Nets Portray Both Parties as Equally Guilty of Blocking Nominees --11/14/2003

1. Nets Portray Both Parties as Equally Guilty of Blocking Nominees
Network stories this week have ignored the unprecedented nature of the Democratic tactic in the Senate to use the filibuster threat to block votes on judicial nominees voted favorably out of the Judiciary Committee and supported by the majority. Instead, both parties have been painted as equally guilty of playing political games in efforts to block the nominees of a President from the other party. For example, on Thursday night's NBC Nightly News, without explaining how they are unconstitutional, Chip Reid noted how "Republicans say the Democrats' tactics are unfair, maybe even unconstitutional," but he countered that with how "Democrats say they've held up only a small percentage of the President's choices, and that Republicans blocked far more during the Clinton administration."

2. CBS Solicits Military Advice from Clark, Doesn't Challenge Him
Hannah Storm on CBS's The Early Show on Thursday treated retired General Wesley Clark as a wise military sage, soliciting advise from him on what to do in Iraq, and not as a Democratic presidential candidate with a liberal political agenda which includes criticizing Bush policy in Iraq. One of Storm's questions: "What about the change in military strategy? Now we're hearing about this Operation Iron Hammer is what they've dubbed it. New air strikes, is that prudent military strategy?"

3. MSNBC's Arnot Sees Iraqis Angry at TV Coverage, Who "Love" Bush
U.S. TV network news about Iraq as distorted as al-Jazeera? Checking in from Iraq on Wednesday's Hardball, Bob Arnot highlighted a Muslim ayatollah in Iraq who "is furious at the press coverage. He says not only American television, but Arabic satellite TV, such as Al-Jazeera and the Abu Dhabi station, have mis-portrayed the great success that is Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein." The night before, Arnot contrasted the negative TV news image of widespread destruction and disgust for Americans with the reality he sees of Iraqis who "love the Americans and their President for cleaning up their streets, providing clean water, opening the schools."

Nets Portray Both Parties as Equally
Guilty of Blocking Nominees

Network stories this week have ignored the unprecedented nature of the Democratic tactic in the Senate to use the filibuster threat, which takes 60 votes to overcome, to block votes on judicial nominees voted favorably out of the Judiciary Committee and supported by the majority. Instead, both parties have been painted as equally guilty of playing political games in efforts to block the nominees of a President from the other party.

For example, on Thursday night's NBC Nightly News, without explaining how they are unconstitutional, Chip Reid noted how "Republicans say the Democrats' tactics are unfair, maybe even unconstitutional," but he countered that with how "Democrats say they've held up only a small percentage of the President's choices, and that Republicans blocked far more during the Clinton administration."

But when Republicans blocked nominees they were in the majority, something Democrats also did with Republican nominees when Democrats were in the majority. What is new now is that the minority party in the Senate is using the demand for a 60 vote cloture motion, to allow a floor vote, to block nominees who would win a majority vote approval. That Senate maneuver has never before been used on judicial nominees.

Reid's story did highlight an event Thursday ignored by ABC's World News Tonight, the CBS Evening News and CNN's NewsNight, but also picked up by FNC's Special Report with Brit Hume: President Bush appearing with the three female nominees blocked by Democrats. Reid observed: "At Mr. Bush's side, Janice Rogers Brown, nominated to the DC Circuit. A sharecropper's daughter from Alabama, she's the first African-American woman to serve on the California Supreme Court. Friends and colleagues say she's an American success story." But, Reid added, "Senate Democrats vigorously oppose her, claiming her views are far too extreme for the appeals court." On what? "Democrats say her writings reveal opposition to the right of individuals to sue for age discrimination."

As outlined in the November 13 CyberAlert, Peter Jennings and Linda Douglass on Wednesday night failed to inform viewers of how Democrats are using the filibuster threat in an unprecedented manner as Jennings referred only to how Democrats "object" to some judicial nominees while, surreally, Jennings described how "the Democrats say they're doing what the Constitution requires." Douglass relayed a Democratic talking point about how "the Senate has approved 98 percent of Mr. Bush's judges this year, compared to 61 percent approved in Bill Clinton's last two years" and, without explanation, she noted how Republicans "said Democrats are using unconstitutional tricks." She concluded with a rebuke of GOP priorities: "The stunts are consuming the Senate, even though Republican leaders have not produced legislation providing Medicare prescription drug coverage..." See: www.mediaresearch.org

Also on Wednesday night, CBS's Bob Orr similarly avoided the unprecedented angle: "Republicans are angry that Democrats have used filibusters to block votes on four candidates President Bush has nominated for the federal appeals bench, and fear Democrats will employ the same stalling tactics to block two more." Orr added: "Democrats argue so far they've approved 168 of 172 judicial nominees, rejecting only those far out of the mainstream."

