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1. Vieira: HRC's Book 'Imperative,' Should Admit War Vote 'Mistake' Interviewing Senator Hillary Clinton on Monday's Today, Meredith Vieira gushed over the relevance of her ten-year old It Takes a Village book and pressed her about running for President and why she won't admit her vote for the war was "a mistake?" Vieira began: "I want to start with It Takes a Village '07. Because this book came out ten years ago and a lot has happened in the past ten years that makes it I think even more imperative. That we will need a village to raise healthy secure children. We've had the war in Iraq, 9-11, the impact of the Internet. What is the most important thing we can do, as a nation, to guarantee that our children are safe and secure?" Vieira soon pushed the Senator: "Why wouldn't you run for President? I mean, the polls indicate that if you did run, you're the front runner." Vieira reminded Clinton how "other Senators who voted that way," for the war, "like Senators Kerry and Edwards have said, 'we feel, we regret it. It was a mistake.' You refuse to say it was a mistake. Why?" 2. MSNBC Gives Hour to Olbermann's 'Special Comment' Attacks on Bush On Monday's Countdown, viewers were treated to a special retrospective of MSNBC host Keith Olbermann's series of "Special Comment" attacks on the Bush administration, featuring four of Olbermann's favorites. An the announcer teased the show glorifying Olbermann while intermixing complimentary quotes from various media with clips of Olbermann reading his "Special Comments," such as: "The President has been given the greatest pass for incompetence and malfeasance in American history." The announcer read quotes calling Olbermann "hot," "charismatic," "witty," and "a cross between Edward R. Murrow and Jon Stewart." The announcer further labeled the featured rants as "Keith's most passionate, most honest, most compelling 'Special Comments.'" 3. CNN Highlights AP's Bias: Arrested Illegals Called 'Victims' Filling in for Lou Dobbs on Friday night, CNN's Kitty Pilgrim highlighted a case of bias at the "supposedly objective" Associated Press, which led a dispatch about the federal roundup Tuesday of workers at meatpacking plants, by referring to how "hordes of police" had "stormed" the plants, but "the illegal workers arrested may not have been the only victims." Pilgrim marveled: "That's right, the Associated Press calling illegal aliens -- including some charged with stealing the identities of hundreds of Americans -- it called them 'victims.'" 4. NBC Argues 'Clinton Years' Economy Better than Current Economy On Saturday's NBC Nightly News, while filing a story on the "mind-boggling" bonuses going to those who are "striking it rich" on Wall Street, correspondent Mike Taibbi downplayed the strength of the current economy in comparison to the "Clinton years," and also pointed out the "struggle" of "working Americans." While Taibbi argued that his reference to the "Clinton years" was a "chronological, not political distinction," he praised that period for "lifting more boats" while finding fault in the present. Taibbi: "But to many, today's version of the haves and have-nots feels different. In the boom of the Clinton years -- and I'm talking a chronological, not a political distinction -- the rising tide of that bull market truly did lift all boats, or at least a whole lot more of them." 5. WPost Mildly Calls Bush-Hating Ballet a Work of 'Zealous Gadfly' In the era of Bill Clinton, the liberal media was not shy about locating "Clinton haters." In March of 1994, Washington Post reporter Ann Devroy reported from the front of conservatism, "Bill Clinton's enemies are making their hatred clear, with a burning intensity and in some case with an organized passion." She listed as haters Rush Limbaugh, G. Gordon Liddy, Michael Reagan, and so on. But the Post doesn't seem to use the term "Bush hater," even when Bush haters are dancing right in front of them. See Monday's Style section for a feature on a Bush-hating ballet. Susan Kaufman's review of a Kennedy Center performance by the Paul Taylor Dance Company is mildly headlined "Paul Taylor, Hitting Close To Home: At His 'Banquet of Vultures,' George Bush Is the Centerpiece." What a treat, another "antiwar" artist trashing the warmongers, with Bush cast as uncaring about troop deaths, and even committing one himself. Vieira: HRC's Book 'Imperative,' Should Admit War Vote 'Mistake' Interviewing Senator Hillary Clinton on Monday's Today, Meredith Vieira gushed over the relevance of her ten-year old It Takes a Village book and pressed her about running for President and why she won't admit her vote for the war was "a mistake?" Vieira began: "I want to start with It Takes a Village '07. Because this book came out ten years ago and a lot has happened in the past ten years that makes it I think even more imperative. That we will need a village to raise healthy secure children. We've had the war in Iraq, 9-11, the impact of the Internet. What is the most important thing we can do, as a nation, to guarantee that our children are safe and secure?" Vieira soon pushed the Senator: "Why wouldn't you run for President? I mean, the polls indicate that if you did run, you're the front runner." Vieira reminded Clinton how "other Senators who voted that way," for the war, "like Senators Kerry and Edwards have said, 'we feel, we regret it. It was a mistake.' You refuse to say it was a mistake. Why?" The MRC's Justin McCarthy corrected the closed-captioning against the video to provide this transcript of the session in the 7am half hour of the December 18 Today:
Meredith Vieira: "Senator Clinton's best selling book, It Takes a Village, has just been re-released. Senator, good morning to you."
