NBC Features Workers Demanding Social Security Not Be Touched --2/27/2004

1. NBC Features Workers Demanding Social Security Not Be Touched
Simplistic Stories on Social Security, first of two items. The night after the NBC Nightly News distorted Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's remarks on how Social Security cost of living hikes and the retirement age must be adjusted in order to shore up the program, by targeting Bush's tax cuts as the problem when Greenspan specifically said he favored making them permanent, the future anchor of the show, Brian Williams, delivered a story which assumed the Social Security program was threatened, when Greenspan merely suggested slight decreases in the rate of growth, and featured only people who demanded that the program not be touched. Williams highlighted a woman who "worries about getting back all the Social Security money she paid in." She maintained: "I am entitled to the money. It's my money. I've saved it."

2. ABC's GMA Showcases 50-Somethings Pleading for Maximum Payouts
Simplistic Stories on Social Security, second of two items. Experts have been warning for decades that the current financing of the Social Security system would not be able to sustain the current rate of benefits when Baby Boomers begin retiring in a few years, but ABC's Good Morning America on Thursday greeted Alan Greenspan's realistic suggestion of reducing benefit growth as cruel promise-breaking. Instead of asking a balanced panel of liberals and conservatives to debate various ways to solve the widely-acknowledged problem, ABC chose to publicize the pleadings of a handful of fifty-something workers, all of whom predictably demanded the maximum benefits without regard to who might have to pay for them.

3. Rooney Jokes About Crucifixion, Belittles Religion in General
Four days after he used his 60 Minutes platform to denigrate Mel Gibson as a "wacko" and a "nut case," Andy Rooney showed up Thursday on MSNBC's Imus in the Morning and further insulted Christian believers as he belittled Gibson's movie, The Passion of the Christ, and religious believers in general. Asked if he'd seen the movie which portrays the crucifixion of Jesus, Rooney derogatorily quipped: "I don't want to pay nine dollars just for a few laughs." He declared the movie "indefensible" on an intellectual basis and dismissed religion in general: "I think the real legitimate question about religion is whether or not it can be a force for good, even though it can't be defended, you know, historically, logically, or scientifically."

4. Time of Jesus "Not Unlike" the "Imperial Occupation" Now of Iraq
Not even a movie review of The Passion of the Christ is a safe-haven from a little Blame America First bashing of the U.S. "occupation" of Iraq. In a review for the San Francisco Chronicle, its religion reporter, Don Lattin, recalled how at the time of Jesus portrayed in the film "there were prophets, rebels, mystics, fundamentalists and more than one guy claiming to be the messiah." Lattin then asserted: "They all were trying to survive under the forces of an imperial occupation -- not unlike the Sunnis and the Shiites amid the chaos of today's Iraq."

5. Sawyer Gives O'Donnell Platform to Denounce Bush as "Vile"
Thursday's Good Morning America, proudly touting its "exclusive" in a constant on-screen graphic, provided Rosie O'Donnell with an unimpeded platform to proclaim her intention to "marry" her partner and to denounce George and Laura Bush with some over-the-top language. Diane Sawyer went along with "O'Donnell's PR line as she relayed how O'Donnell "might not be getting married today if the President hadn't announced he would deny rights awarded by some states with an amendment to the Constitution banning same-sex marriages." O'Donnell then charged that President Bush's comments in support of a constitutional amendment to define marriage as between a man and a woman, were "the most vile and hateful words ever spoken by a sitting President."

6. Matt Lauer Prods and Pushes Tim Robbins to Castigate Bush
On Wednesday's Today show NBC's Matt Lauer prodded and pushed outspoken liberal actor Tim Robbins to bash the Bush administration, urging him to deliver some "payback" for how he was criticized for expressing his anti-war views. Robbins came aboard to promote his off-Broadway play Embedded, which satirizes how reporters were sycophants for administration policy during the liberation of Iraq. During the session, Robbins said he doesn't mind criticism but draws the line at boycotts that cost actors jobs. However, Robbins himself once tried to end the career of a fellow actor.

