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1. CBS: Kerik 'Poster Child to Why Giuliani Shouldn't Be President' The CBS Evening News, which has aired only one full story on the scandal surrounding Hillary Clinton's fugitive donor Norman Hsu, on Friday night ran its second full story on the impact on Rudy Giuliani of Bernard Kerik's indictments as Byron Pitts told Kerik that "people" say you're "a poster child as to why Giuliani shouldn't be President." Back on August 31, in the newscast's only full story on Hsu, fill-in anchor Harry Smith didn't even mention Hillary Clinton's name in his introduction, but on Friday Katie Couric put Giuliani front and center: "Kerik isn't the only one who could face trouble. It's also bad news for his friend and mentor, Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani." In the Hsu story, CBS reporter Sandra Hughes didn't warn about any negative impact on the Hillary Clinton campaign or speculate about what Hillary Clinton knew about Hsu's criminal past or suspect bundling. But in the Giuliani piece, Pitts predicted: "Kerik's legal problems could mean political problems for Giuliani and the inevitable questions of the presidential candidate: What did he know and when did he know it?" In an exchange with Kerik, Pitts proposed: "There are people who say that you, forgive me, are a poster child as to why Giuliani shouldn't be President, because of your own troubles." 2. CNN's Blitzer Asks Richard Armitage About Valerie Plame Leak On Sunday's Late Edition, CNN host Wolf Blitzer asked former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage about his role in accidentally leaking that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA, an event often ignored as most media coverage has focused on Karl Rove and Scooter Libby. While Armitage agreed with Plame's contention that what he did was "very foolish," he also argued that he believed her status not to be covert because he had "never seen, ever, in 43 years of having a security clearance, a covert operative's name in a memo." When asked by Blitzer if he had assumed that she was "just an analyst" at the CIA, Armitage responded: "That's what it, not only assumed it, that's what the message said, and she was publicly chairing, chairing a meeting." 3. NBC Reports Saddam Hussein Planned to Re-Start Nuclear Program On Sunday's NBC Nightly News, correspondent Pete Williams previewed details of a new book, The Terrorist Watch: Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the Next Attack, by Ronald Kessler, in which Kessler revealed information obtained by the an FBI agent who extensively interviewed Saddam Hussein and found, among other things, that the former Iraqi leader had deliberately tried to "fool the U.S." into believing he had weapons of mass destruction because "he wanted Iranian leaders to believe that he had nuclear and biological weapons." The FBI agent, named George Piro, also reported that Saddam Hussein "hoped the post-Gulf War sanctions on Iraq would dissolve, allowing him to pursue a nuclear capability." 4. Streep, Clooney Compare Right Wing to Nazis, Salem Witch Burners The 40th anniversary issue of Rolling Stone interviewed several top actors on their political views. Meryl Streep and George Clooney each disparaged conservatives in different ways. Streep compared the Bush administration to the Nazis, and Clooney compared conservatives to the Salem witch burners. In line with Streep's current role in the flop Lions for Lambs, Rolling Stone film critic Peter Travers asked about playing the part of "the hated, compromised media," and she replied: "The dilemma of the journalist is everybody's dilemma. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights protected the Fourth Estate so vehemently because we rely on these voices. And if we don't have them, then God bless Sean Penn for speaking up. God bless the people who put themselves on the line to be fodder for Fox News and Rush Limbaugh's next raise. We all have to be citizens first, and then whatever our job is." 5. NBC Credits Gore for 'Green Week,' on 30 Rock He Urges CO2 Tax On Thursday, all of NBC's entertainment programs pushed liberal environmental themes, but 30 Rock -- a satirical take on the inner workings of NBC -- was the pushiest, featuring a scene in which Al Gore suggested to fictional NBC executive Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) that the network go green for a week (as NBC has done in real life). "If your network really wants to demonstrate a commitment to the environment, why don't you start by, for example, having an entire week with nothing but environmental themes on all the programs," Gore recommended. "Use entertainment for substance. You could have a character in prime time making a passionate argument to the American people that we need CO2 taxes to replace the payroll taxes. Your parent company could lobby Congress and the President to pass the treaty and save the climate." 6. MRC's Bozell Launches Book Tour on Hannity's Radio Show and FNC Today, Monday, MRC President Brent Bozell launches a series of media appearances for his new book, Whitewash: What the Media Won't Tell You About Hillary Clinton, But Conservatives Will, co-authored with the MRC's Tim Graham. Up first: Sean Hannity's national ABC radio show Monday afternoon followed by Hannity & Colmes on FNC Monday night. Then on Tuesday morning, he's scheduled to appear in the 7:30am EST half hour on FNC's Fox & Friends. Tuesday night he'll be on CNBC's 7pm EST Kudlow & Company and Wednesday morning on Westwood One's Dennis Miller radio show, though it airs at various times across the county -- 3 to 6pm on WTNT in Washington, DC, for instance. CBS: Kerik 'Poster Child to Why Giuliani Shouldn't Be President' The CBS Evening News, which has aired only one full story on the scandal surrounding Hillary Clinton's fugitive donor Norman Hsu, on Friday night ran its second full story on the impact on Rudy Giuliani of Bernard Kerik's indictments as Byron Pitts told Kerik that "people" say you're "a poster child as to why Giuliani shouldn't be President." Back on August 31, in the newscast's only full story on Hsu, fill-in anchor Harry Smith didn't even mention Hillary Clinton's name in his introduction, but on Friday Katie Couric put Giuliani front and center: "Kerik isn't the only one who could face trouble. It's also bad news for his friend and mentor, Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani." In the Hsu story, CBS reporter Sandra Hughes didn't warn about any negative impact on the Hillary Clinton campaign or speculate about what Hillary Clinton knew about Hsu's criminal past or suspect bundling. But in the Giuliani piece, Pitts predicted: "Kerik's legal problems could mean political problems for Giuliani and the inevitable questions of the presidential candidate: What did he know and when did he know it?" In an exchange with Kerik, Pitts proposed: "There are people who say that you, forgive me, are a poster child as to why Giuliani shouldn't be President, because of your own troubles." Since the Hughes piece aired the Friday night of Labor Day weekend, August 31 (see transcript below), the CBS Evening News has run three brief anchor-read updates as Hsu has moved through the legal process on his fraud charges and the Clinton campaign returned $850,000 he was responsible for donating, but CBS has already aired two full stories on Kerik/Giuliani as well as a brief item. The first full story, from Bob Orr on Wednesday night, looked at the impact on Giuliani of the expected indictments against Kerik. [This item was posted Friday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] The MRC's Brad Wilmouth corrected the closed-captioning against the video to provide this transcript of the November 9 CBS Evening News story: KATIE COURIC: Meanwhile, here at home, former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik pleaded not guilty to a 16-count federal indictment today. Kerik isn't the only one who could face trouble. It's also bad news for his friend and mentor, Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani. Our national correspondent Byron Pitts has more.
