1. Morning Shows Pound Bush, Bolster Clarke and Ignore Clinton
Clinton let off the hook by the morning shows. "Dramatic testimony at the 9-11 hearing," CBS's Hannah Storm teased at the top of Thursday's Early Show before she led with Richard Clarke's anti-Bush push: "Former counter-terrorism chief Richard Clarke said the Bush administration largely ignored the threat from al-Qaeda before September 11th." Storm's colleague, Harry Smith, soon used an interview session with former CIA Director James Woolsey to expound on how the Clinton administration's devotion to kill Osama bin Laden was dropped by the incoming Bush team while, over on NBC's Today, Matt Lauer pressed his guests to agree with Clarke's case and integrity.

2. Reporters Praise Clarke: "Undermines Whole Bush Administration"
Newsweek reporter Michael Isikoff and Washington Post reporter Dana Milbank are in awe of Dick Clarke. On Wednesday's Hardball on MSNBC, Isikoff described Clarke's testimony as "highly effective" and maintained that though "there was a rather furious effort by the White House and some of the Republican commissioners to dent his credibility," it didn't work: "I don't think they succeeded. And I thought the apology that he began with was, was actually a brilliant stroke." Milbank decided: "His critique is devastating. He said essentially that September 11th could have been prevented, that President Bush did not care about terrorism before September 11th and didn't do the right things after September 11th. This undermines the whole Bush administration."

3. CBS Notes Clarke Never Objected to Bush in 22 Hours of Testimony
CBS News catches up and finds eight more hours of Richard Clarke contradicting himself. As noted in the March 25 CyberAlert, on the broadcast network and CNN evening newscasts on Wednesday night, ABC's Terry Moran uniquely observed how "several commission members pointed out that Clarke had never expressed his criticisms [of Bush] to them in 14 hours of private testimony." On Thursday night, in a story CBS Evening News anchor John Roberts set up by highlighting "claims by former counter-terrorism aide Richard Clarke that the administration has bungled the war on terror," Bill Plante concluded by pointing out how "one Republican source close to the 9-11 commission complained that in 22 hours of private interviews Clarke never once voiced the objections that he raised in his book."

4. Banfield, Who Fretted About Pro-War Coverage, Let Go by MSNBC
NBC has decided to let go Ashleigh Banfield, the host of a series of MSNBC shows over the years who occasionally popped up on NBC News, Friday's New York Daily News reported. The paper's Lloyd Grove recalled how she once wore on air, though she covered it with a jacket, a T-shirt which sported the phrase "Starf--r." During her four years or so with MSNBC, she hailed the passage of mandated family leave as "great news," denounced Dr. Laura Schlessinger, expressed her excitement over a conference call amongst some liberal politicians, lauded the Taliban's "savvy" for inviting Jesse Jackson to negotiate for them, gushed about how "I'd be fascinated by anything Osama bin Laden would have to say" and complained that Iraq war coverage was not negative enough, fretting about how it looked like "a courageous and terrific endeavor."

Morning Shows Pound Bush, Bolster Clarke
and Ignore Clinton

     Clinton let off the hook by the morning shows. "Dramatic testimony at the 9-11 hearing," CBS's Hannah Storm teased at the top of Thursday's Early Show before she led with Richard Clarke's anti-Bush push: "Former counter-terrorism chief Richard Clarke said the Bush administration largely ignored the threat from al-Qaeda before September 11th." Storm's colleague, Harry Smith, soon used an interview session with former CIA Director James Woolsey to expound on how the Clinton administration's devotion to kill Osama bin Laden was dropped by the incoming Bush team while, over on NBC's Today, Matt Lauer pressed his guests to agree with Clarke's case and integrity.

     Smith relayed the contentions of former National Security advisor Sandy Berger who appeared at Wednesday's hearing of the 9-11 commission: "Listening to the Clinton administration people, they said they understood the gravity of the terrorism threat because of the numerous attacks against different American targets. In the transfer of power, listening to Clarke yesterday he said the Bush administration understood it was important but not urgent."

     Over on Today, interviewing Democratic-affiliated commission member Jamie Gorelick and Republican-affiliated member John Lehman, Lauer pressed Lehman about Bush failures but not Gorelick about Clinton's failed record. Lauer asked: "The New York Times has an editorial this morning Miss Gorelick and it says this, quote, 'The real impression gleaned from the hearings is not that the Bush administration was indifferent to the threat of terror but that its officials had trouble fully understanding it.' Would you agree with that?"

