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America's Media WatchdogTV

 

Brian Williams Treats Obama as Oracle of Wisdom, Wonders: 'How Are You Thinking About Your Job These Days?'
Interviewing President Barack Obama in New Orleans on Sunday afternoon, Brian Williams treated Obama with a level of deference he didn’t afford to President George W. Bush as he treated Obama as a great oracle of wisdom to pluck. “Katrina was about so many things. It was about class and race and government and the environment,” Williams told Obama in the except aired on the NBC Nightly News, yearning for guidance: “Whatever happened to that national conversation we were supposed to have about it?” Williams raised how “it's getting baked in a little bit in the media that BP was President Obama's Katrina. And it's also getting baked in that the administration was slow off the mark,” but only to cue up Obama: “Is that unfair?” As the economy continues in dire straights and Obama’s economic policy of “stimulus” spending has obviously failed, all Williams could ask was: “Do you have anything new on the economy?”

2. CBS's Schieffer Hits Miller for 'Extreme Positions,' Ridicules GOP Field as 'Kind of an Exotic Crew'
Republicans are “exotic” and “extreme,” and against science too, CBS’s Bob Schieffer contended on Sunday’s Face the Nation. “You have also taken some fairly controversial, some would say very extreme, positions,” Schieffer lectured Alaska Republican Senate candidate Joe Miller, citing “you want to phase out Medicare, you want to privatize Social Security.” Miller countered: “I would suggest to you that if one thinks that the Constitution is extreme then you’d also think that the founders are extreme." Next, picking up on Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s claim Democrats are “are centrist” while Republicans “are really off on the right wing fringe,” Schieffer pressed Republican Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour “about that,” highlighting Miller’s “controversial stands” before asserting: "It seems to me that you do have kind of an exotic crew out there this time."

3. CBS to Black Beck Rally Attendees: 'I'm Noticing that There Aren't a Lot of Minorities Here Today'
CBS and the rest of the MSM have decided the Tea Party movement is racist and hostile to non-whites, and it’s a mantra they’re going to illustrate whenever they see an opportunity. Reporter Nancy Cordes saw a “nearly all-white crowd” at Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally in Washington, DC, as she (at least an off-camera female voice) demanded of two black women who weren't afraid to attend: “I'm noticing that there aren't a lot of minorities here today. Why do you think that is?” One of the women shot back: “They're probably over there with Al Sharpton.”

4. On ABC and CBS, 'Conservative' Beck and Allies Countered by 'Civil Rights Leaders'
Just as they did in the morning, on Friday night the broadcast network stories on Glenn Beck's “Restoring Honor” rally in Washington, DC were pegged to left-wing complaints his event is scheduled for the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King's “I Have a Dream” speech, except the reporters refused to identify the ideology of Beck's critics while showing no such reluctance to tag him and/or his allies. “The rally in Washington. Followers of conservative radio and TV host Glenn Beck already gathering in the capital,” fill-in anchor Erica Hill teased at the top of the CBS Evening News. “In Washington,” she introduced the subsequent story, “followers of conservative talk show host Glenn Beck are already gathering on the Washington mall for tomorrow's rally...” Reporter Wyatt Andrews, however, refrained from labeling: “Critics, like the Reverend Al Sharpton..."

5. Labeling Contrast: Beck a 'Controversial Conservative,' Al Sharpton Just an 'Activist'
Just like NBC and ABC, CBS's Early Show had a hostile take Friday morning on Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally. All three networks labeled Beck as "conservative," with CBS calling him a "controversial conservative." But none of the networks offered an ideological label for "civil rights leader" and "activist" Al Sharpton, a Beck critic who is organizing an opposing event.

6. Levi Johnston Recants Apology to Palins, CBS Rewards with Four-Minute 'Exclusive'
Continuing their obsession with the credibility-challenged Levi Johnston, whose sole claim to fame is his continuing ability to exploit his relationship with Sarah Palin’s daughter, Bristol, CBS’s The Early Show on Friday devoted more than four minutes to an "exclusive" interview with the "reality star" and how he now recants his apology for lying about the Palins in previous interviews. CBS has shown a particular fetish for publicizing Johnston's antics, especially his slams of Sarah Palin.

7. ABC Distorts the Words of Glenn Beck, Highlights Voices Who Attack 'KKK' Tea Partiers
Good Morning America's Claire Shipman on Friday launched a pre-emptive one-sided attack on Glenn Beck's August 28 rally in Washington D.C., including selectively editing clips from the conservative host. The ABC journalist featured a snippet of Beck asserting, "Blacks don't own Martin Luther King." On his radio show, Friday, Beck complained about the "hatchet job." Shipman clearly distorted the context. He actually said, "Whites don't own Abraham Lincoln. Blacks don't own Martin Luther King. Those are American icons, American ideas and we should just talk about character."

8. Today Show Previews Glenn Beck Rally: Watch Out For Signs With 'Racist Overtones'
NBC's Tom Costello, on Friday's Today show, in previewing Glenn Beck's rally at the Lincoln Memorial this weekend, focused on the racial insensitivity of the Tea Partiers as he reminded NBC's viewers that at last year's rally in Washington "there were a lot of signs that had rather racist overtones. The concern is that might be repeated this time. By the way, many Beck followers, who are coming, are being urged to avoid African-American areas and avoid conflict." Costello began his story noting that while "Glenn Beck says that Dr. King is a hero of his" he is still "defiant in his right to be here" and then went on to cite political analyst Stu Rothenberg in insisting "this weekend's event could carry risk for Republicans."

