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1. Kilpatrick Leads Democratic Group, Yet Nets Refuse to Name Party Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is hardly reticent about touting himself as a Democrat. After all, he's the Vice President of the National Conference of Democratic Mayors and in January was re-elected its representative to the Democratic National Committee. But in ABC and NBC news stories Thursday night about how a Michigan judge ordered him to jail immediately for violating his bond, neither identified him as a Democrat (verbally or on screen) -- not even in a full two-minute NBC story. On CBS, fill-in anchor Russ Mitchell didn't mention Kilpatrick's party in three teases/plugs for the upcoming story, nor in the introduction to it, but two-thirds into his report, Dean Reynolds, who in a March story failed to ID Kilpatrick, referenced: "Once a rising star in Democratic Party politics..." Making that same "rising star" point, from a smoggy (or foggy?) Beijing, NBC anchor Brian Williams managed to avoid mentioning Kilpatrick's party affiliation: "Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was once viewed as a rising political star in the United States. Tonight he has fallen pretty far from those early lofty and glowing predictions..." Two of the cable news networks were no more accurate. 2. New York Times Fails to Name That (Racist, Anti-Semitic) Party New York Times reporter Adam Nossiter filed a disturbing story about racism and anti-Semitism in a Democratic primary in Memphis -- but left out the "Democrat" part. On Thursday, Southern-based reporter Nossiter relayed a disturbing story about racism and anti-Semitism in a House primary in Memphis, "Race Takes Central Role in a Memphis Primary." But which party's primary? That's the one thing missing from Nossiter's story -- the word "Democrat." 3. Barnicle: Suskind Book Charges Bush & Cheney with '4,000 Murders' Ron Suskind's charge, that the Bush administration forged a letter to falsely link al-Qaeda with Saddam Hussein, landed the journalist/author not only a spot on Thursday night's Hardball, but also the following recommendation for his book, The Way of the World, from guest host Mike Barnicle: "And in reading the book, I have to tell you, in reading all your stuff, I admire all your stuff. But in reading this book and these charges that have laid out here and because of my background, covering like city stuff and everything for years, I can't help but come to the conclusion, at the end of this book, this book is basically charging the President of the United States, or the Vice President of the United States with being an accessory, before the fact, to 4,000 murders and more in Iraq. They lied us into war, according to this book." 4. CBS's Rodriguez: McCain Ad 'Started This Negative Tide' On Thursday's CBS Early Show, co-host Maggie Rodriguez talked to Republican strategist Ed Rollins about the recent exchange of ads between the McCain and Obama campaigns and started the discussion by declaring: "Let's begin with the one that started this negative tide, John McCain's ad last week comparing Barack Obama to celebrities Paris Hilton and Britney Spears." Rodriguez went on to admit the media's distaste for the ad as she asked Rollins: "So even though he was being criticized, do you think this was an effective ad because it got people talking about McCain again?" Later in the Early Show segment, Rodriguez introduced a clip of the Obama campaign's response ad in a positive fashion: "Barack Obama says that he -- John McCain is taking the low road. He's supposed to be a straight talker who doesn't resort to this sort of thing, but he has. And he said as much in this ad, let's take a look at it." When Rodriguez asked Rollins what he thought of the ad, he observed: "Well he's responding to McCain. The truth of the matter is you want to run your own campaign, you don't want to respond in the opposition. That's the basic rule." Rodriguez seemed surprised by the critique: "You don't think that Barack Obama pointing out John McCain's weaknesses, in his view, is a good strategy?" 