Say It Once, Say It 11 Times: "Christian Conservatives"

Sunday's big front-page story from "conservative beat" reporter David Kirkpatrick, "In Secretly Taped Conversations, Glimpses of the Future President," excerpts just-released tapes of private conversations between author Doug Wead and George W. Bush.

Between 1998 and 2000, Bush talked to his (likely former) friend Wead about appealing to conservative Christians, and the usually label-happy Kirkpatrick takes full advantage. He uses a form of the phrase "Christian conservatives" 11 times in the 3,300-word story (with two "evangelical Christians" thrown in) as well as four standard "conservative" labels.

There's also this strange attempt to put the tapes in context: "Other presidents, such as Richard M. Nixon and Lyndon B. Johnson, secretly recorded conversations from the White House. Some former associates of President Bill Clinton taped personal conversations in apparent efforts to embarrass or entrap him. But Mr. Wead's recordings are a rare example of a future president taped at length without his knowledge talking about matters of public interest like his political strategy and priorities."

But Kirkpatrick's blandishment ignores the fact that the most prominent of Clinton's "former associates"(was there really more than one? ) who taped phone calls was Gennifer Flowers, one of his mistresses. Clinton would of course go on to entrap himself when he denied under oath having an affair with Monica Lewinsky.

For the rest of Kirkpatrick, click here:



"Slight Liberal Flavor" from Bill Moyers, But Tucker Carlson's an "Ideologue"

A Monday editorial, "Ruffling Big Bird's Feathers," laments "ultraconservative" attacks on public television and displays a distorted view of mainstream politics: "With the cable explosion, public television is no longer the only source of what was once labeled 'educational television,' nor of more serious-minded documentaries, cultural and current-events programming. And as ultraconservatives and bottom liners circle, PBS appears to be too accommodating in response. When conservatives attacked the respected Bill Moyers, labeling him a dangerous liberal, PBS offered Tucker Carlson and Paul Gigot. Whatever slight liberal flavor might be dug out of the Moyers broadcasts, those are openly ideological conservative editorialists. Will they do investigations like Mr. Moyers?"

Here's a sample of that "slight liberal flavor" PBS viewers were treated to on a November 2002 episode of Moyers' show "Now," which aired after Republicans took control of the Senate: "The entire federal government -- the Congress, the executive, the courts -- is united behind a right-wing agenda for which George W. Bush believes he now has a mandate. That agenda includes the power of the state to force pregnant women to surrender control over their own lives. It includes using the taxing power to transfer wealth from working people to the rich. It includes giving corporations a free hand to eviscerate the environment and control the regulatory agencies meant to hold them accountable. And it includes secrecy on a scale you cannot imagine�.And if you like God in government, get ready for the Rapture."

Nope, no ideology there.

Go here for the full editorial:

More "Ireful" Conservatives

Rick Lyman files a report on conservative dismay with tax hikes proposed by Indiana's new Republican governor, former White House budget director Mitch Daniels: "�it was his proposal for a temporary tax increase that would raise to 4.4 percent from 3.4 percent the amount of state income tax paid by the wealthiest 5 percent that drew the ire of conservatives, although he also called for holding back state subsidies to local governments and school districts and holding Medicaid growth to 5 percent in the coming year�.Conservative tax-cutters gasped in astonishment at the governor's plan, and were not hesitant to lash out."

Do only conservatives get riled up and lash out? According to the Times, yes. A Nexis search of the Times' archives reaching back to 1981 showed that the paper has used the phrase "conservative ire" or "ire of conservatives" 31 times in news stories about American politics, compared to just four instances of "liberal ire" or "ire of liberals."

For the full Lyman story, click here:

What's "Incendiary" at the NYT?

Monday's front-page story from campaign finance correspondent Glen Justice, "A New Battle For Advisers To Swift Vets."

Justice notes: "Swift Vets captured headlines for weeks in last year's presidential race, when it spent millions of dollars on incendiary commercials attacking Senator Kerry's war record. Because federal law prohibits outside groups from coordinating with presidential campaigns during elections, the organization came under fire when it was revealed that a lawyer for Mr. Bush's campaign was also advising Swift Vets."

Justice wasn't quite as concerned about Kerry connections to the far-left outside group Moveon.org during the 2004 campaign.

Incidentally, the last time the Times used the word "incendiary" was on February 11 to describe Ward Churchill, who called the victims of the World Trade Center attack "little Eichmanns." Questioning Sen. Kerry's Vietnam record isn't really the same as saying the WTC victims had it coming, is it?

For the full story from Justice, click here:

Jeff Gannon: Threat or Menace?

Gannon-gate continues in Sunday's Times with a follow-up story from Ralph Blumenthal on the disgraced White House reporter "Jeff Gannon" with "Web Site Owner Says He Knew of Reporter's 2 Identities."

"The operator of an activist Republican Web site and news service said Friday night that he had known for two years that his White House correspondent went by two identities. But the operator, Robert R. Eberle, denied in an interview that the correspondent, Jeff Gannon, whose real name is James D. Guckert, was an administration plant or was given preferential treatment as a Republican partisan to ask soft questions at briefings."

"Was 'Gannon' an administration plant?" is the journalistic equivalent of, "When did you stop beating your wife?" The story's cut-out line affirms the slanted tone: "Gopusa.com's owner says his White House reporter was not an administration plant."

In a twist for the usually staid Times, reporter Blumenthal reveals more personal details about "Jeff Gannon," aka James Guckert: "Mr. Eberle also said he had no inkling that Mr. Guckert had created pornographic Web sites or offered himself as a gay escort. Those revelations came in recent accounts in The Washington Post. If he had known, Mr. Eberle said, 'I don't think I would have brought him on.' Mr. Guckert would not address the salacious details of his personal life -- including sexually explicit photographs of him online but said 'all of these personal things' have nothing to do with the administration or Talon News."

For more Blumenthal on Gannon, click here: