Long After CNN Featured Him, CBS Showcases Same Anti-Bush Marine --9/8/2006

1. Long After CNN Featured Him, CBS Showcases Same Anti-Bush Marine
A small world of self-proclaimed "conservative" retired Marine Colonels disillusioned with President Bush, Republicans and the war in Iraq. Ten months after CNN's John King featured criticism of the Iraq war from retired Marine Colonel Jim Van Riper, in an Anderson Cooper 360 story from North Carolina on supposed declining support for the war in a conservative area, CBS's Byron Pitts traveled to the same state and located the very same Marine to demonstrate that on the war "even some life-long conservatives are no longer hearing the President's message." On Thursday's CBS Evening News, Pitts touted the ex-Marine's credentials: "Retired Marine Corps Colonel Jim Van Riper is a Christian, card-carrying member of the NRA who voted for President Bush twice. But as more Marines have died in Iraq, his confidence in the Bush administration died as well." Van Riper asserted: "I don't mind arrogance except when there's dead bodies as a result." Pitts explained how "Van Riper will vote for Democrats across the board," and then cued him up: "If you could sit across from President Bush, what would you say to him?" Van Riper: "Sir, I'm disappointed."

2. CBS Interviews Armitage: Spikes Rove, Suggests Apology to Wilson
The CBS Evening News on Thursday night became the first broadcast network evening newscast to report how former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage was the one who revealed how Joe Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, but CBS portrayed the Wilsons and taxpayers as the victims of the probe, not Scooter Libby or Karl Rove (whose name was never uttered), nor questions about the special counsel's pursuit. Couric framed the piece by asserting Wilson accused Bush of using "faulty intelligence to justify the war in Iraq" and the "leak ultimately sent a reporter to jail, got a top White House aide indicted, and set off a criminal investigation that has cost taxpayers $20 million so far." In the "exclusive" interview with David Martin, Armitage maintained: "Oh, I feel terrible everyday. I think I let down the President, I let down the Secretary of State, I let down my department, my family, and I also let down Mr. and Mrs. Wilson." Martin then asked: "You feel you owe the Wilson's an apology?" Martin didn't retract any of CBS's past mis-reporting. CBS also presumed some facts not in evidence as Couric described Valerie Plame as an "undercover agent for the CIA."

3. NBC's Ann Curry Pushes 9/11 Widow Breitweiser to Slam Ann Coulter
Egged on by NBC's Ann Curry, 9/11 widow and media fave Kristen Breitweiser attacked Ann Coulter and the President on Thursday's Today. On to promote her new book, Wake-Up Call, Breitweiser was portrayed as merely a non-partisan "stay-at-home-mother," as Curry never mentioned her 2004 support for John Kerry. Before playing a clip of Coulter with Matt Lauer, Curry asked Breitweiser: "You know conservatives, as you know, well know, have attacked, criticized heavily 9/11 widows for, including you, for, for some of what you've said over these years, over these five years. In fact on this program, Ann Coulter, the writer, said something to, to Matt Lauer. Let's take a quick listen to what she said." Dissatisfied with her reaction to Coulter, Curry pushed Breitweiser to notch up her attack: "But she's saying that you used your grief. She, I mean she's, what, do you want to respond to that?"

4. Matthews Snickered at Wishing Bush Dead, But on Kerry in 2004...
The MRC's Geoff Dickens had the low-down first on Chris Matthews smiling through New York Green Party gubernatorial candidate Malachy McCourt's talk about how he'd favor execution if the criminal was Pinochet or George W. Bush. For Matthews, it must depend on which politician is being criticized. On August 19, 2004, when columnist Michelle Malkin suggested it was possible John Kerry may have wounded himself in Vietnam, Matthews huffed after Malkin was evacuated: "We're going to keep things clean on this show. No irresponsible comments are going to be on this show." After Matthews pounded Malkin on how the Bush campaign should force the withdrawal of the Swift Vet ads, it was comical how out of control Matthews became. He wouldn't let Malkin speak for more than a few seconds without interrupting with outrage. See how very different Malkin was treated, compared with the execute-Bush joker. AUDIO&VIDEO [1]

5. Rush on CBS: 'Some Americans, Sadly, Not Interested in Victory'
Rush Limbaugh delivered the "freeSpeech" segment on Thursday's CBS Evening News. Anchor Katie Couric set up him up: "With the fifth anniversary of 9/11 coming up, the topic tonight is the war on terror. And there may be no one more opinionated on the subject than radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh." Limbaugh began: "My friends, it's time to face a hard cold fact: Militant Islam wants to kill us just because we're alive and don't believe as they do....Now, this threat is not just going to go away because we choose to ignore it." He soon zeroed in on the problem: "But some Americans, sadly, are not interested in victory. And yet they want us to believe that their behavior is Patriotic. Well, it's not. When the critics are more interested in punishing this country over a few incidents at Abu Grahib and Guantanamo Bay than they are in defeating those who want to kill us; when they seek to destroy a foreign surveillance program which is designed to identify those who want to kill us and how they intend to do it; when they want to grant those who want to kill us, U.S. constitutional rights, I don't call that patriotic." AUDIO&VIDEO [1]

