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2. Expert Featured on CNN: McCain 'Aligned with Far Right' on Russia
3. Shuster Freaked Out by 'Dishonest' Swift Boaters Attacking Obama
4. CBS's Smith Hails 'Legendary' Helen Thomas's 'Extraordinary Work'
5. MRC's CNSNews Launches New Design with Added Features and Video
Sieberg soon trumpeted how on BarackObama.com "kids have their own special area, including a logo to color," while the dour McCain "offers a game called Pork Invaders on his Facebook page," but if you do well, Sieberg sarcastically noted, "you're rewarded [pause] with a statement about pork-barrel politics." Withe the contrasting numbers on screen, the CBS reporter also championed Obama's transcendence on social networks which are largely only used by younger people: Obama's site: www.barackobama.com [2] McCain's site: www.johnmccain.com [3] ABC and CBS ran full stories on how Hillary Clinton's name will be placed in nomination and she'll get a roll call vote at the Democratic convention with ABC's Kate Snow relaying that "Chelsea Clinton may introduce her mother on stage." NBC anchor Brian Williams read short item on the agreement -- the newscast's first story this week about either the Obama or McCain campaigns. The NBC Nightly News, which back on July 31 didn't utter a syllable about the doubled GDP, led with bad news on inflation as Williams intoned from Beijing: "Inflation in America is on a run. The official inflation rate jumped 5.6 percent in July compared to the same time a year ago. We haven't seen an increase like that sine 1991 -- it's a 17-year high and American families are feeling it. It's where we begin our reporting here tonight..." For how NBC ignored the good GDP news, see the August 1 CyberAlert: www.mrc.org [4] [This item, by the MRC's Brent Baker, was posted Thursday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org [5] ] Previous CyberAlert items detailing ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscast coverage this week: For Monday night: "Obama on Vacation, Yet Earns More and Better Coverage than McCain," go to: www.mrc.org [6] That posting recounts how CBS allocated more than three minutes to a "CBS News Exclusive" fawning interview and profile by Couric of "Barack Obama's brain," Valerie Jarrett, who "just may be the most powerful woman in Chicago besides Oprah." For Tuesday night: "Weekday #2: No Media Benefit for McCain from Obama's Vacation," check: www.mrc.org [7] For Wednesday night, "CBS Scolds McCain: 'Respect Takes a Backseat to Ridicule,'" see: www.mediaresearch.org [8] The story about the Web sites aired on the Thursday, August 14 CBS Evening News, joined about a fifth of the way into it:
REPORTER DANIEL SIEBERG: We went to Web design expert Doug Jaeger for his professional review, which started with a complaint. CBSNews.com online version of this story: www.cbsnews.com [9]
Kupchan, a professor of international relations at Georgetown University, served as Director for European Affairs on the National Security Council during Clinton's first term. He also has complimented Barack Obama for his willingness to "engage adversaries," which to him is "a sign not of naivete or inexperience, but of hard-headed realism." Foreman used two soundbites from the professor during his report. At the beginning of the segment, the CNN correspondent played Ronald Reagan's famous "tear down this wall" line from 1987 as he introduced McCain's position on Russia: "In the final years of the Soviet Union, as Ronald Reagan was thundering at the Russians, John McCain was a first-term Senator cheering him on, and, 21 years later, he still distrusts Russia." [This item, by the MRC's Matthew Balan, was posted Thursday evening on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org [10] ] May 21, 2008 International Herald Tribune editorial by Kupchan and Ray Takeyh of the Council for Foreign Relations on Obama's foreign policy, "It's Also Called Diplomacy," online at: www.iht.com [11] After playing a clip of McCain speaking about Russia during a campaign spot, Foreman introduced Kupchan as a "foreign policy expert," and played his "far right" comment. During the second soundbite, Kupchan outlined what he thinks might happen concerning U.S.-Russia relations if McCain became President: "I think it's arguably dangerous in the sense that by assuming that Russia may be more aggressive than it is, and by pushing Russia's back up against the wall, it's possible that one can produce a self-fulfilling prophecy." Despite using Kupchan's liberal rhetoric, Foreman acknowledged that "McCain's stance on Russia has been consistent, and it has brought many admirers to his side, other Americans who also believe that the Russian bear is best kept on a short leash." One of the last times CNN used a soundbite from Kupchan was when correspondent Paula Newton reported on Cindy Sheehan's trip to the UK in 2005. The anti-war activist tried to get then-Prime Minister Tony Blair to change his position on the Iraq war, and Kupchan commented on the potential fallout if Blair shifted: "If Blair were to go wobbly, if he were to begin to say, it's time for us to begin to head for the exits, that would certainly increase the pressure on Bush to follow suit." For the December 15, 2005 CyberAlert item, "CNN Heralds How Cindy Sheehan Has 'Taken Her Cause...to England,'" go to: www.mrc.org [12] The full transcript of Foreman's report, which began at 8:22 pm Eastern during Wednesday's Election Center:
CAMPBELL BROWN: As we mentioned before the break, some of the toughest talk about the Russian invasion of Georgia is coming from the campaign trail. Today, Secretary of State Rice revealed that she has been in regular contact with both Barack Obama and with John McCain as this crisis unfolds. Now, McCain, of course, has been blasting the Russians ever since the story broke last week, and it had us thinking whether or not there may be something going on beyond the headlines, something a little more visceral for him.
