of ABC's The View. The women were shocked by the concept of women with concealed weapons, and positively giddy over Ted Turner's recent remarks that men should be banned from public office for a hundred years. Barbara Walters enthused: "We particularly like this quote, because we have this remarkable woman on with us today...Ted Turner, when he was talking about the United Nations, said, quote, 'Men should be barred from public office for a hundred years in every part of the world. It would be a much kinder, gentler, more intelligently-run world. Men have had millions of years and we've screwed it up hopelessly. Let's give it to the women.'" Rosie O'Donnell: "Yeah! I say bravo! Go, Ted."

[This item, by Megan McCormack, was posted Friday on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

The "remarkable" woman Walters was hyping was socialist Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, the first female in that country to be elected to that office. During their "Hot Topics" segment, the co-hosts marveled at how an agnostic woman could win the presidency in a "macho, Latin American country" while the United States had yet to elect a female President:

Walters: "But that's why it's so interesting, in a macho Latin American country like Chile, which has never had a woman president, has a woman who is single, has a woman who is a Catholic country where she professes not to necessarily to believe in God, and they can elect a woman...and we are so'€""
Joy Behar: "How did that happen?"

Forty-five minutes into the program, Walters gave Bachlet this glowing introduction:
"She is the first female President of Chile. She was elected last January. She is a woman who survived being imprisoned by the dictator of her country. She was tortured. She was exiled. She's a mother of three. She's a pediatrician. She's an agnostic in a predominately Catholic country. She's number seventeen on Forbes magazine's list of the world's most powerful women. Please welcome, we're delighted to have, Madam President, Dr. Michelle Bachelet...In our country, where we have sort of a little prejudice possibly about women politicians, as we said, you're an agnostic. You have a child which you have said was born out of wedlock...How did you ever get elected?"

Bachelet responded by saying the Chilean people elected her because they believe women can do the same things as men, but also give that "woman touch." When Walters asked her what that "woman touch" is, Bachelet argued that, unlike men, apparently:
"When women get involved, a big amount of women, get involved with politics it's politics that change. Because we are interested in doing our business in the interest of everybody, not in our own interest."

Later in the interview, O'Donnell asked Bachelet, a victim of torture under a previous Chilean regime, about her views on the Geneva Convention:

O'Donnell: "Well, knowing what you survived and lived through, what do you think about the President's contention that he wants to reinterpret the Geneva Convention?"
Bachelet: "...I say that I really think that terrorism is something we have to fight against, but we have to do it with respect and democracy, because if you, if you try to fight something with illegal ways you are validating them'€""
O'Donnell: "Yes."
Bachelet: "'€"because you are destroying democracy with that. So you have to find a very difficult balance. But I think one should always respect the international and national laws and democracy because that's the only way to guarantee that there, there won't be much support for the terrorist groups."
O'Donnell: "Yes, and torture, innately, is, is wrong for humankind, would you say?"
Bachelet: "Oh, yes, indeed. For people like us that has received torture, really, we cannot explain by any reason, there's nothing, nothing that can justify the violation of human rights or torture..."
O'Donnell: "I agree."

Neither O'Donnell nor Bachelet differentiated between the brutal tactics conducted by the Chilean government against its opponents in the 1970s and the supposed "torture" of terror suspects by the United States.

The only person to mention Bachelet's socialist views was Bachelet herself:

Behar: "What do, what do you want to do with your term? What's your big idea?"
Bachelet: "...We have a nation who has important political stability and social cohesion. And what we're working now is, in order that Chile will continue being an important country in, in the sense of being a serious country, responsible, stable country, but also with economical growth, but the most important for me also is that we can grow, but with equality. We can grow, but people who are poor can have the same opportunities of, of everybody, everybody else."
Behar: "So everybody has the same, and -- basically the world should follow that idea."

Another interesting moment from the show came early on in the program while the women discussed the differences between men and women:
Behar: "...Women are more, a little bit more snotty, though, and nasty to each other. But they talk it through, they don't hit and they don't drop bombs and they don't shoot. They don't play with guns. So that'€""
O'Donnell: "Yeah."
Hasselbeck: "That's so stereotypical...I know plenty of women who pack a gun."
O'Donnell sounded shocked by Hasselbeck's statement and asked in amazement:
O'Donnell: "Seriously?"
Hasselbeck: "Yeah."
O'Donnell: "You know women who carry a gun?"
Hasselbeck: "Sure."
O'Donnell: "Who are not police officers?"
Hasselbeck: "Who were not in uniform."
O'Donnell: "That they just carry it in case they get attacked? Like friends?"

Minutes later, Walters equated Hasselbeck's knowledge of women with guns to the ineptness of her fellow View hosts:
Walters: "...I would like to say something about my colleagues."
Behar: "What?"
Walters: "One of them says, I know women who carry guns. I mean, that's a great message. This one [pointing to Behar] doesn't even know how to hold up a prop. This one [pointing to O'Donnell] doesn't know how to swallow a cold drink. I mean, what is with you people?"

To female viewers of The View, one could be left with the impression that while it is "wonderful" to be an agnostic, socialist leader, it is not okay to exercise your Second Amendment right and "play with guns."

NewsBusters Contest: Who'll Be the First
to Leave The View?

Submit your entry in a contest on the MRC's NewsBusters blog. Since Rosie O'Donnell has joined the ABC-syndicated show The View, tensions have risen pretty dramatically on the set between the co-hosts. Elisabeth Hasselbeck, the lone right-of-center host has reportedly brought to tears repeatedly. The rest of the show's staff is also upset.

Your task: Predict who will be the first to leave the show and when. The person closest to the date will become the winner of your very own Rosie O'Donnell doll, voodoo pins not included, and any conservative book of your choosing. (Entries must be posted as comments on NewsBusters before Wed., Oct. 3.)

To submit your prediction, go to: newsbusters.org

-- Brent Baker