1. ABC Champions: "The Comeback Kid? Al Gore Takes on the World"
With "The Comeback Kid? Al Gore Takes on the World," as the on-screen moniker, ABC's Good Morning America on Tuesday championed Al Gore's comeback, through his hysterical global warming movie, An Inconvenient Truth, which ABC took quite seriously as Claire Shipman touted a potential Gore presidential run. Shipman enthused: "The guy that George Bush Senior derisively dubbed 'Ozone Man' may have hit his stride after five years in hibernation by promoting his longtime passion." Shipman trumpeted: "Here's Al being celebrated in Cannes, doing the celebrity thing at an LA opening, power-walking a green carpet in Washington as rumors of another presidential run swirl." Without scolding Gore for fear-mongering, Shipman calmly relayed how Gore's "environmental message is blunt: humanity is sitting on a time bomb and has about ten years left to deal with it. It's the messenger, though, this almost President turned dynamic professor who's making most of the waves, dominating the blog-chatter." Letting a hopeful Arianna Huffington answer, Shipman cued her up: "Is he going to go for the Oval again?" Shipman concluded by gushing: "What does Al Gore say about the possibility of another run? We asked him the other night....He gave a hearty laugh but didn't say no."

2. Sawyer Touts Dixie Chicks: "Roaring Back," "Spirited" & "Unbowed"
A half hour after championing Al Gore's "comeback" (see item #1 above), Tuesday's Good Morning America celebrated the Dixie Chicks and their new album, treating them as victims for the negative reaction to the lead singer's 2003 charge, from overseas, that she was "ashamed" to be from the same state as President Bush. Diane Sawyer fretted over how "suddenly country radio stations pulled their music, people destroyed the album, hounded their relatives and tracked them down with death threats." But, she touted, "they are roaring back. It is a new album called 'Taking the Long Way' and in it they dare to announce, at least when it comes to the haters, they're not ready to make nice. They are spirited, unbowed and they are back with a new single called 'Not Ready to Make Nice.'" Sawyer insisted that "among their biggest supporters were the soldiers fighting in Iraq who said they were fighting for the right to freedom of thought and speech." After highlighting how the group's video features a hit on Vice President Cheney -- "to talk without thinking is to shoot without aiming" -- Sawyer read a sympathetic e-mail to them: "Do you feel basically that you've been vindicated and that the American public moved to your position?"

3. Iraqi Kid to a Surprised Harry Smith: "Sir, My Name is Bush"
Iraqi kid to an amused and surprised Harry Smith: "Sir, my name is Bush." Checking in from Baghdad on Tuesday's Early Show, Smith quipped that in "just an illustration of how much bad news there is here, a friend of mine here in Iraq told me the other day 'the busiest people in this town are the terrorists.'" But Smith went searching for "a little optimism, and looking for a little, a little progress, and we found it in a city called Sababor." There he showed happy Iraqi kids getting candy from a U.S. soldier and he asked a group of Iraq kids: "Are Americans good or bad?" They answered "good" and one told Smith: "Sir, my name is Bush." An incredulous Smith asked: "Your name is Bush?" The kid affirmed: "Yes." Pointing at the youth, Smith chuckled: "He says his name is Bush." Smith added, however, that "the cost of these smiles has been steep. April was a particularly deadly month" with the Army unit losing eight men. Yet, Smith noted, the Colonel in charge "is convinced the sacrifice is not in vain." AUDIO&VIDEO

4. Couric Urges Shell to "Sort of Unilaterally Decrease" Gas Price
Katie Couric displayed incredible economic naivete and simplistic populism on Tuesday's Today as she suggested to Shell Oil President John Hofmeister that given "record high profits" while "the average consumer is hurting," that his company's image would improve "if you could feel the pain that consumers were feeling and sort of unilaterally decrease the wholesale value of gasoline?" Couric soon offered up a silly idea: "If you care about people you know that consumers are really struggling with this. There's just no way, there's no middle ground to do something to give them a rebate, to help them out in any way, shape or form?" After having spent weeks painting Big Oil as greedy and uncaring, Couric declared, as if she had nothing to do with it, that "you and other oil companies have a major PR problem on your hands....How are you gonna change the public perception that you guys are greedy blankety-blanks?" Couric proceeded to scold Shell for not spending enough on "alternative energy sources like ethanol, wind and solar," demanding: "Is a billion dollars over five years really enough of an investment when you make six times that much every quarter?"