MSNBC Gives Hour to Olbermann's 'Special Comment' Attacks on Bush On Monday's Countdown, viewers were treated to a special retrospective of MSNBC host Keith Olbermann's series of "Special Comment" attacks on the Bush administration, featuring four of Olbermann's favorites. An the announcer teased the show glorifying Olbermann while intermixing complimentary quotes from various media with clips of Olbermann reading his "Special Comments," such as: "The President has been given the greatest pass for incompetence and malfeasance in American history." The announcer read quotes calling Olbermann "hot," "charismatic," "witty," and "a cross between Edward R. Murrow and Jon Stewart." The announcer further labeled the featured rants as "Keith's most passionate, most honest, most compelling 'Special Comments.'" [This item, by Brad Wilmouth, was posted Monday night, with video, on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org. The audio/video will be added to the posted version of this CyberAlert. But in the meantime, to watch the Real or Windows Media video, or to listen to the MP3 audio of MSNBC's promo at the top of Monday's Countdown, go to: newsbusters.org ] The taped highlights program is sure to be run several more times by MSNBC over the holidays. As Olbermann introduced the show, he described his "Special Comments" as "what needed to be said on behalf of men who felt their voice ignored or stilled," and contended that "nobody else with a platform like mine was going to say any of this." Then came a replay of the MSNBC host's "Special Comment" delivered on September 11, 2006, during which Olbermann had accused President Bush of committing the "impeachable" offense of "lying," and accused Bush of committing a "crime against every [September 11th] victim" for not building a September 11th memorial sooner. For video and a transcript, check the September 12 CyberAlert: www.mrc.org After a commercial break, Olbermann then introduced his original "Special Comment" which had attacked Defense Secretary Rumsfeld for making comparisons between the current situation in the War on Terrorism and the 1930s debate over how to handle Fascists and Nazis. Introducing the replay, Olbermann contended that Rumsfeld was comparing administration critics in general to "Nazi appeasers," called it the "opening salvo" of a "vicious pre-election propaganda campaign to insult, even bully, American voters," and tagged Rumsfeld's comments as "possibly the most outrageous, most inflammatory, and most inaccurate political statements any member of the Bush administration has ever made." For that one, see the August 31 CyberAlert, with video: www.mrc.org Olbermann went on to introduce two more of his "Special Comments." In the October 5 installment, Olbermann had come to the defense of Democrats by accusing President Bush of being a "compulsive liar." He had also accused Bush of "savaging the very freedoms he claims to be protecting from attack." For a transcript and video, go to the October 6 CyberAlert: www.mrc.org Then came the fourth "Special Comment," originally aired on November 6, the day before Election Day, during which the MSNBC host had urged voters to vote against the Bush administration. Video and text in the November 7 CyberAlert: www.mrc.org Below is a complete transcript of the introduction of the Monday December 18 Countdown show (matching the video clip), followed by Olbermann's introductions to the first two "Special Comments" that were replayed:
Announcer: "2006: The year one journalist took a stand." Olbermann then opened his pre-taped show: "Good evening. Anyone who has quoted it thinks he knows its meanings. 'But be not afraid of greatness,' Shakespeare wrote. 'Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.' Awe-inspiring words unless you know that they come not from one of the bard's tragedies nor his histories, but rather, his comedy Twelfth Night, and that they are read from a letter by the headstrong Malvolio in a scene that features that aptly named Sir Toby Belch. Awe-inspiring words unless you lived through something that makes others apply those words to you, and you realize that they're actually the 17th century version of 'I'm not a doctor, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.' Whatever praise has been given to the 'Special Comments' we've presented in this news hour over the last four months, whatever kindnesses have been extended to me personally in their wake, make no mistake about it: We are all truly grateful. But this was an unintended path you and I traveled in 2006, the simple result of the confluence of events, the realization of what needed to be said on behalf of men who felt their voices ignored or stilled. And most importantly, a very matter-of-fact surprising realization that nobody else with a platform like mine was going to say any of this. And so tonight we bring you again four of the 12 'Special Comments,' beginning with the one the night of September 11th from Ground Zero, with the caveat that this was no campaign nor series, just what one American felt that many other Americans needed to hear." [replay of Special Comment from September 11, 2006] Announcer: "Up next, the story that started it all this fall. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's shocking words to war veterans, the character-smearing of anyone who offers up dissent over the war, the first 'Special Comment' of the election season, when this special presentation of Countdown returns." [commercial break]
