Fret Over Powell Exit, How "Hardliners" Have "Emasculated" Him --11/16/2004-- Media Research Center

1. Fret Over Powell Exit, How "Hardliners" Have "Emasculated" Him
In reaction to Secretary of State Colin Powell's resignation, NBC's Andrea Mitchell fretted on MSNBC about how "this really is a regretful moment and a passing of a great potential leader." Later, on the NBC Nightly News, she thrice employed the term "hardliner" to describe what Powell was up against or the views of President Bush. On ABC's Nightline, John McWethy blamed conservatives for obliterating any chance Powell had to be a "great" Secretary of State since "he was emasculated by a team of very senior people who surrounded the President." Guest Ron Suskind, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, lamented: "I think this may be the final indignity for Powell." In contrast, on ABC's World News Tonight, Terry Moran stressed how "many conservatives saw Powell as a moderate obstructionist of Mr. Bush's aggressive foreign policy." In a strange twist on Powell's departure, MSNBC's Chris Matthews saw an opportunity for George W. Bush to shed his co-presidency with Dick Cheney by transferring power from Cheney to the new Secretary of State.

2. Couric Insists Harry Reid is "More Conservative" than Daschle
Katie Couric insisted on Monday's Today that Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, who is "in line to become the new Senate Minority leader after Tom Daschle lost his bid for re-election," is "more conservative than Tom Daschle." She emphasized how "I know he's anti-abortion." But Reid is hardly much less liberal than Daschle with a single digit difference in the ratings from the American Conservative Union and Americans for Democratic Action while the National Right to Life Committee gave Reid a 55 percent rating, far below the 91 percent earned by Reid's Republican Nevada colleague, John Ensign.

3. Year After The Reagans, CBS Show Blames Ronald Reagan for AIDS CBS finally got into prime time the baseless allegation that President Reagan exacerbated AIDS. One year after CBS intended to air, during the November sweeps, The Reagans mini-series in which actor James Brolin was to paint Ronald Reagan as a mean-spirited lout on AIDS funding as his Reagan character charged of AIDS victims, "They that live in sin shall die in sin," a character on a CBS prime time show on Sunday, again during the November sweeps, denounced Reagan's supposed view of AIDS as God's retribution.

4. Letterman's "Top Ten Colin Powell Complaints"
Letterman's "Top Ten Colin Powell Complaints."

Fret Over Powell Exit, How "Hardliners"
Have "Emasculated" Him

In reaction to Secretary of State Colin Powell's resignation, NBC's Andrea Mitchell fretted on MSNBC about how "this really is a regretful moment and a passing of a great potential leader." Later, on the NBC Nightly News, she thrice employed the term "hardliner" to describe what Powell was up against or the views of President Bush. On ABC's Nightline, John McWethy blamed conservatives for obliterating any chance Powell had to be a "great" Secretary of State since "he was emasculated by a team of very senior people who surrounded the President." Guest Ron Suskind, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, lamented: "I think this may be the final indignity for Powell in this administration."

In contrast, on ABC's World News Tonight, Terry Moran stressed how "many conservatives saw Powell as a moderate obstructionist of Mr. Bush's aggressive foreign policy. For them, today's news was good news." Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy explained: "The President may, for the first time in his presidency, have someone at the helm of the State Department who actively and consistently supports his policies."

CBS's David Martin concluded his Evening News review of Powell's diplomatic efforts during his tenure with a shot at Bush's non-diplomatic decisions, "One thing seems certain: With U.S. troops still fighting and dying in both Iraq and Afghanistan, the President won't need a reluctant warrior like Powell to remind him of the unintended consequences of military action."

In a stranger twist on Powell's departure, MSNBC's Chris Matthews saw an opportunity for George W. Bush to become the actual President by transferring power from Dick Cheney to the new Secretary of State: "Will George W. Bush continue to allow the public perception that he has almost a co-President in Dick Cheney? Or will he say, you know, it's time in true Machiavellian fashion for the prince to move on and show that he can govern without the help of a chief counselor?"

