Rather’s Tribute to Valor; Helen Thomas’s Rant Against War Strategy; NBC’s West Wing "Non-Political"? Hardly; Koppel Top Ten?
1) Dan Rather concluded Tuesday’s CBS Evening News by
choking up as he delivered a tribute to the U.S. servicemen killed in
Afghanistan: "They were some of America’s best. They gave this
country everything. We close our broadcast tonight thinking of them and of
their valor."
2) Helen Thomas denounced the war on terrorism strategy,
arguing: "I don’t think it’s right to be contemplating what other
country can we bomb next." She also castigated Reagan’s
"social Darwinism," minimized the relevance of his
"secret" arms build-up in causing the fall of communism and
admired Bill Clinton because "his heart was in the right place."
3) Senator Kennedy is only just plain "liberal"
to Today co-host Matt Lauer, but George W. Bush is "one of the most
conservative Presidents."
4) West Wing writer Aaron Sorkin got a lot of publicity
for complaining about how the media are too reverential to President Bush,
but he also preposterously maintained: "We're a completely fictional,
nonpolitical show." In fact, this season the fictional
"President Bartlet" is facing a dumb Republican Governor with a
lot of money. Past CyberAlerts have documented the liberal themes
showcased on the NBC program.
5) No Ted Koppel "Top Ten" lists from David
Letterman, but a 1998 list included this item: "Can't we watch
'Nightline' for a change?" Plus, my prediction for where Letterman
and Koppel will end up.
>>> Now
online, a new Media Reality Check report by the MRC’s Rich Noyes which
Washington, DC area readers may have noticed was cited today by Greg
Pierce in his "Inside Politics" column in the Washington Times.
It’s titled, "Dancing Around Bill Clinton’s Enron Deals; TV’s
Double Standard: Networks Push Bush’s Links While Downplaying
Clinton’s Favors For Enron." It reported how only six of the 198
stories about Enron aired on the ABC, CBS and NBC evening shows, a
piddling three percent, "hinted at Clinton’s Enron
connection." To read the March 5 Media Reality Check:
http://archive.mrc.org/realitycheck/2002/Fax20020305.asp
To access the Adobe Acrobat PDF version:
http://archive.mrc.org/realitycheck/2002/pdf/fax0305.pdf
<<<
1
Dan
Rather concluded Tuesday’s CBS Evening News by choking up as he
delivered a tribute to the U.S. servicemen killed in Afghanistan. Pausing
between some of his words as he tried to re-gain his composure, after
listing the name, rank and family status of all those killed in action,
Rather related: "They were some of America’s best. They gave this
country everything. We close our broadcast tonight thinking of them and of
their valor."
How much of whatever Rather does on the air is
an act and how much is genuine is always up for debate, but in this
instance his moving words appeared sincere and, of the ABC, CBS and NBC
evening shows, only the CBS Evening News named those who died in action.
Rather ended the March 5 CBS Evening News, as
taken down by the MRC’s Brad Wilmouth, over pictures of each fallen
member of the Army, Navy or Air Force:
"The U.S.
death toll in the war against terrorists stands now at 30, including seven
who died in operation Anaconda and joined the ranks of America’s fallen
heroes. Sergeant Bradley Crose, an avid reader, loved motorcycles, always
wanted to be an Army Ranger. His father says Crose was ‘the most
precious thing I could give my country.’ Army Specialist Marc Anderson,
it was his dream too to be an Army Ranger as his father was. Before that,
Anderson was a teacher. He wanted to help kids. Army Sergeant Philip
Svitak told his mother, ‘The terrorists have to be stopped. If anything
happens to me, I’m proud to die for my country.’ Svitak leaves a wife
and two young sons. Senior Airman Jason Cunningham, his mother says he
loved his job, loved his country. ‘He was a good kid,’ she said.
Cunningham leaves a wife and two daughters. Navy Petty Officer First Class
Neil Roberts went into the service right after high school. He is survived
by a wife and an 18-month-old son. Air Force Technical Sergeant John
Chapman received two commendation medals. His sister says the family knew
he was risking his life. Chapman had a wife and two daughters. A former
teacher said Army Private First Class Matthew Commons was a solid kid who
loved his country. ‘Matt,’ she said, ‘is a good example of what’s
right about America.’
