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1. NBC Trumpets Distorted Poll on Opposition to Ending Filibuster NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams trumpeted Wednesday night how "a brand new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll" shows "that by a margin of 56 to 34, Americans want the Senate to weigh in on the President's judicial nominees rather than giving them blanket approval" -- as if that's at issue. In fact, no one is calling for "blanket approval" since, if the filibusters against judicial nominees were eliminated, those now blocked would still have to earn the backing of the majority of Senators, just like every other judge the Senate has ever approved. On Thursday's Today, Matt Lauer highlighted for Tim Russert the same irrelevant question, but then Lauer cryptically referred to how the public was "evenly split pretty much on the whole filibuster issue." Indeed, in a poll question NBC Nightly News ignored, and for which Today provided no further detail, respondents split 32 opposed versus 31 in support (with 19 neutral and 13 not caring) on whether they backed Congress in "considering putting an end to the Senate's filibuster procedure" for "judicial nominees." 2. Stephanopoulos Worries Non-"Moderate" May Get on Supreme Court All three broadcast network morning shows addressed the fight over judicial filibusters Wednesday, but ABC This Week host George Stephanopoulos stood out for promoting Democratic spin as he recited the liberal attacks on Priscilla Own and Janice Rogers Brown. Though it is the Democrats who have changed Senate tradition and can avoid rule changes by simply ending their filibuster tactic, Stephanopoulos chastised Republicans, contending that the filibuster fight "really, really is important because this issue will affect everything else. This, if it passes, is going to change the way that the Senate has worked for 200 years." He worried about what might result: "If the rules change passes, it is going to be much easier for the President to get one of his Supreme Court nominees through, even if that person doesn't have moderate views." GMA's Diane Sawyer fretted: "To a lot of people out in the country this really does look like fiddling while big issues burn, health care and other big issues burn, fiddling about a filibuster." 3. Matthews Paints Newsweek as Diversion from Opposition to Iraq MSNBC's Hardball on Wednesday night continued the scolding of White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, for daring to advise Newsweek on how to repair the damage its retracted story caused in the Muslim world, as Chris Matthews and Hotline's Chuck Todd suggested the Bush team was exploiting the topic in order to divert attention from public dissolution with Iraq. Matthews asked Washington Post reporter Mike Allen if those inside Newsweek "believe that the White House has gone beyond what it should" in "now dictating terms, telling Newsweek what the newspaper has to do pro-actively to make up for it?" Todd insisted the whole discussion "makes the White House very happy because it calls into question the media." Matthews jumped in to point out the "the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll on the war, it's so unpopular now a majority of people think it wasn't worth it. I think they're looking, perhaps, for a little opportunity to spread the blame on this." 4. FNC Examines How Media Upset at White House Advice to Newsweek FNC on Wednesday night took a look at how, as Brit Hume previewed the story, "the focus of media attention in Washington has already moved away from Newsweek's mistake to alleged White House pressure on news organizations." Carl Cameron highlighted Terry Moran's Tuesday rebuke of Scott McClellan ("Who made you the editor of Newsweek?") and how "this afternoon...another reporter asked if the damage resulting after Newsweek's article shouldn't be viewed as the administration's fault for other reasons." He then played a clip of this question: "Isn't it the case that the Newsweek article would not have done the damage that it has if our reputation hadn't already been damaged by the atrocities at Abu Ghraib?" Cameron concluded by forwarding how "the White House hopes to curb is what it considers to be an unhealthy cynicism and predisposition by some to expect the worst and blame America first even when the facts are uncertain or, in this case, even wrong." 5. Limbaugh Picks Up Wednesday on a Couple of CyberAlert Articles You read it here first. Rush Limbaugh on Wednesday read on his show from two Tuesday CyberAlert articles, "Reporters Come to Newsweek's Defense, Suggest the Story is Really True" and "Schieffer Blames Newsweek's Retraction on White House 'Pressure.'" NBC Trumpets Distorted Poll on Opposition to Ending Filibuster NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams trumpeted Wednesday night how "a brand new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll" shows "that by a margin of 56 to 34, Americans want the Senate to weigh in on the President's judicial nominees rather than giving them blanket approval" -- as if that's at issue. In fact, no one is calling for "blanket approval" since, if the filibusters against judicial nominees were eliminated, those now blocked would still have to earn