Long After CNN Featured Him, CBS Showcases
Same Anti-Bush Marine

A small world of self-proclaimed "conservative" retired Marine Colonels disillusioned with President Bush, Republicans and the war in Iraq. Ten months after CNN's John King featured criticism of the Iraq war from retired Marine Colonel Jim Van Riper, in an Anderson Cooper 360 story from North Carolina on supposed declining support for the war in a conservative area, CBS's Byron Pitts traveled to the same state and located the very same Marine to demonstrate that on the war "even some life-long conservatives are no longer hearing the President's message." On Thursday's CBS Evening News, Pitts touted the ex-Marine's credentials: "Retired Marine Corps Colonel Jim Van Riper is a Christian, card-carrying member of the NRA who voted for President Bush twice. But as more Marines have died in Iraq, his confidence in the Bush administration died as well." Van Riper asserted: "I don't mind arrogance except when there's dead bodies as a result." Pitts explained how "Van Riper will vote for Democrats across the board," and then cued him up: "If you could sit across from President Bush, what would you say to him?" Van Riper: "Sir, I'm disappointed."

King signed off from Greenville, while Pitts reported from Jacksonville, the home of the Camp Lejuene Marine Corps base, presumably an area with thousands of retired Marine corps officers -- yet CNN and CBS, ten months apart, stumbled upon the very same retired Marine Colonel -- an amazing coincidence.

[This item was posted Thursday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org [2] ]

A November 21, 2004 Daily News (of Jacksonville, NC) news story, on Secretary of State Colin Powell's resignation from the Bush cabinet, strongly suggests that Van Riper had turned against the war more than a year before CNN's King touted his opposition as a fresh trend and more than 18 months before CBS's Pitts trumpeted him. An excerpt:

"'He was a product of Vietnam,' said retired Marine Col. Jim Van Riper, who lives in Jacksonville. 'He saw what a disaster that was.'

"Van Riper, who served in Vietnam and the first Gulf War, believes the Bush administration erred by not heeding the Powell Doctrine before marching to Baghdad. And while he 'reluctantly' voted earlier this month to re-elect the president, a cabinet minus Powell is now even less appealing, he said.

"'Politics determines policy, and policy drives war,' said Van Riper, 66. 'Powell clearly understands that. He understood that winning the war wasn't the entire thing -- that knocking off Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi army wasn't going to be the end of it.'

"'I don't think he's perfect, maybe too cautious. But he's a hell of a lot better than Rumsfeld.'"

END of Excerpt

For the article in full: www.jdnews.com [3]

During a November 29, 2005 Anderson Cooper 360 story on the opposition to the war from Republican Congressman Walter Jones of North Carolina, CNN reporter John King highlighted, as recounted in December 1, 2005 NewsBusters posting:
"Vietnam and Desert Storm combat veteran Jim Van Riper supports the war and agrees any talk of specific withdrawal timetables is a mistake. But recently Van Riper wrote his congressional delegation saying he could no longer support the Republican Party, calling Iraq a textbook case of how not to wage a war. Van Riper says the President is in a mess of his own making for standing by his Defense Secretary."
Colonel Jim Van Riper, U.S.M.C., retired: "I'm more convinced than ever that Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld will be the Republicans' Robert S. McNamara, when history's written that's the way he'll be viewed."
King: "Such talk in a patriotic place like this is telling. Tough questions for the Commander-in-Chief even as bases are bustling with training for the next deployment."

The December 1, 2005 CyberAlert item: www.mrc.org [4]

A transcript of the story aired on the September 7 CBS Evening News with Katie Couric:

Anchor Katie Couric: "President Bush says Iraq is a big part of the war on terror and two more American soldiers and a Marine have been killed in action there. With casualties rising, the President's approval ratings here at home are falling. The latest CBS News/New York Times poll shows just 36 percent of Americans approve of the job he's doing. Support for the war is slipping even in places where not long ago nearly everyone backed it. Here's our national correspondent, Byron Pitts."

Byron Pitts: "At the Kettle Diner in Jacksonville, North Carolina, it's faith, family, and the Corps."
Waitress Lilly Cantrell: "We give a military discount to show our appreciation for what they're doing for us."
Pitts: "Jacksonville is home to Camp Lejeune, the largest Marine Corps base on the East coast. But even here, support for the war may be waning. Marine Corporal John Miller."
Miller, at restaurant table: "There's a lot of people that think we've been there too long, but personally I think we should stay there until it's, until they have an established government."
Pitts: "Breakfast shift manager Lilly Cantrell. Do you still support the war?"
Cantrell, after a pause: "Yes."
Pitts: "Three or four years ago would you have hesitated that long?"
Cantrell: "No, no."
Pitts: "What's changed in three or four years?"
Cantrell: "It's just that things keep getting worse and worse."
Pitts: "A CBS News/New York Times poll found 65 percent of Americans disapprove of the way George Bush is handling the war in Iraq. Even some life-long conservatives are no longer hearing the President's message."
Retired Marine Colonel Jim Van Riper: "I've turned him off, I've tuned him out."
Pitts: "Retired Marine Corps Colonel Jim Van Riper is a Christian, card-carrying member of the NRA who voted for President Bush twice. But as more Marines have died in Iraq, his confidence in the Bush administration died as well."
Van Riper, outside a house with a big lawn in the background: "If they had done it their way and succeeded I couldn't be talking to you like this. They did it their way, they failed and they won't admit it."
Pitts: "And that's what burns you?"
Van Riper: "That's arrogance and I don't mind arrogance except when there's dead bodies as a result."
Pitts: "So this November, for the first time, Colonel Van Riper will vote for Democrats across the board."
Van Riper: "I voted Republican nearly all my life. I'm a very conservative, I'm still conservative. My hope is that the Democrats win the House."
Pitts: "Van Riper's twin brother is a retired Marine General and his love for the Corps remains strong."
Pitts to Van Riper: "This is very personal for you?"
Van Riper: "Yes, sir. I have a son there, I've got a nephew there now. It's personal."
Pitts: "If you could sit across from President Bush, what would you say to him?"
Van Riper: "Sir, I'm disappointed."
Pitts: "Here in a place where war is so very personal-"
Cantrell at the restaurant: "You have a blessed day, sir, and come back and see us."
Pitts: "-and faith so very deep, the President is preaching to a choir that no longer seems quite so willing to believe. Byron Pitts, CBS News, Jacksonville, North Carolina."