5. "Top Ten Signs There's Trouble in the Clinton Marriage"
Letterman's "Top Ten Signs There's Trouble in the Clinton Marriage."

ABC Champions: "The Comeback Kid? Al
Gore Takes on the World"

     With "The Comeback Kid? Al Gore Takes on the World," as the on-screen moniker, ABC's Good Morning America on Tuesday championed Al Gore's comeback, through his hysterical global warming movie, An Inconvenient Truth, which ABC took quite seriously as Claire Shipman touted a potential Gore presidential run.

     Shipman enthused: "The guy that George Bush Senior derisively dubbed 'Ozone Man' may have hit his stride after five years in hibernation by promoting his longtime passion." Shipman trumpeted: "Al Gore and global warming. On the face of it, not two subjects you'd expect to add up to the buzziest film since the last Michael Moore flick. But check it out, here's Al being celebrated in Cannes, doing the celebrity thing at an LA opening, power-walking a green carpet in Washington as rumors of another presidential run swirl." Without scolding Gore for scaremongering or the usual media accusation against conservatives -- using fear -- Shipman calmly relayed how Gore's "environmental message is blunt: humanity is sitting on a time bomb and has about ten years left to deal with it. It's the messenger, though, this almost President turned dynamic professor who's making most of the waves, dominating the blog-chatter." Letting a hopeful Arianna Huffington answer, Shipman cued her up: "Is he going to go for the Oval again?" Shipman concluded by gushing: "What does Al Gore say about the possibility of another run? We asked him the other night....He gave a hearty laugh but didn't say no."

     [This item was posted Tuesday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

     (Wednesday's Today show featured a similarly promotional profile from Katie Couric of Gore and his movie.)

     The 7am half hour piece on the May 23 Good Morning America, which followed a report on the hurricane forecast and Charlie Gibson's session with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, as corrected against the closed-captioning by the MRC's Brian Boyd:

     Diane Sawyer: "And of course there are a lot of people who believe that global warming is in fact to blame in part for this surge in hurricanes. One of them, former Vice President Al Gore, who has reemerged leading a kind of call to action, a new documentary about global warming called An Inconvenient Truth. It opens tomorrow and it's raised the question what impact will the documentary have on global warming and on the future of Al Gore? ABC's Claire Shipman has been tracking all this, Claire."

     (On screen tag throughout most of the story: "The Comeback Kid? Al Gore Takes on the World")

     Claire Shipman, live from DC introducing her taped report: "Good morning, Diane. In political circles everybody is asking the question that a few years ago might have been met with shock, even laughter: Could Al Gore be the comeback kid? The guy that George Bush Senior, derisively dubbed 'Ozone Man' may have hit his stride after five years in hibernation by promoting his longtime passion."

     Shipman, taped piece: "Al Gore and global warming. On the face of it, not two subjects you'd expect to add up to the buzziest film since the last Michael Moore flick. But check it out, here's Al being celebrated in Cannes, doing the celebrity thing at an LA opening, power-walking a green carpet in Washington as rumors of another presidential run swirl and home running his deadpan visit to Saturday Night Live."
     Saturday Night Live announcer: "The President of the United States."
     Al Gore on SNL: "I have faith in baseball commissioner George W. Bush when he says we will find the steroid users if we have to tap every phone in America."
     Shipman: "And will President Bush see the film?"
     George W. Bush: "Doubt it."
     Gore, in promotional movie interview: "If we listen carefully and clearly to what the scientific community of the entire world is saying, not just saying, they're shouting it now. They're saying 'Hey, wake up. We're facing a planetary emergency here.'"
     Shipman: "The film is part devastating imagery and part, get this, Al Gore global warming slideshow, one he's been earnestly delivering around the country for the last year after Tipper dug it out of their Nashville attic and sent him on the road as a way of healing wounds."
     Scott Burns, producer of An Inconvenient Truth: "There is something of the Johnny Appleseed in him that made it, you know, enjoyable for him to really go and do the work."
     Shipman: "The film's central thread: Gore's personal journey toward environmental evangelism."
     Gore, in movie: "The facts they discovered led them to an inconvenient truth."
     Shipman, over matching video: "Moments: the 2000 election, his sister's death from lung cancer, his son's near death in a car crash that have changed his life. And his environmental message is blunt: humanity is sitting on a time bomb and has about ten years left to deal with it. It's the messenger, though, this almost President turned dynamic professor who's making most of the waves, dominating the blog-chatter. Is he going to go for the Oval again?"
     Arianna Huffington: "The Al Gore narrative is an amazing narrative. A man kind of born to rule who had the most spectacular defeat in American history coming back with a very powerful message. At the top of his game."
     Shipman, back on live: "Now, what does Al Gore say about the possibility of another run? We asked him the other night, Diane, at his opening here in Washington. He gave a hearty laugh but didn't say no."
     Sawyer: "But what does that mean for that other contender, Senator Hillary Clinton?"
     Shipman: "That's another part of the gossip. The Hillary camp versus the Gore camp. A lot of people, believe it or not, are thinking Al Gore could be more electable than Hillary Clinton. But it's early, Diane."

