Couric Leads with 6 Minutes on Foley, Memories of Naked Back Rubs --10/20/2006

1. Couric Leads with 6 Minutes on Foley, Memories of Naked Back Rubs
Back on October 6, Katie Couric promised that the Mark Foley scandal "is not going away." And just under two weeks later, on Thursday night, she did her part to keep it alive by leading the CBS Evening News with six minutes on it, starting with salacious descriptions of the teenage Mark Foley's alleged sexual activity with a Catholic priest. Couric offered a warning to viewers as she hyped the supposed importance of the priest's recollections: "A stunning development tonight in the congressional page scandal, and you may not want your young children to hear the story we're about to tell. The priest Mark Foley accused of molesting him as a child has come forward. Now retired, the priest admits that he and Foley, then barely a teenager, were naked together in a sauna, but he says, quote, 'Everybody does that.'" Couric inquired: "According to this newspaper account, it also says that you massaged him when he was naked, and you were naked in the same room on overnight trips." Couric remarked that "this was probably the weirdest interview I've ever done" -- raising the unanswered question of why she considered the 72-year-old's memories of back massages the lead story of the day -- before moving on to Gloria Borger for a full story on testimony before the ethics committee.

2. Sawyer Relays NK Propaganda on Bush, 'Happiest Children in World'
On Thursday's World News on ABC, Diane Sawyer checked in from North Korea, but she proved little more than a conveyor belt for the repressive communist regime's propaganda. Talking to a North Korean Army General, she relayed how "he said to us, 'make it clear to everyone in the United States, if there is another nuclear test, the person responsible is George Bush,' because he said, 'the Bush administration is backing North Korea into a corner with its pressures and its sanctions.'" Sawyer helpfully added that "the General said to us, he does want peace. And he also said, again, reiterated, North Korea will not be the first to use a nuclear weapon." How reassuring. In a second segment, Sawyer was taken to a school which she favorably described as "a world away from the unruly individualism of any American school." She gushed: "Ask them about their country, and they can't say enough." A teenage girl declared, in English: "We are the happiest children in the world." Sawyer ended her piece with video of her and the class singing "Do-Re-Mi" from the Sound of Music.

3. Today Show Groupies Swoon Over 'Rock Star' Barack Obama
Senator Barack Obama got NBC's Meredith Vieira, Matt Lauer and even Al Roker in a tizzy as he made this Thursday's Today show his latest book tour stop. Vieira hailed the freshman Democratic Senator from Illinois as "electrifying" and a "rock star" and never once threw a tough question his way, even getting him to call for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq. She cued him up: "Well if you were President now, when would you start that withdrawal? Immediately?" Recalling his 2004 Democratic convention speech, Vieira swooned: "Many people, afterwards, they weren't sure how to pronounce your name but they were moved by you. People were crying. You tapped into something. You touched people. What did you tap into that, that was missing?" On to promote his book and Democrats in the mid-terms, Obama received the full TRL treatment on the October 19th Today show, complete with Vieira offering guest musical performer Vince Gill as an incentive for Obama to announce his presidential candidacy.

4. O'Donnell Recounts Teary Clinton Call; Accuses GOP of Cheating
Viewers of Thursday's The View on ABC were granted another glimpse into the liberal world view of co-host Rosie O'Donnell as she recounted her teary phone conversation with former President Bill Clinton, in which he apologized for the Monica Lewinsky affair: "I said to him, 'you know, to tell you the truth, sir, you broke my heart.' I said, 'you know, I loved you like my mom loved Kennedy and, you know, I had faith in you, one of the few men I had real faith and hope in.'" Later in the program, during an interview with Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former vice-presidential candidate John Edwards, O'Donnell slammed John Kerry, the Democratic nominee for President, for conceding the 2004 election before all the votes were counted and accused the Republicans of "cheating" by tinkering with voting machines.

