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1. Couric Challenges Romney to Denounce Giuliani's 'Character' Two weeks after she tossed softballs to Hillary Clinton and proclaimed "Clinton exudes confidence," Katie Couric on Monday night didn't hail Romney's attitude, raised rifts amongst Republicans and pushed Mitt Romney to denounce other GOP presidential candidates. Back on Monday, November 26 she asked Clinton "how do you feel" about Oprah Winfrey campaigning for Back Obama? But exactly two weeks later she doubted the integrity of another candidate and cued up Romney to agree: "Do you think that Rudy Giuliani has the judgment and character to be President of the United States?" 2. ABC Gushes over Hillary and Obama's 'Superstar Campaigners' In the battle of Democratic "superstar campaigners," the reporters of Good Morning America couldn't decide whether they prefer Hillary Clinton's exciting surrogates or Barack Obama's. On Monday's edition of the ABC program, correspondent David Wright parroted talking points about Oprah Winfrey supporting Obama and the inspiring nature of the talk show host. He glowingly asserted: "She's urging her fans to vote the dream, not just to settle for the inevitable." Wright didn't bother to explain what, exactly, that means. The GMA reporter also gushed that "when it comes to connecting a crowd over shared hardships and shared hopes, nobody beats Oprah." According to Wright, she's "kind of like everybody's big sister." Kate Snow, filing a piece on the Clinton campaign, explained that operatives at "Hillaryland" sent Bill and Chelsea Clinton to Iowa in order to manipulate media coverage away from Obama. Snow shamelessly confessed, "And it worked. We're not just talking about Oprah this morning, are we?" 3. Smith's 'Googling' Lets Bill Clinton Obfuscate in Cushy Interview In a typical softball interview with former President Bill Clinton, on Monday's Early Show co-host Harry Smith ran defense for the Clinton campaign: "I also want to set the record straight. When you were in Muscatine a week and a half ago or so, right, and said 'I've always been against this,' speaking about the Iraq war. I did a little Googling last night, and the best I could tell, was you said the weapons inspectors should be allowed to do their jobs." Smith also asked Clinton about former UN Ambassador and civil rights leader, Andrew Young, who said that "Bill is every bit as black as Barack," during a media forum event in September. However, in both the interview with Clinton and a previous report by co-host Julie Chen on Young's comments, the Early Show failed to mention the more controversial statement by Young that Bill Clinton "...has probably gone with more black women than Barack." Rush Limbaugh on Monday ridiculed Smith's idea that a thirty second Google search is journalism: "He [Clinton] just got away with lying again on the CBS Early Show because their researchers couldn't find anything other than Clinton talking about weapons inspectors when they Googled. I find it just breathtaking, folks, I do, at how incompetent the Drive-By Media is." 4. CNN's Mann: 'For First Time...We Can All Share the Nobel Prize' CNN International's Jonathan Mann, during an hour-long Monday love fest in honor of Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's reception of the Nobel Peace Prize, gushed over the former Vice President: "You went from being 'Ozone Man' to 'The Goricle.' This became -- the Nobel Prize became 'The Goronation.' You must be conscious of the change in perceptions about you in particular because of that film [An Inconvenient Truth]." Later, at the very end of the program aired at 11am EST on the domestic CNN channel, Mann speculated that Gore's prize could actually be shared with all those who contribute to the planet-saving cause: "We may not all agree about the politics of global warming or about the big solutions, but we can all do our own little part, and it will add up. And for that reason, this year, for the first time that I can remember, we can all share the Nobel Prize." 5. Geraldo: Can GOP Convince Hispanics They Don't 'Hate' Them? As far as Geraldo Rivera is concerned the GOP presidential candidates are guilty until proven innocent on whether or not they "hate" Hispanics. On Sunday's 'Geraldo At Large,' the Fox News host teased a segment on the GOP Univision debate: "In the current anti-immigration climate did these Republican debates convince Hispanics that they don't hate them?"