Sawyer Touts Dixie Chicks: "Roaring Back,"
"Spirited" & "Unbowed"

     A half hour after championing Al Gore's "comeback" (see item #1 above), Tuesday's Good Morning America celebrated the Dixie Chicks and their new album, treating them as victims for the negative reaction to the lead singer's 2003 charge, from overseas, that she was "ashamed" to be from the same state as President Bush. Diane Sawyer fretted over how "suddenly country radio stations pulled their music, people destroyed the album, hounded their relatives and tracked them down with death threats." But, she touted, "they are roaring back. It is a new album called 'Taking the Long Way' and in it they dare to announce, at least when it comes to the haters, they're not ready to make nice. They are spirited, unbowed and they are back with a new single called 'Not Ready to Make Nice.'" Sawyer insisted that "among their biggest supporters were the soldiers fighting in Iraq who said they were fighting for the right to freedom of thought and speech." After highlighting how the group's video features a hit on Vice President Cheney -- "to talk without thinking is to shoot without aiming" -- Sawyer read a sympathetic e-mail to them: "Do you feel basically that you've been vindicated and that the American public moved to your position?"

     Sawyer set up the taped interview with the three members of the group which ran in the 7:30am half hour of the May 23 program:
     "And now the Dixie Chicks, the singing sensations. The three bold women who taught their fans to live big, let go and even take on Earl. All this of course while making the sweetest harmonies. And then three years ago, as everyone knows, lead singer Natalie Maines said about the impending war in Iraq said she was ashamed that President Bush was from her home state, Texas. The reaction to her words was seismic and from some people even vicious.
     "Well, in the three years since they have been raising families and thinking while everybody wondered what they would say. The answer comes out this morning. They are roaring back. It is a new album called 'Taking the Long Way' and in it they dare to announce, at least when it comes to the haters, they're not ready to make nice."

     [Video clip of "Not Ready to Make Nice"]

