Global Warming Over Missile Deal; "Conservative" Catholics and "Conservative" Arlen Specter; Schieffer’s McCain Campaign Part 2
1) Burying Bush’s missile defense understanding with
Russian President Putin, ABC anchor Carole Simpson on Sunday put a higher
priority on the failure of G-8 summiteers "to resolve sharp
differences over global warming." She declared "the summit may
be remembered more for the violence in the city’s streets" than for
the missile defense breakthrough.
2) CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson referred to how
"the conservative leadership of the Catholic Church" opposes
embryonic stem cell research, but she failed to apply a tag to a
spokeswoman for Catholics for a Free Choice. And over video of Arlen
Specter she asserted that "even conservative Senators" are
pushing Bush to approve the research.
3) Inside Washington illustrated the Washington press
corps’ unanimity in favor of embryonic stem cell research as all four
panelists favored it. "I cheered when I saw" Senator Frist’s
compromise plan, exclaimed Newsweek’s Evan Thomas. NPR’s Nina
Totenberg hoped "that we not sort of let know-nothingism dominate our
federally-funded science."
4) A week after he made the suggestion, Bob Schieffer
cited how "some people" back a McCain presidential bid. Just
after the House failed to vote on a "campaign finance reform"
bill, Schieffer had asked: "Doesn't this give him the perfect
excuse?" Yesterday on Face the Nation he told Trent Lott that
"some people" are pushing the idea that the House defeat
justifies a McCain run.
5) Before anyone received their tax rebate NBC’s Brian
Williams complained about how "some taxpayers are already feeling
disappointed." On Friday’s Nightly News Lisa Myers highlighted
"a single mom with two children who is working and going to
college," who "was shocked to learn she gets nothing."
6) Last week CBS and NBC pushed Bush to increase the CAFÉ
standards for cars and SUVs, but as Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby
noticed, buried in the New York Times story on which the network reports
were based, was the admission "that rapid increases in fuel economy
standards for cars in the early 1980s may have contributed to thousands of
additional deaths."
7) The dark tan Thalia Assuras got during a vacation
prompted Bryant Gumbel to raise the specter of "driving while
black" police harassment as he quipped of it: "If you get pulled
over on the highway you know it's great." Russ Mitchell soon joked:
"Trying to get a cab with her is impossible."
8) It’s a small world: The ABC News off-air reporter who
had lunch with Gary Condit on May 2 is a former aide to U.N. Ambassador
Bill Richardson. She was in the room when he interviewed Monica Lewinsky
for a job. And my personal connection to Chandra Levy.
1
Burying the
lead. Sunday night CBS and NBC led with President Bush’s breakthrough
with Russian President Putin on missile defense, but ABC anchor Carole
Simpson found more important the failure of G-8 summiteers "to
resolve sharp differences over global warming" as she skated over the
Bush-Putin deal in order to assert that "the summit may be remembered
more for the violence in the city’s streets."
Simpson opened the July 23 World News
Tonight/Sunday:
"Good evening everyone, I’m Carole
Simpson. The G-8 summit has ended in Genoa, Italy. While world leaders
failed to resolve sharp differences over global warming, there was a major
breakthrough today on the subject of missile defense. But the summit may
be remembered more for the violence in the city’s streets."
In contrast, CBS Evening News anchor Randall
Pinkston considered the arms control understanding more relevant than
global warming, as he opened the broadcast: "A surprise announcement
from Genoa Italy today. President Bush and Russian President Vladimir
Putin pledged to link talks aimed at cutting stockpiles of offensive
nuclear weapons, Mr. Putin’s goal, to negotiations on Mr. Bush’s
proposed space-based missile defense system."
Over at 30 Rock, John Seigenthaler began the
NBC Nightly News: "Good evening everyone, an unexpected ending to the
G-8 summit in Italy today. During a one-on-one meeting between President
Bush and Russian President Putin, the two men struck a deal on nuclear
arms, an agreement that could give a boost to President Bush’s plans for
a missile defense shield and could mean a reduction of the nuclear
arsenals in both countries."
2
To CBS
News reporter Sharyl Attkisson those opposed to embryonic stem cell
research are "conservatives," whom she labeled three times, but
those in favor of it weren’t deserving of a label.