"They
were some of America’s best. They gave this country everything. We close
our broadcast tonight thinking of them and of their valor. Dan Rather
reporting for the CBS Evening News, good night."
2
Helen
Thomas, the former UPI White House reporter who is now a columnist for
Hearst Newspapers, denounced President Bush’s terrorism war strategy,
urging a focus on giving food instead of weapons to other nations as she
contended: "I don’t think it’s right to be contemplating what
other country can we bomb next. I think the American people ought to start
raising their voices and asking where are you going, what’s the end goal
here, what’s the exit strategy."
Appearing at the Newseum in Arlington,
Virginia on Sunday, its last day in operation until it re-opens in the
District of Columbia in 2006, Thomas also castigated Reagan’s
"social Darwinism," minimized the relevance of his
"secret" arms build-up in causing the fall of communism and
praised Bill Clinton, arguing: "I think his heart was in the right
place. He certainly built up a great prosperity and surplus, balanced the
budget, I think that he had great ideals." Conceding he
"tarnished the White House with his liaisons," she predicted
that would soon be overlooked since "every President looks better in
retrospect, so I think that he has a legacy that will be worthwhile."
The MRC’s Brad Wilmouth took down some of
Thomas’s comments in the March 3 Newseum session with an audience shown
by C-SPAN on March 4 and 5:
-- On Ronald Reagan’s presidency: "No
question that President Reagan turned the country to the right. There was
a Reagan revolution, a very conservative revolution, and it was social
Darwinism. If you can’t make it, tough. I mean, he did not believe in
social welfare and, but at the same time, he did build up our military. He
had a secret plan to spend one trillion dollars on new arms when he came
in. It was secret and fortunately for us, I think, the Washington Post
reporter who covered the Pentagon revealed this, but there was Hell to
pay. They went after those who had leaked the story. At the end of that
road, the President had spent $1.5 trillion in terms of new arms, but
there is also no question that the arms race did help to break down the
Soviet Union. It was already, I believe, on its last ropes, last feet, but
that was the straw that broke the camel’s back of having to spend more
and more money on arms. But at the same time, he was a very popular
President, people still long for him, and they think that he was a real
president and played the part very well."
So he was popular despite the fall of
communism?
-- On Bill Clinton’s presidency:
"Clinton, I think his heart was in the right place. He certainly
built up a great prosperity and surplus, balanced the budget, I think that
he had great ideals, but, of course, he tarnished the White House with his
liaisons and, but eventually, you know, every president, time is the great
healer, and every president looks better in retrospect, so I think that he
has a legacy that will be worthwhile."
-- On President, George W. Bush: "Work in
progress. I think that his lack of real knowledge about the world, and I
miss the ideals. I don’t think we should arm every country that says oh,
we’ve got terrorists here. I think we should be helping countries,
helping in terms of education, food, and so forth, and I certainly think
it was right to go into Afghanistan, but I don’t think it’s right to
be contemplating what other country can we bomb next. I think the American
people ought to start raising their voices and asking where are you going,
what’s the end goal here, what’s the exit strategy, do we just because
a country wants arms and military assistance, is that us?"
3
Senator
Kennedy is only just plain "liberal" to Today co-host Matt
Lauer, but George W. Bush is "one of the most conservative
Presidents."
The MRC’s Geoffrey Dickens noticed how Lauer
teased an upcoming story on the March 4 Today: "And talk about social
life, we'll take a look at the new found friendship between the liberal
Senator Ted Kennedy and one of the most conservative Presidents, George W.
Bush."
The subsequent story by Jonathan Alter did not
address how George W. Bush can be considered "one of the most
conservative Presidents," when he signed onto a big federal education
spending bill which so pleased Ted Kennedy.
But at least Today tagged Kennedy as liberal.
That’s progress.
4
With a
fresh episode of The West Wing set to air tonight, I thought I’d catch
up with a comment in the New Yorker from the show’s creator and
producer, Aaron Sorkin, which didn’t get much play last week in the
midst of coverage of his complaint that Tom Brokaw’s special about a day
inside the Bush White House was too nice to President Bush since "the
media is waving pom-poms" for Bush "and the entire country is
being polite" in not pointing out his ongoing foibles. (See end of
this item for more on that theme.)
Largely overlooked, Sorkin also preposterously
maintained of The West Wing: "We're a completely fictional,
nonpolitical show."
