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Campaign Finance Reform | Capital Punishment | Fidel Castro | Celebrities | Katie Couric | Walter Cronkite

Campaign Finance Reform
CNN’s Aaron Brown complained that “big money has been driving campaigns for a long time” and suggested campaigns be publicly funded by tax dollars. 
(CyberAlert, June 26, 2003)
(Notable Quotables, July 7, 2003)

On ABC’s Los Angeles-based crime drama Dragnet, a murder was solved thanks to Senator John McCain, described as “a maverick Senator from Arizona” and his campaign finance reform disclosure rules.
(CyberAlert, February 25, 2003)

Bill Maher blamed President Bush and “politicians like him who fought campaign finance reform” for corporate crime and lower ethical standards.
(CyberAlert, November 4, 2002)

Tom Brokaw celebrated the fact that Congress “finally” passed a campaign finance reform bill but lamented that “implementing the law Congress passed is turning even more into a big broken promise.” 
(CyberAlert, September 18, 2002)

On CBS, Dan Rather characterized the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill as “modest” and worried about the “big bucks” coming from pharmaceutical companies to “influence legislation and White House policy on drug coverage for seniors.” A few days earlier, NBC’s Lisa Myers reported accusations of double talk by DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe, who claimed to be in support of McCain Feingold and also “may be the most prodigious fundraiser in political history.”
(CyberAlert, June 20, 2002)

Tim Russert and the Wall Street Journal’s Al Hunt celebrated the media’s favorite “courageous” politicians, John McCain and Russ Feingold, who won “Profile in Courage Awards” in 1999 for being “incredibly persistent” in their pursuit of a campaign finance reform bill.
(CyberAlert, May 14, 2002)

A column by MRC President Brent Bozell examined how campaign finance reform focuses on paid thirty- or sixty-second ads, but does nothing about thirty- and sixty-minute entertainment television programs that are just as deliberately pushing liberal candidates and causes.
(Bozell's Entertainment Column, March 27, 2002)

Time magazine’s online page displayed the headline “At Long Last, Campaign Finance Reform” with the subheadline "It's been a long road for John McCain, Russell Feingold and the other supporters of reform, but their moment has finally arrived.” The subsequent story celebrated “victory and vindication” for the Senators but worried that the bill might not be strict enough
(CyberAlert, March 22, 2002)

In a conversation with George Stephanopoulos, ABC’s Diane Sawyer celebrated the passage of campaign finance reform as a "big, big moment in Washington…and American politics." 
(CyberAlert, March 22, 2002)

Dan Rather claimed that “the shame of Enron finally got Congress to pass a campaign finance reform bill,” but wondered, “Is the fight finally really over?”
(CyberAlert, March 21, 2002)
(Notable Quotables, April 15, 2002)

On CNN’s Inside Politics, in a piece which also aired Saturday night in an abbreviated form on Reliable Sources, Howard Kurtz took up how the networks, which appeared to be pro-campaign finance reform, were large contributors themselves to House and Senate members.
(CyberAlert, March 12, 2002)

Time correspondent Douglas Waller asserted that “like the hero of a paperback thriller,” campaign finance reform kept “dodging bullets” in the form of loopholes.
(CyberAlert, February 19, 2002)
(Notable Quotables, March 4, 2002)

CBS’s Bob Schieffer lamented that there was too much money in politics, turning to campaign finance reform advocate John McCain for an answer to the question of what awful things would occur if the reform effort failed.
(CyberAlert, February 15, 2002)

NBC’s David Gregory lamented that even with a campaign finance reform bill, “state parties and outside interest groups will still get soft money.”
(CyberAlert, February 14, 2002)
(Notable Quotables, March 4, 2002)

CNN’s Lou Dobbs tried to give the conservative viewpoint some airtime by suggesting to reporter Kate Snow that the proponents of campaign finance reform were just “playing politics” by using the Enron scandal to promote their bill.
(CyberAlert, February 14, 2002)

CBS’s Bob Orr observed that telecommunications company Global Crossing contributed nearly $3 million to politicians in the past four years – more than half of it to Democrats – but the largest contribution went to Republican Senator John McCain, a champion of campaign finance reform.
(CyberAlert, February 12, 2002)