     Lauer soon channeled Clarke: "Let me ask you about Richard Clarke, Mr. Lehman. Here he testified yesterday and said quote, 'No higher priority in the Clinton administration than combating terrorists,' while the Bush administration made it quote, 'an important issue but not an urgent issue.'"

     Recalling how Lehman suggested that Clarke was just trying to sell a book, Lauer demanded: "Do you, do you really think though, given the, the gravity of the, of this issue that he would play fast and loose with the truth when it comes to national security?"

     Now, a rundown of the questions posed on the March 25 morning shows on CBS and NBC:

     Following Storm's slanted tease quoted above and a story from Bill Plante on the hearings, Smith set up a session with James Woolsey, Clinton's CIA Director (1993-1995):
     "As we reported, the federal commission investigating September 11th, has wrapped up two days of testimony. In the end, witnesses called to testify provided differing accounts of how much the Bush administration knew and what action could have been taken before 9-11 to prevent the attacks. Former CIA Director James Woolsey is in Washington and he joins us. Good to see you again, thanks for being here."

     Smith's questions, as taken down by MRC analyst Brian Boyd:

     -- Smith: "From watching over the past two days, it's been so interesting just to try to wade through all of this information and one of the things I want to concentrate on first is according to the Clinton administration officials it was clear to them they wanted Osama bin Laden dead. Now, they started tracking him, the CIA started tracking him in a serious way back in 1996. Do you think there was a disconnect between the Clinton administration and the CIA?"
     Woolsey: "....but if they wanted, you know, real para-military raids to go in and try to kill him either with military forces, special forces or with CIA people the White House had to actually order that and go through it and plan the scenario and decide to do it. And I don't see anywhere in this that they actually tried to do that."
     Smith: "Because just listening to the testimony yesterday it seemed like the head understood one thing and the actual body parts, they were not in accord."
     Woolsey: "Well, President Clinton really regarded terrorism for almost all of his administration, I think, as a law enforcement problem. The idea was to go find the terrorists who had done something wrong, grab them, bring them back. Bring them to justice, that was the phrase. And they did try the strike in 1998 against the camps. But if you want your military to put its special forces together and go in and work with the Northern Alliance, with Massoud in Afghanistan to figure out a kidnap or attack plan on bin Laden, or you want the CIA para-military people to do the same thing, you've got to get people around the table, plan it and do it. You can't just sort of sign a piece of paper and assume that the CIA is going to go off and start with guns blazing. That's not the way it works."

     -- Smith: "Listening to the Clinton administration people, they said they understood the gravity of the terrorism threat because of the numerous attacks against different American targets. In the transfer of power, listening to Clarke yesterday he said the Bush administration understood it was important but not urgent. How did that ring to you?"

     Woolsey suggested that Bush's Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, "effectively refuted Clarke on that."

     -- Smith: "Just very quickly. Is this an exercise in futility or are we going to really learn something out of all of this?"

     Matt Lauer introduced his guests on Today: "On Close Up this morning, 9-11 and the 9-11 commission. As we've reported two days of somewhat heated testimony wrapped up on Wednesday. So what questions still need to be answered. Democrat Jamie Gorelick and Republican John Lehman are members of the commission. Good morning to both of you."

     The MRC's Geoff Dickens noticed that Lauer didn't ask anything about the Clinton administration's record:

     -- Lauer: "So Miss Gorelick let me start with you. From what I understand you were the only commission member who was able to see all of the intelligence briefings between President Bush and CIA Director George Tenet and although the content of those briefings is classified you've commented in general terms saying what you saw would quote, 'set your hair on fire.' So in the last couple of days did the public get even the tip of the iceberg of what you learned from those briefings?"

     -- Lauer: "The New York Times has an editorial this morning Miss Gorelick and it says this, quote, 'The real impression gleaned from the hearings is not that the Bush administration was indifferent to the threat of terror but that its officials had trouble fully understanding it.' Would you agree with that?"

     -- Lauer: "Mr. Lehman do we have more questions or answers right now?"

