Networks Declare Bush's Vietnam Lesson Hypocritical and Invalid --8/23/2007


1. Networks Declare Bush's Vietnam Lesson Hypocritical and Invalid
The broadcast network evening news shows on Wednesday night pounced on President Bush's reminder that the U.S. pullout from Vietnam led to millions being killed, as all three shows featured historians to discredit Bush's parallel to what may happen if the U.S. withdraws from Iraq, and NBC portrayed Bush as hypocritical for raising Vietnam after earlier rejecting comparisons to Iraq as a Vietnam-like quagmire. Only ABC, leading into Bush recalling "killing fields," showed a picture of stacks of skulls and ABC also uniquely featured two Vietnam vets who backed Bush's case. NBC anchor Brian Williams asserted that "after years of rejecting any comparisons to Vietnam, today President Bush invoked the Vietnam War as a way of saying the U.S. must stay the course and not pull out." Reporter Kelly O'Donnell insisted: "Mr. Bush's comments to the VFW today contrast with what he said last year when asked if he saw an Iraq-Vietnam connection." Viewers then got just this very short soundbite from Bush at a June 14, 2006 press conference: "I don't see the parallels." Contrary to NBC's implication, there is no conflict between scorning of a liberal comparison of Iraq to a Vietnam-like quagmire and suggesting other lessons about Vietnam.

2. MSNBC's Barnicle Blurts: 'Has Bush Ever Read a Book on Vietnam?'
On Wednesday night's Hardball both substitute host Mike Barnicle and MSNBC's David Shuster took pot shots at George W. Bush over his stated concern about Iraq becoming a Cambodian-like massacre if the U.S. leaves too early. Substitute hosting for Chris Matthews, Barnicle blurted: "Do you think the President has ever read a book about Vietnam?" Shuster sneered: "The mere mention of Vietnam and arguing for more sacrifice in Iraq is fraught with potential political peril. After all, President Bush didn't serve in Vietnam and Vice President Cheney received multiple deferments, telling reporters, a few years ago, that in the 1960s he had other priorities than military service."

3. Crying Mom of Soldier Pleads on CNN for Bush Visit to Vermont
CNN used an old tactic in the mainstream media's play book -- a person overcome by emotion -- to drive home the point they wanted to make, that the only state that hasn't been visited by President Bush is Vermont. In a segment during the 4pm EDT hour of Wednesday's Situation Room detailing this apparent "snub," CNN chief national correspondent John King played a clip from an interview of Regina Gilbert, the mother of Kyle Gilbert, who was killed serving in Iraq four years ago. Gilbert fought back tears as she made her plea for a visit from the President: "I hope he does come, to our little state, 'cause I think that we've stepped up. And I'm hoping he will reflect and step up as well." In his introduction to King's piece, host Wolf Blitzer highlighted how Vermont "was the first state to outlaw slavery...the last state to get a WalMart, and it is the only state in the union not to have been visited by President Bush." Blitzer then asked King, "Is this a snub or an oversight?" King replied, "I think you can safely say 'snub,' Wolf." AUDIO&VIDEO See & Hear the Bias - Audio & Video Clip Archive

4. NBC's Mitchell Comes to Michelle Obama's Defense on Clinton Slam
NBC's Andrea Mitchell scolded Matt Drudge and other "Internet writers" for making much ado about nothing over Michelle Obama's "If you can't run your own house, you certainly can't run the White House" presumed slam of Hillary Clinton. On Wednesday's Today show, Mitchell ran the aforementioned quote from Sen. Barack Obama's wife and then proceeded to wag her finger at Drudge and other "Internet writers" everywhere: "But this time her words caught the attention of a Chicago Sun-Times columnist who said, 'It could be interpreted as a swipe at the Clintons.' And before you could say Drudge Report, the story was an Internet headline: 'Obama Wife Slams Hillary.' When reporters raised it with Barack Obama, on a conference call, he tried to point out his wife was talking about her own family, not the Clintons."

5. Cafferty Promotes Poll: 'Liberals Read More than Conservatives'
CNN's Jack Cafferty, who a day before thinly-disguised his support for the impeachment of President Bush, on Wednesday couldn't resist talking about the recent AP/Ipsos poll which found liberals read more books than conservatives, though by a very slight margin of one book -- nine to eight books with moderates reading only five in the past year. His "Cafferty File" question, during the 4pm EDT hour of The Situation Room, presumed the relevance of this poll finding: "Liberals read more books than conservatives. Why?" Most of the e-mailed responses Cafferty later read came from conservatives, including one who colorfully suggested: "Because conservatives are out working for a living while liberals are living off the dole in one form or another and have plenty of time to read."

