Force Justified; Grandma: Elian "Finally" Happy; Clinton's Broken Promise Not Pursued
1) ABC decided that on "four key questions" the
Miami relatives were wrong. CBS's Byron Pitts relayed how the reunion
"was moving." On NBC a psychiatrist said the relatives
"abused" Elian and Andrea Mitchell insisted "psychiatrists say
the use of force was justified because Elian's greatest need was for his
father."
2) From Cuba, NBC's Jim Avila fled two reports relaying the
communist line from the grandparents. One "says Elian finally sounds
happy." Avila reassured: "Juan, Sr. sees no permanent damage to
Elian." Avila even allowed Fidel Castro to complain.
3) Monday morning ABC's GMA promoted how Greg Craig's
photos show "a very happy little boy" and twice highlighted how Reno
wept.CBS's Bryant Gumbel asked what hearings would "accomplish besides
just so much Reno bashing?" NBC's Katie Couric shared the disdain.
4) On Sunday's This Week Democratic Senator Bob Graham
revealed Bill Clinton "abrogated" an agreement since he promised
just three weeks ago that "there would be no taking of this child at
night." CNN mentioned it, but ABC's WNT and GMA skipped the charge.
5) George Will: "A climate conducive to such disgraceful
government behavior was created by strange journalism, the implication of
which was that Elian's mother must have been demented to risk...her life in
order to get Elian out of Cuba."
6) Letterman's "Top Ten Janet Reno Pet Peeves."
Corrections: The April 23 CyberAlert quoted FNC anchor David Asman as
asking Eric Holder: "Was this all a ruse for the raid, the negotiations
which took place this morning?" He actually said "...early this
morning." Another item reported that at 9pm ET Saturday MSNBC showed a
"repeat of a Weekend Edition." The show is really titled Weekend
Magazine.
Update: People Count: Hot on the Trail, a polemic hyping fears of global
warming hosted by Jane Fonda, bumped by the Elian raid from its scheduled 10pm
ET Saturday night showing, was run at 2pm ET Sunday on CNN.
1
The
aftermath of the Elian raid led the broadcast network evening shows Monday
night, April 24. ABC highlighted warnings against hearings and on "four
key questions" about what happened decided the Miami relatives were wrong
on all of them. Instead of expressing any concern for how journalists could
not independently check Elian's welfare or for who from Castro's regime
may be with him, CBS's Byron Pitts happily relayed how those at the reunion
on Saturday "say it was moving" with "plenty of
affection."
Rationalizing the raid, NBC's Andrea Mitchell
highlighted a psychiatrist who asserted: "I think that the family has
really abused this child, not in a sense of physical abuse, but this child has
been kept from his family." Mitchell added: "Many psychiatrists say
the use of force was justified because Elian's greatest need was for his
father."
-- ABC's World News Tonight. Linda Douglass ran
through the day's events with the Miami relatives in DC, Trent Lott
comparing Reno to Castro and some Republicans calling for hearings. She
cautioned: "With polls showing broad public support for reuniting Elian
with his father, some GOP strategists warn a Republican tirade against the
raid could backfire."
Scott Reed, Republican
consultant: "At the end of the day, Republicans have to be wary because
public opinion likes those picture of the child smiling with his father."
Next, Terry Moran addressed "four key
questions" raised about what happened and flunked conservative critics
and the Miami relatives on all four. First, "Did the agents have a search
warrant?" Moran played this from Tom DeLay on Meet the Press: "There
was no court order that gave them permission to raid a private home of
American citizens." Moran judged, over a picture of a warrant:
"Wrong. This is the warrant authorizing the search of the home and the
seizure of Elian signed Friday night by U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Duvay
(sp?)."
A bit of disingenuousness from ABC and Moran. The point
made by many critics wasn't about a warrant, but about doing what is
normally done in such custody dispute cases: Go before a judge to have a
hearing and then have the judge issue an order to the family to give up
guardianship of the child. That way the decision is not an administrative one
from the executive branch, but a decision by the independent judiciary.