In a Sunday CBS Evening News piece, Attkisson
noted that "the conservative leadership of the Catholic Church"
opposes it and Bush’s effort to appeal "to the Catholic leadership
also shores up support among non-Catholic conservatives." As viewers
saw video of liberal Republican Senator Arlen Specter, she asserted that
"even conservative Senators" are pushing Bush to approve the
research. Yes, Arlen Specter is apparently considered a
"conservative" by CBS News. But she failed to apply any tag to a
spokeswoman for Catholics for a Free Choice, a very liberal group.
Attkisson began her July 22 report by noting
how Bush maintains that his decision will be a "moral not a political
one." She intoned: "He’s getting advice from across the
political spectrum -- from scientists who support the research because it
could unlock cures for many diseases, to the conservative leadership of
the Catholic Church which opposes it because it requires the destruction
of embryos."
Richard Doerflinger, U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops: "We don’t think that human life at any stage of
development, even at the embryo stage, should be destroyed to be harvested
for cells for research."
Turning to the other side, Attkisson saw no need
to apply an ideological tag: "But Catholic leaders don’t
necessarily reflect the opinion of Catholic voters. Research shows they
pretty much mirror the rest of the population -- about 60 percent support
abortion rights. That helped President Clinton win the Catholic vote in
both his campaigns."
Frances Kissling, Catholics for a Free Choice:
"Unfortunately, President Bush has slipped into the wrong pew in
terms of the Catholic Church. Catholics are in favor of medical measures
and medical research that will help save the lives of millions of
people."
Attkisson wondered: "So why is President
Bush working so hard to court Catholic leaders? Analysts say he’s trying
to build on the inroads he made in the Catholic vote in last the last
election."
Linda DiVall, GOP pollster: "I think that a
Republican needs to look at can I split the Catholic vote and in the case
George W. Bush can I continue to improve my performance from what I did in
2000."
Over video of Senator Arlen Specter at the Senate
press room podium, alone, with the camera zooming in on him, Attkisson
asserted: "Appealing to the Catholic leadership also shores up
support among non-Catholic conservatives. But now adding yet another twist
to the President’s dilemma, even conservative Senators from his own
party are urging him to support stem cell research."
Mark Mellman, Democratic pollster: "So now
the President is forced to say to himself I’ve got to revisit this
issue, I’ve got to decide whether to flip-flop on this issue."
Attkisson concluded: "For now there are
countless research projects awaiting federal funding that are on hold
until the President makes his decision on stem cell research. The White
House says to expect an announcement next month."
3
A
significant enough portion of the public is opposed to embryonic stem cell
research to cause it to have become a much debated issue in Washington, DC
with President Bush wrestling with which way to go. But on one of the
weekend pundit shows featuring a panel of journalists there was unanimity:
approve the funding for the new research.
On Inside Washington, produced by Washington,
DC’s Gannett-owned CBS affiliate and carried by many PBS stations, the
reporters and columnists all agreed. In a discussion of Republican Senator
Bill Frist’s proposal to fund the research, but with many restrictions,
Newsweek’s Evan Thomas exulted: "I cheered when I saw that....I
sort of secretly hoped that the White House put him out there to have him
run up a trial balloon." NPR’s Nina Totenberg hoped "that we
not sort of let know-nothingism dominate our federally-funded
science."
Here’s the exchange, on the show from this
past weekend, prompted by Frist’s recommendations, starting with
columnist Charles Krauthammer who in the past has urged respect for those
who are opposed because they consider human embryos to be life: "He
made a great speech in which is basically came out in favor of stem cell
research, but with a lot of restrictions. And I think it’s because
he’s a physician that he how easy it is for other people, politicians
and others, to over-awed by scientists who come clamoring and say I’ve
got to have x, y and z because I’ll cure everything. He knows there’s
a lot of hype and yet he made a speech in support of it. I think it will
be a decisive event."
Moderator Gordon Peterson: "Do you think it
will push the President in that direction?"
Krauthammer: "I hope it does. I think it
will give him some cover."
Newsweek Assistant Managing Editor Evan Thomas:
"Yeah, I cheered when I saw that. I mean it took some guts because
he’ll take some political heat for it, but he knows that he’s the
pivot guy. I sort of secretly hoped that the White House put him out there
to have him run up a trial balloon. I don’t know that, but anything is
possible."
