1. CBS Commentator Charges Bush Doesn't Give "a Damn" About Blacks
CBS News Sunday Morning "contributor" Nancy Giles, in the only commentary aired on the show on Sunday, delivered a blistering diatribe in which she charged that "if the majority of the hardest hit victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans were white people, they would not have gone for days without food and water" and insisted that "the real war is not in Iraq, but right here in America. It's the War on Poverty, and it's a war that's been ignored and lost." She complained that "we've repeatedly given tax cuts to the wealthiest and left our most vulnerable American citizens to basically fend for themselves." Giles scolded Bush for finding photo-ops with some "black folks to hug" while he skipped "the messy parts of New Orleans." She castigated Bush for how he "has put himself at risk by visiting the troops in Iraq, but didn't venture anywhere near the Superdome or the convention center, where thousands of victims, mostly black and poor, needed to see that he gave a damn."

2. Race-Baiting by Blitzer & Brown; Race Raised by Williams & Koppel
CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Friday afternoon repeatedly prodded reluctant Congressional Black Caucus member Elijah Cummings to blame racism for delays in rescuing hurricane victims in New Orleans. When Cummings demurred from such a blanket accusation, Blitzer wouldn't give up: "There are some critics who are saying, and I don't know if you're among those, but people have said to me, had this happened in a predominantly white community, the federal government would have responded much more quickly. Do you believe that?" Later, on CNN's NewsNight, Aaron Brown took up the same agenda with Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, lecturing her: "Now, look, here's the question, okay? And then we'll end this. Do you think the reason that they're not there or the food is not there or the cruise ships aren't there or all this stuff that you believe should be there, isn't this a matter of race and/or class?" ABC's Ted Koppel charged on Nightline that "the slow response to the victims of Hurricane Katrina has led to questions about race, poverty and a seemingly indifferent government."

3. Moran Hits Bush on "Resources" for Iraq Over Hurricane Victims
ABC's Terry Moran on Friday afternoon put politics at the forefront in hurricane disaster coverage when, on a storm-ravaged Biloxi street, he confronted President Bush about how "one of the things you hear here is people saying 'there's a lot of resources being devoted to Iraq. Now this country needs them.' And they're frustrated about that. What do you say to the people who say there's too much money being spent on Iraq and it's time to bring it home?" ABC News led its 1:22pm EDT special with anchor Dan Harris insisting that spending on Iraq is "a common complaint -- what we're hearing from many people about the resources being spent in Iraq." Friday's World News Tonight featured Moran's question.

4. Totenberg Blames Tax Cuts for Flood Disaster in New Orleans
Sounding like a parody of a liberal, but in all seriousness, NPR and ABC reporter Nina Totenberg charged on Inside Washington, at the end of a discussion about how National Guard equipment deployed to Iraq is supposedly impairing rescue efforts, that "for years, we have cut our taxes, cut our taxes and let the infrastructure throughout the country go and this is just the first of a number of other crumbling things that are going to happen to us." An astounded Charles Krauthammer pleaded: "You must be kidding here." But Totenberg reaffirmed: "I'm not kidding."

5. Damon on Kanye West's Anti-Bush Outburst: "I Let Out a Cheer"
Monday's Access Hollywood teased with a clip of rapper Kanye West's blast on Friday's Concert for Hurricane Relief broadcast on several NBC channels, "George Bush doesn't care about black people," followed by a clip of actor Matt Damon: "I let out a cheer." The program also featured a clip of this ludicrous claim from West on the fund-raising show: "We already realize a lot of the people that could help are at war right now fighting another way and they've given them permission to go down and shoot us." A few minutes later on Access Hollywood, co-host Nancy O'Dell touted how "it was Kanye West's anti-Bush remarks that caught the attention of Matt Damon and Susan Sarandon in Italy" at the Venice Film Festival. Viewers then heard this from actress Susan Sarandon: "I don't think that's an original thought, but it's probably true." Immediately after Sarandon, Access Hollywood played a longer soundbite from Damon who claimed the White House press corps is too nice to Bush and thus "not one of them's an honest journalist."

