ABC Sets Out to Prove 'Republican Voters Are Quite Disillusioned' --10/31/2006

1. ABC Sets Out to Prove 'Republican Voters Are Quite Disillusioned'
Depending on how the election turns out next week, the story by Dean Reynolds on Monday's World News on ABC will be proven eerily prescient about the impending GOP setbacks or an illustration of a news media too eager presume disgust toward Washington, DC amongst Republicans. Anchor Charles Gibson set up the story by noting how Republican congressional incumbents "are fighting to hold three seats" in Indiana "against strong Democratic challengers" and that from LaPorte, Reynolds "reports that Republican voters are quite disillusioned." Reynolds featured a bunch of local Republicans who expressed how they are "frustrated," "confused," "concerned" and have "disgust." Reynolds recalled how "President Bush won Indiana's second congressional district by 13 points two years ago, but today:" Susan Resteau, Republican candidate for sheriff asserted: "A lot of people are just fed up with everything in general." Reynolds pointed to Iraq and the leading culprit, but added: "Worse for the GOP is that when Iraq isn't topic number one, corruption in the Republican Congress is."

2. GMA's Diner Talk: No Bush Support or Fear of Dems at the Counter
Monday's Good Morning America highlighted anti-GOP sentiments from the American heartland during a report in the 7am half hour. Reporting from a diner in Columbus, Ohio, ABC's Jake Tapper assembled a group of five "real-life actual voters" to discuss the upcoming midterm elections. The group: a Republican voter voting Democratic this year; a Democratic Navy veteran who had been against the war; a conservative Christian eager to express "I'm not pro-war"; a new U.S. citizen who believes that illegal immigrants are being treated unfairly; and a cynic who believes that the whole political system is corrupt. Not one of the voters expressed support for the President or Republicans. Furthermore, none of the panel members, except for the cynic, expressed any reservations about a potential Democratic takeover of Congress.

3. Olbermann: Bush 'Lying for Free' on Campaign Trail
In Keith Olbermann's latest contribution to the 2006 Democratic Party campaign, the MSNBC host on Monday accused President Bush of "lying" on the campaign trail as he relayed that the President was making campaign appearances without charging admission. Olbermann: "The state of play for the Republicans is such that the President is no longer charging admission for each of his campaign appearances. That's right. He's now lying for free." The Countdown host further ridiculously claimed that Bush was accusing Democrats of being responsible for problems in Iraq, playing a clip of Bush in which the President merely charged that Democrats lack a plan of their own to win in Iraq. Olbermann: "And earlier in Statesboro, Georgia, billed as a victory rally, and yet Mr. Bush somehow making the claim not only that the Democrats are the ones jumping the gun, but that the minority party is somehow responsible for the mess that is the war in Iraq."

4. Lynne Cheney Correct: CNN Special Spews Democratic Talking Points
Lynne Cheney was right. The Vice President's wife on Friday attacked a CNN pre-election special as straight out of Democratic talking points. The program in question, "Broken Government: Power Play," aired on Thursday, October 26 and discussed presidential power. Reporter John King introduced his special that night on location at Independence Hall, Philadelphia. Close your eyes and it sounds like an ad straight out of the DNC: "Justice, on Mr. Bush's terms, would mean challenge after challenge, test after test of the balance of powers laid out in the Constitution, adopted here in Philadelphia's Independence Hall 219 years ago, written by men, who, for all their brilliance, could not have imagined jet aircraft, let alone jet aircraft used as weapons. Nor could men determined to find the lasting antidote to tyranny have imagined the Internet, spy satellites, other technological advances now so central in the war on terror. But they did warn, in this hall, time and time again of too much presidential power, creating a careful system of checks by the Congress and the courts, lines the Bush administration, in the name of protecting Americans from another attack, has repeatedly stretched, rewritten, and sometimes just ignored."

5. Couric Echoes Hillary: U.S. Can't Accept 'Strong Powerful Women'
Katie Couric is trying to talk past her program being stuck in third place, but she really let the fangs show a bit in her interview for the November issue of Good Housekeeping magazine. When asked about published rumors of feuding with Matt Lauer and "high-handed" diva treatment of her staff, Couric grew angry, and sounded a lot like Hillary Clinton: "'I think there are a lot of angry, frustrated people, and I think that sometimes they happen to be writers,' she says. 'Our society still has a difficult time accepting strong powerful women and not typecasting them as evil, power-hungry lunatics.' So, she has decided, 'I'm going to be on a blackout for the first few months.' Bad press, she says, 'can suck your spirit dry.'"