For CBS's online version of this story, with "an extended interview with Col. Van Riper," check: www.cbsnews.com [5]

CBS Interviews Armitage: Spikes Rove,
Suggests Apology to Wilson

The CBS Evening News on Thursday night became the first broadcast network evening newscast to report how former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage was the one who revealed how Joe Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, but CBS portrayed the Wilsons and taxpayers as the victims of the probe, not Scooter Libby or Karl Rove (whose name was never uttered), nor questions about the special counsel's pursuit. Couric framed the piece by asserting Wilson accused Bush of using "faulty intelligence to justify the war in Iraq" and the "leak ultimately sent a reporter to jail, got a top White House aide indicted, and set off a criminal investigation that has cost taxpayers $20 million so far."

In the "exclusive" interview with David Martin, Armitage maintained: "Oh, I feel terrible everyday. I think I let down the President, I let down the Secretary of State, I let down my department, my family, and I also let down Mr. and Mrs. Wilson." Martin then asked: "You feel you owe the Wilson's an apology?" Martin did point out to Armitage, "You would have taken a lot of wind out of this whole feeding frenzy if you had come forward," prompting Armitage to say he had just honored the special counsel's request. And Martin wondered: "Did you ever think of saying, 'Mr. President, I screwed up'?"

Martin never addressed why the special counsel continued the probe when he knew up front that Armitage was Bob Novak's source, or retracted any of CBS's past mis-reporting (see below). CBS also presumed some facts not in evidence as Couric described Valerie Plame as an "undercover agent for the CIA" and Martin relayed: "It's a crime to knowingly reveal the identity of an undercover CIA officer."

[This item was posted Thursday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org [6] ]

The September 5 CyberAlert item, "Weekly Standard Lists 'Plamegate Hall of Shame,' Mostly the Press," has quite a bit on recent developments in the case including how, contrary to Martin's suggestion that Armitage owes an apology to Valerie and Joe Wilson, the Washington Post editorialized on September 1:
"[I]t now appears that the person most responsible for the end of Ms. Plame's CIA career is Mr. Wilson. Mr. Wilson chose to go public with an explosive charge, claiming -- falsely, as it turned out -- that he had debunked reports of Iraqi uranium-shopping in Niger and that his report had circulated to senior administration officials. He ought to have expected that both those officials and journalists such as Mr. Novak would ask why a retired ambassador would have been sent on such a mission and that the answer would point to his wife. He diverted responsibility from himself and his false charges by claiming that President Bush's closest aides had engaged in an illegal conspiracy. It's unfortunate that so many people took him seriously."

For the September 5 CyberAlert article in full: www.mediaresearch.org [7]

A flavor of the media hyperventilation over the years on Plamegate:

# July 19, 2005 CyberAlert: Evening Newscasts Continue Rove Focus, Offer Ominous Predictions.
The networks just won't let go of Karl Rove, with the NBC Nightly News leading with the supposed scandal as another week began. On Monday night, anchor Brian Williams hyped "more claims and allegations in the story involving presidential right-hand man Karl Rove." After a piece from David Gregory, Williams noted how "a lot of Democrats don't want this story to go away," a wish the media are carrying out. Andrea Mitchell concluded a second story by warning that "depending on what the grand jury decides could make this spy story more than just the usual Washington scandal." ABC's Jessica Yellin asserted that President Bush "continues to focus on whether a crime was committed, but there are questions about credibility." Yellin concluded with a self-fulfilling forecast: "The grand jury has another three and a half months till the end of October to make a decision, which means it could be a long, hot summer here at the White House." Over on the CBS Evening News, Gloria Borger delivered an ominous prediction: "I'm told by somebody close to this investigation that it's going to be very messy when the truth comes out." For details: www.mediaresearch.org [8]