7. FNC Picks Up on Misleading CBS Take on Repubs "Furious" at Bush
You read it here first. Wednesday night on the "Grapevine' segment on FNC's Special Report with Brit Hume, substitute anchor Jim Angle, picking up on the MRC's February 24 Media Reality Check which was reprinted in the February 25 CyberAlert, described how CBS News claimed that many Republicans are "furious" with Bush, though CBS's own poll found solid support for Bush amongst Republicans. Angle suggested Roberts got his notion from a New York Times story which conveyed some anecdotal quotes from supposed Republicans and mis-identified an independent guy as a Republican.

8. "Top Ten Things Heard Outside the New Mel Gibson Movie"
Letterman's "Top Ten Things Heard Outside the New Mel Gibson Movie."

NBC Features Workers Demanding Social
Security Not Be Touched

Simplistic Stories on Social Security, first of two items. The night after the NBC Nightly News distorted Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's remarks on how Social Security cost of living hikes and the retirement age must be adjusted in order to shore up the program, by targeting Bush's tax cuts as the problem when Greenspan specifically said he favored making them permanent, the future anchor of the show, Brian Williams, delivered a story which assumed the Social Security program was threatened, when Greenspan merely suggested slight decreases in the rate of growth, and featured people demanding that the program not be touched.

Williams highlighted a woman who "worries about getting back all the Social Security money she paid in." The woman maintained: "I am entitled to the money. It's my money. I've saved it."

Williams, naturally, never explained that the woman's money over the years has gone to retirees and she's expecting future workers to pay for her.

Thursday's CyberAlert explained how Greenspan told a House committee on Wednesday that the soon-to-be soaring number of retiring baby boomers will require that Social Security costs be reduced by slowing cost of living hikes and/or by raising the retirement age, but though Greenspan specifically said he favors making the Bush tax cuts permanent and strongly urged budget cuts over tax hikes to reduce the deficit, the NBC Nightly News distorted Greenspan's testimony and targeted the Bush tax cuts, which they bizarrely labeled "Bush's spending," for blame. Without mentioning actual spending, Tom Brokaw listed as a problem the "big tax cuts the President is determined to make permanent." David Gregory pointed to how "the President also wants to make his tax cuts permanent at an estimated cost of nearly $2 trillion over the next ten years." See: www.mediaresearch.org [1]

Tom Brokaw set up the February 26 NBC Nightly News story, as taken down by MRC analyst Brad Wilmouth: "Now to fallout from yesterday's testimony on the federal budget by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, in which he suggested cuts in Social Security are needed to get the deficit under control. NBC's Brian Williams tonight on 'Assignment: America' got some reaction."

Williams, over video of front of school with a blue flag over the door displaying "WSMS": "Inside this small, private elementary school in Manhattan, Mimi Basso came to work this morning thinking about retirement. She has no plans to retire, but these days, worries about getting back all the Social Security money she paid in."
Mimi Basso: "I am entitled to the money. It's my money. I've saved it."
Williams: "A few miles away at an AARP meeting in New York, it was a very hot topic."
Gwendolyn Vaughn, AARP Volunteer: "And it shouldn't be a matter of maybe, but it should be a definite decision made to preserve Social Security."
Williams, over video of talk host on WBAL: "And it struck a cord in Baltimore, where Social Security was the talk of talk radio. Greenspan's testimony made news instantly, but the truth is he said it many times before. The difference is this is an election year. Deficits are growing. The economy is front and center. There's another difference. Alan Greenspan is appointed to office. He's not elected. And any change in Social Security is potential political suicide for anyone hoping to be re-elected."
Leon Panetta, former Clinton Chief of Staff: "It's too hot. It's too explosive. And, frankly, neither side will see the benefit of doing what Alan Greenspan says they ought to do."
Williams: "Back when FDR launched Social Security, even when LBJ launched Medicare, Americans didn't live as long as they do today."
David Resler, Momura Securities International, Chief Economist: "In 1935, the life expectancy of a child born was 61 years. Now, it's closer to 80 years."
Williams, over newspaper headlines about Greenspan's testimony: "Some say fear may be the best motivator to fix Social Security. If Americans get fired up over it, the political will to get it right may be there. Mimi Basso says that money better be there when she needs it."
Basso conceded she lacks personal responsibility and seemingly didn't save any money herself as she assumed others would pay for her: "The day I turned 16, I got a job. And every single paycheck has had a deduction for Social Security and for Medicare. For 34 years, I've been counting on this money to fund my retirement."
Williams concluded: "Mimi Basso turns 65 in about 15 years along with about 70 million other Americans who will all be assuming the check is in the mail. Brian Williams, NBC News, New York."

