1. Murtha CBS's Authoritative Source on the Army's Lack of Readiness
On Wednesday's CBS Evening News, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin could have cited a letter to President Bush from Congressman Ike Skelton, ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, about how "nearly every non-deployed combat brigade in the active Army is reporting that they are not ready to complete their assigned wartime mission." But instead, when asked by anchor Bob Schieffer about the "strain" on troops longer deployments in Iraq will cause, Martin cited the left-wing's favorite Democrat as his authoritative source: "Congressman Jack Murtha said today Iraq has drained the Army to the point now that the vast majority of combat brigades in the U.S. and Europe are rated at the lowest level of readiness."

2. CBS Showcases Whining About Prescription Entitlement 'Donut Hole'
Summer re-runs from CBS News? Three years after the CBS Evening News ran a story how there would be a "doughnut hole" in the proposed Medicare prescription drug program because "with only $400 billion to spend, there just isn't enough money to fix it," prompted by complaints from some liberal Democrats about the "doughnut hole," the same newscast on Wednesday night aired another story focused on whining from ungrateful seniors. Wyatt Andrews explained how "Medicare covers 75 percent of the first $2,250 worth of drugs, but at $2,250 coverage drops to zero and does not resume until the patient hits $5,100 in expenses. Here, Medicare kicks in again paying 95 percent of cost, but it's this gap of almost $3,000 that many sick and disabled seniors call unaffordable. To highlight the issue, Democrats held a hearing on who the coverage gap hurts." Andrews featured two victims, one who claimed "giving up one of those prescriptions can really be fatal to me" and another who called the gap "catastrophic." Unsaid, how each got a handout of $1,687.50.

3. 100 TV Critics Show Their Prejudice By Walking Out on FNC's Ailes
When Fox News Channel Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes spoke to the Television Critics Association Monday night at the group's gathering in Pasadena, about two-thirds of the 150 attendees in the room walked out in protest, with several "voicing their scorn for what they say is Fox News' conservative spin," the Miami Herald's Glenn Garvin reported on Wednesday.

4. Russert and NYTimes' Tom Friedman Call for "Miracle Tax" On Gas
Tim Russert and Tom Friedman don't think you're paying enough at the gas pump, in fact they seemed downright giddy about the prospect of increasing the gas tax as a way to end America's "oil addiction." Appearing on last weekend's CNBC's Tim Russert program, the New York Times columnist was asked for his solutions to America's energy crisis. Friedman warned: "Tim if we don't find an alternative to fossil fuels to fulfill their dreams, we're going to burn up, choke up, heat up and smoke up this planet so much faster than even Al Gore predicts," and then he issued this clarion call for green technology: "Green, my fellow Americans, is the new red, white, and blue. That's my motto." Then Friedman, egged on by Russert who pleaded, "Is there a political leader who understands it may be necessary to raise the cost of gasoline?", went even further by calling for a "miracle tax" on gas.

Murtha CBS's Authoritative Source on
the Army's Lack of Readiness

     On Wednesday's CBS Evening News, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin could have cited a letter to President Bush from Congressman Ike Skelton, ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, about how "nearly every non-deployed combat brigade in the active Army is reporting that they are not ready to complete their assigned wartime mission." But instead, when asked by anchor Bob Schieffer about the "strain" on troops longer deployments in Iraq will cause, Martin cited the left-wing's favorite Democrat as his authoritative source: "Congressman Jack Murtha said today Iraq has drained the Army to the point now that the vast majority of combat brigades in the U.S. and Europe are rated at the lowest level of readiness."

     For a PDF of the letter: wwwd.house.gov

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

     Searching the Web Wednesday night, the only article I could find quoting Murtha was a late afternoon Reuters dispatch, "House Democrats seek more Army funding," centered on how "a group of Democrats in the House of Representatives on Wednesday called for at least $10 billion in additional funds to help the U.S. Army rebuild resources depleted by the Iraq war, now in its fourth year." Reporter Richard Cowan quoted from Skelton's letter to Bush, only getting to Murtha in his sixth, seventh and eighth paragraphs, but he didn't recount the specific claim attributed to Murtha by Martin:

Rep. John Murtha, the pro-defense Pennsylvania Democrat who stunned Washington last year by calling for pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq, said most Army units do not have adequate equipment and ammunition to train on before going to war. "Under-trained units have higher rates of casualties" once they enter combat, Murtha told reporters.

