Walters Honors Pelosi as 'Most Fascinating' Person of 2006 --12/13/2006

1. Walters Honors Pelosi as 'Most Fascinating' Person of 2006
Barbara Walters ended her Tuesday night ABC News countdown special, "The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2006," by touting, near the end of the 10pm EST/9pm CST hour, incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as the "most fascinating person of 2006." The Web page promoting the special listed the first nine profiled (list below), but not Pelosi, as its text ended with a plug: "Who is the Most Fascinating Person of 2006? Tune in Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET to find out." Walters celebrated Pelosi's victory: "We picked our most fascinating person on election day this past November. Next month, Congress will get a Speaker of the House unlike any before. Our most fascinating person of 2006: Mother of five and Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi. In January, Nancy Pelosi will become the most powerful woman in America. She will assume office as the first-ever female Speaker of the House, two heartbeats from the presidency." Walters soon pleaded to Pelosi: "You've talked about sometimes using your mother-of-five voice. Now I sit here, and you're very gentle. Talk to me in the mother-of-five voice."

2. Pelosi 'Devout Catholic, American Everywoman' and Not So Liberal
This week, two Tribune newspapers, the Baltimore Sun and Los Angeles Times, ran laudatory profiles of incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In Tuesday's Baltimore Sun, reporter Matthew Hay Brown suggested liberal is just a "brand" Republicans have tried to burn on her. He began: "As she introduces herself next month to a national audience, incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be stressing her roots in working-class, Catholic Baltimore as a way of recasting the liberal image with which Republicans have tried to brand her." In 19 years in the House, however, Pelosi has a lifetime American Conservative Union rating of three out of 100. On Monday, in a story headlined "Pelosi Piques Public's Interest," Los Angeles Times reporter Faye Fiore portrayed Pelosi as not liberal but charismatic: "Only weeks ago, Republicans were doing their best in the heat of the campaign to paint Pelosi, 66, as a conservative's nightmare -- a San Francisco liberal out of touch with the American mainstream. But more recently, a poll measuring political charisma showed that she had 'dramatically improved her standing' with the public, sponsors of the survey said, with voters knowing her better and feeling warmer toward her."

3. Kucinich: A Fan of Cafferty's Comment that Iraq Is 'Hell Hole'
Ever wonder who the constituency is for CNN's Jack Cafferty? Apparently one member of his fan club is far left Democratic Congressman, and 2008 presidential aspirant, Dennis Kucinich. During the Tuesday edition of The Situation Room, Cafferty delivered another angry diatribe, labeling Iraq a "hell hole" and, once again, calling the Fox News Channel "the F-word network." A few minutes later, Kucinich admired Cafferty's take: "If you looked at 'The Cafferty File,' you can see that, look, it's a hell hole. We need to bring the troops home."

4. Troops in Iraq Express Frustration with the Media to Hannity
The bravest and most patriotic of Americans, those who see first hand what goes on in Iraq, can see the liberal bias in the media. On Monday's Hannity & Colmes, co-host Sean Hannity recounted from his recent trip to Iraq how many in uniform there feel the media paint a grimmer picture than the reality on the ground. Hannity first offered this comment when talking with Oliver North reporting from Ramadi, Iraq and later in the program FNC showed video of a soldier in Mosul who complained: "The bottom line is that from we hear what is being said in the media back home, but we're here and we see a totally different side of what's happening."

Walters Honors Pelosi as 'Most Fascinating'
Person of 2006

Barbara Walters ended her Tuesday night ABC News countdown special, "The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2006," by touting, near the end of the 10pm EST/9pm CST hour, incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as the "most fascinating person of 2006." The Web page promoting the special listed the first nine profiled (list below), but not Pelosi, as its text ended with a plug: "Who is the Most Fascinating Person of 2006? Tune in Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET to find out." See: abcnews.go.com [1]

Walters celebrated Pelosi's victory: "We picked our most fascinating person on election day this past November. Next month, Congress will get a Speaker of the House unlike any before. Our most fascinating person of 2006: Mother of five and Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi. In January, Nancy Pelosi will become the most powerful woman in America. She will assume office as the first-ever female Speaker of the House, two heartbeats from the presidency." Walters soon pleaded to Pelosi: "You've talked about sometimes using your mother-of-five voice. Now I sit here, and you're very gentle. Talk to me in the mother-of-five voice." She also asked Pelosi to confirm that she thinks President Bush is "incompetent and irresponsible and not a leader?"