     "They are spirited, unbowed and they are back with a new single called 'Not Ready to Make Nice.'
     Sawyer to the Chicks on a sofa on the GMA set: "But you must have had a conversation about whether to just write about other things, move on, leave it alone."
     Emily Robinson: "It would have felt very false to just kind of go, okay, nothing happened. And there's this, you know, obviously important issue that hasn't been dealt with."
     Natalie Maines: "Are we suppose to lie about all of those feelings that we had? It's very vulnerable."
     Martie Maguire: "For us, that [new single] is what we wanted to say and it was the perfect way to say it."
     Sawyer: "Did you lose some friends forever?"
     Maguire: "Yeah, sure. Emily always says it perfectly. Her Rolodex is a little neater and lighter."
     Robinson as she pretends to scroll through a Rolodex: "They're gone, stay, they're gone."
     Maguire: "You really do find out who really cares about you because at the end of the day it wasn't, for good friends it's not about what you do. People go to jail everyday and their friends and families support them, right? And they've actually done something wrong. So, it was interesting how quickly some people fled."
     Sawyer: "That of course was three years ago when the biggest selling female artists in country were riding the wave of the giant hit 'Landslide.' Then lead singer Natalie Maines made her comment. Suddenly country radio stations pulled their music, people destroyed the album, hounded their relatives and tracked them down with death threats."
     Sawyer to Chicks: "When you look back at March 10, 2003, how does it look from here?"
     Maguire: "Really absurd, really strange, and then when I think back to what she said, she's ashamed our President is from Texas. It's like whamp, whamp. Where's the hoopla? How could, how does that make somebody so angry?"
     Robinson: "Aren't there much more important things than what a country singer thinks about the President? It was just being caught in a moment when our country wasn't tolerant of those things."
     Sawyer: "In an interview with me back then Natalie tried to explain that her words were simply about fear heading into a war she didn't think had been justified."
     Natalie Maines in April 24, 2003 ABC interview: "It's not that I don't ever want you to clean things up and fix things, it's just why can't we find the chemical weapons first? Why can't we, just why tomorrow?"
     Sawyer: "And we were surprised. Among their biggest supporters were the soldiers fighting in Iraq who said they were fighting for the right to freedom of thought and speech."
     Soldier in Iraq: "Everybody has their right to their opinion."
     Second soldier in Iraq: "I like them. They're pretty."
     Sawyer: "But three years later their new album finds the President with poll ratings at an all-time low. Their lyrics, by the way, they say are aimed only at those who continue to hate."
     Sawyer to Chicks: "'How in the world can the words that I said send somebody over the edge that they'd write me a letter saying I'd better shut up and sing or my life will be over?'"
     Maines: "Singing the chorus brings tears to my eyes. I'm not, I look angry, but I'm angry at the hatred and what it felt like to have that hatred on you."
     Sawyer: "There's also an inside joke at Vice President Cheney's shooting accident."
     Sawyer to Chicks: "Tell me about the moment in the video 'Not Ready to Make Nice' when you go up to the blackboard."
     Maines: "It was right after Cheney had (laughs) shot. We thought (laughs) we hit two issues at once. It was a little funny. Showing that we're not that different after all."
     [Words on blackboard in music video: "to talk without thinking is to shoot without aiming"]
     Sawyer: "We ask about e-mails you sent. The first one-"
     Sawyer to Chicks, reading e-mail: "Do you feel basically that you've been vindicated and that the American public moved to your position?"
     Maines: "This isn't the situation for an I told you so. It's just regret that more people didn't ask the questions that everyone just sort of blindly followed. And I think it was out of fear."
     Sawyer to Chicks: "Another one said, 'if you could go back and do it again, would you?'"
     Maines: "I don't regret anything and I'm so glad it happened because it reminded me of who I am."
     Sawyer to Chicks: "Paid a price you think? Are you still paying a price?"
     Maguire: "We paid a small price, but we gained so much more. We're way down on the suffering list, but all of us feel personally that this has changed us for the better. I would not change a thing."
     Sawyer: "What about this tour?"
     Robinson: "I think when you're just kicked in the gut and you have to take a few steps back everything now is almost like that first album where you're like, wow, that happened. Really? You know, not everybody hates our guts. I think it's more exciting now. And I'm excited to play the music again. I think we're all very proud of this album."
     Sawyer: "By the way, even though a number of country stations are still boycotting their music, Time magazine says 'You probably won't hear a better adult pop album this year.' And it is number one on Amazon."

     This week's Time cover story also celebrates the female group. For more on that, check Tim Graham's Monday NewsBusters posting, "Time's Dixie Chicks Cover: Women With 'The Biggest Balls In American Music.'" Go to: newsbusters.org

Iraqi Kid to a Surprised Harry Smith:
"Sir, My Name is Bush"

     The MRC's Michael Rule caught Smith's report on the May 23 Early Show and wrote up an item about it for the MRC's NewsBusters blog which features a video of Smith's exchange with the kid who called himself Bush. The Real and Windows Media video, along with MP3 audio, will be added to the posted version of this CyberAlert item. In the meantime, to watch or listen, go to: newsbusters.org ]

     The Early Show's Rene Syler introduced Smith at the top of Tuesday's 7:30am half hour: "When it comes to the situation in Iraq, it is often difficult to tell how much progress is being made. In large part, because many areas are still not safe for journalists to visit. But, Harry's in Iraq all week and he got a special tour that gave him a first hand look at how US troops are making a difference. Harry, good morning."

