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2. CBS Touts Anti-Exxon Publicity Gimmick by Democratic Politician
3. Katie's Friends Say Goodbye, And They're Mostly Liberals
4. CNN's May Murtha Marathon: Interviewed on Three Shows on Tuesday
5. NY Times Fights for John Kerry Against Swift Boat Vets
Smith also gushed: "I'm watching you in this film, you look so comfortable in your own skin. You look like Al Gore in full, as it were. Is there something about this time in your life that you feel like you can say what you want to say, do what you want to do, sort of unencumbered by thoughts of political office?" And unencumbered by any challenge from the news media.
Harry Smith set up the session: "Former Vice President Al Gore is passionate about global warming. He's convinced that it's a real and present danger to the planet. Ever since losing the heated White House race back in 2000, he has devoted his life to spreading the word."
Smith to Gore on the Early Show set: "And Vice President Al Gore joins us this morning as you rolled your eyes during the last paragraph of that little taped piece there. Let's get that business out of the way first and foremost."
"Outside its annual shareholders meeting, ExxonMobil was under fire today from protesters frustrated with soaring gas prices and the company's former CEO," Mason touted before a woman protester outside the Dallas meeting charged: "He's one of the worst examples of corporate greed." After reciting ex-CEO Lee Raymond's large compensation package, Mason noted that "ExxonMobil is the most profitable company in the country," but "it's even starting to feel the heat here on Wall Street." For his evidence from "Wall Street," Mason turned to Democrat Moore of Raleigh who declared: "I think the sentiment of disgust and outrage is very wide." Mason explained Moore's power: "Richard Moore is North Carolina's state treasurer. The state's pension fund owns 11 million shares of ExxonMobil, worth more than $660 million. Today Moore, on behalf of the state, withheld all those share votes from the Exxon directors who backed Raymond's pay." Moore called the compensation package "un-American." [This item was posted Wednesday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org [5] ]
The lead of Wednesday's AP dispatch on the ExxonMobil meeting showed those who go Mason's attention were in the minority: Moore's Web site: www.richardmoore.org [9] Now the transcript of the May 31 CBS Evening News story, as provided by the MRC's Brad Wilmouth, who corrected the closed-captioning against the video of what aired.
Clip of protesters: "ExxonMobil, feel the heat!"
Bill Clinton's tribute played on the May 30 Today: [This item, by the MRC's Geoff Dickens, was posted Wednesday morning with video on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org. The video/audio of Clinton's tribute to Katie will be added to the posted version of this CyberAlert, but in the meantime, go to: newsbusters.org [13] ] Overwhelmingly those who offered their well-wishes to Katie were liberal friends of her's. The closest the segments came to a conservative was Karen Hughes. In the interest of brevity the list is restricted to those of a political persuasion. The likes of Michelle Kwan, Paula Abdul and Miss Piggy were left off the list: Liberal Politicians: Al Gore, Madeleine Albright, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton Liberal Reporters: Tim Russert, Brian Williams, Stone Phillips, Barbara Walters, Tom Brokaw, Diane Sawyer, Charlie Gibson, Robin Roberts, Maria Shriver Liberal Celebrities: George Clooney, Jon Stewart, Jon Bon Jovi, Ben Affleck, Sting, Steven Spielberg, Michael J. Fox Liberal Businessman: Bill Gates Republicans: Colin Powell, Rudy Giuliani, Karen Hughes, Condoleezza Rice
[This item, by the MRC's Megan McCormack, was posted Wednesday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org [14] ] While O'Brien and Blitzer were eager to hear Murtha equate the alleged shooting of Iraqi civilians by U.S. Marines in Haditha to the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, only Cooper questioned whether Murtha might be rushing to condemn the Marines before the official investigation is complete. Cooper: "Congressman Murtha, you believe the military investigation will ultimately show that the, the troops in Haditha, quote, 'overreacted because of the pressure on them and killed innocent civilians in cold blood.' That's a quote from you. How are you so sure at this point? The investigation isn't even complete." Cooper continued to press Murtha throughout the exchange on the May 30 Anderson Cooper 360, citing critics who believe that the congressman is playing politics with what is alleged to have occurred in Haditha: "There, there have been those who said you are politicizing this, you're, you're jumping to judgment, the investigation is still going on. A man by the name of Ilario Pantano, a Marine who was accused with two counts of premeditated murder, charges which were later dropped, he wrote a letter to The Washington Post, and he said this. Quote, 'Not only is he,' meaning you, Mr. Murtha, 'certain of the Marines' guilt, but he claims to know the cause, which he conveniently attributes to a policy he opposes. Let the courts decide if these Marines are guilty. They haven't even been charged with a crime yet, so it is premature to presume their guilt, unless that presumption is tied to a political motive.'" While Blitzer and O'Brien failed to question Murtha about his political motivations, they were both extremely interested in hearing him compare Haditha to the My Lai massacre: From the May 30 American Morning:
O'Brien: "There are people who've said it's, there's a comparison here that can be made to, to My Lai. Do you think that's true?" From The Situation Room:
Blitzer: "There are some who are already making comparisons between Haditha and My Lai in Vietnam, the massacre in which hundreds of Vietnamese civilians were killed, an incident that you well remember. Is that a fair comparison, a fair, a fair analogy?"
