McKinney’s Opponent Got Money from “Supporters of Israel”; CBS vs. Katherine Harris; “Very Sensible” Left-Wing Group; CBS’s Rose Demands Clinton Get Credit; Gibson’s Clinton Tie; CNN’s Lewinsky-Lay “Separation” Game

1) ABC’s Peter Jennings pointed out that Cynthia McKinney “was beaten by another Democrat who got large donations from out-of-state supporters of Israel,” but he failed to acknowledge that most of McKinney’s donations came from Muslims or Arabs outside of the district, some of whom support terrorism or have ties to groups which fund it. One declared: "Let us damn America, let us damn Israel. Let us damn their allies until death."

2) CBS News versus Katherine Harris, continued. Back in November of 2000, CBS anchor Dan Rather mocked Harris for performing her official duty, using phrases such as, “the believed certification -- as the Republican Secretary of State sees it.” On Wednesday night CBS denigrated her again: “The best weapon against Katherine Harris seems to be Katherine Harris."

3) NBC’s Brian Williams praised a left-wing, nanny-state advocacy group as “very sensible.” Anchoring Wednesday’s NBC Nightly News, Williams touted: “The folks the very sensible, Washington-based Center for Science in the Public Interest -- these are the people who've exposed the evils of Italian dinners, Chinese takeout and movie theater popcorn -- have tonight identified some fast food items they like.”

4) CBS Early Show co-host Charlie Rose wouldn’t sit still Wednesday morning for the premise of Sean Hannity’s book, Let Freedom Ring: Winning the War of Liberty over Liberalism. He badgered Hannity with how Bill Clinton really deserved credit for the achievements on welfare reform and a balanced budget. When Hannity suggested "John Kasich and Pete Domenici” deserve credit for the balanced budget, Rose started laughing and insisted: “Yeah, really. Do you think they could have done it without Bob Rubin and Bill Clinton, a balanced budget, come on."

5) Charlie Gibson’s daughter, Jessica, worked as a special assistant to the director for legislative affairs in the Clinton White House at the very same time that her father was covering Clinton policies as co-host Good Morning America, a program which broadcast live from the White House one morning during her tenure.

6) CNN’s Inside Politics on Wednesday featured a ridiculously convoluted game of “Kevin-Bacon style six degrees of separation” to connect Monica Lewinsky to Ken Lay when a far shorter and more direct route goes through Robert Rubin.

     >>> Time magazine's liberal environmental advocacy. Now online, a new Media Reality Check. “Trying to Make Green Ideology Mainstream: While the Earth Is Still Threatened by Capitalism, Time Offers Hugs to Pro-Environmental Businesses.” The report, by the MRC's Rich Noyes, examines the August 26 Time magazine’s lengthy cover story: “How to Save the Earth.” To read the August 21 Media Reality Check: http://archive.mrc.org/realitycheck/2002/fax20020821.asp
     For the Adobe Acrobat PDF version which matches what fax recipients received on Wednesday afternoon: http://archive.mrc.org/realitycheck/2002/pdf/fax0821.pdf <<<

  1

In reporting the results of the Georgia congressional primaries, Peter Jennings mimicked the anti-Jewish mantra of the most vociferous supporters of incumbent Democratic Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, who lost to challenger Denise Majette. Jennings pointed out that McKinney “was beaten by another Democrat who got large donations from out-of-state supporters of Israel,” but he failed to acknowledge that most of McKinney’s donations came from Muslims or Arabs outside of the district, some of whom support terrorism or have ties to groups which fund it.

     One, the Washington Post reported, once declared: "Let us damn America, let us damn Israel. Let us damn their allies until death."

     Jennings also skipped over how McKinney had marginalized herself by claiming that President Bush knew in advance of the September 11th terrorist attacks. Instead of describing her as an Arab supporter, he distorted her affection for the radical Muslim and Palestinian causes by depicting her only as “a vocal critic of President Bush's Middle East policy.”