Giuliani's 'Character' Two weeks after she tossed softballs to Hillary Clinton and proclaimed "Clinton exudes confidence," Katie Couric on Monday night didn't hail Romney's attitude, raised rifts amongst Republicans and pushed Mitt Romney to denounce other GOP presidential candidates. Back on Monday, November 26 she asked Clinton "how do you feel" about Oprah Winfrey campaigning for Back Obama? But exactly two weeks later she doubted the integrity of another candidate and cued up Romney to agree: "Do you think that Rudy Giuliani has the judgment and character to be President of the United States?" Couric set up her segment with Clinton by relaying how "I asked her about the new, more aggressive tone of her campaign," but with Romney Couric expressed dissatisfaction, wanting to know "why he didn't spend more time explaining the tenets of his Mormon faith in his speech last week?" And followed up: "In the absence of a religious test, what's wrong with a little religious clarification?" Her second inquiry to Clinton: "How do you feel about" Winfrey campaigning for Obama and "are you concerned that this will give him a big boost?" Her second topic with Romney raised an attack: "In Iowa, Governor Mike Huckabee has TV ads that describe him in quite a prominent way as a Christian leader. Do you think he's trying to draw a distinction between the two of you?" But with Hillary, Couric simply ended by wondering "how disappointed will you be" if you lose? Her last question to Romney: The one quoted above about Giuliani's "judgment" and "character." [This item was posted Tuesday morning on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] The November 27 CyberAlert item, "Couric's 'Exclusive' with Hillary Clinton Avoids Tough Questions," provided all the questions aired on the November 26 CBS Evening News interview with Hillary Clinton: From Concord, New Hampshire, Couric teased the November 26 CBS Evening News: KATIE COURIC: Obama versus Clinton. BARACK OBAMA: We don't need somebody who knows how to play the game better. We need somebody to put an end to the game-playing. COURIC: But in an exclusive one-on-one interview, Clinton exudes confidence. COURIC TO CLINTON: If it's not you, how disappointed will you be? HILLARY CLINTON: Well, it will be me. The questions, plus a flavor on Clinton's replies: COURIC: I asked her about the new, more aggressive tone of her campaign. [Hillary Clinton: "I have absorbed a lot of attacks" and "hardly a day goes by when I'm not attacked."] COURIC: It was announced today that Oprah Winfrey will be campaigning with Senator Obama in three key states -- Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. How do you feel about that? ["I think it's great..."] COURIC: But are you concerned that this will give him a big boost? ["No..."] COURIC: If it's not you, how disappointed will you be? ["Well, it will be me..."] COURIC: I know that you're confident it's going to be you, but there is a possibility it won't be. And clearly you have considered that possibility. ["No I haven't."] COURIC: So you never even consider the possibility? ["I don't."] For the full November 27 CyberAlert rundown: www.mrc.org The introduction and questions in the segment with Romney on the Monday, December 10 CBS Evening News:
KATIE COURIC: Mitt Romney will air the first Republican-on-Republican attack ad in Iowa tomorrow criticizing Mike Huckabee's record on illegal immigration. Today I talked to Romney about Huckabee and about religion, specifically why he didn't spend more time explaining the tenets of his Mormon faith in his speech last week. COURIC: In Iowa, Governor Mike Huckabee has TV ads that describe him in quite a prominent way as a Christian leader. Do you think he's trying to draw a distinction between the two of you? COURIC: What do you think of the Huckabee surge in Iowa and nationwide? COURIC: Do you think that Rudy Giuliani has the judgment and character to be President of the United States? Online version of the interview: www.cbsnews.com
