1. Couric Challenges Romney to Denounce Giuliani's 'Character'
Two weeks after she tossed softballs to Hillary Clinton and proclaimed "Clinton exudes confidence," Katie Couric on Monday night didn't hail Romney's attitude, raised rifts amongst Republicans and pushed Mitt Romney to denounce other GOP presidential candidates. Back on Monday, November 26 she asked Clinton "how do you feel" about Oprah Winfrey campaigning for Back Obama? But exactly two weeks later she doubted the integrity of another candidate and cued up Romney to agree: "Do you think that Rudy Giuliani has the judgment and character to be President of the United States?"

2. ABC Gushes over Hillary and Obama's 'Superstar Campaigners'
In the battle of Democratic "superstar campaigners," the reporters of Good Morning America couldn't decide whether they prefer Hillary Clinton's exciting surrogates or Barack Obama's. On Monday's edition of the ABC program, correspondent David Wright parroted talking points about Oprah Winfrey supporting Obama and the inspiring nature of the talk show host. He glowingly asserted: "She's urging her fans to vote the dream, not just to settle for the inevitable." Wright didn't bother to explain what, exactly, that means. The GMA reporter also gushed that "when it comes to connecting a crowd over shared hardships and shared hopes, nobody beats Oprah." According to Wright, she's "kind of like everybody's big sister." Kate Snow, filing a piece on the Clinton campaign, explained that operatives at "Hillaryland" sent Bill and Chelsea Clinton to Iowa in order to manipulate media coverage away from Obama. Snow shamelessly confessed, "And it worked. We're not just talking about Oprah this morning, are we?"

3. Smith's 'Googling' Lets Bill Clinton Obfuscate in Cushy Interview
In a typical softball interview with former President Bill Clinton, on Monday's Early Show co-host Harry Smith ran defense for the Clinton campaign: "I also want to set the record straight. When you were in Muscatine a week and a half ago or so, right, and said 'I've always been against this,' speaking about the Iraq war. I did a little Googling last night, and the best I could tell, was you said the weapons inspectors should be allowed to do their jobs." Smith also asked Clinton about former UN Ambassador and civil rights leader, Andrew Young, who said that "Bill is every bit as black as Barack," during a media forum event in September. However, in both the interview with Clinton and a previous report by co-host Julie Chen on Young's comments, the Early Show failed to mention the more controversial statement by Young that Bill Clinton "...has probably gone with more black women than Barack." Rush Limbaugh on Monday ridiculed Smith's idea that a thirty second Google search is journalism: "He [Clinton] just got away with lying again on the CBS Early Show because their researchers couldn't find anything other than Clinton talking about weapons inspectors when they Googled. I find it just breathtaking, folks, I do, at how incompetent the Drive-By Media is."

4. CNN's Mann: 'For First Time...We Can All Share the Nobel Prize'
CNN International's Jonathan Mann, during an hour-long Monday love fest in honor of Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's reception of the Nobel Peace Prize, gushed over the former Vice President: "You went from being 'Ozone Man' to 'The Goricle.' This became -- the Nobel Prize became 'The Goronation.' You must be conscious of the change in perceptions about you in particular because of that film [An Inconvenient Truth]." Later, at the very end of the program aired at 11am EST on the domestic CNN channel, Mann speculated that Gore's prize could actually be shared with all those who contribute to the planet-saving cause: "We may not all agree about the politics of global warming or about the big solutions, but we can all do our own little part, and it will add up. And for that reason, this year, for the first time that I can remember, we can all share the Nobel Prize."

5. Geraldo: Can GOP Convince Hispanics They Don't 'Hate' Them?
As far as Geraldo Rivera is concerned the GOP presidential candidates are guilty until proven innocent on whether or not they "hate" Hispanics. On Sunday's 'Geraldo At Large,' the Fox News host teased a segment on the GOP Univision debate: "In the current anti-immigration climate did these Republican debates convince Hispanics that they don't hate them?"

Couric Challenges Romney to Denounce
Giuliani's 'Character'

     Two weeks after she tossed softballs to Hillary Clinton and proclaimed "Clinton exudes confidence," Katie Couric on Monday night didn't hail Romney's attitude, raised rifts amongst Republicans and pushed Mitt Romney to denounce other GOP presidential candidates. Back on Monday, November 26 she asked Clinton "how do you feel" about Oprah Winfrey campaigning for Back Obama? But exactly two weeks later she doubted the integrity of another candidate and cued up Romney to agree: "Do you think that Rudy Giuliani has the judgment and character to be President of the United States?"

