February 26, 2005
A Republican "Caricature" to Call
Hillary Clinton Liberal
"Remember Hillary Rodham Clinton and the conventional wisdom about how
polarizing a figure she is? Well, think again. Recent polls have shown that Mrs.
Clinton, the junior senator from New York, may have turned a corner politically,
sharply reducing the number of voters in the state who harbor negative views of
her. Pollsters say the change is remarkable for a woman who has long been
shadowed by a seemingly implacable group of voters - commonly referred to as
Hillary haters - who dislike her, no matter what she does, and who pose a
potential obstacle to any presidential ambitions she may harbor.The result of
these comments has been an emerging image of Senator Clinton that is far
different from the caricature that Republicans have painted of her: that of a
secular liberal whose stances are largely at odds with a public that they say is
concerned about the nation's moral direction."
- Raymond Hernandez, February 22.
"Simpsons" Gay Wedding a Welcome
"Tonic"
"The episode was not the funniest in 'Simpsons' history, but it was a tonic at a
moment when television seems increasingly humorless and tame - fearful of
advertiser boycotts by the religious right and fines from the Federal
Communications Commission."
- TV-beat reporter Alessandra Stanley on the gay-wedding episode of "The
Simpsons," February 21.
Europe Leery of "Strident" Bush
Rhetoric
"This is the Europe that President Bush will find when he lands in Brussels on
Sunday, Feb. 20: a continent still deeply divided over how much to bend to the
will of Washington on issues of war and peace, and how warmly to support the
Bush crusade to spread its definition of freedom around the world.In discussing
national security, the Europeans emphasize the word 'stability,' the Americans
the word 'liberty,' even if it borders on what the Europeans might consider
adventurism. Washington's strident statements about liberating Iran, for
example, have spread concern across the Continent that America may try to use
military force there."
- Elaine Sciolino previewing Bush's trip to Europe, February 20.
Meet My "Associate," Gennifer
Flowers
"Other presidents, such as Richard M. Nixon and Lyndon B. Johnson, secretly
recorded conversations from the White House. Some former associates of President
Bill Clinton taped personal conversations in apparent efforts to embarrass or
entrap him. But Mr. Wead's recordings are a rare example of a future president
taped at length without his knowledge talking about matters of public interest
like his political strategy and priorities."
- David Kirkpatrick on the release of audio tapes from Bush before he became
president, February 20. Among Clinton's "former associates" was his mistress
Gennifer Flowers.
Bill Moyers' "Slight Liberal
Flavor," but Carlson's an "Ideological Conservative"
"And as ultraconservatives and bottom liners circle, PBS appears to be too
accommodating in response. When conservatives attacked the respected Bill Moyers,
labeling him a dangerous liberal, PBS offered Tucker Carlson and Paul Gigot.
Whatever slight liberal flavor might be dug out of the Moyers broadcasts, those
are openly ideological conservative editorialists. Will they do investigations
like Mr. Moyers?"
- From a February 21 editorial defending PBS.
Reality Check:
"The entire federal government - the Congress, the
executive, the courts - is united behind a right-wing agenda for which George
W. Bush believes he now has a mandate. That agenda includes the power of the
state to force pregnant women to surrender control over their own lives. It
includes using the taxing power to transfer wealth from working people to the
rich. It includes giving corporations a free hand to eviscerate the environment
and control the regulatory agencies meant to hold them accountable. And it
includes secrecy on a scale you cannot imagine.And if you like God in
government, get ready for the Rapture."
- Some "slight liberal flavor" from Bill Moyers from the November 8, 2002
edition of his old PBS show, "Now."