5. You Read It Here First: FNC and IBD Pick Up CBS Gas Conspiracy
FNC's Fox & Friends First and Investor's Business Daily both picked up on the Tuesday MRC CyberAlert/Monday night NewsBusters blog item about the Monday CBS Evening News story giving time and credibility to the far-left conspiracy theory about how lower gas prices are the result of President Bush's pre-election manipulations. On Wednesday morning, FNC's Kiran Chetry introduced a clip of the CBS story "about gas prices and the theory that the President is able to fix gas prices ahead of an election." Co-host Andrew Napolitano ridiculed the story: "Oh gosh, just about everyone agrees, every economist on the planet that the President of the United States cannot and does not control gas prices." Thursday's Investor's Business Daily carried an editorial, "Couric's Gas Attack," which began, "Media Bias: CBS News broadcasts a free campaign ad for the Democrats, fueling the leftist conspiracy theory that oil companies are deliberately cutting prices to help elect Republicans on Nov. 7."

Couric Leads with 6 Minutes on Foley,
Memories of Naked Back Rubs

Back on October 6, Katie Couric promised that the Mark Foley scandal "is not going away." And just under two weeks later, on Thursday night, she did her part to keep it alive by leading the CBS Evening News with six minutes on it, starting with salacious descriptions of the teenage Mark Foley's alleged sexual activity with a Catholic priest. Couric offered a warning to viewers as she hyped the supposed importance of the priest's recollections: "A stunning development tonight in the congressional page scandal, and you may not want your young children to hear the story we're about to tell. The priest Mark Foley accused of molesting him as a child has come forward. Now retired, the priest admits that he and Foley, then barely a teenager, were naked together in a sauna, but he says, quote, 'Everybody does that.'"

Via phone, Couric talked earlier in the day to the priest in Malta. Citing a Sarasota Herald-Tribune article, Couric inquired: "According to this newspaper account, it also says that you massaged him when he was naked, and you were naked in the same room on overnight trips." Father Anthony Mercieca replied: "He'll stay with his towel on and go on the bench and I will massage his neck and his back." Couric remarked that "this was probably the weirdest interview I've ever done" -- raising the unanswered question of why she considered the 72-year-old's memories of back massages the lead story of the day -- before moving on to Gloria Borger for a full story on testimony before the ethics committee.

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

The October 19 Sarasota Herald Tribune article: www.heraldtribune.com [2]

Couric teased at the top of her newscast, with "Foley Scandal" on screen:
"Tonight, the priest at the center of the Mark Foley scandal is identified and tells me his side of the story. Did he abuse the former Congressman when he was just a boy?"

Couric then opened the October 19 CBS Evening News:
"Hi, everyone. A stunning development tonight in the congressional page scandal, and you may not want your young children to hear the story we're about to tell. The priest Mark Foley accused of molesting him as a child has come forward. Now retired, the priest admits that he and Foley, then barely a teenager, were naked together in a sauna, but he says, quote, 'Everybody does that.' I reached the priest today by telephone.
"Speaking from the Maltese island of Gozo, Father Anthony Mercieca talked about his relationship with the former Congressman. At the time, Foley was a 13-year-old altar boy at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Lake Worth, Florida. The priest's story first appeared in today's Sarasota Herald Tribune. I spoke with him by phone this morning."
Couric to Mercieca: "In this article, you described a number of encounters that you believe Mark Foley might have misconstrued as sexually inappropriate. Can you describe some of those for us?"
Audio of Mercieca, with text on screen: "No. We used to go to the sauna bath, you know, and we used to go to take a bath, you know."
Couric: "According to this newspaper account, it also says that you massaged him when he was naked, and you were naked in the same room on overnight trips."
Mercieca: "He'll stay with his towel on and go on the bench and I will massage his neck and his back."
Couric: "When Foley first claimed a priest had molested him, there was widespread skepticism that he was using the so-called 'abuse excuse' to avoid responsibility for his own inappropriate behavior. But Father Mercieca confirmed intimate encounters with Foley including one during which Mercieca says he took so many pills that something might have happened. He can't recall."
Couric: "And what happened?"
Mercieca: "That's what I can't remember, you know. And I guess that's what maybe Mark is thinking that was something bad."
Couric: "Were you involved in these kinds of encounters with anyone else in the parish?"
Mercieca: "No. Never."
Couric: "What actions do you think will be taken by the Catholic Church in light of these revelations?"
Mercieca: "I don't know. These are 40 years old. So really, it's, there is a limit too."
Couric: "This was probably the weirdest interview I've ever done. What do you make of this priest and his account?"
David Gibson, religion writer: "Well, these pedophiles, these child abusers are by definition almost self-delusional."
Couric: "David Gibson has written extensively about the scandal that has plagued the Catholic church. This priest was moved around to six parishes."
Gibson: "This is a big question that still has to be fully answered: Who knew what and when?"
Couric: "Some former parishioners were shocked."
Woman: "It makes you question, you know, just your dealings with anyone in this world, really. I don't think that, I mean, to me he was really great. But you never know, you know, I mean, you never know who's telling the truth in this situation, so you just have to hope for the best."
Couric: "You can understand why this would be very upsetting to Mark Foley?"
Mercieca: "I can't because for 40 years it didn't bother him. Now how come it bothers him?"
Couric: "But, Father, he was a teenage altar boy."
Mercieca: "Well now, that's the story."
Couric: "By the way, Foley's attorney has said the former Congressman is not using what happened to him as a child as an excuse for what he did as an adult, sending sexually explicit e-mails to former House pages. His actions are the focus of an ongoing investigation by the House ethics committee. Gloria Borger is in our Washington bureau tonight and has some exclusive information. Gloria, what can you tell us?"

