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1. Williams Slobbers Over Obama; Couric Counters McCain on Surge
In interviews aired Monday night, NBC's Brian Williams slobbered over Barack Obama while CBS's Katie Couric told John McCain the surge in Iraq has not been a success and pressed Mitt Romney to apologize for his negative ads. Riding on a bus in New Hampshire the day before the Granite state's primary, Williams showed Obama the Newsweek with the Democratic candidate on the cover and wondered: "How does this feel, of all the honors that have come your way, all the publicity? Who does it make you think of? Is there, is there a loved one?" This week's Newsweek cover has a picture of Obama with an Obama quote: "Our time for change has come." The headline over the cover story by Richard Wolfe, a frequent guest of MSNBC's Keith Olbermann: "Inside Obama's Dream Machine." The subhead hailed Obama as "an icon of hope." Echoing that theme, Williams later observed how "in his stump speech, he now says 'we' instead of 'I.' The implication: What happened in Iowa was the start of a movement."
2. Not Just in U.S.: Brit Hume Highlights 'Obamamania' in Germany
"Obamamania" goes beyond the U.S. news media. Picking up on a story in the Sunday's International Herald Tribune, "Barack Obama's popularity soars -- in Germany," FNC's Brit Hume on Monday night noted how "the Illinois Senator has become huge in Germany, where he is being compared to the much-loved John F. Kennedy." Hume showed headlines from German newspapers, including one which called Obama "The New Kennedy," another which declared "The Black American Has Become the New Kennedy" and how "an editorial in the Frankfurter Rundschau had a headline, 'Lincoln, Kennedy, Obama,' and said that quote, 'hope and optimism are the source of the nation's strength.'"
3. ABC's Snow on Hillary: No Subject Too Small, No Issue Too Dense
ABC journalist Kate Snow continued her habit on Monday of parroting Hillary Clinton's campaign spin. Filing a report for Good Morning America, she gushed over just how hard the Senator is working for a resurgence in the polls. Snow raved: "No subject is too small. No issue too dense. Hillary Clinton is taking question after question from voters, from reporters." Spinning seemingly ordinary tasks, Snow continued: "She's pounding the pavement, literally going door to door for votes." The GMA contributor also explained that "the new Hillary critiques Barack Obama for putting a lobbyist at the top of his New Hampshire campaign." Later in the segment, she repeated the phrase: "The new Hillary confronts Obama saying he's changed his positions."
4. ABC Morning Show Devotes 15 Minutes to Dem Race, 31 Secs to GOP
Are the two major political parties hosting primaries this winter? Or is it just the Democrats? Viewers who saw Monday's edition of Good Morning America might assume the latter. The ABC program devoted a lopsided 14 minutes and 56 seconds to breaking down the race between Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. A scant 31 seconds were given to the competitive Republican race.
5. CBS's Smith: NH as White as Snow: 'America Finally Color-Blind?'
At the top of Monday's CBS Early Show, newly appointed co-host Maggie Rodriguez teased an upcoming segment on race in politics in the aftermath of Barack Obama's Iowa victory: "But besides the knock-down, drag-out political fighting in New Hampshire, we're asking the question this morning on everyone's mind, is America finally color-blind?" Later in the 8am hour of the show, co-host Harry Smith led the segment with guests Joe Watson, a diversity expert, and Jon Meacham of Newsweek. Smith's first question presumed racism rules America: "When Senator Barack Obama won the Iowa caucuses, he became the first presidential candidate of color to achieve a significant victory in the race for the White House. Is America turning color-blind? Ready to elect its first African-American President?" Smith gave this thoughtful insight on race and politics: "Jon Meacham, I was on the bus with Barack Obama a week or two ago in Iowa. We're driving along in the bus and the snow outside is as white as that state is, as white as New Hampshire is, what is -- what is going on here? Are people seeing past color? Is that possible?"
6. Matthews Sees Pro-Hillary Press; Rather: Media Itchy to Pen Obit
Are we seeing some fractures in the liberal media? Talking about Senator Obama's surge to the lead in New Hampshire polls on Monday's Morning Joe on MSNBC, Hardball host Chris Matthews asserted that the "establishment press" would be part of Hillary Clinton's resurgence. "There's an establishment press -- which is just as establishment as the establishment of the Democratic party -- who can't wait to write that fawning piece, 'Here come the Clintons again.'" Upon hearing that, ex-CBS anchor Dan Rather suggested that the media is really anti-Hillary right now: "I think they're waiting to write the obituary....They're just waiting to write 'Finis' to the Clintons."