ABC's GMA Showcases 50-Somethings Pleading
for Maximum Payouts

Simplistic Stories on Social Security, second of two items. Experts have been warning for decades that the current financing of the Social Security system would not be able to sustain the current rate of benefits when Baby Boomers begin retiring in a few years, but ABC's Good Morning America on Thursday greeted Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's realistic suggestion of reducing the growth of benefits as cruel promise-breaking.

[The MRC's Rich Noyes submitted this article for CyberAlert.]

Instead of asking a balanced panel of liberals and conservatives to debate various ways to solve the widely-acknowledged problem, ABC chose to publicize the pleadings of a handful of fifty-something workers, all of whom predictably demanded the maximum benefits without regard to who might have to pay for them.

"I think what Mr. Greenspan is proposing is ridiculous. People work their whole lives and look forward to retiring, not to stay at their job for the rest of their life," one woman whined.

"I certainly hope that there isn't any changes -- at least not until I get to retire," another woman selfishly admitted.

ABC did nothing to disabuse viewers of the commonly-held myth that their Social Security checks are merely the return of a lifetime of "investing" in some sort of savings account or guaranteed insurance program. In fact, the money sent to retirees each month is taken out of current workers' paychecks, and the number of people collecting benefits is growing faster than the number of workers forced to pay into the system.

The segment, which MRC analyst Jessica Anderson noticed, began with co-host Diane Sawyer briefly outlining what Greenspan said before a House committee on Wednesday and then announcing that it would be "interesting to ask some people at or near retirement to make their case to you about why the retirement age should not be raised."

It would have been nice to have heard one twenty-something worker complain about being taxed to fulfill the unrealistic promises of liberal politicians who have long since left office and are no longer accountable for the mess they've made.

Sawyer began: "Well, another political bombshell out there. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan threw the hand grenade into the presidential race when he told Congress it's time to get serious about, among other things, raising the retirement age for Social Security. In a nutshell, he said, there are so many aging Baby Boomers that they're going to bankrupt the system if something isn't done. President Bush has said benefits shouldn't be changed for people at or near retirement, but we thought it might be interesting to ask some people at or near retirement to make their case to you about why the retirement age should not be raised."

One after another, in a series of video clips, the workers all insisted on getting every penny they think they are due:

-- Rosemary Grotto: "My name is Rosemary Grotto. I'm 53 years old and I'm a school secretary for the Department of Education. I think what Mr. Greenspan is proposing is ridiculous. People work their whole lives and look forward to retiring, not to stay at their job for the rest of their life."

-- Susan Simone: "My name is Susan Simone. I'm 54 years of age. I'm employed in the room service department of a boutique hotel. This is something that was promised to us, this is something I paid into. We're not people that have been waiting for somebody to take care of us."

-- Joyce Ann Eager: "My name is Joyce Ann Eager. I'm 51 years old. I work in the development office of a parochial high school. When I heard the news, I was frightened."

-- Rob Green: "My name is Rob Green. I live in Glen Ellen, Illinois. I'm 53 years old. The consequences of the Alan Greenspan proposal will be detriment to my retirement."

-- Nancy Healey: "I'm Nancy Healey and I'm 55 years old, and I've been a school bus driver for 27 years. I certainly hope that there isn't any changes, at least not until I get to retire."

-- Green: "As a generation of the '50s, we're the ones that have been saving out monies in our 401(k)s, we've been doing all the right things, and now because there is an extraordinary deficit we are being threatened, almost, with having our retirement benefits cut."

