1. Spins on Lower Deficit: Projections Inflated and Show Inequality
The ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts on Tuesday delivered short items on how this year's budget deficit will be $296 billion, down substantially from the administration's predication of $423 billion, but while ABC anchor Kate Snow and CBS anchor Bob Schieffer stuck to how economic growth fueled increased tax revenue, NBC anchor Brian Williams decided to relay, without naming any names, a conspiracy theory: "Many economists and administration critics say the White House has deliberately inflated its own deficit projections in the past few years to score political points when the actual numbers came in lower." The Washington Post added negative caveats with this subheadline, "Long-Term Outlook Still Seen as Bleak," and by the third paragraph reporter Paul Blustein related a class warfare spin: "But the favorable news about the money rolling into the Treasury stems largely from shifts in the economy, including fatter corporate profits, executive bonuses and stock market gains, that reflect growing inequality, the administration's critics contend."

2. Jon Stewart to John Dean: 'Cheney, I'll Go With Him As Evil'
John Dean's tour for his Conservatives Without Conscience book continued Tuesday night on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Like Keith Olbermann on Monday night, Stewart honored Bush-hating author John Dean and his thesis, with softball questions like this: "This book though is almost a scientific approach to where, in some respects, where conservatism is going. Talk about that aspect of it." Stewart spun his thesis that conservatives are ignorant, not evil: "Do you believe it's a conscious effort on their part? When you say without conscience, that almost suggests that they are willfully ignoring the humanity of people. I sense with this government it's not that. It's more 'we have convinced ourselves of this certainty and rightness of this position and we will not deviate from that even if everything within our five senses tells us that everything we've done is wrong.' [Whoops, applause.] My point is that it's not evil in the sense of without conscience. It's ignorant in the sense of [in sort of a hillbilly voice] 'I did that?' You know, that kind of thing."

3. Rather: Conservative Critics Tar Me As 'Bomb-Throwing Bolshevik'
Washington Post TV reporter Lisa de Moraes reported Wednesday on Dan Rather's appearance before TV critics in Pasadena to promote his obscure new venture on HDNet -- how far the mighty have fallen! -- boasting he would not bow to right-wing pressure groups and "people who have the following view: Their view is, 'You report the news the way I want it reported or I'm going to make you pay a price and hang a sign around your neck saying you're a bomb-toting Bolshevik or something.'"

4. "Top Ten Chapter Titles in George W. Bush's Memoirs"
Letterman's "Top Ten Chapter Titles in George W. Bush's Memoirs."

Spins on Lower Deficit: Projections Inflated
and Show Inequality

     The ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts on Tuesday delivered short items on how this year's budget deficit will be $296 billion, down substantially from the administration's predication of $423 billion, but while ABC anchor Kate Snow and CBS anchor Bob Schieffer stuck to how economic growth fueled increased tax revenue, NBC anchor Brian Williams decided to relay, without naming any names, a conspiracy theory: "Many economists and administration critics say the White House has deliberately inflated its own deficit projections in the past few years to score political points when the actual numbers came in lower." The Washington Post added negative caveats with this subheadline, "Long-Term Outlook Still Seen as Bleak," and by the third paragraph reporter Paul Blustein related a class warfare spin: "But the favorable news about the money rolling into the Treasury stems largely from shifts in the economy, including fatter corporate profits, executive bonuses and stock market gains, that reflect growing inequality, the administration's critics contend."

     For Blustein's July 11 "Business" section article, "Smaller Budget Deficit Projected: Tax Cuts Credited; Long-Term Outlook Still Seen as Bleak," go to: www.washingtonpost.com

     Of the three anchors, only CBS's Schieffer noted the role of tax cuts, citing how President Bush "gave the credit to his tax cuts, saying they stimulated the economy and boosted the amount of money coming into the Treasury."