TOM FOREMAN: Well, Campbell, there's no question that John McCain has more hands-on experience with Russia than Barack Obama does, and he's been presenting himself as both the voice of reason and of strength in this latest clash. But some foreign affairs experts are not buying it.
In an ensuing segment with Republican consultant Mike Paul and Democratic consultant Rich Masters about the new book, The Obama Nation by Jerome Corsi, Shuster derided the author, and by extension, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and demanded that John McCain condemn the anti-Obama book: "Will Corsi's book be the Swift Boating of Obama? How should Obama fight back? And why hasn't John McCain condemned this book?" [This item, by the MRC's Geoffrey Dickens, was posted Thursday evening on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org [13] ] The relevant excerpts:
SHUSTER: Welcome back to Hardball. The man responsible for launching the dishonest Swift Boat attacks against John Kerry four years ago, Jerome Corsi, is now taking aim at Obama in a new book called The Obama Nation. Corsi told The New York Times, "The goal is to defeat Obama. I don't want Obama in office." And he says he's planning to aid conservative groups that will run ads against the Democratic nominee in the fall. Will Corsi's book be the Swift Boating of Obama? How should Obama fight back? And why hasn't John McCain condemned this book? Rich Masters is a Democratic consultant and joins us in Washington, and Mike Paul is a Republican consultant and former adviser to Rudy Giuliani and joins us in New York. Hey, Mike- ... SHUSTER: Hey, Mike, were you out there condemning John McCain four years ago when John McCain had the audacity to condemn the Swift Boat attacks on John Kerry? John McCain was wrong in your book, then, right? ... SHUSTER: But Charlie Back said that the McCain campaign would make a different choice. Here's what Charlie Black said a month ago. He said, quote, "We don't want to talk about his patriotism and character," referring to Barack Obama. "We concede that he's a patriot and a person of good character." That flies in the face of this book.
[This item, by the MRC's Kyle Drennen, was posted Thursday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org [14] ] Some of Thomas's "value" and "extraordinary work" can be seen by her comments in 2002 while speaking at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology: "I censored myself for 50 years....Now I wake up and ask myself, 'Who do I hate today?'...I have never covered a President who actually wanted to go to war. Bush's policy of pre-emptive war is immoral -- such a policy would legitimize Pearl Harbor. It's as if they learned none of the lessons from Vietnam....Where is the outrage?" In 2003, Thomas remarked at a Society for Professional Journalism banquet: "This is the worst President ever. He [George W. Bush] is the worst President in all of American history." Those Thomas quotes were featured in the MRC's Best of 2002 Notable Quotables: www.mediaresearch.org [15] And 2003 "Best of" Notable Quotables: www.mediaresearch.org [16] Kennedy went on to describe how Thomas is a "hero" to many, even Republicans: "There's really a sense that she's a hero for asking those tough questions. I remember talking to a man who worked at Homeland Security. He said 'You know, I've been a Republican all my life' and he went up to Helen and he said 'you're my hero...you keep asking those questions and nobody else is doing it in the same way and thank you.'" Smith added: "Such a huge responsibility that she takes so, so seriously and as seriously now as when she first walked in the White House almost 50 years ago." The Media Research Center documented Thomas's long history of liberal crankiness in the Media Reality Check in 2000: www.mrc.org [17] Also, MRC President Brent Bozell wrote a column in 2006 on Thomas criticizing the press corps for its "naive complicity" in helping the Bush Administration "rush to war" in Iraq: www.mrc.org [18] Here is the full transcript of the August 14 segment in the 8:30 AM half hour: HARRY SMITH: Helen Thomas has been covering the White House forever, almost 50 years now. We're going to talk to Rory Kennedy, director of a new documentary about the legendary journalist and about her time growing up in the Kennedy clan. ...