He said in order to patch the funding shortfall, some Army bases in the United States have stopped using ammunition in training and stopped cutting grass for the rest of the summer while also suspending custodial services, except for cleaning restrooms.

At the Red River Army depot in Texas, Murtha said there was no money to repair 2,500 Humvees, trucks and other vehicles used in training.

     END of Excerpt

     The July 26 Reuters dispatch: news.yahoo.com
     A later AP article posted since I wrote the NewsBusters item, "Equipment shortfalls hurt Army readiness," also led with Skelton's letter before relating:
     "At a news conference, other leading Democrats said that those strategic reserve forces are critically short of personnel and equipment.
     "'They're the units that could be called upon or would be called upon to go to war in North Korea, Iran, or any other country or region,' said Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., a decorated Marine who has called for a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq." See: news.yahoo.com

     The Schieffer-Martin exchange on the July 26 CBS Evening News:

     Bob Schieffer: "Iraq's Prime Minister addressed a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress today, but some members stayed away to protest criticism that he had leveled at Israel. He urged the lawmakers to support Iraq as a front line in the global war on terror, but the speech was interrupted at one point by an anti-war heckler in the gallery [video of screaming woman in police custody with "Troops Home Now" on her shirt]. Later, he and President Bush flew to an Army base in Virginia and had lunch with the troops there.
     "The Prime Minister's plan to use Iraqi troops to restore some semblance of order in Baghdad has failed, so the President said yesterday more American troops will be moved there. We want to talk about that now with David Martin who is at the Pentagon. David, I'm not clear on where these troops are coming from."

     Martin, at the Pentagon: "Well, Bob, the Bush administration is claiming they can put an additional three to four thousand American troops into Baghdad simply by pulling them out from other places in Iraq. But what's actually happening is that 3,700 soldiers due to come home have been told they'll probably be extended past their one-year tour of duty which they've been promised. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld hasn't approved that yet, but the troops who will relieve them are already in Iraq, so if one unit comes in and the other doesn't leave, that's an increase."
     Schieffer: "Well, isn't that going to put a strain on these people, these troops?"
     Martin: "Well, Congressman Jack Murtha said today Iraq has drained the Army to the point now that the vast majority of combat brigades in the U.S. and Europe are rated at the lowest level of readiness. Bob."

CBS Showcases Whining About Prescription
Entitlement 'Donut Hole'

     Summer re-runs from CBS News? Three years after the CBS Evening News ran a story how there would be a "doughnut hole" in the proposed Medicare prescription drug program because "with only $400 billion to spend, there just isn't enough money to fix it," prompted by complaints from some liberal Democrats about the "doughnut hole," the same newscast on Wednesday night aired another story focused on whining from ungrateful seniors. Wyatt Andrews explained how "Medicare covers 75 percent of the first $2,250 worth of drugs, but at $2,250 coverage drops to zero and does not resume until the patient hits $5,100 in expenses. Here, Medicare kicks in again paying 95 percent of cost, but it's this gap of almost $3,000 that many sick and disabled seniors call unaffordable. To highlight the issue, Democrats held a hearing on who the coverage gap hurts." Andrews featured two victims, one who claimed "giving up one of those prescriptions can really be fatal to me" and another who called the gap "catastrophic."

     Left unsaid by Andrews in focusing on the hardships on those getting the handout and not the taxpayers burdened by paying for it: As calculated by the MRC's Rich Noyes, under the new entitlement program, the two complaining senior citizens had the government (taxpayers) cough up $1,687.50 that they weren't getting before -- 75 percent of the first $2,250 in costs.

     The June 25, 2003 CyberAlert recounted: "With only $400 billion to spend." Not even $400 billion is enough spending for CBS which on July 24 lamented the inadequate level of spending proposed to create a huge new entitlement program, prescription drug coverage in Medicare. Dan Rather warned: "The plan may wind up falling far short of what Medicare recipients were hoping for." Joie Chen proceeded to find a victim of "the donut hole. That's the point at which there's no coverage." And why the so-called "donut hole"? Because of a lack of spending: "Well, with only $400 billion to spend, there just isn't enough money to fix it, at least not without cutting into some other part of the plan." See: www.mrc.org

     Now, as provided by the MRC's Brad Wilmouth who corrected the closed-captioning against the video, a transcript of the July 26 CBS Evening News story.

