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1. NBC's Williams Avoids Controversy with Edwards, Not with Giuliani
Three weeks ago, when NBC anchor Brian Williams interviewed Rudy Giuliani, Williams raised Giuliani's closeness to Bernard Kerik and pressed him on Iraq as he pointed out how 2007 had become "the bloodiest year" in the war, but in an interview with John Edwards aired Tuesday night, Williams stuck to softballs and didn't bring up the indictment of a major Edwards donor or push Edwards about how the "surge" in Iraq he rejected is working. The two interviews are the most recent in the "Making of the President" series on the NBC Nightly News. In the taped session with Republican presidential candidate Giuliani aired on November 6, Williams inquired: "Let's talk about your friend Bernard Kerik. Press reports are, as recently as today, that he could be a few days away from indictment, perhaps. When was the last time, first of all, that you spoke with him?" And on Giuliani supporting the war: "We just learned today '07 is the bloodiest year in Iraq. What would you do in Iraq starting today?" But with Democratic candidate Edwards Tuesday night, Williams stuck to the horse race and sympathetic personal issues.
2. ABC's Moran: Obama a 'Fresh Face' Who Represents 'Real Change'
According to Nightline host Terry Moran, Iowa voters are listening to Barack Obama's "real argument, that he is tomorrow, a fresh face who represents a real change from our bitter, polarized politics." The ABC anchor, who profiled the Democratic candidate for the Tuesday edition of the program, spent part of the interview interpreting the feelings of caucus voters. He gushed: "You get the sense they know they might be part of something big here, something historic." After listening to one Iowan laud Obama's leadership, he prompted the man: "It would be an historic thing, Barack Obama?"
3. Russert Praised Clinton on Mideast Peace Then, Scoffs at Bush Now
On Tuesday's Today show NBC's Washington bureau chief, Tim Russert, scoffed at President Bush's attempt to broker Middle East peace at the Annapolis conference, as he derided it as a "Hail Mary pass." However, nine years ago, when Bill Clinton made a failed attempt at Mideast peace, in the midst of his impeachment, Russert praised the former President on the October 23, 1998 Today show: "As the impeachment hearings grind on, could you have a situation where next year the President cannot go to the Judiciary Committee on a particular day because he's receiving the Nobel Peace Prize? That's the kind of irony the White House looks at as they look at the success of President Clinton on this day."
4. NBC Highlights Returning Iraqis: 'I Can't Wait to Get Back'
"There is a noticeable trend under way. A growing stream of Iraqis who left to escape the killing, many of them going to Syria, now reversing their migration," anchor Brian Williams highlighted Tuesday evening as the NBC Nightly News became the first broadcast network evening newscast to air a full report on the trend. From Baghdad, reporter Tom Aspell showcased a mother who exclaimed: "I'm so excited" and "I can't wait to get back." Aspell explained: "Though safer, life in Syria turned out to be hard. $300 a month rent and food for the family of seven wiped out their savings. So when the Iraqi government offered free bus tickets to Baghdad, today's opportunity was too good to miss." Adding the caveat that a safer Iraq is not the main motivator, Aspell noted: "A recent UN survey...found most Iraqi refugees are returning home not because Iraq is any safer, but because they're running out of money, and Syria is clamping down on visas." Aspell, however, acknowledged upbeat trends: "Refugees coming back to Baghdad are going to see a lot of changes. There are more people in the streets, shops are open and traffic everywhere." Though Aspell pointed out how "it is still a dangerous city," another mother, nonetheless, decided: "Thank God we returned and found the situation better than when we left."
5. Not Prejudiced, But 'I Don't Want...a Colored Man' as President
In the self-incriminating quote of the night, an unidentified white man, in a Tuesday night CBS Evening News story on Barack Obama, insisted "I don't want to sound prejudiced or anything," but then proceeded to declare: "I don't want to vote for a colored man to be our President." The soundbite aired during a piece from Dean Reynolds on Obama's racial identity and how it gives some blacks "pause" because "he is not the descendant of African slaves, but is the son of a white mother and a Kenyan father." Reynolds, reporting from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, concluded by observing that "of course, there are whites who will never vote for Obama because he is black." The unidentified man, standing in what looked like a store, then asserted in a soundbite: "I don't want to sound prejudiced or anything, but for one I'm not gonna, I don't want to vote for a colored man to be our President."
