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1. Olbermann: Conspiracy of Terror Alerts to Cover Bush's Bad Days On Wednesday night, viewers of MSNBC's Countdown got to see host Keith Olbermann elaborate on his latest conspiracy theory during a segment titled "The Nexus of Politics and Terror," in which Olbermann outlined ten of what he referred to in the segment's introduction as "13 similar coincidences -- a political downturn for the administration, followed by a terror event, a change in alert status, an arrest, a warning." After plugging this special segment on his show for the last couple of nights, the Countdown host devoted 24 minutes of his hour-long show to the topic (more than half his non-commercial time), beginning about 8:28pm EDT. Olbermann went through a timeline of terror-related events which he believed suspiciously coincided with political problems for the Bush administration, and then followed up with a brief commentary before proceeding to an interview with former Homeland Security Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson for a rebuttal. 2. Couric Scolds Rove & Frets Over Day Care, Insists She's "Purple" Katie Couric's morning of delivering liberal bias and then claiming she's just a "purple" kind of woman. Interviewing Chris Matthews on Wednesday's Today about Karl Rove appearing again before the grand jury probing the Valerie Plame case, Couric proposed the supposedly inappropriate behavior is a norm in Bush world: "And Chris isn't it more than just Iraq? Isn't it, doesn't it speak about the way this White House possibly operates in the minds of some?" Two hours later, interviewing two woman pollsters who have written a book about how woman aren't as split as men into blue and red categories, Couric, who was wearing a purple outfit, asserted that "you say something that I've actually said in the past, we're really all purple." A minute later, Couric, displayed a very blue state interest in subsidized day care and mandated paid leave concern as she fretted about how "if women are so powerful why isn't there better day care in this country or why can't, why isn't day care taken more seriously for working women? Why isn't it?" 3. CNN's Cafferty and Velshi Amused By Shot at Bush's Intelligence CNN's Jack Cafferty and Ali Velshi were amused Wednesday afternoon by an e-mailer's shot at President Bush's intelligence. On The Situation Room, Cafferty read an e-mail from Bonnie in Arnold, Maryland, who wrote about Bush taking Harriet Miers' religious views into consideration, that "'of course the President should consider her religious beliefs, since he would be unable to evaluate her intellectually.'" Cafferty added: "That's harsh." Fill-in Situation Room co-host Ali Velshi echoed: "Ouch!" But then Cafferty asserted: "Yeah, but funny." To which Velshi, standing next to a smiling Kyra Phillips, agreed: "It is." 4. Variance on Miers Shows Evangelicals Not "Simple and Obedient" ABC's Dan Harris concluded a Wednesday World News Tonight story, about disagreement in the Christian Right about the Harriet Miers nomination, by relaying how they all say the difference of opinion "disproves what they call a common misconception -- that evangelicals are so simple and obedient that they always walk in lockstep with one another, and with the President." Indeed, that was a view forwarded in this infamous insertion in a February 1, 1993 Washington Post news story by then-Post reporter Michael Weisskopf: "Corporations pay public relations firms millions of dollars to contrive the kind of grass-roots response that Falwell or Pat Robertson can galvanize in a televised sermon. Their followers are largely poor, uneducated, and easy to command." 5. "Top 10 Thoughts Going Through George Bush's Mind at This Moment" Over a picture of President Bush hammering a nail into a wall of a Habitat for Humanity house in Louisiana on Monday, Letterman's "Top Ten Thoughts Going Through George W. Bush's Mind at This Moment."