ABC Sets Out to Prove 'Republican Voters
Are Quite Disillusioned'

Depending on how the election turns out next week, the story by Dean Reynolds on Monday's World News on ABC will be proven eerily prescient about the impending GOP setbacks or an illustration of a news media too eager presume disgust toward Washington, DC amongst Republicans. Anchor Charles Gibson set up the story by noting how Republican congressional incumbents "are fighting to hold three seats" in Indiana "against strong Democratic challengers" and that from LaPorte, Reynolds "reports that Republican voters are quite disillusioned." Reynolds featured a bunch of local Republicans who expressed how they are "frustrated," "confused," "concerned" and have "disgust." Reynolds recalled how "President Bush won Indiana's second congressional district by 13 points two years ago, but today:" Susan Resteau, Republican candidate for sheriff asserted: "A lot of people are just fed up with everything in general." Reynolds pointed to Iraq and the leading culprit, but added: "Worse for the GOP is that when Iraq isn't topic number one, corruption in the Republican Congress is."

Reynolds acknowledged: "It all sounds practically like a commercial for the Democrats -- until you talk to a Democrat." Reynolds then allowed a local Democrat to complain: "They haven't, in a single voice, articulated what they would do differently."

[This item was posted Tuesday morning on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org [1] ]

The MRC's Brad Wilmouth corrected the transcript against the video to provide this transcript of the October 30 story on ABC's World News with Charles Gibson:

Charles Gibson: "Well, the greatest concern for the President and Republicans is losing control of the House of Representatives. And that will happen if Democrats have a net gain of 15 seats election night. One of the earliest indicators in one of the states Martha mentioned will be Indiana. The polls close there early, and Republican incumbents are fighting to hold three seats there against strong Democratic challengers. ABC's Dean Reynolds reports tonight from LaPorte, Indiana, and reports that Republican voters are quite disillusioned."

Dean Reynolds: "The voters' vocabulary in this Republican stronghold should give any incumbent pause."
[pictures on screen of all five with each one lit up as each spoke]
Lee Brady, Republican voter: "Frustrated."
Unidentified woman: "Confused."
Linda Knoll, Republican voter: "Concerned."
Mayor Lee Morris (R-LaPorte): "Disgust."
Don Baugher, Democratic voter: "Floundering."
Reynolds: "President Bush won Indiana's second congressional district by 13 points two years ago, but today:"
Susan Resteau, Republican candidate for sheriff: "A lot of people are just fed up with everything in general."
Reynolds: "Susan Resteau is a Republican running for sheriff in a neighboring county, and the problem is no mystery to her."
Resteau: "Definitely the war."
Reynolds: "You hear about Iraq all over. Lee Brady is the local banker, and a registered Republican."
Lee Brady, Republican voter: "We don't really have an exit strategy."
Reynolds: "Lee Morris is LaPorte's Republican mayor."
Mayor Lee Morris (R-LaPorte): "We haven't articulated well enough what the real strategy is."
Reynolds: "Realtor and lifelong Republican Linda Knoll says Iraq is drowning out good news on the economy."
Linda Knoll, Republican voter: "I think we're bombarded with the negatives."
Reynolds: "Worse for the GOP is that when Iraq isn't topic number one, corruption in the Republican Congress is."
Knoll: "I think we need to get more morals in there, all the way around."
Reynolds: "Pastor Jim Gippert of the Vineyard Church said his mostly Republican congregants, people who call themselves Christian conservatives, are disappointed."
Pastor Jim Gippert: "It's a discouragement for them, and so I don't know that we'll see the kind of turnout that you would vote for."
Reynolds: "It all sounds practically like a commercial for the Democrats -- until you talk to a Democrat. Are you happy with the Democratic response?"
Don Baugher, Democratic voter: "I don't know what it is."
Reynolds: "Attorney Don Baugher is a Democrat, and an impatient one."
Baugher: "They haven't, in a single voice, articulated what they would do differently."
Reynolds: "A bipartisan lack of answers, and an avalanche of attack ads. No wonder so many people were out on a wet and cold Friday night here to watch a high school football game. It's one contest they can cheer about. Dean Reynolds, ABC News, LaPorte, Indiana."