     Anchor Bob Schieffer: "Medicare Part D is providing prescription drug coverage to millions of older Americans, but ever since the program went into effect in January, there's been an epidemic of confusion and headaches. And here comes another one. Our report is from Wyatt Andrews."

     Paul Jutras, at a table with prescription containers: "This is a listing of all my medications."
     Wyatt Andrews: "For Paul Jutras, who takes 14 medicines every day, the Medicare drug benefit seemed to stop as soon as it began."
     Jutras: "Asticol was $253.30. They paid nothing, and I paid $253.30."
     Andrews: "The problem is that he's fallen into a gap in coverage, called the 'doughnut hole,' in which seniors pay for all of their drugs themselves. On Paul's low income, with this many prescriptions, he's trying to decide which drug not to take."
     Jutras: "I've had congestive heart failure, so giving up one of those prescriptions can really be fatal to me."
     Andrews: "For all patients, Medicare covers 75 percent of the first $2,250 worth of drugs, but at $2,250 coverage drops to zero and does not resume until the patient hits $5,100 in expenses. Here, Medicare kicks in again paying 95 percent of cost, but it's this gap of almost $3,000 that many sick and disabled seniors call unaffordable. To highlight the issue, Democrats held a hearing on who the coverage gap hurts."
     David Madison, Medicare recipient, at hearing: "We feel that there is something very wrong with the way Medicare Part D is written."
     Andrews: "David Madison, who's taking one very expensive cancer drug, says he reached the doughnut hole in a month."
     Madison, to Andrews: "Very definitely a hardship."
     Andrews: "The total cost of his care, he told us, plus the coverage gap, is wiping him out."
     Madison: "It could eventually lead to bankruptcy the way I see it. I mean, it is catastrophic."
     Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL): "What we have is absolutely insane."
     Andrews: "Democrats like Senator Bill Nelson of Florida want to fix the doughnut hole by allowing Medicare to negotiate the price of drugs. When the benefit was being debated, Republicans refused that approach, calling it government price setting."
     Nelson, to Andrews: "You wouldn't have to have that doughnut hole, that gap in coverage, if Medicare were allowed to buy its drugs in bulk and, therefore, negotiate the price down."
     Andrews: "For seniors hoping to avoid the doughnut hole, Medicare has two suggestions: Switch to lower cost generics if possible, and you won't hit the doughnut hole so fast. This November you can also switch plans: Choose one that might be more expensive but offers coverage in the coverage gap. The donut hole is also emerging as a powerful election issue because of when seniors will feel the pain. Somewhere between three and seven million senior citizens will fall into this coverage gap between now and November. Wyatt Andrews, CBS News, Washington."

100 TV Critics Show Their Prejudice By
Walking Out on FNC's Ailes

     When Fox News Channel Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes spoke to the Television Critics Association Monday night at the group's gathering in Pasadena, about two-thirds of the 150 attendees in the room walked out in protest, with several "voicing their scorn for what they say is Fox News' conservative spin," the Miami Herald's Glenn Garvin reported on Wednesday.

     [This item, by Rich Noyes, was posted Wednesday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

     Can you imagine 100 TV critics, upset by CBS's liberal bias, walking out on CBS chief Les Moonves or CBS News President Sean McManus? Or even a dozen critics turning their backs on the scandal-scarred Dan Rather? Such open disdain for Fox News Channel's uniquely non-liberal approach speaks volumes about the media elite's arrogant belief that it's journalistic malpractice to give a fair shake to conservatives.

     But, Garvin noted, Ailes had his own tweaks for the critics, citing their articles from a decade ago predicting "a quick and painful death for Fox News when it first went on the air in 1996." Thwarting the critics' desires, FNC has topped cable news ratings charts for more than four years, with CNN, Headline News and MSNBC trailing far behind.