to Cover Bush's Bad Days On Wednesday night, viewers of MSNBC's Countdown got to see host Keith Olbermann elaborate on his latest conspiracy theory during a segment titled "The Nexus of Politics and Terror," in which Olbermann outlined ten of what he referred to in the segment's introduction as "13 similar coincidences -- a political downturn for the administration, followed by a terror event, a change in alert status, an arrest, a warning." After plugging this special segment on his show for the last couple of nights, the Countdown host devoted 24 minutes of his hour-long show to the topic, beginning about 8:28pm EDT. Olbermann went through a timeline of terror-related events which he believed suspiciously coincided with political problems for the Bush administration, and then followed up with a brief commentary before proceeding to an interview with former Homeland Security Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson for a rebuttal. [This item was posted late Wednesday night, on the MRC's NewsBusters.org blog, by the MRC's Brad Wilmouth. To add your comments, go to: newsbusters.org ] Even though Olbermann thought this topic credible enough to devote such a lengthy segment to it, he briefly undercut the rationale for this exercise during his commentary by speculating that "We could probably construct a similar timeline of terror events and warnings and their seeming relationship to the opening of new Wal-Marts around the country." He ended his commentary by contending that "if merely a reasonable case can be made that any of these juxtapositions of events are more than just coincidences, it underscores the need for questions to be asked in this country, questions about what is prudence and what is fear-mongering, questions about which is the threat of death by terror and which is the terror of threat." After a commercial break, the Countdown host then proceeded to an interview with Hutchinson. Regarding Olbermann's theory that last week's terror warning in New York City might have been orchestrated for political purposes, Hutchinson pointed out Olbermann's flawed logic by arguing that "if you accept that theory, you're arguing that because Karl Rove had a bad press day, the mayor of New York goes on TV and expresses a terrorist threat concern. And that to me does not measure up to logical analysis." Oddly, Olbermann has still never elaborated on what logic he believes could be behind this theory, even though MSNBC terrorism analyst Evan Kohlmann similarly argued against it on the show last Thursday night, and even though Olbermann himself has repeatedly stated that it was New York City authorities who called the terror alert while the White House actually tried to discredit its necessity. Below is a complete transcript of Olbermann's October 12 "Nexus of Politics and Terror" segment, followed by his interview with Hutchinson:
Keith Olbermann: "Last Thursday on this news hour, I referred to the latest terror threat, the reported bomb plot against the New York City subway system, in terms of its timing. President Bush's speech about the war on terror had come earlier the same day, as had the breaking news of the possible indictment of Karl Rove in the CIA leak investigation. I suggested that preliminary research suggested that in the last three years, there had been about 13 similar coincidences -- a political downturn for the administration, followed by a terror event, a change in alert status, an arrest, a warning. Our third story in the Countdown tonight, 'The Nexus of Politics and Terror.' We figured we had better put that list of coincidences on the public record. You will find 10 of them in this report here. The other three will be in the blog entry that will be going up tonight. This contraction is purely for the sake of time. It permits us to get the reaction of the former Undersecretary of Homeland Security, Asa Hutchison, after this commentary. We bring you these coincidences reminding you and ourselves here that perhaps the simplest piece of wisdom in the world is called a 'logical fallacy.' Just because event A occurs and then event B occurs, that does not automatically mean that event A caused event B. But one set of introductory comments from an informed observer seems particularly relevant as we examine these coincidences. On May 10 of this year, after his resignation, former Secretary of Homeland Security Ridge put back on the terror alert level changes that were issued on his watch. Mr. Ridge said, 'More often than not, we were the least inclined to raise it. Sometimes we disagreed with the intelligence assessment. Sometimes we thought even if the intelligence was good, you don't necessarily put the country on [alert]... there were times when some people were really aggressive about raising it, and we said, 'For that?'"
"Number three. February 5, 2003. Secretary of State Powell tells the United Nations Security Council of Iraq's concealment of weapons, including 18 mobile biological weapons laboratories, justifying a U.N. or U.S. first strike. Many in the U.N. are doubtful. Months later, much of the information proves untrue. February 7, 2003. Two days later, as anti-war demonstrations continue to take place around the globe:"
"Number four. July 23, 2003. The White House admits that the CIA, months before the President's State of the Union Address, expressed strong doubts about the claim that Iraq had attempted to buy uranium from Niger. On the 24th, the Congressional report on the 9/11 attacks is issued. It criticizes government at all levels. It reveals an FBI informant had been living with two of the future hijackers. It concludes that Iraq had no link to al-Qaeda. Twenty-eight pages of the report are redacted. On the 26th, American troops are accused of beating Iraqi prisoners. July 29, 2003. Three days later, amid all of the negative headlines:"
"Number five. December 17, 2003. 9/11 Commission co-chair Thomas Keane says the attacks were preventable. The next day, a federal appeals court says the government cannot detain suspected radiation bomber Jose Padilla indefinitely without charges. And the chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq, Dr. David Kay, who has previously announced he has found no weapons of mass destruction there, announces he will resign his post. December 21, 2003. Four days later, the Sunday before Christmas:"
"Number six. March 30, 2004. The new chief weapons inspector in Iraq, Charles Duelfer, tells Congress, 'We have still not found any WMD in that country.' And after weeks of having refused to appear before the 9/11 Commission, Condoleezza Rice relents and agrees to testify. On the 31st, four Blackwater USA contractors working in Iraq are murdered. Their mutilated bodies dragged through the streets and left on public display in Fallujah. The role of civilian contractors in Iraq is now widely questioned. April 2, 2004:"
"Number seven. May 16, 2004. Secretary of State Powell appears on Meet the Press. Moderator Tim Russert closes by asking him about the enormous personal credibility Powell had placed before the U.N. in laying out a case against Saddam Hussein. An aide to Powell interrupts the question, saying the interview is over."