     On the August 21 World News Tonight, Jennings read this short item about the Tuesday election results: 
     “In Georgia, two very different outspoken members of Congress lost their jobs in yesterday's political primaries. Republican Bob Barr was the first Congressman to call for President Clinton's impeachment. And Democrat Cynthia McKinney was a vocal critic of President Bush's Middle East policy. She was beaten by another Democrat who got large donations from out-of-state supporters of Israel.”

     Over on the CBS Evening News, John Roberts managed to note McKinney’s outlandish claim about Bush while not offering fears about the role of supporters of Israel: "Primary voters in Georgia have muffled two outspoken, high-profile members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Four-term Republican firebrand Bob Barr, a vocal leader in the campaign to impeach President Clinton, lost almost two-to-one to another Republican incumbent, John Linder, in a redrawn district. And five-term Democrat Cynthia McKinney was ousted by a relative political unknown. McKinney created a storm by suggesting President Bush may have known in advance about the September 11th attacks."

     The August 21 NBC Nightly News didn’t mention the primary results.

     In Wednesday’s Washington Post, reporter Edward Walsh filled in the half of the story ignored by Jennings, noting how both Majette and McKinney received lots of out-of-state money: “Jewish donors and pro-Israel organizations from around the country poured money into Majette’s campaign, while most of McKinney’s contributions came from donors with Muslim or Arab surnames who live outside the district.”

     And some of those McKinney donors support terrorism, reporter Thomas Edsall recounted in the August 13 Washington Post. An excerpt:

The reelection campaign of Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) has received campaign contributions from at least 18 donors who are either officers of Muslim foundations under investigation by the FBI, have voiced support for Palestinian and Lebanese terrorist organizations or have made inflammatory statements about Jews.

Questions about the donors' backgrounds mark the latest twist in a House race heavily funded by outside groups interested in the Israeli-Palestinian struggle. Most of McKinney's money has come from non-district residents with Muslim or Arab surnames. Her Democratic challenger, former state judge Denise Majette, is heavily funded by Jews living outside Georgia....

McKinney's backers include:

-- Abduraham Alamoudi, a board member of the American Muslim Council, who declared at a White House demonstration in October 2000, "We are all supporters of Hamas," or Islamic Resistance Movement, a principle sponsor of suicide bombings in Israel.

-- Many of the officers of a network of foundations and business, most based in Herndon, Va., that were raided by federal officials in mid-March. Federal investigators have been trying to determine how these groups raised and spent at least $1.7 billion.

-- Sami Al-Arian, a Florida professor whose past videotaped remarks include: "Let us damn America, let us damn Israel. Let us damn their allies until death," and "Victory to Islam, death to Israel."...

     END of Excerpt

     For the article in its entirety: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10364-2002Aug12.html

2

CBS News versus Katherine Harris, continued. Back in November of 2000, CBS anchor Dan Rather mocked Harris for performing her official duty when she certified the Florida election. Rather repeatedly cast aspersions upon the legality of her role, using phrases such as, “the believed certification -- as the Republican Secretary of State sees it.”

     Fast forward about 21 months and Harris is now a GOP candidate for a U.S. House seat from Florida and CBS is denigrating her again.

     In a story not pegged to any news event, reporter Byron Pitts looked at her candidacy: “Harris is a GOP rock star who cut her teeth on the national stage as Florida's Secretary of State when she oversaw, and some still argue manipulated, that messy, often bitter, 2000 presidential election recount in Florida."

     He referred to her district around Sarasota as “hard-core, big money Republican Party territory” and, treating the Democratic candidate as some sort of independent authority, led into a soundbite from the Democrat by asserting: “The best weapon against Katherine Harris seems to be Katherine Harris."

     Despite a campaign “stumble” when Harris did not resign her state office before making her candidacy official, Pitts acknowledged she is “still” the “heavy favorite" and, he warned, she “could be heading to Washington.”

     CBS Evening News anchor John Roberts introduced the August 21 story, which aired just after his short item on the Georgia primary results: "There is another House race -- this one in Florida -- that's getting a lot of national attention because it features Florida's nationally famous former Secretary of State Katherine Harris. Byron Pitts reports it's been a bumpy ride along the campaign trail."