On CNN's NewsNight on Wednesday, Jonathan Karl at least noted how those blocked by Democrats "have the support of more than 50 Senators," but he also avoided the unprecedented nature of the Democratic strategy has he related their spin: "Democrats say that, while Republicans complain about how they are treating President Bush's nominees, back when President Clinton was in the White House, Democrats say, the Republicans treated his nominees in much the same way. Republicans say, oh, no, this is a whole new level. So what comes around goes around. That's what much of the debate is going to be about all night, all day tomorrow, and much of tomorrow night."

FNC's Brian Wilson, however, on Wednesday's Special Report with Brit Hume, uttered the U word: "It takes 60 votes to break a filibuster in the Senate. Republicans only have 51. They believe filibustering judges on the Senate floor is unprecedented." He ran a clip from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist: "We as United States Senators are being denied the opportunity to give advice and consent to the President's nominees, because we're being denied by a minority of the United States Senate to give an up or down vote. It's as simple as that." And a soundbite from Senator George Allen: "The Constitution says that the President's nominees are to be voted. And a majority of Senators are to vote -- to get confirmed, you need a majority of Senators. And that's 50 or 51, not 60. That's what they're doing that is so contrary to the Constitution."

Like everyone else, Wilson noted: "Democrats point out that they approved the vast majority of the President's judicial nominees."

Tom Brokaw on Thursday introduced the NBC Nightly News story, as taken down by MRC analyst Brad Wilmouth:
"Now to the floor of the United States Senate which is tonight in the midst of a non-stop talkathon scheduled now to run for 39 hours. You're looking at the scene, Republicans and Democrats taking turns talking nonstop in the Republican effort to get several of President Bush's nominees for federal judgeships past the Democratic filibusters that have stopped them. President Bush called the Democrats' efforts shameful. Democrats countered they have helped confirm so many Bush judicial appointees, the federal court vacancy rate now is below five percent, its lowest level in more than a decade. For more on the sound and fury tonight, NBC's Chip Reid."

Reid began: "At the White House today, a vote of confidence for three of the President's embattled choices for the federal courts."
George W. Bush, at the White House: "My question is why won't they give these three ladies an up or down vote? Where's the justice?"
Reid: "At Mr. Bush's side, Janice Rogers Brown, nominated to the DC Circuit. A sharecropper's daughter from Alabama, she's the first African-American woman to serve on the California Supreme Court. Friends and colleagues say she's an American success story."
Dean Elizabeth R. Parker, University of the Pacific Law School: "There is probably not an individual in our community who wouldn't say that she's terrific -- decent, ethical, a spirited intellect."
Reid: "But Senate Democrats vigorously oppose her, claiming her views are far too extreme for the appeals court."
Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL): "The things which she has said in her speeches and repeated in her opinions go way beyond being a conservative."
Reid: "For example, Democrats say her writings reveal opposition to the right of individuals to sue for age discrimination. Lacking the votes to defeat her and five others, though, Democrats have been working to block the nominations with delaying tactics. And that's what led to this week's Senate talkathon. Irate Republicans forcing Democrats into nearly 40 hours of round-the-clock debate."
Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Senate Judiciary Committee): "Why are they against her? Because they know she's conservative. And they want just one way of thinking among African-Americans, and she doesn't qualify."
Reid: "Republicans say the Democrats' tactics are unfair, maybe even unconstitutional."
Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA): "Hypocrisy. Sheer hypocrisy."
Reid: "But Democrats say they've held up only a small percentage of the President's choices, and that Republicans blocked far more during the Clinton administration."
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY): "Republicans blocked 15 times more judicial nominees of President Clinton than have been blocked here."
Reid concluded: "One reason the stakes are so high for Janice Rogers Brown is that the Democrats are worried that the court of appeals for her could turn out to be a stepping stone to the U.S. Supreme Court. Chip Reid, NBC News, the Capitol."

CBS Solicits Military Advice from Clark,
Doesn't Challenge Him

Hannah Storm on CBS's The Early Show on Thursday treated retired General Wesley Clark as a wise military sage, soliciting advise from him on what to do in Iraq, and not as a Democratic presidential candidate with a liberal political agenda which includes criticizing Bush policy in Iraq.

One of Storm's questions: "What about the change in military strategy? Now we're hearing about this Operation Iron Hammer is what they've dubbed it. New air strikes, is that prudent military strategy?"