Campaigners' In the battle of Democratic "superstar campaigners," the reporters of Good Morning America couldn't decide whether they prefer Hillary Clinton's exciting surrogates or Barack Obama's. On Monday's edition of the ABC program, correspondent David Wright parroted talking points about Oprah Winfrey supporting Obama and the inspiring nature of the talk show host. He glowingly asserted: "She's urging her fans to vote the dream, not just to settle for the inevitable." Wright didn't bother to explain what, exactly, that means. The GMA reporter also gushed that "when it comes to connecting a crowd over shared hardships and shared hopes, nobody beats Oprah." According to Wright, she's "kind of like everybody's big sister." Kate Snow, filing a piece on the Clinton campaign, explained that operatives at "Hillaryland" sent Bill and Chelsea Clinton to Iowa in order to manipulate media coverage away from Obama. Snow shamelessly confessed, "And it worked. We're not just talking about Oprah this morning, are we?" [This item, by Scott Whitlock, was posted Monday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] After closing the segment with a recap of Chelsea's dating life, Snow seemed unable to hide her excitement for the Clinton campaign. She observed that the former first daughter might get engaged before New Years Eve, right around the Iowa caucus. "Wouldn't that be good timing," Snow enthused. She then noted that Chelsea's appearance in that state could "only help." Viewers of GMA shouldn't be surprised at Snow's excitement. She has a long history of positively spinning everything Clinton-related, from Hillary's laugh, to aging. See the December 3 CyberAlert for more: www.mrc.org And Good Morning America in general has had trouble deciding between Clinton and Obama since the two first faced off in early 2007. On January 18, correspondent Claire Shipman saw the battle as one between Obama's "fluid poetry" and Hillary's "hot factor." See the January 19 CyberAlert for more: www.mrc.org A transcript of the two segments, which aired at 7:12am on December 10:
7am tease, ROBIN ROBERTS: And star power on the campaign trail.
7:12am, ROBERTS: Now, the charisma battle in the 2008 presidential campaign. Oprah Winfrey was with Barack Obama this weekend, drawing huge crowds in Iowa, South Carolina. 8,500 in New Hampshire last night. But the Clinton campaign fought back. For the first time during the presidential race, the entire Clinton family hit the campaign trail, including her daughter Chelsea. We begin with ABC's David Wright in New Hampshire. Good morning, David.
Obfuscate in Cushy Interview In a typical softball interview with former President Bill Clinton, on Monday's Early Show co-host Harry Smith ran defense for the Clinton campaign: "I also want to set the record straight. When you were in Muscatine a week and a half ago or so, right, and said 'I've always been against this,' speaking about the Iraq war. I did a little Googling last night, and the best I could tell, was you said the weapons inspectors should be allowed to do their jobs." Smith also asked Clinton about former UN Ambassador and civil rights leader, Andrew Young, who said that "Bill is every bit as black as Barack," during a media forum event in September. However, in both the interview with Clinton and a previous report by co-host Julie Chen on Young's comments, the Early Show failed to mention the more controversial statement by Young that Bill Clinton "...has probably gone with more black women than Barack."
Read about Andrew Young's comments here: apnews.myway.com Rush Limbaugh on Monday ridiculed Smith's idea that a thirty second Google search is journalism: "He just got away with lying again on the CBS Early Show because their researchers couldn't find anything other than Clinton talking about weapons inspectors when they Googled. I find it just breathtaking, folks, I do, at how incompetent the Drive-By Media is. They can't do anything right, and they don't want to. They don't want to get it right where the Clintons are concerned." Limbaugh highlighted these to quotes from Clinton: # Bill Clinton, New York Daily News, April 16th, 2003: "'Saddam is gone, and good riddance,' former President Clinton said yesterday. Clinton also said Bush should not be faulted if banned weapons of mass destruction aren't found. Said the president, 'I don't think you can criticize the president for trying to act on the belief that they have a substantial amount of chemical and biological stock. That is what I was always told.'" # May 18th, 2003, at Tougaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi, during commencement address: "I supported the president when he asked the Congress for authority to stand up against weapons of mass destruction in Iraq." Limbaugh observed: "My question is, Harry Smith, what the hell are you doing? You can't find these things? All you could find is something Clinton said about inspectors? We're doing the job the mainstream media should be doing." A transcript of Limbaugh's December 10 comments on his radio show: www.rushlimbaugh.com [This item is adapted from a Monday afternoon posting, by Kyle Drennen, on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] Smith previewed the interview with Clinton by