A Media Reality Check examined the media’s perceived strategy of shaming politicians into passing a campaign finance reform bill favored by reporters, one that includes regulations on just about every part of the political system except the media themselves. The report documented how the media went about supporting the bill’s friends, demonizing its foes and trying to equate campaign money with corruption.
(Media Reality Check, February 11, 2002)

FNC’s Greta Van Susteren advocated campaign finance reform on the air, saying, “Senator McCain has been screaming about this for years, you know there’s a lot of money pouring in.” Van Susteren also maintained that “Hard money is not such a problem” because, unlike soft money contributions, its source and recipient are identified. 
(CyberAlert, February 5, 2002)

A study by the far-left U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), documented how the “campaign finance reform” bills to curb soft money donations would have little effect on corporate contributions and would have had little impact on Enron’s recent donations.
(CyberAlert, February 1, 2002)

After President Bush’s State of the Union speech, CBS’s Bob Schieffer expressed concern that there hadn’t been “any mention of campaign finance reform.”
(CyberAlert, January 30, 2002)

During a discussion on a study that advocated community service programs for school children, NBC’s Ann Curry switched topics and couldn’t resist the opportunity to get the former Senator John Glenn, a liberal Democrat, to agree with her that campaign finance reform was the answer to the Enron problem. Curry asked, “Do you agree the chances are greater now that we will see that kind of reform?"
(CyberAlert, January 29, 2002)

Dan Rather acted as an advocate for campaign finance reform on the CBS Evening News, pleading, “In the wake of the Enron fiasco, will Congress finally put its votes where its mouth is?"
(CyberAlert, January 28, 2002)
(Notable Quotables, February 4, 2002)

Katie Couric wondered about the future of campaign finance reform and asked Hardball’s Chris Matthews if the Enron scandal could “be the straw that breaks the camel's back that makes people say, ‘Enough is enough! This has got to happen!’” 
(CyberAlert, January 28, 2002)
(Notable Quotables, February 4, 2002)

NBC’s Tom Brokaw linked Enron’s financial support of legislators in Congress to how support for campaign finance reform was growing, but didn’t question how the liberal legislation would have had any impact on Enron’s fall.
(CyberAlert, January 25, 2002)

Bob Schieffer advocated drastic campaign finance reform on CBS’s Face the Nation, suggesting, “Outlaw the big corporate contributions. That way it won't look like the companies are calling in a chip every time they call the White House.”
(CyberAlert, January 14, 2002)

Granny D, the woman who walked across the country in a gimmick to push campaign finance reform had a “special note” on her Web site that read, “All of the progress made to move Congress toward campaign finance reform has been derailed by the terrorist incidents and response.”
(CyberAlert, September 28, 2001)

The Miss America pageant on ABC featured contestants delivering predictably liberal political pronouncements. One contestant, Miss District of Columbia, advocated campaign finance reform because “there’s a lot a lot of people who would like to run for elected office but they can’t because they don’t have to the money to do so...”
(CyberAlert, September 24, 2001)

CBS’s Bob Schieffer asked Senator Trent Lott if by letting the campaign reform bill die in the House, the Republicans were setting the stage for John McCain to run as a third party candidate, because it gave him an issue to run on. 
(CyberAlert, July 23, 2001)

CBS’s Bob Schieffer repeated his refrain from Face the Nation on the previous Sunday about how the defeat of “campaign finance reform” gave John McCain a presidential platform to “talk about corruption in both parties.”
(CyberAlert Extra Edition, July 18, 2001)

CBS’s Bob Schieffer claimed John McCain was the only person who came out of the campaign finance reform politically stronger and wondered if the defeat gave him “the perfect excuse” to run for president on the issue.
(CyberAlert, July 16, 2001)
(Notable Quotables, July 23, 2001)

NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams mourned a “dead end” for the campaign finance reform bill in the House and quoted John McCain who called the procedural block of the bill “the last refuge of scoundrels.” 
(CyberAlert, July 13, 2001)
(Notable Quotables, July 23, 2001)

On CBS’s Early Show, Jane Clayson sympathized with Senator John McCain, saying, "You’ve worked so hard on campaign finance reform. If it doesn’t go your way how disappointed will you be?"
(CyberAlert, July 11, 2001)
(Notable Quotables, July 23, 2001)

The Sunday CBS duo of Bob Schieffer and Gloria Borger pressed RNC Chairman Jim Gilmore, the Governor of Virginia, from the left on campaign finance reform. A bewildered Schieffer demanded: “But what’s wrong with trying to get these enormous, almost obscene sums of money that we saw pour into the campaign the last time around, what’s wrong with putting some limit on that?”
(CyberAlert, July 5, 2001)