the backing of the majority of Senators, just like every other judge the Senate has ever approved. On Thursday's Today, Matt Lauer highlighted for Tim Russert the same irrelevant question, but then Lauer cryptically referred to how the public was "evenly split pretty much on the whole filibuster issue." Indeed, in a poll question NBC Nightly News ignored, and for which Today provided no further detail, respondents split 32 opposed versus 31 in support (with 19 neutral and 13 not caring) on whether they backed Congress in "considering putting an end to the Senate's filibuster procedure" for "judicial nominees." Williams led the May 18 NBC Nightly News: "Good evening. For days here we've been talking about the threat of the U.S. Senate going nuclear, as they call it, ending the use of the filibuster to block votes on judges used by both sides for years. To try and head that off, last night and all day today, a few senators have been doing what they do best: They've locked themselves in a meeting where they've been trying to hammer out a deal, something they think the American people would prefer. Well, tonight, some new numbers are out and a brand new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, they show that by a margin of 56 to 34, Americans want the Senate to weigh in on the President's judicial nominees rather than giving them blanket approval. But can the Senate keep from going nuclear? We'll begin there tonight with NBC's Chip Reid on Capitol Hill for us..." As Williams spoke, viewers saw a graphic with a vague description of the poll question: "Confirming Judges? President's Nominee: 34% Senate Decides: 56%" Thursday morning on Today, Tim Russert appeared from Washington, DC to go over many topics in the poll. Matt Lauer cued up Russert: "The issue on the front burner, this morning, judicial nominees, when asked about the Senate's role in confirming federal judges, 34 percent said they think the Senate should generally confirm the President's judicial nominees, 56 percent said the Senate should make its own decision. They were evenly split pretty much on the whole filibuster issue. So what does this tell us about how voters are going to react if that so-called 'nuclear option' is taken?" Today displayed this graphic: "Senate & Judicial Nominees Confirm President's Choice: 34% Make Own Decision: 56%" MSNBC.com's article about the poll provides no quotations of the actual questions and MSNBC.com never posts rundowns of polls as do ABCNews.com and CBSNews.com. MSNBC.com's story on the poll: www.msnbc.msn.com The Wall Street Journal, however, this morning posted a PDF of the questions and results in the poll conducted by Democratic pollster Peter Hart and Republican pollster Bill McInturff.
Question #11 was the one highlighted by Williams and Lauer, and the specific text of it confirms how it posed a question irrelevant to whether the public supports or opposes ending judicial filibusters: "When there are vacancies in the federal court system, should the Senate generally confirm the President's judicial nominees as long as they are honest and competent, or should the Senate make its own decision about the fitness of each nominee to serve? The next question informed those polled: "I am going to read you a series of actions that have recently been in the news. For each one, please tell me whether you generally support this action, generally oppose this action, feel neutral about this action, or whether you do not care about this action."
One of those topics in the list: "Congress considering putting an end to the Senate's filibuster procedure, which requires sixty senators rather than fifty-one to end debate and hold a confirmation vote for judicial nominees." For the PDF with the full survey results: online.wsj.com Previous CyberAlert items on media hype for distorted polls regarding the blocking of Democratic filibusters:
# April 26 CyberAlert: ABC and the Washington Post touted how a new poll found two-thirds opposed to a rul change to end Democratic filibusters of judicial nominees, but the language of the question led to the media's desired answer. "An ABC News poll has found little support for changing the Senate's rules to help the President's judicial nominees win confirmation," World News Tonight anchor Charles Gibson trumpeted Monday night. The Washington Post's lead front page headline, over a Tuesday story on the poll, declared: "Filibuster Rule Change Opposed." But the questions in the poll failed to point out the unprecedented use of a filibuster to block nominees who have majority support while they forwarded the Democratic talking point that "the Senate has confirmed 35 federal appeals court judges nominated by Bush" and painted rules changes as an effort "to make it easier for the Republicans to confirm Bush's judicial nominees," not as a way to overcome Democratic obstructionism. See: www.mediaresearch.org
Williams set him up, as taken down by the MRC's Brad Wilmouth: "At the top of the broadcast, we mentioned our new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. There are more new numbers out tonight, and with those, our Washington Bureau Chief, moderator of Meet the Press, Tim Russert, is with us. Tim, how are people feeling about the direction of their nation and the man running it?"
