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1. NBC Stacks Deck Against Petraeus, and Takes a Shot at McCain Too NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams led Tuesday's newscast by listing the burden of the Iraq war in years, troops, deaths and cost before Jim Miklaszewski, unlike reporters on ABC and CBS, found it newsworthy to show a man, in the Senate hearing for General David Petraeus, shouting "bring them home!" In the next story, Andrea Mitchell decided to highlight, again unlike ABC or CBS, how John McCain "stumbled...by again describing al Qaeda as Shiite" and Williams turned to Richard Engel, NBC's Iraq reporter, who described Petraeus' decision to end troop withdrawals in July as "frustrating and disheartening in that the rules of the game have changed." Williams opened: "The war's now five years old. That's longer than U.S. involvement in World War II. There are currently 162,000 U.S. troops serving in Iraq. Death toll is now over 4,000. And the price tag of this war for military operations alone: nearly half a trillion dollars so far." 2. Walters: Surge Failed, 'Darling You Can Cite All Stats You Want' View co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck touted the success of the surge before veteran ABC News journalist Barbara Walters dismissed it. On Tuesday's The View the panel discussed General Petraeus' testimony before Congress on the situation in Iraq. Hasselbeck called the surge "one of the most effective strategies in the war" before Walters swiftly responded: "No it has not." Walters then contended an up tick in violence shows the surge has failed: "Now there has been more violence than there has been in many months." Hasselbeck then pointed out how the Iraqis "met 12 of the 18 benchmarks" and "90,000 of the Sunnis have decided to join U.S. forces." Walters responded by dismissing those figures: "Darling you can get all of the statistics you want, but you've had more violence than you've had in months." 3. CBS's Smith Cues Up Democratic Talking Points on Iraq to Clinton In an interview with Hillary Clinton on Tuesday's CBS Early Show, about the upcoming congressional testimony of General David Petraeus on the Iraq war, co-host Harry Smith began by asking a question that perfectly towed the Democratic Party line: "David Petraeus is going to come before this committee this morning. He's going to say in more -- you know, more elaborate words than I will right now, that the surge is working. The number of attacks in Baghdad have more than doubled in the last two months. About a dozen U.S. servicemen have been killed there in just the last several days. Do you think the surge is working?" Clinton was very appreciative of Smith's softball and let him know: "Well Harry, I think you just made a summary argument against the position that it's working." Smith's claim that attacks in Baghdad "more than doubled" recently was accurate according to an April 8 New York Times article. However, what Smith failed to also point out was the dramatic decline of attacks during the surge, which preceded the latest round of violence. 4. Geraldo Has Sympathy Pains for Hillary on Bosnia Gaffe Last week Fox News host Geraldo Rivera expressed he would be "proud" to vote for Barack Obama, but on Saturday's Geraldo At Large he showed he still has some affinity for Hillary Clinton as well. When former Maryland Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele claimed Clinton's Bosnia gaffe was the reason for her drop in a recent poll, Rivera felt for the former First Lady as he sympathized: "I think that, that's awful. I, I feel so bad for her for that." 5. ABC's Sawyer Touts Rosie O'Donnell's 'Singular Take' on the World Good Morning America's Diane Sawyer featured noted 9/11 conspiracy theorist Rosie O'Donnell for over 15 minutes on Tuesday and failed to ask about any of her numerous controversial statements. Despite this, Sawyer did find the time to laud the former talk show host's "singular take on the world" and to make crafts with the hard core leftist who once asserted that "radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America." Sawyer glossed over the controversial statements O'Donnell made during her tenure as a co-host of the ABC program The View. At one point, the GMA co-anchor even admitted: "So, I don't want to go back and rehash all of 'The View' stuff again." Some of the "stuff" Sawyer might have been referring to, included telling the lone conservative voice on The View, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, on November 9, 2006: "Don't fear the terrorists. They're mothers and fathers." During her GMA appearance to promote a new book on crafts, O'Donnell stated that one factor in her quitting The View was control. In her role as an interviewer, Sawyer certainly offered no conflicting point of view and failed to ask tough questions. 6. Reminder: The MRC's 'DisHonors Awards' Are Thursday Night Reminder: The MRC's "DisHonors Awards: Roasting the Most Outrageously Biased Liberal Reporters," with the "William F. Buckley Jr. Award for Media Excellence" presented to Tony Snow, plus some special surprises, will be held tomorrow (Thursday) night. So, if you bought a ticket or are on the complimentary list, don't forget to attend! Reception at 6pm, dinner promptly at 7pm.