9. Lauer to Laura Bush: Is It 'Painful' to Be in New Orleans, Since So Much Blame Is Laid At Your Husband's Feet?
Today co-anchor Matt Lauer traveled to New Orleans, on Friday, to mark the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and interviewed the likes of former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, former FEMA Director Mike Brown, current Democratic Mayor Mitch Landrieu and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, but saved any sort of direct shots at George W. Bush for his interview with Laura Bush. At the very end of his August 27 interview about her charitable work in the region, Lauer laid the following guilt trip on the former First Lady: "There's no easy way to ask this question, I'm just gonna ask it. Is it ever painful for you to come back to this region, because in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, it seems so much of the blame for what happened or didn't happen here was laid at the feet of your husband?"

10. Columnist Mark Shields Despairs George W. Bush Too Honorable to Use as Bogeyman
It will be “very difficult for Democrats to demonize” George W. Bush “again” during this campaign season, liberal nationally syndicated columnist Mark Shields despaired on Friday’s Inside Washington, because he’s “a circumspect and discreet former President.” Quite unlike, he didn’t say, the often boorish Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.





 

Brian Williams Treats Obama as Oracle of Wisdom, Wonders: 'How Are You Thinking About Your Job These Days?'

 

Interviewing President Barack Obama in New Orleans on Sunday afternoon, Brian Williams treated Obama with a level of deference he didn’t afford to President George W. Bush as he treated Obama as a great oracle of wisdom to pluck. “Katrina was about so many things. It was about class and race and government and the environment,” Williams told Obama in the except aired on the NBC Nightly News, yearning for guidance: “Whatever happened to that national conversation we were supposed to have about it?”

Williams raised how “it's getting baked in a little bit in the media that BP was President Obama's Katrina. And it's also getting baked in that the administration was slow off the mark,” but only to cue up Obama: “Is that unfair?” As the economy continues in dire straights and Obama’s economic policy of “stimulus” spending has obviously failed, all Williams could ask was: “Do you have anything new on the economy?”

Williams fretted that though “you're an American-born Christian...significant numbers of Americans in polls, upwards of a fifth of respondents are claiming you are neither.” The “question” from Williams: “This has to be troubling to you. This is, of course, all-new territory for an American President.”

In the full 22-minute session posted on MSNBC.com, instead of asking Obama whether his low approval ratings and the widespread rejection of his direction, as illustrated by the big turnout for Glenn Beck’s rally, suggests he needs to change course, Williams prompted Obama to denounce Beck’s use of MLK and “re-injection of God” into politics:

What does it say to you that Glenn Beck was able to draw a crowd of, perhaps north of 300,000 people, on the anniversary of Doctor King’s speech, on the site of Doctor King’s speech? The message appeared to be, at times, anti-government, anti-spread of government, anti-Obama administration and in favor of, I guess, re-injecting God into both politics and the American discourse.

Williams ended on a particularly sycophantic note:

And finally, I'm hoping to find you in a reflective mood on a cloudy day. We're the first to speak to you coming off your summer vacation. How does it re-charge you, what do you think about, what do you see, what do you read about, how are you thinking about your job these days?

Compare all of that to how Williams approached Bush on Tuesday, August 29, 2006, Katrina’s one-year anniversary:

> You have apologized for the damage, but what about the damage to your presidency? And, Mr. President, here's what I mean. Most of the analysts call it your low point. A lot of Americans are always going to believe that that weekend, that week, you were watching something on television other than what they were seeing, and Professor Dyson from the University of Pennsylvania said on our broadcast last night it was because of your patrician upbringing, that it's a class issue.

> When you take a tour of the world, a lot of Americans e-mail me with their fears that, you know, some days they wake up and it just feels to them like the end of the world is near, and you go from North Korea to Iran to Iraq to Afghanistan, and you look at how things have changed, how Americans are viewed overseas, if that is important to you, do you have any moments of doubt that we fought the wrong war, that there's something wrong with the perception of America overseas?

>  The folks who say you should have asked for some sort of sacrifice from all of us after 9/11, do they have a case, looking back on it?

>  Is there a palpable tension when you get together with the former President who happens to be your father? A lot of the guys who worked for him are not happy with the direction.

The questions from Williams to Obama aired on the Sunday, August 29 NBC Nightly News:

> Just a block from here, you may not have known it, you drove by houses with holes still in the roof where there’d been live rescues, there's still FEMA markings in spray paint. And yet, New Orleans is like this, this is a symbol of recovery. Katrina was about so many things. It was about class and race and government and the environment. Whatever happened to that national conversation we were supposed to have about it?

> This was of course New Orleans' Katrina and Mississippi's Katrina and you're familiar now that it's getting baked in a little bit in the media that BP was President Obama's Katrina. And it's also getting baked in that the administration was slow off the mark. Is that unfair?

> Let's talk about another topic that's part of the firmament here and everywhere. And that's the economy. The New York Times said this weekend, “President Obama has another new plan on the economy, now would be a good time to find out about it.” Do you have anything new on the economy? While you've been away, we've had a horrible GDP number last week.

