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Posted October 27, 2005
CBS President Claims Network Is Not Biased

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CBS President Andrew Heyward: "Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I do deny that we have a bias, and I'm familiar with the work that [Brent] Bozell and [Reed] Irvine do. They are activists and extremists of the Right. …

“ … [T]he people I work with, many of them are surprisingly conservative. …

“ … [A]s journalists we're always holding the establishment up to scrutiny, whether it's a Republican or a Democratic administration, a Republican or a Democratic Congress. It's our job to ask tough questions and to shine a light in corners that might otherwise remain dark. And if you tend to be conservative, by definition somebody who's constantly challenging the status quo, even though that's how we see our jobs, is seen potentially as unpatriotic or they're anti-government, anti-American. … “

-- CBS President Andrew Heyward responds to a caller’s question on C-SPAN, July 31, 2000.

Posted October 26, 2005
Al Franken Jokes About Executing President Bush

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Olbermann: "Well, let's dive right in. The way the CIA leak investigation is playing out must really have shaken your faith in four men who I know are your personal heroes: Scooter Libby, Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and George W. Bush."

Al Franken: "Well, you know, what worries me about this is that, I mean, this does follow a pattern with Rove, which is that he has through the years smeared people. But this is a, this is outing a CIA agent, which George H.W. Bush, the President's father who headed the CIA, said was treason. And what I'm worried about is that that might be the indictments, and that Rove and Libby and others may face, may be executed."

Olbermann: "Yeah."

Franken: "That's what I'm worried about. And I think that, I'm against the death penalty."

Olbermann: "But it would be a hell of a story for cable news."

Franken: "It would. Especially if it got to the President and the Vice President-" [Olbermann laughs]

Franken: "-because, and I think there should be a constitutional amendment passed as soon as possible that we can't execute either a sitting or recently-impeached President and Vice President."

Olbermann: "Well, I mean, there have been signs of life. We've reviewed the videotapes, and there are clearly signs of life in both of them, so that would just be a horrific thing to have happen."

Franken: "Well, it would be demoralizing, don't you think?"

Olbermann: "With the new book, The Truth (with Jokes), we already have some controversy. We found a very unusual, some might say disturbing, video on the Web. And I thought you should get a chance to respond to this, but let's play the tape first."

Franken: "Okay."

START Amazon's video clip:

Unidentified man: "I'm a big fan. I gave five stars, and I've already ordered five copies of The Truth (with Jokes)."

Franken: "Well, thank you. Now, you must be Scott from Colorado."

Scott: "Yes."

Franken: "And how many stars did you give Lies?

Scott: "One."

Franken: "Really? You didn't like it?"

Scott: "I didn't read it. I'm just a right-wing jerk. That's why I said in my review that you want the terrorists to win."

Franken: "Really?"

Scott: "And that you've never been funny."

Franken: "Okay, that's it." [Franken kicks Scott character in groin]

Franken: "Ah, that felt great. Thanks, Amazon."

END video clip

Olbermann: "Now, as one of the blogs affiliated with noted media watcher Brent Bozell, or as he's sometimes known, 'Red Beard the Pirate,' asks, 'Is there a theme of violence in Al Franken's work?'" [Franken laughs] Now, apart from the infamous scuffle that day on Jeopardy with Alex Trebek-"

Franken: "Yes."

Olbermann: "-is there a theme of violence in your work, sir?"

Franken: "I don't think so.

-- Exchange between left-wing author Al Franken and MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, Countdown, Oct. 25, 2005.

Posted October 24, 2005
Al Franken Jokes About 'Executing' White House Officials

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Letterman quipped: "The real crime is that there's an adult man walking around in the current administration named Scooter. I mean, we can agree on that, right?" [Audience laughter]
Franken combined the liberal spin on the case with some humor: "That, but sooner or later he'll be executed, so that, and you worry about because the President at some, he said right away when Novak outed the CIA agent, Plame, said 'I want to get to the bottom of this.’ Well now Karl Rove is his right-hand man. Did he ask Karl? Did Karl lie to him? If so, we know he should have fired Karl by now so that, and did Karl tell the truth to him? In that case the President -- and I think, by the way, that we should never ever, ever, ever execute a sitting President." [Audience laughter]

Letterman: "It makes us look bad around the world, I think."