 NBC's Williams Avoids Controversy with
Edwards, Not with Giuliani
Three weeks ago, when NBC anchor Brian Williams interviewed Rudy Giuliani, Williams raised Giuliani's closeness to Bernard Kerik and pressed him on Iraq as he pointed out how 2007 had become "the bloodiest year" in the war, but in an interview with John Edwards aired Tuesday night, Williams stuck to softballs and didn't bring up the indictment of a major Edwards donor or push Edwards about how the "surge" in Iraq he rejected is working. The two interviews are the most recent in the "Making of the President" series on the NBC Nightly News.
In the taped session with Republican presidential candidate Giuliani aired on November 6, Williams inquired: "Let's talk about your friend Bernard Kerik. Press reports are, as recently as today, that he could be a few days away from indictment, perhaps. When was the last time, first of all, that you spoke with him?" And on Giuliani supporting the war: "We just learned today '07 is the bloodiest year in Iraq. What would you do in Iraq starting today?"
But with Democratic candidate Edwards Tuesday night, Williams stuck to the horse race and sympathetic personal issues, wondering about the impact of Oprah Winfrey -- "a formidable celebrity" -- campaigning for Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton's contention she will be the nominee, the status of his wife's health and Williams cued him up to elucidate his foreign policy expertise: "If you had to pick one, what one foreign country, currently, keeps John Edwards up at night?"
[This item was posted late Tuesday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]
Back on September 20, the Washington Post reported that "Democrat John Edwards's list of bundlers includes well-known fellow trial lawyer William S. Lerach, who raised $80,000 from his family and law firm partners for the candidate..." See: www.washingtonpost.com
Just over a month later, the October 30 Washington Post recounted Lerach's illegal conduct:
The California plaintiff's attorney who helped turn class-action lawsuits into a lucrative trend pleaded guilty yesterday to a conspiracy charge stemming from his role in a wide-ranging kickback scheme.
William S. Lerach, 61, acknowledged in a Los Angeles courtroom that he and his former partners at the Milberg Weiss firm hid payments to people who served as repeat plaintiffs in their class-action suits.
According to federal prosecutors, the lawyers found people who held shares -- often only a few -- in companies that were accused of fraud. By getting those people to sign up as early plaintiffs in civil lawsuits against the companies, Lerach and his firm were able to exert greater control over the cases and reap additional fees. In all, the scheme infected more than 150 cases over the past two decades, bringing Lerach and his partners well over $200 million, according to court papers.
Under the terms of the plea agreement, Lerach will face as many as two years in prison when he is sentenced Jan. 14. He is scheduled to pay the government nearly $8 million in fines and penalties....
For the entire article: www.washingtonpost.com
The MRC's Brad Wilmouth collected the questions Williams posed in the excerpts aired of the two interviews:
# Giuliani segment on the November 6 NBC Nightly News:
BRIAN WILLIAMS: Earlier today in Washington, we sat down with the national front-runner in the race for the GOP presidential nomination, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Walking around Washington, the native New Yorker says he likes the capital city just fine. He first moved there after he became a Republican. And as part of our "Making of a President" series, we started off today by talking about that decision.
WILLIAMS: What does Washington, coming back to this city, mean to you?
WILLIAMS: You've been fairly tough recently on Senator Clinton. What are your personal feelings about the Senator?
WILLIAMS: Let's talk about your friend Bernard Kerik. Press reports are, as recently as today, that he could be a few days away from indictment, perhaps. When was the last time, first of all, that you spoke with him?
GIULIANI: Maybe six months ago, a year ago. I don't remember.
WILLIAMS: That long?
GIULIANI: Yeah, a long time.
WILLIAMS: Will you stand by him, support him if, in fact, he's indicted?
WILLIAMS: Were you stung by at all or amused by what Joe Biden said about you in Philadelphia last Tuesday night? He diagramed a Rudy Giuliani sentence: noun, verb, 9/11. It was the biggest laugh line of the night. You're laughing now.
WILLIAMS: We just learned today '07 is the bloodiest year in Iraq. What would you do in Iraq starting today?
WILLIAMS: Would you consider going, between now and the presidential election to Iraq?
WILLIAMS: You are, looking around the rest of the party, an aberration. Can we agree on that point?
WILLIAMS: Is your message going to continue to be, can you afford it to continue to be, "Take me as I am."
