1. Dan Rather: Does "Kerry Have Enough Elvis to Beat George Bush?"
Howard Dean's "scream" delivered the strangest candidate moment of the campaign so far and on Sunday Dan Rather may have provided the oddest media moment when he employed "a Texas expression" as he asked during the late morning CBS News/New York Times debate he moderated: "Does Senator Kerry have enough Elvis to beat George Bush?" Rather explained that "Elvis" means like-ability and that's important "because when he gets down to November, a lot of people are going to vote on who they like the best, whether we want them to vote that way or not."

2. CNN's Morton: Kerry No More Opportunistic Flip-Flopper Than Bush
CNN's Bruce Morton on Friday fought back for John Kerry against President Bush's accusation that the Massachusetts Senator is a flip-flopper on key issues. On Friday's Inside Politics, Morton conceded that Kerry has been on both sides of NAFTA, the Patriot Act and going to war with Iraq, though supposedly not on tax cuts, but then concluded by arguing Kerry is no more an inconsistent opportunist than is Bush since Bush changed his position on the regulation of gay marriage.

3. CBS & ABC Celebrate O'Donnell's "Marriage" and "Hopes" of Others
CBS and ABC on Friday morning celebrated Rosie O'Donnell's Thursday "marriage" in San Francisco to her partner, without any time for detractors. John Blackstone touted how "Rosie O'Donnell and her partner are the most prominent same sex couple to marry here in the past two weeks, but more than 3,000 other couples have come with their own hopes and stories." After showcasing O'Donnell denouncing President Bush as "vile" and proclaiming her belief in "liberty and justice for all," Blackstone concluded: "Rosie was the star to be sure, but for the crowd at City Hall every one of these marriages is a symbol of defiance."

4. Lauer & Schieffer: Contrarian Points on Gay Marriage & Tax Cuts
Two contrarian moments: First, on Friday's Today, Matt Lauer noted how "people are saying" that President Bush is "igniting the cultural wars" with his stand on gay marriage, "but back in 1996, when President Clinton, a Democrat, signed the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as the union, the legal union between one man and one woman, no one said he was igniting cultural wars." Second, on Sunday's Face the Nation, Bob Schieffer pointed out that "even if" Democrats manage to "kill the President's tax cuts, there still won't be enough money to pay" the currently planned Social Security benefits which Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, last week, said need to be trimmed.

5. Oscars Nearly Apolitical, Reporter More Anti-Bush Than Robbins
During Sunday night's Academy Awards show on ABC, actor Sean Penn slipped in a crack about how "there weren't any WMDs" in Iraq, but Tim Robbins refrained from using his acceptance speech as a left-wing soapbox and even refused to take the bait when a reporter asked him, at a post-ceremony press conference shown on E!, what he could "tell the millions of Americans who are very concerned with the possibility the Bush administration is stealing the elections again with dirty tricks?" The only political speech during the night came from the winner of the Best Feature Documentary category, who lectured, to audience approval: "Forty years ago this country went down a rabbit hole in Vietnam and millions died. I fear we're going down a rabbit hole once again."

Dan Rather: Does "Kerry Have Enough Elvis
to Beat George Bush?"

     Howard Dean's "scream" delivered the strangest candidate moment of the campaign so far and on Sunday Dan Rather may have provided the oddest media moment when he employed "a Texas expression" as he asked during the late morning CBS News/New York Times debate he moderated: "Does Senator Kerry have enough Elvis to beat George Bush?" Rather explained that "Elvis" means like-ability and that's important "because when he gets down to November, a lot of people are going to vote on who they like the best, whether we want them to vote that way or not."

     Rather posed his "question," during the 11am EST hour carried by most CBS stations, after New York Times reporter Elisabeth Bumiller had asked Kerry about his like-ability. Rather interposed: "If I may, Elizabeth, let me ask Senator Edwards the same question in a somewhat different way. I want to use a Texas expression here. We know-"
     Edwards: "Somehow I knew this."
     Rather, over laughter from the candidates: "No, but, in understandable terms, we're dealing with something really important here. That is, who is going to run against George Bush in November. We're talking the presidency of the United States. But we know that like-ability, as Ms. Bumiller said, is very important to the campaign -- charisma, whatever you want to call it. Does Senator Kerry have enough Elvis to beat George Bush, enough excitement factor, enough charisma, enough like-ability? You know what I'm talking about, and people in North Carolina and elsewhere will know what I'm talking about when I say, 'Does he have enough Elvis,' because when he gets down to November, a lot of people are going to vote on who they like the best, whether we want them to vote that way or not."
     Edwards: "Yes. Let me answer your question directly. First of all, I know John Kerry. I like him very much. And he and I have known each other for years. Here's what I would say, though, in answer to both of your questions. I don't think this is a personality contest. I think what people are looking for in a president is somebody who, when they hear them speak, speaks their language, understands what their lives are like, shares their values...."