In her 1994 special, however, Walters did not make the then-incoming House Speaker after a party change, Newt Gingrich, her "most fascinating person of 1994." That honor went to Nelson Mandela on the December 13, 1994 show and Gingrich was not one of the other nine, a list which included Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, Rupert Murdoch (for getting NFL games on Fox), Barbra Streisand and Jimmy Carter ("In his post-White House years, he seems to have left the mark that alluded his presidency and brought the role of ex-President to a new state of grace").

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

This year's "most fascinating," in order of presentation: Andre Agassi, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie (count as one), Joel Osteen, "Jay-Z," Steve and Terri Irwin (one), Anna Wintour, Sacha Baron Cohen, John Ramsey, Patrick Dempsey and Nancy Pelosi.

The "most fascinating person of 2006" segment at the end of the December 12 ABC News special:

Barbara Walters: "We picked our most fascinating person on election day this past November. Next month, Congress will get a Speaker of the House unlike any before. Our most fascinating person of 2006: Mother of five and Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi."
Nancy Pelosi on election night: "Today we have made history."
Walters: "In January, Nancy Pelosi will become the most powerful woman in America. She will assume office as the first-ever female Speaker of the House, two heartbeats from the presidency."
Walters to Pelosi: "What do you think it means, not just for women, but for women in politics?"
Pelosi: "I have to say with some level of immodesty that it really is big. The response that we have gotten from all over the country, from fathers with daughters, from just everyone, has been tremendous."
Walters, narrating: "At 66 and elegantly clad in designer clothes, this grandmother of six doesn't look tough, but she's opposed President Bush on everything from Medicare to Iraq."
Pelosi at a press conference: "What he says is not in touch with reality."
Walters: "We met at the Capitol, and she took me on a tour of Statuary Hall, a place you don't find a lot of women."
Walters to Pelosi: "Here you are, this petite, feminine woman. To be Speaker of the House, do you have to be tough as nails?"
Pelosi: "Well, I, as I said, during, before winning, I said to my colleagues, 'you have to eat nails for breakfast, don a full suit of armor, and go into battle every day.'"
Walters: "Pelosi learned about political reality early on. Her father was Baltimore Mayor Thomas D'Alesandro. She married after college and was a stay-at-home mother, having five children in six years with real estate developer Paul Pelosi. She didn't run for Congress from San Francisco until 1987, when her youngest child was a senior in high school. In 2002, she became the leader of the Democrats in Congress. And this November, fiercely insisting on party loyalty, she led them to victory."
Walters to Pelosi: "Your father was the Mayor of Baltimore and a Congressman. One of your brothers was the Mayor. Did they encourage you to be in politics or did they think, 'no, Nancy's gonna be married, have the kids, that's fine'?"
Pelosi: "I was raised in a very protective Italian-American home where we weren't encouraged -- girls weren't encouraged take risks. But when I did, succeed, they were very happy. If they would have been very happy, though, if I had just, been a mom. Not just, though, that's the most important thing."
Walters: "You've talked about sometimes using your mother-of-five voice. Now I sit here, and you're very gentle. Talk to me in the mother-of-five voice."
Pelosi: "Well, the mother-of-five voice is a little louder and it has a tone of 'I'm only going to say this once.'"
Walters: "And if they don't listen, then what does the mother-of-five voice do?"
Pelosi: "I won't repeat it."
Walters: "Before the election, you called President Bush incompetent, irresponsible. You said he was not a leader. I mean, you say these things about him, then now it's all fine."
Pelosi: "Well, I don't know that it's all fine now."
Walters: "Well, do you feel that he's incompetent and irresponsible and not a leader?"
Pelosi: "Well, I made those remarks in, in reference to the war in Iraq and, oh yes, I just stick by them. This war is a tremendous blunder."
Walters: "The big question is, of course, when do we withdraw the troops? Do you think it's within six months?"
Pelosi: "Well, I think we should have begun the withdrawal of the troops sooner than now. I think we're long overdue."
Walters: "Outside of leaving the war, which is a big outside-"
Pelosi: "Absolutely."
Walters: "When you become Speaker, what is your number one objective?"
Pelosi: "What we have to do is drain the swamp in Washington, D.C. Until we drain the swamp and bring integrity to the political process, we won't be able to go forward."
Walters: "It's a big, dirty swamp?"
Pelosi: "It's a big, dirty swamp. That's why, on the very first day of Congress, we will break the link between lobbyist and legislation."
Walters: "Year after year, we always hear whoever's in power is going to be the, the new force of integrity. And it rarely is. So the Democrats are gonna be able to clean up that swamp?"
Pelosi: "Maybe it'll take a woman to clean up the House. That is what I think, but we have to do it."
Walters: "If somebody didn't know you, how would you describe yourself?"
Pelosi: "Well, first of all, I would describe myself as a wife and mother and grandmother."
Walters: "And politician?"
Pelosi: "I'm proud of the, the term 'politician.' But now I like Speaker of the House."