At about 10:40am EST Monday on MSNBC, Matthews opined, as caught by the MRC's Rich Noyes and transcribed by the MRC's Brian Boyd: "The big change I'm looking for is will George W. Bush relieve Dick Cheney of some of his enormous authority in this administration and give it to his Secretary of State. In other words, shift power from the Vice President's office, which has been so enlarged in this administration, to a cabinet secretary, whether it's the new DOD, chief who may be Condi Rice, or the new Secretary of State, we don't know who that is. But I think there's going to be some power shifting, not just some name changing and I think the one to watch here is the Vice President.
"Will George W. Bush continue to allow the public perception that he has almost a co-President in Dick Cheney? Or will he say, you know, it's time in true Machiavellian fashion for the prince to move on and show that he can govern without the help of a chief counselor? I'm looking at that one. That's to me the fascinating question. Dick Cheney, will he be demoted and if so, who will get the authority that he has now?"

A bit more on Mitchell's take:

-- Mitchell at 1:11pm EST on Monday just after Colin Powell's press conference. Anchor Sam Shane asked her: "Andrea, what struck you?" Mitchell suggested she'll miss Powell's bulwark against the administration conservatives: "Well, that this really is a regretful moment and a passing of a great potential leader. Colin Powell was so undercut by many of the other cabinet officials and never had the full backing to do some of the things that he really wanted to do. And we saw that in the Middle East with Iran, with North Korea, when he was mentioning the issues that he felt still needed to be addressed and that they had worked on. Those are some of the things that he mentioned."

-- NBC Nightly News. The MRC's Brad Wilmouth took down her use of the term "hard-liner" in her Monday story (term in ALL CAPS):
"In fact, sources say Powell's departure after one term, while long planned, fits into a bigger White House strategy to put more HARD-LINERS at the State Department after four years of nonstop conflict between Powell and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld."

She added: "But the President's Mideast policy is very different from Powell's. Mr. Bush has told people he believes in the ideas of Israeli HARD-LINER Natan Sharansky, and has read his new book, which says democracy can take hold in Arab states. Sharansky visited the President for an hour last week and also met with Condoleezza Rice. Powell's departure is only the first of major foreign policy changes. Officials tell NBC News the President may choose the State Department's HARD-LINE weapons expert, John Bolton, to be Deputy Secretary of State."

-- On Nightline after Monday Night Football, John McWethy asked: "Will he turn out to be looked at in history as a great Secretary of State? Very doubtful. He was emasculated by a team of very senior people who surrounded the President."

Couric Insists Harry Reid is "More Conservative"
than Daschle

Katie Couric insisted on Monday's Today that Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, who is "in line to become the new Senate Minority leader after Tom Daschle lost his bid for re-election," is "more conservative than Tom Daschle." She emphasized how "I know he's anti-abortion." But Reid is hardly much less liberal than Daschle with a single digit difference in the ratings from the American Conservative Union and Americans for Democratic Action while the National Right to Life Committee gave Reid a 55 percent rating, far below the 91 percent earned by Reid's Republican Nevada colleague, John Ensign.

Couric, the MRC's Geoff Dickens noticed, asked Tim Russert on Monday's Today: "Let me ask you about Senator Harry Reid of Nevada. I know he's He's anti-abortion and voted against the assault weapons ban. What kind of leader do you think he'll be?"
Russert: "Quiet, methodical. He's a tea-totaling Mormon. But he has the respect of his Democratic colleagues for making the trains run on time. He will not be the public face as much as Tom Daschle would have been but he believes that he can put forward a united organized group of 45 Democrats. If that's possible."

Reid has earned a 21 percent "lifetime" rating from the American Conservative Union compared to 12 percent for Tom Daschle.

For Reid's rating: acuratings.com

For Daschle's: acuratings.com

On the left, Americans for Democratic Action gave Daschle an 83 percent career rating compared to a barely lower 76 percent for Reid.

