07/03/2008 04:02 PM
Remembering the Media's Bash-Rush Lowlights

Since NBC's used Rush Limbaugh's huge new contract as an opportunity to remind everyone of the moments they trashed him with the most vigor, we can make a counter-offer. Here's Brent Baker's CyberAlert on how NBC spent a day on the campaign trail with Michael J. Fox after the Limbaugh controversy, and served as the publicity wind beneath his wings right before the 2006 elections. And there's the original Brent Bozell columns to recall the tenor of those 2003 controversies:

ESPN = P.C., on the media's favoritism toward quarterback Donovan McNabb; and

Pulling for Rush, about the liberal nastiness that greeted his admission of prescription-drug addiction.



07/03/2008 03:46 PM
ABCNews.com Headline: 'Pregnant Man' Has Baby Girl

Thomas Beatie, the transsexual "man" who was really born a woman, has garnered a lot of news coverage over the past few months because he is the first "man" to become pregnant. ABC promoted the "pregnant man" four times in two and half months on its morning show, "Good Morning America" while ABCNews.com also heavily promoted the story.

Well, today Beatie gave birth and ABCNews.com jumped on the story and is treating Beatie like a celebrity. The front page features the headline "Exclusive: Pregnant Man Has Baby Girl" alongside a picture of the "man's" pregnant body.

The article states:

Born a woman, Beatie, 34, who had his breasts surgically removed and legally changed his gender from female to male, leaped to prominence around the world in April when the wispy bearded man revealed he was pregnant.

Despite years of taking hormones and living outwardly as a man, Beatie maintained that he retained his female sex organs because he intended one day to get pregnant.

[…]

"I feel it's not a male or female desire to have a child. It's a human need. I'm a person and I have the right to have a biological child," he said.

If Beatie still has female sex organs, doesn’t that mean "he" is still a "she?"

The article then gives deep insight into a sighting of Beatie at the hospital:

Beatie was caught on tape leaving the hospital. He was not carrying the infant.

A woman who appears to be a nurse carried a combination car seat/baby carrier with a white blanket over it. Beatie walked a few yards behind her. The new dad walked easily, although he appeared tired, and despite the warm weather he wore a white hooded sweatshirt along with sunglasses and black shorts. Someone opened the car door for him.

ABCNews.com also features photos of Beatie under the title "Baby on the Way for Pregnant Man."



07/03/2008 03:10 PM
NYT: Maybe Greenland Isn't Melting After All

For years, climate alarmists in the media have loved showing video footage of Greenland glaciers slipping into the ocean in order to evoke feelings of global warming gloom and doom in the citizenry.

On Friday, the journal Science is publishing a seventeen year study of Greenland's ice sheet that flatly contradicts all such hysterical reports and claims.

In fact, the paper concludes that such melting is a normal summertime event, and that when looked at over a longer period of time, there has been little change in the ice sheets in this region, and even possibly a slowing in glacial movement.

Imagine that.

Somewhat surprisingly, the New York Times' Andrew C. Revkin appears to be the first to report some of the findings (emphasis added):

[A] new Dutch study of 17 years of satellite measurements of ice movement in western Greenland concludes that the speedup of the ice is a transient summertime phenomenon, with the overall yearly movement of the grinding glaciers not changing, and actually dropping slightly in some places, when measured over longer time spans.

The work, the authors and other experts caution, does not mean that more widespread surface melting could not eventually destabilize vast areas of the world’s second-largest ice storehouse. But for the moment, the study, which is being published in Friday’s edition of the journal Science, throws into question the notion that abrupt ice losses in Greenland are nigh.

“The positive-feedback mechanism between melt rate and ice velocity appears to be a seasonal process that may have only a limited effect on the response of the ice sheet to climate warming over the next decades,” said the paper.

If the findings in this study prove accurate, one of the cornerstones of the global warming myth will have been completely debunked.

As such, I'm sure this will be headline and front-page news all weekend long once this paper is officially published. And, I imagine climate alarmists like Nobel Laureate Al Gore and NASA's James Hansen will not only be asked to comment about these new revelations, but will also be available for interviews with curious media members in the days ahead.

As this will likely not be the case, readers should keep an eye on NewsBusters for more details as they come available.



07/03/2008 02:31 PM
NBC’s ‘Today’ Re-airs Limbaugh’s McNabb, Fox, Drug ‘Controversies’

Thursday’s "Today Show" gave yet another demonstration that the mainstream media can’t get over the success of Rush Limbaugh. NBC correspondent Michael Okwu, reporting on Limbaugh’s new contract, which the New York Times has indicated is worth $400 million, "reminded" viewers of three past "controversies" involving the talk radio host: his 2003 resignation from ESPN after remarking on the sport media’s coverage of NFL quarterback Donovan McNabb; how Limbaugh mocked Michael J. Fox, "accusing the actor of exaggerating symptoms of Parkinson's Disease;" and the legal trouble he faced in Florida related to his addiction to prescription painkillers.

On this "doctor shopping" issue, Okwu remarked, "In 2003, Florida authorities charged Limbaugh with illegally-deceiving multiple doctors, in order to get overlapping painkiller prescriptions. He pled not guilty and the charges were later dismissed, though Limbaugh admitted he was an addict."

It’s not surprising an outlet like NBC and its "Today" would bring up these issues again, since it was the mainstream media that worked overtime to spin them when they first emerged. When Limbaugh, during an ESPN broadcast in 2003, charged that "the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well" and that McNabb "got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he really didn’t deserve," the mainstream media, and the "Big Three" network in particular, painted Limbaugh as a racist for the remarks. "Today’s" own co-host at the time, perky Katie Couric, gave a list of supposedly racist comments made by Limbaugh on his radio show.

With the "controversy" surrounding Limbaugh’s "mocking" of Michael J. Fox, "Today" co-host Matt Lauer asked, "How did it all get so ugly?....it got really personal this week when Rush Limbaugh accused Michael J. Fox of exploiting the effects of Parkinson's disease to make a political point in a campaign ad." However, the talk radio host received an at least partial vindication when Fox himself admitted that he didn’t take the drugs that ease his Parkinson’s symptoms before some of his public appearances, in order to show "what Parkinson’s was like."

Then in 2006, when Limbaugh was booked in Florida on "doctor shopping" charges, many mainstream media outlets led with the news, including NBC’s "Nightly News" program. On sister network MSNBC, gadfly Keith Olbermann celebrated over Limbaugh’s mug shot.

The full transcript of Michael Okwu’s report from Thursday’s "Today:"

MATT LAUER: Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh is never really at a loss for words, and now, thanks to a very big new contract, he'll never be at loss for money either. Here's NBC's Michael Okwu.

MICHAEL OKWU (voice-over): It must have been a 'rush.'

RUSH LIMBAUGH: .. And you are worth what you earn.

OKWU: According to reports, which Limbaugh says are mostly true, the contract will pay a whopping $400 million -- $38 million a year for eight years.

MICHAEL HARRISON (Editor, Talkers Magazine): Clearly, this is the biggest deal that we've ever heard of, if in fact, this is the deal. This one's off the charts.

OKWU: The signing bonus alone is a reported $100 million -- up front. With that cash, Limbaugh could buy a couple of his own Boeing business jets, or say Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's French chateau; and still have enough dough to buy this Caribbean island -- twice. For the past 20 years, Limbaugh's talk show has been the most popular in the country, his loyal listeners a major force on the political right.

HARRISON: Limbaugh may be like Elvis Presley or The Beatles, kind of a once-in-a-generation phenomenon.

OKWU: But Limbaugh's reign has included its share of controversy. In 2003, he resigned from ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown, after suggesting that football star Donovan McNabb received undue credit because of his race. Some of his own supporters thought Limbaugh went too far when he mocked Michael J. Fox, accusing the actor of exaggerating symptoms of Parkinson's Disease.

OKWU (on-camera): In 2003, Florida authorities charged Limbaugh with illegally-deceiving multiple doctors, in order to get overlapping painkiller prescriptions. He pled not guilty and the charges were later dismissed, though Limbaugh admitted he was an addict.

OKWU (voice-over): None of the controversy has slowed him down.

LIMBAUGH: To me, the great thing about it is -- another eight years, all the way through 2016. I'm not going anywhere. I've told all of you that I am not retiring until every American agrees with me.