5. GMA Tosses Softballs About 'Obama Family Vacation Traditions' ABC's Robin Roberts treated Michelle Obama to a thoroughly positive (and at times gushing) interview on Thursday's Good Morning America, sympathizing with Mrs. Obama about negative ads against her husband and The New Yorker cover which cast her as a black militant. Roberts also touted how Michelle Obama "has turned her attention to...improving the lives of military families," and asked about "Obama family vacation traditions," such as heated games of Scrabble. Throughout the nearly 6 minute session, Roberts posed no questions about the controversies that have dogged Mrs. Obama on the campaign trail, such as her statement that this year -- as her husband runs for President -- is the first time she has been proud of this country. Roberts allowed Obama a lengthy monologue about the need to stay focused "on the real issues that matter to most families, and it's better gas prices, decent jobs, health care that makes sense and doesn't leave people, you know, out of the system" without ever asking the potential First Lady about how her husband plans to accomplish any of those things. 6. 63% Plus of ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and MSNBC Viewers Back Obama By percentages ranging from 63 to 71 percent, viewers of CNN, MSNBC and the three broadcast network evening newscasts plan to vote for liberal Democrat Barack Obama, a Rasmussen Reports telephone survey released Wednesday discovered. The biggest surprise: MSNBC viewers came in at the low end of that range in their intention to cast a ballot for Obama -- but maybe some are just too lazy to vote since, of the three cable news networks, MSNBC had the highest percent (72) with a favorable view of Obama and the lowest percent (38) with a favorable opinion of John McCain. (In contrast, FNC is the opposite on favorability while "87 percent of Fox News viewers say they are likely to vote for John McCain" with only nine percent of FNC watchers backing Obama.) The poll found 65 percent of those who watch CNN "plan to vote for the Democratic candidate versus 26 percent who intend to go for the Republican. Similarly, MSNBC watchers plan to vote for Obama over McCain 63 percent to 30 percent." For the evening newscasts: "Seventy percent (70%) of those who watch CBS's Katie Couric every day plan to vote for Obama, as do 71 percent of the daily viewers of ABC's Charles Gibson and 67 percent of those watching NBC's Brian Williams." 7. Olbermann: Hamdan 'Victim' of Bush 'Urinating' on Constitution On Thursday's Countdown, one night after accusing President Bush of not doing enough to protect America from Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization before the September 11th attacks, MSNBC host Keith Olbermann seemed sympathetic to the plight of Osama bin Laden's former driver, Salim Hamdan. Following Hamdan's sentencing in a military court during which the judge expressed an apology to the bin Laden aide as he handed down a sentence that would make Hamdan eligible for release in six months, the American military indicated Hamdan may still be kept prisoner at Guantanamo Bay indefinitely in spite of the ruling, prompting Olbermann to accuse the Bush administration of "urinating" on the Constitution, and making Hamdan one of the "victims" of its "medieval" justice system: "So, besides urinating on the Constitution and the rights and freedoms every American soldier has ever fought to win and protect, the Bush administration has now decided that when its victims have actually served their sentences, doled out under its own medieval, quote, 'justice,' unquote, system, it still might not choose to set them free, thereby giving that Constitution and our country a second pass on the way out." 8. CNN Seeks Capitol's 'Jail' in Look at Libs' Desire to Arrest Rove Now that Congress has recessed, and since the conventions aren't for a couple of weeks, Thursday's The Situation Room turned back to the "hot" issue of what many liberals are calling on congressional Democrats to do: arrest and lock-up Karl Rove for his failure to testify on the issue of the firing of U.S. attorneys in late 2006. CNN correspondent Jim Acosta, as part of a report on this possible move by the Democrats, conducted a search for the supposed jail inside the U.S. Capitol. He also addressed the little-used power of the legislature to arrest and try government officials for contempt of Congress. Acosta began by describing the liberals' fantasy: "Just think, some on the Left say: Karl Rove and the Capitol slammer." Associate Senate Historian Don Ritchie brought Acosta to the bottom level of the Capitol to a tomb chamber originally built to hold the body of George Washington. He told of how "[a] lot of people who have seen it assumed, well, this must be the Capitol jail," due to the metal bars protecting the entrance of the chamber.