Takes a Shot at McCain Too NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams led Tuesday's newscast by listing the burden of the Iraq war in years, troops, deaths and cost before Jim Miklaszewski, unlike reporters on ABC and CBS, found it newsworthy to show a man, in the Senate hearing for General David Petraeus, shouting "bring them home!" In the next story, Andrea Mitchell decided to highlight, again unlike ABC or CBS, how John McCain "stumbled...by again describing al Qaeda as Shiite" and Williams turned to Richard Engel, NBC's Iraq reporter, who described Petraeus' decision to end troop withdrawals in July as "frustrating and disheartening in that the rules of the game have changed." Williams opened: "The war's now five years old. That's longer than U.S. involvement in World War II. There are currently 162,000 U.S. troops serving in Iraq. Death toll is now over 4,000. And the price tag of this war for military operations alone: nearly half a trillion dollars so far." Before and after audio of a man yelling "bring them home!", Miklaszewski helpfully suggested: "A protestor voiced what some Americans are demanding for U.S. troops." In a piece by Mitchell on how the three presidential candidates approached Petraeus, she pointed how that "the Republican Senator also stumbled, briefly, by again describing al Qaeda as Shiite." She countered: "Al Qaeda is Sunni, not Shiite. McCain immediately corrected himself." So, if he immediately corrected himself, why highlight it? [This item, by the MRC's Brent Baker, was posted Tuesday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] NBC has been the most-interested in McCain's references to al-Qaeda as Shia or the Shia Iran helping the Sunni al-Qaeda. The March 20 CyberAlert item, "Moving on from Obama's Pastor, NBC Focuses on McCain 'Mistake,'" recounted: A day after Barack Obama's speech in reaction to the bigoted and hateful rants of his long-time pastor, the network evening newscasts moved on -- with only ABC briefly mentioning the topic -- while NBC Nightly News, which has run just one clip of Jeremiah Wright and on Friday had instead featured a whole story about Obama's childhood friends cheering him on, centered a Wednesday night story around "a mistake" by John McCain. Anchor Brian Williams provided an ominous plug: "Did John McCain slip, or was his mistake intentional? His choice of words making news tonight." Kelly O'Donnell soon proposed: "Defense and national security are central to McCain's campaign. So a mistake he repeated this week has stood out. At least three times McCain incorrectly asserted that Iran is aiding al Qaeda." After video of Senator Joe Lieberman whispering in McCain's ear, McCain corrected himself as O'Donnell explained: "The mistake, al Qaeda is a Sunni group while Iran is a Shia nation." O'Donnell highlighted how "Senator Obama seized on the error," concluding with the suggestion the one comment undermined McCain's image: "Leaving McCain to defend his expertise during a trip in which he intended to showcase it." For the entire posting: www.mrc.org How ABC and CBS framed the story on Tuesday, April 8: # Charles Gibson, ABC's World News: "Good evening. The senior commander of forces in Iraq told Congress today that significant, buty fragile, progress had been made in the war. And then, as expected, General David Petraeus called for an indefinite pause of troop withdrawals this summer. He refused to say if or when troop withdrawals might resume. And he would not offer an estimate of how many American forces would still be in Iraq after the election in November. Among those questioning the General on Capitol Hill today, all the presidential candidates. ABC's Jonathan Karl is at the Capitol."
BRIAN WILLIAMS: Good evening. The man in charge of the war effort in Iraq, General David Petraeus, today reported to Congress on the status of the fight and what the future looks like to him. By his side was the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq and, across the gulf of photographers, two Senate committees with a full day of questions about what's going on over there. The war's now five years old. That's longer than U.S. involvement in World War II. There are currently 162,000 U.S. troops serving in Iraq. Death toll is now over 4,000. And the price tag of this war for military operations alone: nearly half a trillion dollars so far [on screen: "at least $430 Billion"]. Those are the stakes. Now the testimony and the politics of the day, we have it all covered. Our Pentagon correspondent, Jim Miklaszewski, starts us off live on Capitol Hill tonight....
