FNC Aired Full Story on Gore's Rental House; Letterman's "Top Ten Al Gore Tenant Pet Peeves"

Two quick items in this special mid-day CyberAlert to update you on coverage of the Gore tenant story:

Monday night, June 5, FNC's Special Report with Brit Hume and Fox Report both carried full stories by David Shuster on the condition of the Al Gore-owned rental home occupied by a family and Gore's promise to resolve the situation without evicting them from the Tennessee house. MRC Webmaster Andy Szul has now posted Shuster's story. To view it via RealPlayer, go to:
http://archive.mrc.org/cyberalerts/2000/cyb20000605.asp#1

    Monday's CNN Inside Politics gave the subject 38 seconds. Otherwise, not a word about it Monday night or morning on the broadcast networks and the MRC's Paul Smith let me know it wasn't mentioned on MSNBC's The News with Brian Williams Monday night. Zilch also Tuesday morning on CBS's The Early Show and ABC's Good Morning America, MRC analyst Jessica Anderson observed, didn't raise it in a 7:30am half-hour roundtable featuring Gore and a panel of women. (Not yet checked NBC's Today, but I wouldn't hold my breath.)

    This follows a weekend in which the story, which AP made known on Saturday, was skipped by ABC, CBS and NBC and only earned mentions on Fox News Sunday and as Kate O'Beine's "Outrage of the Week" on Saturday's CNN Capital Gang.

    For an excerpt from the AP story and links to the original WTVF-TV of Nashville stories from Friday and Saturday which exposed the situation and prompted Gore's promise to correct the problems, use the link above to go to the June 5 CyberAlert.

The broadcast networks have avoided mentioning the Gore rental house situation, but it is breaking through to the public via other means. One example, Monday night David Letterman made it the subject of his Top Ten list, though he had to set it up by explaining the situation since he realized many had probably not heard about it.

    From the June 5 Late Show with David Letterman, the "Top Ten Al Gore Tenant Pet Peeves." Copyright 2000 by Worldwide Pants, Inc.

10. Your request to fix leaky faucet has been sitting in congressional subcommittee for eleven years.
9. Tipper's Black Sabbath tribute band constantly rehearsing.
8. Insists security deposit be paid "in hugs."
7. You put Bush sticker on car, mysteriously electricity stops working.
6. Rent's a day late, Janet Reno orders break-in to take checkbook.
5. Endless stories about how he invented the mailbox.
4. Once a week you gotta clear out to make room for Bubba and some stewardesses.
3. Tipper showing up in negligee saying, "There are other ways to pay the rent."
2. Al showing up in negligee saying, "There are other ways to pay the rent."
1. House is always getting egged by George W. Bush.

    And, from the Late Show Web page, some of the also-rans because "those over-achieving writers keep producing more brilliant jokes than can fit in a Top Ten List."

-- Phone only allows you to call Gore contributions hotline.
-- You complain about apartment being too hot, he just throws hands in air and says, "Global warming."
-- Rent bill includes "optional but recommended" $50,000 campaign donation.
-- Always "accidentally" making inspection tours while you're in the shower.
-- All the racket in guest bedroom since Clinton found out about spare key under mat.

    Nice to see that a little reminder of Reno and Elian made it into the list in #6. -- Brent Baker

     >>> Support the MRC, an educational foundation dependent upon contributions which make CyberAlert possible, by providing a tax-deductible donation. Use the secure donations page set up for CyberAlert readers and subscribers:
http://www.mrc.org/donate

     >>>To subscribe to CyberAlert, send a blank e-mail to: mrccyberalert-subscribe
@topica.com. Or, you can go to: http://www.mrc.org/newsletters. Either way you will receive a confirmation message titled: "RESPONSE REQUIRED: Confirm your subscription to mrccyberalert@topica.com." After you reply, either by going to the listed Web page link or by simply hitting reply, you will receive a message confirming that you have been added to the MRC CyberAlert list. If you confirm by using the Web page link you will be given a chance to "register" with Topica. You DO NOT have to do this; at that point you are already subscribed to CyberAlert.
     To unsubscribe, send a blank e-mail to: cybercomment@mrc.org.
     Send problems and comments to: cybercomment@mrc.org.

     >>>You can learn what has been posted each day on the MRC's Web site by subscribing to the "MRC Web Site News" distributed every weekday afternoon. To subscribe, send a blank e-mail to: cybercomment@mrc.org. Or, go to: http://www.mrc.org/newsletters.<<<