# July 15, 2005 CyberAlert: CBS Airs One-Sided Anti-Rove Story; CNN Sees "Smear" of Wilson.
All three network evening newscasts last night carried stories on the Rove controversy, but CBS's report from John Roberts was by far the most one-sided. Anchor Bob Schieffer began by touting how "an expanding chorus of Democrats demanded today that presidential strategist Karl Rove be fired," and Roberts included soundbites from ex-Ambassador Joe Wilson, Democratic congressman Rush Holt and MoveOn.org protesters chanting "Karl Rove has got to go," but not a single soundbite from a Rove defender. Meanwhile, Wilson appeared on CNN's Wolf Blitzer Reports on Thursday. Blitzer began his exchange with Wilson by describing questions about Wilson's veracity as an "effort to smear" him, but did at least ask Wilson to answer some of those questions. For details: www.mediaresearch.org [9]

# July 12, 2005 CyberAlert: Networks Pounce on Leaked E-mail to Begin Push for Firing Rove
Monday night and Tuesday morning, all three broadcast network newscasts trumpeted a leaked e-mail that indicated that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove told Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper in July 2003 that Ambassador Joe Wilson's wife "apparently works at the agency," meaning the CIA. On World News Tonight, ABC's Terry Moran summoned the image of Watergate, saying White House spokesman Scott McClellan's response yesterday was to "stonewall." This morning, network morning hosts began a "Dump Rove" movement. ABC's Charles Gibson announced at the top of Good Morning America: "The big question, will or should the President fire him?" When a guest pointed out that Rove had apparently revealed neither Valerie Plame's name nor her covert status, Gibson was indignant: "Is that not a Clintonian defense?" For details: www.mediaresearch.org [10]

# October 1, 2003 CyberAlert: Networks Focus on "Leakgate," Skate Over Wilson's Liberal Views.
For the third straight night all the network evening newscasts focused on the supposed "leakgate" scandal as CBS's Dan Rather asserted: "The Bush White House under increasing fire." NBC's Tom Brokaw declared, as if he and his colleagues had nothing to do with it: "It is now a Washington firestorm." But the networks skated over the left-wing persuasion of Joe Wilson, who plans to endorse John Kerry. Though Wilson has driven the accusations against Bush political aide Karl Rove as the guilty party, an accusation from which he's had to backtrack, CNN's Aaron Brown was befuddled by the relevance of Wilson's anti-Bush crusade: "What does Ambassador Wilson's politics have to do with either the leak or his wife's job?" For details: www.mediaresearch.org [11]

# September 30, 2003 CyberAlert: Excited Network Reporters Enter Scandal Mode on CIA Name Leak
The networks entered full scandal mode on Monday with the evening shows leading for a second straight night with the news of an investigation into who in the administration back in July told columnist Bob Novak a CIA operatives's name, though stories conflicted on the operatives actual job duties, the source of the leak and, despite Joe Wilson on Monday morning having specifically admitted he went too far in accusing Karl Rove, both CBS and NBC relayed Wilson's naming of Rove. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski offered this warning: "If tried and convicted, the leakers could get ten years in prison. But the political fallout could be much worse for the White House whose credibility on Iraq is already on the line." An excited Aaron Brown proposed at the top of Monday's NewsNight on CNN: "It seems like the good old days, doesn't it?" For details: www.mediaresearch.org [12]

The September 7 CBS Evening News with Katie Couric story, which aired just after the look at how, in Couric's words, "support for the war is slipping even in places where not long ago nearly everyone backed it" (see item #1 above.)

Katie Couric: "Valerie Plame, she's the undercover agent for the CIA whose name was leaked to a newspaper columnist three years ago after her husband publicly accused the Bush administration of using faulty intelligence to justify the war in Iraq. That leak ultimately sent a reporter to jail, got a top White House aide indicted, and set off a criminal investigation that has cost taxpayers $20 million so far. Tonight, national security correspondent David Martin has an exclusive: The man who opened the floodgates speaks for the first time."

David Martin: "Richard Armitage, once the number two diplomat at the State Department, couldn't be any blunter."
Armitage, sitting face-to-face with Martin: "Oh, I feel terrible everyday. I think I let down the President, I let down the Secretary of State, I let down my department, my family, and I also let down Mr. and Mrs. Wilson."
Martin: "You feel you owe the Wilson's an apology?"
Armitage: "I think I've just done it."
Martin: "In July 2003, Armitage told columnist Robert Novak, Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife worked for the CIA and Novak mentioned it in a column. It's a crime to knowingly reveal the identity of an undercover CIA officer, but Armitage didn't yet realize what he'd done."
Martin to Armitage: "So what was it that made the light go on?"
Armitage: "I was reading the newspaper column again of Mr. Novak and he said he was told by a non-partisan gunslinger. I almost immediately called Secretary Powell and said 'I'm sure that was me.'"
Martin: "Armitage immediately met with FBI agents investigating the leak."
Armitage: "I told them that I felt I was the inadvertent leak."
Martin: "Did you get a lawyer?"
Armitage: "No."
Martin: "Why?"
Armitage: "I felt terrible about what I'd done, I felt I deserved whatever was coming to me and secondarily I didn't need an attorney to tell me the tell the truth, I was already doing that."
Martin: "That was nearly three years ago, but the political firestorm over who leaked Valerie Plame's identity continued to burn as special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald began hauling White House officials and journalists before a grand jury."
Martin to Armitage: "You would have taken a lot of wind out of this whole feeding frenzy if you had come forward."
Armitage: "The special counsel, once he was appointed, asked me not to discuss this and I honored his request."
Martin: "You saw the President all the time."
Armitage: "Yes, sir."
Martin: "Did you ever think of saying, 'Mr. President, I screwed up'?"
Armitage: "Oh, I thought everyday about how I'd screwed up."
Martin: "Armitage never did tell the President, but he's talking now because the special counsel told him he could. David Martin, CBS News, Arlington, Virginia."