Moran moved ahead. "The second question: Did the
agents go and announce themselves or just rush in?" Moran decided:
"What occurred in front of the house cannot be heard on the videotape,
but it is clear there was a pause in the raid, the screen door opens and then
twenty seconds later agents bash in the door."
For the third question Moran dismissed the idea the
picture of father and son were faked and for the fourth question he looked at
the dispute over whether a deal was imminent. He ran a soundbite from Reno
friend and negotiator Aaron Podhurst, but concluded with Reno's assessment
that no agreement could be made because of the family's refusal to come to
DC.
-- CBS Evening News. From Andrews Air Force Base Byron
Pitts related how Reno will be questioned by Senators "outraged by
Saturday's pre-dawn raid in Miami." Congressman Lindsey Graham got to
express the view that "Janet Reno's been a national disgrace for a long
time," before Pitts ran a lengthy retort from Joe Lockhart.
Over a series of happy photos of Juan Miguel and Elian,
Pitts relayed the official line put out by Juan Miguel's lawyer: "With
tension building around them, Elian and his father are said to be bonding
nicely behind the secured gates at Andrews Air Force Base, few visitors and
plenty of affection. Those who were there for the weekend reunion say it was
moving."
Dr. Gustavo Cadavid,
identified only as a "psychiatrist," asserted: "He looked at
his father, father looks at him. Both jump one towards the other, crying,
hugging. I mean nobody moved."
Anchor John Roberts then passed along results of a CBS
News poll. On the "forcible removal," 51 percent approved and 44
percent disapproved. "Would relatives have given Elian to father
voluntarily?" No said 63 percent, yes replied 26 percent. "Acting in
the boy's best interest?" The father, thought 54 percent while only 33
percent said the Miami relatives.
Jim Stewart provided a rundown of Friday night events,
highlighting two last minute events. First, a supposed comment from
Marisleysis that "there are more than just cameras in the house."
And: "The second was a last ditch appeal from by several prominent
Miamians, including attorney Aaron Podhurst, an old friend of Attorney General
Janet Reno, to broker a compromise. Podhurst said today he thought he'd been
close to a deal."
Podhurst: "I
believe the Miami Gonzalez family was acting in good faith and I believe
we'd made substantial progress."
Stewart: "But
after three months of such talks Reno and her advisers thought the family was
stalling again."
-- NBC Nightly News. Tom Brokaw led with a new NBC News
polls showing 73 percent agree Elian belongs with his father and that on the
method of removal, 49 percent disapproved and 48 percent approved.
Pete Williams emphasized the interrupted talks:
"The Miami intermediaries, who volunteered to make a last minute deal,
say today that with just a little more time none of his would have been
necessary. That they were so close to a peaceful solution."
Edward Foote,
University of Miami President: "We were completely surprised and
astonished that the government would resort to armed marshals when we were so
close to an agreement."
Williams: "But
Attorney General Reno today defends her decision, saying the talks had
actually broken down and disputing criticism she should have taken the boy
weeks earlier."
After a clip of Reno on Today, Williams related that
after Reno gave the go order: "Eric Holder, Reno's deputy, says he
holds Reno in his arms and she weeps. A Miami lawyer, who spent all night on
the phone with Reno hoping to work out a deal, says she was still on the line
after the raid."
Aaron Podhurst, Miami
negotiator: "Nobody ever thought that they would come on the Easter
weekend and take this child by force when we were that close to a resolution.
To this moment, I don't understand what occurred."
Williams concluded:
"Tonight members of Congress say they'll hold hearings on how the raid
was planned and conducted, but Justice Department officials say they did it
reluctantly, when they believed nothing else would work to reunite father and
son."
Kerry Sanders ran through the options facing the Miami
family and the role of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in determining
asylum, before Brokaw ran reaction clips from Bob Smith, Sheila Jackson-Lee
and George W. Bush, noting that Al Gore avoided comment.