gushing: "We are live in Harlem this morning with former President Bill Clinton, just a couple of blocks from his office, and we're here to talk about this, his best-selling book Giving, also maybe talk a little bit about politics too." During the first half of the interview Smith focused on the book and tossed softball questions like: "Do you think people should be obligated to give of themselves or give of what they have?" and "This book has raised more than a million dollars for other charitable efforts. Are you more energized by this than you were by politics?" Then Smith asked about Young's comments, but apparently did not do a thorough Google search for the question: "And I want to transition now, and talk a little bit about what's surfaced, first off, the internet, and then in papers across the country, your good friend Andrew Young, who was your United Nations Ambassador-" Clinton corrected him, "President Carter's United Nations Ambassador." Smith apologized, "I'm sorry...And you're good friend. Sorry, I stand corrected." Smith then attempted to ask a challenging question: "When you're on the stump for her as campaigner-in-chief, some people have even suggested you actually do more harm than good. Have you heard that?" However, he showed nothing but agreement as Clinton responded: "Yeah, but they're people that probably wouldn't be for her anyway...That's not -- the evidence doesn't show that. Most Democrats think I did a pretty good job as president and they think I'm pulling for them." Smith's only response: "Right, right." Finally, after defending Clinton's statement about Iraq, Smith gave the former president plenty of time at the end of the interview to exclaim: "I supported threatening Saddam so we could do the inspections...The mistake we made was not letting the inspections finish. If they had, there would have been no war. And I was always against doing it without the inspections." Here is the full transcript of the Clinton interview, as well as the earlier segment on Andrew Young's comments: 7:00AM TEASER, HARRY SMITH: And an Early Show exclusive interview live from Harlem. Former President Clinton on the hot-button points of race, religion, celebrity, money, and gender in the 2008 race for the White House, Early this Monday morning, December 10th, 2007. 7:01AM, SMITH: Morning, everybody, I'm Harry Smith. We are live in Harlem this morning at the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care and Prevention, which is one of those places there was a demonstrated need, the doctor in charge goes to Ralph Lauren, says give me $6 million, and now they have this amazing state-of-the-art center, which all goes to the point of Bill Clinton's book Giving, which we're going to be talking about in an exclusive interview with him along with all of the politics there is to talk about, especially all the campaigning done over the weekend by Oprah Winfrey. 7:15AM, BILL CLINTON: I don't have a problem now. SMITH: Alright. Thanks very much, Julie. We are live in Harlem this morning with former President Bill Clinton, just a couple of blocks from his office, and we're here to talk about this, his best-selling book "Giving," also maybe talk a little bit about politics too. We'll be right back. 7:21AM, SMITH: Well, we hear there is a presidential campaign going on. If we have time, we'll talk about that, but it's also the season for Giving. We're going to talk about that with President Bill Clinton after these messages and your local news. 7:30AM, SMITH: 'Tis the season to be Giving. We're in Harlem this morning with former President Bill Clinton. We'll be talking about his book. We'll also talk a little politics this morning as well. Thank you for being with us, Mr. President. We'll have that in just a second.
7:32AM SEGMENT, HARRY SMITH: First things first, we want to say where we are. We're at the Ralph Lauren Cancer Center in Harlem on 124th Street, just a couple of blocks from your office. And tell very briefly the story of how this place came to be, because there's a demonstrated need for cancer care, and especially in underserved areas, of which this is one. The doctor who's running this place says 'I need some money.' CLINTON: Thank you. Glad to do it. ANDREW YOUNG SEGMENT:
7:00AM TEASER, HARRY SMITH: Hillary Clinton gets some controversial support from a civil rights icon who says don't vote for Obama. The Clintons are simply more black.
7:12AM SEGMENT, JULIE CHEN: As you heard earlier, former U.N. Ambassador and long-time civil rights leader, Andrew Young, is raising a lot of eyebrows with some comments he made about presidential candidate Barack Obama.