The three broadcast networks celebrated a decision by the Supreme Court that individual states could impose limits on the money political parties use to help specific candidates as a “victory” for campaign finance reform.
(CyberAlert, June 26, 2001)

A CyberAlert noticed an obvious contrast between Bob Schieffer’s celebration of First Amendment rights, especially freedom of speech, and his liberal advocacy of campaign finance reform legislation, which would limit freedom of speech for everyone except the media.
(CyberAlert, June 11, 2001)

Dan Rather and John Roberts accused Republicans who criticized Bill Clinton’s fundraising practices of hypocrisy, because they opposed campaign finance reform and because they held fundraisers of their own. 
(CyberAlert, May 23, 2001)

NBC’s Today devoted a segment to “Granny D,” the 90-year-old great grandmother who walked across the country in 1999 to gather support for campaign finance reform. Katie Couric remarked, “I'm sure John McCain is President of her fan club, right?” while Ann Curry didn’t ask Granny D a single challenging question.
(CyberAlert, April 23, 2001)

All three networks adopted some part of the liberal spin in reporting the McCain-Feingold bill’s victory in the Senate. On ABC, Peter Jennings and Linda Douglass worried that if the bill got changed in the House, it would result in a conference and Sen. Mitch McConnell “the biggest opponent of campaign reform, would no doubt be in there trying to kill it.”
(CyberAlert, April 3, 2001)

On CNN’s Capital Gang, Margaret Carlson and Al Hunt cheered the impending success of campaign finance reform. Hunt declared that McCain and Feingold deserved “enormous credit” for “a rare, monumental legislative achievement.”
(CyberAlert, April 2, 2001)

ABC anchor Elizabeth Vargas celebrating the passing of campaign finance reform in the Senate as “an historic event.”
(CyberAlert, March 30, 2001)
(Notable Quotables Extra Edition, April 16, 2001)

After Senators passed an important amendment to the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill, ABC anchor Elizabeth Vargas celebrated because “few thought campaign finance reform would even get this far.” Meanwhile, NBC’s Lisa Myers focused on Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia, who told her that when spending hours making phone calls asking for money he felt like “a cheap prostitute on a busy day.”
(CyberAlert, March 29, 2001)
(Notable Quotables Extra Edition, April 16, 2001)

Dan Rather reported that campaign finance reform had survived previous attempts to gut it, but warned that “a poisoned pill may already be planted that could kill it off.” Rather explained that Republicans who opposed the bill worked to pass a provision that the courts would almost certainly see as violating free speech.
(CyberAlert, March 28, 2001)
(Notable Quotables Extra Edition, April 16, 2001)

Bob Schieffer asserted that campaign finance reform has brought to the Senate the real debate that they had been lacking in recent years: “I don't know how this one is going to come out, but campaign finance is finally getting the airing it deserved and the Senate has never looked better.” 
(CyberAlert, March 26, 2001)
(Notable Quotables Extra Edition, April 16, 2001)

The networks adopted the liberal assumption that there’s too much money in politics and it needs to be further regulated by “campaign finance reform.” CBS’s Bob Schieffer asserted, “This money is like a narcotic to politicians and they’re having a hard time breaking the habit.” 
(CyberAlert, March 20, 2001)

Katie Couric and Jane Clayson both quizzed John McCain about his strategy, the chances for passage of campaign finance reform and what obstacles lay in his way. Couric worried that “the system is so entrenched it's gonna be next to impossible to change.”
(CyberAlert, March 20, 2001)

A Media Reality Check called “Twenty (Softball) Questions for McCain” examined how the mainstream news media cheered for campaign finance reform and continually portrayed McCain as a one-man cavalry charge and a champion in the battle against political corruption.
(Media Reality Check, March 20, 2001)

Even Tim Russert never questioned John McCain’s assumption that there is too much money in politics and it must be further regulated by campaign finance reform. Instead, he stressed strategy and what might block passage of the bill and worried that McCain-Feingold might not be tough enough, since some claim they will find a way around it.
(CyberAlert, March 19, 2001)

The Wall Street Journal’s Al Hunt accused President Bush of mocking his pledge to restore integrity to politics, by opposing campaign finance reform.
(CyberAlert, March 19, 2001)
(Notable Quotables Extra Edition, April 16, 2001)