Pelosi 'Devout Catholic, American Everywoman'
and Not So Liberal

This week, two Tribune newspapers, the Baltimore Sun and Los Angeles Times, ran laudatory profiles of incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In Tuesday's Baltimore Sun, reporter Matthew Hay Brown suggested liberal is just a "brand" Republicans have tried to burn on her. He began: "As she introduces herself next month to a national audience, incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be stressing her roots in working-class, Catholic Baltimore as a way of recasting the liberal image with which Republicans have tried to brand her." In 19 years in the House, however, Pelosi has a lifetime American Conservative Union rating of three out of 100. See: www.acuratings.org [3]

On Monday, in a story headlined "Pelosi Piques Public's Interest," Los Angeles Times reporter Faye Fiore portrayed Pelosi as not liberal but charismatic: "Only weeks ago, Republicans were doing their best in the heat of the campaign to paint Pelosi, 66, as a conservative's nightmare -- a San Francisco liberal out of touch with the American mainstream. But more recently, a poll measuring political charisma showed that she had 'dramatically improved her standing' with the public, sponsors of the survey said, with voters knowing her better and feeling warmer toward her."

[This item is adopted from two NewsBusters postings by Tim Graham: newsbusters.org [4]
And: newsbusters.org [5] ]

The Baltimore Sun's Brown reported in his December 13 profile: "An unusual four-day schedule of festivities to celebrate her swearing-in is tentatively scheduled to begin in Baltimore on Jan. 2 at the Church of St. Leo the Great in Little Italy," where she attended Mass as a child. Later in the article, the priest at St. Leo's is surprised, saying "he hadn't heard about an event there."

The reporter continued: "After a bruising midterm election in which Republicans portrayed her as out of touch with mainstream values, Pelosi will be using the appearance in Baltimore -- as well as a Mass at her alma mater, a reception at the Italian Embassy and other events -- to present a very different image: that of a Roman Catholic mother and grandmother who worked her way up from working-class roots to become the first Italian-American and first woman speaker." Jamieson helpfully explained the strategy is to "Feature those facets of biography that make it harder for people to say 'San Francisco liberal.'"

Here's one sign Brown is too busy acting like a publicist to play reporter: how does Pelosi reconcile this Catholic upbringing with her ardent San Francisco liberal positions on social issues, in favor of abortion on demand and gay marriage? Don't these positions represent a rebuke to Catholic teachings? Will she have trouble with bishops like John Kerry did in the 2004 campaign? Those issues never appear. The whole article is designed to roll out a public relations strategy, not test its accuracy.

Speaking of inaccuracy, the article gets downright put-your-beverage-down hilarious when Jamieson claimed that Pelosi needs twice as many days of ceremony as incoming Newt Gingrich in 1995 because "Speaker Gingrich wasn't trying to overcome a lot of stereotypes. He hadn't been regularly vilified by the other side."

Forget the "other side." How much was Gingrich vilified by the "objective" media? At article's end, Jamieson really draws out the Pelosi appeal to Catholics:
"'She's mentioned 'grandmother' at appropriate times in the past as a way of telegraphing, 'I'm not who you think I am,'" Jamieson said. 'The Catholic Mass also signals something very important. The Democratic Party wants those defecting Catholics who have voted for Republicans for a long time but came back to the Democratic Party in 2006 to see the Democratic Party as home. And there is a real advantage to stressing long-lived marriage to one person, mother of five, grandmother.'"