6. ABC Fails to Wonder Why Canadian Mom Forced to U.S. to Give Birth
On Wednesday's Good Morning America, co-host Chris Cuomo completely glossed over the health care implications of a Canadian mother forced to give birth in the United States, not her own nation, to identical quadruplets. According to Cuomo, Karen Jepp and her husband, the new parents of four girls, had to be flown 300 miles from Calgary to Montana on August 16 because "every neo-natal unit in their country was too crowded to handle four preemie births." Apparently, it didn't occur to Cuomo to wonder why all the hospitals in Canada, a nation with universal health care, were full. During a subsequent "exclusive" interview with Jepp and her husband J.P., the co-host continued with this unquestioning explanation: "Towards the very end, it gets even more complicated....You know, they're not ready for them at the hospital. Your doctors have to make calls. You have to fly 300 miles to have them." In fact, The Globe and Mail, Canada's national newspaper, reported that Canada's "stretched" national health-care system means "expectant mothers going into labour before 32 weeks gestation (when babies need the highest level of neonatal intensive care) are often sent by air ambulance to hospitals in Washington, Montana, Michigan and New York."

7. Letterman's 'Top Ten Signs Osama Bin Laden is Alive and Well'
Letterman's "Top Ten Signs Osama Bin Laden is Alive and Well."


Networks Declare Bush's Vietnam Lesson
Hypocritical and Invalid

The broadcast network evening news shows on Wednesday night pounced on President Bush's reminder that the U.S. pullout from Vietnam led to millions being killed, as all three shows featured historians to discredit Bush's parallel to what may happen if the U.S. withdraws from Iraq, and NBC portrayed Bush as hypocritical for raising Vietnam after earlier rejecting comparisons to Iraq as a Vietnam-like quagmire. Only ABC, leading into Bush recalling "killing fields," showed a picture of stacks of skulls and ABC also uniquely featured two Vietnam vets who backed Bush's case.

NBC anchor Brian Williams asserted that "after years of rejecting any comparisons to Vietnam, today President Bush invoked the Vietnam War as a way of saying the U.S. must stay the course and not pull out." Reporter Kelly O'Donnell noted that "after years of pushback rejecting the Vietnam-Iraq comparison, today in Kansas City, before the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the President made a turn and embraced his own Vietnam analogy." O'Donnell insisted: "Mr. Bush's comments to the VFW today contrast with what he said last year when asked if he saw an Iraq-Vietnam connection." Viewers then got just this very short soundbite from Bush at a June 14, 2006 press conference: "I don't see the parallels." Contrary to NBC's implication, there is no conflict between scorning of a liberal comparison of Iraq to a Vietnam-like quagmire and suggesting other lesson about Vietnam.

The actual exchange at that June of 2006 press conference shows Bush simply rejected the Iraq as a quagmire assessment:

REPORTER: Do you see, as some of your critics do, a parallel between what's going on in Iraq now and Vietnam?
THE PRESIDENT: No.
REPORTER: Why?
THE PRESIDENT: Because there's a duly-elected government; 12 million people voted. They said, we want something different from tyranny, we want to live in a free society. And not only did they vote for a government, they voted for a constitution. Obviously, there is sectarian violence, but this is, in many ways, religious in nature, and I don't see the parallels.

Transcript of the June 14, 2006 news conference: www.whitehouse.gov

O'Donnell proceeded to highlight how "some historians claim his use today of Vietnam was too simple and not accurate" and "Democrat and Vietnam veteran John Kerry calls the President's comparison irresponsible."

On the CBS Evening News, Bill Plante ran a clip of Bush explaining that "one unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America's withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like 'boat people,' 're-education camps,' and 'killing fields.'" But then Plante countered: "Historian Douglas Brinkley says there's no real parallel."

Over on ABC's World News, Martha Raddatz forwarded how "for years, administration critics have likened the war in Iraq to the quagmire in Vietnam, a comparison President Bush has strongly rejected. But today, speaking before a supportive audience of veterans, Mr. Bush found a comparison to Vietnam he embraced." As Raddatz described how "the President asserted that it was the American retreat from Southeast Asia that led directly to the carnage and displacement that followed," viewers saw a zoom out from a picture of a big stack of skulls.

Like NBC and CBS, Raddatz featured an historian who rejected Bush's premise, but unlike the other network reporters Raddatz showcased how "at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington today, veterans offered support to the President." One vet declared: "I think he's right. If we pull out now, it's going to be Vietnam all over again." A second maintained: "We should have kept the politicians out of it, let the generals fight the war."