Olbermann: "Until the exact moment we learned he would no longer be Secretary of Defense, it had seemed Donald Rumsfeld would be with us for the duration of the Bush administration. In the weeks before the election, the President insisted both Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney would remain at their posts until January 2009. In accepting Rumsfeld's resignation the day after the Republicans lost the House and Senate, the President matter-of-factly explained he had not told the truth about Rumsfeld's job security. And all that makes the remarks he gave this past August to several thousand veterans at the American Legion National Convention all the more galling. Mr. Rumsfeld branding any critics of the administration as morally and intellectually confused." [replay of 'Special Comment' from August 30, 2006] Announcer, at 8:25 p.m.: "From dissent and disloyalty to an outright disconnect with reality. As the midterm election neared, desperate times called for desperate accusations. Presidential charges against Democrats that carried no truth at all: A 'Special Comment' on the Bush administration's problem with the facts when we return." [Special Comments from October 5 and November 6 were played last]
CNN Highlights AP's Bias: Arrested Illegals Called 'Victims' Filling in for Lou Dobbs on Friday night, CNN's Kitty Pilgrim highlighted a case of bias at the "supposedly objective" Associated Press, which led a dispatch about the federal roundup Tuesday of workers at meatpacking plants, by referring to how "hordes of police" had "stormed" the plants, but "the illegal workers arrested may not have been the only victims." Pilgrim marveled: "That's right, the Associated Press calling illegal aliens -- including some charged with stealing the identities of hundreds of Americans -- it called them 'victims.'" Indeed, in a Friday morning AP dispatch as posted by Yahoo, "Immigration raids may affect meat prices," the AP's Roxana Hegeman led her Wichita-datelined story: "When hordes of police and immigration officials stormed meatpacking plants in six states this week, the illegal workers arrested may not have been the only victims. Consumers and the industry itself may be feeling the repercussions in a shortage of meatpackers, higher wage costs and, ultimately, higher prices for the beef that lands on America's tables at home and in restaurants...."
For the AP story in full: news.yahoo.com
Pilgrim's short item toward the end of the first half hour of the December 15 Lou Dobbs Tonight:
NBC Argues 'Clinton Years' Economy Better than Current Economy On Saturday's NBC Nightly News, while filing a story on the "mind-boggling" bonuses going to those who are "striking it rich" on Wall Street, correspondent Mike Taibbi downplayed the strength of the current economy in comparison to the "Clinton years," and also pointed out the "struggle" of "working Americans." While Taibbi argued that his reference to the "Clinton years" was a "chronological, not political distinction," he praised that period for "lifting more boats" while finding fault in the present. Taibbi: "But to many, today's version of the haves and have-nots feels different. In the boom of the Clinton years -- and I'm talking a chronological, not a political distinction -- the rising tide of that bull market truly did lift all boats, or at least a whole lot more of them." [This item, by Brad Wilmouth, was posted Sunday on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] Before a commercial break, NBC News anchor John Seigenthaler plugged the story on Wall Street's "holiday bonuses worth more than most Americans earn in a lifetime." After introducing the story about Wall Street "handing out the kind of bonuses most Americans can only dream about," Taibbi began his report. Taibbi relayed the "mind-boggling" bonuses of some on Wall Street, and then made reference to the 1987 movie Wall Street which had taken on corporate greed and corruption. After playing a clip of Michael Douglas' character Gordon Gekko claiming that "greed is good," Taibbi continued: "But to many, today's version of the haves and have-nots feels different. In the boom of the Clinton years -- and I'm talking a chronological, not a political distinction -- the rising tide of that bull market truly did lift all boats, or at least a whole lot more of them." The NBC correspondent then moved on to highlight the financial plight of a finance assistant who does not get bonuses as she complained of living "paycheck to paycheck." Taibbi elaborated: "Working Americans now pay more of their pension and health care costs; and food, fuel and service costs have risen faster than most salaries. That means even those who do get small bonuses still struggle." After showing a clip of one man saying that his bonus would go toward "putting food on the table," Taibbi provided merely one soundbite to defend large bonuses in the form of Wall Street headhunter Brian Drum who argued that "you have to have that incentive." Below is a complete transcript of the story from the December 16 NBC Nightly News: John Seigenthaler, before commercial break: "When NBC Nightly News continues this Saturday, striking it rich on Wall Street. Holiday bonuses worth more than most Americans earn in a lifetime." Seigenthaler: "NBC News 'In Depth' tonight: Holiday bonuses. Big celebrations on Wall Street this week as companies handed out the kind of bonuses most Americans can only dream about. Here's some perspective: Most U.S. businesses -- 66 percent -- give no bonuses at all. Those employees lucky enough to receive a cash gift will get an average of $837. Compare that to the bonuses Goldman-Sachs gives out, a jackpot so big they could give every employee more than $600,000. But that's nothing compared to what some are actually getting. NBC's Mike Taibbi takes you behind the numbers 'In Depth.'"