Gloria Borger: "Katie, as it turns out, former Congressman Foley spoke about this abuse three years ago in a meeting with a top aide."...

Borger proceeded to report on the appearance by the former Clerk of the House before the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.

The CBSNews.com posting of a transcript of the entire Couric interview with Merciera: www.cbsnews.com [3]

Sawyer Relays NK Propaganda on Bush,
'Happiest Children in World'

On Thursday's World News on ABC, Diane Sawyer checked in from North Korea, but she proved little more than a conveyor belt for the repressive communist regime's propaganda. Talking to a North Korean Army General, she relayed how "he said to us, 'make it clear to everyone in the United States, if there is another nuclear test, the person responsible is George Bush,' because he said, 'the Bush administration is backing North Korea into a corner with its pressures and its sanctions.'" Sawyer helpfully added that "the General said to us, he does want peace. And he also said, again, reiterated, North Korea will not be the first to use a nuclear weapon." How reassuring.

In a second segment, Sawyer was taken to a school which she favorably described as "a world away from the unruly individualism of any American school." She gushed: "Ask them about their country, and they can't say enough." A teenage girl declared, in English: "We are the happiest children in the world." Sawyer ended her piece with video of her and the class singing "Do-Re-Mi" from the Sound of Music. Far from being embarrassed by Sawyer's obsequious approach, anchor Charles Gibson proposed: "A fascinating glimpse of North Korea."

[This item was posted late Thursday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org [4] ]

Sawyer's sycophantic segments were reminiscent of Bob Woodruff's reports from North Korea back in June of 2005. The June 10, 2005 CyberAlert article, "ABC: North Koreans Hate Americans, Offer Great Music/Art for Kids," recounted:

North Koreans are isolated from outside information and fed a steady diet of anti-American propaganda, but that apparently doesn't make the anti-American comments from regime operatives, or citizens with minders standing nearby, unnewsworthy to ABC. "There are large gaps in what the world knows about the North Korean leader and his people," World News Tonight anchor Elizabeth Vargas noted before asserting that "many North Koreans, it seems, have strong opinions about Americans." From Pyongyang, Bob Woodruff went aboard the captured USS Pueblo and relayed how the "officer who gave us a tour today said the ship's an example of American crimes and another reason Koreans don't like Americans." The uniformed woman declared: "They invaded to our territory, and they supplied information, so all Koreans were angry." Woodruff traveled to a collective farm where found an 11-year-old girl who said of Americans: "They killed Korean people." Finally, Woodruff went to the "Children's Palace" where "five thousand North Korean kids are trained after school in music, art and sports." The video showed healthy kids in colorful uniforms paying instruments, painting and dancing.