     Couric set up her segment with Clinton by relaying how "I asked her about the new, more aggressive tone of her campaign," but with Romney Couric expressed dissatisfaction, wanting to know "why he didn't spend more time explaining the tenets of his Mormon faith in his speech last week?" And followed up: "In the absence of a religious test, what's wrong with a little religious clarification?" Her second inquiry to Clinton: "How do you feel about" Winfrey campaigning for Obama and "are you concerned that this will give him a big boost?" Her second topic with Romney raised an attack: "In Iowa, Governor Mike Huckabee has TV ads that describe him in quite a prominent way as a Christian leader. Do you think he's trying to draw a distinction between the two of you?" But with Hillary, Couric simply ended by wondering "how disappointed will you be" if you lose? Her last question to Romney: The one quoted above about Giuliani's "judgment" and "character."

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

     The November 27 CyberAlert item, "Couric's 'Exclusive' with Hillary Clinton Avoids Tough Questions," provided all the questions aired on the November 26 CBS Evening News interview with Hillary Clinton:

From Concord, New Hampshire, Couric teased the November 26 CBS Evening News:

KATIE COURIC: Obama versus Clinton. BARACK OBAMA: We don't need somebody who knows how to play the game better. We need somebody to put an end to the game-playing. COURIC: But in an exclusive one-on-one interview, Clinton exudes confidence. COURIC TO CLINTON: If it's not you, how disappointed will you be? HILLARY CLINTON: Well, it will be me.

The questions, plus a flavor on Clinton's replies:

COURIC: I asked her about the new, more aggressive tone of her campaign. [Hillary Clinton: "I have absorbed a lot of attacks" and "hardly a day goes by when I'm not attacked."] COURIC: It was announced today that Oprah Winfrey will be campaigning with Senator Obama in three key states -- Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. How do you feel about that? ["I think it's great..."] COURIC: But are you concerned that this will give him a big boost? ["No..."] COURIC: If it's not you, how disappointed will you be? ["Well, it will be me..."] COURIC: I know that you're confident it's going to be you, but there is a possibility it won't be. And clearly you have considered that possibility. ["No I haven't."] COURIC: So you never even consider the possibility? ["I don't."]

     For the full November 27 CyberAlert rundown: www.mrc.org

     The introduction and questions in the segment with Romney on the Monday, December 10 CBS Evening News:

     KATIE COURIC: Mitt Romney will air the first Republican-on-Republican attack ad in Iowa tomorrow criticizing Mike Huckabee's record on illegal immigration. Today I talked to Romney about Huckabee and about religion, specifically why he didn't spend more time explaining the tenets of his Mormon faith in his speech last week.
    
     COURIC: Having said that, in the absence of a religious test, what's wrong with a little religious clarification?

     COURIC: In Iowa, Governor Mike Huckabee has TV ads that describe him in quite a prominent way as a Christian leader. Do you think he's trying to draw a distinction between the two of you?

     COURIC: What do you think of the Huckabee surge in Iowa and nationwide?

     COURIC: Do you think that Rudy Giuliani has the judgment and character to be President of the United States?

     Online version of the interview: www.cbsnews.com

ABC Gushes over Hillary and Obama's 'Superstar Campaigners'

     In the battle of Democratic "superstar campaigners," the reporters of Good Morning America couldn't decide whether they prefer Hillary Clinton's exciting surrogates or Barack Obama's. On Monday's edition of the ABC program, correspondent David Wright parroted talking points about Oprah Winfrey supporting Obama and the inspiring nature of the talk show host. He glowingly asserted: "She's urging her fans to vote the dream, not just to settle for the inevitable." Wright didn't bother to explain what, exactly, that means.

     The GMA reporter also gushed that "when it comes to connecting a crowd over shared hardships and shared hopes, nobody beats Oprah." According to Wright, she's "kind of like everybody's big sister." Kate Snow, filing a piece on the Clinton campaign, explained that operatives at "Hillaryland" sent Bill and Chelsea Clinton to Iowa in order to manipulate media coverage away from Obama. Snow shamelessly confessed, "And it worked. We're not just talking about Oprah this morning, are we?"

     [This item, by Scott Whitlock, was posted Monday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

     After closing the segment with a recap of Chelsea's dating life, Snow seemed unable to hide her excitement for the Clinton campaign. She observed that the former first daughter might get engaged before New Years Eve, right around the Iowa caucus. "Wouldn't that be good timing," Snow enthused. She then noted that Chelsea's appearance in that state could "only help."