[This item was posted Wednesday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

The White House's text of Bush's August 22 address to the VFW convention in Kansas City, Missouri: www.whitehouse.gov

The MRC's Brad Wilmouth corrected the closed-captioning against the video to provide transcripts of the Wednesday, August 22 evening newscast stories:

# NBC Nightly News:

BRIAN WILLIAMS: Two developments today in Iraqi politics today. In this country, a new ad campaign designed to get people to support the war in Iraq was revealed. And after years of rejecting any comparisons to Vietnam, today President Bush invoked the Vietnam War as a way of saying the U.S. must stay the course and not pull out. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell is traveling with the President.

KELLY O'DONNELL: After years of pushback rejecting the Vietnam-Iraq comparison, today in Kansas City, before the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the President made a turn and embraced his own Vietnam analogy.
GEORGE W. BUSH, AT VFW CONCENTION: Here at home, some can argue our withdrawal from Vietnam carried no price for American credibility. But the terrorists see it differently.
O'DONNELL: The President claimed America's modern enemy, al-Qaeda, saw weakness, that if a war became unpopular enough, the U.S. would leave. A parallel campaign launched today involves new TV ads fighting the PR battle.
US SOLDIER IN AD BY FREEDOM'S WATCH: I know what I lost. I also know that if we pull out now, everything I've given in sacrifice will mean nothing.
O'DONNELL: Injured veterans and military families appear in these spots from a group backed by Bush donors, friends and former Press Secretary Ari Fleischer. The spots target 20 congressional districts.
US SOLDIER IN AD: It's no time to quit. It's no time for politics.
O'DONNELL: On the other side, a TV campaign from a group long critical of many Bush policies, targeting Republicans, like Maine Senator Susan Collins.
VOICE IN AD FROM AMERICANS UNITED FOR CHANGE: Tell Susan Collins it's time to take a stand. End the war.
O'DONNELL: Mr. Bush's comments to the VFW today contrast what he said last year when asked if he saw an Iraq-Vietnam connection.
BUSH, June 14, 2006: I don't see the parallels.
O'DONNELL: Some historians claim his use today of Vietnam was too simple and not accurate.
STANLEY KARNOW, Vietnam historian: He's invoking Vietnam for political purposes. What he says about Vietnam is not entirely true.
O'DONNELL: Democrat and Vietnam veteran John Kerry calls the President's comparison irresponsible, while presidential candidate Hillary Clinton reacted, saying the U.S. needs to stop refereeing the war and begin getting out now. Kelly O'Donnell, NBC News, Kansas City.


# CBS Evening News, Bill Plante's story joined in progress:

PLANTE: Speaking today to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Mr. Bush offered a new rationale for staying the course: Don't let Iraq become another Vietnam.
BUSH, AT VFW CONVENTION: One unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America's withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like 'boat people,' 're-education camps,' and 'killing fields.'
PLANTE: Historian Douglas Brinkley says there's no real parallel.
DOUGLS BRINKLEY: You're not going to be able to sell the lessons of Vietnam being we should have stayed a decade longer.

PLANTE: But if things don't get better soon in Iraq, members of Congress aren't going to care as much about past history as they are about future elections. Bill Plante, CBS News, the White House.


# ABC's World News:

FILL-IN ANCHOR ELIZABETH VARGAS: President Bush launched an aggressive new defense of his Iraq policy today. Facing a showdown with Congress over the war, the President urged perseverance. He told veterans in Kansas City that America's withdrawal from Vietnam was a mistake with tragic consequences, and that leaving Iraq now would be just as disastrous. Our chief Washington correspondent, Martha Raddatz, reports from Washington.

MARTHA RADDATZ: For years, administration critics have likened the war in Iraq to the quagmire in Vietnam, a comparison President Bush has strongly rejected. But today, speaking before a supportive audience of veterans, Mr. Bush found a comparison to Vietnam he embraced.
GEORGE W. BUSH: Then as now, people argued the real problem was America's presence, and that if we would just withdraw, the killing would end.
RADDATZ: The President asserted that it was the American retreat from Southeast Asia that led directly to the carnage and displacement that followed.
BUSH: The price of America's withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like "boat people," "re-education camps" and "killing fields."
RADDATZ: Historians quickly seized on the President's remarks.
Prof. ROBERT DALLEK, Boston University: What is Mr. Bush suggesting? We should have stayed there forever? We should have invaded North Vietnam? It just doesn't make any historical sense to me.
RADDATZ: Reaction from Democrats was swift, as well, with some making their own comparisons.
Senator JOSEPH BIDEN (D-DE) If, in fact, the President does not change policy, we're going to see a repeat of what we saw in Saigon at the end of that war with helicopters lifting people desperately clinging to the ladder of a helicopter to get out of Iraq.
RADDATZ: At the Vietnam Memorial in Washington today, veterans offered support to the President.
UNIDENTIFIED VETERAN #1: I think he's right. If we pull out now, it's going to be Vietnam all over again.
UNIDENTIFIED VETERAN #2: We should have kept the politicians out of it, let the generals fight the war.
RADDATZ: As for the criticism, the administration seems un-phased. Elizabeth, the President will give a similar speech next week.