For the 2005 CyberAlert in full: www.mediaresearch.org [5]

Transcripts of Sawyer's two segments on the October 19 World News with Charles Gibson:

Diane Sawyer: "Today, we had a chance to sit down with Lee Jung Pak who for 40 years has been the General in charge of the DMZ, that flash point, that two and a half miles between South and North Korea. And we talked to him about what the President said yesterday. But we also talked to him about the prospect of another nuclear test. And he said to us, 'make it clear to everyone in the United States, if there is another nuclear test, the person responsible is George Bush,' because he said, 'the Bush administration is backing North Korea into a corner with its pressures and its sanctions.'"
Sawyer to interpreter with the General across a table from her: "Can the General guarantee or reassure the American people that this nuclear information will not be passed to terrorists?"
Translator: "We have nuclear weapons to defend our country and our people. Not to make money out of selling it."
Sawyer: "The General said to us, he does want peace. And he also said, again, reiterated, North Korea will not be the first to use a nuclear weapon. No first strike, he says, from North Korea."

ABC then jumped to her second report, during which viewers could see the minders in the doorway of the barren classroom:

Sawyer: "It is a world away from the unruly individualism of any American school."
Class of teens in uniforms: "Good morning."
Sawyer: "Good morning."
Sawyer: "Ask them about their country, and they can't say enough."
Girl, standing, in English: "We are the happiest children in the world."
Sawyer: "What do you know about America? Anyone?"
Sawyer: "We show them an American magazine [Elle]. They tell us, they know nothing about American movies, American movie stars. They do know nearly every soccer player in the world by name."
Adult male voice: "Did you watch the world cup?"
Class, in unison: "Yes."
Sawyer: "And then, it becomes clear that they have seen some movies from a strange place. Not sure where. The movie names:"
Girl: "Toy story."
Sawyer: "Toy Story. You saw Toy story?"
Boy: "Shrek."
Sawyer: "Shrek. You know The Sound of Music."
Voices: "Yes."
Sawyer singing "Do-Re-Mi" with the class: "Do, a female deer. Re a drop of golden sun-"
Sawyer: "Together, a round of Do-Re-Mi." [singing continues]

Gibson: "A fascinating glimpse of North Korea."

Wikipedia's page on Do-Re-Mi, with lyrics: en.wikipedia.org [6]

The MRC's Brad Wilmouth provided the screen shots for this posting.

Today Show Groupies Swoon Over 'Rock
Star' Barack Obama

Senator Barack Obama got NBC's Meredith Vieira, Matt Lauer and even Al Roker in a tizzy as he made this Thursday's Today show his latest book tour stop. Vieira hailed the freshman Democratic Senator from Illinois as "electrifying" and a "rock star" and never once threw a tough question his way, even getting him to call for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq. She cued him up: "Well if you were President now, when would you start that withdrawal? Immediately?" Recalling his 2004 Democratic convention speech, Vieira swooned: "Many people, afterwards, they weren't sure how to pronounce you name but they were moved by you. People were crying. You tapped into something. You touched people. What did you tap into that, that was missing?" On to promote his book and Democrats in the mid-terms, Obama received the full TRL treatment on the October 19th Today show, complete with Vieira offering guest musical performer Vince Gill as an incentive for Obama to announce his presidential candidacy.

[This item was adopted from a Thursday afternoon posting by Geoffrey Dickens on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org [7] ]

First up, Vieira and Lauer did their best Vanessa Minnillo and Carson Daly imitations as they teased the upcoming interview at the top of the 8:00am half-hour:

Meredith Vieira, holding up the cover of Time magazine with Obama on the cover: "You all know Senator Barack Obama. I don't know if you've seen the cover of Time magazine: 'Why Barack Obama Could Be The Next President.' He is joining us here today. We're gonna find out if he does, in fact, have those aspirations and we'll ask him, once again, what everybody's been asking him, 'will you run for president in two years?' We're also gonna talk about the pressures of his job that they put on his wife and his children, because that's where he seems to feel that if he's failed at all it's as a father and as a husband."
Matt Lauer: "And it only gets more pressure-filled if he goes to that next step."
Vieira: "Oh that's right."
Lauer: "No question."