On Sunday, New York Times reporter Kate Zernike allowed Senator John Kerry to re-fight his own personal Vietnam War against the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ("Kerry Pressing Swift Boat Case Long After Loss"). The Times put the battle on the May 28 front page, and judging by the respectful tone of the story, seems to think the pro-Kerry forces vanquish the Swift Boat Veterans. [This item, by Clay Waters, was posted Tuesday on the MRC's TimesWatch site, a posting which includes links to the sources of the quotes and interviews cited below: www.timeswatch.org [15] ]
For the article in full: www.nytimes.com [16]
Meanwhile, Zernike framed the Swift Boat Veterans' arguments in the most hostile possible way: Kerry, of course, didn't just claim he went to Cambodia. He memorably claimed that he spent Christmas of 1968 in Cambodia (at a time when President Nixon said there were no U.S. troops there). The Swift Boat Veterans said he had not, and raised doubts whether he'd in fact ever crossed the forbidden border. But Kerry campaign spokesman Jeh Johnston told the Fox News Channel in August 2004: "John Kerry has said on the record that he had a mistaken recollection earlier. He talked about a combat situation on Christmas Eve 1968 which at one point he said occurred in Cambodia. He has since corrected the record to say it was some place on a river near Cambodia and he is certain that at some point subsequent to that he was in Cambodia. My understanding is that he is not certain about that date." So Zernike "forgets" the whole point of the Cambodia controversy -- that Kerry had long claimed to have spent Christmas in Cambodia, not "February 12" (unless that's when they celebrate it in country!). Kerry "remembered" his Christmas in Cambodia quite well. As Kerry told the Boston Herald in 1979: "I remember spending Christmas Eve of 1968 five miles across the Cambodian border being shot at by our South Vietnamese allies....The absurdity of almost being killed by our own allies in a country in which President Nixon claimed there were no American troops was very real." In 1986, Kerry claimed on the Senate floor that the incident was "seared" into his memory: "I have that memory which is seared -- seared -- in me." Note that today, not even Kerry claims he was in Cambodia on Christmas Eve. The Times sidebar simply says Kerry claims "archived reports" show his boat was "35 miles from the border" on Christmas Eve. But the Times stays silent on the whole embarrassing episode (was he there on Christmas Eve or not?), just as it did during the campaign. Bruce Kesler wonders why Zernike didn't bring up Kerry's Cambodia contradiction, which she was well aware of while covering the controversy during the campaign: "Omitted from Ms. Zernike's story is any mention of what she said when interviewed by CNN's Aaron Brown on August 23, 2004:
BROWN: "...The one issue the Senator has some problems on I think is this Cambodia, fair?" The photo-with-text sidebar to Zernike's story is apparently intended to boost Kerry and disprove the Swift Boat Veterans, under a headline, "Kerry's New Evidence." The text reads: "Senator John Kerry's supporters have gathered new documents and photographs to rebut some of the accusations that the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth lobbed during the 2004 campaign." (Nice verb choice. What's wrong with saying "made during the 2004 campaign," as opposed to making the Swift Boat Veterans sound like irresponsible bomb-throwers with the loaded word "lobbed"?) More to come on this story, including the Times' dubious analysis of how Kerry earned his Silver Star medal: www.timeswatch.org [17] -- Brent Baker
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And CBS makes three. A week after the ABC and NBC morning shows trumpeted Al Gore's hysterical movie on global warming and championed another presidential run by him, he came aboard CBS's Early Show on Wednesday where Harry Smith provided another friendly forum. Smith celebrated: "Out of the shadows of yesterday's news, Al Gore has suddenly emerged as the comeback kid." Smith wondered: "Will Hillary Clinton soon have a former Vice President to contend with on the 2008 presidential campaign trail? That's a good question" and he pleaded with Gore: "Unequivocally not running for President?" While Smith did bring up how "more conservative elements of the press" question his global warming warnings (which Gore denigrated by charging that "in some quarters there's still a debate over whether the moon landing was staged" or "whether the Earth is flat instead of round"), Smith otherwise cued up Gore to spout his dire forecasts: "If the ice caps melt, if Greenland were, were to melt, as you say in the film, we look back at history and what's happened on this planet before, it literally changes everything." 