MSNBC's Barnicle Blurts: 'Has Bush Ever
Read a Book on Vietnam?'

On Wednesday night's Hardball both substitute host Mike Barnicle and MSNBC's David Shuster took pot shots at George W. Bush over his stated concern about Iraq becoming a Cambodian-like massacre if the U.S. leaves too early. Substitute hosting for Chris Matthews, Barnicle blurted: "Do you think the President has ever read a book about Vietnam?" Shuster sneered: "The mere mention of Vietnam and arguing for more sacrifice in Iraq is fraught with potential political peril. After all, President Bush didn't serve in Vietnam and Vice President Cheney received multiple deferments, telling reporters, a few years ago, that in the 1960s he had other priorities than military service."

Though during his Wednesday speech to the VFW Bush used the aftermath of Vietnam to warn of the mass deaths which could follow a withdrawal from Iraq, Shuster claimed "the President's argument today is at odds with his view of the Iraq war a few years ago" when Bush, in fact, was just rejecting the comparison of Iraq to a Vietnam-like quagmire. Shuster recalled: "A year into the war, as the insurgency was growing and the U.S. death toll was rising." He then a played a clip of a reporter asking Bush: "How do you answer the Vietnam comparison?" Bush answered: "Yeah, I think the analogy is false. I also, happen to think that analogy sends the wrong message to our troops and sends a wrong message to the enemy."

[This item is adapted from a Wednesday night posting, by Geoffrey Dickens, on the MRC's blog, Newsbusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

The following is Shuster's full report, followed by Barnicle's belittling of Bush as they took place on the August 22 Hardball:

David Shuster: "35 years after America was torn apart by the 58,000 U.S. troops killed in the Vietnam War, today President Bush reopened the wounds. He argued to veterans in Kansas City that the United States got out of Vietnam too soon."
George W. Bush: "One unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America's withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens."
Shuster: "The President's speech, designed to bolster his argument for staying in Iraq was remarkable politically and because of the President's take on history."
Bush: "I think many argue that if we pulled out there would be no consequences for the Vietnamese people."
Shuster: "And just a few sentences later."
Bush: "In Cambodia the Khmer Rouge began a murderous rule in which hundreds of thousands of Cambodians died by starvation and torture and execution."
Shuster: "But it's a fact that the murderous rule in Cambodia began well before the U.S. withdrew from Southeast Asia and many historians argue that the United States made the violence worse by going into Cambodia and Vietnam in the first place."
Bush: "There's another price to our withdrawal from Vietnam."
Shuster: "The President then said the pull-out from Southeast Asia emboldened America's enemies. But he wasn't talking about our enemies at the time, including communists and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Instead President Bush spoke of Osama Bin Laden, who mentioned Vietnam a few years ago while declaring America would be weak in fighting al-Qaeda."
Bush: "Some can argue our withdrawal from Vietnam carried no price for American credibility but the terrorists see it differently."
Shuster: "Bin Laden, however, is running al-Qaeda from somewhere along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, not from inside Iraq. Furthermore the President's argument today, is at odds with his view of the Iraq war a few years ago. A year into the war, as the insurgency was growing and the U.S. death toll was rising."
Reporter to Bush: "How do you answer the Vietnam comparison?"
Bush from April 23, 2004: "Yeah, I think the analogy is false. I also, happen to think that analogy sends the wrong message to our troops and sends a wrong message to the enemy."
Shuster: "In just four weeks President Bush will deliver his report to Congress on the progress the administration sees in Iraq. And with Iraq making no political progress, the Bush administration is increasingly touting security efforts. But President Bush is on the defensive and under enormous pressure and today, while trying to show support for embattled Iraqi leader Nouri Al-Maliki, the President delivered a mixed message in the same sentence."
Bush: "Prime Minister Maliki is a good guy, a good man, with a difficult job and I support him. And it's not up to the politicians in Washington D.C. to say whether he will remain in his position."
Shuster: "However Democrats were most concerned and angry today about the President's invocation of Vietnam. Senator John Kerry called it quote, 'As irresponsible as it is ignorant of the realities of both wars. Half the soldiers whose names are on the Vietnam Memorial Wall died after the politicians knew our strategy would not work. The lesson is to change the strategy not just change the rhetoric.' White House officials expected the criticism today and were so convinced that invoking Vietnam would help make their case about Iraq that they mailed out excerpts of the President's speech last night. Still, the mere mention of Vietnam and arguing for more sacrifice in Iraq is fraught with potential political peril. After all, President Bush didn't serve in Vietnam and Vice President Cheney received multiple deferments, telling reporters, a few years ago, that in the 1960s he had other priorities than military service. I'm David Shuster for Hardball in Washington."

