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1. DeLay Hits Vieira: 'I Didn't Know You Spoke for American People' When Today co-host Meredith Vieira on Tuesday hit former House Majority Leader Tom "The Hammer" DeLay over public opposition to the Iraq war, The Hammer hit back: "I didn't know you spoke for the American people." Appearing on the Today show to promote his new book, DeLay didn't receive the kid glove treatment NBC's Meredith Vieira usually reserves for Hillary Clinton, as Vieira repeatedly questioned DeLay on his ethics and, picking up on his comment that demanding a set date for withdrawal from Iraq will aid the enemy, she lectured: "In a poll taken last week, sir, 59 percent of Americans say they agree that troops should be removed from Iraq by the fall of 2008. So does that mean that more than half of Americans are unpatriotic, that they're, they're abetting the enemy?" As Vieira deigned to interpret opinion polls on Iraq, she piously proclaimed: "Well I think they are saying though, sir, not to beat a dead horse here, but I think they are saying they want American troops out by the fall of 2008." To which DeLay hammered back: "I didn't know you spoke for the American people." 2. Salivating Press: 'Does This Bring Back Memories of Watergate?' Some journalists are starting to project parallels between the media-fueled controversy over the Bush administration replacing eight of 93 U.S. attorneys and Watergate, what many reporters see as their glory days of the early 1970s. A brief video snippet in David Gregory's story on Tuesday's NBC Nightly News showed Fred Fielding, Chief Counsel in the Bush White House who worked in the counsel's office during the Nixon administration, walking down a Capitol Hill hallway as a male voice off-camera, presumably a reporter, asked: "Does this bring back memories of Watergate?" NBC didn't play Fielding's reply. And that most likely took place before President Bush's address at 5:50pm EDT in which he promised to turn over more documents, have Justice officials testify before Congress and to allow Senators to interview Harriet Miers and Karl Rove. Bush's offer only antagonized a couple of media figures. On MSNBC's Countdown, Keith Olbermann proposed that "the President sounded awfully like President Nixon during Watergate." Newsweek Senior Editor Jonathan Alter readily agreed: "That is a great point. You know if you go into executive privilege land, you do take us on a kind of a return trip to Watergate." 3. GMA Uses Stack of Paper as Visual Aid to Highlight Gonzales Case On Tuesday's Good Morning America, news reader Chris Cuomo used a none-to-subtle visual aid to continue the program's campaign to have Attorney General Alberto Gonzales fired over the Justice Department's dismissal of eight U.S. Attorneys. Early in the 7am hour, co-host Robin Roberts introduced Cuomo, who stood at the news desk with stacks of paper, meant to represent the 3,000 pages of documents released on the case, piled half way to his shoulders: "You see this stack of paper? Very relevant today. Good morning to you and good morning, everyone. The number of the day is 3,000. That's how many pages, just like this, the Justice Department handed out overnight. They offer an up-close look inside the controversial firing of eight federal prosecutors." The subsequent news story featured an on-screen graphic wondering if the documents represented a "smoking gun," the third time in less than a week that GMA used such a phrase. 4. Another GMA Town Meeting to Promote Hillary -- Just as in 1999 On Tuesday morning's Good Morning America, ABC co-host Robin Roberts announced they would be airing a special town hall meeting about health care and veterans care with Hillary Clinton next Monday, March 26. In 1999, as First Lady Hillary Clinton prepared to run for the Senate, GMA handed over most of their broadcast to gun control and kids on June 4. This special included 45 minutes with Bill and Hillary talking to high-schoolers town hall-style about the horrors of school violence. Hillary's Senate opponents, Rudy Giuliani and then Rep. Rick Lazio, were never awarded comparative feasts of free air time. DeLay Hits Vieira: 'I Didn't Know You Spoke for American People' When Today co-host Meredith Vieira on Tuesday hit former House Majority Leader Tom "The Hammer" DeLay over public opposition to the Iraq war, The Hammer hit back: "I didn't know you spoke for the American people." Appearing on the Today show to promote his new book, DeLay didn't receive the kid glove treatment NBC's Meredith Vieira usually reserves for Hillary Clinton, as Vieira repeatedly questioned DeLay on his ethics and, picking up on his comment that demanding a set date for withdrawal from Iraq will aid the enemy, she lectured: "In a poll taken last week, sir, 59 percent of Americans say they agree that troops should be removed from Iraq by the fall of 2008. So does that mean that more than half of Americans are unpatriotic, that they're, they're abetting the enemy?" As Vieira deigned to interpret opinion polls on Iraq, she piously proclaimed: "Well I think they are saying though, sir, not to beat a dead horse here, but I think they are saying they want American troops out by the fall of 2008." To which DeLay hammered back: "I didn't know you spoke for the American people." For a look at Vieira's December interview with Hillary Clinton, in which she touted Clinton's ten year old book as "even more imperative now" and urged her to run for President, check the December 19 CyberAlert: www.mrc.org Of course Vieira didn't just go after DeLay on Iraq but also hit him with charges of corruption, as she charged: "In your book you say that one of the reasons Republicans lost control of the Congress was because of a general perception of Republican incompetence and lack of principles. But many critics say that you were part of that problem." [This item is adapted from a posting, by Geoff Dickens, on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org The MRC's Brad Wilmouth helped with the transcript.] The following are all of Vieira's questions to Tom DeLay during the first half hour of the March 20 Today show:
Meredith Vieira: "Tom DeLay knows all about the bare-knuckle brawls in the Beltway, the former House Majority Leader was known as 'The Hammer,' when he served in Congress and now he's written a book called, No Retreat, No Surrender: One American's Fight. Mr. Delay, good morning to you."
Salivating Press: 'Does This Bring Back Memories of Watergate?' Some journalists are starting to project parallels between the media-fueled controversy over the Bush administration replacing eight of 93 U.S. attorneys and Watergate, what many reporters see as their glory days of the early 1970s. A brief video snippet in David Gregory's story on Tuesday's NBC Nightly News showed Fred Fielding, Chief Counsel in the Bush White House who worked in the counsel's office during the Nixon administration, walking down a Capitol Hill hallway as a male voice off-camera, presumably a reporter, asked: "Does this bring back memories of Watergate?" NBC didn't play Fielding's reply. And that most likely took place before President Bush's address at 5:50pm EDT in which he promised to turn over more documents, have Justice officials testify before Congress and to allow Senators to interview Harriet Miers and Karl Rove. Bush's offer only antagonized a couple of media figures. On MSNBC's Countdown, Keith Olbermann proposed that "the President sounded awfully like President Nixon during Watergate." Newsweek Senior Editor Jonathan Alter readily agreed: "That is a great point. You know if you go into executive privilege land, you do take us on a kind of a return trip to Watergate." Earlier, Alter reminded viewers of the special "bond" between Bush and Gonzales: "Remember that it was Gonzales who saved Bush's career when he was called for jury duty as Governor of Texas. Gonzales used a technicality to avoid public disclosure of Bush's arrest for drunk driving." A bio of Fielding: www.911commission.gov
Bush's remarks: www.whitehouse.gov The Watergate exchange on the March 20 Countdown:
Keith Olbermann: "This statement he made tonight upon returning to Washington, talking about free exchange of ideas being thwarted, being quashed inside a White House. He sounded, the President sounded awfully like President Nixon during Watergate and I can't be the only one to have made that comparison. Is that really a comparison he wants to invoke if the subpoenas come? Would it not be better to blink than look like you're covering up -- especially when it may be covering up makes this look bigger, perhaps, than it really is?" Newsweek's page for Alter's columns: www.msnbc.msn.com
GMA Uses Stack of Paper as Visual Aid to Highlight Gonzales Case On Tuesday's Good Morning America, news reader Chris Cuomo used a none-to-subtle visual aid to continue the program's campaign to have Attorney General Alberto Gonzales fired over the Justice Department's dismissal of eight U.S. Attorneys. Early in the 7am hour, co-host Robin Roberts introduced Cuomo, who stood at the news desk with stacks of paper, meant to represent the 3,000 pages of documents released on the case, piled half way to his shoulders: "You see this stack of paper? Very relevant today. Good morning to you and good morning, everyone. The number of the day is 3,000. That's how many pages, just like this, the Justice Department handed out overnight. They offer an up-close look inside the controversial firing of eight federal prosecutors." The subsequent news story featured an on-screen graphic wondering if the documents represented a "smoking gun," the third time in less than a week that GMA used such a phrase. [This item, by Scott Whitlock, was posted Tuesday morning on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] Reporter Pierre Thomas, who last week hyperbolically described the Attorney General as "hunkered down with his closest advisors," and in "a fight for survival," reported on the March 20 story.
The 7:01am tease. Diane Sawyer: "Overnight news, too."
7:03am. Sawyer: "But let's begin the morning's news with Chris Cuomo at the news desk."
Another GMA Town Meeting to Promote Hillary -- Just as in 1999 On Tuesday morning's Good Morning America, ABC co-host Robin Roberts announced they would be airing a special town hall meeting about health care and veterans care with Hillary Clinton next Monday, March 26. In 1999, as First Lady Hillary Clinton prepared to run for the Senate, GMA handed over most of their broadcast to gun control and kids on June 4. This special included 45 minutes with Bill and Hillary talking to high-schoolers town hall-style about the horrors of school violence. Hillary's Senate opponents, Rudy Giuliani and then Rep. Rick Lazio, were never awarded comparative feasts of free air time. [This item, by Tim Graham, was posted Tuesday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] Roberts promoted their new broadcast gift to Hillary: "And we want to tell everybody about a special event on Good Morning America that's coming up this Monday. It's the first in our series of GMA town hall meetings leading up to next year's election. And Senator Hillary Clinton will be here live to answer questions about health care and veterans care in a live town hall meeting that actually will be held in Des Moines, Iowa. That's next Monday, only on GMA."
"First in a series." Does that mean it's first in a series of rotating candidates with the people on ABC's airwaves? Or the first in a series of Hillary Clinton campaign promotions? Because Hillary's opponents didn't get equal time last time around. As the June 4, 1999 CyberAlert Extra recounted: It wasn't all fun and games: Charlie Gibson hounded Bill Clinton to crack down on gun owners until the President grew peevish. But this is another example of how it's ironic for the media to leave themselves out of the regulatory schemes called "campaign finance reform" to make elections more "competitive." In fact, in that same election cycle, GMA gave the lion's share of its free air time on the Republican side to....John McCain, Captain Campaign Reform. In a Media Reality Check, we noted that over a six-month period of late 1999 and early 2000, Steve Forbes appeared once, Alan Keyes once -- and John McCain was awarded eleven interviews. The irony was that even after Forbes and Keyes finished second and third behind Bush in the Iowa caucuses, GMA only invited McCain to the show -- even though he'd skipped competing in Iowa. See: www.mrc.org
-- Brent Baker
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