NPR reporter Nina Totenberg: "I also think
it’s probably a very important event and it’s important that we not do
the opposite, that we not sort of let know-nothingism dominate our
federally-funded science...."
Columnist Jack Garment soon chimed in: "Bush
has hemmed and hawed about this thing for so long and the line has been
drawn so clearly, particularly with those yahoos in the House who were
talking about the ‘industry of death,’ that this Frist thing is a way
out. If the White House were smart they’d seize it this week."
So much for having panelists who represent
both sides of contested issues. In Washington’s press corps there only
is one credible position on this subject.
4
In a
question to Senator Trent Lott on Sunday’s Face the Nation, Bob
Schieffer cited the idea that John McCain should run for President as a
suggestion being forwarded by "some people." But it appears the
"some people" are really just himself.
A week earlier, just after the House failed to
vote on the House version of McCain’s "campaign finance
reform" bill, Schieffer wrapped up his July 15 show by ruminating:
"McCain has been saying all along he has no plans to run for
President as a third-party independent candidate. But doesn't this give
him the perfect excuse? The script writes itself. Both parties are so
beholden to the big-money interests, it will take someone else to clean up
the mess." For a more extensive quote, go to: http://www.mrc.org/cyberalerts/2001/cyb20010716.asp#4
Now fast forward to the July 22 Face the
Nation. Schieffer’s lengthy polemic in the form of a question to Lott:
"I want to talk a little politics with you.
When the campaign finance reform legislation, which passed the Senate, did
not come to a vote in the House, some people said what's happening here is
that the Republicans are setting the stage for John McCain to run as a
third party candidate, because when you deny passing this you are giving
him an issue that he can run on. And these same people say, 'Look, I know
campaign finance reform is not a number one issue with a lot of people,
but corruption is and can be an issue for a third party candidate.' And
when you, some would make the case that when the two parties can't clean
up their own mess, that opens a way for John McCain. Do you think John
McCain is getting ready to run as an independent and do you think not
voting on this really kind of plays into his hand?"
"Some people," that would be me,
think that passing McCain’s bill which would increase the influence and
power of the media, because it would remain unregulated while all other
speech would be controlled, is Schieffer’s number one goal.
Lott seemed to see through Schieffer’s
"some people" attribution: "I think that a lot of this is
excitement by the press because Senator McCain is involved in the campaign
finance reform issue."
5
Before
anyone received their tax rebate check NBC had stressed the downside, as
anchor Brian Williams complained about how "some taxpayers are
already feeling disappointed." On Friday’s NBC Nightly News,
without citing how little if any they had paid in income taxes, Lisa Myers
highlighted "a single mom with two children who is working and going
to college," who "was shocked to learn she gets nothing,"
as well as another single mom who "calls her tiny rebate a spit in
the face."
Her total income tax payment last year was
probably a spit in the face.
Williams set up the July 20 story:
"President Bush took time from the summit today for a video hook-up
home, saying help for the flagging economy is on the way. That would be in
the form of the first batch of tax rebate checks in the mail now. But
NBC's Lisa Myers tells us tonight some taxpayers are already feeling
disappointed."
Myers began by showing video of Vice President
Cheney "leading the cheers" at an IRS facility printing check
before she showed a soundbite of Bush from Italy: "For all those who
feel their taxes and bills are too high and they could use a little help,
help is on the way."
Myers cautioned: "Words that may not sit
well with 32 million Americans notified by the IRS this week they do not
qualify for any rebate at all because they didn't pay enough income taxes.
Lauri Sceena, a single mom with two children who is working and going to
college, was shocked to learn she gets nothing."
Lauri Sceena: "I was very disappointed. I
was really looking forward to getting that $500. It would mean an awful
lot to somebody in my situation."
Myers continued: "Jeannette Mellim, also a
single mom, calls her tiny rebate a spit in the face."
Mellim: "They could have kept it. Sixteen
dollars, they could have kept $16."
Myers proceeded to another area of attack:
"The government spent $34 million to send out those notices this
week, which some members of Congress now call a waste of money. Why?