CBS's online version of this story: www.cbsnews.com [13]

NBC's Ann Curry Pushes 9/11 Widow Breitweiser
to Slam Ann Coulter

Egged on by NBC's Ann Curry, 9/11 widow and media fave Kristen Breitweiser attacked Ann Coulter and the President on Thursday's Today. On to promote her new book, Wake-Up Call, Breitweiser was portrayed as merely a non-partisan "stay-at-home-mother," as Curry never mentioned her 2004 support for John Kerry. (See: www.mrc.org [14] )

Before playing a clip of Coulter with Matt Lauer, Curry asked Breitweiser: "You know conservatives, as you know, well know, have attacked, criticized heavily 9/11 widows for, including you, for, for some of what you've said over these years, over these five years. In fact on this program, Ann Coulter, the writer, said something to, to Matt Lauer. Let's take a quick listen to what she said."

After the clip, Curry prompted Breitweiser: "Your reaction to what, what Ann Coulter said. This has become politicized Kristen." Breitweiser responded: "You know I, I say frankly kudos to Ann Coulter. I think that what she's doing is what I wrote the book to inspire every American to do which is to have your voice heard, to engage in the political process. What I find unfortunate about Miss Coulter is that when you disagree with her she doesn't feel that you have a right to an opinion and I think that's unpatriotic but I think everyone needs to have their voice heard. We live in a wonderful country and-"

Curry, clearly dissatisfied with her answer, then pushed Breitweiser to notch up her attack: "But she's saying that you used your grief. She, I mean she's, what, do you want to respond to that?" Breitweiser took the cue: "All I can say is that I, I hope she never knows what it's like to watch your husband get murdered on live worldwide television with your child standing next to you. To be barred from getting access to answers as to why that happens so that you could just look at your child and be able to explain to them and give them every answer to every question that they have. That's why we did what did. And I'm sorry that it was a battle. I'm sorry that this administration and the Republican Congress that we have now fought us every step of the way to try and learn lessons from that horrific day but that's what our goal was. Our motives were pure and we just wanted answers."

Curry ended the interview by supportively reading an excerpt from the book:
"I've got to end here with something you write. You write to your deceased husband at the end of this book and you say, 'I look at your wedding band as a symbol, much like it was found buried beneath the smoldering rubble and ruins. I believe our country is buried somewhere beneath the current chaos waiting to be discovered so it too can shine again.' Kristen Breitweiser, from your, from your page to God's ears."

[This item, by Geoffrey Dickens, was posted Thursday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org [15] ]

The MRC's Rich Noyes and Jessica Anderson pointed out in 2004 that Breitweiser appeared on the Today show four times in three weeks to criticize Bush's failure to prevent 9/11. In all, the networks invited 20 anti-Bush relatives of 9/11 victims, to just three who were supportive of Bush. (Breitweiser also appeared regularly as a pundit on Hardball.) For the April 15, 2004 Media Reality Check, "Hyping Bush Bashers, Ignoring Bush Backers. MRC Study: Throughout the Hearings, Networks Favored a Handful of 9/11 Relatives Who Fault Bush," go to: www.mrc.org [16]

From the teasers at the top of the 8:00am hour to the setup piece before the interview Curry did her best to soften the Democratic activist's image.

Curry over footage of Breitweiser playing with her dog at the beach: "Coming up this morning we're gonna be talking about whether America is safer after 9/11. We're gonna be talking to a 9/11 widow who has been speaking out and argue, who argued for the 9/11 commission. She's gonna be talking to us about a new book that she's written about her experience." Then her setup piece Curry played up the stay-at-home mother, imagery: "Kristen Breitweiser went from wife to widow on the morning of 9/11. A stay-at-home mother the events of that horrific day led her to become an outspoken activist, a role she never imagined. She was a content suburban New Jersey mother devoted to her husband Ron and two-and-a-half-year-old Caroline. After 1644 days of marriage he was gone. Kristen Breitweiser grieved and grieved and then got angry."

The following are complete transcripts of the teasers, setup piece and then full interview with Breitweiser on the September 7 Today:

8:10am: Ann Curry, over footage of Kristen Breitweiser playing with her dog on the beach: "Coming up this morning we're gonna be talking about whether America is safer after 9/11. We're gonna be talking to a 9/11 widow who has been speaking out and argue, who argued for the 9/11 commission. She's gonna be talking to us about a new book that she's written about her experience."

8:31am: Ann Curry: "Well we've got a very serious topic coming up. We're gonna be talking to one of the 9/11 widows who's written a book about how she's gained such a political education in trying to fight for the creation of the 9/11 commission and she, she also, we want to get her reaction to what Ann Coulter said to you here on this program about, about 9/11 widows. Perhaps, enjoying, as she was describing-"
Lauer: "Speaking of a specific group but had some disparaging things to say."
Curry: "Exactly, exactly. So we're gonna get her reaction to that so she'll be talking to us in this half hour."