HARRY SMITH: Veteran print journalist Helen Thomas has been covering the White House since 1961, when John F. Kennedy was president. And now there's a new documentary honoring her decades of extraordinary work, called, 'Thank You, Mr. President.'
The MRC's CNSNews.com news site recently debuted a new design with added features, such as reader comments, as well as enhanced user-friendly navigation and "CNSNews TV" with fresh news video daily. Some of the new features you'll find: # CNSNews TV, with: - On the Spot: CNSNews.com asks policy-makers tough, topical questions - On the Scene: CNSNews.com reports from the scene of important events - Online with Terry Jeffrey: CNSNews.com Editor in Chief Terry Jeffrey interviews newsmakers and top thinker's about today's most pressing issues
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Check it out for the latest "Right News, Right Now," at: -- Brent Baker
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For the fourth straight weekday as Barack Obama vacations, he received better coverage on the broadcast network evening shows than the non-vacationing John McCain. Without fresh video of Obama, the CBS Evening News came up with a new way to tout Obama's campaign as they compared the Web sites of the two candidates and declared Obama's far superior. Reporter Daniel Sieberg asserted "McCain's Web site is still playing catch up to Obama's use of cyberspace." Turning to "Web design expert Doug Jaeger," Sieberg echoed Joe Biden in applying the term "clean" to Obama as he highlighted how "Jaeger describes Obama's site as clean; and McCain's as cluttered." Jaeger complained about JohnMcCain.com: "He's using lots of different typefaces at all different sizes which gives you a feeling of chaos." 
DOUG JAEGER, FOUNDER, THE HAPPYCORP.COM: This is the home page, okay, this is where we're greeting people. Do you think these guys could make eye contact with us? No. 
SIEBERG: The Obama campaign may hope the Internet will do for Obama what television did for John F. Kennedy in 1960. Just compare the candidate's popularity on the social networking sites Facebook and MySpace. While both campaigns hope their supporters spread the word, Obama is "friended" almost seven times more than McCain. Enter a zip code on Obama's site and you can find, or evenput together, events, like this fundraiser organized by Arlene Geiger. 
CNN correspondent Tom Foreman omitted identifying a "foreign policy expert" as a former member of Bill Clinton's National Security Council during a report on John McCain's strong position towards Russia on Wednesday's Election Center program. This expert, Charles Kupchan of the Council of Foreign Relations, accused McCain of forwarding a belligerent position towards Russia: "Well, over the last few years, McCain's views on Russia seem to be getting more and more confrontational, and I think he's really aligned himself with the far right, not with the centrists within the Republican Party. And, in some ways, it almost appears either if he thinks the Cold War is still on or that he wants it to return." 
CHARLES KUPCHAN, COUNCIL OF FOREIGN RELATIONS: Well, over the last few years, McCain's views on Russia seem to be getting more and more confrontational, and I think he's really aligned himself with the far right, not with the centrists within the Republican Party. And, in some ways, it almost appears either if he thinks the Cold War is still on or that he wants it to return. 
On Wednesday's Hardball, substitute host David Shuster previewed a new book targeting Barack Obama by issuing a warning to viewers at the top of the August 13 show: "It was right around this time four years ago that the dishonest and highly effective Swift Boat attacks on John Kerry began. Now the man who started it all, with a book about Kerry, has one out attacking Obama. Can the Swift Boaters repeat their success, or does Obama know how to fight back?" 
Near the end of Thursday's Early Show on CBS, co-host Harry Smith talked to film maker Rory Kennedy about her HBO documentary on the career of left-wing White House reporter Helen Thomas: "We're going to talk to Rory Kennedy, director of a new documentary about the legendary journalist." Smith began the segment by declaring: "Veteran print journalist Helen Thomas has been covering the White House since 1961, when John F. Kennedy was president. And now there's a new documentary honoring her decades of extraordinary work, called, 'Thank You, Mr. President.'" Smith asked Kennedy, the daughter of Robert Kennedy, about her decision to do the documentary: "Why pick Helen Thomas?" Kennedy replied: "She's been covering nine administrations, she's been at the front row of the White House. And she has extraordinary insight into these Presidents. And she's also an extraordinary journalist." Smith later commented: "Where she sits and what she does day after day after day, I'm not sure we value enough." 