Obama even got a shout-out from Al Roker with his very own personalized forecast: "Sunshine in Illinois today, Chicago! From Senator Barack Obama's home state!"

Lauer gave Obama more props in this tease at 8:16am:
"Coming up next, he has been called a political rock star but does he dream of taking center stage at the White House someday? We're gonna talk to Senator Barack Obama right after this."

The following are all of Vieira's sycophantic questions to Obama on the October 19 Today:

Meredith Vieira: "It was his electrifying keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention that put Senator Barack Obama of Illinois on the national stage for the first time."
Clip of Barack Obama: "Hope in the face of difficulty! Hope in the face of uncertainty. The audacity of hope, in the end that is God's greatest gift to us! The bedrock of this nation."
Vieira: "And now the junior Senator is traveling nationwide to help campaign for fellow Democrats before the midterm elections. And he also has a lot of people wondering is he running for President in 2008. The Senator is now out with his second book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream. Senator, good morning to you."
Sen. Barack Obama: "Great to see you Meredith."
Vieira: "I couldn't help but notice you're watching yourself, that speech, and I don't know if you're self-deprecating but you kind of roll your eyes a little bit. Are you, you know you are the equivalent of a rock star in politics."
Obama: "You know, the, we, we live in a celebrity culture. So I'm always a little bit suspicious of, of the hype and, and, and that's probably my, my Kansas side of me. You know my, my grandmother, I remember after I gave that speech she, she was born in a tiny town in Kansas and she called me up and she said, 'That was a very nice speech, Barack.'"
Vieira: "That's all she said?"
Obama: "That's all she said."
Vieira: "Meanwhile there were people-"
Obama: "She left a message, that was it. Yeah."
Vieira: "Meanwhile that's the first time people heard, many people heard your name, even knew who you were and that's the first time they heard you talk about 'the audacity of hope,' which is the title of your book. Many people, afterwards, they weren't sure how to pronounce your name but they were moved by you. People were crying. You tapped into something. You touched people. What did you tap into that, that was missing?"
Obama: "Well you know I, as I travel around the country, I spend a lot of time out campaigning for other candidates and, and talking to groups and students at, at colleges and I've always felt like there's a core decency to the American people. That, you know, we get confused sometimes. We're busy, we're tired, we're not paying attention to the public debates but people like the idea of doing better than we're doing right now. Caring for our kids better, caring for our seniors more."
Vieira: "But why doesn't that translate in Washington? You say people in the country understand the concept of common ground, which is what your book it's about. But somehow in Washington there's a disconnect."
Obama: "Well you know I think part of it is there are some institutional barriers to it. I mean one of the things I write about is, the minute you arrive in Washington suddenly there's all these forces, whether it's, it's the media or parties or the need to raise money that, that kind of tamp down those basic human responses that you have towards other people."
Vieira: "So have you had to deal with that, yourself, have you felt that pressure on you?"
Obama: "Oh absolutely. I mean I think everybody does and you know most, I think the, the biggest problem in Washington is people get afraid to lose. What happens is you get there, you, a lot of senators have, have battled and they invested their careers and sacrificed with their families to get there and once you get there then they start thinking, 'Well I, I really want to hang on to my seat,' and so you start saying things or doing things not because of what you believe but rather because you think that it'll help you get reelected."
Vieira: "I know you don't want to talk about 2008. I know you don't want to but I have the, today's New York Times, the op-ed. David Brooks, conservative voice. 'Run Barack, run! Barack Obama should run for President, he should run first, for the good of his party. It would demoralize the Democrats to go through a long primary season with the most exciting figure in the party,' that would be you, 'looming off in the distance like some unapproachable dream.' If your party says to you, 'we need you,' and, and there's already a drumbeat out there will you respond?"
Obama: "Well, you know the way presidential campaigns work these days you're never drafted. Right? I think you have to make an affirmative decision to run and it's an enormous decision because this is a serious business and it's serious times."
Vieira: "Are you qualified, do you think?"
Obama: "Well I think there are two people who are qualified to be President. Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush because they've done it before. Everybody else, I think, has to figure it out on the job because this is an immense country and we're facing issues around health care and energy and education and foreign policy, obviously what we're gonna do in Iraq."
Vieira: "But what are we gonna do? Let me ask you that. I know we're short on time but nine months ago you were there. You said, 'If we don't turn things around, we have nine months in which to do it, we're gonna have to make some changes.' Well nine months, they're up."
Obama: "It is time for us to start a phased withdrawal and, and that doesn't mean that we pull all the troops out at once but we have to send a strong signal to the Iraqis that it is time for you guys to take control of your country and to the powers in the region, including Syria and Iraq, Iran, which have been standing on the sidelines to say, 'You've got to be invested in trying to bring about some sort of peaceful solution."
Vieira: "Well if you were President now, when would you start that withdrawal? Immediately?"
Obama: "Well I would start planning with the Joint Chiefs right now. Yeah."
Vieira: "I mentioned in, in setting you up outside, I said we're gonna talk about your family and, and how they feel about all this because in the book if there's any place where you feel you might have been a failure it's as a husband to your wife Michelle and, and a father to your daughters. Why do you feel that?"
Obama: "Well failure would be too strong of a word. I think they'd say, 'Yeah he's a pretty good dad and he's, he's a pretty good husband.' But it's the tension that I think all of us feel but it, it, it's accentuated in politics because you travel a lot, of balancing work and family and, you know, my wife is an, a wonderful woman and she carries the burden at home a lot more than I do."
Vieira: "And I carry the burden to get us out on time. Senator Barack Obama, good luck to you. If you change your mind about the presidency we got a band right here with Vince Gill, can handle the whole thing. We'll be right back."
Obama: "I love Vince Gill."