7. Cafferty Channels McGovern: 'Why Won't Congress Impeach Bush?'
CNN's Jack Cafferty on Monday advanced former Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern's call for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney, posing as his "Cafferty File" question in the 6pm EST hour of The Situation Room: "Why won't Congress impeach President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney?" Highlighting McGovern's bombastic op-ed in the "Outlook" section of Sunday's Washington Post, "Why I Believe Bush Must Go: Nixon Was Bad. These Guys Are Worse," Cafferty quoted McGovern's contention Bush and Cheney "have repeatedly violated the Constitution," "have lied to the American people time after time" and have carried out a "murderous, illegal, nonsensical war." All six of the posted answers, read later in the hour by Cafferty, castigated Congress for not following McGovern's advice. One argued "the Democratic Congress will not move on impeachment because we have nothing but cowards in Washington," another Cafferty chose to spotlight asserted that "the collaborators who gave Bush everything they wanted won't condemn themselves now by impeaching him" and Cafferty ended with this sarcastic take: "Because all they did was cause death, destruction, torture, defiling of the Constitution and decimation of the nation's finances. Thank goodness they didn't have sex with an intern."
 Williams Slobbers Over Obama; Couric
Counters McCain on Surge
In interviews aired Monday night, NBC's Brian Williams slobbered over Barack Obama while CBS's Katie Couric told John McCain the surge in Iraq has not been a success and pressed Mitt Romney to apologize for his negative ads. Riding on a bus in New Hampshire the day before the Granite state's primary, Williams showed Obama the Newsweek with the Democratic candidate on the cover and wondered: "How does this feel, of all the honors that have come your way, all the publicity? Who does it make you think of? Is there, is there a loved one?"
This week's Newsweek cover has a picture of Obama with an Obama quote: "Our time for change has come." The headline over the cover story by Richard Wolfe, a frequent guest of MSNBC's Keith Olbermann: "Inside Obama's Dream Machine." The subhead hailed Obama as "an icon of hope." Echoing that theme, Williams later observed how "in his stump speech, he now says 'we' instead of 'I.' The implication: What happened in Iowa was the start of a movement."
Cover of the January 14 Newsweek: www.newsweek.com
The cover story: www.newsweek.com
In her sit-down on McCain's bus for the CBS Evening News, Katie Couric countered McCain's claim of success with the surge in Iraq:
"You supported the surge and the surge was designed, ideally, to increase security so political reconciliation could take place. And as far as I can tell, Senator, political reconciliation still hasn't gotten very far, so can you truly say the surge was fully successful in term of what it was designed to do?"
In a session with Mitt Romney, not on a bus, she pressed him: "Do you make any apologies for basically flooding the press with negative attacks about both Mike Huckabee and John McCain?"
The only thing more negative than a campaign ad attacking an opponent: Television news!
[This item, by the MRC's Brent Baker, was posted Monday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]
The November 28 CyberAlert, "NBC's Williams Avoids Controversy with Edwards, Not with Giuliani," recounted how Williams went easy on another left-winger:
Three weeks ago, when NBC anchor Brian Williams interviewed Rudy Giuliani, Williams raised Giuliani's closeness to Bernard Kerik and pressed him on Iraq as he pointed out how 2007 had become "the bloodiest year" in the war, but in an interview with John Edwards aired Tuesday night, Williams stuck to softballs and didn't bring up the indictment of a major Edwards donor or push Edwards about how the "surge" in Iraq he rejected is working. The two interviews are the most recent in the "Making of the President" series on the NBC Nightly News...
For the rest of the previous CyberAlert: www.mrc.org
The MRC's Brad Wilmouth corrected the closed-captioning against the video to provide a transcript of how Williams set up the January 7 NBC Nightly News segment, all of his questions to Obama and some of what else Williams said in reporting on Obama's campaign day:
BRIAN WILLIAMS: And now to our day with Senator Obama. He rocketed out of Iowa, and into New Hampshire, and this morning woke up to a poll showing a comfortable lead here over Senator Clinton. After a night in a motel with no hot water, and after very little sleep, it was off to his first of six campaign events. That meant onto the bus that is his traveling home.
WILLIAMS, STARTING TAPED PIECE: His handshake is firm, but his voice is not. Barack Obama saw a doctor for his ragged throat last night. What was the doctor's recommendation?
[OBAMA: Shut up.]
The doc ordered him to drink tea and stop talking. He followed exactly half that advice. On the bus ride along the snowy road to Lebanon, New Hampshire, I showed him this week's Newsweek, hot off the presses. How does this feel, of all the honors that have come your way, all the publicity?
