ABC's Simpson: Hillary 'Best Qualified' Because She's 'a Woman' --3/31/2008

1. ABC's Simpson: Hillary 'Best Qualified' Because She's 'a Woman'
For former ABC News reporter/anchor Carole Simpson, her support for Hillary Clinton's presidential bid boils down to sexist reasoning that the person "best qualified to lead this country right now, is a woman, somebody different." Appearing Friday night on CNN's Larry King Live, the now out-in-public advocate for Clinton rejected the notion Clinton should drop out, pleading: "What about the country?" She proceded to contend: "I'm concerned about the good of the country. Our country is in terrible shape. And I believe Hillary Clinton is best qualified to move ahead and move us forward -- than Barack Obama. He's young. He has time. He could be a Vice President. But in terms of the person that I think is best qualified to lead this country right now, is a woman, somebody different."

2. CNN: Repubs Become Dems in PA, But Not By Rush's 'Dark Strategy'
CNN's Carol Costello highlighted Pennsylvania Republicans who became registered Democrats on Friday's The Situation Room, and brushed aside the possibility that Rush Limbaugh's "Operation Chaos" strategy to meddle in the Democratic primaries might be a partial explanation for the change. Costello, featuring two former Republicans who are now voting for the Democrats, said of the couple: "[I]f you think either Conrad is switching because they buy into Rush Limbaugh's dark strategy to weaken the Democratic party...."

3. ABC's Sam Champion Hypes Global Warming for Eight Minutes
Good Morning America's liberal meteorologist Sam Champion continued his crusade of turning the weather report into an environmental lecture on Friday. Champion, the man who once hosted a segment that warned "billions" could die from global warming, devoted over eight minutes of the program to climate change. Reporting live from Colorado, he promoted the Aspen Institute's conference on the environment. The weatherman interviewed the executive vice president for the think tank, Elliot Gerson. (The Aspen Institute hosts seminars on various subjects, including environmental and economic.) And while Gerson promised a "diversity of opinions" at the conference, no such diversity appeared on Good Morning America. Champion touted the conference throughout the show's entire two hours, but never once featured anyone skeptical of global warming's dire effects.

4. CBS Faster to Identify Party of Republican Than of Democrats
On Monday night, the CBS Evening News failed to identify Kwame Kilpatrick as a Democrat in reporting criminal charges filed against the Detroit Mayor, but on Friday night the same anchor, Harry Smith, used the very first word, of his introduction to a story on another politician in criminal trouble, to name the party: "Republican Congressman Rick Renzi of Arizona goes on trial next month, charged with using his office to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars. He denies breaking any laws, but the indictment spells out a string of alleged dirty deals." A little under two years ago, then-CBS Evening News anchor Bob Schieffer avoided the party affiliation of a Democratic Congressman in introducing a Monday, May 22, 2006 story: "The government says FBI agents videotaped Louisiana Congressman William Jefferson taking $100,000 in cash from an informant and later found $90,000 in his home freezer."

5. MRC's 'DisHonors Awards' Next Week, Time to Get Tickets Short
The MRC's 2008 "DisHonors Awards" are next week and seats are running out. We only have a few dozen left. The MRC's annual video awards with the "William F. Buckley Award for Media Excellence," this year presented to Tony Snow, will take place in Washington, DC on Thursday evening, April 10. Confirmed participants: Ann Coulter, Larry Kudlow, Mark Levin, Cal Thomas and many more since surprise conservative guests will accept the awards in jest. Get your tickets now.

6. Late Show Contest's 'Top Ten Dumb Guy Ways to Boost the Economy'
The winning entries posted Saturday in last week's Late Show "Top Ten Contest," the "Top Ten Dumb Guy Ways to Boost the Economy."