     Pitts began, as taken down by MRC analyst Brad Wilmouth: "Meet Katherine Harris. She's a hugger, a kisser, an in-your-face, all-eyes-on-you campaigner. And she's raised $2.3 million, more money than just about any congressional candidate in the country. Make no mistake, Harris is a GOP rock star who cut her teeth on the national stage as Florida's Secretary of State when she oversaw, and some still argue manipulated, that messy, often bitter, 2000 presidential election recount in Florida."
     Katherine Harris, November 26, 2000: "I hereby declare Governor George W. Bush the winner."
     Pitts: "As a result, Republicans nationwide embraced her. Democrats and late night comics vilified her."
     David Letterman: "I keep thinking she's going to say, 'Would you care for a hot towel before landing?'"
     Harris: "They needed an enemy, and I happened to be in that position, and so they said, I mean, Machiavelli, if you don't have an enemy, create one."
     Pitts: "Sarasota, Florida, hard-core, big money Republican Party territory. Not only is Katherine Harris expected to win here this fall, she's expected to win it big. But like her time in Tallahassee, she remains the butt of jokes and at the center of a bitter campaign. In this race for Florida's 13th district, the best weapon against Katherine Harris seems to be Katherine Harris."
     Candice Brown McElyea, Democratic congressional candidate: "People, I think, see that she's insincere. People see that maybe she doesn't like to follow the rules."
     Pitts: "The campaign did stumble when Harris, who says she's built her reputation enforcing state election laws, was forced to admit she misinterpreted the law by failing to resign her old job as Secretary of State before running for Congress."
     Harris, August 1: "I thought that in the event, and it was just, it was totally my mistake-"
     Pitts: "Days later her Republican opponent filed a lawsuit charging she, in fact, entered the race illegally."
     Harris: "There was no law broken. There was not even a rule broken."
     Pitts: "Still, Katherine Harris is a heavy favorite. One of your opponents, I think her slogan is, 'Anyone but Katherine.'"
     Harris: "I'm not even paying her for that extra name ID."
     Pitts concluded: "It's a name that could be heading to Washington. Byron Pitts, CBS News, Sarasota, Florida."

     In January, at the MRC’s "Dishonors Awards: Roasting the Most Outrageously Biased Liberal Reporters of 2001," on behalf of Dan Rather, Katherine Harris accepted the “The Sore Losers Award  (for Refusing to Concede Bush’s Victory in Florida)” for this reporting by Rather during a special report on November 26, 2000 as Harris was signing the official certification:
     "Nineteen days after the presidential election, Florida’s Republican Secretary of State [Katherine Harris] is about to announce the winner -- as she sees it and she decrees it....
     "The believed certification -- as the Republican Secretary of State sees it -- is coming just hours after a court ordered deadline for counties to submit their hand count and recount totals....
     "She will certify -- as she sees it -- who gets Florida’s 25 electoral votes....
     "What’s happening here is the certification -- as the Florida Secretary of State sees it and decrees it -- is being signed....
     "And after this, it will be, at least in the opinion of the Secretary of State, that the results will be final..."

     For RealPlayer videos of Rather saying that on CBS and of Harris accepting the award on Rather's behalf at the MRC dinner: http://archive.mrc.org/notablequotables/dishonor2002/welcomeaward6.asp

     The main Dishonor Awards page: http://archive.mrc.org/notablequotables/dishonor2002/welcome.asp

3

A left-wing, nanny-state advocacy group is what NBC’s Brian Williams considers to be a “very sensible” organization. The group: The Center for Science in the Public Interest, which without any consideration for the accuracy of their widely disputed claims, Williams admired for having “exposed the evils of Italian dinners, Chinese takeout and movie theater popcorn.”