O'Donnell Recounts Teary Clinton Call;
Accuses GOP of Cheating

Viewers of Thursday's The View on ABC were granted another glimpse into the liberal world view of co-host Rosie O'Donnell as she recounted her teary phone conversation with former President Bill Clinton, in which he apologized for the Monica Lewinsky affair: "I said to him, 'you know, to tell you the truth, sir, you broke my heart.' I said, 'you know, I loved you like my mom loved Kennedy and, you know, I had faith in you, one of the few men I had real faith and hope in.'" Later in the program, during an interview with Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former vice-presidential candidate John Edwards, O'Donnell slammed John Kerry, the Democratic nominee for President, for conceding the 2004 election before all the votes were counted and accused the Republicans of "cheating" by tinkering with voting machines.

[This item, by Megan McCormack, was posted Thursday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters: newsbusters.org [8] ]

During the "Hot Topics" segment of the show, The View women were discussing congressional sex scandals, which led Rosie to recount her phone call with the former President:
"I was very upset, like a lot of people were, at the height of the, 'I did not ever have sex with that woman' and I believed him and then I remember on my show saying every day that until Bill Clinton personally called and apologized, I was not going to forgive him. Because honestly, it sort of broke my heart a little bit...
"So anyway, I was performing at the Mohegan Sun and it was the grand opening and Bill Clinton was there and it was, sort of, you know, we weren't sure whether Hillary was going to stay with him. And so I did my stand-up and wasn't very funny, but I did a few jokes about him. And afterwards the owner of the casino said, you know, President Clinton would like you to call him and gave me a number, and I thought, yeah, right. So, I get home to Florida. I say to Kelli, President Clinton wants me to call him. She's like, it's probably not his number. I dial, and I'm like this is such-hello, Rosie O'Donnell for Bill Clinton. 'Hello, Rosie, it's Bill'...
"It was him, and I was like, and then I was like, he's like, 'I understand that you, you're upset.' And I said to him, 'you know, to tell you the truth, sir, you broke my heart.' I said, 'you know, I loved you like my mom loved Kennedy and, you know, I had faith in you, one of the few men I had real faith and hope in.' And he said, 'yeah, I know.' And I said some things to him that I was, you know, 'why did you do that and shame your daughter and your wife' and, you know what he said to me? He said, 'I'm sorry.' He said, 'I'm sorry for any man who ever hurt you and all those things you have said to me, I have said to myself, and you're right and I'm sorry.' And then I started to cry and couldn't talk. Then I was like, 'ok, I gotta go, bye!'"