     After having posed his "Elvis" question, Rather still had the temerity to lecture the four candidates about picking up the pace: "Let me call time out for just one second, because this is necessary. We are inside roughly the 13-minute mark here, and I have to do something now that I wish I didn't have to do. I wish we had the rest of the afternoon to talk about it, but we need to pick up the pace in these 13 minutes, because there are any number of subjects that we have not covered."

     CBS's posted transcript of the one-hour event: www.cbsnews.com

CNN's Morton: Kerry No More Opportunistic
Flip-Flopper Than Bush

     CNN's Bruce Morton on Friday fought back for John Kerry against President Bush's accusation that the Massachusetts Senator is a flip-flopper on key issues. On Friday's Inside Politics, Morton conceded that Kerry has been on both sides of NAFTA, the Patriot Act and going to war with Iraq, though supposedly not on tax cuts, but then concluded by arguing Kerry is no more an inconsistent opportunist than is Bush since Bush changed his position on the regulation of gay marriage.

     Morton concluded: "So he's changed on some issues, not on others. But come to that, four years ago President Bush and Vice President Cheney both said it was up to the states to regulate marriage. Now they favor a constitutional amendment."

     Of course, on that subject, state courts have forced the issue.

     Judy Woodruff set up the February 27 story, as observed by MRC analyst Ken Shepherd: "If John Kerry wins his party's nomination, the Bush/Cheney team already has signaled plans to make an issue of his Senate voting record. Our Bruce Morton has more on claims that Kerry's Senate votes are at odds with his campaign rhetoric.

     Morton began: "President Bush says the Democratic front-runner has been flip-flopping on major issues."
     President George W. Bush: "Candidates are an interesting group, with diverse opinions. For tax cuts, and against them. For NAFTA and against NAFTA. For the Patriot Act and against the Patriot Act. In favor of liberating Iraq and opposed to it. And that's just one senator from Massachusetts."
     Morton: "Well, let's look at that."
     Bush: "For tax cuts. And against them."
     Morton: "In fact, Kerry didn't vote for either the 2001 or the 2003 tax cuts. He says now he would repeal tax cuts for the rich, those making more than $200,000 a year."
     Kerry: "And it will be affordable by a combination of rolling back George Bush's tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans."
     Bush: "For NAFTA and against NAFTA."
     Morton: "Yes, Kerry did vote for NAFTA. Now:"
     Kerry: "If it were before me today, I would vote against it because it doesn't have environmental or labor standards protections in it."
     Morton: "And he says he would make sure any future trade agreements did have such standards."
     Bush: "For the Patriot Act and against the Patriot Act."
     Morton: "Kerry voted for the act. He isn't for repealing it. But he does say that Attorney General John Ashcroft has violated civil liberties, and abused his authority with unjustified invasion of privacy, holding detainees indefinitely without cause, and refusing to provide information on how his department is using the act. Kerry promises to end the era of John Ashcroft."
     Bush: "In favor of liberating Iraq and opposed to it."
     Morton: "Kerry voted in favor of giving the President the authority to use force but says Bush went at it wrong."
     Kerry: "There was a right way to do this and there was a wrong way to do it. And the President chose the wrong way because he turned his back on his own pledge to build a legitimate international coalition, to exhaust the remedies of the United Nations in the inspections, and to go to war as a matter of last resort."
     Morton: "So he's changed on some issues, not on others. But come to that, four years ago President Bush and Vice President Cheney both said it was up to the states to regulate marriage. Now they favor a constitutional amendment. Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington."

CBS & ABC Celebrate O'Donnell's "Marriage"
and "Hopes" of Others

     CBS and ABC on Friday morning celebrated Rosie O'Donnell's Thursday "marriage" in San Francisco to her partner, without any time for detractors. John Blackstone touted how "Rosie O'Donnell and her partner are the most prominent same sex couple to marry here in the past two weeks, but more than 3,000 other couples have come with their own hopes and stories." After showcasing O'Donnell denouncing President Bush as "vile" and proclaiming her belief in "liberty and justice for all," Blackstone concluded: "Rosie was the star to be sure, but for the crowd at City Hall every one of these marriages is a symbol of defiance."