6. Network Reporters Assess Rehnquist Through a Liberal Prism
The death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist on Saturday night didn't get as much media attention as such a passing normally would, but I did notice that network reviews of his career approached his views negatively from the left. Instead of saying he championed the rights of crime victims, religious expression and of treating all equally without regard to race, CBS reporter Jim Stewart fretted that "under Rehnquist, criminals found it hard to get multiple appeals in federal court. The line between church and state became more porous. Affirmative action became more difficult to implement." CNN's Jeffrey Toobin trumpeted the survival of liberal policies: "Against the Chief Justice's wishes, the Constitution still protects a woman's right to choose abortion and a homosexual's right to have private consensual sex. Affirmative action survives. States may no longer execute the mentally retarded." ABC's Manuel Medrano relayed how "Rehnquist critics charged he was hostile to the rights of women and minorities, and accused him of harassing black voters."

CBS Commentator Charges Bush Doesn't
Give "a Damn" About Blacks

     Giles asserted that "if the majority of the hardest hit victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans were white people, they would not have gone for days without food and water" and insisted that "the real war is not in Iraq, but right here in America. It's the War on Poverty, and it's a war that's been ignored and lost." She complained that "we've repeatedly given tax cuts to the wealthiest and left our most vulnerable American citizens to basically fend for themselves." Giles scolded Bush for finding photo-ops with some "black folks to hug" while he skipped "the messy parts of New Orleans." She castigated Bush for how he "has put himself at risk by visiting the troops in Iraq, but didn't venture anywhere near the Superdome or the convention center, where thousands of victims, mostly black and poor, needed to see that he gave a damn."

     For a video excerpt, in both Real and Windows Media formats, check the Sunday night posting of this item on the MRC's NewsBusters.org blog where you can add your comment: newsbusters.org

     For the CBSNews.com posting of the text of the September 4 commentary by Giles: www.cbsnews.com

     The MRC's Brad Wilmouth checked it against what aired.

     Substitute host Harry Smith introduced Giles' taped piece, which aired about 55 minutes into the 90-minute news program: "That many of those suffering most in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina are poor and black has outraged a lot of people. Justifiably so, in the opinion of contributor Nancy Giles."
     Giles asserted, at times over matching video: "After meeting with Louisiana officials last week, Rev. Jesse Jackson said, quote, 'Many black people feel that their race, their property conditions and their voting patterns have been a factor in the response.' He continued, quote, 'I'm not saying that myself.' Then I'll say it. If the majority of the hardest hit victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans were white people, they would not have gone for days without food and water, forcing many to steal for mere survival. Their bodies would not have been left to float in putrid water. They would have been rescued and relocated a hell of a lot faster than this. Period. I mean, reporters and crews are getting to stranded people, and government and military agencies can't? Why don't the networks run FEMA? When I saw pictures of black people taking things from stores, my first thought was: 'How are those Nikes necessary for your survival?' And then it hit me: People need shoes and clothing. Some escaped the floods with just the clothing on their backs. We have American citizens, not 'refugees' from an underdeveloped country, waiting for food, water, shelter, and electricity for four, five, six days."
     Black man holding up a baby: "They don't have no formula, no water-"
     Giles: "Waiting. Waiting. What would you do if your family was starving and you saw people dying in the streets? 'Love thy neighbor.' Didn't I read that somewhere? The real war is not in Iraq, but right here in America. It's the War on Poverty, and it's a war that's been ignored and lost. An estimated 37 million Americans are living in poverty. New Orleans is one of the poorest cities in the country, with 40 percent of its children living in poverty. Mississippi has the highest poverty rate of any state. We've repeatedly given tax cuts to the wealthiest and left our most vulnerable American citizens to basically fend for themselves."
     George W. Bush, at the airport in Kenner on Friday: "This is a storm that's going to require immediate action now."
     Giles: "Once again, a day late and a dollar short, words of wisdom from our President. And once again, Bush finds the photo op [matching pictures shown]: Some black folks to hug, some white men to bond with. He flies over the messy parts of New Orleans, waves and leaves. The President has put himself at risk by visiting the troops in Iraq, but didn't venture anywhere near the Superdome or the convention center, where thousands of victims, mostly black and poor, needed to see that he gave a damn."