     Harry Smith, from Baghdad: "Yeah, good morning. I'll tell you what, just an illustration of how much bad news there is here. A friend of mine here in Iraq told me the other day 'the busiest people in this town are the terrorists.' Case in point just 10 minutes ago, well 15 minutes ago, a mortar round went off just 2 blocks from here presumably aimed at the, at the Green Zone. This is a very, very tough and dangerous place. So we were looking for a little optimism, and looking for a little, a little progress, and we found it in a city called Sababor."

     Smith's taped report began, over video of him in a helicopter: "It's a short ride in a Blackhawk from the Green Zone in downtown Baghdad, to Taji, an army command center northwest of the city. It's funny, I feel more confident flying with these guys in a combat zone then I do sometimes flying in the states. Soon we're going over emergency procedures as we're headed to Sababor. This is Colonel David Thomson's outfit from the 4th Infantry Division. Sababor is a work in progress. So where we're going today should be uh smooth sailing or-"
     Lieutenant Colonel David Thomson, U.S. Army Fourth Infantry Division: "See Harry, there's no guarantees in this business, but I'll do my best. Yeah, it should be fairly smooth. Um, we've had enemy activity out there, but I think today will be relatively uh, relatively quiet. We'll see."
     Smith: "We headed to town in our armored humvee, gunner up top at the ready. Local traffic pulls over, we have our eyes peeled for IEDs. At the local command center, Lieutenant Tyrek Swaby fills us in. Sababor is home to 60,000 people, half Shia half Sunni, and it's never been friendly territory."
     Lieutenant Tyrek Swaby, U.S. Army Fourth Infantry Division: "When we first came hear in January, the fear, you could see it in people's eyes."
     Smith: "Fear of you?"
     Tyrek Swaby: "Fear of the unknown, but now, there's, the attacks have dropped down significantly."
     Smith: "And the enlisted man sees it the same way."
     PFC Joseph Higgins, U.S. Army Fourth Infantry Division: "You know, you ask them how they like Americans and they'd say, you know, they might not say anything to you, they might not even talk to you, or they'd say you know we really don't like Americans. But now, you know, we're doing a lot for these people and they'd say yeah, Americans are good."
     Smith: "Patrol starts in a sparsely populated part of town, works it's way to the city center. These guys are armed to the teeth, but the most important thing they carry is candy [video of happy kids getting candy]. It's an image we haven't seen much in three years. Friendly faces, people eager to chat up an officer, even try out their English. It's all part of an evolving U.S. policy of showing strength but only using it when absolutely necessary. You look like you might be one of the more popular people in town."
     Lieutenant Eric Brown, U.S. Army Fourth Infantry Division: "We try not, I mean when I come out, I try to treat them like I want to be treated so unless they have open aggression towards us, we don't, I make sure our guys don't show any, you know."
     Smith: "These members of the 4th ID patrol on foot several times a day. They gain the trust of the people, and maybe even find out where the bad guys are. You're in the middle of a success story."
     Lt. Brown: "Well we'll see when we get out of here how successful, history will tell us how successful we've been, but yeah."
     Harry Smith: "It hasn't been easy. Just a month ago, a bomb here killed 15 people."
     Lt. Colonel David Thomson: "A guy drove his car up there. Had lettuce in the back of it, opened his trunk and attracted a bunch of people over there as if he was a vendor. Walked away from his car, had it on remote control device and blew it. And that was really, they were almost rioting in here."
     Smith: "So the army closed off every road into town but one, making it harder for the bad guys to get in. The result, no new bombings and that makes people happy."
     Smith to a group of kids: "Are Americans good or bad?"
     Iraqi child: "Good"
     Smith: "They are good."
     Iraqi child: "Yes"
     Iraqi child #2: "What's your name?"
     Smith: "Huh?"
     Iraqi child #2: "What's your name?"
     Smith, James Bond-like: "My name? Smith. Harry Smith."
     Iraqi child #2: "Sir, my name is Bush."
     Smith: "Your name is Bush?"
     Iraqi child #2 "Yes."
     Smith, pointing at the kid child and chuckling: "He says his name is Bush."
     Smith, back in his narration: "The cost of these smiles has been steep. April was a particularly deadly month."
     Lt. Colonel Thomson: "We've lost eight men in combat. All great Americans."
     Smith: "Still, Colonel Thomson is convinced the sacrifice is not in vain."
     Lt. Colonel Thomson: "As you know, we're going to have an election here today for new hia, and that's huge down here at this level. So, I don't know if we could have done that a year, 2 years ago here. And that's about, that's freedom. So I think those elements of freedom, those visible signs of freedom give me a lot of reassurance that we're doing the right thing. We're making progress."
     Smith: "But just to illustrate how tough it is in Sababor, they hired a local contractor to bring a big electric line into the town because the town really needs power. People are desperate for it. The guys been kidnapped. There hasn't been any work on the line since the guy disappeared last week. Rene."