 [OBAMA: I'd not seen this. It's quite something.]
Who does it make you think of? Is there, is there a loved one?
[OBAMA: You know, it makes me think of my mom and the fact that, you know, she's not around to see it. I think she would've, she would have been, you know, proud and she would have cried...]
The Obama crowds are large and energized. They also tend to be young. Arriving in Lebanon, we discovered hundreds waiting in the cold, turned away at the capacity event. So he went to them.
How does that feel? ...
In his stump speech, he now says "we" instead of "I." The implication: What happened in Iowa was the start of a movement.
...
So many discussions of you come back around to the ugly topic of personal safety. Is it an issue that's ever-present in your life and in your marriage and in your relationships?
If some wish to define you largely by race using titles or labels like "first African-American victor in the Iowa caucuses," and that's not necessarily how you see yourself. How do you reconcile the two?
Williams' "Daily Nightly" entry on his day in New Hampshire: dailynightly.msnbc.msn.com
After a 30 second ad, this link should cue up Flash video of the Williams segment with Obama as aired on Nightly News: www.msnbc.msn.com
  Not Just in U.S.: Brit Hume Highlights
'Obamamania' in Germany
"Obamamania" goes beyond the U.S. news media. Picking up on a story in the Sunday's International Herald Tribune, "Barack Obama's popularity soars -- in Germany," FNC's Brit Hume on Monday night noted how "the Illinois Senator has become huge in Germany, where he is being compared to the much-loved John F. Kennedy." Hume showed headlines from German newspapers, including one which called Obama "The New Kennedy," another which declared "The Black American Has Become the New Kennedy" and how "an editorial in the Frankfurter Rundschau had a headline, 'Lincoln, Kennedy, Obama,' and said that quote, 'hope and optimism are the source of the nation's strength.'"
The New York Times, which owns the International Herald Tribune, posted the story, by Nicholas Kulish, on its "The Caucus" blog: thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com
International Herald Tribune version: www.iht.com
[This item, by the MRC's Brent Baker, was posted late Monday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]
Hume's item in the "Grapevine" segment on the January 7 Special Report with Brit Hume on FNC:
"'Obamamania' is spreading from Iowa to New Hampshire all the way to central Europe. The International Herald Tribune reports the Illinois senator has become huge in Germany, where he is being compared to the much-loved John F. Kennedy. The Berliner Morgenpost ran a headline this morning calling Obama, 'The New Kennedy.' The tabloid Bild said, 'The Black American Has Become the New Kennedy.' And an editorial in the Frankfurter Rundschau had a headline, 'Lincoln, Kennedy, Obama,' and said that quote, 'hope and optimism are the source of the nation's strength.'"
 ABC's Snow on Hillary: No Subject Too
Small, No Issue Too Dense
ABC journalist Kate Snow continued her habit on Monday of parroting Hillary Clinton's campaign spin. Filing a report for Good Morning America, she gushed over just how hard the Senator is working for a resurgence in the polls. Snow raved: "No subject is too small. No issue too dense. Hillary Clinton is taking question after question from voters, from reporters."
Spinning seemingly ordinary tasks, Snow continued: "She's pounding the pavement, literally going door to door for votes." The GMA contributor also explained that "the new Hillary critiques Barack Obama for putting a lobbyist at the top of his New Hampshire campaign." Later in the segment, she repeated the phrase: "The new Hillary confronts Obama saying he's changed his positions."
Snow has a long history of history of portraying Senator Clinton's every move as brilliant: On October 1, 2007, she lauded the Democrat's much derided cackle as an example of someone who's either enjoying herself or is "the master of a shrewd political skill, disarming her critics with a gleam in her eye and a roar straight from the belly." A few weeks later, on October 25, Snow touted that, on the occasion of her 60th birthday, "for Hillary Clinton, being a member of AARP is fund-raising gold." For a round-up of Snow's rhapsodizing about the candidate, see the December 3 CyberAlert: www.mrc.org
[This item, by the MRC's Scott Whitlock, was posted Monday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]
A transcript of Snow's January 7 segment, which aired at 7:03am:
SAWYER: But let's begin with GMA weekend anchor Kate Snow who is at a coffee shop in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Kate?
SNOW: Good morning, Diane. Senator Clinton herself is calling the shots. This morning, she'll fill this place, Café Expresso, with a bunch of voters. She is planning her attack.
SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON: I will be a great president to work with you on all of the things that matter to the people of New Hampshire. Thank you all very much.