Nets Refuse to Name Party
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is hardly reticent about touting himself as a Democrat. After all, he's the Vice President of the National Conference of Democratic Mayors and in January was re-elected its representative to the Democratic National Committee. But in ABC and NBC news stories Thursday night about how a Michigan judge ordered him to jail immediately for violating his bond, neither identified him as a Democrat (verbally or on screen) -- not even in a full two-minute NBC story. On CBS, fill-in anchor Russ Mitchell didn't mention Kilpatrick's party in three teases/plugs for the upcoming story, nor in the introduction to it, but two-thirds into his report, Dean Reynolds, who in a March story failed to ID Kilpatrick, referenced: "Once a rising star in Democratic Party politics..." Two of the cable news networks were no more accurate. Filling in on MSNBC's Hardball, Mike Barnicle avoided Kilpatrick's party in a brief item on news of his jailing while on CNN's The Situation Room anchor Wolf Blitzer did not note Kilpatrick's Democratic affiliation in several updates and plugs and, in a full story in the 5PM EDT hour, the MRC's Matthew Balan noticed, Mary Snow failed to verbally name Kilpatrick's party in her piece. The only hint came in this chyron at the bottom of the screen for barely three seconds: "MAYOR KWAME KILPATRICK (D) DETROIT." FNC was the cable world exception as Bret Baier, filling in as host of Special Report, set up a story: "Detroit's Democratic Mayor will be spending the night in jail. A judge today told Kwame Kilpatrick he was going to be treated just like any other person who had broken the law. Correspondent Todd Conner has the story...." [This item, by the MRC's Brent Baker, was posted Thursday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] The image of Kilpatrick on the "leadership" page for National Conference of Democratic Mayors: www.democraticmayors.org The short, label-free, item read by ABC anchor Charles Gibson on World News: "The Mayor of Detroit is in jail. Kwame Kilpatrick is facing trial on perjury and obstruction of justice charges. Terms of his bail prevented travel. But he went to Canada anyway. So the judge today sent him to jail. Kilpatrick is appealing, but from a cell." The March 25 CyberAlert item, "ABC, CBS and NBC All Fail to ID Indicted Mayor as a Democrat," recounted: Two weeks since the ABC and NBC evening shows took multiple days before getting around to informing viewers that disgraced New York Governor Eliot Spitzer belonged to the Democratic Party -- after every ABC, CBS and NBC morning and evening news program last year immediately highlighted the party of Republican Senators David Vitter and Larry Craig -- Monday's broadcast network evening newscasts all failed to note, verbally or on-screen, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's party. ABC anchor Charles Gibson announced on World News: "Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was charged today with felonies that could cost him his job and 15 years in prison." NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams relayed how "Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick...was indicted on perjury and other charges in the wake of a sex scandal there." (NBC also refused to tag Kilpatrick in a full story aired Friday night.) Over on Monday's CBS Evening News, fill-in anchor Harry Smith introduced a full story: "In Detroit, a sex scandal led to criminal charges today against the Mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, a married father of three."... For the full rundown: www.mediaresearch.org The March 24 CyberAlert, "Here We Go Again: Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick (?)," reported: The week after it took the NBC Nightly News until the fourth day of coverage to inform viewers that disgraced then-New York Governor Eliot Spitzer is a Democrat, Friday's NBC Nightly News ran a full story on the scandalous behavior surrounding Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, but never identified his political party. Naturally, given the lack of a party identification by the mainstream media journalists, he's a Democrat. Anchor Brian Williams set up the story: "The city of Detroit is in a crisis over government and leadership. The current Mayor is just the latest Detroit Mayor elected on a promise to clean up and revitalize the city. Now he's been caught in a sex scandal, a trail of electronic messages reportedly provides the evidence, it threatens his career and then some." Reporter Kevin Tibbles, also sans any mention of a party affiliation, outlined: "The Detroit city council votes overwhelmingly to ask the Mayor to resign. 37-year-old Kwame Kilpatrick, in his second term of the Mayor of the Motor City, is mired in financial, political, and personal scandal, but refuses to budge." That's online at: www.mrc.org Transcripts of the stories on the Thursday, August 7 NBC and CBS evening newscasts: # NBC Nightly News: BRIAN WILLIAMS: Now we turn our focus to Detroit, Michigan, where Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was once viewed as a rising political star in the United States. Tonight he has fallen pretty far from those early lofty and glowing predictions. Already under indictment, a judge sent him to jail for violating the conditions of his bond. As you might imagine, this is a big story in Detroit and reporter Karen Drew of our NBC station WDIV-TV in Detroit has the story. KWAME KILPATRICK, IN COURT: Firstly, I apologize immensely.