ABC's Simpson: Hillary 'Best Qualified'
Because She's 'a Woman'

For former ABC News reporter/anchor Carole Simpson, her support for Hillary Clinton's presidential bid boils down to sexist reasoning that the person "best qualified to lead this country right now, is a woman, somebody different." Appearing Friday night on CNN's Larry King Live, the now out-in-public advocate for Clinton rejected the notion Clinton should drop out, pleading: "What about the country?" She proceded to contend: "I'm concerned about the good of the country. Our country is in terrible shape. And I believe Hillary Clinton is best qualified to move ahead and move us forward -- than Barack Obama. He's young. He has time. He could be a Vice President. But in terms of the person that I think is best qualified to lead this country right now, is a woman, somebody different."

The February 5 CyberAlert item, "'I'm Carole Simpson, It's My Honor to Introduce Hillary Clinton,'" reported:

Three months after former ABC News reporter and anchor Carole Simpson bounded on stage in New Hampshire to endorse Hillary Clinton for President, on Monday night she hosted a Hillary Clinton town meeting telecast from 9 to 10 PM EST on the Hallmark cable channel. At the top of the paid show, Simpson trumpeted "Voices Across America: A National Town Hall with Senator Hillary Clinton" as "an historic event bringing together voters from across America to discuss the issues that matter and the changes this country needs." Welcoming Clinton, Simpson enthused: "It's my honor to introduce Hillary Clinton."

The entire introduction narrated by Simpson:

"Welcome to 'Voices Across America: A National Town Hall with Senator Hillary Clinton.' Live from 22 states on the Hallmark channel and worldwide at HillaryClinton.com, an historic event bringing together voters from across America to discuss the issues that matter and the changes this country needs.

"Good evening, everyone. I'm Carole Simpson. Welcome. And it's my honor to introduce Hillary Clinton."

For the February 5 CyberAlert posting: www.mrc.org [1]

The October 18 CyberAlert item, "Hillary-Backing Carole Simpson Just as Liberal at ABC News," recounted:

Endorsing Hillary Clinton for President at a Tuesday night rally in New Hampshire, former ABC News anchor/reporter Carole Simpson exclaimed, an NBC News blog reported, that "it's very freeing now that I'm not a journalist, that I'm able to speak my own mind." But Simpson hardly hid her liberal political views during her years at ABC. "Long Live Hillary" read the headline over an online tribute from Simpson, then anchor of World News Tonight/Sunday, following Clinton's 2000 senatorial victory. At about the same time, she denounced Clarence Thomas as the "cruelest" Supreme Court justice "because he has consistently voted against human rights." If Bush names more like him, she groused, "God help us." The 1994 GOP congressional victories upset her: "I would like to think that the American people care about poor people, about sick people, about homeless people, and about poor children. I am shocked by the new mean-spiritedness."

Most infamously, in a 1999 interview with President Bill Clinton at an Arkansas tomato processing plant, Simpson made the story all about herself and her glory: "I have to bask in this moment, for a moment, because I am here talking to the most powerful man on the planet, who was a poor boy from Arkansas....I am an African-American woman, grew up working class on the south side of Chicago, and this is a pretty special moment for me to be here talking to you. How does it feel talking to me? That I made it, too, when people said I wouldn't be able to?" Clinton: "It's a great country."...

For click and play Flash video of this, scroll down to "Just a Tad Self-Absorbed" in the MRC's 20th Anniversary edition of Notable Quotables: www.mrc.org [2]

For the October 18 CyberAlert with more on how she endorsed Clinton and several more examples of her liberal pontificating while at ABC News: www.mrc.org [3]

CNN: Repubs Become Dems in PA, But Not
By Rush's 'Dark Strategy'

CNN's Carol Costello highlighted Pennsylvania Republicans who became registered Democrats on Friday's The Situation Room, and brushed aside the possibility that Rush Limbaugh's "Operation Chaos" strategy to meddle in the Democratic primaries might be a partial explanation for the change. Costello, featuring two former Republicans who are now voting for the Democrats, said of the couple: "[I]f you think either Conrad is switching because they buy into Rush Limbaugh's dark strategy to weaken the Democratic party...."