SNOW: No subject is too small. No issue too dense. Hillary Clinton is taking question after question from voters, from reporters. She's pounding the pavement, literally going door to door for votes. It's all about fighting off Barack Obama and John Edwards.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE VOTER: I notice during the debate they were double teaming you.
CLINTON: Did you notice that?
SNOW: She admits, she had to do something radical.
CLINTON: If a campaign doesn't evolve, it probably is dead.
SNOW: So, the new Hillary critiques Barack Obama for putting a lobbyist at the top of his New Hampshire campaign.
CLINTON: If you're going to be railing about lobbyists and then you have the chair of your campaign who is a major lobbyist in this state, I think that is an interesting piece of information.
SNOW: The new Hillary confronts Obama saying he's changed his positions.
CLINTON: If you gave a speech, and a very good speech, against the war in Iraq in 2002, and by 2005, '06, '07, you vote for $300 billion for the war you said you were against, that's not change.
SNOW: On issue after issue-
CLINTON [Montage]: That's not change. That's not change. That's not change.
SNOW: Now, Clinton told me that she herself is not frustrated but within her camp, I can tell you there is some tension with one day left to go, Diane, to right the ship.
 ABC Morning Show Devotes 15 Minutes to
Dem Race, 31 Secs to GOP
Are the two major political parties hosting primaries this winter? Or is it just the Democrats? Viewers who saw Monday's edition of Good Morning America might assume the latter. The ABC program devoted a lopsided 14 minutes and 56 seconds to breaking down the race between Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. A scant 31 seconds were given to the competitive Republican race.
Over the course of the two hour program, GMA featured four segments on the Democrats and only a solitary (and brief) piece on the GOP contest. This included co-host Diane Sawyer interviewing Barack Obama twice. ABC anchor and former Bill Clinton operative George Stephanopoulos talked to Senator Hillary Clinton. Kate Snow discussed the state of the New York senator's White House bid. Aside from mentioning the latest GOP polls in the show's intro, the only analysis of the Republicans resulted from Sawyer asking Stephanopoulos this banal question: "And what about the Republicans?" The conversation that followed lasted 31 seconds.
[This item, by the MRC's Scott Whitlock, was posted Monday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]
Now, this might have been understandable in 2004 when President George W. Bush ran unopposed for his party's nomination. But in 2008, with a wide open race, it's rather amazing that ABC would focus on the Democrats by a margin of 28 to one.
There was one additional segment on the presidential campaign. But since it related to the general subject of the human brain and how people make political decisions, it was not included it in the time count. However, the tone of the piece did follow GMA's template of emphasizing Democrats over Republicans. In the segment, correspondent Claire Shipman looked at a new company that claims to be able to be able to discern what Americans really think about a politician, based on chemical reactions in the brain.
As ABC has repeatedly done in the past, Shipman speculated over whether this would show whether voters will "really pull the lever for a woman, an African-American." At the close of the piece, the network journalist admitted, "Now, we didn't have any indication from our group that they would hesitate to support a woman or an African-American. Of course, we only spent an afternoon with them." For more on previous speculations from GMA reporters on race and politics, see the January 3 CyberAlert: www.mrc.org
A transcript of segment on voting and the brain, which aired at 7:44am on January 7:
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Probably the trickiest job of a presidential campaign is to get in touch with what people really think. And we all know that campaigns spend millions on polls and focus groups. But, Diane, now there's a new tool, neuroscience.
DIANE SAWYER: And it turns out that we all lie not only to campaign polls but to ourselves.
STEPHANOPOULOS: To ourselves. Right. Absolutely.
SAWYER: Because we say we're thinking about politics, but we're actually thinking about somebody's hair. And now, to tell us a little bit about the new neuroscience of all of this, let's go back to the Manchester Red Arrow diner because Claire Shipman has the story.
CLAIRE SHIPMAN: Good morning, guys. This new technology is incredible. And it might really be able to answer that burning question, do people tell pollsters the truth, or do they say one thing on the phone and then go to the voting booth and do something totally different? Would they really pull the lever for a woman, an African-American, well. Now, you can go straight to the source to find out. This is your brain on politics. Red at the back of the head, you like what you're hearing. It's pure unadulterated feeling. Information that makes advertisers and political consultants drool. Welcome to the next frontier in political polling. We teamed up with up with Lucid Systems, a cutting edge marketing research company to try out their brain measuring techniques. Our guinea pigs, a group of undecided New Hampshire voters watches the ABC debate. Here where Hillary Clinton got worked up.
SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON: I want to make change, but I've already made change!
SHIPMAN: How did people respond to that? But we didn't have to ask, we'd read their minds. The brain information here in graph style. And waves in the green line below the red one means they liked it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As a president, you want someone who is tough.