     Giles was a runner-up, for the "I Hate You #!*#! Conservatives Award" in the MRC's "DisHonors Awards of 2004: Roasting the Most Outrageously Biased Liberal Reporters of 2003," for this bombast on the October 5, 2003 Sunday Morning, in the wake of Limbaugh's prediction that the sports media would do what it could to prevent a black quarterback from failing:
     "What must it be like to live in Rush Limbaugh's world? A world where when anyone other than conservative, white men attempts to do anything or enter any profession, be it business, politics, art or sports, the only reason they're allowed entry or, incredibly, attain excellence is because the standard was lowered. Be they liberals, people of color, women, the poor or anyone with an accent. So as Rush's world has steadily crumbled, it's no wonder he allegedly had to turn to prescription pain killers....Edgy, controversial, brilliant. What a way to shake up intelligent sports commentary. Hitler would have killed in talk radio. He was edgy, too."

     To watch RealPlayer video of that: www.mrc.org

     For Giles' own Web site: www.nancygiles.com

Race-Baiting by Blitzer & Brown; Race
Raised by Williams & Koppel

     CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Friday afternoon repeatedly prodded reluctant Congressional Black Caucus member Elijah Cummings to blame racism for delays in rescuing hurricane victims in New Orleans. Blitzer asked Cummings on The Situation Room: "Do you believe, if it was, in fact, a slow response, as many now believe it was, was it in part the result of racism?" When Cummings demurred from such a blanket accusation, Blitzer wouldn't give up: "There are some critics who are saying, and I don't know if you're among those, but people have said to me, had this happened in a predominantly white community, the federal government would have responded much more quickly. Do you believe that?"

     Later, on CNN's NewsNight, Aaron Brown took up the same agenda with Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones: "What I'm wondering is, do you think black America's sitting there thinking, if these were middle class white people, there would be cruise ships in New Orleans?" When she wouldn't take the bait, Brown lectured: "Now, look, here's the question, okay? And then we'll end this. Do you think the reason that they're not there or the food is not there or the cruise ships aren't there or all this stuff that you believe should be there, isn't this a matter of race and/or class?"

     Opening Friday's NBC Nightly News, Brian Williams predicted that the "catastrophic hurricane strike, and the U.S. government response to it, will in the years or decades to come, perhaps necessitate a national discussion on race, on oil, politics, class, infrastructure, the environment and more." ABC's Ted Koppel charged on Nightline that "the slow response to the victims of Hurricane Katrina has led to questions about race, poverty and a seemingly indifferent government."

     [This item was posted Saturday morning on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org. For the node where you can post your comments: newsbusters.org ]

     # CNN's The Situation Room, 4:21pm EDT on September 2, as provided by the MRC's Brad Wilmouth. Blitzer interviewed Cummings on the show's set by a big table with video screens in the background. The relevant exchanges:

     Wolf Blitzer: "Congressman, thanks very much for joining us. You're looking at these pictures. As you know, many African-American members of Congress earlier today said they've been ashamed and outraged by the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina. Give us your thoughts as of right now."
     Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD): "Well, I'm feeling a little bit better, but I got to tell you that we were outraged, and many of us still are. The fact is, is that we believe the administration moved a little bit late and did not take this matter as urgently as they should have...."
     Blitzer: "It's taken several days. This hurricane hit Monday morning, it is now Friday afternoon, and we saw just a couple of hours ago, U.S. troops move into that convention center in New Orleans, about 1,000 National Guard and Army personnel with supplies. There have been some that have suggested that race has been a factor because so many of the people in New Orleans who have been suffering, as you well know, are African-American."
     Cummings: "Well, the Caucus, we took the position that it was the frail, the weak, and those that are sick that are suffering. Keep in mind, Wolf, you just talked about the troops marching in. A lot of people have died, and a lot of people will die, and sadly -- that's sad -- but the fact is that the President we would have hoped would have moved sooner. Governor Blanco even said the same thing. And certainly, Mayor Nagin. But I think that he's on the right track right now, but we are asking that people be helped immediately. I mean, when you've got people who can't even get formula for a baby or water for their children, and you've got elderly people lying in carts suffering from bone cancer, lying in an airport, somebody's got to speak up, and I'm glad the Caucus did speak up, and I think that we made a difference already."
     Blitzer: "But do you believe, if it was, in fact, a slow response, as many now believe it was, was it in part the result of racism? Is that what you're suggesting?"
     Cummings: "I'm not sure. All I know is that a number of the faces that I saw were African-American, but the Caucus has always stood for all Americans, particularly those who have been often left out of the system. And people that I've seen on your channel, by the way, are people who are the frail, the elderly, the sick, those people, children, people who, and people literally walking around in water for days in their own feces with dead bodies floating...."
     Blitzer: "New Orleans, a very predominantly African-American city, as you well know. There are some critics who are saying, and I don't know if you're among those, but people have said to me, had this happened in a predominantly white community, the federal government would have responded much more quickly. Do you believe that?"
     Cummings: "I think that that's a pretty good probability. The fact is, though, and keep in mind another thing, Wolf, we have not even seen emerge from all of this those people who have passed away. There's another wave coming over this thing. Number one, we have to bring relief. Number two, we have to reconstruct and reconstruct people's lives...."