As Peggy Noonan, the only conservative adviser
to the show, suggested last week on OpioninJournal.com: "Aaron Sorkin
thinks the thoughts of a left-liberal. Because he is a left-liberal. And
the show he writes and produces each week, the show whose storylines and
dialogue he dreams up, reflects his views, utterly."
Indeed, over the past few years CyberAlert has
documented the many liberal themes and anti-conservative plot lines
showcased on the NBC program.
But before even getting to that proof, in the
March 4 New Yorker article itself Sorkin boasted about pursuing a liberal
plot line this season involving the rehabilitation of Al Gore. An excerpt
from the New Yorker article by Tad Friend in which Sorkin referred to a
then-upcoming episode which aired last Wednesday:
In the semi-contemporaneous universe of "The West Wing,"
where the World Trade Center never fell but terrorism is now a top staff
priority, President Josiah Bartlet is up for re-election this November.
"Bartlet is going to be running against Governor Robert Ritchie, of
Florida, who's not the sharpest tool in the box but who's raised a lot of
money and is very popular with the Republican Party," Sorkin said. If
this sounds familiar, it should. "It was frustrating watching Gore
try so hard not to appear smart in the debates -- why not just say 'Here's
my fucking résumé, what do you got?' We're a completely fictional,
nonpolitical show, but one of our motors is doing our version of the old
Mad magazine 'Scenes We'd Like to See.'
And so to an extent we're going to rerun the last election and try a
few different plays than the Gore campaign did. In the episode this
Wednesday, Toby Ziegler" -- Bartlet's communications director, and
the conscience of Sorkin's White House -- "is
going
to continue his conversation with the President, 'Your father hated your
guts because you were smarter than he was. In fact,
he hit you because of it, and as a result you are scared to get people mad
at you with your brains. You don't want to lose as the smartest kid in
class who's running against an everyman. But I'm telling you, be the
smartest kid in your class. Be the reason
why your father hated you. Make this an election about smart and stupid,
about engaged and not, qualified and not.'"
END of Excerpt
From my watching of the show, it has toned
down the liberal policy preaching a bit this season on issues such as gun
control, child poverty and the inheritance tax, but that hasn’t made the
show anywhere near "nonpolitical." The season-long plot has
re-played the Clinton impeachment saga, complete with mean-spirited and
vindictive House committee members and staffers using the fictional
"President Bartlet’s" covering up of his multiple sclerosis as
an excuse to hurt administration staffers by catching them in
"perjury traps" and forcing them to spend money on lawyers. The
only difference, Sorkin has Bartlet do what all liberals wish Clinton had
done: He agrees to a joint House-Senate censure for his lack of
forthrightness and now the White House staff is moving on to what really
matters, like fighting terrorism.
Noonan asserted that she was behind a
conservative plot line featured this season but that Sorkin made it less
conservative so it would not upset liberal sensibilities. Noonan
recounted:
"I am an
adviser or contributor to The West Wing. I'm not sure which because I
can't find the letter of agreement. I am, as far as I know, the only
conservative who works on the show, though maybe there are more. I send
Aaron e-mails from New York with ideas and suggestions. About every fourth
show someone says something conservative. That's usually me. Two weeks
ago, for instance, Press Secretary C.J. was talking to Presidential
Conscience Tobey about affirmative action. When Tobey pressed C.J. for her
views, she said she was the wrong Democrat to ask. She explained that her
father had once been denied a job when someone else got it in an
affirmative action decision. Tobey nodded and asked, ‘How's he doing?’
C.J. said, lightly, ‘Fine.’
"In my
version, C.J.'s father had suffered. He was an idealist who believed
everyone has an equal shot at success in America, a public school teacher
who wanted to help kids and was gifted in his work with them; now he saw a
less qualified and implicitly less loving person elevated at his expense,
and only because he was the wrong color. It left him shattered. The flag
on which he'd stood had been pulled from under him, and he never fully
regained his balance.
"When
Aaron wrote it, C.J.'s father was not a victim of government but a fellow
doing fine. In part because that's how
Aaron thinks about affirmative action, and it's his show. And in part
perhaps because C.J.'s terse ‘he's fine’ is dramatically interesting
-- a man is treated badly and he's fine. Life is strange."