# Edwards segment on the November 27 NBC Nightly News:
BRIAN WILLIAMS: Tonight, "In Depth," we continue our "Making of the President" series with our conversation here in New York today with Senator John Edwards. The former Democratic Senator from North Carolina ran for VP under Senator Kerry last time. This time, he's made a huge investment in Iowa, where a lot of the talk instead is about Clinton and Obama. This weekend, he's up against the high wattage barnstorming of Bill Clinton and Oprah Winfrey. I started out by asking Senator Edwards what effect that might have on his campaign.
WILLIAMS: Oprah Winfrey, though, is a formidable celebrity in this country.
WILLIAMS: Newsweek ran a piece recently that said, in effect, where John Edwards is concerned, no more Mr. Nice Guy.
WILLIAMS: Senator Clinton yesterday told an interviewer she was certain she would be the nominee.
EDWARDS: If she's certain she's living in a fantasy world...
WILLIAMS: How is your wife's health?
EDWARDS: She's doing very well...
WILLIAMS: As an issue, as a dynamic in the campaign, has it been more or less than you expected it would be, once you announced the diagnosis?
WILLIAMS: If you had to pick one, what one foreign country, currently, keeps John Edwards up at night?
EDWARDS: Pakistan.
WILLIAMS: Why?
EDWARDS: Because they have a nuclear weapon...
WILLIAMS: I'm trying to get a handle on your mindset. Can it be said you're content with where you are, given the investment of time and money you've put into this race so far?
EDWARDS: No, absolutely not...
WILLIAMS: I read one profile saying there was a rage inside you on the campaign trail. Is that accurate?
EDWARDS: No, I think there's a huge passion...
This MSNBC.com page now features Flash video of the full interview with Edwards and what aired on Nightly News with Giuliani: www.msnbc.msn.com
This page has video of what aired on Nightly News of Edwards and the full interview with Giuliani: www.msnbc.msn.com
 ABC's Moran: Obama a 'Fresh Face' Who
Represents 'Real Change'
According to Nightline host Terry Moran, Iowa voters are listening to Barack Obama's "real argument, that he is tomorrow, a fresh face who represents a real change from our bitter, polarized politics." The ABC anchor, who profiled the Democratic candidate for the Tuesday edition of the program, spent part of the interview interpreting the feelings of caucus voters. He gushed: "You get the sense they know they might be part of something big here, something historic." After listening to one Iowan laud Obama's leadership, he prompted the man: "It would be an historic thing, Barack Obama?"
Upon noting that Obama is "hitting his stride on the stump in this state after some poor reviews earlier in the campaign," Moran allowed that the senator is "not a perfect candidate." However, a November 2006 Nightline segment might lead viewers to wonder which "poor reviews" he's referring to. Then, as with the November 26, 2007 piece, Moran spent the day with Obama. For the 2006 report, the ABC journalist gushed that Obama is "an American political phenomenon." Just as he would more than a year later, Moran speculated as to what the voters were thinking: "And the question you can sense on everyone's mind, as they listen so intently to him, is he the one? Is Barack Obama the man, the black man, who could lead the Democrats back to the White House and maybe even unite the country?"
For more on the 2006 Nightline report, see the November 8, 2006 CyberAlert: www.mediaresearch.org
Obama did get one rather sharp line at journalist Moran. Following five questions from the reporter about whether a loss in Iowa would doom his campaign, the Illinois politician shifted the focus to Hillary Clinton. He retorted: "All I know is you guys have been measuring the curtains for a while and you're telling me she can get away with not winning Iowa?"
[This item, by Scott Whitlock, was posted Tuesday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]
At the close of the segment, Moran showed more deference to Hillary Clinton by noting: "Well, today, the jabs continued even before the Clinton campaign saw our entire interview, they responded with this." He then proceeded to read a prepared statement from the Clinton campaign slamming Obama for lack of experience.
A partial transcript of the two-part segment, which aired on November 26:
TERRY MORAN: And back now to Barack Obama. When I spent the day with him in Iowa over the weekend, you could sense the excitement he nearly always generates, but the constant campaigning still can take a toll and he still has a lot to prove. Out on the campaign trail with Barack Obama, some things are getting a little old, like lunch.
BARACK OBAMA [To campaign aide]: Is it chicken or fish?
AIDE: Chicken. Chicken.
OBAMA: Is it chicken?
AIDE: We got rice for a change.
OBAMA: We've got rice? Yeah!