     # CNN's NewsNight, September 2, about 10:45pm EDT.

     Aaron Brown set up an interview Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus: "Numbers are part of the story. They are not the story. Two- thirds of the population of New Orleans is African-American, 30 percent of the city's residents -- 30 percent -- live below the poverty line. It's a difficult question to ask. Race is always a difficult thing to talk about in the country. But it certainly has become a part of the story."

     Brown's first allegation in the form of a question: "I don't know if it's race or class, to be honest. But I was just thinking about that hospital evacuation you were talking about earlier. You do get the feeling that poor people in the country get shafted."
     Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio, from CNN's Washington bureau: "It's no question that poor people in this country get shafted...."
     Brown: "Let me -- I want to talk about -- I want to go right at the heart of this in some ways. How do you think white America will react -- has -- is reacting, to all of these images? These images of black people living in these giant shelters, and all of the problems that are being reported out of them, the stories and the pictures of looting? How do you think white America will process that?"
     Jones: "Well, you know what? I have been in public office for 24 years, and the only African-American elected official in almost every office that I've held. And there are people of good will in America, regardless of their color. But there are going to be some who will say, yeah, those black folks, they were looting over there in New Orleans, or those black folks just didn't know how to live, and they're living in squalor anyway, so it's not any different....And I'm hoping that most of America, either white, black, brown, will say, this is a shame that we're allowing this to happen in the land of the free, the home of the brave, the greatest democracy in the world, that we will allow this to happen, and allow it to happen based on race."
     Brown: "That's how you hope white people look at it. Now, tell me how you think black people in the country, outside of New Orleans, are seeing this story? Then maybe -- through a different set of eyes, a different set of life experiences?"
     Jones: "Black people across America have all types of life experiences. But I guarantee each and every one of them, their hearts are going out, because you have to keep in mind that the people, African-American people of America, migrated from Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Texas and Florida. And all of those that are in Detroit, New York, these are their relatives that they're seeing on that picture. Though they may not be blood."
     Brown: "Congresswoman, of course their hearts go out to them. In many respects, all of our hearts go out to them. But-"
     Jones: "Oh, they're affected."
     Brown: "But I think the question -- I think what I'm wondering is, do you think black America's sitting there thinking, if these were middle class white people, there would be cruise ships in New Orleans, not the Superdome?"
     Jones: "Let me say it to you like this, Aaron. We are offended. We are outraged that America, the democracy, is not living up to its calling. We are offended that so many African-American folk -- I'm offended that there are black, brown, whatever color they are, they are sitting in the Astrodome somewhere, not being taken care of. I'm offended that the government has not allocated the resources. It wasn't yesterday that they knew this was going to happen. It was six days ago....Let me show -- give you one more example. I've been to military alliances across this world, and the Red Horse -- and I strongly talk about Red Horse, which are National Guard. They go in and build a hospital in two days. They go in and put cement roads in two to three days. They go in and put housing in. Where is Red Horse? Why aren't the Red Horse down in Mississippi, Alabama and New Orleans?"
     Brown: "Now, look, here's the question, okay? And then we'll end this. Do you think the reason that they're not there or the food is not there or the cruise ships aren't there or all this stuff that you believe should be there, isn't this a matter of race and/or class?"
     Jones: "I think it's mostly a matter of class, but clearly, race is a factor in the areas in which we're operating in southern America. And that were it different, were I the President, it wouldn't be happening."