For Noonan’s
March 1 piece in full: http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/
National Review’s Jonah Goldberg also took
on Sorkin’s claim that The West Wing is "nonpolitical." Check
out his piece at:
http://www.nationalreview.com/goldberg/goldberg030102.shtml
Now to a rundown from past CyberAlerts of
liberal pronouncements and advocacy promoted on NBC’s The West Wing over
the past three years. Each item includes a link to the fuller CyberAlert
article, some of which feature RealPlayer clips of the scenes:
-- The West Wing, devoted to staffers
discussing terrorism with a group of high schoolers, gave air time to some
pretty conventional liberal points. Characters raised the "black
list," blamed "abject poverty" for terrorism and argued
that "is the same as it is right here" where gangs "give
you a sense of dignity." They also
worried about "the patriotism police."
http://archive.mrc.org/cyberalerts/2001/cyb20011005.asp#4
-- The West Wing featured a subplot in which
an insurance company refused to pay for emergency surgery for a gun shot
victim because he did not get pre-approval for the life-saving emergency
surgery.
http://archive.mrc.org/cyberalerts/2000/cyb20001102_extra.asp#4
-- The West Wing’s new conservative blonde
babe character assessed the staff of the fictional Democratic White House:
"Their intent is good, their commitment is true. They are righteous
and they are patriots."
http://archive.mrc.org/cyberalerts/2000/cyb20001026_extra.asp#3
-- Dr. Laura demonized by NBC’s The West
Wing. Martin Sheen as the President attacked her misleading
"Dr." title and sarcastically compared her claim that the Bible
says homosexuality is "an abomination" to how it advocates
slavery for his daughter and that his mother be burned. "You may be
mistaking this for your monthly meeting of the ignorant tight-ass
club." http://archive.mrc.org/cyberalerts/2000/cyb20001019.asp#7
-- NBC’s The West Wing returned Wednesday
night with a left wing shot at the idea that allowing citizens to carry
guns makes for a safer community. And a reporter agreed.
http://archive.mrc.org/cyberalerts/2000/cyb20001006_extra.asp#8
-- The West Wing took a bizarre twist into
very tolerant social liberalism with President Bartlet offering to order
the Attorney General to help a prostitute, who just earned a law degree,
gain admittance to the bar. http://archive.mrc.org/cyberalerts/2000/cyb20000517.asp#6
-- The show continued the campaign finance
reform cause and added replacing "mandatory minimums" for drug
convictions, which were repeatedly called "racist," with more
funding for drug "treatment." http://archive.mrc.org/cyberalerts/2000/cyb20000510.asp#5
-- After some dialogue backing school
vouchers, NBC's West Wing went left wing on campaign finance and gays in
the military.
http://archive.mrc.org/cyberalerts/2000/cyb20000503.asp#8
-- Left and Right West Wing. NBC's The West
Wing delivered scenes linking census sampling opponents to the
Constitution's definition of blacks as 3/5ths a person and aired a candid
admission that liberals don't trust people to spend their money correctly.
http://archive.mrc.org/cyberalerts/2000/cyb20000322.asp#4
-- NBC’s liberal dream State of the Union.
On The West Wing the President abandons "the era of big government is
over" theme and agrees "government can be a place where people
come together and where no one gets left behind....an instrument of
good."
http://archive.mrc.org/cyberalerts/2000/cyb20000127.asp#4
-- In the premiere, viewers saw how the
Hollywood Left views conservatives as the show concocted a preposterous
plot and series of scenes which portrayed leaders of the Religious Right
as anti-Semitic buffoons. The show culminated with an angry Democratic
"President Josiah Bartlet," played by Martin Sheen, indignantly
telling ministers: "You can all get your fat asses out of my White
House."
http://archive.mrc.org/cyberalerts/1999/cyb19990929.asp#5
Plus, off-screen West Wing stars have done
quite a bit of liberal pontificating. A sampling:
-- President Bush is a "moron,"
actor Martin Sheen, who plays the President on NBC’s The West Wing, told
a British magazine. He conceded that JFK womanizing "made him more
substantial and human to me." Sheen also ridiculed the U.S. as he
claimed "Alcoholics Anonymous and jazz are the only original things
of importance" the U.S. has exported to the world. http://archive.mrc.org/cyberalerts/2001/cyb20010214.asp#5
-- A Republican character joins The West Wing
tonight just after star Martin Sheen told George magazine that George W.