     Similarly, over on ABC's Good Morning America, Diane Sawyer, in Los Angeles for the Oscars, set up highlights of O'Donnell's comments after the ceremony: "Out here in California, an act of civil disobedience. As she told us she would do yesterday, Rosie O'Donnell married her long-term partner Kelli Carpenter, now Kelli Carpenter-O'Donnell, partner of six years. And even though they were among 3,000 marriages that have taken place, they were cheered by hundreds of supporters on the steps of San Francisco City Hall."

     Sawyer worried: "The question remains, is all this short-lived? Today the California attorney general will ask the State Supreme Court to determine if San Francisco's gay marriages are, in fact, legal." But, MRC analyst Jessica Anderson noticed, Sawyer ended on a happy note: "And just one note, there was a chorus on the steps singing 'Goin' To the Chapel.'"

     Friday's CyberAlert recounted how Thursday's Good Morning America, proudly touting its "exclusive" in a constant on-screen graphic, provided Rosie O'Donnell with an unimpeded platform to proclaim her intention to "marry" her partner and to denounce George and Laura Bush with some over-the-top language. Diane Sawyer went along with "O'Donnell's PR line as she relayed how O'Donnell "might not be getting married today if the President hadn't announced he would deny rights awarded by some states with an amendment to the Constitution banning same-sex marriages." O'Donnell then charged that President Bush's comments in support of a constitutional amendment to define marriage as between a man and a woman, were "the most vile and hateful words ever spoken by a sitting President." See: www.mediaresearch.org

     More on the Friday, February 27 CBS Early Show story caught by MRC analyst Brian Boyd. From San Francisco, John Blackstone checked in: "After a private ceremony in a City Hall office, Rosie O'Donnell and Kelly Carpenter emerged to the cheers of hundreds and to the singing of the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus."
     O'Donnell, to crowd: "We already did, we got married."
     Blackstone: "O'Donnell said they were motivated by the President's call for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage."
     O'Donnell: "We were both inspired to come here after the sitting President said the vile and vicious and hateful comments he did on Tuesday."
     Blackstone: "Rosie O'Donnell and her partner are the most prominent same sex couple to marry here in the past two weeks, but more than 3,000 other couples have come with their own hopes and stories."
     Man: "I now pronounce you Mary and Diane, spouses for life."
     Blackstone: "Mary Connor and Diane Ferro said their vows as the crowd gathered for Rosie O'Donnell's appearance."
     Diane Ferro, newlywed: "First time I've ever been married and it means the world to me."
     Blackstone: "Their motivation was more personal than political..."
     O'Donnell: "One thought ran through my mind over and over on the plane as we were flying out here: With liberty and justice for all."
     Blackstone concluded: "Rosie was the star to be sure, but for the crowd at City Hall every one of these marriages is a symbol of defiance."

Lauer & Schieffer: Contrarian Points
on Gay Marriage & Tax Cuts

     Two contrarian moments: First, on Friday's Today, Matt Lauer noted how "people are saying" that President Bush is "igniting the cultural wars" with his stand on gay marriage, "but back in 1996, when President Clinton, a Democrat, signed the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as the union, the legal union between one man and one woman, no one said he was igniting cultural wars."

     Second, on Sunday's Face the Nation, Bob Schieffer pointed out that "even if" Democrats manage to "kill the President's tax cuts, there still won't be enough money to pay" the currently planned Social Security benefits which Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, last week, said need to be trimmed.

     -- Appearing on the February 27 Today, Chris Matthews observed about the antagonism among elites against Bush on supporting a constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage: "I'm sure he doesn't know the ultimate fallout of this fight. I think he wanted to avoid it, but I think what's happened in San Francisco, what happened in Massachusetts with the courts up there telling the legislature to create marriage licenses or issue marriage licenses to gay couples, I think this is a fight that he's on the defensive on right now and he had to act."
     Lauer recalled: "But Chris, he's on the defensive because people are saying he's igniting the cultural wars in this country, but back in 1996, when President Clinton, a Democrat, signed the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as the union, the legal union between one man and one woman, no one said he was igniting cultural wars."
     Matthews defended the difference: "Well, a lot of people assumed that he was doing what he had to do politically just to not look too, uh, too liberal. I think in 1996, ironically, you could say that that was a very aggressive step for the Congress to come out and say, seemingly out of nowhere, no state can be forced to accept another state's marriage license if it involves a gay couple. But right now I think the President does look like he's on the defensive. I think the pictures, I mean, it's always said a picture is worth a thousand words, especially a TV picture. And the pictures of those 3000 or so weddings out in San Francisco are so vivid, that they were throwing the, I think they were throwing the issue in the face of the President. His conservative supporters are on the warpath, that he hasn't done anything til Tuesday. I think he was operating this time in defense, especially given the fact that his Vice President, Dick Cheney, has a gay daughter. I think there's some real sensitivity in the Republican world, especially in the suburbs and among women, not to be gay bashers. I don't think he wanted to do this, he did it because he had to."