     # ABC's World News Tonight, September 2.

     The MRC's Brad Wilmouth caught how Bob Woodruff asserted from a New Orleans sidewalk: "Many of these evacuees believe they're being ignored because they're black. They feel officials may be more sympathetic if they knew some victims are white."
     Man yelling as he pointed at a woman laying on the concrete: "This is not an Afro-American. Look at this, look at this, it's a Caucasian."
     Woman: "We are American. This is terrible!"

     # From Baton Rouge, Brian Williams opened the September 2 NBC Nightly News with a grandiose prediction and some denigration of President Bush:
     "Good evening. Tonight it has become apparent, at the risk of stating the obvious, that a catastrophic hurricane strike, and the U.S. government response to it, will in the years or decades to come, perhaps necessitate a national discussion on race, on oil, politics, class, infrastructure, the environment and more. Today the President of the United States visited this region, and while he was here, one of the major radio stations still broadcasting chose not to broadcast his remarks, saying at one point, nothing he could say could ever help them deal with the dire situation unfolding live in the streets of New Orleans, where people were still dying during his visit."

     # ABC's Nightline, September 2. Ted Koppel introduced a story:
     "The population of New Orleans is 67 percent black, so it's not surprising that the face of suffering in that city this week has been largely African-American. The slow response to the victims of Hurricane Katrina has led to questions about race, poverty and a seemingly indifferent government. At least Nightline's Michel Martin has been hearing some of those accusations at Houston's Astrodome where thousands of the New Orleans evacuees hve found temporary shelter."

Moran Hits Bush on "Resources" for Iraq
Over Hurricane Victims

     ABC's Terry Moran on Friday afternoon put politics at the forefront in hurricane disaster coverage when, on a storm-ravaged Biloxi street, he confronted President Bush about how "one of the things you hear here is people saying 'there's a lot of resources being devoted to Iraq. Now this country needs them.' And they're frustrated about that. What do you say to the people who say there's too much money being spent on Iraq and it's time to bring it home?" ABC News led its 1:22pm EDT special with anchor Dan Harris insisting that spending on Iraq is "a common complaint -- what we're hearing from many people about the resources being spent in Iraq." Friday's World News Tonight featured Moran's question.

     Real Player and Windows Media video clips of Moran posing his question were posted Friday afternoon with this item on the MRC's blog: NewsBusters.org. For the node with the video, and option to post a comment, go to: newsbusters.org

     On the September 2 World News Tonight, Moran asserted: "Throughout the gulf coast region, part of Mr. Bush's political base, you hear a lot of criticism."
     Hurricane survivor John Unger then charged: "I'm sorry. I love my country, I love the President, but my God, he's not doing it right."
     Moran soon showed himself asking Bush on a Biloxi street: "What do you say to the people who say there's too much money being spent on Iraq and it's time to bring it home?" Bush answered: "I just completely disagree. We've got a job to defend this country in the war on terror, and we've got a job to bring aid and comfort to the people of the gulf coast, and we'll do both."

     Earlier in the day, Dan Harris, at ABC in New York, opened an ABC News Special Report at 1:22pm EDT:: "We're going to go back to Biloxi, Mississippi where President Bush has been taking questions from reporters on the ground. He took a question, in fact, about a common complaint -- what we're hearing from many people about the resources being spent in Iraq. Let's listen."

     Viewers then heard audio of ABC News White House correspondent Terry Moran, with distant video of media crews and others around Bush, outside in a Biloxi neighborhood:
     "Mr. President, one of the things you hear here is people saying 'there's a lot of resources being devoted to Iraq. Now this country needs them.' And they're frustrated about that. What do you say to the people who say there's too much money being spent on Iraq and it's time to bring it home?"

     [ABC had an audio and video jump and missed a couple of words near the end of Moran's question, but I caught the missed words in NBC's later 1:48pm EDT playback of the same q and a.]

     Bush answered Moran: "I just completely disagree. We've got a job to defend this country in the war on terror and we've got a job to bring aid and comfort to the people of the Gulf coast and we'll do both. We've got plenty of resources to do both..."

Totenberg Blames Tax Cuts for Flood Disaster
in New Orleans

     In fact, under the Bush administration domestic spending has soared much faster than inflation, a trend illustrated by the huge transportation bill this year packed with spending on infrastructure projects. And if infrastructure spending has suffered in some way, massive new spending on such things as a prescription entitlement program are just as responsible.

     For a RealPlayer or Windows Media clip of Totenberg in action, go to the Saturday night posting of this item on the MRC's NewsBusters.org blog: newsbusters.org

     Inside Washington, a panel show taped on Fridays at the ABC affiliate in Washington, DC, WJLA-TV, airs every weekend on three Washington, DC TV stations: Friday night at 8:30pm on PBS affiliate WETA-TV, channel 26; Saturday at 7pm on NewsChannel 8, a Washington, DC area all-news cable channel owned by the ABC affiliate; and Sunday mornings at 10am, right after This Week, by that affiliate, WJLA-TV, channel 7. (I caught Totenberg's reasoning during a showing on NewsChannel 8 delayed to 9:30pm because of coverage of the Navy-University of Maryland football game.)

     WJLA-TV's page for the show: www.insidewashington.tv

     My transcript of the exchange:

     Nina Totenberg: "And let us say one other thing. For years, we have cut our taxes, cut our taxes and let the infrastructure throughout the country go and this is just the first of a number of other crumbling things that are going to happen to us."
     Charles Krauthammer: "You must be kidding here."
     Moderator Gordon Peterson: "She's not kidding."
     Totenberg: "I'm not kidding."
     Peterson: "She's not kidding."

     And that ended the opening segment.

Damon on Kanye West's Anti-Bush Outburst:
"I Let Out a Cheer"

     Monday's Access Hollywood teased with a clip of rapper Kanye West's blast on Friday's Concert for Hurricane Relief broadcast on several NBC channels, "George Bush doesn't care about black people," followed by a clip of actor Matt Damon: "I let out a cheer." The syndicated NBC Productions program also featured a clip of this ludicrous claim from West on the fund-raising show: "We already realize a lot of the people that could help are at war right now fighting another way and they've given them permission to go down and shoot us."

     A few minutes later on Access Hollywood, co-host Nancy O'Dell touted how "it was Kanye West's anti-Bush remarks that caught the attention of Matt Damon and Susan Sarandon in Italy" at the Venice Film Festival. Viewers then saw this from actress Susan Sarandon as she stood at some sort of an event: "I don't think that's an original thought, but it's probably true." (With Access Hollywood's quick-cut editing, it's hard to know what people are specifically referring to.)

     Immediately after Sarandon, Access Hollywood played a longer soundbite from Damon who claimed the White House press corps is too nice to Bush and thus "not one of them's an honest journalist." Full quote follows, as well as Colin Farrell's charge that white people would have been rescued faster.

     [For more about West's allegations, check this Friday night NewsBusters posting by Tim Graham: newsbusters.org For the Monday night posting of this item on NewsBusters.org, go to: newsbusters.org ]

     Damon's soundbite in full, as he sat in front of a poster for a movie (with title obscured): "So this guy just with this moment, you know, on live television made a statement that hopefully now Bush will come out and address because he doesn't have to address anything else because, you know, the, you know, the White House press corps, you know, they should all have their credentials taken away. Not one of them's an honest journalist, not one of them asks a question of the guy."

     At another point, Access Hollywood played this clip from actor Colin Farrell at a fund-raiser in Miami held for Katrina's victims: "If it was a bunch on white people on roofs in the Hamptons, I don't have any f[bleep]ing doubt there would have been every single helicopter, every plane, every single means that the government has to help these people."

     The Internet Movie Database's bio page for Matt Damon: www.imdb.com

     For Susan Sarandon: www.imdb.com

     For Colin Farrell: www.imdb.com

Network Reporters Assess Rehnquist Through
a Liberal Prism

     The death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist on Saturday night didn't get as much media attention as such a passing normally would, but I did notice that network reviews of his career approached his views negatively from the left. Instead of saying he championed the rights of crime victims, religious expression and of treating all equally without regard to race, CBS reporter Jim Stewart fretted that "under Rehnquist, criminals found it hard to get multiple appeals in federal court. The line between church and state became more porous. Affirmative action became more difficult to implement." CNN's Jeffrey Toobin trumpeted the survival of liberal policies: "Against the Chief Justice's wishes, the Constitution still protects a woman's right to choose abortion and a homosexual's right to have private consensual sex. Affirmative action survives. States may no longer execute the mentally retarded." ABC's Manuel Medrano relayed how "Rehnquist critics charged he was hostile to the rights of women and minorities, and accused him of harassing black voters."