> Mr. President, you're an American-born Christian. And yet, increasing and now significant numbers of Americans in polls, upwards of a fifth of respondents are claiming you are neither. A fifth of the people, just about, believe you're a Muslim.
[OBAMA: Keep in mind, those two things, American-born and Muslim are not the same. But I understand your point.]
Either or the latter. And the most recent number is the latter. This has to be troubling to you. This is, of course, all-new territory for an American President.

> Even a number as sizeable as this. What does it say to you, does it say anything about your communications or the effectiveness of your opponents to-

— Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.





CBS's Schieffer Hits Miller for 'Extreme Positions,' Ridicules GOP Field as 'Kind of an Exotic Crew'

 

Republicans are “exotic” and “extreme,” and against science too, CBS’s Bob Schieffer contended on Sunday’s Face the Nation. “You have also taken some fairly controversial, some would say very extreme, positions,” Schieffer lectured Alaska Republican Senate candidate Joe Miller, citing “you want to phase out Medicare, you want to privatize Social Security.” Miller countered: “I would suggest to you that if one thinks that the Constitution is extreme then you’d also think that the founders are extreme.”

Next, picking up on Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s claim Democrats are “are centrist” while Republicans “are really off on the right wing fringe,” Schieffer pressed Republican Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour “about that,” highlighting Miller’s “controversial stands” before asserting: 

Isn't that going to make it harder for some of these Republican candidates to get elected because down in Kentucky you have Rand Paul, who’s got the nomination for the Senate there, talking about, well, maybe we ought to rethink the Civil Rights Acts of '64 and '65. You've got Joe Buck, who won the nomination up in Colorado, who’s talking about bicycle paths being a, might lead to UN control or something other. It seems to me that you do have kind of an exotic crew out there this time.

Barbour shot back: “Well Bob, the administration and the Democratic Congress have taken the biggest lurch to the left in policy in American history.”

As for bicycles and the UN, Schieffer was apparently referring to an early August comment by Dan Maes, Colorado’s Republican gubernatorial candidate who is running against Denver’s Mayor, not Ken Buck the Senate candidate. According to an August 4 Denver Post article, “Bike agenda spins cities toward U.N. control, Maes warns,” he was making an argument about “Denver's membership in the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives.”

The CBSNews.com summary post, on this edition of Face the Nation, also pivoted from Wasserman Schultz’s perspective: “Tea Party Making It Harder for GOP: Fla. Dem.”

Schieffer ended the show with a commentary decrying a federal judge for issuing an “injunction placing limits on stem cell research, an area that holds the greatest possibilities for medical breakthroughs since penicillin.” Without regard for the moral issues or how the latest breakthroughs have come from unimpeded research using adult stem cells (the ruling blocked only federal funding of embryonic stem cell research), Schieffer insisted “putting restraints on stem cell research is not far from those who refused to look through Galileo's telescope because they believed their doctrines and tradition had already told them what they would see.”

He painted opponents as being against gaining knowledge: “As we again try to untangle the arguments over stem cells, let us also consider this: No civilization, no society, has survived if its people came to believe they knew enough and needed to know nothing more.”

After Schieffer repeatedly marveled about Miller’s pledge to work to cut federal payments to Alaska, in return for the federal government turning land over to the state, this exchange took place:

BOB SCHIEFFER: You have also taken some fairly controversial, some would say very extreme, positions. First you say you want to phase out Medicare. You want to privatize Social Security. I have to say there are a lot of people in Alaska who are on Medicare and are getting Social Security. Isn't that position going to be a problem for you in the election, in this general election?

JOE MILLER: I would suggest to you that if one thinks that the Constitution is extreme then you’d also think that the founders are extreme...

Later:

DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: ...Americans really are going to have a very clear choice set up in November between moderate Democrats who are centrist, where the country is, and Republicans who are really off on the right wing fringe. And there's countless examples of that across the country.

SCHIEFFER: Well, let me ask Governor Barbour about that. What about that, Governor Barbour? Because you just heard Joe Miller, who may wind up as the nominee for the Republicans up in Alaska, saying he's go out and campaign on less money for Alaska, less federal dollars coming in. He has taken several controversial stands like that and, I must say, to his credit he didn't back off of them when I asked him about it this morning.

But isn't that going to make it harder for some of these Republican candidates to get elected because down in Kentucky you have Rand Paul, who’s got the nomination for the Senate there, talking about, well, maybe we ought to rethink the Civil Rights Acts of '64 and '65. You've got Joe Buck, who won the nomination up in Colorado, who’s talking about bicycle paths being a, might lead to UN control or something other. It seems to me that you do have kind of an exotic crew out there this time.

HALEY BARBOUR: Well Bob, the administration and the Democratic Congress have taken the biggest lurch to the left in policy in American history...

Schieffer’s commentary at the end of the August 29 program:

Finally today, last week two people I know were diagnosed with colon cancer, one of the deadliest of all cancers. Because my wife and I are cancer survivors, because my mother died of cancer because she was afraid to go to the doctor, I've come to know a little about the disease. My friends have a serious illness, but there is a path to recovery that was not there not so long ago. As I talked to them last week, I was again struck by the remarkable progress science is making to give them that path. Being told we have cancer no longer means we've been given the death penalty.

Like all scientific breakthroughs, advances in cancer research began and depend on basic research -- science's ability to go not where doctrine or tradition dictates, but where research takes it.

Ironically, my friends were diagnosed about the time a federal judge issued the injunction placing limits on stem cell research, an area that holds the greatest possibilities for medical breakthroughs since penicillin.