SHIPMAN: And the humor worked.
CLINTON: Well, that hurts my feelings.
SHIPMAN: A green spike. But this --
SENATOR BARACK OBAMA: You're likable enough, Hillary.
SHIPMAN: It had a huge negative response. The twin red and green peeks. Our group wasn't aware how much they didn't like him ruining her fun.
JEAN TAYLOR (Undecided New Hampshire voter): It just says Barack doesn't really like her very much.
SHIPMAN: Another surprising result, when asked they praised this --
JOHN EDWARDS: We need a president who believes deeply in here. [Pounds chest]
EFFI SORRENTINO (Undecided New Hampshire voter): You could really see that he felt very, very strongly.
SHIPMAN: But in fact, it flat lined. They weren't emotionally moved. And once told the results, they dug deeper.
CARLA TOLOMEO (Unidentified New Hampshire voter): And for me, the fact that they was using emotional words was very nice, but, again, how did that translate into an action.
SHIPMAN: Lucid liked to call it the unspoken truth.
DR. FERNANDO MIRANDA (Founder & Chief Science Officer, Lucid Systems): As we grow up and we learn to be politically correct and we learn to use judgment, we learn to say the appropriate things, then all these other layers are uncovering the unspoken truth.
SHIPMAN: For example, some say they were okay with the candidates mixing it up.
BOB TRABUCHI (Undecided New Hampshire voter): Kind of like around a lunch table or something. Where people are going to interrupt each other and they're having a spirited discussion.
MITT ROMNEY: Don't try and characterize my position. Of course this war --
MIKE HUCKABEE: Which one?
SHIPMAN: But, again, this double red and green peak shows their brains don't like barbs. Lucid used different equipment, a cap with electrodes, to monitor brain activity as our as group looked at pictures of candidates. One undecided voter insisted that he likes John McCain and Barack Obama equally. Check out his brain as he looked at a picture of Obama. More red means a more positive feeling.
STEPHEN GENCO (Founder/CEO, Lucid Systems): Come election day that kind of emotional feel when he has to make a decision will probably weigh fairly heavily in the decision.
SHIPMAN: Now, we didn't have any indication from our group that they would hesitate to support a woman or an African-American. Of course, we only spent an afternoon with them. But one other thing we learned and listen up political operatives, all of those ads, especially the ones that invoked fear, talked about terror, where opponents were attacking opponent, candidates were put, portrayed in negative terms, they flat lined or got a negative impression. So, spend your money differently, Diane and George.
STEPHANOPOULOS: There's something so interesting about this. This does confirm other political research. The problem was, people say they don't like these ads and they don't. They believe it. They mean it.
SAWYER: Right.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Yet, the information sticks.
SAWYER: It imbeds.
 CBS's Smith: NH as White as Snow: 'America
Finally Color-Blind?'
At the top of Monday's CBS Early Show, newly appointed co-host Maggie Rodriguez teased an upcoming segment on race in politics in the aftermath of Barack Obama's Iowa victory: "But besides the knock-down, drag-out political fighting in New Hampshire, we're asking the question this morning on everyone's mind, is America finally color-blind?" Later in the 8am hour of the show, co-host Harry Smith led the segment with guests Joe Watson, a diversity expert, and Jon Meacham of Newsweek. Smith's first question presumed racism rules America: "When Senator Barack Obama won the Iowa caucuses, he became the first presidential candidate of color to achieve a significant victory in the race for the White House. Is America turning color-blind? Ready to elect its first African-American President?"
[This item, by the MRC's Kyle Drennen, was posted Monday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]
Smith asked for Watson's reaction to Obama's success and Watson declared: "I think it's a magnificent moment for America." Smith then turned to Meacham and gave this thoughtful insight on race and politics: "Jon Meacham, I was on the bus with Barack Obama a week or two ago in Iowa. We're driving along in the bus and the snow outside is as white as that state is, as white as New Hampshire is, what is -- what is going on here? Are people seeing past color? Is that possible?" Meacham responded: "This is about Barack Obama, and I think we shouldn't take anything away from his achievement. This is a very young man, 46 years old, who has, in a way, slain the goliath of the Clinton machine in Iowa. What -- if, in fact, we make a lot more history this year, this week, this year with Senator Obama, it's going to be a tribute to him and to his ability to convince Americans that he is the man for the job and the fact that he is a candidate of color will have an enormous historical impact."