Couric Urges Shell to "Sort of Unilaterally
Decrease" Gas Price

     Katie Couric displayed incredible economic naivete and simplistic populism on Tuesday's Today as she suggested to Shell Oil President John Hofmeister that given "record high profits" while "the average consumer is hurting," that his company's image would improve "if you could feel the pain that consumers were feeling and sort of unilaterally decrease the wholesale value of gasoline?" Couric soon offered up a silly idea: "If you care about people you know that consumers are really struggling with this. There's just no way, there's no middle ground to do something to give them a rebate, to help them out in any way, shape or form?" After having spent weeks painting Big Oil as greedy and uncaring, Couric declared, as if she had nothing to do with it, that "you and other oil companies have a major PR problem on your hands....How are you gonna change the public perception that you guys are greedy blankety-blanks?" Couric proceeded to scold Shell for not spending enough on "alternative energy sources like ethanol, wind and solar," demanding: "Is a billion dollars over five years really enough of an investment when you make six times that much every quarter?"

     The MRC's Geoff Dickens took down Couric's questions to her in-studio guest during the 7am half hour of the May 23 Today:

     Katie Couric: "Now to 'Today at the Pump.' Gas prices nationwide have fallen slightly, an average $2.88 a gallon according to the AAA. But as we all head into a heavy travel season drivers may be feeling squeezed this Memorial Day weekend. Here's why, oil supply is still having a tough time keeping up with demand. The world produces about 85 million barrels of oil everyday but we consume about 84 million barrels a day. And while the U.S. is still the number one oil consumer in the world countries like India and China are developing fast and using much more oil. At the same time the oil supply has suffered from internal turmoil in top oil producing countries like Iraq and Nigeria. Despite all this though the oil companies are making big profits. John Hofmeister, Hofmeister rather is the president of Shell Oil Company, a U.S. subsidiary of the world's third largest oil company. Mr. Hofmeister good morning. Thanks so much for being here.
     "You know I'm just wondering you and many other oil companies are, I know, posting record high profits of course and, and while the average consumer is hurting and I'm wondering Mr. Hofmeister would it help sort of the long term reputation and value of your company and your shareholders if you could feel the pain that consumers were feeling and sort of unilaterally decrease the wholesale value of gasoline? Is that something you'd ever consider?"

     Screen text: "Is Big Oil Greedy?"