OKWU: That may or may not happen, but Limbaugh doesn't appear to be worrying. He's still on the air, still attacking liberal foes, and still getting paid. For 'Today,' Michael Okwu, NBC News, Los Angeles.

VIEIRA: Attacking liberals definitely pays off.

LAUER: Wow.

VIEIRA: (Laughs) Geez!

LAUER: This is Vieira-type money.

VIEIRA: (Laughs)

LAUER: This is crazy money -- crazy money!

VIEIRA: Don't even start.



07/03/2008 01:39 PM
Broder's Bizarre Non Sequitur

Wha-h-h-h? This has to go down as one of the stranger non sequiturs from a pundit of national standing.  Responding to a study that concludes that burgeoning multiculturalism threatens national unity, David Broder takes solace in the fact that 34 years ago, the American body politic booted Richard Nixon from office.  

In his column of today, One Nation No More?, Broder comments on the study, E Pluribus Unum, recently released by the The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.

The study's opening paragraphs set the tone:

In a nation that celebrates its diversity, we need to remind ourselves that we are also part of “one
nation indivisible.” Parents of school children, regardless of background, agree.

In too many ways, current attitudes sanction dual citizenship, multilingual ballots, and bilingual instruction rather than English immersion. Instead of one America, there are voices for many Americas, or even no America at all. Few would intend this result, but it may be the inevitable consequence of citizens not being able to communicate in a common language and placing other loyalties above their allegiance “to the flag and the republic for which it stands.”

To support his assertion that the study's "degree of pessimism seems unwarranted," Broder first points to the involvement of young people in this year's campaigns and various good works, then curiously concludes:

I have not worried about the fundamental commitment of the American people since 1974. In that year, they were confronted with the stunning evidence that their president had conducted a criminal conspiracy out of the Oval Office. In response, the American people reminded Richard Nixon, the man they had just recently reelected overwhelmingly, that in this country, no one, not even the president, is above the law. They required him to yield his office.

That is not the sign of a nation that has lost its sense of values or forgotten the principles on which this system rests. And that is something worth celebrating on more than the Fourth of July.

So the fact that Richard Nixon was forced from office in 1974 is the bedrock upon which Broder dismisses the threat multiculturalism poses to national unity in 2008? What can I say beyond "say what?" 



07/03/2008 01:31 PM
McCain Was P.O.W. When Obama Buddy Bombed Pentagon

John McCain has many, many, many faults -chief among them that he is at best a lukewarm conservative- but whatever his shortcomings the Vietnam veteran and former prisoner of war is not in the habit of clinking champagne glasses over brie with living, breathing, remorseless terrorist traitors who continue to seethe with hatred for the United States.

Barack Obama, on the other hand, doesn't have a problem with such people until he gets nailed on it. In fact, Obama has a close personal relationship with a man who did everything in his power to hurt John McCain and other U.S. personnel serving in Vietnam.

But more on that in a moment.

The most famous example of Obama unloading a troublesome associate is the case of the anti-American firebrand Rev. Jeremiah Wright who preached hatred from the pulpit of Obama's church for decades. The Democratic presidential nominee-in-waiting continues to hang out with people who really don't like America, such as Obama campaign advisor Cornel West, a radical Princeton professor who denounces his native land as racist and patriarchal and who embraces Venezuela's leftist strongman Hugo Chavez. Chavez allows terrorist groups Hezbollah and Hamas to operate in his country and has been backing communist rebels trying to overthrow the democratically elected government of Colombia. Another politically radioactive Obama friend is Rashid Khalidi, a Palestinian-American and former Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) spokesman who is now Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University.

However, among Obama's many unsavory associates, no one stands out quite like the unrepentant Pentagon bomber William Ayers, a self-described revolutionary communist who even today is proud of what he did. Ayers was a leader in the Weathermen, or Weather Underground, a homegrown American terrorist group dedicated to the destruction of capitalism and the violent overthrow of the United States government. Ayers's group planned but failed to succeed in a 1970 plot to detonate a bomb and kill hundreds of U.S. soldiers in Fort Dix, N.J.