     Anchoring the August 21 NBC Nightly News on Wednesday night, Williams touted: “The folks the very sensible, Washington-based Center for Science in the Public Interest -- these are the people who've exposed the evils of Italian dinners, Chinese takeout and movie theater popcorn -- have tonight identified some fast food items they like. They include Burger King's 'Chicken Whopper Junior,’ which they say is a normal size portion and it actually tastes grilled; Wendy's 'Mandarin Chicken Sandwich,’ which they say could be served in a bistro; and McDonald's 'Fruit and Yogurt,’ which they call a nutrition-rich bargain.”

     Let’s pause here so I can note that I now know of three meals to avoid.

     Williams continued: “Of course it's not all good here. They couldn't resist pointing out a few things they're outraged by. Topping this year's list: Burger King's 'Old Fashioned Ice Cream Shake.’ The large size has 1200 calories and 42 grams of fat and they say it will help you to what they call, their words, 'an old fashioned heart attack.'”

     If you ever wondered why these liberal cranks get so much publicity from a press release, now you know. A major figure in the mainstream media, the future permanent anchor of the highest-rated daily television news program, seriously considers them to be “very sensible.”

4

CBS Early Show substitute co-host Charlie Rose wouldn’t sit still Wednesday morning for the premise of Sean Hannity’s book, Let Freedom Ring: Winning the War of Liberty over Liberalism. He badgered the Fox News Channel and ABC Radio talk show host with how Bill Clinton really deserved credit for the achievements on welfare reform and a balanced budget that Hannity credited to conservatives and the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994.

     When Hannity told Rose that welfare reform “came from Republicans who dragged Bill Clinton kicking and screaming,” MRC analyst Brian Boyd noticed that Rose countered: “I think that was the Clinton administration.”

     Rose soon effused: “Guess who gave us the first balanced budget?" When Hannity suggested "John Kasich and Pete Domenici,” Rose started laughing and exclaimed: “Yeah, really. Do you think they could have done it without Bob Rubin and Bill Clinton, a balanced budget, come on."

     Rose, who used to be a regular fill-in on the old CBS This Morning, now is part of the 60 Minutes II team and hosts his own daily late night talk show on PBS. For a picture of him, check the Web site for his PBS show: http://www.charlierose.com

     Back to the Wednesday CBS segment, Rose challenged Hannity: "Now, listen to this subtitle, 'winning the war of liberty over liberalism.' Cable television is full of conservatives. You're winning that battle."
     Hannity: "Good, it's about time we won."
     Rose: "All of the best sellers are written by conservatives-"
     Hannity: "Are you predicting?"
     Rose: "-whether Bernard Goldberg, Bill O'Reilly or Ann Coulter. You guys are winning the battle. Why are you crying about liberals?"

     Well, conservatives certainly aren’t in control at CBS News.

     After a bit of an argument over how strong Democrats are on defense and the stand of Tom Daschle on Iraq, Rose jumped to domestic politics, deriding Hannity’s view: “Welfare reform came from what administration?”
     Hannity: “It came from Republicans who dragged Bill Clinton kicking and screaming.”
     Rose trumpeted: “I think that was the Clinton administration.”
     Hannity countered: “No, he eventually signed it, but remember, he vetoed two bills by Republicans.”
     Rose moved on: "You know what Ronald Reagan used to talk about all the time, a balanced budget. Guess who gave us the first balanced budget?"
     Hannity: "John Kasich and Pete Domenici, no listen, I will say this-"
     Rose, laughing, cut him off: “Yeah, really. Do you think they could have done it without Bob Rubin and Bill Clinton, a balanced budget, come on."

     Hannity pointed out how Republicans took over Congress in 1994 and it is Congress which approves all spending.

     Rose again tied fiscal responsibility to Clinton: "Doesn't it scare you to death, that we had all these deficits coming in when Clinton took over, then surpluses when he left, and now we have deficits again? As a good sound fiscal conservative that's got to worry you."

     CBS has posted, on The Early Show Web page, an excerpt from Hannity’s book: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/08/20/earlyshow/leisure/books/main519300.shtml

5

Charlie Gibson’s daughter, Jessica, worked as a special assistant to the Director for Legislative Affairs in the Clinton White House at the very same time that her father was covering Clinton policies as co-host Good Morning America, a program which broadcast live from the White House one morning during her tenure.