[This item, by Matthew Balan, was posted Friday evening on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org [4] ]

Peggy and Charles Conrad, the two "Republicans for more than 20 years" that Costello spoke of, played a prominent role in the report. Costello reported that Mrs. Conrad "plans to vote for Hillary Clinton, because in her mind, the GOP has become too socially-conservative." Mr. Conrad, on the other hand, "is torn between Clinton and Obama -- caught up in the drama of the Democratic contest."

Costello appeared on-camera with the Conrads in their home, and when the CNN correspondent asked if Limbaugh's "dark strategy" played any part into their decision to become Democrats, she shared the seemingly light moment by laughing with them as they denied listening to top-rated talk show host.

Besides the Conrads, Costello featured another "life-long Republicans" whose decision to support Barack Obama was "agonizing."

Both Costello and The Situation Room host Wolf Blitzer emphasized how the Pennsylvania Republican Party apparently found the switch to be "worrisome." As Blitzer put it in his introduction to the report, "As the Pennsylvania primary campaign heats up, some long-time Republicans -- Republicans are defecting to the Democrats, and the GOP is deeply worried."

The full transcript of Carol Costello's report, which aired at the bottom of the 5 pm Eastern hour of Friday's "The Situation Room."

WOLF BLITZER: As the Pennsylvania primary campaign heats up, some long-time Republicans -- Republicans are defecting to the Democrats, and the GOP is deeply worried. Carol Costello is joining us now from Philadelphia. She's watching the story for us. You're aboard the CNN 'Election Express.' What are you picking up, Carol?
CAROL COSTELLO: Well, Wolf, the number is pretty big. 87,000 people switched to Democrats here in the state of Pennsylvania, and that number is big enough to concern the Pennsylvania GOP.
COSTELLO: Democrat, Republican -- labels that don't seem to inspire the intense loyalty of the past. Pennsylvanians Charles and Peggy Conrad, Republicans for more than 20 years, have switched.
PEGGY CONRAD, FORMER REPUBLICAN: We felt strongly that things need to change.
SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON, ILLINOIS: And I carry that experience.
COSTELLO: She plans to vote for Hillary Clinton, because in her mind, the GOP has become too socially-conservative. He is torn between Clinton and Obama -- caught up in the drama of the Democratic contest.
COSTELLO: Did you think about John McCain through any of this?
CHARLES CONRAD, FORMER REPUBLICAN: Yes, I've been a life-long Republican, and I listened to him and that. But I -- this country needs good leadership. And if it comes from the Democratic side, then I would vote Democratic.
RUSH LIMBAUGH: I've been racking my brain...
COSTELLO: And if you think either Conrad is switching because they buy into Rush Limbaugh's dark strategy to weaken the Democratic party...
LIMBAUGH: I'm asking people to cross over, and if they can stomach it -- I know it's a difficult thing to do for a Clinton. But it will sustain this soap opera.
COSTELLO: Did that enter into your decision?
C. CONRAD: No. No. I don't listen to Rush.
P. CONRAD: We don't listen to Rush Limbaugh.
COSTELLO: If they did, perhaps the Pennsylvania GOP wouldn't find this so worrisome.
ROBERT A. GLEASON, JR., CHAIRMAN, PENNSYLVANIA GOP: I'm not happy when people switch over, but we're going to work hard to get them back and explain to them why they should be Republicans again, and then we'll go at it for November.
COSTELLO: And that may be difficult. The decision to join the Democrats isn't easy. Life-long Republican Linda Lemmon is now supporting Barack Obama. She says her decision was agonizing.
LINDA LEMMON, FORMER REPUBLICAN: I think I'm a Democrat now. I probably will remain a Democrat, because I did not make this step lightly. I thought about it. And I took it as a -- as an American citizen -- of wanting, you know, to help my country.
COSTELLO: And for the Conrads, the idea of switching back may cause a different type of pain.
C. CONRAD: I'm an observer, and I will observe and listen until the day of the election.
P. CONRAD: He'll be pressured.
C. CONRAD: I could.
P. CONRAD He'll be pressured by his wife. He'll be pressured by his-
C. CONRAD: But I go into the secret little ballot box and I vote my own way.
COSTELLO: And that is very true. You know, Wolf, one expert told me it's very hard to switch, once you switched. I mean, changing your affiliation is sort of like changing a part of yourself. So, it's unlikely that most voters who have switched to becoming either a Democrat or a Republican will switch back during the general election.
BLITZER: That's a fair point. I know a lot of friends of mine who have switched parties and become ardent in their new party, and it would be impossible to even think of going back to their old party. Carol, thanks very much for that.