Dan Rather and Charles Gibson both picked up on a press release from the pro-campaign finance reform Center for Public Integrity, which insinuated that the Houston-based Enron Corporation, a large contributor to President Bush’s campaign, was reaping huge profits off the current energy shortages.
(CyberAlert, January 26, 2001)

After Sen. John McCain met with the new President Bush and Vice President Cheney, NBC’s David Gregory lamented, “He leaves tonight apparently right where he started, sharing little common ground with Bush on campaign finance reform.” (CyberAlert, January 25, 2001)

After John McCain appeared on some Sunday talk shows and claimed to have 60 votes for cloture to move ahead with his bill, NBC anchor John Siegenthaler wondered, “The huge sums spent on the campaign trail and the rising calls for campaign finance reform. Has its time finally come?”
(CyberAlert, January 8, 2001)

 

Capital Punishment
On the eve of President Bush’s trip to Europe, ABC’s John Cochran reported on European attitudes toward capital punishment and how the bad timing of Timothy McVeigh’s execution had set off protests.
(CyberAlert, June 12, 2001)

ABC’s Charles Gibson mocked the position of conservatives on the Supreme Court during the aftermath of the 2000 election: “All of a sudden these guys are interested in equal protection in voters from district to district, and yet when it comes to capital punishment cases, they're not as worried about…making sure that the same percentage of blacks are executed as whites."
(CyberAlert Extra Edition, December 13, 2000)

Though David Letterman had given Al Gore an easy, lighthearted interview five weeks earlier, he spent much of his interview with George W. Bush challenging Bush on his politics and past record in Texas, including capital punishment.
(CyberAlert, October 20, 2000)

While other networks aired the RNC’s Bush biography film, CBS News made its own version, one that was very critical of the Texas governor’s political record and his past. Bill Whitaker stressed that Texas was “first in capital punishment, second in the number of uninsured children.”
(CyberAlert, August 4, 2000)

ABC’s Dean Reynolds reported that candidate George W. Bush was heckled by death penalty opponents and insisted, "Bush’s unwavering confidence that everyone on death row in Texas has been fairly tried" was "generating considerable controversy." (CyberAlert, June 21, 2000)

The networks jumped on a Columbia University study that claimed the fact that two-thirds of death penalty sentences are overturned on appeal proves capital punishment is fraught with error. ABC and CBS both followed up with a story on how, under Governor Bush, Texas leads the nation in executions and there was supposedly concern an innocent man may be put to death the following week. 
(CyberAlert, June 13, 2000)

The network morning shows all picked up on the Columbia University study that suggested the capital punishment system is fraught with error. NBC’s Today featured a taped story which highlighted how a review of the “131 inmates executed by Governor George W. Bush” found "dozens of cases in which inmates were executed despite serious questions about the competence of their defense and the reliability of key testimony.” (CyberAlert, June 13, 2000)

ABC’s Dean Reynolds campaigned against Bush, lamenting how he had done “almost nothing to slow down or limit” executions in Texas, and contrasting Bush’s support for capital punishment with how he had “frequently cited his…belief that conservatism can also be compassionate." 
(CyberAlert, January 20, 2000)

 

Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro’s April 2003 crackdown on dissidents wasn’t his fault, according to Time magazine. Pressure from George W. Bush made him do it.
(CyberAlert, April 18, 2003)

Peter Jennings managed to squeeze in a quick mention about Castro’s crackdown in early April.
(CyberAlert, April 8, 2003)

David Letterman’s “Top Ten Signs That Barbara Walters is in Love with Fidel Castro.”
(CyberAlert, October 14, 2002)

Barbara Walters interview with the Cuban dictator. She praised the country’s literacy rate and health care system.
(CyberAlert, October 11, 2002)

Megaphone for a Dictator: CNN’s Coverage of Castro’s Cuba, 1997-2002. CNN’s Havana bureau has allowed itself to become another component of Fidel Castro’s propaganda machine. 