For a look at Smith's Iowa interview with Obama, check the December 19 CyberAlert: www.mrc.org
Smith and Meacham continued to praise Obama, while examining America's racial guilt. Smith observed: "We still live in an America where Don Imus is, you know, racially-charged comments cause a furor, and he ends up losing his job. We still live in an America of the Jena 6." Meacham continued: "Absolutely. No, it's been called the 'American Dilemma.' I mean remember race is -- race is our original sin -- slavery's our original sin, the Constitution, Civil War, Jim Crow, the slurs and slights of our own time that sometimes we don't even notice. The symbolism and the reality of having Senator Obama doing so well in the presidential race is something that may, indeed, represent a landmark in a new chapter in that story. And I think that we definitely need a new chapter. And the fact that he's doing it is -- again, young man, he's doing it in a way that is -- he's running as a candidate for president. He's not of the civil rights generation."
Smith concluded the segment by getting this final reaction from Watson: "I think we're at a transformational moment...this is about a singular figure who has appealed to folks at their most broadest level, and that's magnificent. And we cannot lose sight of that, the uniqueness."
Here is the full transcript of the January 7 segment:
7:01AM TEASER, MAGGIE RODRIGUEZ: But besides the knock-down, drag-out political fighting in New Hampshire, we're asking the question this morning on everyone's mind, is America finally color-blind?
8:16AM SEGMENT, HARRY SMITH: When Senator Barack Obama won the Iowa caucuses, he became the first presidential candidate of color to achieve a significant victory in the race for the White House. Is America turning color-blind? Ready to elect its first African-American president? Jon Meacham is the Editor of Newsweek magazine who's written extensively about politics and race. Joe Watson is an author and diversity expert. Good morning to you both.
JOE WATSON: Morning.
JON MEACHAM: Morning.
SMITH: Joe, let me start with you. Your own personal reaction to this. Because in the world that I live in, this is the only thing anybody's talking about.
JOE WATSON: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.
SMITH: Yeah. What are you thinking?
WATSON: Well, I think it's a magnificent moment for America. I think it's a moment where it's not so much about color-blindness and moving past that because we always see color. What it's about is that people recognizing that we can trust one another. That's even more impactful and more powerful. And that's what you see when folks stand up in the caucuses and put their hands up and they say 'I'm for Barack Obama,' they're saying, 'I trust him with my life and with my children's life.' That's powerful.
SMITH: Jon Meacham, I was on the bus with Barack Obama a week or two in Iowa. We're driving along in the bus and the snow outside is as white as that state is, as white as New Hampshire is, what is -- what is going on here? Are people seeing past color? Is that possible?
JON MEACHAM: Well, it is possible. I think this is a case where the particular is proving the universal. This is about Barack Obama, and I think we shouldn't take anything away from his achievement. This is a very young man, 46 years old, who has, in a way, slain the goliath of the Clinton machine in Iowa. What -- if, in fact, we make a lot more history this year, this week, this year with Senator Obama, it's going to be a tribute to him and to his ability to convince Americans that he is the man for the job and the fact that he is a candidate of color will have an enormous historical impact.
SMITH: Right.
MEACHAM: But it's -- he's not running, and I think it's to his credit, he's not running as an African-American for president. He's running as an American for president, and that in and of itself is progress.
SMITH: Right. But Jon, this is so interesting from the standpoint that just a couple months ago there were people saying 'well, he's not black enough.'
MEACHAM: Right.
SMITH: We still live in an America where Don Imus is, you know, racially-charged comments cause a furor, and he ends up losing his job. We still live in an America of the Jena 6.
MEACHAM: Absolutely. No, it's been called the 'American Dilemma.' I mean remember race is -- race is our original sin -- slavery's our original sin, the Constitution, Civil War, Jim Crow, the slurs and slights of our own time that sometimes we don't even notice. The symbolism and the reality of having Senator Obama doing so well in the presidential race is something that may, indeed, represent a landmark in a new chapter in that story. And I think that we definitely need a new chapter. And the fact that he's doing it is -- again, young man, he's doing it in a way that is -- he's running as a candidate for president. He's not of the civil rights generation.
SMITH: Right.
MEACHAM: And I think that what we're seeing is something that no matter what happens in the same way, even if Senator Kennedy had not become President Kennedy in 1960, Catholicism --
SMITH: Right. The game is changing, the game is definitely changing. Very quickly your thoughts.
WATSON: I think we're at a transformational moment with a new generation of post-civil rights leaders. And I think just like Oprah transcended in media, Michael Jordan in sports, that's what we're seeing. Jon is right, that this is about a singular figure who has appealed to folks at their most broadest level, and that's magnificent. And we cannot lose sight of that, the uniqueness.
