1. Olbermann to 'Un-American Bush': 'Have You No Sense of Decency?'
On Tuesday night, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann used his Countdown show to attack President Bush's speech in which Bush compared modern day terrorists to Nazis and talked about Osama bin Laden's stated plan to launch a "media campaign to create a wedge between the American people and their government." Reminiscent of his recent "Special Comment" attacking Donald Rumsfeld and comparing the activities of the Bush administration to those of fascists, Olbermann again used a "Special Comment" segment to attack Bush for "linking" al-Qaeda to the media, "that familiar bogeyman of the far right," and branded Bush's words as "un-American." Olbermann concluded by his own historical comparison, asking Bush: "Have you no sense of decency, sir?" an echo of remarks made by Joseph Welch to 1950s Senator Joseph McCarthy.

2. Couric: Clunky Partitions; 'Back to Drawing Board' in Terror War?
The new CBS Evening News with Katie Couric showcased her over correspondents (in a change from Schieffer's day she handled the opening plugs for upcoming stories), spotlighted her legs (at the top of the show, as she sat with an interviewee and stood in front of the anchor desk at the end of the program) and marked the Early Show-ization of the evening newscast with stories crammed into gimmicky segment titles. On the political agenda front, Couric opened with a topic apart from Tuesday's events: Setbacks in Afghanistan: "In the War on Terror, you have to wonder: Is it back to the drawing board?" While ABC and NBC aired stories on President Bush's speech about the dedication of terrorists and the Democratic reaction, CBS ran a story on Bush's arguments and then countered them with Couric interviewing New York Times columnist Tom Friedman who mocked Bush: "He's saying we're in the fight of our life, that the World War III of our generation, but let's have a tax cut." Friedman also lamented: "We're a country that is seen widely around the world as exporting fear and not hope."

3. Snow Hits NBC's Gregory for Forwarding Democratic Talking Points
A non-televised White House press gaggle Tuesday morning, Editor & Publisher reported online, "turned rancorous with NBC's David Gregory telling Press Secretary Tony Snow, 'Don't point your finger at me,' and Snow accusing the newsman of being 'rude' and delivering Democratic talking points." E&P recounted: "Snow got into a tussle with Gregory after the NBC journalist told him, in a lengthy remark, that the public may wonder why the President's statement and report today on the war on terror did not admit more failings on the administration's part. Snow observed that he had nicely summarized 'the Democratic point of view,' and Gregory took exception to this."

4. "Top Ten Signs Katie Couric Doesn't Give a Damn"
Letterman's "Top Ten Signs Katie Couric Doesn't Give a Damn."

Olbermann to 'Un-American Bush': 'Have
You No Sense of Decency?'

     On Tuesday night, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann used his Countdown show to attack President Bush's speech in which Bush compared modern day terrorists to Nazis and talked about Osama bin Laden's stated plan to launch a "media campaign to create a wedge between the American people and their government." Reminiscent of his recent "Special Comment" attacking Donald Rumsfeld and comparing the activities of the Bush administration to those of fascists, Olbermann again used a "Special Comment" segment to attack Bush for "linking" al-Qaeda to the media, "that familiar bogeyman of the far right," and branded Bush's words as "un-American."

     The Countdown host accused President Bush and Vice President Cheney of "often attacking freedom of speech, and freedom of dissent, and freedom of the press." Olbermann also bizarrely took exception with Bush comparing terrorists to Nazis, arguing that terrorists would be "emboldened" by the comparison. Olbermann concluded by his own historical comparison, asking Bush: "Have you no sense of decency, sir?" an echo of remarks made by Joseph Welch to 1950s Senator Joseph McCarthy.