     Viewers of GMA shouldn't be surprised at Snow's excitement. She has a long history of positively spinning everything Clinton-related, from Hillary's laugh, to aging. See the December 3 CyberAlert for more: www.mrc.org

     And Good Morning America in general has had trouble deciding between Clinton and Obama since the two first faced off in early 2007. On January 18, correspondent Claire Shipman saw the battle as one between Obama's "fluid poetry" and Hillary's "hot factor." See the January 19 CyberAlert for more: www.mrc.org

     A transcript of the two segments, which aired at 7:12am on December 10:

     7am tease, ROBIN ROBERTS: And star power on the campaign trail.
     OPRAH WINFREY: It's Obama time. Oh, yeah!
     ROBERTS: Oprah stumps for Obama while Chelsea and Bill rally for Hillary. But will the superstar campaigners make a real difference with voters?

     7:12am, ROBERTS: Now, the charisma battle in the 2008 presidential campaign. Oprah Winfrey was with Barack Obama this weekend, drawing huge crowds in Iowa, South Carolina. 8,500 in New Hampshire last night. But the Clinton campaign fought back. For the first time during the presidential race, the entire Clinton family hit the campaign trail, including her daughter Chelsea. We begin with ABC's David Wright in New Hampshire. Good morning, David.
     ABC GRAPHIC: The Big "O" Weekend: Oprah and Obama On the Trail
     DAVID WRIGHT: Morning, Robin. This was the last stop on the Oprah tour. You know, when it comes to connecting a crowd over shared hardships and shared hopes, nobody beats Oprah. She's kind of like everybody's big sister. When she talks, millions listen. And the fact that she spent the weekend she talking about Barack Obama could really shake up this campaign.
     SENATOR BARACK OBAMA: Give it up for Ms. Oprah Winfrey! Give it up! We love Oprah!
     WRIGHT: The most trusted woman in America.
     WINFREY: This is my first time in Manchester. Wow. What a beautiful place.
     WRIGHT: Taking on a new role. Never before has Oprah rallied her fans quite like this.
     WINFREY: And for me, you know, it's stepping out of my pew.
     WRIGHT: In South Carolina, Sunday, nearly 30,000 people hung on her every word.
     WINFREY: I have been in the pew of television for what seems like a long time. I have never done it before because in the past, I have been disappointed by politicians.
     WRIGHT: She's urging her fans to vote the dream, not just to settle for the inevitable.
     WINFREY: These are dangerous times. We're all facing explosive issues. Can't you feel it? You can feel it. We're all watching "American idol, trying not to think about it. Aren't you tired of the old way? I'm tired of the old way! I am tired of politics as usual. That is the reason why I have for the first time in my life stepped out of my box, stepped out of that TV box I have been living in all these years and for the first time in my life, stood up for a candidate who I believe can change America. I believe we need Barack Obama.
     WRIGHT: Obama knows he's a lucky man to have her support. But according to Oprah, luck has nothing to do with it.
     WINFREY: Is he the one? I believe he is the one! Barack Obama!
     WRIGHT: Now, a lot of folks will tell you that in a presidential campaign, typically, a celebrity endorsement doesn't mean very much, but as she proved once again this weekend, Oprah Winfrey is no typical celebrity. Now with news from the Hillary side, let's turn it over to Kate Snow.
     KATE SNOW: Okay, David. Well, thanks. Well, Senator Clinton said it happened to work out that her whole entire family was out campaigning with her this weekend. A total coincidence, she claimed, but nothing is an accident in Hillaryland. And it worked. We're not just talking about Oprah this morning, are we?
     ABC GRAPHIC: A Cast of Clintons: Battling the "Oprah" Effect
     SNOW: At a church in Charleston, Hillary Clinton's number one surrogate was trying to steal some of Oprah's thunder.
     FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: America needs a new beginning.
     SNOW: And Saturday in Iowa, it was three generations of Clinton's family on stage.
     SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON: I'm thrilled to have with me my mother, Dorothy Rodham, and my daughter, Chelsea Clinton.
     UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Oh, Chelsea. You've grown up. You're so beautiful.
     CHELSEA CLINTON: Thank you so much.
     UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: I'm so glad you're here.
     CHELSEA CLINTON: I'm very happy to be here.
     SNOW: For the first time since her mom announced she was running, 27-year-old Chelsea was pressing the flesh.
     CHELSEA CLINTON: Here to support my mom. Thank you.
     SNOW: Senator Clinton was dismissive of the Oprah effect.
     SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON: Everybody wants to have his or her supporters speak out and try to persuade voters, but at the end of the day, it's a choice among those of us who are running.
     CHELSEA CLINTON: You get to hang out with me.
     SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON: I get to hang out with you.
     SNOW: But allowing the cameras to capture a little bit of grandma, mother, daughter camaraderie can't hurt.
     JUAN WILLIAMS (NPR): What we're seeing here is Hillary Clinton putting on a warm, family face in the holiday season before the January 3rd Iowa vote.
     SNOW: Chelsea did some campaigning for her mother's Senate bid back in 2000, but since then, she's kept a low profile. Intensely private, she lives in New York City now, hangs out at Starbucks, does very well working for a hedge fund, and yes, she's seeing someone.
     CHELSEA CLINTON: I have a very serious boyfriend who my family knows, and I hope like.
     SNOW: There are even rumors that Chelsea might be engaged. Rumors only. Some wondering whether she might announce she's engaged when she heads back to Iowa, right after Christmas, right around New Years Eve, maybe, Robin, maybe before the Iowa caucuses. Wouldn't that be good timing? But those are just rumors. But she did say she's heading back to Iowa with her boyfriend and everyone will get to meet him after Christmas.
     ROBIN ROBERTS: Everybody in the pool!
     SNOW: Why not? It can only help.