BYRON PITTS: Charged with conspiracy, corruption, tax evasion, doing favors for companies linked to the mob, Bernard Kerik, New York's former police commissioner, described his legal woes this way: Friday's MRC CyberAlert, "CBS's Early Show Focuses on Giuliani Scandal, Never Touched Hsu," recounted a Thursday morning story on Kerik from Pitts: Thursday's Early Show on CBS featured a full story on the likely indictments of former NYPD Commissioner and Rudy Giuliani friend, Bernard Kerik, but the Early Show never aired a story on Hillary Clinton's fugitive fundraiser, Norman Hsu. News reader Russ Mitchell set up the story: "Republican presidential hopeful, Rudy Giuliani, has stood by his good friend and associate, Bernard Kerik, through good times and bad. But that could change now that Kerik maybe in some big trouble." Reporter Byron Pitts explained how "CBS News has learned former New York City Police Commissioner, Bernard Kerik, could face indictment as early as today on criminal charges, including tax fraud and other counts." While the Early Show had no hesitation in reporting a possible Giuliani scandal, the morning news program failed to mention the Hillary Clinton fundraising scandal involving fugitive Norman Hsu even once. That was true even when Early Show co-host, Harry Smith, had reported the story on the August 31 and September 7 CBS Evening News broadcasts, while filling in for anchor Katie Couric. For the CyberAlert article in full: www.mrc.org The September 4 CyberAlert item, "ABC and CBS Catch Up with Fugitive Clinton Donor Norman Hsu," included a transcript of the CBS Evening News story that, by comparison to the piece two months later on Giuliani and Kerik, went much softer on Hillary Clinton:
FILL-IN ANCHOR HARRY SMITH: There's another political scandal unfolding. A top Democratic fundraiser named Norman Hsu surrendered to authorities in California today, 15 years after he skipped out on felony charges. All that time he was raising money for candidates and hiding, apparently, in plain sight. Here's Sandra Hughes. That's online at: www.mrc.org
CNN's Blitzer Asks Richard Armitage About Valerie Plame Leak On Sunday's Late Edition, CNN host Wolf Blitzer asked former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage about his role in accidentally leaking that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA, an event often ignored as most media coverage has focused on Karl Rove and Scooter Libby. While Armitage agreed with Plame's contention that what he did was "very foolish," he also argued that he believed her status not to be covert because he had "never seen, ever, in 43 years of having a security clearance, a covert operative's name in a memo." When asked by Blitzer if he had assumed that she was "just an analyst" at the CIA, Armitage responded: "That's what it, not only assumed it, that's what the message said, and she was publicly chairing, chairing a meeting." Blitzer brought up the subject as he was reaching the end of the interview, which was primarily about foreign policy concerns like Pakistan. The CNN host played a clip of Plame accusing Armitage of doing "a very foolish thing," to which Armitage agreed, but also added an explanation of his actions: "They're not words on which I disagree. I think it was extraordinarily foolish of me. There was no ill intent on my part, and never seen, ever, in 43 years of having a security clearance, a covert operative's name in a memo. The only reason I knew a Mrs. Wilson, not Mrs. Plame, worked at the agency was because I saw it in a memo. But I don't disagree with her words, to a large measure." Blitzer continued his questioning to clarify Armitage's answer:
BLITZER: Normally, in memos, they don't name covert operatives? [This item, by the MRC's Brad Wilmouth, was posted Sunday on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Sunday, November 11 Late Edition on CNN:
WOLF BLITZER: It's now been well-known that you were the first administration official to tell Robert Novak, the syndicated columnist, about Valerie Plame Wilson's identity as a CIA operative. And that started, in effect, he wrote a column after that, a whole chain of events, we all know what happened as a result. I spoke with Valerie Plame Wilson the other day in The Situation Room, and I want you to listen to what she said....
NBC Reports Saddam Hussein Planned to Re-Start Nuclear Program On Sunday's NBC Nightly News, correspondent Pete Williams previewed details of a new book, The Terrorist Watch: Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the Next Attack, by Ronald Kessler, in which Kessler revealed information obtained by the an FBI agent who extensively interviewed Saddam Hussein and found, among other things, that the former Iraqi leader had deliberately tried to "fool the U.S." into believing he had weapons of mass destruction because "he wanted Iranian leaders to believe that he had nuclear and biological weapons." The FBI agent, named George Piro, also reported that Saddam Hussein "hoped the post-Gulf War sanctions on Iraq would dissolve, allowing him to pursue a nuclear capability."
Amazon's page for Kessler's book: www.amazon.com Then a soundbite of Kessler ran: "Saddam said that if America thought that he had WMD, then, of course, Iran would, and this would fulfill his goal of making sure that Iran did not want to attack Iraq." [This item, by Brad Wilmouth, was posted Sunday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] Below is a complete transcript of the story from the Sunday, November 11 NBC Nightly News: LESTER HOLT: On this Veterans Day, with American troops still embroiled in Iraq, new details are emerging about some of the issues that led the U.S. into war. The secrets of Saddam Hussein are revealed in a new book that includes details from an FBI agent who spent months with the Iraqi leader after his capture. Here's NBC justice correspondent Pete Williams.