     [This item, by Geoff Dickens, was posted Tuesday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org. The video and audio will be added to the posted version of this CyberAlert item, but the meantime, to watch the Real or Windows Media clip, or to listen to the MP3 audio, go to: newsbusters.org ]
     Below is a complete transcript of Olbermann's "Special Comment," which was also posted on his Bloggermann blog site ( www.msnbc.msn.com ), from the September 5 Countdown show:

     "And now a special comment about the President's speech today. It is to our deep national shame, and ultimately it will be to the President's deep public regret, that he has followed his Secretary of Defense down the path of trying to tie those loyal Americans who disagree with his policies, or even question their effectiveness or execution, to the Nazis of the past, and the al-Qaeda of the present.
     "Today, in the same subtle terms in which Mr. Bush and his colleagues muddied the clear line separating Iraq and 9/11, without ever actually saying so, the President quoted a purported Osama Bin Laden letter that spoke of launching, quote, 'a media campaign to create a wedge between the American people and their government.'
     "Make no mistake here, the intent of that is to get us to confuse the psychotic scheming of an international terrorist, with that familiar bogeyman of the far right, the, quote, 'media,' unquote. The President and the Vice President and others have often attacked freedom of speech, and freedom of dissent, and freedom of the press.
     "Now, Mr. Bush has signaled that his unparalleled and unprincipled attack on reporting has a new and venomous side angle: The attempt to link, by the simple expediency of one word, 'media,' the honest, patriotic, indeed vital questions and questioning from American reporters, with the evil of al-Qaeda propaganda. That linkage is more than just indefensible. It is un-American. Mr. Bush and his colleagues have led us before to such waters. We will not drink again.
     "And the President's re-writing and sanitizing of history so it fits the expediencies of domestic politics today, is just as false, and just as scurrilous."
     George W. Bush from speech: "A failed Austrian painter published a book in which he explained his intention to build an Aryan super state in Germany and take revenge on Europe and eradicate the Jews. The world ignored Hitler's words and paid a terrible price."
     Olbermann: "Whatever the true nature of al-Qaeda and other international terrorist threats, to ceaselessly compare them to the Nazi state of Germany serves only to embolden them. Moreover, Mr. Bush, you are accomplishing in part what Osama bin Laden and others seek, a fearful American populace, easily manipulated, and willing to throw away any measure of restraint, any loyalty to our own ideals and freedoms, for the comforting illusion of safety.
     "It thus becomes necessary to remind the President that his administration's recent Nazi 'kick' is an awful and a cynical thing. And it becomes necessary to reach back into our history, for yet another quote, from yet another time and to ask it of Mr. Bush: 'Have you no sense of decency, sir?'"

     (The August 31 CyberAlert, "Olbermann Blasts Rumsfeld as a 'Quack' Pushing 'Fascism,'" recounted, with video:
     MSNBC's Keith Olbermann on Wednesday night used his Countdown show to deliver a vitriolic personal attack on Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, "a reality check of Donald Rumsfeld's incendiary speech, a special comment on his attack on your right to disagree." Olbermann concluded his program with a six-minute diatribe against Rumsfeld: "The man who sees absolutes, where all other men see nuances and shades of meaning, is either a prophet, or a quack. Donald H. Rumsfeld is not a prophet." Olbermann equated the Bush administration with "the English government of Neville Chamberlain" which "knew that its staunchest critics needed to be marginalized and isolated." The MSNBC star charged, "The confusion is about whether this Secretary of Defense, and this administration, are in fact now accomplishing what they claim the terrorists seek: The destruction of our freedoms, the very ones for which the same veterans Mr. Rumsfeld addressed yesterday in Salt Lake City, so valiantly fought." The U.S., Olbermann asserted before concluding with Edward R. Murrow's "we must not confuse dissent with disloyalty," now "faces a new type of fascism." See: www.mrc.org )

Couric: Clunky Partitions; 'Back to Drawing
Board' in Terror War?

     The new CBS Evening News with Katie Couric showcased her over correspondents (in a change from Schieffer's day she handled the opening plugs for upcoming stories), spotlighted her legs (at the top of the show, as she sat with an interviewee and stood in front of the anchor desk at the end of the program) and marked the Early Show-ization of the evening newscast with stories crammed into gimmicky segment titles: "CBS News Briefing" (four stories in 40 seconds), "CBS News Snap Shot" ("exclusive" pictures of Suri Cruise which Couric giddily touted as "proof positive that yessiree, she does exist") and a "freeSpeech" commentary in which filmmaker Morgan Spurlock railed against how the media paint Americans into extremist positions. Over new theme music, the voice of Walter Cronkite announced: "This is the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric."