And Obama's close personal friend is proud even to this day of waging war against America. Ayers said he had no regrets about bombing New York City police headquarters, the Capitol, and the Pentagon in the 1970s. "I don't regret setting bombs," Ayers said in a New York Times interview that happened to be published September 11, 2001. "I feel we didn't do enough." When asked if he would do it all again, he said, "I don't want to discount the possibility." The home page of Ayers's personal website is, unsurprisingly, graced with a photograph of mass murderer Che Guevara.

On April 16 when Obama was asked about his relationship with Ayers, with whom he had served on the board of the left-wing Woods Fund of Chicago, Obama was indignant as he tried to downplay the relationship.

Throwing out a rhetorical red herring, Obama said he was just a child when Ayers bombed U.S. landmarks. Obama said he had little contact with "a guy that lives in my neighborhood... who I know and who I have not received some official endorsement from. He's not somebody I exchange ideas from [sic] on a regular basis. And the notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago when I was eight years old, somehow reflects on me and my values, doesn't make much sense..."

It is true that Obama can't be blamed for terrorist acts committed by another when he was a boy, but the Illinois senator omitted important background information critical to understanding the extent of his relationship with Ayers.

It has been widely reported already that Ayers hosted a fundraiser in his home in 1995 that helped launch Obama's political career, but hardly any media outlets have reported on the Annenberg connection.

In his 49-page curriculum vitae posted online, Ayers describes himself as a co-founder of the 1995-2000 Chicago School Reform Collaborative project, a.k.a. the Annenberg Challenge. Obama was its first chairman of the board. (See "The Chicago Annenberg Challenge: The First Three Years," Consortium on Chicago School Research, 1999. PDF of report available here. Ayers is identified as co-founder at page 11. Obama is identified as chairman in endnote 15, page 54.)

In addition to serving as the Annenberg Challenge's first chairman, Obama served on the "Leadership Council" of the Chicago Public Schools Education Fund, the Challenge's successor organization. Obama served on this council alongside Ayers's father, Thomas, and his brother, John, in 2001 and 2002, according to the Fund's annual reports. Obama and John Ayers also served on the council in 2003 and 2004, according to the Fund's annual reports. (Thomas Ayers, who died in 2007, had been CEO of Commonwealth Edison.)

Obama and Ayers also appeared on academic panels together. One panel dealt with juvenile justice issues, and at that time Obama said Ayers's book on the topic was "a searing and timely account." Both also worked to reform Chicago's education system. (New York Times, May 11, 2008)

It is hard to believe that the two passionate left-wing activists who both live in the ultra-leftist environment of Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood exchanged no ideas about political goals and tactics in all their interactions together. After all, they have so much in common and so much to discuss. Ayers could easily have served as a Marxist mentor to Obama.

But apart from offering a perfunctory denunciation of Ayers's past actions during the debate and a lame attempt to spin the facts on his website, Obama has failed to denounce the rabidly anti-American radicalism of his friend. Both Ayers and Obama refuse to discuss their relationship. Why?

And after a brief flurry of media coverage following the April debate, the issue has gone dormant.

But it shouldn't. It should be on every TV news and talk show and on the front coverage of every newspaper. Here's why:

Decades after Ayers bombed the Pentagon in May 1972, he giggled about the experience in his memoir. In a 2001 Wall Street Journal column about a book signing event for Ayers's memoir, John Tabin noted: "In his book, he writes: ‘It turns out that we blew up a bathroom and, quite by accident, water plunged below and knocked out their computers for a time, disrupting the air war [in Vietnam] and sending me into deepening shades of delight.'"

Added Tabin: "In those four little words, ‘disrupting the air war,' there is the dark prospect of American soldiers in jeopardy."

And who might one of those soldiers in jeopardy at the time have been? While Ayers interfered with America's war effort and cheered for a North Vietnamese victory over the United States, John McCain, whose A-4 Skyhawk attack aircraft was shot down over Hanoi in October 1967, was held in captivity by the North Vietnamese and tortured regularly. Now the Republican Party's presumptive presidential candidate in 2008, he was released by the Communist Vietnamese government in March 1973.

As McCain languished in the Hanoi Hilton, Obama's friend Ayers spent the 1970s waging war against the United States and fleeing justice. He surrendered in 1980 but a legal technicality led to all charges being dropped. Ayers gloated: "Guilty as sin, free as a bird, America is a great country." And what a forgiving country it is! After he retired from his distinguished career in terrorism, he was welcomed with open arms by the academy. Ayers is now Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and he uses his position to spread his gospel of revolution.