SMITH: Alright, Joe thank you so much. Jon thank you very much.
MEACHAM: Thanks Harry.
SMITH: Do appreciate it.
WATSON: Thank you, Harry.
 Matthews Sees Pro-Hillary Press; Rather:
Media Itchy to Pen Obit
Are we seeing some fractures in the liberal media? Talking about Senator Obama's surge to the lead in New Hampshire polls on Monday's Morning Joe on MSNBC, Hardball host Chris Matthews asserted that the "establishment press" would be part of Hillary Clinton's resurgence. "There's an establishment press -- which is just as establishment as the establishment of the Democratic party -- who can't wait to write that fawning piece, 'Here come the Clintons again.'"
Upon hearing that, ex-CBS anchor Dan Rather suggested that the media is really anti-Hillary right now: "I think they're waiting to write the obituary....They're just waiting to write 'Finis' to the Clintons."
Maybe this is a case of each journalist thinking the rest of the press is biased against their favorite. Over the years, Rather has provided some rather indulgent coverage to both of the Clintons, including a fawning profile of Hillary on the May 26, 1999 60 Minutes II (produced by Mary Mapes) in which Rather gooed, "Once a political lightning rod, today she is political lightning." See the May 27, 1999 CyberAlert: www.mrc.org
On the other side of the coin, last October Matthews used his show to offer suggested talking points to Obama, and he seemed thrilled by the Illinois Senator at a June 2007 Democratic candidates' forum he was moderating: "So much of what you say just grabs people like me, because it sounds like Bobby Kennedy. It sounds like the ' 60s at it's absolute best."
[This item, the MRC's Rich Noyes, was posted Monday morning on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]
Here's the January 7 exchange on MSNBC's Morning Joe, which took place at about 8:37 ET and began with Matthews describing the hurdles still facing an insurgent candidate like Obama:
MATTHEWS: "Often the idealistic, the -- perhaps you could say the man of the left, if you will, but it's not that simple. It's the person who's sort of more dramatic, more heroic. They do very well in the early stretch, and then the old interest group politician -- the Humphreys, the Mondales, the Clintons, the Dukakises, the Gores -- come in, they rally all the troops, the people that go to meetings for 30 years, and they grab back the power from the, uh, the morning glory. And maybe this guy is not a morning glory, but I do have that sense in me.
And there's also the press out there. There's an establishment press -- which is just as establishment as the establishment of the Democratic party -- who can't wait to write that fawning piece, 'Here come the Clintons again'-
JOE SCARBOROUGH, interrupting: Well, I don't know.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: I'm not feeling that.
DAN RATHER: I disagree. I think they're waiting to write the obituary.
SCARBOROUGH: I think you're right.
RATHER: I think they already have the obituary written for her, I do think. You know, I never rule out the possibility you are right, but I think in this case they're just waiting to write 'Finis' to the Clintons.
 Cafferty Channels McGovern: 'Why Won't
Congress Impeach Bush?'
CNN's Jack Cafferty on Monday advanced former Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern's call for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney, posing as his "Cafferty File" question in the 6pm EST hour of The Situation Room: "Why won't Congress impeach President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney?" Highlighting McGovern's bombastic op-ed in the "Outlook" section of Sunday's Washington Post, "Why I Believe Bush Must Go: Nixon Was Bad. These Guys Are Worse," Cafferty quoted McGovern's contention Bush and Cheney "have repeatedly violated the Constitution," "have lied to the American people time after time" and have carried out a "murderous, illegal, nonsensical war." So "illegal" that the House and Senate, controlled by Democrats, continue funding it.
All six of the posted answers, read later in the hour by Cafferty, castigated Congress for not following McGovern's advice. One argued "the Democratic Congress will not move on impeachment because we have nothing but cowards in Washington," another Cafferty chose to spotlight asserted that "the collaborators who gave Bush everything they wanted won't condemn themselves now by impeaching him" and Cafferty ended with this sarcastic take from Sally, a neighbor of the Media Research Center in Alexandria, Virginia: "Because all they did was cause death, destruction, torture, defiling of the Constitution and decimation of the nation's finances. Thank goodness they didn't have sex with an intern."
(Cafferty didn't quote it, but three years after Bush's re-election and a little more than a year after the opposition party won the majority of House and Senate seats, McGovern ludicrously claimed: "American democracy has been derailed throughout the Bush-Cheney regime.")