Storm set up the November 13 segment: "President Bush has been pushing to speed up the transfer of political power in Iraq back to the Iraqis with the hopes of slowing down the violence there. Former general and current Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark has his own ideas about ending that conflict. General Clark, good morning."

MRC analyst Brian Boyd took down Storm's questions to Clark:

-- "CIA report shows that ordinary Iraqis have lost faith in the US. Now there's talk out of Washington about accelerating Iraqi self-rule. Do you think it will make a difference and will it have any effect on the violence?"

-- "And yet when you look at these violent incidents, they have targeted America's friends and allies and they've targeted the Turks and the Jordanians and the Italians, now the UN and the Red Cross. What about allies running scared potentially from this situation?"

-- "What about the change in military strategy? Now we're hearing about this Operation Iron Hammer is what they've dubbed it. New air strikes, is that prudent military strategy?"

-- "What about sending in more troops?"

-- "You've talked about taking out some of the special ops, taking out some of the intelligence to leave Iraq and hunt for Osama bin Laden, but given all of these attacks, up to 30, 35 a day don't you need to leave that personnel in Iraq to address the situation there?"

-- On hunting for weapons of mass destruction: "You're saying that's not the priority now?"

After avoiding asking him any challenging questions about anything political, Storm wrapped up by noting his political calendar: "Okay, General Wesley Clark, thanks for stopping by again. I know you're headed back to New Hampshire."

MSNBC's Arnot Sees Iraqis Angry at TV
Coverage, Who "Love" Bush

U.S. TV network news about Iraq as distorted as al-Jazeera? Checking in from Iraq on Wednesday's Hardball with Chris Matthews as part of that show's look this week at "Iraq: The Real Story," Bob Arnot highlighted a Muslim ayatollah in Iraq who "is furious at the press coverage. He says not only American television, but Arabic satellite TV, such as Al-Jazeera and the Abu Dhabi station, have mis-portrayed the great success that is Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein."

Arnot, MRC analyst Geoffrey Dickens noticed, documented how "Iraqis themselves are angrier than the American administration about the barrage of negative stories coming out of Iraq" on Arab television.

The night before, on Tuesday's Hardball, Arnot contrasted the negative TV news image of widespread destruction and disgust for Americans with the reality he sees of Iraqis who "love the Americans and their President for cleaning up their streets, providing clean water, opening the schools." Arnot explained:
"The conventional picture you see out here in Iraq is of angry Iraqis jeering at Americans. But we went to a town right in the heart of the Sunni Triangle which easily could have gone just as bad where they love Americans. Helicopters shot from the sky, military vehicles destroyed by roadside bombs, midnight raids on suspected terrorists. For many Americans watching from home, this is the American military's fate in Iraq. But there is another reality."

(On Monday's Hardball, the November 12 CyberAlert recounted, Arnot contradicted the image of chaos in Iraq hyped by the media. Launching Hardball's week-long series, "Iraq: The Real Story," Arnot recounted the challenges faced by troops in hostile areas, but countered the negative image of the Iraqi situation he knows Americans get from TV news. Arnot argued: "The fact is in 85 percent of the country, it's calm, it's stable, it's moving forward." Touring a shopping area, Arnot relayed how, "from what you see on TV from Baghdad you'd think that, with the mortars and rockets, that this was a city under siege." In fact, he contended, "nothing could be further from the truth in many neighborhoods." www.mediaresearch.org )

On the November 12 Hardball, Arnot provided a glimpse into how Iraqis view the anti-U.S. bias of Arab TV news:
"This is one of the most beautiful mosques anywhere in the world. It's the main mosque in the holy city of Khadamiya, third most religious city in Iraq. We've been invited here by the ayatollah. Why? He is furious at the press coverage. He says not only American television, but Arabic satellite TV, such as Al-Jazeera and the Abu Dhabi station, have misportrayed the great success that is Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein. The people of Khadamiya tell us that the picture painted by Al-Jazeera and other Arab satellite stations is a bleak one of daily death and destruction.
"Khadamiya's leaders are so eager to show Iraq's real story that the ayatollah himself sends his top lieutenant with us, Haji Ali [sp]. He acts as our guide, showing us a city of thriving outdoor markets, mosques and schools. In Khadamiya's main shopping district, business is booming, from sidewalk vendors and vegetable stands, to gold merchants. On the streets, the U.S. Army patrols side by side with Iraqi soldiers, dismounted and at ease. At Khadamiya's central mosque, pilgrims come from all over Iraq, Iran, even Afghanistan, eager to enjoy the religious freedom they were denied for decades. Khadamiya's schools are in session, filled with happy children.
"15-year-old Daham [sp] says TV news reports he watches don't tell the truth."
Daham: "A lot happens good in Iraq when Saddam gone."
Arnot: "So a lot happens good in Iraq."
Daham: "The smile come back in Iraqi kids."
Arnot: "After school, we visit a new radio and TV station run by Shia, an unheard-of freedom under the old regime. At the station, everyone we talked to agrees the Arab media is not telling the truth about what's happening here. And Al-Jazeera tops the list. What do you think of Al-Jazeera?"
[Unidentified Iraqi man starts speaking in Arabic]
Arnot: "In English. In English."
Unidentified man: "I hate them!"
Arnot: "Iraq's new minister of industry and minerals had this theory about Al-Jazeera."
Minister: "Well, I don't know. Probably, they have something against the Americans."
Arnot concluded: "As we've seen, Iraqis themselves are angrier than the American administration about the barrage of negative stories coming out of Iraq, so angry that the ayatollah himself broke the rules and allowed to us come into this, one of the holiest sites in all of Shia Islam, right during the height of Ramadan. Chris, back to you."