MORAN: Whatever he's eating, it is working for Obama as he is hitting his stride on the stump in this state after some poor reviews earlier in the campaign.
OBAMA: We've got enough folks like that In Washington. We don't need another politician who is not saying what he thinks.
MORAN: He's not a perfect candidate. He can, like all of them, drone on a bit here and there, but he's clearly having fun.
OBAMA [To a group of teenage supporters]: Thanks so much, everybody.
MORAN: And some of that fun is coming at Hillary and Bill Clinton's expense. Like this little jab, a reference to Hillary's staff getting caught planting a question in the crowd.
OBAMA: All right. This is the fun part. We've got some time for questions and answers. These questions have not been pre-screened or pre-determined. So, you just give me your best shot.
MORAN: Or there's this answer to this questioner later on in the day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We asked other presidents who were running, did they inhale? Is that--
OBAMA: I did. It's not something I'm proud of. It's a mistake as a young man, but, you know? I mean not going to -- I never understood that line. The point was to inhale. That was the point.
MORAN: One reason Obama is getting tough in Iowa now is because he has, like others, bet the farm here. One of the things you're telling voters here is that Iowans will choose the next leader of the free world.
OBAMA: Yeah.
MORAN: Sounds to me like you're saying if you lose here, you're done.
OBAMA: No, but what I think is true -- and this is true of all candidates, and not just me, I think if you don't do well here in Iowa it's going to be hard to make up for it later. Just because the calendar now is so compressed, that I think it's actually has magnified the influence of the early states.
MORAN: But are you also saying that if Hillary can't be stopped here, she's not going to be stopped?
OBAMA: Well, there's another way of looking at it. If I can't be stopped here --
MORAN: But that Iowa is do or die? So, if you don't--
OBAMA: Look, I don't think anything is do or die, but I will say is this. I think that you have to do well. If you don't make a certain cut in Iowa, I think you're going to have problems elsewhere.
MORAN: But it's not necessarily first?
OBAMA: Oh, I don't think you have to be first, but I do think that you've got, you've got to do well. And certainly, I would suggest that the overwhelming favorite who has been touted as inevitable over the last six months better win Iowa. Don't you think?
MORAN: Expectations game on her?
OBAMA: I mean, well, that's all I know is you guys have been measuring the curtains for a while and you're telling me she can get away with not winning Iowa?
MORAN: But Obama still must answer a fundamental question. Is he ready? At 46 he has been in the Senate less than three years.
OBAMA: You know, this whole argument, about he speaks well, you know, he's got good ideas but he has -- he needs more experience. You know, you hear that sometimes. What they really mean is I haven't been in Washington long enough, you know? They want to boil all the hope out of me.
MORAN: Obama got himself in trouble this summer when he declared he would negotiate directly with the leader of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
OBAMA: If we can work out a deal, that's something that we should be open to.
MORAN: President Obama would do a deal with Iran.
OBAMA: I think what you want is carrots and sticks. The notion that this is controversial indicates the degree to which the Bush/Cheney administration have shifted the debate in such a profoundly damaging way. I mean, think about it. We negotiated with Stalin. We negotiated with Mao.
MORAN: Another stop, the last of the day in tiny Audubon, Iowa and it's hurry up and wait.
OBAMA: We're waiting for the sound guys?
MORAN: Then, as Obama waits backstage, the local mayor mispronounces his African name. But here as elsewhere, the crowd listens closely to Barack Obama's real argument, that he is tomorrow, a fresh face who represents a real change from our bitter, polarized politics.
OBAMA: I will not be a perfect president. But here's what I can promise you: I will always tell you what I think. I will always tell you where I stand. I will be honest with you about the challenges we face.
MORAN: And when you talk to Iowa voters who come to hear Obama, you get the sense they know they just might be part of something big here, something historic. Dave Bringman (sp?) is undecided but moved by it all.
DAVE BRINGMAN: He's looking for change. He doesn't seem to be afraid of change. He's looking to create a new atmosphere. I like that. We need a new atmosphere. MORAN: It would be an historic thing, Barack Obama?
BRINGMAN: Wouldn't it be awesome to have that face representing this republic to the world? Wouldn't that be awesome? Yeah.
MORAN: Finally, Des Moines. The hotel, his home away from home where his wife and two daughters wait for a call.
OBAMA: End of a long day. That longer.