I have the greatest respect for those who disagree, but to me putting restraints on stem cell research is not far from those who refused to look through Galileo's telescope because they believed their doctrines and tradition had already told them what they would see. Their beliefs, too, were deeply held, but where would the store of knowledge be had their view prevailed?

As we again try to untangle the arguments over stem cells, let us also consider this: No civilization, no society, has survived if its people came to believe they knew enough and needed to know nothing more.

— Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.





CBS to Black Beck Rally Attendees: 'I'm Noticing that There Aren't a Lot of Minorities Here Today'

 

CBS and the rest of the MSM have decided the Tea Party movement is racist and hostile to non-whites, and it’s a mantra they’re going to illustrate whenever they see an opportunity. Reporter Nancy Cordes saw a “nearly all-white crowd” at Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally in Washington, DC, as she (at least an off-camera female voice) demanded of two black women who weren't afraid to attend: “I'm noticing that there aren't a lot of minorities here today. Why do you think that is?” One of the women shot back: “They're probably over there with Al Sharpton.” (MP3 audio)

In her story for Saturday’s CBS Evening News, Cordes had a very specific attendee number: “According to a tally commissioned by CBS News, roughly 87,000 people gathered here at this event today, thronging both sides of the reflecting pool, stretching all the way to the World War II memorial. That's the largest gathering here on the mall since President Obama was inaugurated.”

NBC anchor Lester Holt was more generous with his crowd guesstimate (“tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands”) before he described the Beck rally as “steeped in patriotism, rooted in the nation's cultural divide and greeted by suspicion.”

Holt opened the August 28 NBC Nightly News:

Good evening. Tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of people from all over the country gathered at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington today for a rally steeped in patriotism, rooted in the nation's cultural divide and greeted by suspicion. It was organized by provocative conservative talk show host Glenn Beck who was joined on stage by Sarah Palin. And if that wasn't enough to trigger reaction from activists on the left, the timing and place of the rally certainly was – the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr's “I Have a Dream” speech delivered from those same steps 47 years ago today.

Flashback to April: “White NBC Reporter Confronts Black Man at Tea Party Rally: 'Have You Ever Felt Uncomfortable?'”

Back to the CBS Evening News and Cordes, a little of what led into the exchange quoted above:

NANCY CORDES: Beck, who is a converted Mormon, likes to call himself a clown, but today he played the role of ring-master, preaching racial tolerance to the nearly all-white crowd. A change in tone from the Fox News host who notoriously called President Obama [Beck: “a racist.”]

CORDES (or at least a female voice) TO TWO BLACK WOMEN: I'm noticing that there aren't a lot of minorities here today. Why do you think that is?

WOMAN: They're probably over there with Al Sharpton.

(There was no World News on ABC on Saturday night, at least in the EDT and CDT zones, because of the Little League World Series Texas v Hawaii playoff game. Hawaii won.)

— Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.





On ABC and CBS, 'Conservative' Beck and Allies Countered by 'Civil Rights Leaders'

 

Just as they did in the morning, on Friday night the broadcast network stories on Glenn Beck's “Restoring Honor” rally in Washington, DC were pegged to left-wing complaints his event is scheduled for the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King's “I Have a Dream” speech, except the reporters refused to identify the ideology of Beck's critics while showing no such reluctance to tag him and/or his allies.

“The rally in Washington. Followers of conservative radio and TV host Glenn Beck already gathering in the capital,” fill-in anchor Erica Hill teased at the top of the CBS Evening News. “In Washington,” she introduced the subsequent story, “followers of conservative talk show host Glenn Beck are already gathering on the Washington mall for tomorrow's rally...” Reporter Wyatt Andrews, however, refrained from labeling: “Critics, like the Reverend Al Sharpton, say that Beck, who has described the President as [Beck: “a racist”] and who has railed against government programs for the poor, has no business invoking Dr. King.”

Over on ABC's World News, Claire Shipman warned: “While the comedians poke gleefully at the 'Beckapalooza,' as [Jon] Stewart calls it, civil right leaders worry the day will be tarnished.” Yet seconds later she found it necessary to apply a label: “Martin Luther King's niece, a conservative activist, will appear supporting Beck tomorrow, as will Sarah Palin.”

(Katrina-obsessed NBC Nightly News didn't cover Beck-Sharpton) In an earlier post, “Labeling Contrast: Beck a 'Controversial Conservative,' Al Sharpton Just an 'Activist,'” Rich Noyes noted how ABC's Good Morning America and NBC's Today on Friday both identified Beck as “conservative” while failing to tag Sharpton. On CBS's Early Show:

Correspondent Whit Johnson labeled Beck a “controversial conservative,” event speaker Alveda King (a niece of Martin Luther King, Jr.) a “longtime advocate for conservative causes”...

Yet talking about liberal rabble rouser and onetime Democratic presidential candidate Al Sharpton, Johnson offered no ideological labels or even a tag that Sharpton might be “controversial.” Instead, Sharpton’s event was described as a rally “hosted by civil rights leaders...”

— Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.





Labeling Contrast: Beck a 'Controversial Conservative,' Al Sharpton Just an 'Activist'

 

Just like NBC and ABC this morning, CBS’s The Early Show had a hostile take on Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally scheduled for Saturday on the Mall in Washington, D.C. Correspondent Whit Johnson labeled Beck a “controversial conservative,” event speaker Alveda King (a niece of Martin Luther King, Jr.) a “longtime advocate for conservative causes,” and suggested that the fact that some attendees “will get there on Tea Party-sponsored buses” contradicted the idea that this would be a non-political event.