...

[On screen headline: "Vietnam: The Sequel?"]

Mike Barnicle: "First up, Vietnam: Apocalypse Today, the sequel. In a speech to the VFW today, President Bush compared the U.S. war in Iraq to a previous controversial U.S. war fought in Southeast Asia -- Vietnam. You might remember that, boys and girls. Drawing a comparison between the two wars, Bush is arguing that an early pull-out from Iraq will create agony for millions of innocent people, just like the millions who suffered when United States forces pulled out of Vietnam in 1975. So the question is, is Iraq Vietnam all over again and what does the President have to gain by opening old wounds? And I'd add a third question there, and we'll start with Joan Walsh. Do you think the President has ever read a book about Vietnam?"

Crying Mom of Soldier Pleads on CNN for
Bush Visit to Vermont

CNN used an old tactic in the mainstream media's play book -- a person overcome by emotion -- to drive home the point they wanted to make, that the only state that hasn't been visited by President Bush is Vermont. In a segment during the 4pm EDT hour of Wednesday's Situation Room detailing this apparent "snub," CNN chief national correspondent John King played a clip from an interview of Regina Gilbert, the mother of Kyle


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Gilbert, who was killed serving in Iraq four years ago. Gilbert fought back tears as she made her plea for a visit from the President: "I hope he does come, to our little state, 'cause I think that we've stepped up. And I'm hoping he will reflect and step up as well."

In his introduction to King's piece, host Wolf Blitzer highlighted how Vermont "was the first state to outlaw slavery...the last state to get a WalMart, and it is the only state in the union not to have been visited by President Bush." Blitzer then asked King, "Is this a snub or an oversight?" King replied, "I think you can safely say 'snub,' Wolf," and detailed how the President has visited Missouri more than 30 times since his election, and how in 27 consecutive presidential elections between the 1850s and 1960, Vermont voted Republican.

[This item, by Matthew Balan, was posted Wednesday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

King's report played with the caption, "Vermont, Forgotten State." The word "forgotten" was also used by King at the beginning of his report: "Yet Vermont is the forgotten place in the crowded travelogue of George W. Bush, the only state he's failed to visit in his presidency."

King then cut to the "self-described socialist" U.S. Senator for the state, Bernie Sanders, who, as King put it, "all but dares Mr. Bush to visit, saying he would benefit from sitting down with his critics whether the issue be Iraq, the economy, or climate change." Sanders claimed in one soundbite from the report that "this President will probably go down in history as being the least popular President in modern history of this country. He should go forward and find out why that is so." King juxtaposed Sanders with a clip from Garrison Nelson, a political science professor at the University of Vermont, who saw "no upside" to a visit from the President: "It's a photo opportunity he does not need. I cannot imagine any assemblage in the State of Vermont that would give him an unalloyed positive reception."

After a clip from Vermont Governor Jim Douglas, a "throwback to the moderate breed of Republicanism that once thrived across New England," King then played clips from his interview of Regina Gilbert. The full transcript from this portion of King's August 22 report:

REGINA GILBERT: He [President Bush] asked something that surprised me. 'Does it ever get easier?' And I just looked at him, and I looked at my husband, and I said absolutely not. I said this is a hole in my heart and it's always going to be there.
KING: Regina Gilbert traveled to Fort Bragg, North Carolina to meet the President. Her only child, Kyle, was killed in Iraq four years ago. Vermont has lost 18 soldiers in Iraq. 41 states have lost more, but because it is so tiny, Vermont has the highest per capita death toll. More than reason enough, Regina Gilbert says, for the President to visit.
GILBERT: Hopefully we're making strides. But I want to hear something good about it, so my son can look down and say, 'See, Mom, I told you.' But I'm still waiting for that day. So, I hope he does come, to our little state, 'cause I think that we've -- like I said, we've stepped up. And I'm hoping he will reflect and step up as well.

Perhaps King didn't realize it, but Regina Gilbert expressed the wish of many military families concerning the Iraq war, that "I want to hear something good about it." But don't expect too much of that kind of reporting on the war from CNN.

NBC's Mitchell Comes to Michelle Obama's
Defense on Clinton Slam

NBC's Andrea Mitchell scolded Matt Drudge and other "Internet writers" for making much ado about nothing over Michelle Obama's "If you can't run your own house, you certainly can't run the White House" presumed slam of Hillary Clinton. On Wednesday's Today show, Mitchell ran the aforementioned quote from Sen. Barack Obama's wife and then proceeded to wag her finger at Drudge and other "Internet writers" everywhere: "But this time her words caught the attention of a Chicago Sun-Times columnist who said, 'It could be interpreted as a swipe at the Clintons.' And before you could say Drudge Report, the story was an Internet headline: 'Obama Wife Slams Hillary.' When reporters raised it with Barack Obama, on a conference call, he tried to point out his wife was talking about her own family, not the Clintons."

[This item, by Geoffrey Dickens, was posted Wednesday morning, on the MRC's blog, Newsbusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

Later in the piece Mitchell, who has a history of looking down her nose at those outside of the mainstream media, brought on Chuck Todd as he and Mitchell essentially told bloggers to simmer down:

Mitchell: "In fact, if the Internet writers took a deep breath they might have listened to Michelle Obama's entire thought."
Michelle Obama: "We've adjusted our schedule to make sure that our girls are first. So while he's traveling around I do day trips. That means I get up in the morning, I get the girls ready, I get them off. I go and do trips. I'm home before bedtime. So the girls know that I was gone somewhere but they don't care."
Mitchell: "It's a lesson in how quickly things can be interpreted and misinterpreted online."
Chuck Todd, NBC News Political Director: "This is the Youtube election for a reason and that is you can take a sound bite and cut it off and splash it on Youtube and suddenly create a new version of a story."

For more of Mitchell deriding those outside of the mainstream media, check the July 10, 2006 CyberAlert: www.mrc.org

The following is the full Mitchell piece as it aired in the 7am half-hour of the August 22 Today show:

Matt Lauer: "Now to Decision 2008. The candidates' spouses have played a big role in the campaign so far and now some people are wondering if Barack Obama's wife, recently, took a very subtle swipe at the Democratic frontrunner, Hillary Clinton. NBC's Andrea Mitchell has more on that story. Andrea, good morning to you."

[On screen headline: "Family Values, Did Obama's Wife Slam Clinton?"]

Andrea Mitchell: "Well good morning, Matt. It did have all the makings of a sexy, political story. Was the wife of Hillary Clinton's chief challenger, slyly hinting at past well-known problems in the Clinton marriage? Except that from all accounts, the so-called personal attack may be chiefly in the eye of the beholder. She is Barack Obama's secret weapon. In her standard stump speech, confiding how she and her husband balance their family life with the rigors of a presidential campaign. As in this Iowa stop last week, she frequently delivers a folksy lesson in Obama family values."
Michelle Obama: "Anybody want a lemonade?"
Barack Obama: "Who wants a lemonade?"
Michelle Obama: "Our view is that if you can't run your own house, you certainly can't run the White House."
Mitchell: "It's a line she used four days earlier in Chicago."
Michelle Obama: "And my view is that if you can't run your own house, you certainly can't run the White House."
Mitchell: "But this time her words caught the attention of a Chicago Sun-Times columnist who said, 'It could be interpreted as a swipe at the Clintons.' And before you could say Drudge Report, the story was an Internet headline: 'Obama Wife Slams Hillary.' When reporters raised it with Barack Obama, on a conference call, he tried to point out his wife was talking about her own family, not the Clintons."
Barack Obama: "She wasn't making any reference to that. I think this is, you know, if anybody who's been listening to Michelle on the stump, has talked about the importance of family and the need for our family to make sure that we're thinking about our kids during the process of this campaign. And, you know, she's repeated that on, in every stump speech."
Mitchell: "In fact, if the Internet writers took a deep breath they might have listened to Michelle Obama's entire thought."
Michelle Obama: "We've adjusted our schedule to make sure that our girls are first. So while he's traveling around I do day trips. That means I get up in the morning, I get the girls ready, I get them off. I go and do trips. I'm home before bedtime. So the girls know that I was gone somewhere but they don't care."
Mitchell: "It's a lesson in how quickly things can be interpreted and misinterpreted online."
Chuck Todd: "This is the YouTube election for a reason and that is you can take a sound bite and cut it off and splash it on Youtube and suddenly create a new version of a story."
Mitchell: "A spokesman for Obama told NBC News there was no intentional slight, saying, Michelle is a first time political campaigner not a poll-driven candidate's wife. Some Clinton supporters still see an ulterior motive but officially the Clinton campaign is not commenting. Matt."
Lauer: "Alright, Andrea thank you very much. Andrea Mitchell for us from Washington this morning."

Cafferty Promotes Poll: 'Liberals Read
More than Conservatives'

CNN's Jack Cafferty, who a day before thinly-disguised his support for the impeachment of President Bush, on Wednesday couldn't resist talking about the recent AP/Ipsos poll which found liberals read more books than conservatives, though by a very slight margin of one book -- nine to eight books with moderates reading only five in the past year. His "Cafferty File" question, during the 4pm EDT hour of The Situation Room, presumed the relevance of this poll finding: "Liberals read more books than conservatives. Why?" Most of the e-mailed responses Cafferty later read came from conservatives, including one who colorfully suggested: "Because conservatives are out working for a living while liberals are living off the dole in one form or another and have plenty of time to read."

PDF of some results from the Ipsos Public Affairs survey: www.ipsos-na.com

For the August 22 CyberAlert item, "CNN's Cafferty Deplores Dodd for Arguing Against Impeaching Bush," go to: www.mediaresearch.org

[This item is adapted from a posting, by Matthew Balan, on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

The full transcript of Jack Cafferty's August 22 segment:

I have nothing that pertains to the weather, but here is an interesting little factoid. Liberals read more books than conservatives. An AP/Ipsos poll found that while 22% of liberals and moderates say they have not read a single book in the last year, the number jumps up to 34% for conservatives. Perhaps more troubling is the fact that 1 in 4 Americans say they haven't read any books in the last year, but that's not what we're here to discuss. The poll found that among people who read at least one book a year, liberals typically read nine books; conservatives eight; moderates, five.

The head of a book publishing industry trade group offers this explanation. Pat Schroeder says, 'The Karl Roves of the world have built a generation that just wants a few slogans. Things like no new taxes.' No surprise here. Pat Schroeder was a formerly liberal member -- a former member of Congress who is a liberal. She says liberals can't say anything is less than a whole paragraph. Mary Matalin, who is a Republican strategist, says that conservatives don't read less. They just get their information from different places, such as magazines or the Internet.

So here's the question. "Liberals read more books than conservatives. Why?"

I guess Cafferty should be given credit for giving both sides of the spin surrounding this poll.

The e-mail answers to his question that Cafferty read at the end of the 4pm hour were mostly from conservatives. Hugh in Vero Beach, Florida responded: "Speaking as a conservative, can you really believe a conclusion that was most likely researched and concluded by liberals?" Paul from Toledo Ohio wrote: "Liberals read more books because they read fiction only. Conservatives are too busy reading lengthy non-fiction dealing in facts!" A viewer named Brian opined: "Because conservatives are out working for a living while liberals are living off the dole in one form or another and have plenty of time to read."

The only really left-wing response that Cafferty read came, as you might expect, from San Francisco. Ron from that liberal enclave claimed: "Unlike conservatives, liberals tend to get all the information we can to make up our own minds, and yes, that includes reading books. I can't imagine having Rush 'Windbag,' Ann Coulter, and/or the rest of the residents of 'Wingnutia' telling me what to think. The idea of blindly buying ideology and not challenging what you're told is disgusting."

ABC Fails to Wonder Why Canadian Mom
Forced to U.S. to Give Birth

On Wednesday's Good Morning America, co-host Chris Cuomo completely glossed over the health care implications of a Canadian mother forced to give birth in the United States, not her own nation, to identical quadruplets. According to Cuomo, Karen Jepp and her husband, the new parents of four girls, had to be flown 300 miles from Calgary to Montana on August 16 because "every neo-natal unit in their country was too crowded to handle four preemie births." Apparently, it didn't occur to Cuomo to wonder why all the hospitals in Canada, a nation with universal health care, were full. During a subsequent "exclusive" interview with Jepp and her husband J.P., the co-host continued with this unquestioning explanation: "Towards the very end, it gets even more complicated....You know, they're not ready for them at the hospital. Your doctors have to make calls. You have to fly 300 miles to have them." In fact, The Globe and Mail, Canada's national newspaper, reported that Canada's "stretched" national health-care system means "expectant mothers going into labour before 32 weeks gestation (when babies need the highest level of neonatal intensive care) are often sent by air ambulance to hospitals in Washington, Montana, Michigan and New York."