MORAN: What's the hardest thing about doing this?
OBAMA: Being away from the kids. They're at this great age, you know? Nine and six. Everything they do is remarkable in some way. They're growing all the time and they have funny things to say and all these insights. You know, I get 'em second hand.
MORAN: It's long road with a remarkable long-shot prospect at the end of it. Do you really think you can win this whole thing? President Barack Obama?
OBAMA: Absolutely. The only reason to do it is because, A, I believe I can win. And I think increasingly political professionals who watch what we're doing think we can win as well. And B, I think I should win. And frankly, there are times in our country's history where I might not be the right person for the job. I think that now, actually, the skills that I have and the experience that I bring is suited to the task at hand. And, you know, the question will be whether the American people agree with me.
MORAN: Well, today, the jabs continued even before the Clinton campaign saw our entire interview, they responded with this: "Considering that Senator Obama was a state senator just three years ago, he is the last person to be questioning anyone's experience. If he is elected, he would have less experience than any American president of the 20th century." Unquote. There are now 38 days until the Iowa caucuses.
 Russert Praised Clinton on Mideast Peace
Then, Scoffs at Bush Now
On Tuesday's Today show NBC's Washington bureau chief, Tim Russert, scoffed at President Bush's attempt to broker Middle East peace at the Annapolis conference, as he derided it as a "Hail Mary pass." However, nine years ago, when Bill Clinton made a failed attempt at Mideast peace, in the midst of his impeachment, Russert praised the former President on the October 23, 1998 Today show: "As the impeachment hearings grind on, could you have a situation where next year the President cannot go to the Judiciary Committee on a particular day because he's receiving the Nobel Peace Prize? That's the kind of irony the White House looks at as they look at the success of President Clinton on this day."
[This item, by Geoffrey Dickens, was posted Tuesday morning on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]
The following exchange, that occurred on the November 27, Today show, stands in stark contrast to Russert's overly optimistic analysis of Clinton's bungled Mideast peace attempt in 1998:
MATT LAUER: What's our level of clout, at this particular time, given the problems in Iraq and elsewhere?
TIM RUSSERT: It's minimal, Matt. There's no doubt about it. The President is trying, seven years in, to broker a Mideast peace. The Palestinians, Hamas, a key political factor in that country is not even involved. The President is in a weakened position, in terms of his foreign policy. It is a Hail Mary pass, there's no doubt about it. The odds are very long.
To read more about how Russert and others at NBC treated Clinton's 1998 peace attempt, see: www.mediaresearch.org
 NBC Highlights Returning Iraqis: 'I Can't
Wait to Get Back'
"There is a noticeable trend under way. A growing stream of Iraqis who left to escape the killing, many of them going to Syria, now reversing their migration," anchor Brian Williams highlighted Tuesday evening as the NBC Nightly News became the first broadcast network evening newscast to air a full report on the trend.
From Baghdad, reporter Tom Aspell showcased a mother who exclaimed: "I'm so excited" and "I can't wait to get back." Aspell explained: "Though safer, life in Syria turned out to be hard. $300 a month rent and food for the family of seven wiped out their savings. So when the Iraqi government offered free bus tickets to Baghdad, today's opportunity was too good to miss." Adding the caveat that a safer Iraq is not the main motivator, Aspell noted: "A recent UN survey at registration centers found most Iraqi refugees are returning home not because Iraq is any safer, but because they're running out of money, and Syria is clamping down on visas." Aspell, however, acknowledged upbeat trends: "Refugees coming back to Baghdad are going to see a lot of changes. There are more people in the streets, shops are open and traffic everywhere." Though Aspell pointed out how "it is still a dangerous city. There are kidnappings, shootings and bomb blasts every day," another mother, nonetheless, decided: "Thank God we returned and found the situation better than when we left."
[This item was posted Tuesday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]
Before NBC's Tuesday night story, broadcast network evening show coverage of returning refugees was limited to part of a sentence by fill-in CBS Evening News anchor Russ Mitchell, who noted the night before Thanksgiving (November 21) that "the Baghdad government said today some 1600 refugees are now returning to Iraq each day" (see link below for the full story Mitchell was introducing), and this short update the same night from ABC anchor Charles Gibson:
"We turn next to Iraq, and the story of a reverse exodus. The interior ministry in Iraq says that about 1,000 Iraqis are returning to their country every day. These are Iraqis who had fled to other nations -- Syria, mostly -- to escape the violence. And many of those returning believe it is safer now."