KAREN DREW: Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick on his way to jail today apologized for what he said was a trip to Canada on city business without the court's permission.
Three teases and plugs from anchor Russ Mitchell: The indicted Mayor of Detroit is sent to jail after violating terms of his bond. There is much more CBS News ahead, including Detroit's Mayor. He's in jail tonight. Up next, Detroit's Mayor has a day in court and spends the night in jail. The eventual story: RUSS MITCHELL: The Mayor of Detroit is in jail tonight. A judge sent him there. Just the latest legal problem for Kwame Kilpatrick. Here's Dean Reynolds.
DEAN REYNOLDS: These are not the best of times for Kwame Kilpatrick, or his city. Awaiting trial on multiple felonies, he violated his bond agreement not to leave the country when he went on city business next door to Windsor, Canada. That landed him in front of a judge today.
Anti-Semitic) Party New York Times reporter Adam Nossiter filed a disturbing story about racism and anti-Semitism in a Democratic primary in Memphis -- but left out the "Democrat" part. On Thursday, Southern-based reporter Nossiter relayed a disturbing story about racism and anti-Semitism in a House primary in Memphis, "Race Takes Central Role in a Memphis Primary." But which party's primary? That's the one thing missing from Nossiter's story -- the word "Democrat." [This item is adapted from a Thursday post by Clay Waters on the MRC's TimesWatch site: www.timeswatch.org ] (Even MSNBC left-winger Keith Olbermann, in naming the candidate at the center of the New York Times story his "Worst Person in the World" on Wednesday night, identified her party: "Our winner: Would be Democratic Congresswoman Nikki Tinker, who's challenging the incumbent Democrat in the 9th district from Tennessee. There's already one Tinker ad questioning why the incumbent Congressman had voted against re-naming a municipal park that honors one of the founders of the Ku Klux Klan, thus tying the incumbent's name to the KKK. Now, on the eve of the primary, another Tinker ad includes this voice over, quote: 'While he's in our churches clapping his hands and tapping his feet, he's the only Senator who thought our kids shouldn't be allowed to pray in school.' Still wondering what the problem is with this rough politics? Well the incumbent against whom Miss Tinker is running is Congressman Steve Cohen. He is Jewish. Thus the phrase, 'while he's in our churches' can be interpreted, intended or otherwise, as having a very disturbing meaning...It is shameful...") An excerpt from the August 7 New York Times story: In the culmination of a racially fraught Congressional campaign in Memphis, a black candidate is linking her liberal-leaning white primary opponent in Thursday's contest, Representative Steve Cohen, to the Ku Klux Klan in a television advertisement. Mr. Cohen's campaign said it was an unusually direct effort to inject race into the contest. The advertisement for the challenger, Nikki Tinker, juxtaposes Mr. Cohen's picture with that of a hooded Klansman, and criticizes Mr. Cohen for voting against renaming a park in Memphis currently named for the Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Ku Klux Klan founder... END of Excerpt For the article in full: www.nytimes.com Credit Nossiter -- who is hypersensitive to signs of racism among Southern Republicans -- for covering this disturbing story. (One flier circulated in Memphis read: "Why do Steve Cohen and the Jews Hate Jesus?"). Earlier TimesWatch look at Nossiter: www.timeswatch.org But to which political party do Tinker and Cohen belong? Robert Stacy McCain noticed the word Democrat is nowhere to be found, although you can infer it from Nossiter calling Cohen a "media-friendly liberal," and other clues. Still, why no (D)? It's a pretty basic piece of information, and Nossister has never hesitated to point the finger at Republicans when he thinks they're playing the race card. McCain's blog post: rsmccain.blogspot.com For the latest details on liberal bias in the New York Times, check in with TimesWatch: www.timeswatch.org