Considering that back in June, Good Morning America co-anchor Diane Sawyer announced "a commitment to take a hard look at the health insurance industry," it seems odd that circumstances, which forced a very pregnant mother to fly to another country and give birth, would be of such little interest to Cuomo. See NewsBusters: newsbusters.org

[This item was adapted from a Wednesday afternoon posting, by Scott Whitlock, on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

An August 17 Globe and Mail article disclosed:

A Calgary mother was sent to the United States to give birth to a rare set of identical quadruplets because no neonatal intensive care unit in Canada had enough beds for them....

Ms. Jepp's case highlights the increasing tendency for Canadian women with high-risk pregnancies to be sent to the United States to give birth, a development some attribute to an increase in the number of premature births, a nursing shortage and a stretched health-care system.

With no beds available in their home province or nearby, expectant mothers going into labour before 32 weeks gestation (when babies need the highest level of neonatal intensive care) are often sent by air ambulance to hospitals in Washington, Montana, Michigan and New York.

In Alberta, at least five pregnant women were transferred to Montana this year...

END of Excerpt

For the article in full: www.theglobeandmail.com

Overcrowding and long waits may not interest Good Morning America, but the program does seem to take advantage of any opportunity to make the U.S. medical system look bad. In June, GMA reporter John Berman wondered if crooks who rip off hospitals were doing so because they're "fed up" with the American health care. See NewsBusters: newsbusters.org

A partial transcript of the August 22 interview with the Jepp couple via satellite from Calgary, Alberta, which aired at 8:07am:

Chris Cuomo: "Okay. We all know that a child is an overwhelming blessing for any parent. But imagine quadruplets, identical quadruplets. That's a one-in-15-million blessing and that's what the Jepp family now has. Talk about a difficult delivery. This one took three plane trips and two countries. Here's the story. It took just four minutes on a Sunday afternoon to change the life of the Jepp family forever. These four, tiny miracle babies are identical quadruplets, one of just 50 sets of identical quads in the world. And these little girls, Autumn, Brooke, Calissa and Dahlia, were conceived without the help of fertility drugs. In Karen Jepp's case, one egg split three times to produce four babies. Typically, there are four placentas. But in this rare case, there was just one."
James Grifo, NYU Medical Center: "This is incredibly rare. You're talking about a one in 11, to one in 15 million event."
Cuomo: "But there was yet another rare event for this Canadian couple. Shortly after she went into labor, the Jepps discovered that every neo-natal unit in their country was too crowded to handle four preemie births. After an hour of frantic phone calls from their doctors, they were jetted off to a hospital in Montana."
Karen Jepp: "The nurses have been wonderful and really helped us out because we're, we have no idea what we're doing."

....

Cuomo: "Now, so interesting that on top of all the stress you must have been feeling to deal with the fact that quads were coming, towards the very end, it gets even more complicated. You can't, you know, they're not ready for them at the hospital. Your doctors have to make calls. You have to fly 300 miles to have them. How did you cope with all of that?"
J.P. Jepp: "Well, you do what you've got to do. And the most important thing is the health of Karen and the health of the babies. It was the right decision to send us where the, the resources were at that moment in time. The staff at the Benefits Hospital in Great Falls, Montana, were absolutely amazing, took care of us medically and then took care of us as people and it turns out to be a blessing in disguise that we made the trip down there and we thank them for all their help."

Letterman's 'Top Ten Signs Osama Bin
Laden is Alive and Well'

From the August 22 Late Show with David Letterman, the "Top Ten Signs Osama Bin Laden is Alive and Well." Late Show home page: www.cbs.com

10. FBI has indicted him for funding an illegal goatfighting operation

9. On recent Al Qaeda audiotape, he says some kind words about Merv Griffin

8. The new US Weekly has photos of him in a hot tub with Britney

7. The congratulatory phone call to Barry Bonds

6. He's booked with Regis and Susan Lucci at Foxwoods Resort & Casino

5. His MySpace page was updated this morning

4. Starring in a new series about a bunch of misfits who try to rob Ayman Al-Zawahiri

3. Al Jazeera reports he's endorsing Mitt Romney for President

2. Afghanistan moviegoers report a 7-foot bearded guy laughing his nuts off at "Superbad"

1. Seen house hunting in L.A. with wife Posh Bin Laden

-- Brent Baker