-- Eager: "My biggest fear is what will there be when I've reach the point where I need to have that Social Security benefit?"

-- Simone: "Where do people in the government expect a 65-year-old woman to go and seek employment?"

-- Healey: "I certainly don't think that anybody needs to be driving a school bus when they're in their 70s, and I definitely don't plan on being behind a steering wheel then either."

Sawyer concluded by transmitting the liberal claim that rolling back the tax cuts for the wealthy would cure everything, though the level of revenue involves hardly covers the projected demands for Social Security payouts: "Some thoughts from around the country. Others who weighed in yesterday, of course, the presidential candidates. Democrat John Edwards said the answer is not to cut benefits, but to ban that tax cut for the wealthiest Americans, to revoke it. And according to one liberal think tank, Social Security crisis would be eased if you rolled back the Bush tax cuts for people making more than $293,000 a year, if you rolled 'em all back -- one crisis eased by that."

At least Sawyer managed to apply the "liberal" label.

Rooney Jokes About Crucifixion, Belittles
Religion in General

Four days after he used his 60 Minutes platform to denigrate Mel Gibson as a "wacko" and a "nut case," Andy Rooney showed up Thursday on MSNBC's Imus in the Morning and further insulted Christian believers as he belittled Gibson's movie, The Passion of the Christ, and religious believers in general. Asked if he'd seen the movie which portrays the crucifixion of Jesus, Rooney derogatorily quipped: "I don't want to pay nine dollars just for a few laughs."

He declared the movie "indefensible" on an intellectual basis and dismissed religion in general: "I think the real legitimate question about religion is whether or not it can be a force for good, even though it can't be defended, you know, historically, logically, or scientifically."

Asked about gay marriage, Rooney admitted he's in a bit of a conundrum and is "ambivalent" since he's basically against it, but "all the people who oppose gay marriage stand for everything I dislike."

As recounted in the February 24 CyberAlert, on the February 22 60 Minutes, Rooney lashed out, doing some name-calling, in the name of God, against Pat Robertson and Mel Gibson. Claiming to be relaying what God wanted him to say after Rooney had a conversation with him, Rooney passed along how God delivered insults as he said that "I wish you'd tell your viewers that both Pat Robertson and Mel Gibson strike me as wackos. I believe that's one of your current words. They're crazy as bedbugs" and "Mel is a real nut case. What in the world was I thinking when I created him?" Returning to his own voice, Rooney demanded: "My question to Mel Gibson is: How many million dollars does it look as if you're going to make off the crucifixion of Christ?"

For a full rundown of Rooney's 60 Minutes commentary: www.mediaresearch.org [2]

The MRC's Jessica Anderson took down the February 26 exchange, during the 8:30am EST half hour, between Don Imus and Rooney, who appeared by phone on Imus's radio broadcast which is simulcast by MSNBC:

Imus: "Have you seen this Mel Gibson movie?"
Rooney: "No, I haven't. I don't plan to see it. I mean, I don't want to pay nine dollars just for a few laughs."
Imus, laughing: "You're going to get in more trouble here this morning. That's just not-"
Rooney: "I mean, I have no interest whatsoever in seeing it. I know that violence and brutality sells and appeals to a lot of people, but I have no interest in putting myself through that. I mean, would you take your child to see that?"
Imus: "No, absolutely not, absolutely not, no. I mean, I understand, I'm not dismissing the belief of millions of people and I understand that it means something to a lot of people and I -- to be serious for two seconds -- I actually respect that, but I just don't want to see that. But I don't want to see people get shot in films and I don't want to see horror movies and I just, I don't want to go on these hideous, horrible amusement park rides."
Rooney: "And they try to defend it. I heard Rabbi Tom and Father Gelman [the "God Squad," Rooney jokingly mixing the names] defending it intellectually and it's indefensible."
Imus: "Well, I like both of 'em and I've had a long relationship with 'em and I wasn't going to be mean....Are you an atheist or agnostic? I'm not clear."
Rooney: "You know, Bertrand Russell [sp?] had a great line years ago -- I read it once and never got over it. Bertrand Russell said, one of the brightest person [sic] who ever, ever lived on this earth, said, 'It's foolish to say there is no God, but it's foolish to say there is a God, too. We don't know.' And I'll go with Bertrand Russell. I mean, it's just absurd to invent God to unburden our problems on him, and on the other hand, there are so many questions that are unanswered that, you know, we're looking for some solution to it and we have invented God."
Imus: "I've always thought that why not, because what if there is and what if it really is -- I know I'm going to sound like a moron -- but what if you, in fact, die and then you go to heaven and you're floatin' around on a cloud, and what if there is a God and you've denied him all your life and it doesn't cost anything to say-"
Rooney: "Well, if he's this real good guy, he wouldn't hold it against me. After all, he gave me everything I have and he gave me the ability to doubt him."
Imus: "Well, I think you've gotta believe, though, but then he would know if you were just jerking his chain, too, wouldn't he? Well, you've talked to him so you know what he knows."
Rooney: "Yeah. I think the real legitimate question about religion is whether or not it can be a force for good, even though it can't be defended, you know, historically, logically, or scientifically. I don't think so, but it is possible that religion has done so many bad things and is the source of so much evil in the world and yet there are people who are led to a better life because of it, so I suppose you could say that it has been good, even though you can't defend it intellectually."
Imus: "Well, I'm against, this is going to sound moronic, but I'm against people being mean to other people, including gays and anybody else."
Rooney: "Of course."
Imus: "So if this film, or anything else -- and I believe that, and I see examples of it, and I've lived in New York for 30 years, and I see examples of it far too frequently of anti-Semitism -- and if it encourages that sentiment in people, or if it has the potential to do that, then even though they may be morons, but if you're anti-Semitic, you've already declared yourself a moron. I mean, that would seem to be fairly empirical proof that you're an idiot. I would hope it doesn't do that, but who knows? Where are you on gay marriage, incidentally?"
Rooney: "Gosh, I wouldn't want to be running for office and have to stake where I stand. I mean, all the people who oppose gay marriage stand for everything I dislike, and yet I stand closer to them than I do to -- I mean, I would not say, I cannot say, Don. I really am ambivalent about it. I don't approve of making it legitimate and giving it all the good things that come with government-sanctioned marriage. On the other hand, I object to the people who oppose it. I can't say. I'm ambivalent."

He's certainly not ambivalent about Mel Gibson.

Time of Jesus "Not Unlike" the "Imperial
Occupation" Now of Iraq

Not even a movie review of The Passion of the Christ is a safe-haven from a little Blame America First bashing of the U.S. "occupation" of Iraq. In a review for the San Francisco Chronicle, its religion reporter, Don Lattin, recalled how at the time of Jesus portrayed in the film "there were prophets, rebels, mystics, fundamentalists and more than one guy claiming to be the messiah." Lattin then asserted: "They all were trying to survive under the forces of an imperial occupation -- not unlike the Sunnis and the Shiites amid the chaos of today's Iraq."

On Thursday, James Taranto in his "Best of the Web" column for OpinionJournal.com, www.opinionjournal.com [3] , titled, highlighted Lattin's review, "Truth and fiction of 'Passion'; Gibson film goes beyond Bible to tell story of Jesus' crucifixion."

For Lattin's February 25 piece in full: sfgate.com [4]

Sawyer Gives O'Donnell Platform to Denounce
Bush as "Vile"

Thursday's Good Morning America, proudly touting its "exclusive" in a constant on-screen graphic, provided Rosie O'Donnell with an unimpeded platform to proclaim her intention to "marry" her partner and to denounce George and Laura Bush with some over-the-top language. Diane Sawyer went along with "O'Donnell's PR line as she relayed how O'Donnell "might not be getting married today if the President hadn't announced he would deny rights awarded by some states with an amendment to the Constitution banning same-sex marriages."