O'Donnell later trotted out the old accusation popular amongst the Move On and Daily Kos crowd that Republicans were victorious in 2004 due to some sort of manipulation of the voting machines. During an interview with Elizabeth Edwards, who was on to promote her new book, O'Donnell opined:
"But you did talk in the book, Elizabeth, also about how, you know, John Kerry conceding too soon, which, I have to say, I agree with. What was he doing conceding the day after when the votes weren't all counted and they were cheating with the Diebold machines?"

Wrapping up the interview, O'Donnell and Joy Behar then expressed to Mrs. Edwards their hope for a future John Edwards presidential run:
Behar: "Kerry's a smart guy, but he doesn't know how to run. I hope your husband runs again, though, this time."
O'Donnell: "I hope so too."

You Read It Here First: FNC and IBD Pick
Up CBS Gas Conspiracy

FNC's Fox & Friends First and Investor's Business Daily both picked up on the Tuesday MRC CyberAlert/Monday night NewsBusters blog item about the Monday CBS Evening News story giving time and credibility to the far-left conspiracy theory about how lower gas prices are the result of President Bush's pre-election manipulations. On Wednesday morning, FNC's Kiran Chetry introduced a clip of the CBS story "about gas prices and the theory that the President is able to fix gas prices ahead of an election." Co-host Andrew Napolitano ridiculed the story: "Oh gosh, just about everyone agrees, every economist on the planet that the President of the United States cannot and does not control gas prices." Thursday's Investor's Business Daily carried an editorial, "Couric's Gas Attack," which began, "Media Bias: CBS News broadcasts a free campaign ad for the Democrats, fueling the leftist conspiracy theory that oil companies are deliberately cutting prices to help elect Republicans on Nov. 7."

Also, Wednesday's "Inside Politics" column highlighted the CyberAlert article and gave credit to the MRC. Greg Pierce's October 18 item:

Conspiracy theory

"Although a Monday 'CBS Evening News' story included a sound bite from an expert dismissing the idea as 'preposterous,' the newscast treated a far-left conspiracy theory -- about how the Bush administration is somehow manipulating the pump price for gas to help in the election -- as credible and worthy enough to deserve a broadcast network story," the Media Research Center's Brent Baker writes at www.mrc.org [9].

"Citing how the price of a gallon of gas has fallen to the lowest all year, anchor Katie Couric wondered: 'Is this an election-year present from President Bush to fellow Republicans?' Over a shot of a 'GOP: Grand Oil Party' bumper sticker laying on a dashboard, reporter Anthony Mason asserted: 'Gas started going down just as the fall campaign started heating up. Coincidence? Some drivers don't think so.'

"The man in the car insisted 'I think it's basically a ploy to sort of get the American people to think, well, the economy is going good, let's vote Republican.' Over headlines from Daily Kos and Huffington Post, Mason conceded you can 'call the conspiracy theory crazy,' but he touted how 'it's spreading through Internet blogs and over the airwaves.'"

END of Excerpt

That's online at: www.washingtontimes.com [10]

For Pierce's weekday compilation of political/media tidbits: www.washingtontimes.com [11]

For the October 17 CyberAlert posting, "CBS Takes Seriously Conspiracy About Bush Manipulating Gas Price Justin McCarthy," which Pierce fully encapsulated, go to: www.mrc.org [12]

MRC analyst Justin McCarthy caught how the October 18 Fox & Friends First, just before 7am EDT, played a clip of the October 16 CBS Evening News story:

Kiran Chetry: "If you watch the news, I mean, there are times when you sort of question what exactly is going on and one of these times was in this story that they had on the Evening News and it was about gas prices and the theory that the President is able to fix gas prices ahead of an election. Let's listen."