For the In Depth segment Andrea Mitchell looked at the
raid:
"Law enforcement
experts say a textbook assault, but why in this case?" After an expert
suggested such force wasn't necessary and a psychiatrist assured Mitchell
any emotional damage to Elian was temporary as he was scared but is resilient,
Mitchell turned her fire on the abusive relatives:
"In fact, many
child development experts say the raid itself caused only short term trauma
compared to everything else Elian has experienced during the last five months.
The noise, the crowds, the late night rallies, the home video. Being on
constant display. Doctors say never getting the solitude he needs to mourn the
loss of his mother."
Professor David Elkind,
Tufts University: "I think that the family has really abused this child,
not in a sense of physical abuse, but this child has been kept from his family
and he has not been given the psychological support he needed for having lost
his mother and he's been exposed to all such media hype."
Mitchell then
concluded: "Many psychiatrists say the use of force was justified because
Elian's greatest need was for his father, but that he still might suffer
nightmares, flashbacks, post traumatic stress and may need professional help
to sort out the conflicts of the past five months."
Monday morning on Today, MRC analyst Geoffrey Dickens
noticed, Katie Couric also gave credibility to Elkind: "Because we forget
the impact all these protestors treating him like some kind of saint outside
the home in Little Havana is having as well. That must be so confusing for a
little boy."
Elkind agreed:
"Right. Terrible. It is."
Terrible, it is that the networks are so eager to blame
the victims of the armed government invasion of their home while cooperatively
passing along the PR photos from Juan Miguel's lawyer.
2
Grandmas
in the morning, Grandpa in the evening. From Cuba, NBC's Jim Avila fled two
reports relaying without dissent the communist line about happy grandparents.
Avila even tossed in some comments from Fidel Castro, such as: "Instead
of having the kid kidnapped, now the family is kidnapped."
On Today Avila found "relief that Elian is with his
dad, but for Castro and the grandmas the struggle goes on until both are on
Cuban soil." How inspiring. Avila passed along how one grandparent
"says Elian finally sounds happy." In a NBC Nightly piece he
trumpeted how "In Elian's Cuban family, communism and loyalty to Castro
began with Juan Gonzalez, Sr., Elian's grandfather."
Avila reassured viewers concerned about the corrupting
influence of freedom: "Juan, Sr. sees no permanent damage to Elian"
from his time in Miami.
-- April 24 Today. Avila opened his propaganda broadcast
from Cuba, as transcribed by MRC analyst Geoffrey Dickens: "The grandmas
of Cardenas. They started the fight for Elian. Energized an island. Went to
the United States in a failed mission to bring him back. And now that father
and son have been reunited they walk triumphantly through the Gonzalez family
home town."
After a clip of a
grandmother, Avila elaborated: "Mariela Quintana, mother of Juan Miguel.
Grandmother to Elian. She's spoken to her grandson twice by phone since his
removal from the Miami house. Telling NBC News he now sounds like he did
before he left Cardenas. Natural, like any six year old when he woke her up
Sunday morning."
Avila continued: "Elian has called his other
grandmother too. Two weeks she could not talk to her. But Raquel Rodriguez
whose daughter fled to Cuba and died in the water says Elian finally sounds
happy. She laughed at allegations by the Miami family that her daughter was
abused by Juan Miguel or that Elian is afraid of him. She lived with them and
says she would know."
Following a comment from her, Avila reported: "A
family now deeply divided. Mariela, Juan Miguel's mother says she would oppose
any visitation for the Miami family."
Mariela Quintana,
through translator: "What they did to my son, what they did to us, I'm
never going to forget it. Even after I'm dead and buried I won't forget."