GMA's Diner Talk: No Bush Support or
Fear of Dems at the Counter

Monday's Good Morning America highlighted anti-GOP sentiments from the American heartland during a report in the 7am half hour. Reporting from a diner in Columbus, Ohio, ABC's Jake Tapper assembled a group of five "real-life actual voters" to discuss the upcoming midterm elections. The group: a Republican voter voting Democratic this year; a Democratic Navy veteran who had been against the war; a conservative Christian eager to express "I'm not pro-war"; a new U.S. citizen who believes that illegal immigrants are being treated unfairly; and a cynic who believes that the whole political system is corrupt. Not one of the voters expressed support for the President or Republicans. Furthermore, none of the panel members, except for the cynic, expressed any reservations about a potential Democratic takeover of Congress.

[This item, by Megan McCormack, was posted Monday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org [2] ]

Some highlights from the panel discussion:

Tapper: "You're a Republican voter, but the war in Iraq, among other issues, has you thinking that you might vote Democratic this year. Why?"
Larry [no last name given; Republican voter]: "...I think we're in the wrong place, and I just think it's time for a change, someone who can help us and get out of the quagmire we have."
Tapper: "Now, Kenny, you disapproved of the war from the beginning and you're, you're a Navy veteran...But, you have an issue with the fact that you think that those who have questioned the war, their patriotism has been challenged, right...You're an independent voter. But what struck me was that you said that you don't think, even though you think that there's a lot of corruption amongst the Republicans controlling Congress, you don't think that it's necessarily going to be any different if the Democrats take control. Why is that?"

Before turning to his panel, Tapper pointed out all the challenges facing the GOP this cycle:
"War is hell for soldiers, but also right now for the Republican party. A majority of voters disapprove of how President Bush and the Republican Congress have handled the Iraq war. While some argue that Iraq is part of the war on terror and a national security issue, many Americans do not see it that way. The economy is a mixed bag this year. Unemployment and inflation are low and the Dow Jones average is high. But most voters say they personally are not getting ahead. It's economic insecurity. There is significant disapproval for the Republican Congress now, even among Republican voters. Not helping matters, scandals involving powerhouse lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the creepy Internet habits of Mark Foley."

A full transcript of Tapper's discussion with the Ohio voters, as aired on the October 30 Good Morning America:

Tapper: "You're a Republican voter, but the war in Iraq, among other issues, has you thinking that you might vote Democratic this year. Why?"
Larry [no last name given; Republican voter]: "It's because we've been so bogged down on Iraq. I agreed with the war when we initially started it. Now we have no exit plan. I think we're in the wrong place, and I just think it's time for a change, someone who can help us and get out of the quagmire we have."
Tapper: "Now, do you think that the Democrats have a plan to get us out of the quagmire or is it more just the idea that something needs to change?"
Larry: "Something needs to change. I don't believe we have a plan. Initially, we had the whole Colin Powell thing with the WMD's, where is everything and we're just a ship without a sail at this point."
Tapper: "Now, Kenny, you disapproved of the war from the beginning and you're, you're a Navy veteran."
Kenny Martin, Democrat: "Yes."
Tapper: "But, you have an issue with the fact that you think that those who have questioned the war, their patriotism has been challenged, right?"
Kenny: "Yeah, I believe that. First of all, I used common sense before we even went in. I, I never did think that it was a threat. We had him bogged down for twelve years. And if you speak out, I mean, they went out to everyone who spoke out against the war, and it's not against the President or anything. It's against the policies of the war. And he, the administration says, well, we're, we're going to march to victory. Well, who're we going to win? What's the victory? Define victory for me. You know, you got Sunnis and the Shias fighting over there. So, what side do we take?"
Tapper: "And that's an issue that's very important to you when you go to the polls?"
Kenny: "Yes, it is."
Tapper: "Diana, tell me, you, you see it a little differently. You, you think we should, we do need to stay the course to a degree in Iraq?"
Diana Wetzel: "Well, I don't have -- I don't think it's possible for us, as individuals, to even understand all of the issues that are going on. There's a lot -- there's been some deception. You know, and as, as voters, it's hard to know exactly, you know, what it is we're voting on. You know, I'm not pro-war. I have a 17-year-old son. I don't want to see him shipped off to war. I do think there are some things that are worth fighting for and terrorism is a threat. How we approach that, I think, maybe has not been done as well as it could be."
Tapper: "Now, I've got to tell you a little secret, Diana. Republican officials in Washington are very concerned about, well, you, Kenny and, also, I mean, you, Larry, but also you, Diana, because you're a Christian conservative and they're very worried that people like you, who have been loyal Republican voters in the past, either might not vote Republican this year or, more importantly, might be so disappointed with what's been going on in Iraq and in Washington, that you might not vote at all. Do they have reason to be concerned?"
Wetzel: "I intend to vote. I intend to exercise my right to vote. I have talked to some people who are disenfranchised to the point where they might be thinking in those terms."
Tapper: "And what are they upset about?"
Wetzel: "I think it goes to integrity issues and how much the polls have become such a, a mighty force and, you know, everybody wants to know what we think and then they want to tell us, you know, to cater to that and that's not what we're looking for. We want integrity."
Tapper: "Lily, I want to congratulate you, because you're actually going to be going to the polls for the first time since, since becoming a citizen. But it must be a strange election, because you've heard a lot of rhetoric on both sides of the aisle about illegal immigrants that, that has upset you. Tell me why."
Lily Olson, first time voter: "You know, because I, I just believe it's not, it's unfair. You know, they're, I think they're not being fair with the immigrants. You know, they, I believe they need to accept that, you know, they're already here, you know, and they are helping. You know, I think they should do something to help. Because if we are spending a lot of money on war and things that doesn't make sense to me, you know, why not to help the people that is here."
Tapper: "But, Lily, you came here legally. Doesn't it bother you all the millions that have come here illegally?"
Olson: "Yes, I am legal. But I'm, I'm still immigrant. And I am just here, you know, I think right now I'm representing the Hispanic community. Doesn't matter where you're from. Like, I'm a Mexican, but, you know, other people from other countries came, too. I believe they need to, we need to hear those person, what they think. You know, they, they, they need to think like that more that those other persons is not numbers and those numbers are helping, too."
Tapper: "Okay. Kate, what's, you know, you're an independent voter. But what struck me was that you said that you don't think, even though you think that there's a lot of corruption amongst the Republicans controlling Congress, you don't think that it's necessarily going to be any different if the Democrats take control. Why is that?"
Kate Harper, Independent: "Well, the deal is, I think that to the core our government is corrupt. I think that it's more about who's getting the money in their pocket and I think that, if our, our President and our political leaders really cared about the people, like Lily said, they wouldn't be regarding us as numbers. They would be out speaking to the citizens, what are our concerns? I think that everybody has scandal. I think that everybody has the skeletons in their closet. And I think if you dig deep enough, you're going to find scandal in anybody's life. I-"
Tapper: "So the scandals, even though they've been -- there've been a lot of them in Ohio for Republicans and in Washington with Republicans, you, you think that the Democrats, if they take control, there are going to be Democratic scandals as well?"
Harper: "Sure, I, I definitely do."
Tapper: "All right, there you go. The voice of the people, vox populi. Thank you all so much for joining us early on this morning. Enjoy your breakfasts."

Olbermann: Bush 'Lying for Free' on Campaign
Trail

In Keith Olbermann's latest contribution to the 2006 Democratic Party campaign, the MSNBC host on Monday accused President Bush of "lying" on the campaign trail as he relayed that the President was making campaign appearances without charging admission. Olbermann: "The state of play for the Republicans is such that the President is no longer charging admission for each of his campaign appearances. That's right. He's now lying for free."

The Countdown host further ridiculously claimed that Bush was accusing Democrats of being responsible for problems in Iraq, playing a clip of Bush in which the President merely charged that Democrats lack a plan of their own to win in Iraq. Olbermann: "And earlier in Statesboro, Georgia, billed as a victory rally, and yet Mr. Bush somehow making the claim not only that the Democrats are the ones jumping the gun, but that the minority party is somehow responsible for the mess that is the war in Iraq."

