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Posted Feb. 21, 2005
Olbermann Raises Gumbel's "Paucity of Blacks" GOP-Olympics Slam

| | | See CyberAlert

Keith Olbermann: "Sports is so often a barometer -- even a harbinger -- of race relations in this country. A prominent TV journalist like Curt Gowdy [meant to say "Bryant Gumbel"?], a long time NBC sportscaster, said he had no interest in the winter Olympics in part because of, quote, 'a paucity of blacks that makes the winter games look like a GOP convention.' It was Bryant Gumbel in the latest episode of his HBO series, Real Sports, that premiered about two weeks ago. On the subject of the Winter Olympics, Bryant was identifying himself as among those 'who don't like 'em and don't watch 'em.' He mentioned sports based on judging, not on game results, he pointed out that many reporters don't understand some of the exotic sports nor care about them between the Olympics. And then he played an unusual race card:"

Video of Gumbel from the February 7 Real Sports on HBO: "Tonight, the Winter Games. Count me among those who don't like 'em and won't watch 'em. In fact, I figure when Thomas Paine said 'these are the times that try men's souls,' he must have been talking about the start of another Winter Olympics. Because they're so trying, maybe over the next three weeks we should all try too. Like try not to be incredulous when someone attempts to link these games to those of the ancient Greeks who never heard of skating or skiing. So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world's greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention."
Olbermann: "As the transcript of that inched its way around the Internet, Gumbel was attacked by far-right bloggers. Rush Limbaugh accused him of calling the Republican Party 'totally racist,' which I don't think he said. A writer at the right-wing Web site NewsBusters noted Gumbel's remarks 'perfectly sums up my feelings regarding the Olympics.' But the most far-reaching reaction to what Bryant Gumbel said, Shani Davis of Chicago, son of the South Side who ran home to avoid being beat up by gangs and other toughs as a kid, winning the gold in the men's thousand meter speed skating, the first African-American ever to win a gold in an individual Winter Olympic event. Putting Shani Davis aside for a moment -- he lives in Canada, many of his American teammates barely know him -- what about Gumbel? Did he get a pass? With the exception of Shani Davis was he right?"
-- Keith Olbermann, on the February 20 Countdown

Posted Feb. 20, 2006
Actor Richard Dreyfuss Calls for President Bush’s Impeachment at National Press Club

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“Unless you are willing to accept torture as part of a normal American political lexicon; unless you are willing to accept that leaving the Geneva Convention is fine and dandy; if you accept the expression of wiretapping as business as usual, the only way to express this now is to embrace the difficult and perhaps embarrassing process of impeachment.”

-- Actor Richard Dreyfuss in a speech at the National Press Club, Feb. 16, 2006
 

Posted Feb. 16, 2005
Gumbel: Lack of Blacks Makes Olympics "Look Like a GOP Convention"

| | | See CyberAlert

"Finally tonight, the Winter Games. Count me among those who don't like 'em and won't watch 'em. In fact, I figure when Thomas Paine said 'these are the times that try men's souls,' he must have been talking about the start of another Winter Olympics. Because they're so trying, maybe over the next three weeks we should all try too. Like try not to be incredulous when someone attempts to link these games to those of the ancient Greeks who never heard of skating or skiing. So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world's greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention."
-- Bryant Gumbel, host of HBO's Real Sports, February 7.

Posted Feb. 15, 2005
Hardball’s Chris Matthews Asks if Media Are Playing Down Cheney Hunting Story

| | | See CyberAlert

“I don't know about you David and Dee Dee, but you're press experts and I don't know if you were shocked like I was, this was bottom of the fold in the New York Times and the Washington Post yesterday. I’ve talked to experts, they can't believe that the papers treated this as such a light issue. It only moved up to the top of the fold front page today in both of those journals. I find that interesting, I want to talk to you when we come back. Has the press been playing this down, this story?”

-- host Chris Matthews to Dee Dee Myers and David Gergen, MSNBC, Hardball, Feb. 14, 2006.

Posted February 6, 2006
Olbermann: "Doesn't that Mean the President Should Be Impeached?"