McGovern's January 6 rant: www.washingtonpost.com
[This item, by the MRC's Brent Baker, was posted Tuesday morning on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]
Last August, Cafferty deplored Democratic presidential candidate/Senator Chris Dodd for arguing against impeaching Bush. The August 22 CyberAlert recounted:
In the 7pm EDT hour of Tuesday's The Situation Room on CNN, Jack Cafferty expressed disappointment in Democratic presidential candidate Chris Dodd for rejecting efforts to impeach President Bush because of how it would hurt Democratic chances in 2008. "So, Senator Dodd is putting the election prospects of the Democratic Party next year ahead of whether or not President Bush might be guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors of a kind which would mandate his removal from office," Cafferty lamented. He noted that "Congress's job is oversight of the executive branch" and then, he sniffed, with a disapproving shake of his head: "Unless, of course, that oversight interferes with getting elected." Cafferty soon reiterated his displeasure with the liberal Connecticut Senator: "It's a pretty amazing statement to come out of Senator Dodd's mouth."...
For the previous CyberAlert in full, with video: www.mrc.org
A transcript of Cafferty's segments during the January 7 third hour (6pm EST) of The Situation Room, a transcript provided by the MRC's Brad Wilmouth who checked CNN's posted text against what aired:
JACK CAFFERTY: It's time for Congress to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney -- so says George McGovern, the Democratic Party's 1972 candidate for President. He wrote an editorial in yesterday's Washington Post. He wrote that, "Although the chances of impeachment are unlikely, the facts most definitely point in that direction." Quoting McGovern here, "Bush and Cheney are clearly guilty of numerous impeachable offenses. They have repeatedly violated the Constitution. They have transgressed national and international law. They have lied to the American people time after time. Their conduct and their barbaric policies have reduced our beloved country to a historic low in the eyes of people around the world. These are truly high crimes and misdemeanors, to use the constitutional standard," unquote.
McGovern points to specific instances, like Iraq. He calls that a "murderous, illegal, nonsensical war," the administration's strategy to encourage a climate of fear here at home, denying prisoners of war habeas corpus, shipping them off to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and other foreign lands, and the administration's dismal response to Hurricane Katrina.
In fact, McGovern says that the case against impeaching the current President and Vice President is far stronger than was the case for impeaching President Nixon. He goes so far as to say the U.S. would be much more secure and productive under a Nixon presidency than under what we have today.
But, of course, we all know that Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a long time ago, took impeachment off the table. And even though there are some in the House who are calling for an immediate start to hearings, don't bet on it happening. Probably won't. But the question is this: Why won't Congress impeach President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney? You can go to CNN.com/caffertyfile and post a comment on my new blog.
Cafferty's blog: caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com
Later in the hour, Cafferty returned with the replies:
CAFFERTY: Eighty-five-year-old George McGovern, who ran for President in 1972, wrote a piece in the Washington Post over the weekend suggesting that George Bush and Vice President Cheney are more deserving of impeachment than Richard Nixon was. And so we asked: Why won't Congress impeach President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney? And we got the following.
Chris in Ithaca writes: "The Democratic Congress will not move on impeachment because we have nothing but cowards in Washington. The Congress changed because the American people wanted change. Instead, we've gotten Republican light. There is no change in Washington -- only slaves to big business, oil and imperialism. Washington stinks."
Eric in Moss Beach, California: "The collaborators who gave Bush everything they wanted won't condemn themselves now by impeaching him. They have no principles. They have no morals. They are politicians to their slimy cores. They all deserve defeat in the next election -- Democrat, Republican -- makes no difference. They have betrayed their oath, they have betrayed their country. They are scum."
Scott: "Why won't we impeach Bush and Cheney? Because the country is over, that's why. We're done. The crooks, the special interests and the corporations have won."
Dell in Colorado Springs: "The Democratic Congress won't impeach the President or Vice President simply because they're more concerned with winning back the White House. It would be too timely, too costly. Bush has destroyed our reputation abroad, done nothing domestically. The Democrats believe the damage is done and the administration will ultimately go into the books as one of the worst in history."
Roy writes: "It's not going to happen. Everybody knows you need corporate sponsors to get anything done in Washington."
And Sally in Alexandria, Virginia: "Because all they did was cause death, destruction, torture, defiling of the Constitution and decimation of the nation's finances. Thank goodness they didn't have sex with an intern."
WOLF BLITZER: A lot of angry people out there, Jack.
CAFFERTY: I guarantee, and I hear from them every single day. And I think that's one of the reasons, quite frankly, that there's so much interest in a guy like Barack Obama. The country is saying, "How much worse can it be? Give me anything that's different, something fresh and new."
-- Brent Baker
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