Why do liberals suggest that being married for a long time somehow makes you a political moderate? Pelosi has even tried to twist Catholic teaching like taffy, claiming: "I believe that my position on choice is one that is consistent with my Catholic upbringing, which said that every person has a free will and has the responsibility to live their own lives in a way that they would have to account for in the end."

But the Baltimore Sun didn't want a debate on Pelosi's political or religious beliefs. They presented instead a rebuttal to those nasty Republicans who would insist on actually assessing her public record as a politician.

For the Sun article: www.baltimoresun.com [6]

The Baltimore Sun wasn't alone in promoting Nancy Pelosi, not even among its fellow newspapers in the Tribune publishing group. On Monday, in a story headlined "Pelosi Piques Public's Interest," Los Angeles Times reporter Faye Fiore portrayed Pelosi as an object of public fascination:
"As Pelosi prepares to be sworn in Jan. 4 as the first female speaker of the House, she has become an object of fascination and curiosity in political circles and beyond. Barbara Walters interviewed her as one of the year's 10 most fascinating people. People magazine has written about her twice in recent weeks. An article in a Palm Springs newspaper ran with the headline: 'How To Get the Nancy Pelosi Look.' (Answer: an Armani suit.)
"Only weeks ago, Republicans were doing their best in the heat of the campaign to paint Pelosi, 66, as a conservative's nightmare -- a San Francisco liberal out of touch with the American mainstream. But more recently, a poll measuring political charisma showed that she had 'dramatically improved her standing' with the public, sponsors of the survey said, with voters knowing her better and feeling warmer toward her."

Fiore also claimed that Pelosi's "events in the first week of January will try to plant Pelosi's version of her life story in the national consciousness, showing her as an Italian American and devout Catholic from Baltimore." Fiore calls Pelosi's swearing-in an "inauguration" (she ran for president) and a test: "The impending inauguration kicks off the contest over who will define Nancy Pelosi: Republicans who see her as a reckless liberal, or Pelosi herself, who wants to be seen as an American Everywoman, leading her party on a steady course to the center."

Then, look who arrives in the story, but liberal Kathleen Hall Jamieson:
"'She is trying to dispatch the stereotype put forth by Republicans,' said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. 'The advantage she has is the country didn't know her before. Her challenge will be to take votes cast against Republicans and the war in Iraq and transform them into votes for the Democratic Party in 2008.'"

Fiore added: "Four months ago, Pelosi barely registered on the name recognition scale, which served her well at the time; GOP attempts to demonize her fell flat because few knew who she was.
"Now many more do.
"'This is a dangerous time in terms of public reception. She has the newsworthiness but not the power,' said former Democratic strategist Paul Begala."

Predictably, there was no conservative or Republican in the piece to disagree. As for the "American Everywoman" stance, does every American woman have a $6,000 Tahitian pearl necklace? See the article's beginning and end for more: www.latimes.com [7]

Kucinich: A Fan of Cafferty's Comment
that Iraq Is 'Hell Hole'

Ever wonder who the constituency is for CNN's Jack Cafferty? Apparently one member of his fan club is far left Democratic Congressman, and 2008 presidential aspirant, Dennis Kucinich. During the Tuesday edition of The Situation Room, Cafferty delivered another angry diatribe, labeling Iraq a "hell hole" and, once again, calling the Fox News Channel "the F-word network." A few minutes later, Kucinich admired Cafferty's take: "If you looked at 'The Cafferty File,' you can see that, look, it's a hell hole. We need to bring the troops home."

[This item is adopted from a Tuesday posting, by Scott Whitlock, on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org [8] ]

During his 4:12pm EST "Cafferty File" segment, the CNN reporter discussed the President's decision to delay any announcements on Iraq:
"And yet, President Bush told Brit Hume over at the F-word network, in an interview the other day, that the load of the war in Iraq is, quote, 'not heavy,' unquote. He called it a joyful, not a painful experience, because millions of Americans are praying for him. So, as our soldiers get ready to spend their fourth Christmas in this hell hole, here is the question: 'How long should it take President Bush to figure out what to do in Iraq?"