Mike Taibbi: "It's bonus week on Wall Street, and the numbers are mind-boggling. Thousands of banking, investment and hedge fund pros getting from the low to the high six figures. One company, Goldman-Sachs, paying out over $16 billion in bonuses. And one executive, Morgan Stanley's CEO John Mack, getting $40 million -- and he won't be alone in that rare air. There are a lot of other CEOs making the same jump, says CNBC business guru Jim Cramer, by simply trading paper."
WPost Mildly Calls Bush-Hating Ballet a Work of 'Zealous Gadfly' In the era of Bill Clinton, the liberal media was not shy about locating "Clinton haters." In March of 1994, Washington Post reporter Ann Devroy reported from the front of conservatism, "Bill Clinton's enemies are making their hatred clear, with a burning intensity and in some case with an organized passion." She listed as haters Rush Limbaugh, G. Gordon Liddy, Michael Reagan, and so on. But the Post doesn't seem to use the term "Bush hater," even when Bush haters are dancing right in front of them. See Monday's Style section for a feature on a Bush-hating ballet. Susan Kaufman's review of a Kennedy Center performance by the Paul Taylor Dance Company is mildly headlined "Paul Taylor, Hitting Close To Home: At His 'Banquet of Vultures,' George Bush Is the Centerpiece." What a treat, another "antiwar" artist trashing the warmongers, with Bush cast as uncaring about troop deaths, and even committing one himself. Web page for the dance group: www.ptdc.org
Kaufmann's Washington Post "Style" section review: www.washingtonpost.com
Kaufman wrote: "If anyone doubted who the savage character in the suit and tie was supposed to represent in Paul Taylor's unsparingly brutal antiwar work 'Banquet of Vultures,' Taylor himself minced no words in explaining.
This matches the Jonathan Chait standard of Bush hate, even hating the way a man walks. But the Post seems to delight in the distaste, and how it unravels on a stage almost walking distance from the White House. Taylor is not a "hater," but merely a colorful speaker, a zealous gadfly: The idea that Taylor is a gadfly, and not a hater, collapses when Kaufman attempts to describe what happens on stage. The ballet casts Bush as evil: "The wellspring of evil is within the human heart -- particularly, in 'Banquet,' in the heart that holds the power." Taylor is painting Bush not only as loathsome, but as a rapist and murderer Kaufman relayed: "Taylor puts his self-described presidential figure right in the middle of the battlefield, watching stonily as agonies fell the troops. Trusnovec, all angles and edges, dances the [Bush] role with surgical exactitude, and his eyes were sharpest of all, cold and unflinching. After he violates a female recruit, kills her and tosses her aside, the spotlight shifts upstage to a second power figure in a suit and tie. Wracked as if by inner demons, throwing himself to the stage and rising again, this man is has a clear identity as well: He'll be the next sicko to wage war." Kaufman did conclude she would not want to see it again, since it was too end-of-the-world for her, and "In its obvious topicality, it lost complexity. It was not easy on the ear with its screeching score," and ultimately the Bush-bashing was too unsurprisingly familiar. Especially if you work at the Washington Post.
-- Brent Baker
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