ANDREA MITCHELL: While today's witnesses echoed McCain's stay the course approach, the Republican Senator also stumbled, briefly, by again describing al Qaeda as Shiite. RICHARD ENGEL, IN STUDIO: I watched it and overwhelmingly I came away with the impression that it was somewhat frustrating and disheartening in that the rules of the game have changed. For years, military commanders have said that once conditions on the ground improve then troops can start to pull back. Today, General Petraeus said conditions on the ground have improved, but you know what? The troops have to stay. And I think if I was the mother or father of the one of the soldiers serving in Iraq, I'd be proud because he said they've achieved tremendous successes, but I'd also be upset that, if I listened to him, he'd say they would have to stay there in order to maintain that success.
Cite All Stats You Want' View co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck touted the success of the surge before veteran ABC News journalist Barbara Walters dismissed it. On Tuesday's The View the panel discussed General Petraeus' testimony before Congress on the situation in Iraq. Hasselbeck called the surge "one of the most effective strategies in the war" before Walters swiftly responded: "No it has not." Walters then contended an up tick in violence shows the surge has failed: "Now there has been more violence than there has been in many months." Hasselbeck then pointed out how the Iraqis "met 12 of the 18 benchmarks" and "90,000 of the Sunnis have decided to join U.S. forces." Walters responded by dismissing those figures: "Darling you can get all of the statistics you want, but you've had more violence than you've had in months." [This item was adapted from the NewsBusters post by Justin McCarthy: newsbusters.org ] From the April 8 edition of the ABC daytime gabfest:
ELISABETH HASSELBECK: I think the surge has probably been one of the most effective strategies in this war.
Points on Iraq to Clinton In an interview with Hillary Clinton on Tuesday's CBS Early Show, about the upcoming congressional testimony of General David Petraeus on the Iraq war, co-host Harry Smith began by asking a question that perfectly towed the Democratic Party line: "David Petraeus is going to come before this committee this morning. He's going to say in more -- you know, more elaborate words than I will right now, that the surge is working. The number of attacks in Baghdad have more than doubled in the last two months. About a dozen U.S. servicemen have been killed there in just the last several days. Do you think the surge is working?" Clinton was very appreciative of Smith's softball and let him know: "Well Harry, I think you just made a summary argument against the position that it's working." Smith's claim that attacks in Baghdad "more than doubled" recently was accurate according to an April 8 New York Times article. However, what Smith failed to also point out was the dramatic decline of attacks during the surge, which preceded the latest round of violence. [This item, by Kyle Drennen, was posted Tuesday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] The April 8 New York Times article here: www.nytimes.com Smith later asked about the possibility of a civil war in Iraq: "I guess the question is if U.S. troops are drawn down there, what ends up happening to this country? Does it fall into what a lot of people believe is an inevitable civil war?" Clinton replied: "Well, there's a low grade civil war going on right now...But one thing we know for sure is continuing the Bush policy, the Bush/McCain policy now is not a recipe for success. It is to continue to mire the United States, lead to more loss of our young men and women, more injuries and, frankly, I think destabilize our position globally and divert our ability to deal with Afghanistan and other problems that I think have a much more direct interest for the United States." Smith then observed: "That's what the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs has talked about." However, according to another New York Times article from April 6, Chairman Mike Mullen supported maintaining the troop surge: "The Army and the rest of the service chiefs have endorsed General Petraeus's recommendations for continued high troop levels in Iraq. But Adm. Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the Army Chief of Staff, and their top deputies also have warned that the war in Iraq should not be permitted to inflict an unacceptable toll on the military as a whole." Smith mis-characterized Mullen's statement and left out this more complete context. The April 6 New York Times article: www.nytimes.com Here is the full transcript of the April 8 segment: 7:00AM TEASER, HARRY SMITH: Breaking news this morning, fireworks on Capitol Hill. The general in charge of U.S. policy in Iraq defends his strategy and comes face-to-face with three presidential candidates. 7:01AM TEASER, SMITH: In just a couple of minutes, Senator Hillary Clinton will join us on this very big day on Capitol Hill. The Senator, along with Senators Obama and McCain, going to be questioning the top commander in Iraq, General Petraeus, about the course of U.S. policy there. And with all three candidates competing for attention, we're going to see if, at the end of the day, military or political strategy was at the top of the agenda.