Smith's 'Googling' Lets Bill Clinton
Obfuscate in Cushy Interview

     In a typical softball interview with former President Bill Clinton, on Monday's Early Show co-host Harry Smith ran defense for the Clinton campaign: "I also want to set the record straight. When you were in Muscatine a week and a half ago or so, right, and said 'I've always been against this,' speaking about the Iraq war. I did a little Googling last night, and the best I could tell, was you said the weapons inspectors should be allowed to do their jobs." Smith also asked Clinton about former UN Ambassador and civil rights leader, Andrew Young, who said that "Bill is every bit as black as Barack," during a media forum event in September. However, in both the interview with Clinton and a previous report by co-host Julie Chen on Young's comments, the Early Show failed to mention the more controversial statement by Young that Bill Clinton "...has probably gone with more black women than Barack."

     Read about Andrew Young's comments here: apnews.myway.com
     Watch video of the comments here: www.liveleak.com

     Rush Limbaugh on Monday ridiculed Smith's idea that a thirty second Google search is journalism: "He just got away with lying again on the CBS Early Show because their researchers couldn't find anything other than Clinton talking about weapons inspectors when they Googled. I find it just breathtaking, folks, I do, at how incompetent the Drive-By Media is. They can't do anything right, and they don't want to. They don't want to get it right where the Clintons are concerned."

     Limbaugh highlighted these to quotes from Clinton:

     # Bill Clinton, New York Daily News, April 16th, 2003: "'Saddam is gone, and good riddance,' former President Clinton said yesterday. Clinton also said Bush should not be faulted if banned weapons of mass destruction aren't found. Said the president, 'I don't think you can criticize the president for trying to act on the belief that they have a substantial amount of chemical and biological stock. That is what I was always told.'"

     # May 18th, 2003, at Tougaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi, during commencement address: "I supported the president when he asked the Congress for authority to stand up against weapons of mass destruction in Iraq."

     Limbaugh observed: "My question is, Harry Smith, what the hell are you doing? You can't find these things? All you could find is something Clinton said about inspectors? We're doing the job the mainstream media should be doing."

     A transcript of Limbaugh's December 10 comments on his radio show: www.rushlimbaugh.com

     [This item is adapted from a Monday afternoon posting, by Kyle Drennen, on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

Smith previewed the interview with Clinton by gushing: "We are live in Harlem this morning with former President Bill Clinton, just a couple of blocks from his office, and we're here to talk about this, his best-selling book Giving, also maybe talk a little bit about politics too." During the first half of the interview Smith focused on the book and tossed softball questions like: "Do you think people should be obligated to give of themselves or give of what they have?" and "This book has raised more than a million dollars for other charitable efforts. Are you more energized by this than you were by politics?"

     Then Smith asked about Young's comments, but apparently did not do a thorough Google search for the question: "And I want to transition now, and talk a little bit about what's surfaced, first off, the internet, and then in papers across the country, your good friend Andrew Young, who was your United Nations Ambassador-" Clinton corrected him, "President Carter's United Nations Ambassador." Smith apologized, "I'm sorry...And you're good friend. Sorry, I stand corrected."

     Smith then attempted to ask a challenging question: "When you're on the stump for her as campaigner-in-chief, some people have even suggested you actually do more harm than good. Have you heard that?" However, he showed nothing but agreement as Clinton responded: "Yeah, but they're people that probably wouldn't be for her anyway...That's not -- the evidence doesn't show that. Most Democrats think I did a pretty good job as president and they think I'm pulling for them." Smith's only response: "Right, right."

     Finally, after defending Clinton's statement about Iraq, Smith gave the former president plenty of time at the end of the interview to exclaim: "I supported threatening Saddam so we could do the inspections...The mistake we made was not letting the inspections finish. If they had, there would have been no war. And I was always against doing it without the inspections."