     But no one knew about the connection, at least I never heard anything about it, until Jessica Gibson’s career highlights made the weddings page of Sunday’s New York Times, a revelation highlighted on Wednesday by Rush Limbaugh after Charles Gibson mentioned it on GMA.

     The item about “Jessica Gibson and Robert Rosen” appeared on page 9 of the August 18 New York Times “Sunday Styles” section (with a photo of the couple). It noted that “Jessica Law Gibson, a daughter of Arlene J. Gibson and Charles D. Gibson of New York, was married yesterday at her parents' vacation home in Park City, Utah, to Robert Alexander Rosen, the son of Andrea and Michael I. Rosen, also of New York. Virginia Hill Worden, a Universal Life minister, performed a nondenominational ceremony.”

     The item confirmed that “her father is a host of Good Morning America and Prime Time on ABC. Her mother is the head of the Spence School, the private girls' school in New York.”

     The Times announcement recounted how the couple met while both were part of the Clinton presidential team: “The bride and bridegroom met in March 1999 in Guatemala, where they were working on an advance mission for a visit by President Bill Clinton. Ms. Gibson was then a special assistant to the director for legislative affairs at the White House, and Mr. Rosen was the director of the office of advance and a special assistant to the President.”

     The item is online in full: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/18/fashion/weddings/18GIBS.html

     (The MRC’s Mez Djouadi will add to the posted version of this CyberAlert the picture of Charlie Gibson and his daughter which GMA put on screen.)

     On Wednesday’s GMA, after showing some video of the wedding celebration in Utah from Saturday, co-host Elizabeth Vargas picked up on how the couple met, MRC analyst Jessica Anderson noticed.

     Vargas: "It was interesting to read that Jessica and Rob met in Guatemala."
     Gibson: "To read? Oh, you saw the announcement in The New York Times."
     Vargas: "I saw the announcement in The New York Times."
     Gibson: "They met in Guatemala. They both worked at the White House, and when Jessica left, she went to the White House people and said, 'You owe me a trip! I've worked hard here!"
     Vargas, laughing: "Her father's daughter, folks!"
     Gibson: "And so they said, 'Well, the President's going to be in Guatemala. You can go down there and advance the trip,' and he was in charge of the President's travel at the time, and that's when they met."

     This disclosure puts Gibson’s coverage of Clinton, his impeachment and Republican presidential politics into a whole new light.

     Since we know his daughter worked for Clinton at least during 1999, I’ll confine my archive highlights to that year:

     -- ABC’s Good Morning America offered a new co-hosting team as of Monday morning, but the same old liberal take on the day’s events. In the very first interview of the show, Charlie Gibson, who is now paired with Diane Sawyer, hit Bob Dole with a series of questions from the liberal side of the debate over whether to hold Clinton accountable. Gibson pressed Bob Dole five times about why Republicans are pushing ahead with an impeachment trial: “Why is your party dragging this thing out?" http://archive.mrc.org/cyberalerts/1999/cyb19990119.asp#2

     -- And on the left: Charlie Gibson. On Monday’s Good Morning America he asked Bob Dole why Republicans are dragging out the trial. On Tuesday, he pressed George Mitchell about why Republicans want to “drag this out.” http://archive.mrc.org/cyberalerts/1999/cyb19990120.asp#5

     -- Two GMA guests were pressed about prolonging the trial as Charlie Gibson demanded of Dennis Hastert: “Why drag this out? Why are your managers over there...pressing for witnesses?” http://archive.mrc.org/cyberalerts/1999/cyb19990121.asp#4

     -- "So the thing to do as a spin-meister, get the facts out, and then try to put the best possible interpretation on them with the press," ABC’s Charlie Gibson prompted Lanny Davis who absurdly replied: “That’s what we tried to do in the Clinton White House.” http://archive.mrc.org/cyberalerts/1999/cyb19990518.asp#2