Stephanopoulos Worries Non-"Moderate" May Get on Supreme Court All three broadcast network morning shows addressed the fight over judicial filibusters Wednesday, but ABC This Week host George Stephanopoulos stood out for promoting Democratic spin as he recited the liberal attacks on Priscilla Own and Janice Rogers Brown. Though it is the Democrats who have changed Senate tradition and can avoid rule changes by simply ending their filibuster tactic, Stephanopoulos chastised Republicans, contending that the filibuster fight "really, really is important because this issue will affect everything else. This, if it passes, is going to change the way that the Senate has worked for 200 years." He worried about what might result: "If the rules change passes, it is going to be much easier for the President to get one of his Supreme Court nominees through, even if that person doesn't have moderate views." GMA's Diane Sawyer fretted: "To a lot of people out in the country this really does look like fiddling while big issues burn, health care and other big issues burn, fiddling about a filibuster." [The MRC's Tim Graham submitted this item for CyberAlert, based on a transcript provided by the MRC's Jessica Barnes.]
None of the three morning shows actually interviewed a U.S. Senator Wednesday, sticking with familiar political experts (CBS interviewed Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report, NBC interviewed Chris Matthews). Sawyer asked Stephanopoulos, who helped the Clinton White House usher two Supreme Court justices through the Senate: "Okay, George. What are the chances this is really going to end in a giant showdown?" As if Stephanopoulos helped put "moderate views" on the court with Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, two solid votes for the liberal bloc, especially on the hot-button social issues like abortion and homosexuality. But Republicans insist that the change in the Senate rules happened two years ago, soon after the Democrats lost their slim Senate majority, when the Democrats began using the filibuster, traditionally used only against legislation, to start blocking judicial nominees from a floor vote, even if they were voted out of the Judiciary Committee. Where was George Stephanopoulos and ABC to worry about changing the historical traits of the Senate? They weren't doing stories. A Media Reality Check report from 2003 explained how Bush nominee Miguel Estrada was denied an up-or-down vote, but it was ignored by ABC and CBS. See: www.mrc.org
Matthews Paints Newsweek as Diversion from Opposition to Iraq MSNBC's Hardball on Wednesday night continued the scolding of White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, for daring to advise Newsweek on how to repair the damage its retracted story caused in the Muslim world, as Chris Matthews and Hotline's Chuck Todd suggested the Bush team was exploiting the topic in order to divert attention from public dissolution with Iraq. Matthews asked Washington Post reporter Mike Allen if those inside Newsweek "believe that the White House has gone beyond what it should" in "now dictating terms, telling Newsweek what the newspaper has to do pro-actively to make up for it?" Todd insisted the whole discussion "makes the White House very happy because it calls into question the media." Matthews jumped in to point out the "the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll on the war, it's so unpopular now a majority of people think it wasn't worth it. I think they're looking, perhaps, for a little opportunity to spread the blame on this."
On the May 18 Hardball, Matthews asked Allen: "You're part of the Newsweek/Washington Post family, if you will. Although it is probably not a happy family this week. Newsweek, the people at the organization, the Washington Post/Newsweek organization, believe that the White House has gone beyond what it should in not only criticizing Newsweek for getting that wrong about the Koran being flushed down the toilet, but now dictating terms, tell Newsweek what the newspaper has to do pro-actively to make up for it?"
Matthews turned to the New York Post's Deborah Orin, in studio: "Do you think Newsweek's gotta come up with a mea culpa cover this week for its international editions? Right on the cover say 'we were wrong'?"
Chuck Todd of Hotline soon argued: "This makes the White House very happy because it calls into question the media. And whenever they do that-" (For more on this topic, see #4 below.)
FNC Examines How Media Upset at White House Advice to Newsweek FNC on Wednesday night took a look at how, as Brit Hume previewed the story, "the focus of media attention in Washington has already moved away from Newsweek's mistake to alleged White House pressure on news organizations." Carl Cameron highlighted Terry Moran's Tuesday rebuke of Scott McClellan ("Who made you the editor of Newsweek?") and how "this afternoon...another reporter asked if the damage resulting after Newsweek's article shouldn't be viewed as the administration's fault for other reasons." He then played a clip of this question: "Isn't it the case that the Newsweek article would not have done the damage that it has if our reputation hadn't already been damaged by the atrocities at Abu Ghraib?" Cameron concluded by forwarding how "the White House hopes to curb is what it considers to be an unhealthy cynicism and predisposition by some to expect the worst and blame America first even when the facts are uncertain or, in this case, even wrong."