In an age of terrorism when national security issues are of great national importance, why aren't journalists asking more questions about Obama's connections to a known terrorist whose actions might have had an impact on another presidential candidate?

It's way too good a story to ignore.

(Much of the above appears in "Barack Obama: A Radical Leftist's Journey from Community Organizing to Politics," by Elias Crim and Matthew Vadum, published by Capital Research Center in Foundation Watch, June 2008.)



07/03/2008 01:18 PM
CBS: More Food Stamps Allotments Needed to Match Food Inflation

Food inflation is hitting everyone - even if don't have to pay for food.

According to the July 2 "CBS Evening News," part of its "The Other America" series - a title strangely similar to former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards' liberal anti-poverty mantra of "Two Americas" - food stamp recipients are being hit by the rising the cost of food.

"With food prices climbing, more and more Americans these days are struggling to feed their families," anchor Katie Couric said. "Nearly 28 million rely on food stamps for an average benefit that comes to only about $24 a week for each person. Many are living hand-to-mouth, month-to-month."

The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) Web site said the food stamp program is only supposed to provide a "safety net" to the poor. However, as CBS correspondent Seth Doane pointed out, some recipients have become dependent on the system.

 "Food stamps are only designed to supplement food budgets, but now the working poor are relying on them more and more," Doane said.

Food prices have increased with inflation and the effects of increased corn demand - thanks in large part to government mandates for ethanol - as a result food stamps don't buy as much at the grocery store. The obvious solution according to Doane: the government should increase allotments at a cost to taxpayers.

"But change isn't coming any time soon," Doane said. "The government won't consider raising food stamp allotments until October."

The federal government pays 100 percent of food stamp program benefits - $28.6 billion in 2005. Federal and state governments split the administrative costs, according to FRAC.



07/03/2008 12:57 PM
ABC's 'Radar' Blog Covers Obama Doggies and Soccer Games

Radio host Laura Ingraham was on the Obama Gush Watch this morning, noting this breaking news on the ABC News Political Radar blog on Wednesday morning: "Barack Obama: Soccer Dad." There’s even a (boring) video of Obama sitting on the sideline smiling. Then, as the day progressed, ABC added these Obama entries: "Obama Fist Bump Refusal? Not So Fast...." (They explained that it would be wrong to make any hay out of Obama’s refusal to fist-bump a fan in Ohio.) And then there was "Vetting Obama’s Canine Companion," reporting the American Kennel Club is taking a survey to figure out what kind of dog the Obama family should get. (Ooh, they add, "Click HERE to vote.")

Meanwhile, the McCain headlines were serious, and more negative. There was "McCain Campaign Shake Up," and "RNC Plans Ad Assault," and "McCain Health Credit Could Morph Into Tax Hike" (according to Elizabeth Edwards and the Clintonistas at the Center for American Progress.)

The day's version of "The Note" even added this sneering line:

Maybe the start of his Colombia trip (and that’s with two "Os") – when McCain left U.S. soil, with its sputtering economy and spiraling gas prices, and declared war on drugs like it was 1984 -- will be remembered like the house-cleaning of almost exactly a year ago: When the campaign hit bottom.

The Note writers do suggest that promoting Steve Schmidt to the top of the campaign will add "Bush/Arnold swagger" and message discipline.

But this day of ABC blogging suggests a campaign narrative of fluffy Obama coverage and nit-picking substantive negativity toward McCain.



07/03/2008 12:41 PM
GMA: Hot Dogs Will Take 'Big Bite' Out of Wallets

Sharyn Alfonsi, ABC Friday’s "Good Morning America" used the Fourth of July holiday to exaggerate the effects that food prices are having on consumers. In its "Hitting Home" segment, reporter Sharyn Alfonsi reported on the price increases of certain Fourth of July barbecue staples, claiming that "Americans are gonna eat 110 million pounds hot dogs and that could take a big bite out of their wallets."