Bush is a "bully" who is "full of s**t." A co-star
called Bush "proudly uninformed" and argued that Jesus would be
displeased by Bush’s promotion of the death penalty. http://archive.mrc.org/cyberalerts/2000/cyb20001025.asp#3
West Wing creator/writer/producer Sorkin got
into the news last year when he was caught at the Burbank airport with
"illicit mushrooms" in his luggage. For a bio of Sorkin, who was
also responsible for the liberal preaching movie The American President
starring Michael Douglas, check the Internet Movie Database page about
him:
http://us.imdb.com/Name?Sorkin,+Aaron
For photos of Sorkin, go to:
http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news_photos?n=20&p=sorkin
Finally, an excerpt from the March 4 New
Yorker article by Tad Friend in which Sorkin complained about how the
media are being too nice to President Bush given his failings:
....The first point Sorkin raised, speaking last week from his quarters
at the Four Seasons in Los Angeles, where he was writing another
episode of the show, is that something has gone awry in the media's
representation of the President. "President Bush seems to be handling
things very well, and I support him one hundred per cent," Sorkin
said. "I also think it's absolutely right that at this time we're all
laying off the bubblehead jokes. But that's a far cry from what the Times
and CNN and others on whom we rely for unvarnished objectivity are telling
us, which is that" -- his voice took on a worshipful tone --
"'My God! On September 12th he woke up as Teddy Roosevelt! He became
the Rough Rider!'"
Among these hagiographies, Sorkin said, was NBC's look at a day in the
life of the Presidency, "The Bush White House: Inside the Real West
Wing," which aired as the lead-in to a "West Wing" repeat a
few weeks ago. "The White House pumped up the President's schedule to
show him being much busier and more engaged than he is, and Tom Brokaw let
it happen -- the show was a valentine to Bush. That illusion may be what
we need right now, but the truth is we're simply pretending to believe
that Bush exhibited unspeakable courage at the World Series by throwing
out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium, or that he, by God, showed those
terrorists by going to Salt Lake City and jumbling the first line of the
Olympic opening ceremony. The media is waving pom-poms, and the entire
country is being polite."...
For the entire piece, "Snookered by
Bush," go to:
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/?020304ta_talk_friend
As I said at the top of this item, a fresh
episode of The West Wing airs tonight at 9pm EST/PST, 8pm CST/MST on NBC.
For more about the show and tonight’s plot, check NBC’s Web page for
the program: http://www.nbc.com/The_West_Wing/index.html
5
No Top
Ten about Ted Koppel. The Late Show is dark this week, but with the media
full of stories about ABC’s interest in replacing Nightline with the
Letterman show, I thought I’d try to find a past Letterman "Top
Ten" list about Ted Koppel. No such luck. I searched the Late
Show’s Top Ten archive and even resorted to some old-fashioned data
retrieval -- looking at every list in the three books of Top Ten lists --
but came up dry.
Apparently, on CBS Letterman has never done a
Top Ten about Ted Koppel and not on NBC either, or at least none which was
published in either of the two books which collected Top Tens from his NBC
years.
But I wasn’t about to let all of my efforts
go to waste. Undaunted, on the Late Show Web site I discovered how in Top
Tens about other subjects Koppel’s name has come up. My two favorites in
light of the present goings on:
-- From a 1998 list, the "Top Ten Things
Dave's Kitty Would Say If It Could Talk." After #10, "Get me out
of this Princess Leia costume!" came #9: "Can't we watch
'Nightline' for a change?"
-- From a 1996 list, the "Top Ten Insults
for Dave Letterman," #5: "This is the part of the show where I
always say to myself, 'I wonder what Koppel's doing tonight'"
For the Late Show’s Top Ten archive:
http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/top_ten/archive/
My prediction: ABC is the big loser in all of
this. David Letterman will stay at CBS since he’s seen how ABC treats
its stars and, most importantly, he does not want to be blamed for killing
Nightline. And the staff of ABC News now knows that the corporate side
wants to dump Nightline as soon as they can find something else to replace
it.
What I wonder is if Letterman could move from
NBC to CBS and now might jump to ABC, why is no one suggesting that if
Nightline is replaced on ABC by the Late Show, why couldn’t Koppel and
his team go to CBS at 11:35pm, a time slot for which CBS would then need
programming? Call it Eveningline.
At the very least, I’d bet that as long as
Letterman is in play Koppel will show up to anchor Nightline more than two
or three times a week.