     On the political agenda front, Couric opened with a topic apart from Tuesday's events: Setbacks in Afghanistan as the new female anchor handed off to female correspondent Lara Logan: "In the War on Terror, you have to wonder: Is it back to the drawing board? It's easy to forget Afghanistan is where that war began, and that 21,000 U.S. servicemen and women are still there. Now, nearly five years after U.S. forces defeated the Taliban and scattered the al-Qaeda terrorists they were protecting, the Taliban and their terror tactics are back." While ABC and NBC aired stories on President Bush's speech about the dedication of terrorists and the Democratic reaction, CBS ran a story on Bush's arguments and then countered them with Couric interviewing New York Times columnist Tom Friedman who mocked Bush: "He's saying we're in the fight of our life, that the World War III of our generation, but let's have a tax cut." Friedman also lamented: "We're a country that is seen widely around the world as exporting fear and not hope."

     [This item was posted Tuesday night, with video/audio, on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org. The video and audio will be added to the posted version of this CyberAlert item, but the meantime, to watch the Real or Windows Media clip, or to listen to the MP3 audio, go to: newsbusters.org ]

     Couric ended her inaugural broadcast by saying she hadn't come up with a sign-off, and then played video of several, including Dan Rather's "courage," the "Ted Baxter" character from the Mary Tyler Moore Show's "Saying goodnight and good news" and "Ron Burgundy" in the movie, Anchorman, "You stay classy San Diego."

     The MRC's Brad Wilmouth corrected the video against the closed-captioning to provide these transcripts of Couric's first night.

     First, the opening of September 5 CBS Evening News, which Couric read while standing, and then appeared behind the anchor desk following Cronkite's intonation of the program name:

     Couric: "I'm Katie Couric, tonight, it was the first front in the war on terror, and in Afghanistan now the Taliban are back with a vengeance. Lara Logan has an unprecedented encounter with al Qaeda's best friends. A gusher in the gulf. The biggest U.S. oil find in years, but does that mean you'll find cheaper prices at the pump? 'Free Speech.' Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, and we're giving folks a chance to express them right here."
     Norman Spurlock: "Nobody wants to hear what we have to say because we don't foam at the mouth, call your momma names or say anything that's gonna juice the ratings."
     Couric: "And in something we're calling 'Snap Shots,' Vanity Fair has the baby picture everyone has been waiting for. And tonight, so do we."
     Audio of Walter Cronkite: "This is the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric."
     Katie Couric, at anchor desk: "Hi, everyone. I'm very happy to be with you tonight. For many Americans today, it was back to work and back to school. But in the War on Terror, you have to wonder: Is it back to the drawing board? It's easy to forget Afghanistan is where that war began, and that 21,000 U.S. servicemen and women are still there. Now, nearly five years after U.S. forces defeated the Taliban and scattered the al-Qaeda terrorists they were protecting, the Taliban and their terror tactics are back. This year, roadside bombings are up 30 percent, suicide bombings up 100 percent. More than 100 U.S. and NATO troops have been killed. In response, the allies have launched a counter-offensive against the Taliban, killing as many as 60 today alone. Our chief foreign correspondent, Lara Logan, had unprecedented access to some Taliban fighters in one of their new strongholds in Ghazni province. Here's her exclusive report."

     Second, Couric's taped sit-down with Tom Friedman, which aired just after Jim Axelrod's look at Bush's speech on the War on Terrorism:

     Couric: "Few people have written about the War on Terror as extensively as New York Times columnist Tom Friedman. I spoke to him a short time ago and asked him about the President's latest efforts to shore up support for the war."
     Tom Friedman, New York Times columnist: "What is the President saying, Katie? He's saying we're in the fight of our life, that the World War III of our generation, but let's have a tax cut and shrink the size of our armed forces. We're in the fight of our life, Katie, but let's only send enough troops in Iraq to depose Saddam Hussein, but not enough to control the borders and really create a secure environment for democracy to flourish there. We've been summoned to D-Day, but not really given the moral, strategic, economic and political strategy to win D-Day at all."
     Couric: "Meanwhile, we saw the Taliban is back in a big way and is once again a big threat. Things seem to be going well in Afghanistan. What happened? Why is it unraveling now?"
     Friedman: "Well, you know, Katie, it's really a smaller version of the Iraq story, which is 'It's security, security, security.' What Lara Logan's piece really shows, where American forces are present in numbers, where they create a secure environment, good things flower. Where they're not present, bad things happen."
     Couric: "Everyone, needless to say, is looking toward the fifth anniversary of September 11th. And everyone is asking this question: Are we safer now than we were? What do you think?"
     Friedman: "Well, you know, in some ways, yes, in some ways, no. Obviously, we've done a lot more in this country to take seriously the threat at our borders, through immigration and whatnot, but at the same time, you know, one really weeps for that moment of solidarity in this country, after 9/11. You know, we, as a country, have always historically been in the business of exporting hope and not fear. And in the last few years, we've really reversed that. We're a country that is seen widely around the world as exporting fear and not hope."
     Couric: "Is there any way to change that?"
     Friedman: "And we've got to get back to that."
     Couric: "But how do you do that?"
     Friedman: "Well, you know, part of it, it really starts at the top. It really starts with the President and others. There's nothing wrong with highlighting the threats we face, but we've got to get back to that America, you know, that people look to as that kind of naive optimistic place as well."

Snow Hits NBC's Gregory for Forwarding
Democratic Talking Points

     A non-televised White House press gaggle Tuesday morning, Editor & Publisher reported online, "turned rancorous with NBC's David Gregory telling Press Secretary Tony Snow, 'Don't point your finger at me,' and Snow accusing the newsman of being 'rude' and delivering Democratic talking points." E&P recounted: "Snow got into a tussle with Gregory after the NBC journalist told him, in a lengthy remark, that the public may wonder why the President's statement and report today on the war on terror did not admit more failings on the administration's part. Snow observed that he had nicely summarized 'the Democratic point of view,' and Gregory took exception to this."

     E&P provided this transcript:

Q Actually, Tony, I don't think that's fair, if you look at the facts. If you look at the facts.

MR. SNOW: Well, I do, because -- no, because, for instance-

Q No, no, no. No, I don't think you should be able to just wipe that, kind of dismiss the question-

MR. SNOW: Well, let me-

Q It's not a Democratic argument, Tony.

MR. SNOW: Let me answer the question, David.

Q But hold on, let's not let you get away with saying that's a Democratic argument.

MR. SNOW: Okay, let me -- let's not let you get away with being rude. Let me just answer the question, and you can come back at me.

Q Excuse me. Don't point your finger at me. I'm not being rude.

MR. SNOW: Yes, you are.

Q Don't try to dismiss me as making a Democratic argument, Tony, when I'm speaking fact.

MR. SNOW: Well, okay -- well, no-

Q You can do that to the Democrats; don't do it to me.

MR. SNOW: No, I'm doing it to you because the second part was factually tendentious, okay? Now, when you were talking about the fact that it failed to adapt, that's just flat wrong. And you will be -- there has been -- there have been repeated attempts to try to adapt to military realities, to diplomatic realities, to development of new weapons and tools on the part of al Qaeda, including the very creative use of the Internet. So the idea that somehow we're staying the course is just wrong. It is absolutely wrong.

     END of Excerpt

     For the September 5 E&P article in full: www.editorandpublisher.com

"Top Ten Signs Katie Couric Doesn't Give
a Damn"

     To mark Katie Couric's assumption Tuesday night of the CBS Evening News anchor chair, a Late Show "Top Ten" list from the archive. As aired on the May 10 Late Show with David Letterman (and run in the May 11 CyberAlert), the "Top Ten Signs Katie Couric Doesn't Give a Damn." Late Show home page: www.cbs.com

10. Addresses every guest as "my dawg"

9. Told Matthew McConaughey she'd rather drink Drano than see his new movie

8. Instead of waving to bystanders gathered outside the studio, she gives them the finger

7. During a cooking demonstration, she ashed her cig in the foie gras

6. Segments are regularly interrupted by her "My Humps" cell phone ring tone

5. The brand new CBS eye tattoo

4. Just holds newspaper up to the camera

3. Long awkward pauses while she stares at her watch

2. "This is Today" replaced by "This is soooooo yesterday"

1. Introduces a new feature: "Who gives a rat's ass where Matt Lauer is?"

-- Brent Baker

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