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Posted February 4, 2006
Clift Castigates Greenspan for Giving "Green Light" to Tax Cuts

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Posted February 1, 2006
ABC & CNN Showcase Complaints Bush Slighted Katrina Victims

|| | See CyberAlert

Co-anchor Elizabeth Vargas: "The [State of the Union] speech was practically over before the President mentioned Hurricane Katrina, one of the worst natural disasters in America’s history. Many people in New Orleans were not happy about it...."
Reporter Steve Osunsami: "Across New Orleans-"
Cindy Galliano, New Orleans resident: "We’re flabbergasted. We’re insulted. We’re outraged."
Osunsami: "-residents couldn’t believe the President’s speech offered no new ideas for rebuilding their city."
Galliano: "Last night, the proof was in the pudding. He doesn’t give a damn about us!"
— ABC’s World News Tonight, February 1.

Posted January 31, 2006
Matthews: Bush a Phoney on "Civility" Since He "Jammed" Iraq Vote

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Posted January 31, 2006
CNN’s Amanpour declares Iraq war a ‘disaster’

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Christiane Amanpour: “We have to have an independent eye on these conflicts. The war in Iraq has basically turned out to be a disaster And journalists have paid for it, paid for the privilege of witnessing and reporting that. And so have many, many other people who have been there. And I think that's terribly, terribly difficult for us. And unfortunately, for some reason which I can't fathom, the kind of awful thing that's going on there now on a daily basis has almost become humdrum. So when something happens to people that we identify, like Bob and like Doug, we wake up again and realize, no, this is not acceptable, what's going on there. And it's a terrible situation.”
Larry King: “Well said.”
-- Exchange between CNN’s chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, and Larry King, CNN, Larry King Live, Jan. 30, 2006.

Posted January 29, 2006
Schieffer: U.S. "Losing Moral High Ground?" & Touts Gas Tax Hike

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"Let’s talk a little bit about this whole idea of eavesdropping without court orders....Do you believe that there is anything that a president cannot do, if he considers it necessary, in an emergency like this?"
"When we see some of these horror stories about torture, about things that have happened in some of these prisons, do you worry that maybe we’re losing the moral high ground in some way?"
— CBS anchor Bob Schieffer in a pre-taped interview with President Bush shown on Face the Nation, Jan. 29.

Posted January 20, 2006
CNN: Bin Laden Tape Released in Time to Help President Bush?

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“The last time we got a tape from Osama bin Laden was right before the 2004 presidential election. Now here we are, four days away from hearings starting in Washington into the wiretapping of America’s telephones without bothering to get a court order or a warrant, and up pops another tape from Osama bin Laden. Coincidence? Who knows?”
-- Jack Cafferty, The Situation Room, CNN, January 19, 2006.
 

Posted January 10, 2006
Belafonte Calls Bush “Greatest Terrorist in the World”

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Harry Belafonte: "No matter what the greatest tyrant in the world, the greatest terrorist in the world, George W. Bush says [possible edit jump as video switches to crowd shot and then back to Belafonte], we're here to tell you: Not hundreds, not thousands, but millions of the American people, millions support your revolution, support your ideas and we are expressing our solidarity with you."
-- Singer and activist Harry Belafonte, from Venezuelan TV and aired on Hannity & Colmes, Fox News Channel, Jan. 9, 2006.