ABC's Sam Champion Hypes Global Warming
for Eight Minutes

Good Morning America's liberal meteorologist Sam Champion continued his crusade of turning the weather report into an environmental lecture on Friday. Champion, the man who once hosted a segment that warned "billions" could die from global warming, devoted over eight minutes of the program to climate change. Reporting live from Colorado, he promoted the Aspen Institute's conference on the environment.

Check the February 1, 2007 CyberAlert for more on Champion's alarmist warnings: www.mrc.org [5]

The weatherman interviewed the executive vice president for the think tank, Elliot Gerson. (The Aspen Institute hosts seminars on various subjects, including environmental and economic.) And while Gerson promised a "diversity of opinions" at the conference, no such diversity appeared on Good Morning America. Champion touted the conference throughout the show's entire two hours, but never once featured anyone skeptical of global warming's dire effects.

[This item, by the MRC's Scott Whitlock, was posted Friday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org [6] ]

Instead, Champion interviewed individuals such as Gerson, who also said that global warming can't be solved by scientists and politicians. "It has to be an engaged public committed to making changes in behavior," he claimed. Now, this could be construed as liberal code for cajoling Americans into using mercury laced light bulbs and other "eco friendly" devices. That hardly seems like a "diversity of opinions."

Also featured on GMA was biologist and National Geographic photographer Paul Miklin. Standing in front of a picture of a polar bear that he took, Miklin essentially admitted that the furry animals are avenues to promote climate change activism: "...Now I realize what I need to do is try and tell these stories though National Geographic magazine by using animals such as polar bears to hang this campaign on." And of course there was no mention of reports that indicate global warming actually stopped ten years ago. See: The Australian: www.theaustralian.news.com.au [7]

In the 8:30 half hour, Champion narrated a segment about the mountain pine beetle and the damage it has created by killing trees all over the western part of the United States. The ABC weatherman dubbed it the "whole global warming and pine beetle issue." (The beetles thrive in warm temperatures and would be killed off with harsh winters.) Again, Champion presented no opposing view that warm winters, which are enabling the beetles, could simply be part of a warming/cooling trend. Simplifying the issue, he declared, "Add to that drought conditions, making the trees susceptible to the insects. Plus, warmer than normal winters, thanks to climate change. The beetles have thrived."

Champion has a long history on GMA of passing off extremist environmental opinions as reasonable. On June 25, 2007, Champion gushed over the "experiment" of a liberal environmentalist who was forgoing toilet paper. For more on this story, see the June 26, 2007 CyberAlert: www.mrc.org [8]

A partial transcript of the final two segments, which aired at 8:32am:

CHAMPION: We are lucky enough to be in Aspen. We're in this big room where the first ever Aspen Environment Forum will be here. Elliot Gerson who put the whole thing together with the Aspen Institute. Elliot, we've been talking about it, kind of leading up to it. But, you know, you get a bunch of people in a room and you're going to talk about the environment and maybe climate change, but why is it important just to kind of get these people together in one place?
ELLIOT GERSON (Aspen Institute): Well, Sam, this just isn't about talk. Everything we do here is about talk leading to action. We've got leading scientists, statesmen, scholars, business people and what makes this special, what makes it unique, is the diversity of opinions there and the fact that the kinds of challenges we're facing with the environment and environment [sic] and, and global climate change require an engaged public. So, it can't be solved just by politicians, just by scientists. It has to be an engaged public committed to making changes in behavior.
CHAMPION: And so, maybe in a place like this with everybody together talking, people will come up with ideas and they'll get the word out a little about it that you have a number of, by the way, thank you, for having us up and putting everything together.
GERSON: It's our pleasure.
CHAMPION: There are number of forums that are going to be going on throughout the day with experts that are from all different walks of life and different categories . One of them, I was really psyched to meet. Paul Miklin, by the way, very nice to meet you.
PAUL MIKLIN: Very nice to meet you.
CHAMPION: Who is one of the those amazing National Geographic photographers. Tell me a little bit about the pictures that you capture that show us evidence of global warming and climate change all over the world, but particularly in the arctic areas.
MIKLIN: Well, thanks, Sam. I grew up in these areas, ever since I was a young kid. So, I went on to be a biologist and then now I realize what I need to do is try and tell these stories though National Geographic magazine by using animals such as polar bears to hang this campaign on, to say that if we lose sea ice in the Arctic and projections are to lose sea ice in the next 20 to 50 years, we ultimately are going to lose polar bears as well.
CHAMPION: Because we see these pictures. There gorgeous pictures of these polar bears. But this one was kind of in distress. [Motions to picture of polar bear.]
MIKLIN: This-- Well, not really. It was just a moment where I was not really thinking clearly. We got so hung up in taking the photograph that I was ten feet away, lying on my belly and this bear is shaking water. And he was just-- He took a lunge at me, basically. But as he lunged up and was coming down on me, the ice broke and got away. And my first thought was I knew I had the shot, so I was really excited that this show would help tell the story that I wanted to tell about melting ice.
CHAMPION: Absolutely beautiful pictures.
MIKLIN: Thank you very much.
CHAMPION: And thank you so much. And there are so many more that are in the magazine to see. And, of course, we'll have some on our website as well.
[Weather report]
8:35
CHAMPION: While we were out here for the Aspen Environment Forum, one of the things we stumbled on is a story that's been making headlines all over the west and out in the papers again today. It's the warming cycle that's been in the western state also a pine beetle infestation that's killing trees by the millions, six million acres of trees dead because of this beetle, in western America and 20 million acres in Canada. This is a big problem and this is what it looks like with the whole global warming and pine beetle issue. The American west is under attack by a silent killer that's causing some of the worst destruction ever to hit our nation's forest land.
SANDY BRIGGS (Forest Health Task Force): People are looking out their windows now and seeing a lot of dead trees where they were green before.
CHAMPION: This is the tiny terror to blame, the mountain pine beetle. It may be small, but it's big in numbers, an epidemic of them exploding across the west, wiping out acres of large pole pines.
CLINT KHYL (Incident Commander, U.S. Forest Service): We're seeing about one and a half million acres of tree infested. Just last year, we had 500,000 additional acres infested.
CHAMPION: That's in Colorado and Wyoming alone. The destruction zone, twice the size of Rhode Island. The epidemic began in 1996, but it's in the last year, it's really taken off. Just look at the damage from this. [Before and after photos of forest appear onscreen.] To this. In just the last two years. And an image repeated over and over
KHYL: The tree's response to the beetle boring into the bark. The tree actually tries to pitch the beetles out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE VOICE [close up of glass with beetle in it.]: The black thing floating there, that's actually the beetle.
CHAMPION: Five years now, all of Colorado's large pine pole forests will be wiped out, state forestry officials say. And it's just one of eight states across the west impacted. That's six million acres of forest land destroyed, with another 20 million in Canada. And that number will grow. Officials say the beetles are expected to infest the entire west over the next 15 years.
BOB CAIN (Forest entomologist, U.S. forest service): The forest conditions are just right. We had the older forests with lots of larger diameter trees. The bigger trees produce more beetles so it really expanded quickly.
CHAMPION: Add to that drought conditions, making the trees susceptible to the insects. Plus, warmer than normal winters, thanks to climate change. The beetles have thrived.