The May 24 CyberAlert recounted: With "The Comeback Kid? Al Gore Takes on the World," as the on-screen moniker, ABC's Good Morning America on Tuesday championed Al Gore's comeback, through his hysterical global warming movie, An Inconvenient Truth, which ABC took quite seriously as Claire Shipman touted a potential Gore presidential run. Shipman enthused: "The guy that George Bush Senior derisively dubbed 'Ozone Man' may have hit his stride after five years in hibernation by promoting his longtime passion." Shipman trumpeted: "Here's Al being celebrated in Cannes, doing the celebrity thing at an LA opening, power-walking a green carpet in Washington as rumors of another presidential run swirl." Without scolding Gore for fear-mongering, Shipman calmly relayed how Gore's "environmental message is blunt: humanity is sitting on a time bomb and has about ten years left to deal with it. It's the messenger, though, this almost President turned dynamic professor who's making most of the waves, dominating the blog-chatter." Letting a hopeful Arianna Huffington answer, Shipman cued her up: "Is he going to go for the Oval again?" Shipman concluded by gushing: "What does Al Gore say about the possibility of another run? We asked him the other night....He gave a hearty laugh but didn't say no." For full details: 
The May 25 CyberAlert recounted: The morning after ABC's Good Morning America paid tribute to Al Gore as "the Comeback Kid," NBC's Today on Wednesday aired an "exclusive" interview with Gore during which a giddy Katie Couric was all smiles as she promoted his new hysterical movie and pressed him about running for President again. "A once defeated Al Gore is now basking in the limelight soaking up standing ovations and stellar reviews," Couric gushed. Couric touted his movie as a "documentary that shows the catastrophic effects global warming could have down the road if the world doesn't take action now" and she oozed to Gore as the two sat in Central Park: "I think in this movie at different turns you're funny, vulnerable, disarming, self-effacing and someone said after watching it, quote, 'if only he was like this before maybe things would've turned out differently in 2000.'" She cued him up to spout his claims about how much of Florida and Manhattan will soon be under water: "As succinctly as possible can you explain the crisis?" And she only provided token acknowledgment of any other view: "Where there is disagreement among scientists it is not if but when we may see drastic environmental changes across the globe. Al Gore says the clock is ticking." For full details: 
On Wednesday's CBS Evening News, Anthony Mason trumpeted how North Carolina Treasurer Richard Moore, who got four soundbites, withheld that state's pension fund votes from the ExxonMobil directors who he thinks gave too great a compensation package to the retired CEO, but Mason failed to identify his Democratic affiliation (not even on-screen) or let viewers in how CBS was delivering publicity benefitting a likely 2008 Democratic candidate for Governor of the Tar Heel state. The North Carolina Democratic Party was so excited by Moore's move that they sent out a press release: "NC State Treasurer Richard Moore Takes on Oil Company." See: 
Anchor Russ Mitchell introduced Mason: "In this country, the price of gasoline is down about a nickel in the past month, but it's still 77 cents higher than it was a year ago. High gas prices, oil company profits, and executive compensation all came to a head today at the ExxonMobil shareholders meeting. Here's our business correspondent Anthony Mason." 
Mason: "Richard Moore is North Carolina's state treasurer. The state's pension fund owns 11 million shares of ExxonMobil, worth more than $660 million. Today Moore, on behalf of the state, withheld all those share votes from the Exxon directors who backed Raymond's pay." 
Those who watched CNN all day on Tuesday were not experiencing deja vu. Democratic Congressman John Murtha was interviewed on not one, not two, but three separate network programs throughout the day. Murtha's day of CNN appearances began with an interview conducted by American Morning's Soledad O'Brien, followed by a late afternoon exchange with Wolf Blitzer on The Situation Room. Anderson Cooper 360 viewers, not to be left out, were treated to a pre-taped interview between Cooper and Murtha during the 10pm EDT hour. 
Zernike recounted: "John Kerry starts by showing the entry in a log he kept from 1969: 'Feb 12: 0800 run to Cambodia.' He moves on to the photographs: his boat leaving the base at Ha Tien, Vietnam; the harbor; the mountains fading frame by frame as the boat heads north; the special operations team the boat was ferrying across the border; the men reading maps and setting off flares."