Because a half million taxpayers got the wrong information and others were
confused and complained that when they called the IRS for help they got a
busy signal."
Finally, she found someone who appreciated
getting their money back: "Still, for many of the 77 million
Americans getting the full rebate, the money is most welcome."
Unidentified man: "I'm going to put it in my
savings account and then use it for vacation at some point."
Myers: "Retailers hope most Americans will
spend the money and salvage a tough year."
Tracy Mullin, National Retail Federation:
"Well, I don't think it's going to save stores that are right on the
precipice, but I think it will certainly improve sales."
Myers concluded: "The White House still
thinks the rebates will be an economic and political plus, despite bruised
feelings along the way."
(My $300 rebate check arrived in the mail on
Saturday. Though I’m in the zone of the IRS’s Philadelphia office, in
what may soon fuel left-wing complaints about Bush getting too much
credit, under "United States Treasury," the check lists its
origin: "Austin, Texas." And in what is sure to rile liberals,
across the bottom are these words: "Tax Relief for America’s
Workers.")
6
Last
week CyberAlert highlighted how CBS and NBC, to push Bush to adopt a
policy favored by environmental liberals, picked up on an upcoming
National Academy of Sciences report expected to urge an increase in the
Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for cars and light trucks/SUVs.
But as Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby
noticed, buried in the New York Times story on which the network reports
were based, was the admission "that rapid increases in fuel economy
standards for cars in the early 1980s may have contributed to thousands of
additional deaths, as automakers sharply reduced the size and weight of
vehicles." Jacoby suggested the lead of the story should have been
that "making cars more fuel-efficient also made them more
deadly."
As recounted in the July 18 CyberAlert, on
July 17 CBS and NBC pushed President Bush to hike fuel standards for
"gas-guzzling SUVs." Dan Rather rued how "it’s been years
since the U.S. government last set fuel efficiency standards" but, he
hoped, "that could soon change." NBC’s Brian Williams steered
Bush: "With increasing numbers of Americans telling opinion pollsters
the President needs to get tougher on environmental protection, tonight
the White House may have its chance." For more on these stories,
nether of which credited the New York Times, go to:
http://www.mrc.org/cyberalerts/2001/cyb20010718.asp#1
"Smaller cars are killer cars"
declared the headline over
Jacoby’s July 19 column. An excerpt:
A panel appointed by the National Academy of Sciences, The New York
Times reported in a Page 1 story on Tuesday, is going to recommend an
increase in the mandatory fuel efficiency of new vehicles, especially
pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles.
The story appeared just as the House Energy and Commerce Committee took
up a bill to promote conservation by, among other things, making fuel
standards more stringent. Playing up the report on Page 1 gave a boost to
Democrats who insist that the bill doesn't go far enough in regulating
pickups and SUVs.
Sounds like Washington journalism and energy politics as usual. But
buried inside the story -- in the 16th paragraph, on Page C2 -- was a
startling admission: "The report mentions that rapid increases in
fuel economy standards for cars in the early 1980s may have contributed to
thousands of additional deaths, as automakers sharply reduced the size and
weight of vehicles...." In other words, making cars more
fuel-efficient also made them more deadly. Stop the presses!....
Currently, automakers must hold each year's fleet to an average
efficiency of 27.5 miles per gallon for passengers cars and 20.7 miles per
gallon for light trucks. The only realistic way to meet that standard --
and avoid a steep penalty -- has been to downsize much of the fleet: A
small, lightweight car requires less fuel than a big, heavy one....
The result, observes Sam Kazman of the Competitive Enterprise
Institute, a Washington think-tank that has long decried CAFE's dangers,
is that the average passenger car has shrunk by more than 1,000 pounds
since 1978. Fuel-efficiency standards are the reason big station wagons
all but disappeared from American roads. "Too many people were buying
them," Kazman says. "It was throwing off the fleet's CAFE
average and triggering big fines. So manufacturers basically stopped
making a car that motorists wanted to drive."
But as cars have shrunk, the death toll has grown. In 1999, USA Today
analyzed government crash data and found that in the 25 years since
fuel-efficiency standards were first imposed, 46,000 people had died in
crashes they would have survived if they had been driving bigger cars.