     John Hofmeister: "Well Katie we do feel the pain. All of our employees pay the same price that every other consumer pays for gas. And we feel the pain. But lowering the wholesale price just to arbitrarily lower it would really put a run on our gas and we'd run out. The markets really sets the prices and we follow the markets."
     Couric: "But wouldn't the market follow you if you lowered prices and, and the demand for your particular brand went up wouldn't everyone else follow suit?"
     [Hofmeister]
     Couric: "You recently got a letter from an angry consumer."
     Hofmeister: "Right."
     Couric: "What did that letter say?"
     Hofmeister: "Well the, the letter called me, 'Dear Greedy something or other.' And it was a, it was a heartfelt-"
     Couric: "It begins with a 'b'."
     Hofmeister: "It begins with a 'b.' It was a heartfelt letter. The person suggested that we lower our price to $1.19 a gallon. Now if we did that that wouldn't even pay for the price of crude that we're trying to put into the gas tanks. I understand the concern that the, the individual gave us. We have six million people a day who come through our stations. We care about every one of them. Our job I think is to get more gas into the supply line so that we can make sure that people have energy security and energy availability."
     Couric: "At the same time though if you care about people you know that consumers are really struggling with this. There's just no way, there's no middle ground to do something to give them a rebate, to help them out in any way, shape or form? While also enjoying profits that you can reinvest into your company for future earnings?"
     Hofmeister: "I really wish there was but in a commodity marketplace where the laws of supply and demand prevail. Even public policy couldn't help. We had the windfall profits tax in the 1980s, that was a failure. That set up some of the very problems we're having today. I think public policy is important to the oil industry especially in terms of getting more supply. If we can bring more supply to the American people that would go a long way to meeting the demand that's out there."
     Couric: "How ya gonna do that?"
     Hofmeister: "Well we'd like to see the, the, the Congress give us permission to explore in the outer continental shelf. I know that's a tough struggle and a lot of people have different opinions on it."
     Couric: "Environmentalists I think had a, have a big issue with that."
     [Hofmeister]
     Couric: "Meanwhile it seems as if you and other oil companies have a major PR problem on your hands. I mean it seems to me you're almost as, you're as reviled as much as journalists and lawyers right now. What are you gonna do about that? How are you gonna change the public perception that you guys are greedy blankety-blanks?"
     [Hofmeister]
     Couric: "Are, are consumers part of the problem. Are, are Americans who consume and don't understand sort of the, the importance of sacrifice where less maybe more in this instance? Is that something that, that sort of rankles you?"
     Hofmeister: "It doesn't rankle me Katie. Americans have a wonderful lifestyle. We choose to use a lot of energy. Less than 10 percent of the world's population is using some 25 percent of the global energy supply. That's a choice we make. I think we can be more efficient. I think we can practice more conservation. I think we can do many things with buying more efficient products which helps the, the demand situation considerably. But I also like our lifestyle. I think we all do."
     Couric: "At the same time could it be change or altered to conserve more?"
     [Hofmeister]
     Couric: "Let me ask you about global warming which is really the burning of fossil fuels like gas from your car forming a layer of pollution above the Earth. As a result heat from the sun is trapped in the Earth's atmosphere resulting in warming the Earth and that means potentially catastrophic environmental events. On Monday President Bush said quote, 'We need to set aside whether or not greenhouse gases have been caused by mankind or because of natural effects.' He seemed to suggest that the jury is still out in terms of whether people are causing global warming. Do you agree with him?"
     Hofmeister: "Well Shell believes the debate should be over. The scientific evidence is clear to us and more importantly in the perception of world leaders, policy makers around the world the debate's over. It's time for us to take steps that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We're working, for example, closely with the governor in California on a greenhouse gas emission project in California. We do that worldwide."
     Couric: "So the debate, in your view, the, the, global warming exists. There is no debate?"
     Hofmeister: "I think the greenhouse gas emissions are too high around the world and we need to take steps to reduce them."
     Couric: "I know that you all have invested a billion dollars in alternative energy sources like ethanol, wind and solar over the past five years but you reported record profits in 2005, $25.3 billion and the first quarter this year $6.09 billion. Is a billion dollars over five years really enough of an investment when you make six times that much every quarter?"
     [Hofmeister]
     Couric: "And, and in closing this Memorial Day weekend when people are filling up their gas tanks and cursing you out what would you say to them?"
     Hofmeister: "Drive slower, you'll get more mileage."
     Couric: "You must have something else to say?"
     Hofmeister: "We don't like the high prices any more than the consumers do but we're doing our best to get the supply to where the consumers need it."
     Couric: "Well John Hofmeister of Shell Oil. Thanks so much for coming in this morning. We appreciate it."

"Top Ten Signs There's Trouble in the
Clinton Marriage"

     From the May 23 Late Show with David Letterman, the "Top Ten Signs There's Trouble in the Clinton Marriage." Late Show home page: www.cbs.com

10. During sex, Bill's been calling out the names of divorce lawyers

9. She's voting for Taylor Hicks, he's voting for Katharine McPhee

8. ABC's fall line up features Bill as the next Bachelor

7. Their last public appearance was on Maury

6. Forget Africa, when Bill's looking for a troubled region, he goes to their bedroom

5. Wistful way Bill talks about happier times -- like the impeachment

4. Everywhere you look in the house, interns

3. There have been a lot of "fact finding" trips to Stiletto's Gentlemen's Club

2. It's gotten so bad even Hillary's cheating

1. Bill's calling Charlie Sheen for advice

-- Brent Baker