Avila, over footage of
Castro voting and then gently stroking the head of a little boy: "Strong
words, matched by Fidel Castro only one day after declaring the first truce
with America in 41 years. A truce even he admits lasted only 24 hours. Castro,
voting in Havana, Sunday. Still the only leader his Cuba has ever known. For
the first time in four decades a revolutionary on the same side of an
important issue as most Americans and their President. But telling NBC News
that cooperation on the return of Elian foreshadows nothing."
Avila, asking Castro a
question through interpreter: "No progress has been made between the two
nations?"
Fidel Castro, through
translator: "No, absolutely not. We go back to the normal life of the
last 41 years of them attacking us."
Avila concluded:
"Havana and Cardenas. Relief that Elian is with his dad but for Castro
and the grandmas the struggle goes on until both are on Cuban soil."
-- April 24 NBC Nightly News. From Havana, Avila told
Tom Brokaw, as transcribed by MRC analyst Brad Wilmouth: "Tom, here in
Cuba the prospect of Elian and his father staying in America for months has
both the government here and the family demanding their immediate return. In
Elian's Cuban family, communism and loyalty to Castro began with Juan
Gonzalez, Sr., Elian's grandfather, father to Juan Miguel, known as
'Poppy' to both. Policeman for 25 years, unfazed by Saturday's pre-dawn
raid."
Juan Gonzalez, Sr.,
through interpreter: "They should have done it two months ago because the
way we see it, there were no abuses. They acted correctly. They didn't
strike anyone in the house."
Avila: "Juan, Sr.,
sees no permanent damage to Elian. He says his grandson actually joked about
it on the phone Sunday morning, telling grandpa, 'Police in the United
States wear funny hats.'"
Gonzalez: "He's
a kid, and he must have gotten frightened. It's logical a six-year-old would
get scared, but we as a family prefer that he is scared for three minutes
rather than remain frightened for the rest of his life."
Avila: "Gonzalez
says the wounds are deep and opposes any Miami family visits with Elian. Fidel
Castro told NBC News he agrees, pressing to return boy and father to Cuba
immediately."
Fidel Castro, through
interpreter: "How long is this going to carry on? It may well be that
they make appeal after appeal. Instead of having the kid kidnapped, now the
family is kidnapped."
Avila concluded:
"Both Castro and Elian's family say that this weekend's reunion was
only step one. Tom."
3
Monday
morning ABC's Good Morning America, which questioned the authenticity of the
family's video last week, promoted how Greg Craig's photos show "a
very happy little boy" and twice highlighted how Reno supposedly wept in
Holder's arms after giving the raid order. On CBS's The Early Show Bryant
Gumbel put the burden on the Miami family for preventing a deal and asked what
hearings would "accomplish besides just so much Reno bashing?"
NBC's Katie Couric shared the disdain, asking Janet Reno if she thinks
Republicans are "exploiting this issue politically?"
-- April 24 Good Morning America. Interviewing Elian's
cousin Georgina Cid, Jack Ford demanded:
"Well, you say
you're concerned about his health. Indeed there were concerns raised by family
members and accusations made by family members that his father had abused him.
Yet if you look at the photographs that we've seen, and we're seeing them
right now, it is very apparent to anybody looking at these photographs that
this appears to be a very happy little boy?"
MRC analyst Jessica Anderson noticed that in opening the
7:30am segment, Diane Sawyer revealed: "Well, during the break we kept
talking with Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder, and he told us that after
this raid he went in the office with Janet Reno and he held her in his arms.
Well, let's listen to what he said happened."
Eric Holder: "At
the conclusion of this, I closed the door, at the time of the raid, and I held
the Attorney General in my arms, and she wept. She did not want this to
happen. She cares a great deal about that community, and hoped and prayed that
there was a way in which this thing could have been worked out short of the
enforcement action that she very reluctantly had to order."
How touching.
A half hour later GMA viewers were treated again to the
tale. After relaying Podhurst's insistence a deal was imminent, Terry Moran
reported: "Finally, there was one human detail that emerged out of all
this. Eric Holder a little while ago described the scene in the Justice
Department, after the raid went down."