Franken, in jest: "It would. It would be heartbreaking, I think, and I think that we should have a constitutional amendment."

Letterman: "I see, yeah. Have we ever come close in the history to executing a seated President?"

Franken: "No, this will be the closest."

Letterman: "This will be the closest, yeah."

Franken: "Unless we get that amendment passed now."

-- Exchange between David Letterman and left-wing comedian Al Franken, Late Show with David Letterman, CBS, Oct. 21, 2005.
 

Posted October 24, 2005
Spike Lee: Levee Explosion 'Not Far-Fetched'

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Bill Maher: ... This past Saturday Lewis Farakhan did a kind of reunion of the Million Man March. I don’t think we got a million people this time. But he was saying, last Saturday in Washington, that he thinks that the federal government, there was a conspiracy to actually blow up those levees so that they would flood the poor black districts in New Orleans. I have to tell you, I'm not a conspiracy theorist. I don't believe it. But when you see some of the things that have gone on in this country."

Spike Lee: "Exactly. It's not far-fetched. And also I would like to say it's not necessarily blow it up. But, the residents of that ward, they believe it, there was a Hurricane Betsy in '65, the same that happened where a choice had to be made, one neighborhood got to save another neighborhood and flood another 'hood, flood another neighborhood. Look, we're in LA-"

Maher: "That's been done before."

Lee: "We're in LA, and there’s an emergency situation, we called from Beverly Hills, we call from Compton. Which one the cops coming to first?"

Maher: "Right. But that's different than pro-actively blowing up a levee to flood one neighborhood. I’m not saying it’s not possible."

Michel Martin: "That would require a conspiracy. I mean, look, we can all understand, anybody with any knowledge of history can understand why a lot of people can feel this way, that that's a reasonable theory. But it would also require a conspiracy at three levels of government -- the local, the state, and the federal. It would require no white residents-"

Lee: "Presidents have been assassinated. So why is that so far-fetched?"

Martin: "Because it would require, because it would require no white person in the government to have a moral compass. It would require no black person to have a spine and I think that's a very hard case to make."

Lee: "Let me ask you a question: Do you think that election in 2000 was fair? You don't think that was rigged?" [audience applause]

Martin: "It’s not a question of not being fair, it’s a question of-"

Lee: "If they can rig an election, they can do anything!"

Carlson: "I was in New Orleans right after the hurricane in the ninth ward. And while I didn't hear anybody say the levee was blown up by the federal government, I did interview a bunch of people who were stuck there who said they believed this was part of the conspiracy to rid New Orleans of black people. They honestly believed that. I didn’t argue with them, I just listened to what they said and I felt bad for them. So as you sit here -- who is someone who is rich and has option -- and are watched by people who are poor and have no options, it seems to me it's your responsibility, your obligation to tell them the truth and you know the truth, which is the federal government did not blow up the levees so don’t feed the paranoia and the crazies."

Lee: "First of all, how’s that feeding the paranoia?"

Carlson: "Because you’re saying it’s entirely possible when you know perfectly well it’s not possible."

Lee: "How’s it not possible?"

Carlson: "The federal government blew up the levees? A, there's zero evidence, b, it's difficult to blow up a levee, c, there were news cameras all around and nobody saw it. I mean, let’s be real here."

Lee: "Because nobody saw, because nobody saw means, can it happen? Let me ask you a question: With the history of this country, you ever heard of 'Tuskegee experiment’? Answer! Answer!"

Carlson: "I’m not going to sit here for your history lesson. I want to know what-"

Lee: "Explain to the audience what the Tuskegee experiment was."