     Here is the full transcript of the Clinton interview, as well as the earlier segment on Andrew Young's comments:

     7:00AM TEASER, HARRY SMITH: And an Early Show exclusive interview live from Harlem. Former President Clinton on the hot-button points of race, religion, celebrity, money, and gender in the 2008 race for the White House, Early this Monday morning, December 10th, 2007.

     7:01AM, SMITH: Morning, everybody, I'm Harry Smith. We are live in Harlem this morning at the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care and Prevention, which is one of those places there was a demonstrated need, the doctor in charge goes to Ralph Lauren, says give me $6 million, and now they have this amazing state-of-the-art center, which all goes to the point of Bill Clinton's book Giving, which we're going to be talking about in an exclusive interview with him along with all of the politics there is to talk about, especially all the campaigning done over the weekend by Oprah Winfrey.

     7:15AM, BILL CLINTON: I don't have a problem now.

     SMITH: Alright. Thanks very much, Julie. We are live in Harlem this morning with former President Bill Clinton, just a couple of blocks from his office, and we're here to talk about this, his best-selling book "Giving," also maybe talk a little bit about politics too. We'll be right back.

     7:21AM, SMITH: Well, we hear there is a presidential campaign going on. If we have time, we'll talk about that, but it's also the season for Giving. We're going to talk about that with President Bill Clinton after these messages and your local news.

     7:30AM, SMITH: 'Tis the season to be Giving. We're in Harlem this morning with former President Bill Clinton. We'll be talking about his book. We'll also talk a little politics this morning as well. Thank you for being with us, Mr. President. We'll have that in just a second.