Alfonsi claimed:

Today, a pack of hot dogs runs about $4.29. That's nearly seven percent more than last year. Want ketchup, mustard or relish? That costs more, too. Condiments are up about eight percent. Corn on the cob, forty-seven percent. Even that bowl of pasta salad will set you back a few more months. Pasta prices are up twenty-eight percent. Potato chips aren't any cheaper. A sixteen ounce bag runs about $3.89, up twelve percent. A two liter bottle of soda, $1.33, up nearly eleven percent. Even the Fourth of July staple, an apple pie, will take a bigger slice out of your wallet. Apples are up fourteen percent.

What Alfonsi apparently forgot is that all of these items are typically on sale at this time specifically for Fourth of July barbecues. Here in the Washington, D.C., area, the Safeway grocery store is featuring packages of Butcher’s Cut jumbo hot dogs for $0.88, buy one get one free packages of Ball Park hot dogs and two packages of Hebrew National hot dogs for $5. An eight count package of hot dog buns costs $0.99 and Doritos or Lay’s potato chips are on sale for two for $5. Finally, if you buy any two twelve-pack cans of Coke or Pepsi products, you can get three free. Is this going to take a "big bite" out of people’s wallets?

Also, Alfonsi used Christopher Waldrop of the Consumer Federation of America to say that food prices are increasing because of high energy prices. Of course, there was no mention that the mandate for ethanol in gasoline is also a factor. Further, it was never mentioned that the CFA is a liberal organization even though it is associated with Ralph Nader and his "consumer movement."

Before the Memorial Day holiday, NBC's "Nightly News" highlighted emails from viewers who claimed they had to choose hamburgers instead of ribs for their cookouts. This came after ABC's "World News" featured a hapless Massachusetts woman who could "no longer take joy rides" because she need a $45 prescription and has been forced into "buying store brands instead of name brands."

The transcript of Friday's "Good Morning America" segment, which aired at 7:17 a.m., follows:

DAVID MUIR, host: Now to our continuing series, "Hitting Home." And this morning, the high cost of celebrating the Fourth of July. Americans are going to eat, among other things, 150 million hot dogs on this Independence Day. But from the hot dog to the bun, the rising food prices have American families really feeling it so ABC's Sharyn Alfonsi has a bit of a price check when it comes to the backyard barbecue. Sharyn, good morning.

SHARYN ALFONSI, reporter: Good morning. Well, the turkey owns Thanksgiving but the hotdog, that is strictly Fourth of July territory. This weekend, Americans are gonna eat 110 million pounds hotdogs and that could take a big bite out of their wallets. The explosions this Fourth of July won't be limited to the sky. Prices on all the traditional barbecue staples are also going up. Way up.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Food prices definitely have changed. From the past couple months I do see an increase in my cash receipt.

ALFONSI: Today, a pack of hotdogs runs about $4.29. That's nearly seven percent more than last year. Want ketchup, mustard or relish? That costs more, too. Condiments are up about eight percent. Corn on the cob, forty-seven percent. Even that bowl of pasta salad will set you back a few more months. Pasta prices are up twenty-eight percent. Potato chips aren't any cheaper. A sixteen ounce bag runs about $3.89, up twelve percent. A two liter bottle of soda, $1.33, up nearly eleven percent. Even the Fourth of July staple, an apple pie, will take a bigger slice out of your wallet. Apples are up fourteen percent.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: It's really outrageous, I mean I don't get why we have to pay so much for the same product.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: We were never coupon people. We are now.

ALFONSI: We've seen spikes in certain foods before because of weather or shortages, but experts say today's higher prices are tied to other changes.

CHRISTOPHER WALDROP, Consumer Federation of America: We're seeing high energy prices, and that's effecting what farmers are doing on the farm. In general, food prices have increased about five percent since last year and they're forecasted to increase another five percent next year.

ALFONSI: And a lot of people may be saying "hold the bun" this year because while the price of the hotdog goes up, so is the bun. The hotdog, seven percent up. The bun, twenty percent. David, Diane.

MUIR: All right, well despite the prices I hope it's a good backyard picnic.



07/03/2008 12:32 PM
Chris Wallace: My View of Media Has Changed Since Coming to FNC

Chris Wallace on Fox News SundayIn the years since he began working at FNC as host of its "Fox News Sunday" program, Chris Wallace has come to realize he was wrong for earlier thinking that the elite media are politically neutral.