For Daschle's ADA rating: www.adaction.org

For Reid's : www.adaction.org

For 2003-04, the National Right to Life Committee assessed Reid at 55 percent compared to 91 percent for his Nevada Senate colleague, John Ensign. See: www.capwiz.com

Year After The Reagans, CBS Show Blames
Ronald Reagan for AIDS

CBS finally got into prime time the baseless allegation that President Reagan exacerbated AIDS. One year after CBS intended to air, during the November sweeps, The Reagans mini-series in which actor James Brolin was to paint Ronald Reagan as a mean-spirited lout on AIDS funding as his Reagan character charged of AIDS victims, "They that live in sin shall die in sin," a character on a CBS prime time show on Sunday, again during the November sweeps, denounced Reagan's supposed view of AIDS as God's retribution.

Controversy fueled by outraged conservatives, led by the MRC, upset with CBS's intended derogatory portrayal of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, prompted Viacom to move The Reagans from CBS to Showtime where it first aired on Sunday, November 30, 2003, though sans the scripted Reagan line on AIDS which was replaced by a nearly as disparaging scene (see below for details).

Sunday's Cold Case, a drama on CBS which follows 60 Minutes and focuses on a cold case squad in the Philadelphia Police Department, revolved around the case of an AIDS-sufferer murdered in 1983. In the show, at party of rich, closeted gay men which took place days before the man was murdered, the soon-to-be victim complained: "37 men have died in Philadelphia, 425 in New York and the government is ignoring it." A man in suit placed the blame: "Ronald Reagan: 'Interfere with God's work.'"

(In a later scene, someone identified one of the party-goers: "Carson Finch, a conservative columnist for The Times." Another character explained: "It would be like finding out Pat Buchanan was gay." In the end, the detectives determined the man was not murdered by a closeted conservative but by his closeted brother.)

CBS's home page for Cold Case: www.cbs.com

Upcoming on November 21, an episode drawn from liberal myths, "Red Glare." CBS's Web site summary of it: "Old wounds caused by the communist witch hunts of the l950s are re-opened when Lilly and the team re-investigate an unsolved murder from 1953."

The promo for it which ran at the end of the November 14 episode: "In 1953 the fear of communism swept America. But did one man's beliefs cost him his life? Now, a new investigation could reveal a family's darkest secrets."

Back to The Reagans. By coincidence (?), at the very time CBS was airing the Cold Case with the shot at Reagan, Showtime on Sunday night was re-running The Reagans.

The New York Times had first reported, on October 21, 2003, how the script for The Reagans had Ronald Reagan declaring: "They that live in sin shall die in sin."

But that was edited out of what aired in the Showtime version last year and on Sunday night. In Showtime's The Reagans, as Nancy and Ronald are in bed during his first term, Nancy, played by Judy Davis, lectures Ronald, who is reading and ignores her: "You're the President of the United States. If you don't talk about it, nobody will talk about it. Nobody will do anything. And then all these people, these children, these young boys, they're all going to die. And the blame will be on our heads, Ronnie. Ronnie, say something!"

Ronnie remains oblivious and turns the page of a book.

Letterman's "Top Ten Colin Powell
Complaints"

From the November 15 Late Show with David Letterman, the "Top Ten Colin Powell Complaints." Late Show home page: www.cbs.com

10. Never once received a card on National Secretary's Day.

9. Spittoons everywhere.

8. Hated the idea of working a single day with that son-of-a-bitch Alberto R. Gonzales.

7. Rumsfeld smells like Old Spice and Chivas.

6. Condoleezza Rice showing up for late-night strategy sessions in lingerie and heels.

5. Tired of Dr. Heart Attack getting all the attention.

4. Thought the commissary's "Secretary of Steak" was in poor taste.

3. CIA jokesters who say "I found weapons of mass destruction...in my pants"

2. Bush constantly asking, "so which state are you secretary of?"

1. Too many old white guys.

-- Brent Baker

Sign up for CyberAlerts:
Keep track of the latest instances of media bias and alerts to stories the major media are ignoring. Sign up to receive CyberAlerts via e-mail.

questions and comments about CyberAlert subscription

You can also learn what has been posted each day on the MRC’s Web site by subscribing to the “MRC Web Site News” distributed every weekday afternoon. To subscribe, go to: http://www.mrc.org/cybersub.asp#webnews