O'Donnell then charged that President Bush's comments in support of a constitutional amendment to define marriage as between a man and a woman, were "the most vile and hateful words ever spoken by a sitting President, in my opinion. I am stunned and I'm horrified." Told by Sawyer that the First Lady noted how "same-sex marriage is a very, very shocking issue for some people," O'Donnell called the amendment "shocking and immoral."

At no time did Sawyer point out how the leading Democratic presidential candidates say that they oppose same-sex marriage, nor did O'Donnell have an unkind word for them.

Co-host Charles Gibson trumpeted at the top of the February 26 show: "Getting married, a Good Morning America exclusive interview with Rosie O'Donnell taking on the President, as she heads to San Francisco to wed her long-term partner."

Sawyer introduced the pre-taped interview which ran during the 7:30am half hour, as taken down by MRC analyst Jessica Anderson: "Well, now to our exclusive interview with Rosie O'Donnell. As we said, she is not only speaking out against President Bush and the constitutional ban on gay marriage, she's going to take action with her 34-year-old partner, Kelli Carpenter, a former dancer and marketing director at Nickelodeon. She's going to head to San Francisco today to wed, and she's told us yesterday that she's now decided that civil union is not enough, even though the word marriage, she knows, troubles many people."
O'Donnell: "I understand marriage is a word that is inciting people and it's divisive, and if civil unions were really, over a thousand and fifty federal protections that you do not get with civil unions, over a thousand federal rights that you will never have in civil unions."
Sawyer: "So a fully equal civil union would be okay with you. The word marriage is not the-"
O'Donnell: "No, you know, I understand why the word marriage is, you know, divisive, but what if when blacks and whites wanted to marry, they said, 'Well, you can get married, but we're not going to call it marriage. We're going to call it, you two are familied.' Well, when they go to Canada and they say, 'Are you married?' The answer would be 'no.' 'What are you?' 'We're familied.' 'Well, we don't know what that is in this country.' They're not protected in any other nation. They're not protected and, you know, you're not protected in an emergency room, you're not protected in so many ways, and they go, 'Well, you can, you know, set up your life.' You can't set up your life for federal spousal privilege.
"I never thought about marriage issues, never thought about the difference between civil unions or marriage until I got sued. There's something called spousal privilege, so what you say to your wife and/or husband, they can never be forced to testify against you."
Sawyer: "Rosie has been with Kelli Carpenter for years, but during the trial over her magazine, when they asked what you say to your spouse be privileged, they were denied the rights given to married, even divorcing, heterosexual couples."
O'Donnell: "We applied for spousal privilege after six years and four children of living together, and we were denied it by the state. As a result, everything that I said to Kelli, every letter that I wrote her, every e-mail, every correspondence and conversation was entered into the record of this case. After the trial, I am now and will forever be a total proponent of gay marriage."
President Bush: "Our nation must enact a constitutional amendment to protect marriage in America."
Sawyer: "Still, she says, she might not be getting married today if the President hadn't announced he would deny rights awarded by some states with an amendment to the Constitution banning same-sex marriages."
O'Donnell: "Seventeen times it's been amended, seventeen times to protect people. This would be the only time an amendment has been added in order to restrict people's rights. I think the actions of the President, which are, you know, in my opinion, the most vile and hateful words ever spoken by a sitting President, in my opinion. I am stunned and I'm horrified."
Sawyer: "And O'Donnell says she heard that quote from the First Lady who said, 'Same-sex marriage is a very, very shocking issue for some people.'"
O'Donnell: "I would like to tell Laura Bush and her husband I find this proposed amendment very, very, very, very shocking and immoral, and you know, if civil disobedience is the way to go about change, then I think a lot of people will be going to San Francisco, and I hope that they put more people on the steps to marry as many people as show up, and I hope everyone shows up."
Sawyer: "Once again, Rosie O'Donnell and Kelli Carpenter getting married in San Francisco today."