     On Monday, Clay Waters of the MRC's TimesWatch site recounted the Sunday New York Times downbeat spin on the lower deficit numbers, "Bush's Good News Deficit Continues in the Times." See: www.timeswatch.org

     [This item is adopted from a Tuesday night posting on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

     # Brian Williams, on the July 11 NBC Nightly News:
     "President Bush today presided over an event designed to trumpet the administration's so-called mid-session budget review. This is a duty that normally falls to a lower budget official and not the President, but the administration wanted to highlight new numbers showing that the budget deficit is going down. Last year's deficit was $318 billion. And last year the White House predicted this year's deficit would be $423 billion. Now, according to today's projections, this year's deficit will come in, in fact they say, at $296 billion, mostly because of increased tax revenue from corporations and wealthy Americans. Now many economists and administration critics say the White House has deliberately inflated its own deficit projections in the past few years to score political points when the actual numbers came in lower."

     # Substitute anchor Kate Snow on ABC's World News Tonight:
     "There's encouraging news about the federal budget tonight. The Bush administration said this year's deficit will be $296 billion, much smaller than the $423 billion shortfall forecast six months ago. President Bush said the improvement is the result of strong economic growth, which led to an unexpected surge in tax payments by corporations and wealthy Americans."

     # Bob Schieffer on the CBS Evening News:
     "It's a rule of Washington. When the news is good, the highest ranking official announces it. So today the President himself announced that the federal deficit this year will total $296 billion. That is 30 percent lower than he predicted back in February. He gave the credit to his tax cuts, saying they stimulated the economy and boosted the amount of money coming into the Treasury."

Jon Stewart to John Dean: 'Cheney, I'll
Go With Him As Evil'

     John Dean's tour for his Conservatives Without Conscience book continued Tuesday night on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Like Keith Olbermann on Monday night (see details at end of this item), Stewart honored Bush-hating author John Dean and his thesis, with softball questions like this: "This book though is almost a scientific approach to where, in some respects, where conservatism is going. Talk about that aspect of it." Stewart spun his thesis that conservatives are ignorant, not evil: "Do you believe it's a conscious effort on their part? When you say without conscience, that almost suggests that they are willfully ignoring the humanity of people. I sense with this government it's not that. It's more 'we have convinced ourselves of this certainty and rightness of this position and we will not deviate from that even if everything within our five senses tells us that everything we've done is wrong.' [Whoops, applause.] My point is that it's not evil in the sense of without conscience. It's ignorant in the sense of [in sort of a hillbilly voice] 'I did that?' You know, that kind of thing."

     Dean answered: "Absence of conscience doesn't necessarily mean evil. It means the ability to set aside what's right and wrong. When a vice president goes to the congress to lobby for torture, when the President threatens to veto.... "
     Stewart: "No, Cheney, I'll go with as evil. I'll go with him as evil." [Applause.]

     [This item, by the MRC's Tim Graham, was posted Wednesday morning on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

     Earlier in the segment, Stewart the comedian/intellectual theorized that perhaps the emerging conservative authoritarianism might be caused by external events, not internal psychology:
     "Do you believe that the conservative movement has been overtaken by -- I mean, authoritarian is another word for fascism -- or do you think that it's a weird confluence of events? An attack on American soil, a government that is unchecked by uh, an oppositional party, [applause] in some respects?"
     Dean: "First of all, it's proto-fascist. We're not there yet."
     Stewart, joking: "We'll get there. You've just got to believe, John. You've just got to believe. "
     Dean: "I'm hoping not."

     Stewart, perhaps needing a patriotic hymn as background music in the fight against incipient Bush-Cheney fascism, replied:
     "I think I have faith in the resiliency of this country, that these guys are not the worst we've seen or maybe even if they are, we're a reasonable enough place that the damage that they do will be repaired."