     7:32AM SEGMENT, HARRY SMITH: First things first, we want to say where we are. We're at the Ralph Lauren Cancer Center in Harlem on 124th Street, just a couple of blocks from your office. And tell very briefly the story of how this place came to be, because there's a demonstrated need for cancer care, and especially in underserved areas, of which this is one. The doctor who's running this place says 'I need some money.'
     BILL CLINTON: And he called Ralph Lauren and Ralph Lauren gave it to him.
     SMITH: $6 million.
     CLINTON: Amazing. And it -- but it's the kind of thing that you can do that will have a measurable impact on people's lives. All the cancer cure rates are going up, some faster than others. The cancer cure rate for kids is now about 80%, but you have to have proper screening. You've got to have early detection so you can get in there and care for these people. And I can't say enough about what this has done for Harlem, you know. It's -- and it's wildly popular, as you might imagine, in our neighborhood here, because people who otherwise would never have access to this sort of care and screening can get it.
     SMITH: Yeah. State-of-the-art facility. I want to talk about the book, because one of the themes in the book is, you call 'balancing the scales.' What do you mean by that? What will people understand when you say balancing the scales?
     CLINTON: Well, I think most of us get out of this world better than we would if all we got was simple justice. We get a lot of good breaks in life. And I think that those of us who have been particularly fortunate, either because of -- for financial reasons or the lives we've lived, feel that at a certain age we really have a heavy obligation to balance the scales, but more and more young people feel that they too should give back, and I think it's a sense of obligation but also a sense that you'll be happier if you do it.
     SMITH: Yeah, we were talking during the break about Warren Buffett, whose sister we're going to profile in our second hour. Amazing job that he did of A, earning all of this money and then basically giving it all away. One of the things he said was, I was born in the right place at the right time. Why wouldn't I? I have more than anything, more than I could ever dream of. Am I not obligated? Do you think people should be obligated to give of themselves or give of what they have?
     CLINTON: Well, I do, but I think your obligation is something that you have to define for yourself. But look at Buffett. He's going to give almost all of his money away. And he says -- he said to me many times, I can give 99% of it away and I'll still have more than almost anybody on earth and more than I need. The point I try to make in this book is that whether you feel obligated by religion, by ethics and philosophy, you can do this and be effective, and it will make you happier. You will like your life better if you're making somebody else's life better, for your time or money or skills or physical possessions you give away. There's all kinds of things for people to do, and you don't have to be rich to do it.
     SMITH: One of the best ones I like in the book is the thing called Kiva.
     CLINTON: Yeah it's -- I love Kiva. So these young people meet in Africa, fall in love, and they get married and they start kiva.org, which essentially enables you, or anybody passing us on the street, to become a micro credit banker to somebody halfway around the world because of the internet for as little as $25.
     SMITH: Amazing.
     CLINTON: And then they pay you back. You get a monthly report on what they're doing. And when you get your money back, you can turn it around and loan it to somebody else, you see their picture, you hear their business described, or you can take your money back. It's amazing. And you know, there's an opportunity here in America, called Donors Choose, which allows you to do the same thing for teachers and young people in schools that are underfinanced, to give them the same sort of opportunities. You just pick them up, Vinod Khosla, a high tech entrepreneur, gave them the money to basically take this from I think four states and eight sites nationwide because of the internet. So there are all kinds of opportunities now. Ebay has a place called Givings Work. I have a site called mycommitment.org, which will take you to up to a million other opportunities, just depending on what you're interested in. And we have in just a couple of months had people give about 50,000 hours of labor and a half a million dollars in tiny amounts.
     SMITH: This book has raised more than a million dollars for other charitable efforts. Are you more energized by this than you were by politics?
     CLINTON: Well, I'm just as energized. I love this part of my life. I love being in politics. I think government is very, very important, but there will never be a time in this interdependent world of ours when either the operation or the private economy or government will solve all the problems. We need what most people call civil society, people like ordinary citizens at all levels banning together to do it. And because of the internet, people with a little bit of money can do enormous good. And because we know what works, we can have an impact.
     SMITH: Right. This doesn't have the rough and tumble, though, or the day-to-day of the political campaigns. And I want to transition now, and talk a little bit about what's surfaced, first off, the internet, and then in papers across the country, your good friend Andrew Young, who was your United Nations Ambassador --
     CLINTON: President Carter's United Nations Ambassador.
     SMITH: I'm sorry.
     CLINTON: But he's my good friend.
     SMITH: And you're good friend. Sorry, I stand corrected. Actually said in a group setting for cameras and everything else that you were more black than Barack Obama. He said he was joking, but-
     CLINTON: Well, we've been friends a long time, and you know, my office in Harlem, I've always been close to the African-American community. I think we're trying to build an America where we're all pulling the same direction. And you know, Hillary and I have been working on a lot of these issues together that are very important to African-Americans now. When I met her in law school she took an extra year to work for Marion Wright Edelman and Children's Defense Fund and when she went out of law school, she turned down all these offers and went to work for her, because she cared about these issues. I think that there are a lot of people across the color line now that want to give all our children a chance and all our people a chance, and that's the kind of America we've got to build.
     SMITH: There you go. When you're on the stump for her as campaigner-in-chief, some people have even suggested you actually do more harm than good. Have you heard that?
     CLINTON: Yeah, but they're people that probably wouldn't be for her anyway.
     SMITH: Right.
     CLINTON: That's not -- the evidence doesn't show that. Most Democrats think I did a pretty good job as president and they think I'm pulling for them.
     SMITH: Right. I also want to set the record straight. When you were in Muscatine a week and a half ago or so, right, and said I've always been against this, speaking about the Iraq war. I did a little Googling last night, and the best I could tell, was you said the weapons inspectors should be allowed to do their jobs.
     CLINTON: Absolutely. I -- look, I said something like that a hundred times. Nobody ever said it before because everybody who knows what was going on and knows me knows that I was trying to get to -- even a new U.N. resolution passed. I was involved with an effort behind the scenes to talk to some people around the world to try to see if we could get another resolution passed to give some more time. I supported threatening Saddam so we could do the inspections, but I believe -- I even believe the Senate resolution, if you read it, said that the force was authorized if the diplomatic efforts -- i.e. the inspections -- failed. The mistake we made was not letting the inspections finish. If they had, there would have been no war. And I was always against doing it without the inspections. Now, after Saddam was deposed, the United Nations' position was we should all do what we can to make it work, and everybody was hoping it would. And still, I think we should still hope it works. We should hope those people have a government that's representative and that they can work out their oil deals and their conflicts and go on to a better life, but I believe it was a serious error to go in there before the inspectors finished. And I -- as you pointed out, most of my speeches weren't getting covered by the press and we didn't copy them or anything back then. But we do have several records, including one six days before the invasion where I said I don't think they should do this till the inspections finished. That was the deal. And if we had done it, there would have been no war.
     SMITH: Alright, Mr. President, thanks very much for having us up to the neighborhood, we really do appreciate it.

     CLINTON: Thank you. Glad to do it.

     ANDREW YOUNG SEGMENT:

     7:00AM TEASER, HARRY SMITH: Hillary Clinton gets some controversial support from a civil rights icon who says don't vote for Obama. The Clintons are simply more black.
     ANDREW YOUNG: Bill is every bit as black as Barack.