[This item, by Brad Wilmouth, was posted Monday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org [3] ]

Below is a transcript of how Olbermann introduced the October 30 Countdown:
"Good evening. This is Monday, October 30th, eight days until the 2006 midterm elections, and the state of play for the Republicans is such that the President is no longer charging admission for each of his campaign appearances. That's right. He's now lying for free. At this point in the 2002 midterms, Mr. Bush had done at least eight rallies for other candidates, not fund-raisers, but free public events. This past Saturday, he did his first for the 2006 midterms. And it's not just about the money. There just have not been a lot of Republican candidates who've wanted to be seen with him with or without a cover charge. His Southern accent a little bit thicker, his rhetoric a lot more divisive, the President hitting the campaign in his home state of Texas in what was Majority Leader Tom DeLay's district. The Republicans now faced with getting a write-in candidate to hold on to that seat."
"And earlier in Statesboro, Georgia, billed as a victory rally, and yet Mr. Bush somehow making the claim not only that the Democrats are the ones jumping the gun, but that the minority party is somehow responsible for the mess that is the war in Iraq."
George W. Bush, clip #1: "If you listen carefully for a Democrat plan for success, they don't have one. Iraq is the central front in the war on terror. Yet they don't have a plan for victory."
Bush clip #2: "This election is far from over, although there are some people in Washington who already think they know the outcome of the election. Some of them are already picking out their new offices at the Capitol. You might remember, you might remember that around this time in 2004 some of them were picking out their new offices in the West Wing. The movers never got the call."
Olbermann: "Eventually, the movers always win."

Lynne Cheney Correct: CNN Special Spews
Democratic Talking Points

Lynne Cheney was right. The Vice President's wife on Friday attacked a CNN pre-election special as straight out of Democratic talking points. The program in question, "Broken Government: Power Play," aired on Thursday, October 26 and discussed presidential power. Reporter John King introduced his special that night on location at Independence Hall, Philadelphia. Close your eyes and it sounds like an ad straight out of the DNC: "Justice, on Mr. Bush's terms, would mean challenge after challenge, test after test of the balance of powers laid out in the Constitution, adopted here in Philadelphia's Independence Hall 219 years ago, written by men, who, for all their brilliance, could not have imagined jet aircraft, let alone jet aircraft used as weapons. Nor could men determined to find the lasting antidote to tyranny have imagined the Internet, spy satellites, other technological advances now so central in the war on terror. But they did warn, in this hall, time and time again of too much presidential power, creating a careful system of checks by the Congress and the courts, lines the Bush administration, in the name of protecting Americans from another attack, has repeatedly stretched, rewritten, and sometimes just ignored."

[This item was adopted from a posting Monday afternoon, by Scott Whitlock, on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org [4] ]

The Second Lady appeared on The Situation Room the next day (Friday) and had this to say about King's special:
"...I watched the program on CNN last night, which I thought -- it's your 2006 voter program, which I thought was a terrible distortion of both the President and the Vice President's position on many issues. It seemed almost straight out of Democratic talking points using phrasing like 'domestic surveillance' when it's not domestic surveillance that anyone has talked about or ever done. It's surveillance of terrorists. It's people who have al Qaeda connections calling into the United States. So I think we're in the season of distortion, and this is just one more."

A few seconds later, she bluntly restated her feelings on the special: "Wolf, 'Broken Government.' Now, what, what kind of stance is that?...So, you know, I shouldn't let media bias surprise me, but I worked at CNN once...I watched your program last night and I was, I was troubled."

Blitzer attempted to defend the program's intentions, saying it was designed to "get people to think."

Throughout the special, Moazzam Begg, a former detainee was featured. He is a man that the U.S. government, to this day, suspects of involvement in terrorism. (This point was belatedly mentioned at the show's close.) CNN treated his testimony as genuine and this is how John King introduced him at the top of the special:
"Islamabad, Pakistan, an edgy place in the weeks after September 11. Moazzam Begg, among the newcomers arriving from neighboring Afghanistan after the bombs started falling, he thought he had escaped, until a midnight knock at the door introduced him to the most expansive display of presidential power in American history."
Moazzam Begg: "I opened the door to be faced with people, several of them, pointing guns and electric stun guns toward me. Nobody said anything. They didn't ask me any questions. They didn't identify themselves. They pushed me to the forecourt of -- of my house, and then into the front room, where I was made to kneel. My hands were shackled behind my back. My legs were shackled. The last thing I saw, before they put my hood over my head, was them walking towards the room where my children were."