     The MRC's Brad Wilmouth gathered these quotes from over the weekend:

     # CBS News reporter Jim Stewart in a story aired on both the September 4 Sunday Morning and CBS Evening News:
     "In his 19 years as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, William H. Rehnquist's legacy extends far beyond the headline cases. He oversaw a fundamental rollback of liberal causes and championed a far more conservative agenda for America. Under Rehnquist, criminals found it hard to get multiple appeals in federal court. The line between church and state became more porous. Affirmative action became more difficult to implement. And in the longstanding fight between the federal government and the states, the states gained more power."

     # CNN. 11:34pm EDT Saturday night, September 3, during breaking news coverage. Jeffrey Toobin: "The Rehnquist legacy is mixed. He led the court to the right, but not all the way. Against the Chief Justice's wishes, the Constitution still protects a woman's right to choose abortion and a homosexual's right to have private consensual sex. Affirmative action survives. States may no longer execute the mentally retarded. On those issues, through the appointment of a like-minded President, William Rehnquist may find his ultimate vindication."

     At 11:53pm EDT, CNN played a taped piece from Bruce Morton: "Ronald Reagan nominated him for Chief Justice in 1986. That was a tougher fight. Rehnquist tried to explain a memo he'd written when clerking for Justice Robert Jackson, the one in the middle, in 1952, saying that Plessy versus Ferguson, the doctrine of separate-but-equal schools for blacks and whites, was right and should be reaffirmed. Jackson joined the other eight justices in voting no, that separate in education was inherently unequal. Still, Rehnquist got confirmed."

     # ABC News Special Report in 11pm EDT half hour Saturday night. Manuel Medrano, in a pre-taped bio: "In 1986, President Reagan wanted a conservative as chief justice, and William Rehnquist fit the bill. As an associate justice, Rehnquist had been a steadfast conservative and often a lonely one. He offered so many lone dissents during his early years on the court that his clerks gave him a Lone Ranger doll. He was one of only two justices to dissent in Roe V. Wade, the landmark decision that established a woman's right to an abortion....
     "During his confirmation hearings for Chief Justice, Rehnquist critics charged he was hostile to the rights of women and minorities, and accused him of harassing black voters at polling places in Phoenix in the early 1960s."
     William Rehnquist at 1986 hearing: "As to harassing or intimidating, I certainly do categorically deny, anytime, anyplace."

     On Sunday's Good Morning America, co-host Bill Weir asserted: "This man left a tremendous impact on the high court. He opposed abortion, supported the death penalty and prayer in schools. Maybe best remembered for stopping the Florida recount in the 2000 presidential election, but how will history remember Chief Justice William Rehnquist? Joining us this morning from Washington, ABC News Supreme Court correspondent Manuel Medrano.".

     Medrano checked in from the steps of the Supreme Court where he emphasized how conservative the court has supposedly become:
     "Rehnquist's appointment paved the way for what most consider the court's most conservative period in the last 25 years. Joined by conservative Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice Rehnquist found himself with a narrow majority on many hot button issues. The Rehnquist court firmly backed the constitutionality of the death penalty, restricted the rights of prisoners to appeal their cases in federal courts and endorsed more public funding of religious groups. In 1999 when perjury and obstruction of justice charges were brought against President Bill Clinton, Rehnquist became only the second chief justice to preside over the impeachment trial of a President."

     Medrano soon saw hypocrisy: "It was Rehnquist's commitment to states' rights that will leave the most lasting impression on the court. As Chief Justice he consistently led the conservative majority in overturning congressional legislation that they felt threatened state sovereignty and worked to tip the balance of power back to the states. Ironically, though, the court's most controversial decision overturned a ruling by a state court. When the Florida Supreme Court ordered a statewide recount of votes in the 2000 presidential contest between Al Gore and George Bush, the court decided 5 to 4 to halt the recount ending Al Gore's hopes and bringing victory to George Bush. Rehnquist will go down in history as the man who inherited a liberal court and moved it steadily to the right. A conservative legacy his replacement is sure to continue."

     # ABC's Cokie Roberts, a native of New Orleans, is scheduled to appear tonight (Tuesday) on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman.

-- Brent Baker