...

Lauer: "When we come back a serious story. One widow's emotional journey in the five years since 9/11. We'll talk to her, but first this is Today on NBC."

...

8:37am: Ann Curry: "Kristen Breitweiser went from wife to widow on the morning of 9/11. A stay-at-home mother the events of that horrific day led her to become an outspoken activist, a role she never imagined. She was a content suburban New Jersey mother devoted to her husband Ron and two-and-a-half-year-old Caroline. After 1644 days of marriage he was gone. Kristen Breitweiser grieved and grieved and then got angry."
Kristen Breitweiser: "September 11th was a devastating result of a catalogue of failures on behalf of our government and its agencies."
Curry: "She and other widows became well-informed activists, known as the Jersey Girls, they told their stories-"
Breitweiser: "My three-year-old daughter's most enduring memory of her father will be placing flowers on his empty grave."
Curry: "-sought answers, pressed officials and demanded a 9/11 commission."
Tom Kean: "From your grief you have drawn strength. You have given that strength to us."
Breitweiser: "What I do have control over is trying to affect change in this nation and to make us safe."
Curry: "They fought for legislation to do that, becoming media and political savvy along the way but Kristen says her most important job is being her now seven-year-old daughter's mom. Kristen Breitweiser has written a book about her experiences called Wake-Up Call: The Political Education of a 9/11 Widow. Kristen, good morning. First of all let's just say that your daughter's starting school today so I know it's an important day for you. You reveal in this book that you suffered some panic attacks for years after, initially, after 9/11. That you could not hear a plane go overhead without your heart seizing, without being, having difficulty breathing. After all you've been through in fighting for the creation of the 9/11 commission, looking closely in a way that most of us have not been able to, at, at the security or perhaps lack thereof, as you might say, in America. Are your, are your panic attacks gone? Are you feeling better about how safe we are?"
Breitweiser, on live with Curry: "Obviously they get less in degree as the time pulls away from the anniversary and from the day itself but I think what's upsetting is that we fought very hard in Washington to try to make the nation safer. We wanted an investigation to simply get answers why our loved ones were killed and five years out it's, it's very upsetting to find that we're not as safe as we can be, that the 9/11 commission recommendations were not paid attention to."
Curry: "What would be the one thing if you could change, change to make us safer?"
Breitweiser: "I think as an overall thing I prefer not to still be in a reactionary posture as a nation. I don't think that we should still be reacting to like the London airline plot."
Curry: "Which you, by the way, predicted in your book might happen and in fact that is what was foiled in, in, in British Isles."
Breitweiser: "That plot is from the mid-90s. It's not news to us and yet we're just not making it a priority. A perfect example. One of the reasons 9/11 happened, that we're told that it happened, was a failure to connect the dots. Five years later the FBI spent $170 million, still has an inoperable computer system, still cannot connect those dots."
Curry: "And you still and, and you also want bomb-sniffing dogs, for example."
Breitweiser: "Clearly."
Curry: "You know conservatives, as you know, well know, have attacked, criticized heavily 9/11 widows for, including you, for, for some of what you've said over these years, over these five years. In fact on this program, Ann Coulter, the writer, said something to, to Matt Lauer. Let's take a quick listen to what she said."
[Begin clip]
Matt Lauer: "9/11 widows. 'These broads are millionaires lionized on TV and in articles about them reveling in their status as celebrities and stalked by grief-arazzis. I've never seen people enjoying their husbands' death so much.'"
Ann Coulter: "Yes."
Lauer: "Because they dare to speak out?"
Coulter: "To speak out using the fact that they're widows. This is the Left's doctrine of infallibility..."
[End clip]
Curry: "Your reaction to what, what Ann Coulter said. This has become politicized Kristen."
Breitweiser: "You know I, I say frankly kudos to Ann Coulter. I think that what she's doing is what I wrote the book to inspire every American to do which is to have your voice heard, to engage in the political process. What I find unfortunate about Miss Coulter is that when you disagree with her she doesn't feel that you have a right to an opinion and I think that's unpatriotic but I think everyone needs to have their voice heard. We live in a wonderful country and-"
Curry: "But she's saying that you used your grief. She, I mean she's, what, do you want to respond to that?"
Breitweiser: "All I can say is that I, I hope she never knows what it's like to watch your husband get murdered on live worldwide television with your child standing next to you. To be barred from getting access to answers as to why that happens so that you could just look at your child and be able to explain to them and give them every answer to every question that they have. That's why we did what did. And I'm sorry that it was a battle. I'm sorry that this administration and the Republican Congress that we have now fought us every step of the way to try and learn lessons from that horrific day but that's what our goal was. Our motives were pure and we just wanted answers."
Curry: "Very quickly, I don't have a lot of time but I've got to get your President, your reaction to the President's announcement yesterday that he's pulling al Qaeda operatives from secret prisons and having them go to Guantanamo to face, basically to face justice. He wants to put them on trial as he says here, 'Nearly 3000 Americans on September 11th, 2001 can face justice,' and that's why he's doing it. Your reaction? Good move or bad move?"
Breitweiser: "You know, finally. I mean, you know, I've been asking why we're not prosecuting these gentlemen. We're a nation of laws, we are saying to the world that we bring terrorists to justice and I want to see someone, anyone held accountable for 9/11 and the murder of 3000 people."
Curry: "I've got to end here with something you write. You write to your deceased husband at the end of this book and you say, 'I look at your wedding band as a symbol, much like it was found buried beneath the smoldering rubble and ruins. I believe our country is buried somewhere beneath the current chaos waiting to be discovered so it too can shine again.' Kristen Breitweiser, from your, from your page to God's ears."
Breitweiser: "Thank you."
Curry, shaking hands: "Thank you so much this morning. Pleasure."
Breitweiser: "Thanks."
Curry: "And if you'd like to read an excerpt of Wake-Up Call: The Political Education of a 9/11 Widow you can find it on our Web site at today.msnbc.com."