So Bush's display of presidential power is more expansive then Abraham Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus during the Civil War? It's worse than FDR imprisoning 100,000 Japanese citizens during World War II? It's more egregious than Nixon's abuses during Watergate? (King mentioned Lincoln and FDR later in the special but dismissed comparisons to Bush's actions.)

King talked to several prominent liberals, including John Podesta and West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd. At 8:20pm EDT, Byrd recounted how he originally had such high hopes for President Bush:
"I looked with great hope upon our president when he first came to the Oval Office."
King: "Democrat Robert Byrd is the longest serving senator in history, always carrying a copy of the Constitution as he has crossed paths, and sometimes swords, with 11 presidents. He fondly recalls a dinner invitation just after George W. Bush moved into the White House."
Byrd: "I was very impressed -- and I told my wife on the way home so -- very impressed that he said grace at the meal. He was a humble man, I thought, a man who will think of the scriptures, and who will think of the Constitution, who will be a man who will listen."

Of course, the Senator was given time later in the program to state how Bush disappointed him.

It's not hard to see why Mrs. Cheney objected to her husband's portrayal. At 8:37pm, King discussed the Vice President's "dark side:"
(Onscreen: Photo of man holding a poster that says: "Wanted: Dick Cheney: Secrecy Czar" Then, a second poster that reads: "The world is not for profit, Dick!")
King: "The dark side. He is well aware of the label."
Cheney: "I suppose sometimes people look at my demeanor and say, well, he's the Darth Vader of the administration."
King: "His default, especially since 9/11, is assume the worst, whether the issue is intelligence about Iraq's weapons programs or what legal status to give suspected terrorists in U.S. custody, people like Moazzam Begg."
(File footage) Cheney: "These are not prisoners of war. These are terrorists. These are people who, some of whom, may in fact have been involved in planning or supporting the attack on the United States on September 11."

Perhaps most the puzzling moment was the special's resolution to the story of Moazzam Begg. King closed the program by first allowing Begg to harshly attack the President:
King: "Moazzam Begg calls Birmingham home again, not Gitmo or Bagram, and he owes his freedom to a man he calls a criminal, George W. Bush."
Begg: "And if he continues to be in power, then I can only fear for the future of the world."
King: "Begg's release was a reluctant favor to Prime Minister Tony Blair, because of the outrage in Britain and around the world at the images from Guantanamo Bay and Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, images Charlie Swift says helped the very enemy Mr. Bush has promised his aggressive tactics would defeat."

Two minutes later, King seemed to accept a bizarre chain of logic from Mr. Begg. He claimed to not hate America, but then threatened the country and justified the murder of American soldiers in Iraq:
King: "The questions about Moazzam Begg are more immediate, a paradox in Mr. Bush's world of whatever it takes."
Begg: "Did I kidnap, imprison, torture, beat to death anybody? Did I do those things, or did not the United States of American government do that?"
King: "The President released Begg over the objections of his national security team. U.S. intelligence officials insist Begg exaggerates the harshness of his treatment, and to this day these intelligence officials stand by the accuracy of the statement Begg signed while in U.S. custody. Among other things, it said Begg trained at three al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, knew at least a half dozen al Qaeda operatives, and planned to take up arms against the United States before fleeing through Tora Bora to Pakistan."
Begg: "It was coercive, and it was under duress that I signed it."
King: "Do you hate America or Americans?"
Begg: "No, I don't hate Americans or America, and the reason why I don't hate them is because I never hated them to begin with."
King : "Islam, he says, forbids killing innocent civilians. Begg has no qualms, however, with attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, because they are, in his view, occupying Muslim lands on Mr. Bush's orders."
Begg: "His abuse of power has been able, allowed him to get away with abduction, kidnap, false imprisonment. He's a man who has brought more destruction and more terror on the earth than any of the terrorists."
King: "And while insisting he is no threat, no terrorist, Begg also insists the president who jailed him, in the name of keeping America safe, will someday learn his lesson."
Begg: "Once you take this road and once you go down this road, you are actually making the world a much, much less safe place, because if that's what the Americans are going to do around the world, then they must accept repercussions."