Executive Summary | Complete Special Report | Press Release | Bozell Statement

 

Celebrities
War on Terrorism: The Celebrity View. A compilation dedicated to the political commentary of actors, singers and other celebrities in the year after September 11.
(MRC Spotlight: War on Terrorism: The Celebrity View)

Celebrities on Politics and War. The MRC’s most recent celebrity compilation. It includes comments about Election 2002, the war on terrorism and the war with Iraq.
(MRC Spotlight: Celebrities on Politics and War)

 

Katie Couric
In her five-part interview with Hillary Clinton aired on Today, Couric often treated her as a victim, but did bring up a few uncomfortable topics.
(CyberAlert, June 11, 2003)

Couric perpetuated Hillary Clinton’s claim that she hadn’t known about her husband’s affair. “Hillary's heartache, Senator Clinton reveals how she learned the painful truth about her husband and Monica Lewinsky.” Couric announced.
(CyberAlert, June 5, 2003)

Couric cued up Democratic Senator Joe Biden to take a swipe at those in favor of going to war, because “intelligence information might have been manipulated by hawks” within the administration. 
(CyberAlert, May 28, 2003)

In an interview with Commerce Secretary Don Evans, Couric quoted billionaire Warren Buffett, who was against the tax cut, as a knowledgeable, “non-partisan” critic.
(CyberAlert, May 27, 2003)

Couric mistook a Washington Post parody on Bob Graham’s habit of writing down the details of his life in little color-coded notebooks as true. After a series of softball questions, Couric brought up Graham’s “running log” and asked, baffled, “What, what do you do this for?!”
(CyberAlert, May 12, 2003)

Couric opened an interview with Erin Brokovich, whom she labeled an “environmental researcher,” by hyping how some alumni of Beverly Hills High School in California, which has oil wells on campus, "say toxic fumes from the wells have given them cancer."
(CyberAlert, May 7, 2003)

Couric wondered if the family of the Marine who briefly put a U.S. flag over the face on the Saddam Hussein statue shortly before it was toppled thought “he made any kind of mistake by doing it or did you still feel very proud” of him.
(CyberAlert, April 11, 2003)

Couric did some fast backtracking on Today when Peter Arnett unquestioningly relayed Iraqi claims that the U.S. had been using anti-personnel weapons against civilians. Couric replied, “I know Peter that the Pentagon is, is refuting that cluster bombs have been used in Baghdad,” and quickly changed topics.
(CyberAlert, March 27, 2003)

Couric admitted that her seven-year-old daughter is against the war in Iraq and that she asked “Why can’t they just work it out?” 
(CyberAlert, March 20, 2003)

During Today’s “town-hall” meeting on Iraq, Couric wondered if Saddam’s destruction of some Al-Samoud missiles meant that he was “taking steps to cooperate with weapons inspectors.” Couric also asked Senator Joe Biden if President Bush was “raising the bar” to demand that Hussein leave Iraq “because no matter what Iraq does it will not meet the requirements in terms of disarming that will prevent a war from actually happening?"
(CyberAlert, March 4, 2003)

Couric asserted that Bush was marching toward war “even as Baghdad promises to start destroying missiles.”
(CyberAlert, March 3, 2003)

In the midst of a generally laudatory review of former President Reagan's tenure in office aired to mark President's Day, Couric recited the standard liberal assertion that, though the economy improved, “budget deficits grew as he cut taxes and increased defense spending.”
(CyberAlert, February 18, 2003)

When CNBC’s Ron Insana told Couric tax cuts on dividends for shareholders were the most expensive part of the program, she proposed: “Because everybody thinks that does favor the rich instead of the working class. Right?"
(CyberAlert, January 29, 2003)

“The sad truth is in this country racism, prejudice, bias, bigotry whatever you want to call it is unfortunately alive and well,” Couric announced on Today.
(CyberAlert, January 28, 2003)

In an interview with former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Donald Gregg, Couric suggested “some of the difficulties perhaps stem back from President Bush's reference to North Korea as part of the 'axis of evil.'”
(CyberAlert, January 10, 2003)

Couric actually challenged Sen. John McCain’s anti-tax cut premise from the right, suggesting the plan might “boost stock prices by 10 percent and benefit 35 million people. 
(CyberAlert, January 8, 2003)

Couric introduced a story about Senator Jim Jeffords, calling him “a man at peace with himself” who knew he had made the right decision” when he left the Republican Party.
(Best of Notable Quotables 2002)

After Jimmy Carter accepted the Nobel Peace Prize, Couric gushed about his “crowning achievement,” the Camp David Accords and remarked, “It's so nice to see former President Jimmy Carter honored this way.”
(CyberAlert, December 11, 2002)