Matthews Snickered at Wishing Bush Dead,
But on Kerry in 2004...

After Matthews pounded Malkin on how the Bush campaign should force the withdrawal of the Swift Vet ads, it was comical how out of control Matthews became. He wouldn't let Malkin speak for more than a few seconds without interrupting with outrage. See how very different Malkin was treated, compared with the execute-Bush joker.

[This item was adopted from a posting by Tim Graham, with video rendered from tape by the MRC's Karen Hanna, Thursday night on the MRC's NewsBusters blog. The 2004 audio/video clip, of Matthews pouncing on Malkin as he deliberately misconstrued her assertion Kerry suffered a "self-inflicted wound" to be an accusation "he shot himself on purpose," will be added to the posted version of this CyberAlert, but in the meantime, to watch the Real or Windows Media video, or MP3 audio, go to: newsbusters.org [20]

In a NewsBusters posting ( newsbusters.org [21] ), Geoffrey Dickens recounted how on Tuesday's Hardball, New York's Green Party candidate for Governor, Malachy McCourt, asserted:
"Capital punishment? I think that if, if I've got to find that guy in Spain who indicted Pinochet and get him for war crimes, and I get him to do the same thing for Bush. And in that case, I would be for capital punishment. Otherwise, I am against it. Spitzer, who is the other guy running here, he is for capital punishment for those who kill policemen. Well, my son is a cop in New York, and if somebody killed my son, and it wouldn't do me any good or give me any satisfaction to sit there in some death house in Sing Sing and watch them put some other person to death because they killed my son. That would not cheer me up one bit, Chris."
Matthews, smiling: "You just sound like a liberal Democrat, Malachy."

Not only did Matthews not challenge Malachy's heinous remark he actually smiled after his rant. In fact Matthews seemed charmed by McCourt as he ended the segment about two minutes later: "Well, I had to tell you, I hereby make my stand, I like you already. Malachy McCourt, Green Party candidate."

In contrast, back on the August 19, 2004 Hardball, Matthews infamously pounced on Michelle Malkin:

Malkin: "Why don't people ask him more specific questions about the shrapnel in his leg?"
Willie Brown, the other guest]: "He didn't get shot at in Alabama-"
Malkin: "There are legitimate questions about whether or not-"
Brown: "He didn't get shot at-"
Malkin: "-it was a self-inflicted wound."
Brown: "-a fighter pilot in Alabama."
Matthews: "What do you mean by self-inflicted? You say he shot himself on purpose? Is that what you're saying?"
Malkin: "Well, did you read-"
Matthews: "I'm asking you a simple question. Are you saying he shot himself on purpose?"
Malkin: "I'm saying that some of these soldiers..."
Matthews: "I'm asking a question."
Malkin: "And I'm answering it."
Matthews: "Did he shoot himself on purpose?"
Malkin: "Some of those, some of the, some of the soldiers have made allegations that these were self-inflicted wounds."
Matthews: "No, no, no one has ever accused him of shooting himself on purpose."
Malkin: "These, that these were self-inflicted wounds."
Matthews: "No, no, are you saying he shot himself on purpose?"
Malkin: "I'm saying that I read the book..."
Matthews: "That's a criminal act."
Brown: "Chris, that is the most irresponsible thing that-"
Malkin: "I read the book-"
Matthews: "Are you saying he shot himself on purpose? I want an answer yes or no, Michelle."
Malkin: "Some of the veterans say-"
Matthews: "No, there are-"
Malkin: "Yes. Some of the veterans say that!"
Matthews: "No one has ever accused him."

I didn't get this transcript from the actual program, but from the replay that Hardball put on the next day, as reporter David Shuster came in and defended his boss:
"No, none of them say that. What they do say in their book is that John Kerry, quote, 'got hit by a piece of shrapnel from a grenade that he had fired himself. He fired it too close to the shore, and it exploded on a rock or something.' If that actually caused Kerry's injury, it would be called in military terms a self-inflicted wound. But to the military, it is a descriptive term, not a damning one. And there is still no evidence Kerry intended to harm himself."