Yet talking about liberal rabble rouser and onetime Democratic presidential candidate Al Sharpton, Johnson offered no ideological labels or even a tag that Sharpton might be “controversial.” Instead, Sharpton’s event was described as a rally “hosted by civil rights leaders,” and showcased his slam: “The things that Beck stands for are antithetical to the civil rights movement."

For good measure, Johnson brought in a second Beck critic, Daily Beast writer and frequent CNN talking head John Avlon. “Where Martin Luther King was a uniter,” Avlon slammed, “Glenn Beck is a professional divider.”

CBS’s labeling double-standard made it a clean sweep for the broadcast networks. In their Friday morning show coverage, as documented by NewsBusters’ Geoff Dickens and Scott Whitlock, NBC and ABC also refrained from labeling Sharpton as a liberal (NBC called him an “activist,” while ABC offered no description), while both assigned the “conservative” label to Beck (ABC: “conservative talk show host;” NBC: “conservative host”).

Here’s how The Early Show covered the topic during their 8am ET news segment:

NEWS ANCHOR JEFF GLOR: TV and radio host Glenn Beck is hosting a rally in Washington tomorrow, and it's taking place on the same day as the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King's historic "I Have a Dream" speech. CBS News correspondent Whit Johnson is in Washington this morning with the latest on that. Whit, good morning.

WHIT JOHNSON: Jeff, good morning. Well, one rally will be hosted by civil rights leaders, one by controversial conservative talk show host Glenn Beck. But Beck insists the scheduling of his event -- on the very same day -- is nothing more than a coincidence.

CLIP OF GLENN BECK: This is a historic event-

JOHNSON: Glenn Beck's "Restore Honor" rally Saturday will take place on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, the same place where 250,000 people watched Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1963.

CLIP OF MLK: And I have a dream today

JOHNSON: The Fox News personality's event will be a highly-publicized tribute to America's troops. Sarah Palin will be one of the keynote speakers, along with MLK's niece, Dr. Alveda King, a longtime advocate for conservative causes.

DR. ALVEDA KING: We need unity. We have to rebuild America, and we're gonna have to have unity to do it.

JOHNSON: Beck maintains his rally is non-political, but many of the thousands expected to be in attendance will get there on Tea Party-sponsored buses. And the event's timing has touched a nerve: The Rev. Al Sharpton, who will lead a separate march the same day, criticized Beck, saying [words on screen] "the things that Beck stands for are antithetical to the civil rights movement."

JOHN AVLON, THE DAILY BEAST: He uses the classic tools in the talk radio arsenal: conflict, tension, fear and resentment. Where Martin Luther King was a uniter at the end of the day, Glenn Beck is a professional divider.

JOHNSON: Beck's rally is expected to be much larger than Sharpton's -- he says maybe tens of thousands of people. It's possible both events and counterdemonstrations could cross paths tomorrow on the National Mall. Jeff.

GLOR: Alright, Whit Johnson in Washington. Whit, thank you very much.

— Rich Noyes is Research Director at the Media Research Center. You can follow him on Twitter here.





Levi Johnston Recants Apology to Palins, CBS Rewards with Four-Minute 'Exclusive'

 

Continuing their obsession with the credibility-challenged Levi Johnston, whose sole claim to fame is his continuing ability to exploit his relationship with Sarah Palin’s daughter, Bristol, CBS’s The Early Show on Friday devoted more than four minutes to an “exclusive” interview with the “reality star” and how he now recants his apology for lying about the Palins in previous interviews.

To her credit, correspondent Betty Nguyen challenged Johnston’s openly frivolous approach to running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska (a stunt concocted for a reality show) and whether his temporary apology was “honest” (he said it was “something I did to make my fiancee happy”).

But CBS has shown a particular fetish for publicizing Johnston’s antics, especially his slams of Sarah Palin. Back in July, NewsBusters’ Kyle Drennen documented five lengthy Early Show features of Johnston, including two “exclusive” interviews, one of which aired over two days. Always, CBS touted the anti-Sarah Palin angle, as they did again today with the on-screen headline: “Levi’s Regrets; Johnston Sorry He Made Palin Apology.”

As for Johnston himself, he ludicrously claimed that his interest in running for mayor of Wasilla was completely independent of the fact that it used to be Sarah Palin’s job (“I don't care what she did or where she was at. I'm doing it because I want to”).

And, just weeks after he apologized for lying about the Palin’s, he insisted that everything he’s said is true: “The only thing I wish I wouldn't have done is put out that apology. Because it kind of makes me sound like a liar. And I've never lied about anything.”

The only thing less credible than that is the notion that CBS is repeatedly showcasing this publicity hound for any reason other than to embarrass Sarah Palin and diminish her political clout.

Here’s the transcript of the August 27 segment:

7am tease:

ERICA HILL: Not sorry. In an exclusive Early Show interview, Levi Johnston opens up and says he now regrets apologizing to Sarah Palin. CLIP OF LEVI JOHNSTON: The only thing I wish I wouldn't have done is put out that apology because it kind of makes me sound like a liar.