Small cars - those no larger than a Chevy Cavalier or Dodge Neon -
accounted for 18 percent of all vehicles on the road, the paper found, but
they were responsible for 37 percent of automobile fatalities....
END Excerpt
For Jacoby’s column in full, go to:
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/200/oped/Smaller_cars_are_killer_cars+.shtml
The July 17 New York Times paragraph he quoted
went on, not surprisingly, to counter with a point advocated by liberal
environmentalists: "The report mentions that rapid increases in fuel
economy standards for cars in the early 1980's may have contributed to
thousands of additional deaths, as automakers sharply reduced the size and
weight of vehicles instead of improving their engines. But making large
sport utilities lighter may make roads safer by reducing the death rate of
other motorists, federal research has found."
Naturally, neither the CBS or NBC story
directly touched on how size reductions have contributed to more deaths.
CBS’s John Roberts only allowed as to how "the auto industry has
long argued it could make more fuel-efficient vehicles, but would
sacrifice size and performance."
NBC’s Campbell Brown hinted at the issue:
"But the automobile industry argues tougher standards will increase
cost and lower the performance of SUVs by forcing the automakers to build
smaller, lighter trucks. One consumer group funded in part by the industry
says that makes safety a factor."
Diane Steed, Coalition for Vehicle Choice:
"Smaller, lighter vehicles just don't protect their occupants like
larger heavier ones do."
7
Race
consciousness in the morning. The dark tan Thalia Assuras got during a
vacation prompted Bryant Gumbel on Friday morning to raise the specter of
"driving while black" police harassment as he quipped of her
tan: "If you get pulled over on the highway you know it's
great." Her Saturday Early Show co-host Russ Mitchell soon joked:
"Trying to get a cab with her is impossible."
MRC analyst Brian Boyd caught the exchange
which occurred at the end of the July 20 Early Show just after Assuras,
who is white, and Mitchell, who is black, plugged their Saturday morning
program. In fact, Assuras’s skin tone was about the same complexion as
Mitchell’s:
Russ Mitchell, outside and standing next to
Assuras: "Join sister Thalia and I tomorrow on the Saturday Early
Show. You guys have a great weekend."
Bryant Gumbel, inside: "Hey, check out
Thalia's tan."
Mitchell: "Look at this, look at this."
Gumbel: "If you get pulled over on the
highway you know it's great."
Thalia Assuras: "Oh."
Gumbel: "It looks terrific though."
Assuras: "Thank you."
Mitchell: "Trying to get a cab with her is
impossible."
Gumbel: "That does it for us. What,
what?"
Mark McEwen, next to Gumbel: "I didn't say a
word."
Gumbel: "No, no. That does it for us on this
work week."
8
It’s a
small world: The ABC News off-air reporter, whom Gary Condit used as an
alibi, is a former aide to UN Ambassador Bill Richardson who was in the
room when he interviewed Monica Lewinsky for a job in New York City to get
her away from the White House. And I’ve decided to reveal my personal
connection to Chandra Levy.
In his "In the Loop" column in
Friday’s Washington Post, Al Kamen disclosed how Rebecca Cooper, the
off-air ABC News reporter who "had lunch with Condit a day after
Levy’s disappearance," was "formerly a top aide to Energy
Secretary Bill Richardson." Kamen revealed she "was one of the
staff in the room at the Watergate when Richardson, then-ambassador to the
United Nations, interviewed" Monica Lewinsky "to offer her a job
in New York."
Salon.com reported the week before last that
Cooper maintains this lunch took place on Wednesday May 2, but that the
time line initially released by Condit’s office placed him with her
during the early evening hours on Wednesday May 1 -- the time when Chandra
Levy probably disappeared.
Finally, my connection to the Chandra Levy
case. Out of the hundreds of apartment and condo buildings in Northwest
DC, she rented a condo at "The Newport" at 1260 21st St. NW --
the very same building where from 1983 to 1985 I shared with two roommates
a unit on the third floor. For those somewhat familiar with the District,
"The Newport," with its green awning now frequently shown on TV,
is on the west side 21st St. just north of New Hampshire Avenue and M St.
and just south of N St.
The nearest network television neighbor to
Chandra’s home? Ironically, given the CBS Evening News avoidance of her
disappearance, the CBS News Washington bureau is just around the corner at
2020 M St. NW.