Back to the August 19, 2004 show:

Matthews: "Is there a direct accusation in any book you've ever read in your life that said John Kerry shot himself on purpose to get a credit for Purple Heart? On purpose? On purpose? Yes or no, Michelle?"
Malkin: "In the February 19, 1969-"
Matthews: "Yes."
Malkin: "In the February 19, 1969 event-"
Matthews: "Did they say he did it on purpose?"
Malkin: "There are doubts about whether or not-"
Matthews: "There are doubts about, that's-"
Malkin: "-there was intense rifle fire or not."
Matthews: "-the kind of, just tell me for a fact-"
Malkin: "And I wish you would ask these questions of John Kerry instead of me."
Matthews: "I had never heard anyone say he shot himself on purpose."
Malkin: "Have you, have you tried to ask?"
Matthews: "And I haven't heard you say it."
Malkin: "Have you tried to ask John Kerry these questions?"
Matthews: "If he shot himself on purpose? No, I have not asked him that."
Malkin: "Have you, don't you wonder?"
Matthews: "No, I don't. It's never occurred to me."

I just transcribed the rest of this today. With a stern face, Matthews went to commercial: "We're going to keep things clean on this show. No irresponsible comments are going to be on this show."

After the commercial, Matthews returned with Dana Milbank and David Gergen, and continued his protest: "Dana, what did make of that exchange we just had with Michelle Malkin there, saying that there's rumors out there, there's certain people out there that say John Kerry shot himself on purpose to get a Purple Heart. This is how bad it's gotten, I think."

When Milbank suggested that was a new one, Matthews whacked away again: "I think it occurred right here to our, our problem here. I hope I corrected it. Nobody who's watching now -- believe that, until you get some facts on a case like that. Don't believe that one. Til you know that it's a fact."

Ironically, of course, Malkin was trying to urge Matthews to seek the facts, instead of suggesting that fact-seeking was out of bounds.

In the original CyberAlerts in 2004, there were these items:

On August 23, we recounted Malkin's column on the brouhaha, and how Keith Olbermann stepped in to support John Kerry, who had not yet "won" Ohio: www.mrc.org [22]

On August 25, we recounted how Matthews whacked Malkin again on his show on the Monday, August 23 edition of Hardball: www.mrc.org [23]

On September 2, Sen. Zell Miller told Matthews not to pull another Malkin beating, with his own talk of lethal force: "I wish we lived in the day where you could challenge a person to a duel. Now, that would be pretty good. But don't ask me, don't pull that, don't pull that, wait a minute, don't pull that kind of stuff on me like you did that young lady when you had her there brow-beating her to death. I'm not her."
Matthews: "She was suggesting, let me tell, she was suggesting-"
Miller: "You get in my face, I'm gonna get back in your face." Matthews: "-that John Kerry purposely shot himself to win a medal, and I was trying to correct the record." See: www.mrc.org [24]

Malkin also wrote a blog post about her experience: michellemalkin.com [25]

Rush on CBS: 'Some Americans, Sadly,
Not Interested in Victory'

He soon zeroed in on the problem: "But some Americans, sadly, are not interested in victory. And yet they want us to believe that their behavior is Patriotic. Well, it's not. When the critics are more interested in punishing this country over a few incidents at Abu Grahib and Guantanamo Bay than they are in defeating those who want to kill us; when they seek to destroy a foreign surveillance program which is designed to identify those who want to kill us and how they intend to do it; when they want to grant those who want to kill us, U.S. constitutional rights, I don't call that patriotic."

[This item was posted, with video, Thursday night on the MRC's NewsBusters blog. The audio/video will be added to the posted version of this CyberAlert, but in the meantime, to watch the Real or Windows Media video, or MP3 audio, go to: newsbusters.org [29] ]

CBSNews.com has posted the text and video: www.cbsnews.com [30]

RushLimbaugh.com also has the video: www.rushlimbaugh.com [31]

The full text of Limbaugh's September 7 "freeSpeech" commentary on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric (text corrected against video of what aired, so it does not match CBS's posted transcript: www.cbsnews.com [32]

"My friends., it's time to face a hard cold fact: Militant Islam wants to kill us just because we're alive and don't believe as they do. And they have been killing us for decades. It is time to stop pretending these are mere episodic events and face the reality that our way of life is in grave danger. Now, this threat is not just going to go away because we choose to ignore it.
"Some say we try diplomacy. Yeah, well tell me, how do we negotiate with people whose starting point is our death? Ask them to wait for 10 years, before they kill us? When Good negotiates with Evil, Evil will always win. And peace follows victory, not words issued by diplomats.
"But some Americans, sadly, are not interested in victory. And yet they want us to believe that their behavior is Patriotic. Well, it's not. When the critics are more interested in punishing this country over a few incidents at Abu Grahib and Guantanamo Bay than they are in defeating those who want to kill us; when they seek to destroy a foreign surveillance program which is designed to identify those who want to kill us and how they intend to do it; when they want to grant those who want to kill us, U.S. constitutional rights, I don't call that patriotic.
"Patriotism is rallying behind the country, regardless of party affiliation, to defeat Islamo-Fascism. Patriotism is supporting our troops on the battlefield, not undermining the mission and morale. But let there be no doubt about this. America will prevail. We're the same country that survived a bloody Civil War, defeated the Nazis and the Soviets. Each generation has a responsibility to the next. Our generation will not disappoint."

-- Brent Baker