     After Glenn Garvin's story appeared in Wednesday's Miami Herald, Peter Ames Carlin, TV critic for The Oregonian newspaper in Portland, sent a letter to Poynter's Jim Romenesko saying that Garvin had it wrong: "If some reporters left grumbling about FNC's politics they were a distinct minority. The room remained crowded, there were plenty of questions, hardly any of them were confrontational....To say the room emptied is simply not true." See: poynter.org

     About an hour later, Garvin sent his own letter to Romenesko: "Peter's claim that the room was 'crowded' is quite mysterious to me. There were about 150 critics accredited for Monday's session, and I'd say my estimate of 50 in attendance was generous....I certainly heard several derogatory comments about Fox News before the session from critics who did not attend." See: poynter.org

     Excerpts from Garvin's July 26 article, "Fox News' Ailes says he's just getting started," datelined from Pasadena:

Firing poison darts at his cable-news competitors and taunting his critics in the media, Fox News Channel boss Roger Ailes celebrated the 10th birthday of his network but instead of cake, served notice that his conquest of other television empires already is under way....

Ailes made his comments during an appearance Monday evening before North American television critics, a hostile audience that generally makes no secret of its contempt for his network. Fox News panels here have often been something closer to hand-to-hand combat than to news conferences, and this one was no exception.

About two-thirds of the 150 critics left the room before Ailes took the stage, several of them openly voicing their scorn for what they say is Fox News' conservative spin.

Ailes quickly returned their fire with a brief promotional film featuring blurbs from critics and TV writers (Bill Carter of The New York Times wrote that Fox News Channel was created "to give Mr. Ailes a toy to play with, though, given the current state of Fox News as described by some insiders, it may be less a toy than an imaginary friend") predicting a quick and painful death for Fox News when it first went on the air in 1996....

Instead, as Ailes gleefully reminded the critics, his network has led the cable news pack in the Nielsen ratings for the past 55 months and has more viewers than its competitors, CNN and MSNBC, combined.

"Fox News is doing pretty well," Ailes said with a sly smile, noting that many of the critics who forecast the channel's doom were "sitting in their hotel rooms right now" instead of attending his news conference....

     END of Excerpt

     For Garvin's July 26 article in full: www.miami.com

Russert and NYTimes' Tom Friedman Call
for "Miracle Tax" On Gas

     Tim Russert and Tom Friedman don't think you're paying enough at the gas pump, in fact they seemed downright giddy about the prospect of increasing the gas tax as a way to end America's "oil addiction." Appearing on last weekend's CNBC's Tim Russert program, the New York Times columnist was asked for his solutions to America's energy crisis. Friedman warned: "Tim if we don't find an alternative to fossil fuels to fulfill their dreams, we're going to burn up, choke up, heat up and smoke up this planet so much faster than even Al Gore predicts," and then he issued this clarion call for green technology: "Green, my fellow Americans, is the new red, white, and blue. That's my motto." Then Friedman, egged on by Russert who pleaded, "Is there a political leader who understands it may be necessary to raise the cost of gasoline?", went even further by calling for a "miracle tax" on gas.

     [This item, by the MRC's Geoff Dickens, was posted Wednesday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

     The following came in Friedman's response to Russert asking him if he saw, "any strategy to wean us off oil?"
     Friedman: "This is not your parents' energy crisis. So what I say in the book, and what I'm trying to do in my column, I'm a big believer, Tim, that to name something is to own it. You know, that's one thing you do learn in the columnist business. If you name an issue, you own an issue. And the issue green has been named by its opponents, subtly, and they named it sissy, liberal, tree-hugging, girly-man, unpatriotic, vaguely French, okay? That's what the opponents have, that's how they've kind of named green. What I'm trying to do is rename green. Green, to me, is the most geo-political, geo-economic, capitalistic, patriotic thing you can be today. Green, my fellow Americans, is the new red, white, and blue. That's my motto."
     Russert: "Is there a political leader who understands it may be necessary to raise the cost of gasoline, which you've suggested, in order to wean people off it so that we really can convert away from our, our dependence on Middle Eastern oil?"
     Friedman: "I think many of them understand it, but so far no one has stepped forward. No one knows politics better than you, Tim. Doesn't it strike you as odd that not one person out of 535 members of Congress and the 50 people running for President, wouldn't one person just want to take a flier on this? To be the Ross Perot of this story? To tell the truth? I mean, this is like the miracle tax. You get a gasoline tax, a dollar a gallon, you use that money to shore up Social Security, the deficit. You tell people, we're gonna deal with your energy insecurity and your personal insecurity."
     Russert: "Brazil can do it, and the United States of America cannot."
     Friedman: "That's really what we're telling our people. And to me, that's really pathetic. It's such a poverty of imagination."

-- Brent Baker