CBS Faster to Identify Party of Republican
Than of Democrats

On Monday night, the CBS Evening News failed to identify Kwame Kilpatrick as a Democrat in reporting criminal charges filed against the Detroit Mayor, but on Friday night the same anchor, Harry Smith, used the very first word, of his introduction to a story on another politician in criminal trouble, to name the party: "Republican Congressman Rick Renzi of Arizona goes on trial next month, charged with using his office to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars. He denies breaking any laws, but the indictment spells out a string of alleged dirty deals."

A little under two years ago, then-CBS Evening News anchor Bob Schieffer avoided the party affiliation of a Democratic Congressman in introducing a Monday, May 22, 2006 story: "The government says FBI agents videotaped Louisiana Congressman William Jefferson taking $100,000 in cash from an informant and later found $90,000 in his home freezer. But Jefferson said today he will not resign from Congress and he said he thought it inappropriate for the FBI to search his Capitol office this weekend. To the surprise of some, the Senate Republican leader said he too has concerns about the search."

That reference to the "Senate Republican leader" may have been a hint, but in the subsequent story, Gloria Borger did explicitly tag Jefferson as a Democrat: "Federal investigators now allege that last July, the Louisiana Democrat removed a leather briefcase from a car trunk containing $100,000 in $100 bills..."

Borger, however, concluded her report by declaring a pox on both parties: "At a time when 77 percent of the American public believes that all members of Congress take bribes, Congressman Jefferson's troubles help no one in either party."

For the May 23, 2006 CyberAlert: www.mediaresearch.org [9]

It should be noted that the CBS Evening News, anchored by Katie Couric, was the only broadcast network evening newscast to identify Eliot Spitzer as a Democrat the day news of his use of prostitutes broke -- Monday, March 10: www.mrc.org [10]

MRC's 'DisHonors Awards' Next Week, Time
to Get Tickets Short

Less than two weeks until the MRC's 2008 "DisHonors Awards" and seats are running out. We only have a few dozen left. The MRC's annual video awards with the "William F. Buckley Award for Media Excellence," this year presented to Tony Snow, will take place in Washington, DC on Thursday evening, April 10. Confirmed participants: Ann Coulter, Larry Kudlow, Mark Levin, Cal Thomas and many more since surprise conservative guests will accept the awards in jest. Get your tickets now.

"It was a terrific show...It was a great, great, great assemblage of people... Everybody just had a blast!" -- Rush Limbaugh, 2007 recipient of the William F. Buckley Jr. Award for Media Excellence.

Make your reservation today. Every year our gala sells out, so don't delay.

Individual seats available for $250. To reserve your seat(s), contact the MRC's Sara Bell at: sbell@mediaresearch.org [11]

Or call, 9 to 5:30 PM EDT weekdays: (800) 672-1423.

Online page with information: www.mrc.org [12]

For a look at all the fun at last year's event: www.mediaresearch.org [13]

Late Show Contest's 'Top Ten Dumb Guy
Ways to Boost the Economy'

From the Late Show with David Letterman's Web site, the winning entries posted Saturday in last week's "Top Ten Contest," the "Top Ten Dumb Guy Ways to Boost the Economy." Late Show home page: www.cbs.com [14]

10. Rummage through rich folks' trash to see if they've tossed any cash (Rollin B., Fresno, CA)

9. Release that "Titanic" movie again (Loriann S., East Greenbush, NY)

8. Each person collects $200 when they pass "Go" (Mike N., Arcola, IL)

7. Reduce America's oil dependency by inventing nacho cheese-powered car (Michael S., Orlando, FL)

6. Two words: bake sale (Ryan B., Chatsworth, CA)

5. Just turn the graphs upside down (K.B. O., Pound Ridge, NY)

4. Give tax refunds in Cheetos (I'm not sure how that would help the economy, but boy am I hungry for some Cheetos) (Patrick G., Hoover, AL)

3. Everyone marries Paul McCartney for a minute (Mike H., Mount Tabor, NJ)

2. High-priced call girls must offer a "Dollar Menu" (Mike S., Brooklyn, OH)

1. Put Chuck Norris in charge of collecting money from deadbeat taxpayers (Tom V., Meridien, CT)

-- Brent Baker