Couric complained to EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman that “every proposal that you've tried to put forward has gotten a kibosh by right-wing conservatives within the administration.” 
(CyberAlert, December 3, 2002)
(Notable Quotables, December 9, 2002)

Couric prompted Al Gore to claim he should really be president and conveyed the frustrations of Bush haters who were disappointed Gore hadn’t done more to undermine the Bush presidency. 
(CyberAlert, November 20, 2002)

When Couric heard the news that House Democrats were poised to choose Nancy Pelosi as minority leader, she asked, “Is it okay to say, ‘You go girl!?’”
(CyberAlert, November 15, 2002)

In an uncharacteristic exchange with a Maryland state’s attorney, Couric worried about the obstacles of applying the death penalty in that state and even suggested that 17-year-old sniper John Lee Malvo should be tried in Virginia, where minors can be given the death penalty.
(CyberAlert, October 20, 2002)

Couric opened Today by announcing: “Man of peace. Twenty-one years after leaving office, former President Jimmy Carter has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.”
(CyberAlert, October 14, 2002)

The Today host trumpeted Michael Moore’s insights, plugged his movie “Bowling for Columbine and then proceeded to throw a series of softball questions to him.
(CyberAlert, October 11, 2002)

Couric prompted Martin Sheen, who plays the president on NBC’s The West Wing, to say something liberal.
(CyberAlert, October 10, 2002)

There’s no bias in the media, according to Couric. “We really do, I think strive to ask, as I said, a variety of people really challenging questions…So that may mean a more conservative point of view if we are talking to a liberal guest and a more liberal point of view if we're talking to a conservative guest.” 
(CyberAlert, September 20, 2002)

Couric scolded New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg for not planning any original speeches in the then-upcoming “Ground Zero” ceremony on the first anniversary of 9-11.
(CyberAlert, September 12, 2002)

Couric applauded the content of the movie Tadpole, which portrays a 40-something woman having sex with a 15-year-old boy: “I was gonna say the older woman’s revenge, finally!” 
(CyberAlert, August 2, 2002)

Couric asked Tim Russert if by taking a vacation in August, while the nation “is still at war,” President Bush is “risking a lot of criticism.”
(CyberAlert, July 26, 2002)

“The French, they’ve got it right, don’t they?” Couric said in response to a story about a government-mandated 35-hour work week in France.
(Best of Notable Quotables 2001)

Couric asked Maryland Governor Paris Glendening if the government should spend federal money promoting tourism. 
(Best of Notable Quotables 2001)

Couric took offense at Ann Coulter’s (true) claim that she called Ronald Reagan an “airhead” on the air. 
(CyberAlert, June 26, 2002)

The Today host insisted the politically unpredictable Yale law professor Stephen Carter was a “conservative,” even over his protests. 
(CyberAlert, June 24, 2002)

In a segment on the Nick News Special “My Family Is Different” about kids with gay and lesbian parents, Couric was very sympathetic and asked the show’s host, Linda Ellerbee if she was “surprised at the outcry” the special has caused.
(CyberAlert, June 19, 2002)

As the Fox News Channel reported, “the Gephardt people” blamed Dick Gephardt’s “what did he know and when did he know it” rhetoric on what he had heard Couric say that morning. 
(CyberAlert, May 21, 2002)

Couric began Today by asking “What did he know and when did he know it?” She then claimed the White House was on the defensive in regards to pre-September 11 intelligence on al Qaeda. 
(CyberAlert Extra Edition, May 17, 2002)
(CyberAlert Extra Edition, May 16, 2002)

Talking with the producers of Friends, in which a character had a baby out of wedlock, Couric worried that some parents might have felt uncomfortable with the plot and the message it sent to their children. 
(CyberAlert, May 10, 2002)

In an interview with EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman, Couric played devil’s advocate with every question and brought up a quote from liberal Democrat Henry Waxman.
(CyberAlert, March 8, 2002)

In his column on “media cheerleading,” George Will cited a quote from Couric first highlighted by the MRC: “Couric, advocating passage of what should be called the Shays-Meehan-Times-Post-Couric bill, wondered whether Enron’s collapse would make ‘people say, “Enough is enough! This has got to happen!”’”
(CyberAlert, February 19, 2002)

Couric worried that the international community might interpret American patriotism displayed at the Salt Lake City Olympic Games as “arrogant nationalism.”
(CyberAlert, February 11, 2002)