Carlson: "I'm not even going to get into that."

Lee: "Why not?"

-- Exchange among Commentator Bill Maher, Director Spike Lee, ABC reporter Michel Martin, and Commentator Tucker Carlson, Real Time with Bill Maher, HBO, Oct. 21, 2005.

Posted October 18, 2005
CNN's Jack Cafferty Advocates Rove Indictment

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Jack Cafferty: "Here's the question. What should Karl Rove do if he is indicted? Now, you can e-mail us your thoughts at Caffertyfile@CNN.com or you can go to CNN.com/Caffertyfile. Both those addresses will get you to the same place. We’ll read some here. He might want to, he might want to get measured for one of those extra large orange jump suits, Wolf, 'cause looking at old Karl, I'm not sure that he’d, they'd be able to zip him into the regular size one."Wolf Blitzer, anchoring from DC: "He's actually lost some weight. I think he's in pretty good shape."

Wolf Blitzer, anchoring from DC: "He's actually lost some weight. I think he's in pretty good shape."

Cafferty: "Oh, well then maybe just the regular off the shelf large would handle it for him."

Blitzer: "Yeah, but you know, it’s still a big if. It’s still a big if."

Cafferty: "Oh, I understand. I'm, I’m just hoping you know. I love, I love to see those kinds of things happen. It does wonders for me."

Blitzer, bemused: "All right, Jack. We’ll get back to you. Thank you very much."

-- Exchange between Jack Cafferty and Wolf Blitzer, The Situation Room, CNN, Oct. 17, 2005.

Posted October 7, 2005
Donald Sutherland Trashes Bush Administration

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Joe Scarborough: "Let's move on now to actor Donald Sutherland. He's busy. Not only is he playing the Republican villain -- and of course the Republican is a villain on the ABC show 'Commander in Chief.' He's also spending his free time lashing out at the Bush administration. During a recent appearance on the BBC, Sutherland called the current president 'vile,' 'inadequate,' a 'liar.' But that's not all. He went on to say this, quote, ‘They only care about profit. They will destroy our lives. And so it's something you have to care about if you're passionate about the lives of our children because we've stolen their future.' And then, feeling emotional, Sutherland broke down in tears. Take a look."

Donald Sutherland, via BBC's posted RealPlayer video: "We have children. How dare we take their legacy from them? How dare we? It's shameful."

-- Scarborough Country, MSNBC, Oct. 4, 2005.

Posted October 4, 2005
Ted Koppel Honors Dan Rather

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Ted Koppel: "Those of us who have competed against you, know you to be a man of honesty and integrity and decency. You and your colleagues it appears made a mistake in your report on George Bush's military service. I would simply urge your most vociferous critics to take a page from the White House's own playbook. When one of their own makes a mistake, they stress the importance of looking to the future and of not playing the blame game."

-- ABC's Ted Koppel praises Dan Rather at the News and Documentary Emmy Awards, National Television Academy, broadcast by C-SPAN, Sept. 19, 2005.

Posted October 4, 2005
MSNBC President Praises Dan Rather

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Rick Kaplan: "As was the practice in all he did, Dan was meticulously careful to be fair and balanced and accurate. When did we stop believing that this is indeed how we all perform our jobs or try to? When did we allow those with questionable agendas to take the lead and convince people of something quite the opposite? It's shameful. But I digress. Dan has led a generation of great reporters to the top of America's most-admired professions -- at least in the '70s. And deservedly so. His legacy as he practiced then is the gold standard journalists today have struggled to live up to. And working to serve the needs of his fellow citizens as admirably as he has is how he deserves to be spoken of. I'm very proud of my good friend. Thank you Dan. We have all benefited by your great work."

-- MSNBC President Rick Kaplan praises Dan Rather at the News and Documentary Emmy Awards, National Television Academy, broadcast by C-SPAN, Sept. 19, 2005.

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