Eric Holder: "At
the conclusion of this, I closed the door, at the time of the raid, and I held
the Attorney General in my arms, and she wept. She did not want this to
happen."
Moran: "The
question, of course, is not her emotions, but her judgment."
Then why focus on the emotions?
-- CBS's The Early Show. MRC analyst Brian Boyd picked
up on this exchange from a lengthy panel discussion:
Congressman Robert
Menendez: "....The government keeps saying, well, every time they created
a family reunion the Miami family moved away. They fail to say that the
government always had a precondition to that first family reunion which was
that the child must be handed, at the very beginning of such a reunion, over
to the father. And that's not the environment that they wished to
create."
Gumbel, interrupting:
"But the Miami relatives, Congressman, never, never, ever recognized the
right of the father to have custody of the boy. That was the precondition that
prevented an agreement."
Later, Gumbel asked Menendez: "Congressman, some of
your colleagues have called for congressional hearings on this matter. I know
you support such hearings. What would they accomplish besides just so much
Reno bashing?"
-- NBC's Today. Katie Couric shared Gumbel's disdain
for hearings, setting up Janet Reno: "The House Republicans say they want
to hold hearings into the raid. Do you think they're exploiting this issue
politically?"
Talking with Tim Russert about NBC's poll on the raid,
Lauer wrapped up: "And real quickly. One other point in the poll. 2 to 1,
Americans are opposed to congressional hearings on this subject. Is that just
because most people are tired of hearing about it?"
Russert:
"Absolutely. The issue has run it's course. And they don't like to spend
money. As we saw during the whole impeachment process. I do believe however
there will be hearings. Senator Lott yesterday, Minority [sic] Whip Tom DeLay,
called for them. The Republicans will have to talk to their base who are very,
very energized by this issue and some form of hearing will go forward."
4
On
Sunday's This Week on ABC Democratic Senator Bob Graham told Cokie Roberts
how Bill Clinton lied to him, or his term, "abrogated" an agreement,
since he promised just three weeks ago that "there would be no taking of
this child at night."
But the media have largely ignored the allegation.
ABC's own shows have refused to pick it up as MRC analyst Jessica Anderson
found it was not mentioned on Sunday's World News Tonight or Monday's Good
Morning America. Nor did CBS or NBC mention it Monday morning or evening,
though Tuesday morning Matt Lauer pressed Joe Lockhart about it on Today.
(More on Today's interview in the next CyberAlert.) CNN's Inside Politics
raised Graham's charge on Monday's Inside Politics.
As the two sat in chairs across the street from the
Miami house, Roberts opened the interview by asking the Florida Democrat:
"You in your statement, which was harshly critical of this raid yesterday
morning, said that the government had, by the action, had renounced the
commitment of the United States not to take Elian away in the middle of the
night. Did you feel that, why did you think there was such a commitment?"
Graham disclosed:
"Because I stood in the Oval Office with the President of the United
States and I said, Mr. President, this is a very sensitive issue that's
happening in my community. One of the things that has made it so tense is that
people feel insecure 24 hours a day. There needs to be some commitment by the
federal government that they will not attempt to take this child in the
nighttime so that there can be a relaxation of that tension. The President of
the United States made that commitment to me that there would be no taking of
this child at night. I felt that my, the promise had been made to me had been
abrogated. I don't know if the President knew that the decision was being
made by lower echelons within his administration, but it was a clear
commitment which was violated."
Roberts: "So it
was a personal commitment from him to you in the Oval Office."
Graham: "It
was."
Roberts: "When
would that have been?"
Graham: "Three
weeks ago."
Roberts: "Three
weeks ago. So, that's part of your anger here."