     As noted in Tuesday's CyberAlert, the Amazon.com page for Dean's book provides this summary, from Booklist, of Dean's premise which MSNBC's Olbermann found so compelling:
     "Dean takes a sincere, well-considered look at how conservative politics in the U.S. is veering dangerously close to authoritarianism, offering a penetrating and highly disturbing portrait of many of the major players in Republican politics and power. Looking back on the development of conservative politics in the U.S., Dean notes that conservatism is regressing to its authoritarian roots. Dean draws on five decades of social science research that details the personality traits of what are called 'double high authoritarians': self-righteous, mean-spirited, amoral, manipulative, bullying. He concludes that Chuck Colson, Pat Robertson, Newt Gingrich, and Tom DeLay are all textbook examples. Dean calls Vice-President Cheney 'the architect of Bush's authoritarian policies,' and deems Bush 'a mental lightweight with a strong right-wing authoritarian personality.'"

     That CyberAlert item, "Olbermann Plugs Dean's Attack on 'Authoritarian' Conservatives," recounted: On Monday's Countdown, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann hosted former Nixon White House counsel and frequent Bush administration critic John Dean to promote his latest book attacking conservatives, titled Conservatives Without Conscience, which the Countdown host labeled "an extraordinary document." Olbermann, who has a long history of bashing President Bush's tactics in the war on terrorism, provided Dean with a sympathetic, non-challenging forum to argue that modern conservatives are moving the Republican party toward "authoritarianism" as Dean tagged some conservatives, specifically George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, as having an "authoritarian personality," and labeled 23 percent of the population as "right-wing authoritarian followers" who are willing to "march over the cliff." For the full rundown: www.mrc.org

Rather: Conservative Critics Tar Me As
'Bomb-Throwing Bolshevik'

     Washington Post TV reporter Lisa de Moraes reported Wednesday on Dan Rather's appearance before TV critics in Pasadena to promote his obscure new venture on HDNet -- how far the mighty have fallen! -- boasting he would not bow to right-wing pressure groups and "people who have the following view: Their view is, 'You report the news the way I want it reported or I'm going to make you pay a price and hang a sign around your neck saying you're a bomb-toting Bolshevik or something.'"

     [This item, by Tim Graham, was posted Wednesday morning on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

     Lisa de Moraes related:

Rather acknowledged he comes to HDNet with "baggage."

"Yes, I have baggage -- I have the baggage of being a graduate of the journalism school of South Vietnam," he said.

He also acknowledged he was "biased -- I have a very strong bias toward independent journalism."

"Some of what you describe as 'baggage,'" he told one critic, "comes from people who have the following view: Their view is, 'You report the news the way I want it reported or I'm going to make you pay a price and hang a sign around your neck saying you're a bomb-toting Bolshevik or something.'"

     END of Excerpt

     For the July 12 column by de Moraes: www.washingtonpost.com

     This is a slightly different version of Rather's sign-hanging quote when he came under attack in 2004 for going on air with flimsy faxes from Kinko's claiming the momentous news that perhaps George W. Bush missed an Alabama flight physical or a dental checkup. Back then, he told USA Today:
     "People who are so passionately partisan politically or ideologically committed basically say, 'Because he won't report it our way, we're going to hang something bad around his neck and choke him with it, check him out of existence if we can, if not make him feel great pain.' They know that I'm fiercely independent and that's what drives them up a wall."

     We didn't want to check him out of existence, even if a job talking to six viewers on HDNet might feel like professional death to him.

"Top Ten Chapter Titles in George W.
Bush's Memoirs"

     From the July 11 Late Show with David Letterman, the "Top Ten Chapter Titles in George W. Bush's Memoirs." Late Show home page: www.cbs.com

10. "101 Ways I've Misspelled Condoleezza"

9. Why Mom and Dad Voted for Kerry"

8. "The Best Memos I've Ever Read"

7. "The War in Iraq, a 6-Foot Sandwich, and Other Things I Started But Couldn't Finish

6. "How to Lose an Election and Still Become President"

5. Good News America -- Just 923 More Days"

4. "1962-1964: The Cheerleader Years"

3. "Huh?"

2. "Bubba Was Right -- Monica Is Up for Anything"

1. "Chapter 20...Or Is That My Approval Rating?"

     CNN's Anderson Cooper is scheduled to appear Friday night on the Late Show with David Letterman.

-- Brent Baker

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