Cheney with '4,000 Murders' Ron Suskind's charge, that the Bush administration forged a letter to falsely link al-Qaeda with Saddam Hussein, landed the journalist/author not only a spot on Thursday night's Hardball, but also the following recommendation for his book, The Way of the World, from guest host Mike Barnicle: "And in reading the book, I have to tell you, in reading all your stuff, I admire all your stuff. But in reading this book and these charges that have laid out here and because of my background, covering like city stuff and everything for years, I can't help but come to the conclusion, at the end of this book, this book is basically charging the President of the United States, or the Vice President of the United States with being an accessory, before the fact, to 4,000 murders and more in Iraq. They lied us into war, according to this book." [This item, by the MRC's Geoffrey Dickens, was posted Thursday evening on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] The following is an excerpt of the interview as it occurred on the August 7 Hardball:
MIKE BARNICLE: You never asked the DCI, the Director of Central Intelligence Agency, point blank, "George [Tenet] did you transport a cream-colored piece of paper to Langley after your meeting at the White House?"
Negative Tide' On Thursday's CBS Early Show, co-host Maggie Rodriguez talked to Republican strategist Ed Rollins about the recent exchange of ads between the McCain and Obama campaigns and started the discussion by declaring: "Let's begin with the one that started this negative tide, John McCain's ad last week comparing Barack Obama to celebrities Paris Hilton and Britney Spears." Rodriguez went on to admit the media's distaste for the ad as she asked Rollins: "So even though he was being criticized, do you think this was an effective ad because it got people talking about McCain again?" (On Wednesday's CBS Evening News correspondent Dean Reynolds said of the McCain ad: "Some Republicans wonder about the new approach. McCain's own mother said using Paris Hilton in this controversial ad to insult Obama was, quote, 'kind of stupid.'" See the August 7 CyberAlert: www.mediaresearch.org ) Later in the Early Show segment, Rodriguez introduced a clip of the Obama campaign's response ad in a positive fashion: "Barack Obama says that he -- John McCain is taking the low road. He's supposed to be a straight talker who doesn't resort to this sort of thing, but he has. And he said as much in this ad, let's take a look at it." When Rodriguez asked Rollins what he thought of the ad, he observed: "Well he's responding to McCain. The truth of the matter is you want to run your own campaign, you don't want to respond in the opposition. That's the basic rule." Rodriguez seemed surprised by the critique: "You don't think that Barack Obama pointing out John McCain's weaknesses, in his view, is a good strategy?" [This item, by Kyle Drennen, was posted Thursday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]
At the top of the show, co-host Harry Smith teased the segment by declaring: "McCain launches another attack on Obama. Is it having an effect on the latest polls?" Rodriguez offered a similar preview: "Up next, McCain versus Obama. Yet another new negative ad is out. You will see it." This new "attack on Obama" referred to a new McCain ad that again referred to Obama as a "celebrity": "Is the biggest celebrity in the world, ready to help your family? The real Obama promises higher taxes, more government spending. So, fewer jobs." Following up on Smith's question: "Is it having an effect on the latest polls?" Rodriguez quoted new poll numbers: "A new CBS News poll on the presidential race is out this morning and it shows Barack Obama leads John McCain 45% to 39%, the same lead that he had a month ago." Prior to proclaiming that McCain started a "negative tide," Rodriguez observed: "With such a tight race, the gloves are off as more and more campaign ads take negative turns." Apparently only McCain campaign ads, according to CBS.