With specials like these, it's not hard to see why Mrs. Cheney labeled CNN as a front for Democratic talking points.

Couric Echoes Hillary: U.S. Can't Accept
'Strong Powerful Women'

Katie Couric is trying to talk past her program being stuck in third place, but she really let the fangs show a bit in her interview for the November issue of Good Housekeeping magazine. When asked about published rumors of feuding with Matt Lauer and "high-handed" diva treatment of her staff, Couric grew angry, and sounded a lot like Hillary Clinton: "'I think there are a lot of angry, frustrated people, and I think that sometimes they happen to be writers,' she says. 'Our society still has a difficult time accepting strong powerful women and not typecasting them as evil, power-hungry lunatics.' So, she has decided, 'I'm going to be on a blackout for the first few months.' Bad press, she says, 'can suck your spirit dry.'"

[This item, by Tim Graham, was posted Monday morning on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org [5] ]

Notice that other than Couric protesting "I love Matt," she doesn't say the reports of diva behavior are untrue. Isn't it weird for media people to decry other media people as spirit-sucking sores of negativity? How does Couric think Rush Limbaugh feels thanks to her applying bad press to him, and calling him "heartless"? (See: newsbusters.org [6] )

There's more talk of the demands of feminism:
"'It's a little daunting to be somehow the personification of one giant leap for womankind.' Couric said being a woman means 'there are things I care about that maybe Charlie Gibson isn't that interested in, like hormone replacement therapy.'"

In the pursuit of ratings, is there a network anchor that hasn't done a series of in-depth reports on hormone replacement therapy? This is a sexist and demeaning remark. It's like Gibson doing an interview with Men's Health magazine and saying that naturally he's better and cares more than Couric about covering prostate cancer.

Couric also discussed how her newscast wouldn't so stuffy, and well, objective: "This is not your grandfather's newscast...I think people are ready for an anchor who's multidimensional, who's not so detached...I hope I do this job with humanity and heart. And intelligence."

"Humanity and heart" sound a lot like "covering things from the correct point of view, not balancing out the humane with the people who are heartless." In a separate box in the middle of the Couric pages, Good Housekeeping asked "some notable women" about how Couric should pursue her new job. Madeleine Albright said "persevere" in pressing your strongest beliefs:
"You will find your strongest beliefs ridiculed and challenged; principles that you cherish may be derisively dismissed by those claiming to be more practical or realistic than you. But no matter how weary you may become in persuading others to see the value in what you value, have courage still -- and persevere."

Condoleezza Rice sounded the opposite note, cautioning Katie to question herself when she feels the most assured of how she is right and her critics are dead wrong:
"There is nothing wrong with holding an opinion and holding it passionately. But at those times when you're absolutely sure that you are right, go find somebody who disagrees. Don't allow yourself the easy course of the constant 'amen' to everything that you say."

The magazine also asked for advice from ultraliberal Hillary pal Marian Wright Edelman, Oprah Winfrey, her poet pal Maya Angelou, the CEO of Avon, an executive at Disney/ABC, and actress Meryl Streep, who seemed to think Katie had all the answers to life locked in her heart:
"Take your heart to work, and ask the most and best of everybody else too. Don't let your special character and values -- the secret that you know and no one else does, the truth -- get swallowed up by...complacency."

The weirdest moment in the article came when Katie discussed her daughter Ellie: "She has 'a really good head on her shoulders. Now watch her get busted for drug smuggling!' Couric can't resist a comic moment, leaning into the tape recorder and urging her older child to wait at least a year before messing up: 'Come, on Ellie, work with me here,' she says."

Despite the love being offered to Couric by the article's author, Jenny Allen -- who began with smoochy prose about how "Even without makeup, she looks radiant and rested, her caramel-toned skin glowing" -- she professed a lot of doubt about her show succeeding:

# "'I may lay a big fat egg.' She shrugs and gives a little laugh. I just hope this is fun. I said to the people at CBS, 'this better be fun.'"

# "I'm just going to have to feel it out. Some things are going to work and some things aren't...I believe in noble failure."

# "In ten years, 'I hope I'll be sitting on the beach writing a book,' she says."

-- Brent Baker