"Number eight. July 6, 2004. Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry selects Senator John Edwards as his vice presidential running mate, producing a small bump in the election opinion polls and producing a huge swing in media attention towards the Democratic campaign. July 8, 2004. Two days later."
"Number nine. July 29, 2004. At their party convention in Boston, the Democrats formally nominate John Kerry as their candidate for President. As in the wake of any convention, the Democrats now dominate the media attention over the subsequent weekend. August 1, 2004, Monday morning. Three days later."
"Number Ten. Last Thursday, at 10 a.m. Eastern time, the President addresses the National Endowment for Democracy, once again emphasizing the importance of the war on terror, and insisting his government has broken up at least 10 terrorist plots since 9/11. At 3 p.m. Eastern time, five hours after the President's speech has begun, the Associated Press reports that Karl Rove will testify again to the CIA leak grand jury and that special prosecutor Fitzgerald has told Rove he cannot guarantee that he will not be indicted." "Coincidences are coincidences. We could probably construct a similar timeline of terror events and warnings and their seeming relationship to the opening of new Wal-Marts around the country. Are these coincidences signs that the government's approach has worked because none of the announced threats have ever materialized? Are they signs that the government has not yet mastered how and when to inform the public? Is there, in addition to the fog of war, a simple, rather benign fog of intelligence? But if merely a reasonable case can be made that any of these juxtapositions of events are more than just coincidences, it underscores the need for questions to be asked in this country, questions about what is prudence and what is fear-mongering, questions about which is the threat of death by terror and which is the terror of threat. Back with the former Undersecretary of Homeland Security, Asa Hutchison, after this."
Olbermann, following an ad break: "And our number two story in the Countdown, the reaction to my commentary, 'The Nexus of Politics and Terror.' My guest was the Undersecretary of the Department of Homeland Security from January of 2003 until January of this year. He is now a candidate for governor of Arkansas. Asa Hutchison joins us tonight from Washington. Our great thanks for your time tonight, sir."
Hutchinson: "Oh, I suppose that it's an appropriate question, particularly in today's environment. But I watched your piece, which was certainly interesting, but I don't think it measures up to a close analysis. If you accept that theory, you're arguing that because Karl Rove had a bad press day, the mayor of New York goes on TV and expresses a terrorist threat concern. And that to me does not measure up to logical analysis. Whenever you look back from my experience, and I was there probably for five of those instances, every time it was the intelligence community bringing forth facts that we looked at and made a determination on. And I don't remember politics ever being considered or discussed. It was, the only thing you have is credibility, and if you factor in politics, you lose your credibility very quickly."
Insists She's "Purple" Katie Couric's morning of delivering liberal bias and then claiming she's just a "purple" kind of woman. Interviewing Chris Matthews on Wednesday's Today about Karl Rove appearing again before the grand jury probing the Valerie Plame case, Couric proposed the supposedly inappropriate behavior is a norm in Bush world: "And Chris isn't it more than just Iraq? Isn't it, doesn't it speak about the way this White House possibly operates in the minds of some?" Two hours later, interviewing two woman pollsters who have written a book about how woman aren't as split as men into blue and red categories, Couric, who was wearing a purple outfit, asserted that "you say something that I've actually said in the past, we're really all purple." A minute later, Couric, displayed a very blue state interest in subsidized day care and mandated paid leave concern as she fretted about how "if women are so powerful why isn't there better day care in this country or why can't, why isn't day care taken more seriously for working women? Why isn't it?"
Couric's first question to Matthews, who appeared from Washington, DC during the 7am half hour of the October 12 Today: "Okay this story is full of Washington intrigue and twists and turns. Who leaked? Or did someone leak the name of Valerie Plame, a CIA undercover agent in retaliation for a critical article her husband, former ambassador Joe Wilson, wrote regarding the rationale for invading Iraq. Having said that why should the average American care about this story, Chris?" Two hours later, in the 9am half hour, set up another interview segment: "And we're continuing our conversation with Celinda Lake a Democrat and Kellyanne Conway a Republican, the co-authors of What Women Really Want: How American Women Are Quietly Erasing Political, Racial, Class and Religious Lines to Change the Way We Live. Next time girls get a shorter title, will you?" Couric's first question: "I know, welcome back. You know we were talking earlier and basically what you were saying is that women in this country are a much more cohesive unit than you might think hearing all the jazz about red states versus blue states. You say something that I've actually said in the past, we're really all purple, you know and, and, and you can, you decided to do this book because?" Couric's second question: "And Kellyanne do you think women are being misrepresented and mis-characterized today in terms of who they are, what they want and where they stand."