     -- ABC’s Good Morning America broadcast live from the White House this morning, presenting a two hour special titled “Kids & Guns: Is There a Solution?” The show dropped many ad breaks to allow more time with the Clintons. For 45 uninterrupted minutes from about 7:30am to 8:15am ET Bill and Hillary Clinton, with Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer hosting, talked in the Roosevelt Room with a group of high school students. 
     Earlier, for most of the 7am half hour, Gibson interviewed Clinton in the Cabinet Room and approached the gun issue from the left, demanding to know why Clinton has not done more to regulate guns. Gibson’s questions clearly angered Clinton who became indignant that anyone would question his commitment. Gibson relayed how a friend was disappointed about how “the President had a chance to roar on gun control and he meowed,” how despite public support for more gun laws “we’re not fighting about regulation of guns” and if we don’t fight for that, Gibson lamented, “hasn’t the NRA basically framed the debate at that point?” http://archive.mrc.org/cyberalerts/1999/cyb19990604a.asp

     -- GMA’s Charlie Gibson portrayed Hillary as a victim about to be set upon by a mean press corps and opponent. He rebuked a columnist who was “really rough” and expressed concern that questions for her “are gonna be brutal.” http://archive.mrc.org/cyberalerts/1999/cyb19990708.asp#3

     -- Clueless in Manhattan. By 70 to 30 percent those answering an ABCNews.com poll opposed Hillary’s candidacy. “I am really surprised...by the size of that majority,” admitted GMA’s Gibson. http://archive.mrc.org/cyberalerts/1999/cyb19990709.asp#2

     -- “I suspect a lot of people would find it the height of irony that Linda Tripp files a suit for invasion of privacy,” declared ABC’s Charlie Gibson as he doubted Clinton officials did wrong. http://archive.mrc.org/cyberalerts/1999/cyb19990929.asp#2

     -- ABC’s Charlie Gibson labeled Bush’s fundraising as “obscene” and then, picking up on Bush’s attack on conservatives, asked if the GOP is “out of touch” and “too much a captive of the Right?” http://archive.mrc.org/cyberalerts/1999/cyb19991013.asp#4

6

CNN’s Inside Politics on Wednesday featured a ridiculously convoluted game of “Kevin-Bacon style six degrees of separation” to connect Monica Lewinsky to Ken Lay when a far shorter and more direct route goes through Robert Rubin.

     CNN brought aboard Eamom Javers of the Washington Business Forward magazine to outline what Judy Woodruff described as “a humorous feature: six degrees of Ken Lay.”

     Javers laid out some scenarios linking Lay to other scandals, starting with Monica Lewinsky: “Lewinsky received job advice from Vernon Jordan just before the sex scandal broke. Vernon Jordan sits on the board of directors of Revlon, which is headed by Ron Perelman. Ron Perelman was financed in many of his deals by junk-bond king Michael Milken. Michael Milken lobbied in California for energy deregulation with Kenneth Lay.”

     His second scenario: “Bob Dole hawks Viagra for Pfizer Corporation on TV. On the Pfizer Corporation's board is Frank Raines. Frank Raines is Clinton's former OMB director, who is now trying to bring a baseball team to D.C. with Fred Malek. Fred Malek served in the Nixon administration. Nixon also employed Lawrence Eagleburger. Eagleburger later joined the board of Halliburton, where Dick Cheney served as CEO. Dick Cheney later met to discuss energy policy with Ken Lay.”

     Javers proceeded to outline the trail between Kevin Bacon himself and Lay.

     After watching these convoluted paths, especially how many steps it took to link Lewinsky to Lay, MRC analyst Ken Shepherd suggested a shorter route from Lewinsky to Lay: Lewinsky serviced Bill Clinton. Clinton named Robert Rubin his Treasury Secretary. Rubin, after leaving government, joined CitiBank where he lobbied Bush officials to help prop up the bond rating of Enron which was run by Lay.

     But playing out that path would require raising Rubin’s links to Enron, a subject the news media have studiously avoided. -- Brent Baker

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