Vacation Traditions' ABC's Robin Roberts treated Michelle Obama to a thoroughly positive (and at times gushing) interview on Thursday's Good Morning America, sympathizing with Mrs. Obama about negative ads against her husband and The New Yorker cover which cast her as a black militant. Roberts also touted how Michelle Obama "has turned her attention to...improving the lives of military families," and asked about "Obama family vacation traditions," such as heated games of Scrabble. Throughout the nearly 6 minute session, Roberts posed no questions about the controversies that have dogged Mrs. Obama on the campaign trail, such as her statement that this year -- as her husband runs for President -- is the first time she has been proud of this country. Roberts allowed Obama a lengthy monologue about the need to stay focused "on the real issues that matter to most families, and it's better gas prices, decent jobs, health care that makes sense and doesn't leave people, you know, out of the system" without ever asking the potential First Lady about how her husband plans to accomplish any of those things. [This item, by the MRC's Rich Noyes and intern Peter Sasso, was posted Thursday on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] A transcript of the interview that aired at 7:04 AM on the August 7 GMA:
ROBIN ROBERTS: Now to our exclusive interview with Michelle Obama. I spent a jam-packed day with her in Norfolk, Virginia, where she was also spending a lot of time meeting with military families. We talked about a host of issues from the campaign trail including those controversial political ads. The Paris Hilton/Britney Spears ad, I mean, both sides have commented on that, good and bad and it seems that Senator McCain has gotten a little momentum following that Paris Hilton ad.
Viewers Back Obama By percentages ranging from 63 to 71 percent, viewers of CNN, MSNBC and the three broadcast network evening newscasts plan to vote for liberal Democrat Barack Obama, a Rasmussen Reports telephone survey released Wednesday discovered. The biggest surprise: MSNBC viewers came in at the low end of that range in their intention to cast a ballot for Obama -- but maybe some are just too lazy to vote since, of the three cable news networks, MSNBC had the highest percent (72) with a favorable view of Obama and the lowest percent (38) with a favorable opinion of John McCain. (In contrast, FNC is the opposite on favorability while "87 percent of Fox News viewers say they are likely to vote for John McCain" with only nine percent of FNC watchers backing Obama.) The poll found 65 percent of those who watch CNN "plan to vote for the Democratic candidate versus 26 percent who intend to go for the Republican. Similarly, MSNBC watchers plan to vote for Obama over McCain 63 percent to 30 percent." For the evening newscasts: "Seventy percent (70%) of those who watch CBS's Katie Couric every day plan to vote for Obama, as do 71 percent of the daily viewers of ABC's Charles Gibson and 67 percent of those watching NBC's Brian Williams." More from the poll: # Favorable vs. Unfavorable Ratings: "While McCain is regarded favorably by 88% of Fox News viewers, only 43% of CNN viewers and 38% of those who watch MSNBC agree. But just 14% of Fox viewers have a favorable opinion of Obama, as opposed to 70% of CNN watchers and 72% of those watching MSNBC." # CNN and MSNBC Viewers Care Less About National Security: "How voters rate the importance of issues is also reflected in the cable news programming they prefer. For 36% of Fox viewers, national security is the most important issue in the campaign, followed by 32% who say economic issues are number one. By contrast, those who watch CNN rate economic issues over national security 56% to 13%, and MSNBC viewers agree 50% to 12%." # Talk Radio Is McCain Territory: "More than 60% of those who listen at least several times a week plan to vote for the Republican versus less than a third who say they will vote for Obama. National security also polls as a much stronger concern among those who listen regularly to talk radio than it does to voters overall."