     -- Lauer: "Let me ask you about Richard Clarke, Mr. Lehman. Here he testified yesterday and said quote, 'No higher priority in the Clinton administration than combating terrorists,' while the Bush administration made it quote, 'an important issue but not an urgent issue.' He went on to say that, 'although I continued to say it was an urgent problem I don't think it was ever treated that way by the Bush administration.' Does the commission's investigation, in your opinion, back up that conclusion?"

     -- Lauer: "Ms. Gorelick, CIA Director George Tenet testified of a quote, 'systemic failure.' 'That the predominant focus and threat of the reporting took us overseas.' Meaning we thought the attack was going to come from overseas. So are you confident now that if another attack was in the planning that, that systemic failure has been, would not, would be eliminated? Would not take place again?"

     -- Lauer: "Let me ask you this about Richard Clarke's credibility. I know Mr. Lehman you were tough on him, you seem to say there are two stories going on here. What he wrote and said back in 2001 and 2002 and what he's now written in his book. I think you said, 'that this is kind of aggressive book selling.' Do you, do you really think though, given the, the gravity of the, of this issue that he would play fast and loose with the truth when it comes to national security?"
     Lehman: "I don't think he's playing fast and loose with the truth. I think he's telling two different stories..."

     -- Lauer, after displaying a partisan tilt in his questioning, had the gall to inquire: "Ms. Gorelick let me end with you. There, there had been so much talk about how this was non-partisan, there would be no bickering. I have to say after watching a lot of, of this commission hearing yesterday there was a lot of partisan politics at play. Were you disappointed by that?"

Reporters Praise Clarke: "Undermines
Whole Bush Administration"

     Newsweek reporter Michael Isikoff and Washington Post reporter Dana Milbank are in awe of Dick Clarke. On Wednesday's Hardball on MSNBC, Isikoff described Clarke's testimony as "highly effective" and maintained that though "there was a rather furious effort by the White House and some of the Republican commissioners to dent his credibility," it didn't work: "I don't think they succeeded. And I thought the apology that he began with was, was actually a brilliant stroke."

     Milbank decided: "His critique is devastating. He said essentially that September 11th could have been prevented, that President Bush did not care about terrorism before September 11th and didn't do the right things after September 11th. This undermines the whole Bush administration."

     The MRC's Geoff Dickens caught the comments made on the March 24 Hardball with Chris Matthews.

     Matthews: "Welcome back to Hardball. Michael Isikoff is an investigator reporter for Newsweek and Dana Milbank is a White House correspondent for the Washington Post. Gentlemen, you first, Michael, what's the biggest development today? Was it the apology for the United States government for 9-11 by Richard Clarke?"
     Isikoff: "Well, I think Clark's overall testimony because I thought it was highly effective. There was a rather furious effort by the White House and some of the Republican commissioners to dent his credibility today. They threw a lot at him, at him. I don't think they succeeded. And I thought the apology that he began with was, was actually a brilliant stroke. It sort of set the tone, but it also raised the question. 'If I, Richard Clarke, who recognized the Al Qaeda threat worked as hard as anybody could on this. I'm gonna apologize to the, to families of the victims of September 11th.' It raises the question, should others in, in this White House, as well as past White Houses, do the same thing? And I think that's not, probably not a question the White House wants to have asked."

     A bit later, Matthews proposed: "But here we have this guy testifying, Richard Clarke, who's pretty focused in what he is trying to do here. He's trying to impeach the efforts overall of the U.S. government and the attempts by the politicians leading our government to really try to do a serious job by saying, 'Hey, look, I thought of this.'"
     Milbank: "Yeah I mean if you, if you, well there's been a bit of self-aggrandizement in, he's taking credit for an awful lot of things. But if you think about it, his critique is devastating. He said essentially that September 11th could have been prevented, that President Bush did not care about terrorism before September 11th and didn't do the right things after September 11th. This undermines the whole Bush administration. So what they really have to do, they, they rather than just take on argument by argument, they just have to pull the rug out from under him and completely try to undermine his credibility. That's what you saw some of the commission members doing today."