The May 18 CyberAlert recounted: Some journalists were appalled Tuesday by White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan's suggestion that Newsweek "help repair the damage that has been done...by talking about the way they got this wrong, and pointing out what the policies and practices of the United States military are when it comes to the handling of the Holy Koran." At the briefing, ABC's Terry Moran demanded: "Who made you the editor of Newsweek? Do you think it's appropriate for you, at that podium, speaking with the authority of the President of the United States, to tell an American magazine what they should print?" On the CBS Evening News, Wyatt Andrews tried to explain away Newsweek's responsibility: "The White House is still pressuring Newsweek, saying this mistake cost lives. Newsweek, however, says no U.S. official ever denied that story until four days after the rioting began, and that the magazine immediately scrambled to uncover and then admit the error." Bob Schieffer marveled at how "I can never recall a White House telling a news organization to go report X, Y or Z." Andrews then scoffed: "As if Newsweek is now obligated to repair the damage that America has suffered to its reputation overseas. Never seen it." For more: www.mediaresearch.org
Cameron began: "Brushing off objections in the media, the White House stepped up pressure on Newsweek to help undo the damage from its now-retracted, erroneous report, that a single U.S. official confirmed Koran desecration at Guantanamo Bay."
Limbaugh Picks Up Wednesday on a Couple of CyberAlert Articles You read it here first. Rush Limbaugh on Wednesday read on his show from two Tuesday CyberAlert articles, "Reporters Come to Newsweek's Defense, Suggest the Story is Really True" and "Schieffer Blames Newsweek's Retraction on White House 'Pressure.'" Just past 2:30pm EDT on his May 18 show, Limbaugh announced, as reflected in a transcript posted on RushLimbaugh.com: Media Research Center has put together a little summary: Reporters Come to Newsweek's Defense, Suggest the Story is Really True. "Following the 'fake but accurate' theme espoused by some to defend CBS's use of forged memos to get President Bush, in the wake of Newsweek's retraction late Monday of its claim that a military report would include the charge that a guard at Guantanamo flushed a Koran down a toilet, journalistic colleagues came to Newsweek's defense. CNN's Anderson Cooper proposed: 'Is it beyond the realm of possibility that a tactic like this was used?' CBS and ABC passed along allegations from prisoners. Richard Roth of CBS recalled: 'Detainees released in 2003 came home claiming American guards had routinely provoked them by sitting on the Koran, or putting pages in a toilet.' ABC's Martha Raddatz argued: 'The Newsweek article was not the first time U.S. personnel have been accused of desecrating the Koran. Last year, this British detainee released from Guantanamo said guards 'would kick the Koran, throw it into the toilet and generally disrespect it.' Later, on Monday's Nightline, John Donvan suggested: 'What really goes on at Guantanamo Bay, no one really knows.' Anchor Chris Bury asked that 'given the other abuses' of prisoners by the U.S., 'does Newsweek deserve all the blame, assuming that its story was incorrect?'" They retracted it, for crying out loud! What is this assuming it's incorrect? So now the media circling the wagons. "Hey this stuff happens anyway. We know it happens because the detainees tell us it happens, it happens. So maybe Newsweek was wrong but maybe they're right." "Bob Schieffer, matching the view of those hostile to the U.S. in the Muslim world, painted Newsweek's retraction as coming only after 'pressure' from the White House. 'Under pressure from the White House,' Schieffer teased Monday's CBS Evening News, 'Newsweek today retracted a story that led to deadly rioting in Afghanistan.' Schieffer introduced his lead story by outlining how 'over the weekend, Newsweek said its source could no longer confirm the report, and the magazine's editor apologized. Then, late today, under pressure from the White House, Newsweek retracted the entire story.'" The White House made 'em do it. Well, hey, you know, Bob, if that's true, why aren't you mad at music for buckling to the pressure? Why aren't you mad at Newsweek? What are you beating up on the administration for? None of this makes any sense. END of Excerpt
For the RushLimbaugh.com posting in full: www.rushlimbaugh.com -- Brent Baker
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