7:30am:

ERICA HILL: First, though, we want to bring you this. You're about to see a whole lot more of Levi Johnston, it turn out. That's because the father of Sarah Palin's grandson is now shooting his own reality show. He's also, of course, running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. Just how does he plan on pulling it all off? He talked about that and much more in an exclusive Early Show interview with CBS News correspondent Betty Nguyen.

LEVI JOHNSTON, walking on a sidewalk next to Betty Nguyen: If I do win, then we'll have to give Hollywood up for three years.

BETTY NGUYEN: For now, Levi Johnston isn't giving up the Hollywood spotlight. He got his first taste of fame during the 2008 Republican Convention when introduced as father of Bristol Palin's baby. He's now looking to extend his 15 minutes with a new reality show, featuring his attempt at Wasilla's top job. [to Johnston] Do you think you're going to win?

JOHNSTON: I do, I do.

NGUYEN: Why? You've never run for a political office before. You don't have a high school diploma. What are your qualifications to become mayor of Wasilla?

JOHNSTON: I really don't think it's, mayor is about qualifications. It's really about, you know, the people liking you and believing in you.

NGUYEN: But you make it sound like it's a popularity contest. Running for mayor, that office is a serious job.

JOHNSTON: Well, it's definitely serious. You know, obviously, you want people's votes. At the end of the day, it is kind of a popularity. Like, whoever -- you know, the people love most they'll vote for.

NGUYEN: You're well aware that Sarah Palin used to once hold that office. Did that factor in at all as to you choosing to run for mayor?

JOHNSTON: I don't care what she did or where she was at. I'm doing it because I want to.

NGUYEN: Johnston and Bristol Palin announced their engagement in an "Us" weekly magazine spread last month, but just one week later it was called off after Bristol felt he was mocking her family in a music video. [to Johnston] What caused you to break off the last engagement?

JOHNSTON: It was just miserable for the both of us, you know. I mean, we were constantly fighting, just trying to make it work for Tripp. It just wasn't the right thing to do.

NGUYEN: Bristol now appears to be moving on with her life. New reports say she's signing on for her own shot at stardom. [to Johnston] I hear that she's doing Dancing with the Stars -- is that true?

JOHNSTON: I recently heard that, yeah. Great. Go for it.

NGUYEN: In an interview with People magazine, it was Bristol who accused Levi of ruining their relationship with his hunger for fame. [to Johnson] Bristol said that you're obsessed with the limelight and that she was played. Is that true?

JOHNSTON: I don't think I'm any more obsessed with making a career out of this than she is. Obviously, she's doing Dancing with the Stars.

NGUYEN: You've posed for Playgirl, participated in a music video, now a reality show. Are you obsessed with the limelight?

JOHNSTON: I wouldn't say I'm obsessed with it. I'm just taking opportunities as they come.

NGUYEN: For the past year and a half, Levi has been engaged in a public spat with Bristol's mom, Sarah Palin, including a scathing interview published in Vanity Fair. Earlier this month, Levi publicly apologized. [to Johnston] You've apologized, in fact, to the Palin family, saying: "I hope to one day restore your trust." Was that an honest apology? Do you still feel that way?

JOHNSTON: That was something I did to make my fiancee happy. You know, she wanted it, so we wrote something down and we sent it out because that's what she wanted.

NGUYEN: "We wrote it down" -- did she write it, or did you write it?

JOHNSTON: Well, I'm not going to get into all that, but I'm just going to say, together we put it out there.

NGUYEN: Well, why would you say something that's not true if it wasn't true?

JOHNSTON: Trust me, it's easier to make them happy, I'm telling you. You've got to live with them, you've got to make them happy.

NGUYEN: Do you have any regrets?

JOHNSTON: I don't really regret anything, but the only thing I wish I wouldn't have done is put out that apology. Because it kind of makes me sound like a liar. And I've never lied about anything. The rest of the stuff I can live with.

NGUYEN: Betty Nguyen, CBS News, Los Angeles.

HILL: Levi says he is done with marriage, at least for now, but does still hope to have more children in the future. In the meantime, he is working on earning his high school diploma and getting a team in place to advise him on just what it takes to run a city, in case he's elected.

—Rich Noyes is Research Director at the Media Research Center. You can follow him on Twitter here.







ABC Distorts the Words of Glenn Beck, Highlights Voices Who Attack 'KKK' Tea Partiers

 

Good Morning America's Claire Shipman on Friday launched a pre-emptive one-sided attack on Glenn Beck's August 28 rally in Washington D.C., including selectively editing clips from the conservative host. The ABC journalist featured a snippet of Beck asserting, "Blacks don't own Martin Luther King." [MP3 audio here.]

On his radio show, Friday, Beck complained about the "hatchet job." Shipman clearly distorted the context. He actually said, "Whites don't own Abraham Lincoln. Blacks don't own Martin Luther King. Those are American icons, American ideas and we should just talk about character." 

Playing the segment on the radio, Beck hyperbolically declared, "That's what Goebbels did. The truth didn't matter." Now, while ABC should be criticized for the dishonest editing job, it is over-the-top to play the Nazi card.

Shipman featured clips of Al Sharpton, liberal comedian Stephen Colbert and former Democratic Congressman Walter Fauntroy. She asserted that there are angry voices "comparing the Tea Party to the KKK." Fauntroy then scolded, "The Klu Klux- I meant to say the Tea Party. You all forgive me. But, you have to use them interchangeably."