     -- In his end of the show commentary on the February 29 Face the Nation, Bob Schieffer looked at how, in the wake of Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan saying that future planned Social Security spending will need to be trimmed, neither party is willing to step up to the plate. But in a very unusual media point, he undermined the Democratic premise that eliminating tax cuts solves all problems:
     "The Democrats who would be President were having none of it. John Kerry said he was not about to cut benefits, ditto said John Edwards who called the idea an outrage. And then along came the President to say count him among those who won't cut benefits either. He said he had no intention of changing benefits for those getting ready to retire. But the other part is he's not backing off his tax cuts.
     "So if we are to take all of them at their word, the soon-to-be retired have nothing to worry about. The Democrats and the Republicans are all on the record: They will not cut Social Security benefits. What they didn't talk about is where they're going to find the money to make that happen. And here's something else they didn't say. Even if they kill the President's tax cuts, there still won't be enough money to pay those benefits. When do you suppose they'll explain that part?"

Oscars Nearly Apolitical, Reporter More
Anti-Bush Than Robbins

     During Sunday night's Academy Awards show on ABC, actor Sean Penn slipped in a crack about how "there weren't any WMDs" in Iraq, but Tim Robbins refrained from using his acceptance speech as a left-wing soapbox and even refused to take the bait when a reporter asked him, at a post-ceremony press conference shown on E!, what he could "tell the millions of Americans who are very concerned with the possibility the Bush administration is stealing the elections again with dirty tricks?"

     The only political speech during the night came from a lesser-known winner, Errol Morris, producer of the winner in the "Best Feature Documentary" category, for Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara. Morris lectured, to audience approval: "Forty years ago this country went down a rabbit hole in Vietnam and millions died. I fear we're going down a rabbit hole once again. [loud applause] And if people can stop and think and reflect on some of the ideas and issues in this movie, perhaps I've done some damn good here."

     For the Internet Movie Database's page on the documentary: imdb.com

     For a shot of Morris with his Oscar: oscar.com

     Following the remarks by Morris, host Billy Crystal quipped: "I can't wait for his tax audit." But then he ominously added: "Scary times."

     During the show which didn't end until after midnight EST, Crystal delivered a couple of swipes at President Bush, but nothing beyond the comedy norm:

     -- "I first hosted the show 13 years ago. Things were so different then. You know how different it was? Bush was President, the economy was tanking and we just finished a war with Iraq."

     -- "It's been four years since I've been here. The Academy and the Oscars have been very gracious to me and let me come and go as I please the last few years. It's kind of like being in the Texas National Guard."

     For a picture of Crystal: oscar.com

     Sean Penn began his acceptance speech, at about midnight EST when he won the "Best Actor in a Leading Role" category for his performance in Mystic River:
     "Thank you. If there's one thing that actors know, other than that there weren't any WMDs -- it's that there is no such thing as best in acting. And that's proven by these great actors that I was nominated with..."

     For a picture of Penn accepting his Oscar: oscar.com

     After ABC's broadcast ended, the winners paraded in front of reporters, in sessions much of which the E! cable network carried live during the 9pm PST/12am EST hour. An unidentified male reporter prodded Robbins: "Since it's an election year, I would like to know what could you tell the millions of Americans who are very concerned with the possibility the Bush administration is stealing the elections again with dirty tricks?"
     Robbins refrained from using the opportunity to bash Bush, but he did display a bit of paranoia. He began with a quip about the obvious agenda of the questioner: "Don't beat around the bush. [laughs] All I can say is just register to vote, get involved in the process. Make sure other people vote, you know. And I do think that somehow has to ensure that the elections are fair and that I have, I'm really nervous about computerized elections because the computer technology says that you can't check inside the computer because it's a trade secret and for the first time in our democracy you can't have a recount. So that's something people should look at."

     For a shot of Robbins accepting his Oscar, for "Best Actor in a Supporting Role" in Mystic River, about three-and-a-half hours earlier: oscar.com

-- Brent Baker