For Rasmussen's August 6 summary of the poll, "News You Watch Says a Lot About How You'll Vote," go to: www.rasmussenreports.com A Rasmussen Reports telephone survey released Monday, of 1,000 likely voters, "found that 49 percent of voters believe most reporters will try to help Obama with their coverage, up from 44 percent a month ago," compared to a piddling 14 percent who "believe most reporters will try to help John McCain win" while "just one voter in four (24%) believes that most reporters will try to offer unbiased coverage." For more: www.mediaresearch.org
on Constitution On Thursday's Countdown, one night after accusing President Bush of not doing enough to protect America from Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization before the September 11th attacks, MSNBC host Keith Olbermann seemed sympathetic to the plight of Osama bin Laden's former driver, Salim Hamdan. Following Hamdan's sentencing in a military court during which the judge expressed an apology to the bin Laden aide as he handed down a sentence that would make Hamdan eligible for release in six months, the American military indicated Hamdan may still be kept prisoner at Guantanamo Bay indefinitely in spite of the ruling, prompting Olbermann to accuse the Bush administration of "urinating" on the Constitution, and making Hamdan one of the "victims" of its "medieval" justice system: "So, besides urinating on the Constitution and the rights and freedoms every American soldier has ever fought to win and protect, the Bush administration has now decided that when its victims have actually served their sentences, doled out under its own medieval, quote, 'justice,' unquote, system, it still might not choose to set them free, thereby giving that Constitution and our country a second pass on the way out." Ironically, just the day before on Wednesday's show, the Countdown host marked the seventh anniversary of a presidential Daily Briefing from August 6, 2001, which has previously been hyped by the media as having been a warning that the 9/11 attacks were about to happen. During Wednesday's "Bushed" segment which purports to update viewers on what the Countdown host sees as Bush administration scandals, Olbermann claimed that the President was given a report "which he either did not read, did not understand or did not believe." And, although the report's reference to surveillance of buildings in New York City was later found to be just the tourist activities of a group of Yemenis, Olbermann deceptively quoted a portion of the PDB which referred to "patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York." Claiming that the PDB contained "all the information you could have wanted," Olbermann charged that President Bush "slept": "The President's daily briefing seven years ago today, August 6th, 2001, entitled ‘Bin Laden determined to strike in U.S.' mentions bringing the fighting to America, retaliating in Washington, wanting to hijack a U.S. aircraft, preparations for hijackings, surveillance done in New York, groups of supporters in the U.S. planning attacks -- all the information you could have wanted. All of it in George Bush`s hands, seven years ago today, with 36 days left to interrupt or alter 9/11. So when you rhetorically ask, as Mr. Posner did in his exceptional book, 'Why America Slept,' the answer is actually a correction. America did not sleep, George Bush slept." But, as recounted in the April 12, 2004, CyberAlert, former Republican Governor James Thompson of Illinois, a member of the September 11th Commission, dismissed the PDB's relevance to the 9/11 attacks in an interview on the April 10, 2004, CNN Saturday Night with anchor Carol Lin. Thompson contended that much of what was in the report "relates to things that were three years old," and pointed out that the "suspicious activity in New York with people surveilling federal buildings" turned out to be tourists from Yemen. Thompson saw the report as not having "anything to do with September 11." See: www.mrc.org [This item, by the MRC's Brad Wilmouth, was posted Thursday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] Below is a transcript of relevant portions of the Wednesday and Thursday, August 6 and August 7, Countdown shows from MSNBC, followed by a transcript from the April 10, 2004, CNN Saturday Night: # From the Thursday, August 7, 2008, Countdown:
KEITH OLBERMANN: And number one, Gitmo-gate. Yesterday, we had the first conviction from the infamous military commission system, devised by Mr. Bush and Mr. McCain. Salim Hamdan, who admitted to being a driver for Osama bin Laden, convicted of being a driver for Osama bin Laden. Sentencing was today. The government demanded 30 years. The military commission judges said five and a half, with five years off for time already served. An apologetic chief judge, Captain Keith Allred, told Hamdan, quote, "I hope the day comes when you return to your wife and your daughters and your country." Then he added, "Inshallah," Arabic for "Godwilling." # From the Wednesday, August 6, 2008, Countdown: KEITH OLBERMANN, IN OPENING TEASER: Speaking of bin Laden, "Bushed." Anybody remember what happened seven years ago today? Hint: 36 days before 9/11. It mentioned the World Trade Center, hijackings, attacks in Washington, groups of bin Laden supporters â€" and the President ignored it. ... OLBERMANN, BEFORE COMMERCIAL BREAK: "Bushed": An anniversary bigger perhaps than 9/11. The day the President not only didn't connect the dots, but threw the dots away. ...
