“Movie Star” Gore: “A Winner”
“Also in Washington today, a lot of excitement on Capitol Hill. A movie star showed up to testify before Congress — a movie star named Al Gore.”
— Katie Couric on the March 21 CBS Evening News.
“The last time Gore appeared on Capitol Hill was in his official role as Vice President, certifying his own loss in the disputed 2000 election. He came back today as a winner, his popular movie, An Inconvenient Truth, grabbing an Oscar....Americans now believe global warming is a real problem, so not as many Republicans are mocking Gore as they once did.”
— National political correspondent Gloria Borger on the March 21 CBS Evening News. (With WMV video [1]/MP3 audio [2])
“Here’s Hoping” Liberals Prevail
“A lot of his skeptics agree that Gore makes a powerful point. The scientific consensus is clear, and Gore urged Congress to listen to scientists, not special interests.... Here’s hoping Congress puts partisanship aside, and comes together to act boldly on global warming.”
— CBS anchor Katie Couric writing in her “Couric & Co.” blog on CBSNews.com, March 21.
Barbara Boxer’s Fan Club
Co-anchor Brianna Keilar: “That was quite an exchange. And, you know, we were expecting something from Senator James Inhofe. He is a critic of global warming....We thought maybe it might be with him and former Senator, former Vice President Al Gore, but it ended up between him and Senator Barbara Boxer. She really got a stinger in there, I will say.”
Co-anchor Don Lemon: “Good for her.”
— Exchange on CNN’s Newsroom, March 21, after the liberal Boxer told former GOP Chairman Inhofe, “You don’t do this anymore. Elections have consequences.” (With WMV video [3]/MP3 audio [4])
Media vs. Endless, Worthless War
“Four weary and blood-soaked years on, the so-called coalition of the willing has become the coalition of those who are stuck with it: American troops who can’t go home yet and Iraqi forces who have to learn to take their place. The shock and awe invasion has become slow surge and even the White House admits there’s no end in sight.”
— Reporter Allen Pizzey, March 19 CBS Evening News.
Katie Sees “Right” to Health Care
“More than 46 million Americans have no health insurance. So when it comes to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and good health, all men are not created equal.”
— Katie Couric introducing a story about a doctor who cares for poor patients, March 12 CBS Evening News.
Pity the Poor Loveless Dictator
“Well, he was not what I expected. He was very dignified. He was warm, friendly. He likes the U.S. It’s George Bush that he doesn’t like. He also was very personal. He talked about how hard his life was, that he wished he could be in love but you can’t be when you are heading a country.”
— ABC’s Barbara Walters recounting her interview with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, March 16 Nightline. (With WMV video [5]/MP3 audio [6])
See, We Told You Bush Is Evil
“Good morning, Ann. A different kind of protest will follow the President today. He plans to tour Mayan ruins here in Guatemala and we’re told some local priests want to purify the site afterward with a kind of ritual they say will get rid of what they call ‘bad spirits.’”
— NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell on Today, March 12.
“President Bush visits with Guatemala’s leader today and then will visit a sacred Mayan ruin, where some critics jab he is likely to leave behind, quote, ‘evil spirits.’ They say they are going to perform a spiritual cleansing there afterwards, just in case.”
— ABC’s Chris Cuomo, March 12 Good Morning America.
“The spiritual leaders of the Guatemala’s indigenous Mayan population are also worried about the President’s bad vibes. They will perform a special cleansing ceremony to clear away the bad energy they say he left during his visit.”
— ABC’s Jessica Yellin on Nightline, March 12.
America’s Most Biased Network
“For all the howling on the right, it’s difficult to argue that mainstream news organizations operate with anything approaching Fox’s partisan and ideological agenda. (E-mails: commence now.) But there’s no question many conservatives feel as wronged by elements of the mainstream media as Democrats do by Fox.”
— Longtime Los Angeles Times political reporter Ron Brownstein in a March 16 column.
America’s Army of Losers
“I think a draft produces a better Army than the one we would have with all volunteers, because I think you get average Americans if you have a draft. And if it’s an all-volunteer Army, you get people who join up because of some problem in their own lives. They don’t have anything else to do, they don’t have a job, or they can’t find what they want to do, so they join the Army. And it doesn’t produce the best Army.”
— CBS’s Andy Rooney on Imus in the Morning, March 14. (With WMV video [7]/MP3 audio [8])
Liberals Really Letting Jack Down
“Remember all the noise about how the Democrats were gonna raise the minimum wage?...Well, don’t hold your breath....Before workers see any more take-home pay, a House-Senate conference committee has to reconcile the two versions of the bill. No indication that’s going to happen anytime soon....They ought to make it retroactive to ten years ago. That’s the last time anybody addressed these folks.”
— CNN’s Jack Cafferty on the March 19 Situation Room.
President Pinocchio?
“We have a President right now who lies constantly and gets away with it apparently.”
— Actor Richard Gere during a March 14 appearance on CBS’s Late Show with David Letterman. (With WMV video [9]/MP3 audio [10])
Prefers Jokesters Over Journalists
“Comedians, such as yourself, Jon Stewart and others, are a valuable supplement, and here’s why: Good journalism at its best frequently speaks truth to power. What’s happened with journalists — again, I don’t except myself from this criticism — in some ways we’ve lost our guts. We need a spine transplant. What’s happened is comedians, in their own way, speak truth to power and fill that vacuum that we in journalism have too often left, particularly post 9/11.”
— Dan Rather to Bill Maher on HBO’s Politically Incorrect, March 16.
Rosie Climbs the Grassy Knoll
“There were 15 British sailors and marines who apparently went into Iranian waters and they were seized by the Iranians. And I have one thing to say: Gulf of Tonkin. Google it!”
— Co-host Rosie O’Donnell, referring to the incident that conspiracy theorists say was a staged pretext for the U.S. to attack North Vietnam, on ABC’s The View, March 26.
“It is the first time in history that fire has ever melted steel. I do believe that it defies physics for the World Trade Center Tower Seven, building seven, which collapsed in on itself — it is impossible for a building to fall the way it fell without explosives being involved...World Trade Center One and Two got hit by planes. Seven, miraculously, the first time in history, steel was melted by fire. It is physically impossible.”
— O’Donnell discussing 9/11 on The View, March 29. (With WMV video [11]/MP3 audio [12])
PUBLISHER: L. Brent Bozell III
EDITORS: Brent H. Baker, Rich Noyes, Tim Graham
MEDIA ANALYSTS: Geoffrey Dickens, Brad Wilmouth, Scott Whitlock, Justin McCarthy, Matthew Balan and Brendan Jones
RESEARCH ASSOCIATE: Michelle Humphrey
CIRCULATION MANAGER: Holly Schnitzler