     7:12AM SEGMENT, JULIE CHEN: As you heard earlier, former U.N. Ambassador and long-time civil rights leader, Andrew Young, is raising a lot of eyebrows with some comments he made about presidential candidate Barack Obama.
     ANDREW YOUNG: I want Barack Obama to be president -- In 2016. I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why. It's not a matter of being inexperienced. It is a matter of being young. Barack Obama does not have the support network yet to get to be president. The Clintons, the Clinton's have -- he's smart, he's brilliant, but you cannot be president alone. Hillary Clinton, first of all, has Bill behind her. And Bill is every bit as black as Barack.
     JULIE CHEN: Maynard Eaton, Editor in Chief of the News Makers Journal Magazine was the moderator of the forum where Young spoke. He joins us from Atlanta. Good morning, sir.
     MAYNARD EATON: Good morning, Julie. How are you?
     JULIE CHEN: I'm very well, thank you. How surprising is it that a civil rights leader such as Andrew Young, is voicing his support for Hillary Clinton and not Barack Obama?
     EATON: Well, you have to understand, Andy Young and the Clintons have been tied together politically for a while and he's a serious player in politics. I think on one hand he was trying to warn, or suggest, to Barack Obama that leadership requires suffering. He used examples during that same interview about how Maynard Jackson paid the price and may have died too soon because of being in politics and that former Mayor Bill Campbell's in prison perhaps because he got involved in politics too soon. But Clinton -- the Clintons and Andy Young are long-time allies.
     CHEN: Well, his interview with you, that was on September 5th.
     EATON: Right.
     CHEN: It is three months later. Why do you think it's making headlines now?
     EATON: It raises our ire as well. I would suspect, and Andy Young told me last night, he suspects that this was rather -- may have been orchestrated by the Clinton campaign to blunt Oprah Winfrey's appearance in South Carolina.
     CHEN: Well, let's talk about Oprah. Oprah Winfrey versus Andrew Young. Who do you think is more influential in this election?
     EATON: Andy Young's been a proven political player, a civil rights icon for years. He holds sway among corporate captains, but Oprah's a bad girl, but this is her first time in the political arena. She's popular, Andy's a serious political player.
     CHEN: But who's more far-reaching, to the numbers out there? Forget about black-white, just to the numbers out there.
     EATON: Well, you know Oprah, millions watch Oprah every day, Andy's been in the political fray for a long time. Andy's -- he has international appeal, but in terms of numbers, you know, I think I like Andy, I'd bet on Oprah.
     CHEN: Maynard Eaton, Editor in Chief of the News Makers Journal Magazine, we thank you, sir.
     EATON: Thank you.

CNN's Mann: 'For First Time...We Can
All Share the Nobel Prize'

     CNN International's Jonathan Mann, during an hour-long Monday love fest in honor of Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's reception of the Nobel Peace Prize, gushed over the former Vice President: "You went from being 'Ozone Man' to 'The Goricle.' This became -- the Nobel Prize became 'The Goronation.' You must be conscious of the change in perceptions about you in particular because of that film [An Inconvenient Truth]."

     Later, at the very end of the program aired at 11am EST on the domestic CNN channel, Mann speculated that Gore's prize could actually be shared with all those who contribute to the planet-saving cause: "We may not all agree about the politics of global warming or about the big solutions, but we can all do our own little part, and it will add up. And for that reason, this year, for the first time that I can remember, we can all share the Nobel Prize."

     [This item, by Matthew Balan, was posted Monday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

     Mann interviewed Gore, along with IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri, live from the site of the annual Nobel Prize ceremony in Oslo, Norway during the 11 am Eastern hour. Besides a lengthy interview of the two Nobel Prize laureates about a number of topics, CNN aired a number of short segments about Gore and the subject of climate change.

     Thomas Lovejoy, president of the Heinz Foundation (the full name of which is the Teresa and H. John Heinz III Foundation), appeared in two of the short segments. In the very first segment aired, Lovejoy showered Gore with praise. "Well, I think he's done just an extraordinary job of awakening public consciousness to essentially, you know, the largest environmental challenge of all time." In a later segment, Lovejoy went further than Gore and the IPCC on the threat of climate change. "I think, if anything, he underestimates the rate of change, and so has the IPCC. So the Arctic Ocean is now projected to be ice-free for the first time in 2020, instead of 2050 or 2100."