Graham: "There was
an insensitivity and a crudeness to this, to do this in one of the most deeply
religious periods of the year, to do it at a time when families are reflecting
on spiritual values, to do it in the middle of the night. To do it when
honorable members of this community such as Kendall Coffey, Sister Jeanne
O'Laughlin, Aaron Podhurst and others had been negotiating in good faith and
felt that they were very close to an agreement, had signatures on the bottom
of pages to do it under all of those circumstances was absolutely intolerable,
unnecessary, outrageous and has left a scar on this community and particularly
a scar deep in the minds of this little boy and I suggest a lot of other
children as to what can happen in the middle of the night."
+++ See and hear Senator Graham relate how he was
backstabbed by the President, a fellow member of his own party. On Tuesday,
MRC Webmaster Andy Szul will post a RealPlayer clip of the portion of the
April 23 interview quoted above. Go to: http://archive.mrc.org
Interviewing White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart on
the April 24 Inside Politics, Judy Woodruff did raise Graham's claim:
"Let me just quote something that Senator Bob Graham, Democrat of
Florida, has said. As you're aware, he said the President promised him three
weeks ago, gave him a verbal commitment, that agents would not go in to get
the boy in the middle of the night, in the darkness. And yet that's exactly
what happened."
5
Some
familiar quotes in George Will's "The Last Word" column on the
back page of the latest Newsweek. He picked up quotes from last week's
Notable Quotables from the MRC to illustrate the media's complicity in
creating the climate which allowed the government to use force to snatch Elian.
Here's an excerpt from the column in the May 1
Newsweek:
A climate conducive to such disgraceful government behavior was created by
strange journalism, the implication of which was that Elián's mother must
have been demented to risk, and lose, her life in order to get Elián out of
Cuba. Peter Jennings mixed exasperation and hauteur about the relatives'
reluctance to speed Elian back to
totalitarianism: "Once again the government has failed to get the kind of
cooperation from the relatives that might allow the case of this young boy to
end in a civilized manner that is best for him." Katie Couric resorted to
archness: "Some suggested over the weekend that it's wrong to expect Elián
Gonzalez to live in a place that tolerates no dissent or freedom of political
expression. They were talking about Miami." The New York Times disdained
Miami as a "banana republic" and used a headline to express the
obtuseness of Cuban-Americans: "Communism Still Looms as Evil to Miami
Cubans." Still.
Eleanor Clift decided communism is merely a "lifestyle": "To
be a poor child in Cuba may in many instances be better than being a poor
child in Miami and I'm not going to condemn their lifestyle so
gratuitously." NEWSWEEK reported that although Elián's prospects in Cuba
would be "limited," Cuba's lifestyle has virtues: "In some ways
young Elian might expect a nurturing life in Cuba, sheltered from the crime
and social breakdown that would be part of his upbringing in Miami. The boy
will nestle in a more peaceable society that treasures its children."
END Excerpt
To read his entire column, go to:
http://www.newsweek.com/nw-srv/printed/us/dept/lw/a18931-2000apr22.htm
To read more of these types of quotes, go to:
http://archive.mrc.org/notablequotables/2000/nq20000417.asp
6
From
the April 24 Late Show with David Letterman, the "Top Ten Janet Reno Pet
Peeves." Copyright 2000 by Worldwide Pants, Inc.
10. Having to brush up on Spanish just to read hate mail.
9. Armed troops + civilian resistance = Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork.
8. In the Elian TV movie, she'll likely be played by John Lithgow.
7. When she gets angry, she turns green and muscles burst through clothes
just dry-cleaned.
6. No one believes, "It was a chocolate gun pointed at Elian's
head."
5. Whenever she calls "Playboy" and offers to pose, Hefner's
"in a meeting."
4. Saying, "It's the tear gas" when crying at "Erin Brockovich."
3. When Lenscrafters runs out of gigantic, outdated, poorly-fitted frames.
2. Men who feel inadequate when she brings battering ram into bedroom.
1. Constant political pressure to reunite Hall and Oates.
Plenty of wacky stuff in Leonardo DiCaprio's ABC News
special on Saturday. Will try to get to that tomorrow.--
Brent Baker
>>>
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