And number one: Legacy-gate. As the struggle goes on to build the Bush presidential "liberry," here's a reminder of the true legacy of the 43rd President of the United States. Take a look at the calendar, August 6th. Does that date ring a bell? Seven August 6ths ago, Mr. Bush was on his monthlong vacation at Crawford, Texas, when he was given a report which he either did not read, did not understand or did not believe. # From the Saturday, April 10, 2004, CNN Saturday Night:
CAROL LIN: "A two-page report on the threat al-Qaeda posed to America. The President got it just one month before the 9/11 attacks. Now at first, it reads like a laundry list of red flags. Al-Qaeda, recruiting and plotting attacks in the United States. The White House declassified that document tonight." ...
THOMPSON LATER CONTINUED: So I think out of all the PDBs that we have, and we have many more than this one, and of the 2.5 million pages of pages of documents that we have, and the thousand witnesses that we've heard, with more to come, this is not something that would have triggered anything in anybody's mind from the president of the United States on down, about the possibility of September 11.
Libs' Desire to Arrest Rove Now that Congress has recessed, and since the conventions aren't for a couple of weeks, Thursday's The Situation Room turned back to the "hot" issue of what many liberals are calling on congressional Democrats to do: arrest and lock-up Karl Rove for his failure to testify on the issue of the firing of U.S. attorneys in late 2006. CNN correspondent Jim Acosta, as part of a report on this possible move by the Democrats, conducted a search for the supposed jail inside the U.S. Capitol. He also addressed the little-used power of the legislature to arrest and try government officials for contempt of Congress. Acosta began by describing the liberals' fantasy: "Just think, some on the Left say: Karl Rove and the Capitol slammer." During the segment, he interviewed George Washington University Law School professor Jonathan Turley (who links to Daily Kos and ProgressiveDem.com on his personal website and is lead counsel for convicted terror financier Sami al-Arian) and Associate Senate Historian Don Ritchie for the segment. When asked about contempt of Congress charges, Turley quipped: "The defendant is brought forth by the Sergeant-of-Arms, and in the case of Mr. Rove, it shouldn't be difficult. He's a consultant of Fox News a block away from the House floor." Turley's Web site: jonathanturley.org (In fact, the Fox News bureau is couple of blocks from the Senate, but several more the House office buildings where hearings are held.) [This item, by Matthew Balan, was posted Thursday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] Ritchie brought Acosta to the bottom level of the Capitol to a tomb chamber originally built to hold the body of George Washington. He told of how "[a] lot of people who have seen it assumed, well, this must be the Capitol jail," due to the metal bars protecting the entrance of the chamber. The historian also told Acosta about the last time a member of a President's administration was arrested for contempt of Congress, which was in 1934, when a former member of the Hoover administration was arrested and detained temporarily in Washington's famous Willard Hotel. There isn't actually a jail inside the Capitol building, but as Acosta reported, "Congress has a holding cell over at the Capitol police department" nearby. The full transcript of Acosta's report, which began 48 minutes into the 5 pm Eastern hour of Thursday's The Situation Room:
WOLF BLITZER: A reluctant witness and a Congress that wants answers. We're talking about Karl Rove and questions about the firing of those federal prosecutors. Some say he should go to the Capitol jail if he doesn't talk. Is there really such a thing? Our Jim Acosta has been looking into this. Jim?
TURLY: What you have is a game of constitutional chicken.
-- Brent Baker
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