     About a quarter of the way into the hour, Mann asked Gore and Pachuauri about "An Inconvenient Truth" and the controversy over its accuracy. A full transcript of the exchange:

     JONATHAN MANN: Let me ask you about the criticism and the court battle in Britain about the facts. If you had that movie to make over again, how much of it would you change? How many of the facts would you just lighten up a little bit?
     GORE: Virtually nothing. Virtually nothing. And one of the issues was they said the polar bears aren't in any trouble at all. Well, I think maybe they've taken another look.
     MANN: Well, what they said -- to be fair, what they said is there's very little empirical evidence that polar bears are drowning. What some of your critics have said is that, in fact, more polar bears are being shot by hunters than are suffering because of global warming.
     GORE: Well, you know, we have to do a reality check. The entire North Polar Ice Cap is in the process of melting in a very short period of time. That's their habitat. It's disappearing. The Greenland ice sheet and the Antarctic ice sheet were both excluded from the calculations of the IPCC in their previous report. The best scientists who have the expertise on ice science argue that it should be included. It was put into a footnote. And now they are going back, as they have said they would do, and they are including it. The rate of-
     MANN: Well, let me jump in.
     GORE: Yeah.
     MANN: If our source here is the IPCC-
     GORE: Yes.
     MANN: -they're actually well represented.
     GORE: Not turning away, absolutely.
     MANN: Have you seen the movie? Did you think it was accurate?
     PACHAURI: I have. I think it's a very good movie. I was moved by the movie. I really enjoyed it very much. And I personally think when you're disseminating the message, you have got to do it in a manner that appeals to the audience. And I really didn't see anything that one could call a scientific inaccuracy. I never saw it from that perspective. But, you know, I went to see the movie because I wanted to see how he disseminated the message, and I think that was extremely well done. It was very, very effective.
     MANN: Well, it was effective in another sense as well. And this was a personal one. Before the movie, you were best known, of course, as the former U.S. vice president, as the man who almost became president. Your critics ridiculed you as 'Ozone Man,' and then the movie came out-
     GORE: Well, that was actually the first President Bush, who used that-
     MANN: Exactly.
     (LAUGHTER)
     (APPLAUSE)
     MANN: I think you have some fans here in the audience. You went from being 'Ozone Man' to 'The Goricle.' This became -- the Nobel Prize became 'The Goronation.' You must be conscious of the change in perceptions about you in particular because of that film.
     GORE: Maybe we can stop somewhere in the middle of those two extremes. The movie had an impact, which I'm very grateful for, and I'd also like to acknowledge again my debt of gratitude to the scientific community that has really done the work in assembling this body of knowledge. I have tried for 30 years to translate the scientific insights into language that I personally can understand, on the theory that if I can understand it, I can communicate it to others. That's all I've tried to do really.

     Towards the end of the hour, Mann highlighted the supposed indifference of the American people concerning the issue of climate change.

     MANN: Maybe the best way to describe American attitudes, and I hope this is fair to all concerned, is that Americans do know about global warming and they do care, but they don't care all that much. Al Gore, you travel across the United States, you know there are millions of ordinary Americans. There are senators, there are scientists who disagree with you. There are a few people running for president. Do you see their point of view, or is there some problem? Because around the world, people wonder why Americans feel so differently from everyone else.

     Mann's "we can all share the Nobel Prize" comment came during his last words to Gore and Pachauri. The full transcript of this closing monologue:

     MANN: Gentlemen, I hope you're going to allow me a final word before we have to bring this program to a conclusion. The Nobel Prize has been given out many times before to diplomats and politicians, humanitarians and activists. It's even gone to scientists before, and at least once before to an environmentalist. So this year doesn't really set a precedent in that way. But it is different this year because of the other people involved, and that's the rest of us. You may not be able to solve the problems of the Middle East, you may not be able to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, but you can, we all can, do something about global warming. You can flip off the lights when you're leaving a room. You can take a longer walk and use your car less often. You can even shop differently to try to encourage business. We may not all agree about the politics of global warming or about the big solutions, but we can all do our own little part, and it will add up. And for that reason, this year, for the first time that I can remember, we can all share the Nobel Prize.

Geraldo: Can GOP Convince Hispanics They
Don't 'Hate' Them?

     As far as Geraldo Rivera is concerned the GOP presidential candidates are guilty until proven innocent on whether or not they "hate" Hispanics. On Sunday's 'Geraldo At Large,' the Fox News host teased a segment on the GOP Univision debate: "In the current anti-immigration climate did these Republican debates convince Hispanics that they don't hate them?"

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

     Later, on the December 9 show, Rivera continued the slurs against the GOP candidates when he introduced the Carl Cameron report on the debate: "Meanwhile in Miami, in what had to be an awkward evening, most of the GOP candidates met to debate on the Spanish-language TV network Univision. 'Trying to put lips on a pig,' is how one analyst put the, the tough job the candidates face in trying to convince Hispanic voters that the anti-immigration attitudes expressed by most of the GOP candidates doesn't mean they hate Spanish people. How'd they do and where was Colorado's radical anti-immigration candidate Tom Tancredo? Let's ask Campaign Carl Cameron who joins us live from Miami."

-- Brent Baker