All Share the Nobel Prize' CNN International's Jonathan Mann, during an hour-long Monday love fest in honor of Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's reception of the Nobel Peace Prize, gushed over the former Vice President: "You went from being 'Ozone Man' to 'The Goricle.' This became -- the Nobel Prize became 'The Goronation.' You must be conscious of the change in perceptions about you in particular because of that film [An Inconvenient Truth]." Later, at the very end of the program aired at 11am EST on the domestic CNN channel, Mann speculated that Gore's prize could actually be shared with all those who contribute to the planet-saving cause: "We may not all agree about the politics of global warming or about the big solutions, but we can all do our own little part, and it will add up. And for that reason, this year, for the first time that I can remember, we can all share the Nobel Prize." [This item, by Matthew Balan, was posted Monday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] Mann interviewed Gore, along with IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri, live from the site of the annual Nobel Prize ceremony in Oslo, Norway during the 11 am Eastern hour. Besides a lengthy interview of the two Nobel Prize laureates about a number of topics, CNN aired a number of short segments about Gore and the subject of climate change. Thomas Lovejoy, president of the Heinz Foundation (the full name of which is the Teresa and H. John Heinz III Foundation), appeared in two of the short segments. In the very first segment aired, Lovejoy showered Gore with praise. "Well, I think he's done just an extraordinary job of awakening public consciousness to essentially, you know, the largest environmental challenge of all time." In a later segment, Lovejoy went further than Gore and the IPCC on the threat of climate change. "I think, if anything, he underestimates the rate of change, and so has the IPCC. So the Arctic Ocean is now projected to be ice-free for the first time in 2020, instead of 2050 or 2100." About a quarter of the way into the hour, Mann asked Gore and Pachuauri about "An Inconvenient Truth" and the controversy over its accuracy. A full transcript of the exchange:
JONATHAN MANN: Let me ask you about the criticism and the court battle in Britain about the facts. If you had that movie to make over again, how much of it would you change? How many of the facts would you just lighten up a little bit? Towards the end of the hour, Mann highlighted the supposed indifference of the American people concerning the issue of climate change. MANN: Maybe the best way to describe American attitudes, and I hope this is fair to all concerned, is that Americans do know about global warming and they do care, but they don't care all that much. Al Gore, you travel across the United States, you know there are millions of ordinary Americans. There are senators, there are scientists who disagree with you. There are a few people running for president. Do you see their point of view, or is there some problem? Because around the world, people wonder why Americans feel so differently from everyone else. Mann's "we can all share the Nobel Prize" comment came during his last words to Gore and Pachauri. The full transcript of this closing monologue: MANN: Gentlemen, I hope you're going to allow me a final word before we have to bring this program to a conclusion. The Nobel Prize has been given out many times before to diplomats and politicians, humanitarians and activists. It's even gone to scientists before, and at least once before to an environmentalist. So this year doesn't really set a precedent in that way. But it is different this year because of the other people involved, and that's the rest of us. You may not be able to solve the problems of the Middle East, you may not be able to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, but you can, we all can, do something about global warming. You can flip off the lights when you're leaving a room. You can take a longer walk and use your car less often. You can even shop differently to try to encourage business. We may not all agree about the politics of global warming or about the big solutions, but we can all do our own little part, and it will add up. And for that reason, this year, for the first time that I can remember, we can all share the Nobel Prize.
Don't 'Hate' Them? As far as Geraldo Rivera is concerned the GOP presidential candidates are guilty until proven innocent on whether or not they "hate" Hispanics. On Sunday's 'Geraldo At Large,' the Fox News host teased a segment on the GOP Univision debate: "In the current anti-immigration climate did these Republican debates convince Hispanics that they don't hate them?" [This item, by Geoffrey Dickens, was posted Monday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] Later, on the December 9 show, Rivera continued the slurs against the GOP candidates when he introduced the Carl Cameron report on the debate: "Meanwhile in Miami, in what had to be an awkward evening, most of the GOP candidates met to debate on the Spanish-language TV network Univision. 'Trying to put lips on a pig,' is how one analyst put the, the tough job the candidates face in trying to convince Hispanic voters that the anti-immigration attitudes expressed by most of the GOP candidates doesn't mean they hate Spanish people. How'd they do and where was Colorado's radical anti-immigration candidate Tom Tancredo? Let's ask Campaign Carl Cameron who joins us live from Miami."
-- Brent Baker
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