ABC's World News leads with four full reports since late October on improving conditions in Iraq, followed by two before tonight on the NBC Nightly News and just one on the CBS Evening News. The November 26 CyberAlert item, "CBS Grudgingly Acknowledges Progress in Iraq, But 'Danger' Ahead" provides a rundown of all the positive stories on all three networks: www.mrc.org
The MRC's Brad Wilmouth corrected the closed captioning against the video to provide this transcript of the November 27 NBC Nightly News story:
BRIAN WILLIAMS: In Iraq, two American soldiers were killed today north of Baghdad. And violence across the country today has killed at least 30 Iraqis. There is a noticeable trend under way. A growing stream of Iraqis who left to escape the killing, many of them going to Syria, now reversing their migration. NBC's Tom Aspell reports tonight from Baghdad.
TOM ASPELL: Time to go home. Four months ago, the Balabas family left Iraq after Sunni militiamen forced them out of their house. In Damascus this morning, with plastic suitcases, a tattered soccer ball and their precious pet pigeons, the family said goodbye. "I'm so excited," said Fatimah. "I can't wait to get back." Though safer, life in Syria turned out to be hard. $300 a month rent and food for the family of seven wiped out their savings. So when the Iraqi government offered free bus tickets to Baghdad, today's opportunity was too good to miss. The Iraqi government has even launched a satellite TV commercial to get the one million Iraqi refugees in Syria to return home. It shows a family returning to clean and quiet streets. But a recent U.N. survey at registration centers found most Iraqi refugees are returning home not because Iraq is any safer, but because they're running out of money, and Syria is clamping down on visas. The U.N. says it's not ready to say it's safe for Iraqis to go back.
SYBELLA WILKES, UNHCR Spokesperson: The question is, is it a lottery? Is it safe for you to go back? And that's the question that refugees themselves have to make up their own minds.
ASPELL: Refugees coming back to Baghdad are going to see a lot of changes. There are more people in the streets, shops are open and traffic everywhere. But it is still a dangerous city. There are kidnappings, shootings and bomb blasts every day. Hosham Abdul Rahman, a goldsmith, took his family to Syria for a month before returning to Baghdad. He ran out of money, too. His wife Hallah at home says it was the right choice. "Thank God we returned and found the situation better than when we left," she says. That's all the Balabas family was hoping for when their bus, one of 14 carrying 500 Iraqis, left Damascus for Baghdad this afternoon, enough security to enable them to restart their lives in their own country. Tom Aspell, NBC News, Baghdad.
 Not Prejudiced, But 'I Don't Want...a
Colored Man' as President
In the self-incriminating quote of the night, an unidentified white man, in a Tuesday night CBS Evening News story on Barack Obama, insisted "I don't want to sound prejudiced or anything," but then proceeded to declare: "I don't want to vote for a colored man to be our President." The soundbite aired during a piece from Dean Reynolds on Obama's racial identity and how it gives some blacks "pause" because "he is not the descendant of African slaves, but is the son of a white mother and a Kenyan father." Reynolds, reporting from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, concluded by observing that "of course, there are whites who will never vote for Obama because he is black." The unidentified man, standing in what looked like a store, then asserted in a soundbite: "I don't want to sound prejudiced or anything, but for one I'm not gonna, I don't want to vote for a colored man to be our President."
[This item was posted Tuesday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]
The CBSNews.com online version of the Reynolds story identified the man only as "one South Carolina voter." See: www.cbsnews.com
The man certainly, and very unfortunately, probably confirmed the media's prejudices about conservative white men.
-- Brent Baker
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In the self-incriminating quote of the night, an unidentified white man, in a Tuesday night CBS Evening News story on Barack Obama, insisted "I don't want to sound prejudiced or anything," but then proceeded to declare: "I don't want to vote for a colored man to be our President." The soundbite aired during a piece from Dean Reynolds on Obama's racial identity and how it gives some blacks "pause" because "he is not the descendant of African slaves, but is the son of a white mother and a Kenyan father." Reynolds, reporting from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, concluded by observing that "of course, there are whites who will never vote for Obama because he is black." The unidentified man, standing in what looked like a store, then asserted in a soundbite: "I don't want to sound prejudiced or anything, but for one I'm not gonna, I don't want to vote for a colored man to be our President."