Couric devoted most of her interview with Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor to O’Connor’s rise through the male-dominated legal profession, but did ask her to comment on the Supreme Court’s 2000 Bush vs. Gore decision. When O’Connor told her that was inappropriate, Couric countered, “That’s exactly the word some critics used to describe the decision.”
(CyberAlert, January 29, 2002)

Couric asked Hardball’s Chris Matthews if the Enron scandal “could this be the straw that breaks the camel's back that makes people say, 'Enough is enough! This has got to happen!'"
(CyberAlert, January 28, 2002)

When a woman on the Today show equated losing money with her Enron stock with "terrorism," Couric pressed her to expand on her claim rather than question the over-hyped analogy.
(CyberAlert, January 21, 2002)

Couric raised the fact that both Democrats and Republicans in Congress had received donations from Enron, but asked, “Is it fair to say Republicans received much more money though?”
(CyberAlert, January 16, 2002)

 

Walter Cronkite
On CNN’s NewsNight with Aaron Brown, Cronkite declared that “instead of cutting taxes, we ought to be increasing the taxes to pay off the deficit.”
(CyberAlert, June 19, 2003)

When King Features decided to syndicate a weekly column by Cronkite, the former CBS anchor promised that in his first column he would be “pointing out what is a liberal and explaining why I think most reporters are liberals.”
(CyberAlert, June 4, 2003)

In a speech at Elon University, Cronkite grumbled that Americans were not seeing enough of the brutality of war: "We're still not seeing the bloodletting, which is essential to seeing the horror of war, why we shouldn't be at war."
(CyberAlert, April 10, 2003)

Speaking at Drew University, the former anchor harshly criticized the “arrogance” of Bush and his administration and the new U.S. doctrine of “pre-emptive war.”
(CyberAlert, March 20, 2003)

Cronkite blamed U.S. foreign policy for the terrorist attacks of September 11 and said “the problem is this great division between the rich and the poor in the world. We represent the rich....Most of these other nations…are very, very poor.” The quote won the “Blame America First Award” of the MRC’s Best Notable Quotables of 2002. 
(Best of Notable Quotables 2002)

Cronkite signed his name to a full-page New York Times ad, sponsored by the liberal group Common Cause. It was headlined: “The questions that should be asked about the President’s Iraq policy are on this page. What’s needed is the courage to ask them.”
(CyberAlert, October 2, 2002)

Cronkite told the Associated Press he would "like to be in the newsroom helping set the agenda." A look through the MRC’s archives offered some insight into the kind of agenda that would have been.
(CyberAlert, September 17, 2002)

On CNN’s Larry King Live, Cronkite asserted U.S. wealth and foreign policy were to blame for the September 11 attacks, warning that the poor people of the world were not going to “live forever in the shadow of the riches that we display constantly.”
(CyberAlert, September 10, 2002)

World Magazine reported the liberal Interfaith Alliance planned to honor ABC’s Peter Jennings with its “Walter Cronkite Faith and Freedom Award.”
(CyberAlert, May 9, 2002)

Former President Bill Clinton declared his hero was Walter Cronkite. “I believed every word he said,” Clinton said.
(CyberAlert, April 18, 2002)

Cronkite joined a coalition organized by liberal environmental groups to fight oil drilling in the Alaska tundra and to push for legislation to force automakers to increase fuel efficiency.
(CyberAlert, March 4, 2002)

On the Late Show with David Letterman, Cronkite argued for a nonmilitary response to September 11, warning that “there is a body of opinion right now that’s rising that says…that invasion of Afghanistan is a bottomless hole,” and would only cause more hatred of America. 
(CyberAlert, September 21, 2001)

In an interview with ABC’s Jamie Gangel, Cronkite scolded Dan Rather for avoiding the Gary Condit/Chandra Levy story: “I suspect that what happened was that Dan got tired of this scandal coverage.”
(CyberAlert, August 9, 2001)

Time magazine featured a short letter to President Bush on its back page, demanding government action on global warning. Among the celebrity signers was Cronkite. 
(CyberAlert, April 6, 2001)

It was a line written for him, but former CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite's caution to David Letterman about being nice to Hillary Clinton matched his liberal political inclinations. Cronkite asked Dave to “try not to be a jackass.”
(CyberAlert, January 13, 2000)

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