[Begin clip]
Katie Couric: "Is this an election year present from President Bush to fellow Republicans? Here's Anthony Mason."
Anthony Mason: "For two months now gas prices have been in free fall, plunging 81 cents a gallon since August and giving the President some rare good news."
Bush: "Gas prices are down."
Mason: "Gas started going down just as the fall campaign started heating up. Coincidence? Some drivers don't think so."
[End of clip]

Mike Jerrick: "So"
Judge Andrew Napolitano: "Oh gosh, just about everyone agrees, every economist on the planet that the President of the United States cannot and does not control gas prices. He only wished that he could, they'd be low all the time."
Jerrick: "But 42 percent late, in the rec, most recent survey last week, 42 percent of the people polled said yeah they kind of think that the big oil companies manipulate this to help keep Republicans in power."
Napolitano: "Wow, apparently CBS is in that group-"
Jerrick: "Yeah they're 42 percent."
Napolitano: "-or the people that are writing Katie's script."

An excerpt from the October 19 Investor's Business Daily editorial:

Couric's Gas Attack

We hoped CBS learned its lesson after the Dan Rather fiasco, in which the legendary news organization used forged documents to manufacture a story discrediting President Bush's National Guard service as an F-102 fighter pilot.

But judging from a "CBS Evening News" story broadcast Monday night, nothing much has changed. No forged documents this time, or old political enemies with an agenda. Just the baseless buildup of a conspiracy theory suggesting CBS News is channeling (no pun intended) Oliver Stone....

Is this just the result of market forces at work or sound economic management by the Bush administration? No, the question Couric wanted answered was: "Is this an election year present from President Bush to fellow Republicans?"

This is like suggesting that strong GDP growth, low unemployment, tame inflation, manageable interest rates, spectacular productivity, a record Dow, bulging profits and a budget deficit halved as promised and ahead of schedule are mere tricks to fool the voters on Nov. 7. And that after the election Karl Rove, operating from a secure and undisclosed location, will make a few phone calls to fire all those new hires and tank the economy.

It also begs the question: If lower energy costs are good for both the economy and GOP prospects, and the Bush administration has the power to control them, why aren't they kept low all the time?

Couric does not entertain that obvious question, but rather passes the baton to reporter Anthony Mason, who -- over a shot of a bumper sticker that reads "GOP: Grand Oil Party" -- solemnly intones: "Gas started going down just as the fall campaign started heating up. Coincidence? Some drivers don't think so."

Well, actually, just one driver that Mason interviewed, who said the price drop was a "ploy" to "sort of get the American people to think, 'Well, the economy is going good; let's vote Republican.' "

Mason conceded that you could "call the conspiracy theory crazy," but then adds: "A recent poll found 42% of people actually believe the Bush administration has deliberately manipulated the price of gas to affect the election."

Well, yeah. They're called Democrats. There are also people who believe Elvis is buying smoothies at a convenience store in east Tennessee, or that it was the U.S. Air Force that flew planes into the World Trade Center. This is tabloid television, not journalism....

CNN's Jack Cafferty, on the Aug. 30 edition of that network's "Situation Room," preceded CBS' speculation by wondering if "the oil companies might not be pulling the price of gas down to help the Republicans get elected in the midterm elections a couple of months away."

You could also wonder if the Bushies are secretly stockpiling oil in Area 51.

We suggest it's not Big Oil or the Bush administration that's trying to manipulate the election by controlling oil prices, but rather left-leaning media outlets trying to throw the election to the Democrats by giving these conspiracy theories airtime.

What's next? Karl Rove is an alien?

END of Excerpt

For the editorial in its entirety: www.investors.com [13]

-- Brent Baker