PETE WILLIAMS: Saddam Hussein told his American captors that he so feared Iran, he wanted Iranian leaders to believe that he had nuclear and biological weapons. So he planned to fool the U.S. by, among other things, stalling U.N. inspectors to make it appear he had something to hide, weapons of mass destruction or WMD. But he hoped the post-Gulf War sanctions on Iraq would dissolve, allowing him to pursue a nuclear capability. That's what he told the only American to extensively debrief him after he was captured in 2003, according to investigative reporter Ron Kessler.
Streep, Clooney Compare Right Wing to Nazis, Salem Witch Burners The 40th anniversary issue of Rolling Stone interviewed several top actors on their political views. Meryl Streep and George Clooney each disparaged conservatives in different ways. Streep compared the Bush administration to the Nazis, and Clooney compared conservatives to the Salem witch burners. In line with Streep's current role in the flop Lions for Lambs, Rolling Stone film critic Peter Travers asked about playing the part of "the hated, compromised media," and she replied: "The dilemma of the journalist is everybody's dilemma. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights protected the Fourth Estate so vehemently because we rely on these voices. And if we don't have them, then God bless Sean Penn for speaking up. God bless the people who put themselves on the line to be fodder for Fox News and Rush Limbaugh's next raise. We all have to be citizens first, and then whatever our job is."
The Nazi comparison came when Travers asked: How to do things change for the better? Streep replied: [This item, by Tim Graham, was posted Sunday morning on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] Streep also said feminine voices were superior: "The nurturance of what we have, as opposed to conquering the new territory and making them submit." When asked how we should get politically engaged, she hit that point again: "Nobody wants to hear me give a political speech. But I can align by sensibility and my heart, my voice, and all my stamina with [Marxist playwright] Bertolt Brecht and do Mother Courage onstage and feel that it's getting out there, that idea of 'wars go on, and who suffers over and over again?' It's the women and children. That's the whole story. It's a story worth telling."
Travers also interviewed Clooney, who unspooled the usual frustrating notion that liberalism is equal to open-mindedness: And conservatives? They've always been wrong: "Go through the history of time. During the Salem witch hunt, the liberals thought there was no such thing as witches, and the conservative view was 'They're witches and they all have to die.' I don't argue with conservatives over morality. I don't preach morality, certainly, but I won't be told that liberal is immoral." Clooney said if he ran for President, it would be on the platform of "yeah, I did it," -- did women, did drugs, and "Now, let's talk about the issues." He added: "Anybody who's running who's gone through the Sixties and didn't smoke a joint, I don't want you for president. You haven't lived at all. What the f-k's wrong with you?" Clooney was encouraged by the notion that Rudy Giuliani would draw support from the religious right, and then somehow draws a straight line from Jesus to Hamas: "That tells you the rest of the country is a little bit moved away from the idea of this 'Jesus is right about everything' kind of mood. I'm not knocking religion, but there was a reason we left England: Church and state have to be separate. I love that we fought to get all these democracies in place, and they vote in theocracies, including Palestine. It worked out really well, now that we've got religious leaders everywhere." Clooney doesn't seem to realize that many the people who came over from England were religious people looking for freedom to worship God in their own way, not set up Haight-Ashbury.
NBC Credits Gore for 'Green Week,' on 30 Rock He Urges CO2 Tax On Thursday, all of NBC's entertainment programs pushed liberal environmental themes, but 30 Rock -- a satirical take on the inner workings of NBC -- was the pushiest, featuring a scene in which Al Gore suggested to fictional NBC executive Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) that the network go green for a week (as NBC has done in real life). "If your network really wants to demonstrate a commitment to the environment, why don't you start by, for example, having an entire week with nothing but environmental themes on all the programs," Gore recommended. "Use entertainment for substance. You could have a character in prime time making a passionate argument to the American people that we need CO2 taxes to replace the payroll taxes. Your parent company could lobby Congress and the President to pass the treaty and save the climate." In the show, Gore's appearance followed that of "Greenzo," a business-friendly environmental advocate cooked up by NBC executives (played by David Schwimmer). After Greenzo lets the fame of "saving" the environment go to his head and the network is unable to control him, Donaghy tries to bring in Gore as Greenzo's replacement. After Gore's preaches his environmental message, he ends the scene by mock-seriously announcing, "Quiet! A whale is in trouble. I have to go." [This item, by the MRC's Melissa Lopez, was posted Friday on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] A transcript of Gore's scene, which occurred near the end of the November 8 episode:
AL GORE: Hey, Jack, good to see you again.