Shipman even went to Al Sharpton for a quote. He worried, "...I'm trying to be disciplined and not make this about those that have, in my opinion, hijacked a location, but will never be able to hijack the dream."

Faux conservative Stephen Colbert mocked, "Finally, someone is bringing Martin Luther King's movement back to its conservative white roots." Other than Beck himself, ABC had no clips of anyone defending Beck or the conservative rally.

A transcript of the segment, which aired at 7:17am EDT on August 27 follows:

DAVID MUIR: In the meantime, conservative talk show host Glenn Beck stirring up controversy with a rally now planned for tomorrow at the Lincoln memorial in Washington. Some people are angry the rally is taking place on the anniversary of another famous event there, Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech. And Claire Shipman is at the Lincoln Memorial with much more on this this morning . Claire, good to see you.

CLAIRE SHIPMAN: David, there's a lot of emotion swirling over this issue. Remember, it wasn't so long ago, that Glenn Beck called President Obama a racist. So, his choice of timing to hold his rally here tomorrow, a surprise, to say the least.

MARTIN LUTHER KING: I have a dream.

SHIPMAN: Immortal words of unity. But the 47th anniversary of Dr. King's speech is producing just the opposite.

GLENN BECK: Blacks don't own Martin Luther King.

LORETTA ROSS (Sistersong): Glenn Beck is no Martin Luther King.

SHIPMAN: Even angry words comparing the Tea Party to the KKK.

REVEREND WALTER FAUNTROY (civil rights activist): The Klu Klux- I meant to say the Tea Party. You all forgive me. But, you have to use them interchangeably.

SHIPMAN: All this because of an unlikely rally planned by conservative TV and radio host, Glenn beck, for the day of the anniversary on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

BECK: We are doing something absolutely amazing.

SHIPMAN: Beck says his rally, which will feature Sarah Palin and many Tea Party supporters, is meant to honor America's troops. And he insists he picked the day, not realizing it was the anniversary of the "I have a dream" speech. But, not everyone is buying that.

STEPHEN COLBERT: Finally, someone is bringing Martin Luther King's movement back to its conservative white roots.

SHIPMAN: Some, like the Reverend Al Sharpton, who is organizing his own march on Washington on Saturday, have more serious concerns.

AL SHARPTON: It's very hard and I'm trying to be disciplined and not make this about those that have, in my opinion, hijacked a location, but will never be able to hijack the dream.

SHIPMAN: Beck insists he plans to honor King.

BECK: I heard it over and over again in the media that because of this event, on the date of this event, I'm somehow or other Martin Luther King's speech. I'm not big enough to do that. No one is.

SHIPMAN: And Martin Luther King has weighed in on this, saying his father would never limit voices. But that he urges that everybody use the right sort of rhetoric, David.

MUIR: A lot of controversy. We'll be watching it this weekend.

—Scott Whitlock is a news analyst for the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.





Today Show Previews Glenn Beck Rally: Watch Out For Signs With 'Racist Overtones'

 

NBC's Tom Costello, on Friday's Today show, in previewing Glenn Beck's rally at the Lincoln Memorial this weekend, focused on the racial insensitivity of the Tea Partiers as he reminded NBC's viewers that at last year's  rally in Washington "there were a lot of signs that had rather racist overtones. The concern is that might be repeated this time. By the way, many Beck followers, who are coming, are being urged to avoid African-American areas and avoid conflict."

Costello began his story noting that while "Glenn Beck says that Dr. King is a hero of his" he is still "defiant in his right to be here" and then went on to cite political analyst Stu Rothenberg in insisting "this weekend's event could carry risk for Republicans."

The following is the full Costello story as it was aired on the August 27 Today show:

ANN CURRY: Radio and Fox News host Glenn Beck is promising a massive rally in Washington this weekend to, quote, "Restore honor in America." He plans to do it at the same spot and on the anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech and that is stirring some controversy. NBC's Tom Costello is at the Lincoln Memorial this morning with more on this. Tom, good morning.

[On screen headline: "'Restoring Honor' Glenn Beck's Rally On MLK Anniversary"]

TOM COSTELLO: Ann, good morning to you. And Glenn Beck says that Dr. King is a hero of his, and for that reason he will not stand on the same step that Dr. King stood on in 1963. He plans to stand a few steps below that. That said, he is defiant in his right to be here. What happened on this very spot 47 years ago tomorrow was among the most pivotal moments in American history.

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.: I have a dream today.

COSTELLO: But conservative host Glenn Beck also has a dream.

GLENN BECK: We will mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

COSTELLO: Beck is hoping his rally this weekend will rival last year's anti-tax rally that attracted tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of people, many of them tea party activists. Increasingly Beck has been evoking the civil rights movement and says this weekend is about restoring honor in America. He also insists he did not realize it was the anniversary of the March on Washington but, he says, that shouldn't matter.

BECK: I'm sorry. African-Americans don't own Martin Luther King. It's a human idea just like white people don't own George Washington or Abraham Lincoln.

COSTELLO: But Beck's comments about race have sometimes been inflammatory.

BECK: This president, I think, has exposed himself as a guy over and over and over again who has a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture. I don't know what it is.

SARAH PALIN: Do you love your freedom?

COSTELLO: And joining Beck this weekend will be former Governor Sarah Palin, who last week defended talk show host Laura Schlessinger's repeated use of the "n" word, as freedom of speech, saying it wasn't being used in a racist manner.