Reasonable people can disagree with Bush's proposed policy or strategy on the same-sex marriage issue, but it's hard to see anything "vile and hateful" in Bush's February 24 announcement which mainly recites the positive benefits for children of the institution of marriage between a man and a woman: www.whitehouse.gov [5]

Matt Lauer Prods and Pushes Tim Robbins
to Castigate Bush

On Wednesday's Today show NBC's Matt Lauer prodded and pushed outspoken liberal actor Tim Robbins to bash the Bush administration, urging him to deliver some "payback" for how he was criticized for expressing his anti-war views. Robbins came aboard to promote his off-Broadway play Embedded, which satirizes how reporters were sycophants for administration policy during the liberation of Iraq. During the interview, Robbins said he doesn't mind criticism but draws the line at boycotts that cost actors jobs. However, Robbins himself once tried to end the career of a fellow actor.

[MRC analyst Geoff Dickens submitted this item for CyberAlert.]

After Lauer congratulated Robbins on the various nominations and awards he received for his performance in Mystic River, including an Academy Award nomination, Lauer wondered if the actor/activist would turn the Oscar stage on Sunday into a nationally televised platform to slam Bush:
"I don't know if you're a betting guy. Las Vegas. The bookmakers have you as a 9 to 5 favorite to win Best Supporting Actor on Sunday night. If you win is it going to be, 'I'd like to thank the Academy and my wife,' and out of there? Or might you use that, that enormous stage to talk about some of the things on your mind over this past year?"
Robbins: "Well I'm doing that right now off-Broadway in New York City." [Holds up copy of Playbill from his play]
Lauer: "Well, but, no I'm gonna talk about that in a second. I'll talk about that in a second but when you stand up if you win, if you're fortunate enough to win."
Robbins: "It, you know listen, Matt it doesn't what-"
Lauer: "I'm not goading you into it."
Robbins: "No, no, I mean, I, I would do it if there was a pressing need for saying something. I think it, it really depends on the, on the moment, how I feel. I feel like I've been spontaneous in all of the awards I've received to say something about SAG actors in the, in the last award ceremony. I'm not, certainly not afraid to so, maybe I will, I don't know."

Robbins then got Lauer to help him plug his new off-Broadway play which takes shots at the Bush administration's Iraq policy: "Have you, so you haven't sat down and written anything that might address war and the administration?"
Robbins: "No, I'm, I did. It's called Embedded and it's playing at the Public Theater."
Lauer: "He's dragging me in this direction I'm gonna get there right now. Let's, is this payback time? I mean so much has happened. You were so out spoken about the war and what you thought was a rush to war by this administration. That it, inspections should have gone on longer and you became a target from the right. Is, is Embedded the way that you, kind of, it's payback?"
Robbins: "Well it's a way to channel some of the frustration and anger I had at the time into a piece of entertainment, something I've written. It's a satire. It, it pokes fun at some of the people that made those decisions and the rationale for making those decisions but at the same time it's a play about human beings that are affected by war. And there's three soldiers in the play that are portrayed, I think, in a very compassionate way. And, so, it's, it's, it's at, at, it's at once a satire but also it's a, it's a play about, about what happens to people."

After Robbins briefly discussed the importance of making the play entertaining, Lauer inquired about how Robbins dealt with the firestorm he created with his anti-war comments last year: "Talk to me a little bit about what you thought in terms of the reaction to your comments earlier in the year? You had appearances canceled, you were called a traitor, basically by a lot of people. What was fair? What goes with the territory for someone willing to speak his or her mind? What crossed the line?"
Robbins: "Well I don't, I don't know if there's anything fair about threatening someone's right to work. I think that, that's's crossing the line. I think when you talk about boycotts or you have a President that says about the Dixie Chicks, 'well they shouldn't get their feelings hurt if people don't buy their albums,' that's, in away, kind of an endorsement of a boycott. So I have a real hard time with that."
Lauer: "But don't we live our lives basically doing that without saying it? I mean we, we all make choices of what we consume based on what our feelings are on products and people who put out those products?"
Robbins: "We do but we don't appeal to corporations to not hire people. And that's I think where, where the line was crossed."