7:02AM SEGMENT:
on Bosnia Gaffe Last week Fox News host Geraldo Rivera expressed he would be "proud" to vote for Barack Obama, but on Saturday's Geraldo At Large he showed he still has some affinity for Hillary Clinton as well. When former Maryland Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele claimed Clinton's Bosnia gaffe was the reason for her drop in a recent poll, Rivera felt for the former First Lady as he sympathized: "I think that, that's awful. I, I feel so bad for her for that." [This item, by the MRC's Geoffrey Dickens, was posted Tuesday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] The following is the full exchange as it occurred on the April 5 edition of Geraldo At Large on FNC:
GERALDO RIVERA: And Governor Steele, you have a situation where this Rasmussen poll, I was pretty shocked when I saw it, now showing Barack Obama, I think for only the second time over 50 percent. He's at 51, Hillary Clinton is at 41. That's a 10-point spread. It looks as if the momentum have, has that people are, are putting the, the Wright controversy behind Obama and now seem to be rallying to him in a way that I, up until now, have not seen. you until now have not seen. To read more about Rivera's endorsement of Obama see: www.mrc.org
'Singular Take' on the World Good Morning America's Diane Sawyer featured noted 9/11 conspiracy theorist Rosie O'Donnell for over 15 minutes on Tuesday and failed to ask about any of her numerous controversial statements. Despite this, Sawyer did find the time to laud the former talk show host's "singular take on the world" and to make crafts with the hard core leftist who once asserted that "radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America." For more on this, see the September 13, 2006 CyberAlert: www.mrc.org Sawyer glossed over the controversial statements O'Donnell made during her tenure as a co-host of the ABC program The View. At one point, the GMA co-anchor even admitted: "So, I don't want to go back and rehash all of 'The View' stuff again." Some of the "stuff" Sawyer might have been referring to, included telling the lone conservative voice on The View, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, on November 9, 2006: "Don't fear the terrorists. They're mothers and fathers." During her GMA appearance to promote a new book on crafts, O'Donnell stated that one factor in her quitting The View was control. For her earlier program, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, "...There was no one with a conflicting point of view." In her role as an interviewer, Sawyer certainly offered no conflicting point of view and failed to ask tough questions. For Rosie's thoughts on terrorism, see the November 10, 2006 CyberAlert: www.mrc.org [This item, by the MRC's Scott Whitlock, was posted Tuesday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] The GMA host definitely appeared aware that O'Donnell could say something bizarre or controversial at any moment. Before asking the comedienne about the 2008 presidential race, Sawyer declared, "Politics. Not the views of the management, whatever they are here. Hillary or Obama?" Finally, a humorous moment occurred early in the segment. Right as Sawyer proclaimed the "singular take" O'Donnell expresses on her web page, a screen shot of the ex-talk show host's site appeared. The grammatically incorrect, almost incomprehensible O'Donnell post read as follows: cause i was drinking too much cause i didn't want to anymore cause it is hard to lose weight wen (sic) drinking cause i never have only one A singular take, indeed. [A second segment, in the 8am hour, followed. At that point, Sawyer and O'Donnell made crafts with the other hosts of GMA.] A partial transcript of the April 8 segment, which aired at 7:31am:
DIANE SAWYER: But first, 11 time Emmy winner Rosie O'Donnell joins us this morning back on live TV with us right here, a year now since she left The View. And over the years, as you know, she's made her mark as a comedian, a stand-up comedian. 30 years ago she started out. An actress, a talk show host, author. And now she's getting ready to add another title to her resume. We'll tell you about that. Always outspoken, funny, original. Her own show debuted in 1996. Seconds later, with 11-Emmys she was queen of daytime TV.
Are Thursday Night Reminder: The MRC's "DisHonors Awards: Roasting the Most Outrageously Biased Liberal Reporters," with the "William F. Buckley Jr. Award for Media Excellence" presented to Tony Snow, plus some special surprises, will be held tomorrow (Thursday) night. So, if you bought a ticket or are on the complimentary list and you confirmed, don't forget to attend! Reception at 6pm, dinner promptly at 7pm so the gala can start by 8pm. Questions: Call (703) 683-9733.
-- Brent Baker
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