DR. LAURA SCHLESSINGER: And I'll say it again *bleep* *bleep* *bleep*

COSTELLO: While Beck insists this is a nonpolitical gathering, analyst Stu Rothenberg says this weekend's event could carry risk for Republicans.

STU ROTHENBERG: The Republican Party needs conservatives, needs the Tea Party activists but the Republican Party does not want to be defined by Tea Partiers or Glenn Beck.

COSTELLO: Activist Reverend Al Sharpton, will also be in D.C., Saturday leading a march to mark the MLK anniversary but promises to avoid confrontation.

AL SHARPTON: To go and confront him is to make it about him. That would, in my opinion and the opinion of many that are participating with us that day, would mock the memory of Dr. King.

COSTELLO: So why this weekend? Beck says maybe it was meant to be.

BECK: I believe in divine providence. It was not my intention it to select 8/28 because of the Martin Luther King tie.

COSTELLO: Also, Beck says that he believes this is about reclaiming civil rights. Importantly, he says, they will not allow any campaign signs here at all. That may be rather tough to enforce given the scope and the size of this place. The trouble is, of course, last year there were a lot of signs that had rather racist overtones. The concern is that might be repeated this time. By the way, many Beck followers, who are coming, are being urged to avoid African-American areas and avoid conflict. Ann, back to you.

CURRY: Okay. We'll see what happens. Tom Costello, thanks a lot.

—Geoffrey Dickens is the Senior News Analyst at the Media Research Center. You can follow him on Twitter here





Lauer to Laura Bush: Is It 'Painful' to Be in New Orleans, Since So Much Blame Is Laid At Your Husband's Feet?

 

Today co-anchor Matt Lauer traveled to New Orleans, on Friday, to mark the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and interviewed the likes of former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, former FEMA Director Mike Brown, current Democratic Mayor Mitch Landrieu and Louisiana  Governor Bobby Jindal, but saved any sort of direct shots at George W. Bush for his interview with Laura Bush. At the very end of his August 27 interview about her charitable work in the region, Lauer laid the following guilt trip on the former First Lady: [audio available here]

MATT LAUER: There's no easy way to ask this question, I'm just gonna ask it. Is it ever painful for you to come back to this region, because in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, it seems so much of the blame for what happened or didn't happen here was laid at the feet of your husband?

LAURA BUSH: No, not really. I mean I feel very close to the people on the Gulf Coast and always have. And, and I know what the circumstances were. And of course the President takes the blame in any situation, as we can see now with the new president. But I also knew what George really thought and how he felt about the, the Gulf Coast. We gave unprecedented support. The United States Congress passed large bills. I think $180 billion that George signed and has come to the Gulf Coast. And what we've seen really is so inspirational. The people here, the school people are the ones that I've been with the most. And they came back, when they were in FEMA trailers or living with relatives and did everything they could to rebuild their schools so kids could come back.

LAUER: I know the people of the region are thankful for the work you and your foundation are doing here. Mrs. Bush thanks for joining us this morning. I appreciate it.

—Geoffrey Dickens is the Senior News Analyst at the Media Research Center. You can follow him on Twitter here





Columnist Mark Shields Despairs George W. Bush Too Honorable to Use as Bogeyman

 

It will be “very difficult for Democrats to demonize” George W. Bush “again” during this campaign season, liberal nationally syndicated columnist Mark Shields despaired on Friday’s Inside Washington, because he’s “a circumspect and discreet former President.” Quite unlike, he didn’t say, the often boorish Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

Reacting to Vice President Joe Biden’s indictment of the supposed disastrous results from the Bush administration’s economic policies, Shields fretted:

The problem for the Democrats is this, that the energizer bunny for the 2006, 2008 campaigns has disappeared because of George W. Bush’s being a circumspect and discreet former President it makes it very difficult for Democrats to demonize him again. He’s become a non-person. He shows up at a ball game once in a while, he greets soldiers coming back. He hasn’t said anything controversial and that makes it a tougher fight for Joe Biden to make.

Charles Krauthammer is a regular on the weekly program, so I’ll use that as a hook to highlight his latest column, “The last refuge of a liberal,” which includes this well-framed observation:

Promiscuous charges of bigotry are precisely how our current rulers and their vast media auxiliary react to an obstreperous citizenry that insists on incorrect thinking.

Krauthammer elaborated:

-- Resistance to the vast expansion of government power, intrusiveness and debt, as represented by the Tea Party movement? Why, racist resentment toward a black president.

-- Disgust and alarm with the federal government's unwillingness to curb illegal immigration, as crystallized in the Arizona law? Nativism.

-- Opposition to the most radical redefinition of marriage in human history, as expressed in Proposition 8 in California? Homophobia.

-- Opposition to a 15-story Islamic center and mosque near Ground Zero? Islamophobia.

Another great formulation, about how those tricky Tea Party activists weren’t clever enough to fool the liberal media:

When the Tea Party arose, a spontaneous, leaderless and perfectly natural (and traditionally American) reaction to the vast expansion of government intrinsic to the president's proudly proclaimed transformational agenda, the liberal commentariat cast it as a mob of angry white yahoos disguising their antipathy to a black president by cleverly speaking in economic terms. 

(Inside Washington is a weekly show produced by ABC’s Washington, DC affiliate, which airs it Sunday morning after it runs Friday night on DC’s PBS affiliate, WETA-TV channel 26, and Saturday on local cable’s TBD TV.)

— Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.