CBS Notes Clarke Never Objected to Bush
in 22 Hours of Testimony

     CBS News catches up and finds eight more hours of Richard Clarke contradicting himself. As noted in the March 25 CyberAlert, on the broadcast network and CNN evening newscasts on Wednesday night, ABC's Terry Moran uniquely observed how "several commission members pointed out that Clarke had never expressed his criticisms [of Bush] to them in 14 hours of private testimony." On Thursday night, in a story CBS Evening News anchor John Roberts set up by highlighting "claims by former counter-terrorism aide Richard Clarke that the administration has bungled the war on terror," Bill Plante concluded by pointing out how "one Republican source close to the 9-11 commission complained that in 22 hours of private interviews Clarke never once voiced the objections that he raised in his book."

     Roberts introduced Plante's March 25 story, on President Bush's retort to Clarke, by explaining how Bush traveled to New Hampshire "to talk about jobs and the economy, but as Bill Plante reports, the subject quickly turned again to claims by former counter-terrorism aide Richard Clarke that the administration has bungled the war on terror."

     Plante ran through Bush's comments and how MoveOn.org has produced a new anti-Bush ad that features Clarke. CBS displayed a the part of the ad showing these words beneath a photo of Bush: "He ignored terrorism for months."

     Plante then concluded: "Maybe it was inevitable, but the investigation into the 9-11 tragedy is now a political issue. To the White House, Richard Clarke is an opportunist trying to hock his book. One Republican source close to the 9-11 commission complained that in 22 hours of private interviews Clarke never once voiced the objections that he raised in his book."

     A point you'd think Lesley Stahl could have made a some point during her 26-plus minutes promoting Clarke's book last Sunday.

Banfield, Who Fretted About Pro-War Coverage,
Let Go by MSNBC

     NBC has decided to let go Ashleigh Banfield, the host of a series of MSNBC shows over the years who occasionally popped up on NBC News, Friday's New York Daily News reported. The paper's Lloyd Grove recalled how she once wore on air, though she covered it with a jacket, a T-shirt which sported the phrase "Starf--r."

     During her four years or so with MSNBC, Banfield, who became famous for her live reports from Ground Zero on September 11th when she was covered in soot, hailed the passage of mandated family leave as "great news," denounced Dr. Laura Schlessinger, expressed her excitement over a conference call amongst some liberal politicians, lauded the Taliban's "savvy" for supposedly inviting Jesse Jackson to negotiate for them, gushed about how "I'd be fascinated by anything Osama bin Laden would have to say" and complained that Iraq war coverage was not negative enough and so "it wasn't journalism, because I'm not sure Americans are hesitant to do this again -- to fight another war, because it looked to them like a courageous and terrific endeavor."

     An excerpt from Daily News gossip columnist Lloyd Grove's March 26 "Lowdown" column:

Onetime cable television star Ashleigh Banfield -- a publicity magnet even before she achieved celebrity in the aftermath of 9/11 -- is out at NBC News.

The 36-year-old former rock singer -- once a fashion icon for her blond tresses and her ever-present on-air glasses, but whose career took a slide after she dyed her hair dark brown -- joined the network's MSNBC outlet four years ago, and has been working without a contract since late January.

"Regrettably, we were unable to agree on a new assignment for her," an NBC News spokeswoman told me yesterday. "We thank her for her hard work and wish her well."

The native Canadian was a controversial figure at NBC, where detractors spread rumors of diva-like behavior and sniped at her supposed journalistic deficiencies.

Banfield didn't try to butter up colleagues and supervisors, and instead cast herself as an enemy of the Establishment. She once showed up for anchor duties at MSNBC's Secaucus studios in New Jersey sporting a T-shirt that shouted, in garish glitter: "Starf--r."

But on camera, the message was discreetly concealed by a conservative jacket....

     END of Excerpt

     For the New York Daily News item in full: www.nydailynews.com

     Some highlights from Banfield's MSNBC years:

     # From the September 17, 2002 CyberAlert. On her September 24 show, Ashleigh Banfield on Location, Banfield plugged: "Coming up, California Governor Gray Davis signs a bill into law, and it is great if you're a new mom and a new dad and looking to get a little time off with your new little kid. But it is lousy if you're a business owner. Why should the businesses have to pay for your time off with your new kids? Find out how it all works and why it's happened, families first."
     Introducing the actual story a bit later, Banfield asserted: "Great news in California! If you're a brand new mom or dad, you can take some time off with your brand new born and you're gonna still be getting paid for it. That's not so bad -- unless you're a business owner because it's gonna cost you. A lot of critics of this brand new law in California say with the economy in the toilet, this is not a good time to be passing such a law. In fact, they say it's gonna be a tough act to swallow."

     Some quotes from the MRC's Notable Quotables, from oldest to newest:

     # Lashing Dr. Laura
     "I'm going over a shopping list of things you are against: divorce, living together, working moms, premarital sex, lying, immoral behavior, homosexuality, family differences and day care. Now I'm going to go over the list of some of the rules that you've broken in your lifetime. You have been divorced. You lived with your current husband before you married him, Lou Bishop. You also posed nude for photographs and then lied about the photographs at first and then claimed the rights to those photographs. You fired your own mother when she worked for you and you have not spoken with her for fourteen years and you also put [son] Derek into day care when he was three years old. You're also a working mom. I guess I just have to ask you what leg do you have to stand on to talk about suggestions for people and the way they live?"
-- "Question" from MSNBC's Ashleigh Banfield to syndicated talk radio show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger, May 4, 2000 MSNBC afternoon female-oriented show Homepage.

     # Ashleigh and Al's First Date?
     "The last time I was this excited about a two-minute warning for a telephone call was when I was waiting for my prom date to call and invite me to the prom -- and I'm not going to tell you how many years ago that was."
-- MSNBC anchor Ashleigh Banfield to reporter Norah O'Donnell just before a November 27, 2000 photo-op public conference call amongst Al Gore, Joe Lieberman, Dick Gephardt and Tom Daschle.

     # Inviting Jesse Reveals "Savvy"
     "It is interesting that the Taliban would be so media savvy about the Reverend's position in a lot of national and international affairs. Thinking back to obviously 1999, his visit to Belgrade and the way he was able to work his way into the situation with those three trapped soldiers who were caught crossing over the Macedonian border. For a government that essentially doesn't allow television or media in the entire country, it is interesting that they are as media savvy as they are to make that kind of a contact with someone like Jesse Jackson."
-- MSNBC reporter Ashleigh Banfield on her network's simulcast of Imus in the Morning on September 28, 2001 referring to reports, later denied, that Taliban leaders had asked Reverend Jackson to visit Afghanistan.

     # Eager For Bin Laden Interview
     "Absolutely I would like to interview Osama bin Laden. There's no one I would not want to interview. I always am interested in hearing points of view, conveying those points of view. I always find it sad that people think by being the messenger you're somehow branded as actually believing in the message yourself. It's not the case. I'd be fascinated by anything Osama bin Laden would have to say."
-- MSNBC's Ashleigh Banfield on the March 28, 2002 Region in Conflict. The previous evening she had challenged another journalist's desire to interview bin Laden: "You would not see this as a platform for a maniac?"

     # Too Much American Courage...
     "We didn't see what happened when Marines fired M-16s. We didn't see what happened after mortars landed, only the puff of smoke. There were horrors that were completely left out of this war. So was this journalism? Or was this coverage?"
     "It was a grand and glorious picture that had a lot of people watching, and a lot of advertisers excited about cable TV news, but it wasn't journalism, because I'm not sure Americans are hesitant to do this again -- to fight another war, because it looked to them like a courageous and terrific endeavor."
-- MSNBC's Ashleigh Banfield during a speech at Kansas State University, as quoted by Topeka Capital-Journal reporter Matt Moline in an April 24, 2003 story posted on the newspaper's Web site.

     *** John Kerry's 1971 appearance on ABC's Dick Cavett Show to be re-played Sunday night on C-SPAN's Road to the White House. C-SPAN's summary of the content of this weekend's edition:
     "Road to the White House first features a brief interview with Dick Cavett and John O'Neill, now a Houston lawyer, regarding the program to be shown. Next is featured ABC's June 30, 1971, 'The Dick Cavett Show,' during which John Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War veteran turned war protestor, and a fellow Navy veteran, John O'Neill, debated the Vietnam War and America's policy towards Southeast Asia. Kerry represented Vietnam veterans opposed to the war, while O'Neill supported the U.S. policy in Vietnam."

     The 90-minute Road to the White House will run three times on Sunday night. By time zone:
EST: 6:30pm, 9:30pm and 12:30am
CST: 5:30pm, 8:30pm and 11:30pm
MST: 4:40pm, 7:30pm and 10:30pm
PST: 3:30pm, 6:30pm and 9:30pm

-- Brent Baker