Robbins, however, was singing a different tune when it came to fellow thespian Elizabeth Hurley. In 2000 SAG actors went on strike against advertisers for higher residual pay. Robbins attacked Hurley for making an Estee-Lauder ad during the strike and called for Hurley's SAG card to be revoked. Lauer failed to catch Mr. Robbins hypocrisy on the issue. For more on media sympathy for Robbins' anti-war views and skipping up his attempt to black list Hurley, see the April 17, 2003 Media Reality Check: www.mrc.org [6]

For a brief review of Robbins' off-Broadway play check this Newsmax article: www.newsmax.com [7]

For the Internet Movie Database's page for Robbins: www.imdb.com [8]

FNC Picks Up on Misleading CBS Take on
Repubs "Furious" at Bush

You read it here first. Wednesday night on the "Grapevine' segment on FNC's Special Report with Brit Hume, substitute anchor Jim Angle, picking up on the MRC's February 24 Media Reality Check which was reprinted in the February 25 CyberAlert, described how CBS News claimed that many Republicans are "furious" with Bush, though CBS's own poll found solid support for Bush amongst Republicans. Angle suggested Roberts got his notion from a New York Times story which conveyed some anecdotal quotes from supposed Republicans and mis-identified an independent guy as a Republican.

Angle announced on the February 25 show: "CBS has reported that President Bush is in trouble with many Republican voters who are 'furious,' it said, about the lingering situation in Iraq and the massive job losses. But a new CBS poll, out a week before that report, shows 85 percent of Republicans approve of President Bush's handling of Iraq and 77 percent approve of his handling of the economy. So where might the idea that Republican were 'furious' have come from? Well the New York Times this past weekend published a story in which it quoted George Meagher, a Republican the Times said, who threw his heart and soul into the 2000 Bush campaign, but is now dissatisfied with the administration. It turns out, though, Meagher's not a Republican; he's an independent, as the Times itself had identified him an another story three weeks earlier. That has now been corrected."

The February 25 CyberAlert reported: Media Reality Check. "Anti-Bush Anecdotes Trump Pro-Bush Poll: While CBS's Poll Shows Huge GOP Majorities Backing Bush, CBS Reporter Finds a 'Fury' on the Right." On Monday night, John Roberts claimed that "many Republican voters are furious about the lingering situation in Iraq and the massive job losses under the President's watch." He made the same charge on Tuesday morning in reciting how Republicans are upset from the left, apparently just feeding off a New York Times story based on some anecdotal quotes. See: www.mediaresearch.org [9]

Clay Waters of the MRC's Times Watch project penned two items this week on the distorted presentation by the New York Times:

-- For "The Times' Anti-Republican Recycling Policy," a look at a Sunday Times story headlined, "Unhappy Bush Voters Weigh a Switch," see: www.timeswatch.org [10]

-- For "UPDATE: Rosenthal's Anti-Bush Quote Recycling," about a correction, sort of, from the Times, see: www.timeswatch.org [11]

For the latest on bias in the New York Times, check: www.timeswatch.org [12]

"Top Ten Things Heard Outside the New
Mel Gibson Movie"

From the February 25 Late Show, the "Top Ten Things Heard Outside the New Mel Gibson Movie." Late Show Web site: www.cbs.com [13]

10. "Hey -- no shoving, Monsignor!"

9. "I don't know why they added subtitles -- everyone speaks Aramaic"

8. "I'm hoping my medium Mountain Dew will miraculously be changed into an extra large Mountain Dew"

7. "These 'Lord of the Ring' films are getting odder and odder"

6. "Was this really based on a book?"

5. "Twelve dollars for a movie ticket? Now that's a sin, am I right, people?"

4. "The Pope loved it almost as much as "Barber Shop 2'"

3. "Uh...I don't feel like dinner right now."

2. "That was awesome when Trump fired Pontius Pilate"

1. "Don't tell me the ending"

# Donald Rumsfeld will NOT be on the Late Show tonight (Friday). Monday's CyberAlert previewed that scheduled appearance, but then Rumsfeld took off this week for Iraq and Afghanistan.

-- Brent Baker [14]