Posted January 4, 2006
David Letterman Slams Iraq War, Praises Cindy Sheehan

| | See CyberAlert

Bill O’Reilly: “The soldiers and Marines are noble. They're not terrorists. And when people call them that, like Cindy Sheehan called the insurgents 'freedom fighters,' we don't like that. It is a vitally important time in American history. And we should all take it very seriously. Be very careful with what we say."
Letterman: "Well, and you should be very careful with what you say also." [audience applause]
O'Reilly: "Give me an example."
Letterman: "How can you possibly take exception with the motivation and the position of someone like Cindy Sheehan?"
O'Reilly: "Because I think she's run by far-left elements in this country. I feel bad for the woman."
Letterman: "Have you lost family members in armed conflict?"
O'Reilly: "No, I have not."
Letterman: "Well, then you can hardly speak for her, can you?" [applause]
O'Reilly: "I'm not speaking for her. Let me ask you this question."
Letterman, referring back to O'Reilly's examples of a war on Christmas: "Let's go back to your little red and green stories."
O'Reilly: "This is important, this is important. Cindy Sheehan lost a son, a professional soldier in Iraq, correct? She has a right to grieve any way she wants, she has a right to say whatever she wants. When she says to the public that the insurgents and terrorists are 'freedom fighters,' how do you think, David Letterman, that makes people who lost loved ones, by these people blowing the Hell out of them, how do you think they feel, waht about their feelings, sir?"
Letterman: "What about, why are we there in the first place? [applause] The President himself, less than a month ago said we are there because of a mistake made in intelligence. Well, whose intelligence? It was just somebody just get off a bus and handed it to him?"
Bill O'Reilly: "No."
Letterman: "No, it was the intelligence gathered by his administration."
O'Reilly: "By the CIA."
Letterman: "Yeah, so why are we there in the first place? I agree to you, with you that we have to support the troops. They are there, they are the best and the brightest of this country. [audience applause] There's no doubt about that. And I also agree that now we're in it it's going to take a long, long time. People who expect it's going to be solved and wrapped up in a couple of years, unrealistic, it's not going to happen. However, however, that does not eliminate the legitimate speculation and concern and questioning of ‘Why the Hell are we there to begin with?'"
O'Reilly: "If you want to question that, and then revamp an intelligence agency that's obviously flawed, the CIA, okay. But remember, MI-6 in Britain said the same thing. Putin's people in Russia said the same thing, and so did Mubarak's intelligence agency in Egypt."
Letterman: "Well then that makes it all right?"
O'Reilly: "No it doesn't make it right."
Letterman: "That intelligence agencies across the board makes it alright that we're there?"
O'Reilly: "It doesn't make it right."
Letterman: "See, I'm very concerned about people like yourself who don't have nothing but endless sympathy for a woman like Cindy Sheehan. Honest to Christ." [audience applause]
O'Reilly: "No, I'm sorry."
Letterman: "Honest to Christ."
O'Reilly: "No way. [waits for applause to die down] No way you're going to get me, no way that a terrorist who blows up women and children."
Letterman: "Do you have children?"
O'Reilly: "Yes I do. I have a son the same age as yours. No way a terrorist who blows up women and children is going to be called a 'freedom fighter' on my program." [mild audience applause]
Letterman: "I'm not smart enough to debate you point to point on this, but I have the feeling, I have the feeling about 60 percent of what you say is crap. [audience laughter]

-- Exchange between Bill O’Reilly and David Letterman, The Late Show with David Letterman, Jan. 3, 2005.

Posted January 3, 2006
Dan Rather Suggests “First Husband” Bill Clinton

| | | See CyberAlert

Dan Rather: "Mr President, when we traveled with you in China, you weren't aboard Air Force One. Do you miss it?"
Bill Clinton: "Well, I don't miss the trappings so much, but I loved the plane because it's a great place to work."
Rather, looking bemused: "Do you, in some quiet moment, look forward to the time maybe when you fly on it in a different capacity, as First Husband?"

Clinton chuckled, then responded: "Well, the answer to that is no, I don't. I don't think about that and I have urged all of Hillary's supporters not to think about that, because she's got to run for re-election. And it's a big hazard for anybody who's up for re-election to think about anything but re-election."
Rather, trumpeting Geena Davis on ABC's Commander-in-Chief: "Well, as you know, we now have on television, we have a woman President of the United States."
Clinton: "Yeah, Geena Davis."
Rather: "Is the country ready for a woman President, a real woman President as opposed to one on television?"
Clinton: "I don't know. My gut is, yes, that if a woman came across as strong and seasoned and well prepared, if you said the right things in the right way and you had a good record to back it up, my gut is, yes. But the hard truth is we won't know until it happens."
Rather, narrating over video of Clinton with AIDS patients in China: "For now, Mr. Clinton says he's concentrating his efforts on AIDS. But globe-trotting can take its toll. In China, the President seemed grayer and thinner than the last time we had seen him."

-- Exchange between reporter Dan Rather and former President Bill Clinton, 60 Minutes, Jan. 1, 2005.

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