MRC's Bozell Launches Book Tour on Hannity's Radio Show and FNC Today, Monday, MRC President Brent Bozell launches a series of media appearances for his new book, Whitewash: What the Media Won't Tell You About Hillary Clinton, But Conservatives Will, co-authored with the MRC's Tim Graham. Up first: Sean Hannity's national ABC radio show Monday afternoon followed by Hannity & Colmes on FNC Monday night. Then on Tuesday morning, he's scheduled to appear in the 7:30am EST half hour on FNC's Fox & Friends. Tuesday night he'll be on CNBC's 7pm EST Kudlow & Company and Wednesday morning on Westwood One's Dennis Miller radio show, though it airs at various times across the county -- 3 to 6pm on WTNT in Washington, DC, for instance. A rundown of scheduled appearances this week: # Sean Hannity's radio show: Monday, sometime between 3 and 6pm EST. # Bob Grant's radio show on WABC in New York, Monday at 8:20pm. # FNC's 9pm EST Hannity & Colmes, Monday night. # Alan Colmes' radio show at 10:15pm EST Monday night. # FNC's Fox & Friends at 7:40am EST Tuesday morning. # Steve Malzberg's radio show on WOR in New York, 5pm half hour on Tuesday. # Kudlow & Company on CNBC, 7pm EST hour on Tuesday. # Jan Mickelson's radio show on WHO in Des Moines, 9am CST half hour on Thursday. # Martha Zoller's radio show on WDUN in Gainesville, Georgia in the 10:30am EST half hour on Thursday. # Mark Davis' radio show on WBAP in Dallas-Ft. Worth in the 11am CST half hour on Thursday. # Kevin Miller's radio show on KDKA in Pittsburgh in the 1pm half hour on Thursday. # Janet Parshall's Salem Radio Network show in the 3pm EST half hour on Thursday. # Kirby Wilbur's radio show on KVI in Seattle in the 6am PST half hour on Friday. # Laura Ingraham's national radio show in the 11am EST half hour on Friday. That's just a sampling of the many radio interviews he'll be doing this week and next. The promotional text for the book: Uncovering a Fifteen Year Love Affair How could America's presidential front-runner be a woman who has held only one elective office and had staggering numbers of personal, political, and financial scandals? How did the First Lady to a disgraced, impeached president become a presidential front-runner despite never having held elective office before 2001? And how did this happen given her staggering number of personal, political, and financial scandals -- and her leftist political agenda? Authors L. Brent Bozell and Tim Graham peel back the layers of Hillary Clinton's success to expose the real shocker -- not Travelgate or Whitewater -- but a fifteen year love affair by the liberal media, starting with Time magazine, who first introduced Hillary Clinton to the country as an "amalgam of Betty Crocker, Mother Teresa and Oliver Wendell Holmes." The elite media's continued and unprecedented favoritism is the key to Hillary's mythic political standing. They have downplayed or ignored her every scandal and recast her ultra-liberalism as being in the political center. What's even more stunning is the incredible number of stories that have been under-reported, excused and buried. To expose the truth, the authors interviewed dozens of leading conservatives who want Americans to hear the whole story, including Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin, Laura Ingraham, Cal Thomas, Newt Gingrich and many others. Whitewash: What the Media Won't Tell You About Hillary Clinton, But Conservatives Will Order your copy today! To order from the MRC for $25.95 (shipping included), with the amount over our cost of the book going to support the MRC: www.mrc.org
To order for $17.13 from Amazon, but you'll have to pay an additional shipping charge: www.amazon.com Shipping is free from Amazon and Barnes & Noble if your order totals $25 or more. The book will be released on Tuesday, November 13 and should ship shortly afterward and be available in major chain bookstores.
-- Brent Baker
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