The night before, on the November 11 Hardball, Arnot passed along what he saw in Tachi and Horia in the Sunni triangle where he found improvements made my Americans and an appreciation for it by the local Iraqis:
"Children used to drink filthy water from this ditch. Many sick, some dying of dysentery. Now a new pipeline, built by the Americans, brings the village clean water. But it's not all waving children and happy smiles. Colonel Slate lives in one of the most dangerous parts of Iraq. Nearly every night he's attacked, his base hit by mortars. Criminals, Iraqi themselves will soon be tracking down. Better security, clean water, education, more jobs part of a formula Colonel Slate hopes will win the toughest fight of his life."

In a second segment, Arnot found Iraqis who "love" Americans: "Chris, you know, the conventional picture you see out here in Iraq is of angry Iraqis jeering at Americans. But we went to a town right in the heart of the Sunni Triangle which easily could have gone just as bad where they love Americans. Helicopters shot from the sky, military vehicles destroyed by roadside bombs, midnight raids on suspected terrorists. For many Americans watching from home, this is the American military's fate in Iraq. But there is another reality."
"American G.I.s swarmed by friendly children, who want to speak English and love the Americans and their President for cleaning up their streets, providing clean water, opening the schools. They meet with cooperative village leaders, keeping the banks up and running, and get regular leads on who the bad guys are.
"Meet Captain Gabe Barton, 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division, on patrol in Horia [sp], a village just outside Baghdad. His day begins at the local school, where his soldiers are protecting schoolchildren threatened by terrorists, side by side with enthusiastic Iraqi soldiers of the new civil defense corps. At the police station, heavily defended against suicide bombers, he confers with a cordial chief of police, a police force patrolling Horia by themselves, using the U.S. military only as a backup. Next the bank, which his men help Iraqis keep safe enough, that locals deposit their money willingly and where there's never been a run on the bank."
Arnot, over vide of Capt. Gabe Barton having discussion with an Iraqi soldier: "That cooperation between American soldiers and Iraqi police has kept Horia's economy up and running."
Barton: "People need to have confidence that, if they deposit their money here, they're gonna be able to come back and get it out."
Arnot: "Back on the streets, these Iraqi army officers are standing post for the first time, a development welcomed by Gabe."
Capt. Barton: "It shows the Iraqi people that we are not here for ourselves. We are not here for other reasons, we are here to help them create a better place to live."
Arnot acknowledged not all is perfect: "Horia is a spectacular success, but there are also bad towns, Abu Ghraib among the worst, called, 'Little Mogadishu,' by G.I.s. Here, 3rd Brigade conducted the largest military operation since the war, with over a dozen Kiowa gunships, M1-A1 tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles, airborne and infantry companies side by side. Hours later, they conduct this nighttime raid in search of a man financing attacks on coalition soldiers. This is more a money guy, is it?"
Barton: "He is involved in the financing and support of the cell that he operates, yes."
Arnot: "So this is who you might call the head of the snake?"
Barton: "Yes."
Arnot: "The combined operations yield a treasure trove of weapons and cash used to finance terrorism. That combination of targeted strikes and community development has turned over 85 percent of this country into an under-reported success. Money is what allows these commanders to basically win hearts and minds. Now, the key source of that, Chris, was something called the Commanders Emergency Relief Fund. Those funds have virtually dried up, leaving commanders without the most important weapon they have in terms of winning hearts and minds and winning this war here in Iraq, Chris."

# Jessica Lynch will be a guest Friday night on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman.

-- Brent Baker