Couric, in her third question, showed her pleasure at how woman are exercising political power: "Well you mentioned how powerful women are and lest we think otherwise I just want to read a couple of statistics. Women control 80 percent of all consumer spending. They either make the decision themselves or strongly influence or veto 90 percent of all car purchases. They do 80 percent of all online shopping, 80 percent of healthcare decisions are made by them. Women are now making or seriously participating in the investment and retirement plan decisions for their families. One out of four companies in America is owned by a woman. I mean obviously, I mean I thought these statistics were really heartening because women do wield a lot of power in this country. How can they better use it? In other words I know that you guys talk about what they care about. It's H.E.R.S, right? Healthcare, what else?"
Couric then proposed: "For example I said to you during the commercial if women are so powerful why isn't there better daycare in this country or why can't, why isn't daycare taken more seriously for working women? Why isn't it?" The MRC's Geoffrey Dickens posted a NewsBusters.org posting Wednesday about Couric's claim she's purple. To add your comment to his blog entry go to: newsbusters.org
at Bush's Intelligence CNN's Jack Cafferty and Ali Velshi were amused Wednesday afternoon by an e-mailer's shot at President Bush's intelligence. On The Situation Room, Cafferty read an e-mail from Bonnie in Arnold, Maryland, who wrote about Bush taking Harriet Miers' religious views into consideration, that "'of course the President should consider her religious beliefs, since he would be unable to evaluate her intellectually.'" Cafferty added: "That's harsh." Fill-in Situation Room co-host Ali Velshi echoed: "Ouch!" But then Cafferty asserted: "Yeah, but funny." To which Velshi, standing next to a smiling Kyra Phillips, agreed: "It is." The e-mail, read shortly before 4pm EDT, came in response to Cafferty's earlier question in which he made pretty clear where he stands: "Should Harriet Miers' religious beliefs have mattered to President Bush? What is that separation of church and state? I remember that from about the fifth grade or something."
At 3:53pm EDT, the MRC's Megan McCormack caught Cafferty's reading of some of the e-mails he received: "Paul writes from Jacksonville, Florida, 'Ruth Ginsberg's liberal and humanist views mattered to Bill Clinton. Why shouldn't Harriet Miers' religious beliefs matter to George W. Bush?' Ruie in Brownstown, Michigan, 'Come on, Jack. We know both these Supreme Court nominees have been Bush cronies for one reason, so they'll have to recuse themselves when Bush and Cheney's administration shenanigans are brought before the court.' And Bonnie writes from Arnold, Maryland, 'of course the president should consider her religious beliefs, since he would be unable to evaluate her intellectually.' That's harsh."
Not "Simple and Obedient" ABC's Dan Harris concluded a Wednesday World News Tonight story, about disagreement in the Christian Right about the Harriet Miers nomination, by relaying how they all say the difference of opinion "disproves what they call a common misconception -- that evangelicals are so simple and obedient that they always walk in lockstep with one another, and with the President." Indeed, that was a view forwarded in this infamous insertion in a February 1, 1993 Washington Post news story by then-Post reporter Michael Weisskopf: "Corporations pay public relations firms millions of dollars to contrive the kind of grass-roots response that Falwell or Pat Robertson can galvanize in a televised sermon. Their followers are largely poor, uneducated, and easy to command." Anchor Elizabeth Vargas set up the October 12 World News Tonight story, as corrected against the closed-captioning by the MRC's Brad Wilmouth: "President Bush's comments today about Harriet Miers and her religion were in part a reaction to a controversy sparked by one of the most influential evangelical leaders in the country. Dr. James Dobson said that he had been given confidential information about Ms. Miers which convinced him to support her nomination. Today, Mr. Dobson revealed what he had been told. Here's ABC's Dan Harris."
Harris began: "On a radio show broadcast to millions of Americans today, Dr. James Dobson explained himself."
Bush's Mind at This Moment" From the October 12 Late Show with David Letterman, over a picture of President Bush hammering a nail into a wall of a Habitat for Humanity house in Louisiana on Monday, the "Top Ten Thoughts Going Through George W. Bush's Mind at This Moment." Late Show home page: www.cbs.com 10. "This should make up for me waiting a week to respond to the hurricane" 9. "Dang, this is fun -- I should bring a hammer to cabinet meetings" 8. "Why won't they let me handle the power tools?" 7. "Great, another thing I'm not good at" 6. "This is the kind of thing we should be paying Halliburton 800 bucks an hour to do" 5. "Do I get to keep the hard hat?" 4. "It's Hammer Time!" 3. "I've got to finish pretending to build a house so I can go pretend to comfort people" 2. "Georgie's gonna need another five weeks off" 1. "Only thing Clinton ever nailed was that hefty intern"
-- Brent Baker
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