A few minutes later, at 4:20pm EST, Situation Room host Wolf Blitzer, interviewed Congressman Kucinich, who seemed unable to stop referencing Cafferty's comments: "I say this is the time to bring the troops home. If you looked at 'The Cafferty File,' you can see that, look, it's a hell hole. We need to bring the troops home. And, so, my position and my, my race for the presidency is about consistency; It's about a quest for integrity. It's about, about saying the money is there to bring the troops home so let's bring them home. What are we waiting for?"

Kucinich soon added: "And so I'm challenging all the Democratic candidates for President on this point., If you vote for funding for the war, don't tell the American people you're opposed to the war. If you vote for funding of the war, don't bemoan the plight of the troops. We can bring the troops home right now right now. I listened to Jack Cafferty's, Jack Cafferty's report. I mean, our hearts go out to all of those families whose, whose sons and daughters are paying a horrible price for the misjudgment of this administration."

Quite a fan base Cafferty has.

A transcript of the December 12 "Cafferty File" segment:
"Wolf, President Bush apparently in no hurry now to come up with a change of strategy in Iraq. I mean, hey, what is the rush? Things are going so well over there, right? Last week, he got the Iraq Study Group report amid expectations he might announce a change in strategy sooner rather than later. Now it looks like it's going to be later. Instead of a Christmas present to the nation and the people of Iraq and to stop the insanity, the decider has decided not to decide until January. In the meantime, American troops get butchered every day. The American death toll approaching 3000 now as December looks to be a very bloody month. 47 soldiers and Marines have been killed in Iraq since December 1st. And since the start of the war now, 2937 U.S. Troops have been killed. And for innocent Iraqi civilians, it is much, much worse on a daily basis. Today, 71 Iraqis looking for a job, hoping to find a day's work so they could feed their families, were slaughtered by a suicide truck bomber in Baghdad and 220 additional Iraqi civilians were injured. And yet, President Bush told Brit Hume over at the F-word network, in an interview the other day, that the load of the war in Iraq is, quote, 'not heavy,' unquote. He called it a joyful, not a painful experience, because millions of Americans are praying for him. So, as our soldiers get ready to spend their fourth Christmas in this hell hole, here is the question: 'How long should it take President Bush to figure out what to do in Iraq? E-mail your thoughts to Caffertyfile@cnn.Com [9] or go to Cnn.com/Cafferty file."

Troops in Iraq Express Frustration with
the Media to Hannity

The bravest and most patriotic of Americans, those who see first hand what goes on in Iraq, can see the liberal bias in the media. On Monday's Hannity & Colmes, co-host Sean Hannity recounted from his recent trip to Iraq how many in uniform there feel the media paint a grimmer picture than the reality on the ground. Hannity first offered this comment when talking with Oliver North reporting from Ramadi, Iraq and later in the program FNC showed video of a soldier in Mosul who complained: "The bottom line is that from we hear what is being said in the media back home, but we're here and we see a totally different side of what's happening."

[This item is adopted from a posting, by Justin McCarthy, on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org [10] ]

To North, Hannity recalled what he observed on his trip with Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld: "You know Colonel, one of the things without fail, wherever the Secretary went, he was greeted like a rock star. I mean, the troops love him. And the one theme that kept coming back to me, and they watched TV regularly, they've had Fox News on almost everywhere I went, is that the media was not portraying this accurately, and they did mentioned, quite often, the disdain and the disgust at the portrayal of, of their efforts and the politics that's going on behind here in America. I assume that, this now your eighth trip to Iraq, you're hearing a lot of the same thing."

Later in the show, Hannity played his taped discussions with U.S. troops in Mosul. There, one soldier spoke up on the media portrayal of the situation in Iraq.

U.S. soldier: "The bottom line is that from we hear what is being said in the media back home, but we're here and we see a totally different side of what's happening."
Hannity: "Explain that. What's the difference between what people hear at home and what's happening here?"
U.S. soldier: "A good example: This past Tuesday we went out to the city to deliver school supplies to children."
Hannity: "And we're in Mosul just so people know.
U.S. soldier: "And the Iraqi Army actually provided our security for us. We didn't have any problems. The locals, they were, you know, they were a little bit shy and nervous but, you know, absolutely-"
Hannity: "So that sort of transition is happening successfully."
Soldier: "Oh yeah, oh yeah."

-- Brent Baker