"When I was in the mainstream media, when I was working at NBC and ABC [...] I thought we were fair and balanced. But since coming to Fox four and a half years ago, I have come to see things a little differently. And I, in fact, do believe there is a bias in the mainstream media and that is something I was only able to understand when I was outside of it," Wallace said in an interview with a Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts newspaper.

Even if you don't believe Fox is objective, you should be glad it's out there, Wallace added, if only for pluralism reasons:

"And whether you like Fox News or don't like it, it seems to me that it is a healthy development if only because it creates another viewpoint and some competition for the mainstream media and another place where people can get information, and by comparison check out whether they are getting the full story."

Some other interesting tidbits:

The entire article is here. It's a good read.

Hat tip: TVNewser, which on a related note has a post up about some "Fox and Friends" producers who engaged in some apparent fauxtography to attack New York Times reporter Jacques Steinberg and editor Steve Reddicliffe for a piece Steinberg wrote which tried (for the umpteenth time) to insist that CNN and MSNBC are catching up to Fox in the ratings.

Update 15:24. The F&F story is outraging the leftysphere which isn't interesting in itself until you realize that this same bunch wasn't particularly interested in any of the anti-Iraq war fauxtography earlier.



07/03/2008 11:21 AM
CBS ‘Early Show’ Looks At ‘Struggling’ McCain Campaign

Maggie Rodriguez and Ed Rollins, CBS On Thursday’s CBS "Early Show," co-host Harry Smith teased an upcoming segment on John McCain giving Republican strategist Steve Schmidt greater control of his campaign: "John McCain shakes up his campaign again. Is this the jump start he needs to get him to the White House?" Later, co-host Maggie Rodriguez teased the segment this way: "Up next here for us, John McCain shakes up his struggling presidential campaign. We're talking with Ed Rollins, a veteran Republican campaign strategist."

The segment began with a report by correspondent Chip Reid, who declared:

For months, top Republicans have been urging John McCain to make changes in his campaign after a series of missteps...One example, the night of the final Democratic primary. Both Barack Obama and McCain gave speeches as their party's nominees...But compared to Obama's speech, McCain's fell flat with a small crowd and an ugly green back drop. It was a cry for change.

However, a major "misstep" by the Obama campaign this week, Obama supporter Wesley Clark degrading John McCain’s military record, was only given two news briefs during Tuesday’s "Early Show," totaling 90 seconds. Considering Clark’s comments were made on CBS’s "Face the Nation," one would expect a bit more coverage. In contrast, Thursday’s segment on McCain’s "struggling" campaign received nearly three and a half minutes.

Following the report by Reid, Rodriguez spoke with former Mike Huckabee campaign chairman Ed Rollins, and asked questions like: "What do you think his first priority should be? What's the biggest problem in the McCain campaign?...Can you go to Latin America on Fourth of July week?...I've heard people criticize John McCain for not being enough like Barack Obama. Not having the same style, not having the same energy. But every time I have spoken with Senator McCain he makes it a point to point out how different he is." In response to that last point, Rollins added: "Well, he is different. I mean, you can't be Barack Obama. There's one Barack Obama. He's an extraordinary candidate, extraordinary communicator."

Here is the full transcript of the segment:

7:00AM TEASER:

HARRY SMITH: John McCain shakes up his campaign again. Is this the jump start he needs to get him to the White House?

7:13AM TEASER:

MAGGIE RODRIGUEZ: Up next here for us, John McCain shakes up his struggling presidential campaign. We're talking with Ed Rollins, a veteran Republican campaign strategist.

7:16AM SEGMENT:

MAGGIE RODRIGUEZ: John McCain has shaken up the top leadership of his presidential campaign. He put in charge a man who worked closely with Karl Rove, the engineer of President Bush's successful campaigns. CBS News Capitol Hill correspondent Chip Reid reports.

CHIP REID: For months, top Republicans have been urging John McCain to make changes in his campaign after a series of missteps.

JONATHAN MARTIN: The day to day message from the campaign was not there. The organization was not there. And frankly, the larger strategy wasn't there at all.

REID: One example, the night of the final Democratic primary. Both Barack Obama and McCain gave speeches as their party's nominees.

JOHN MCCAIN: From my first day in office-

REID: But compared to Obama's speech, McCain's fell flat with a small crowd and an ugly green back drop. It was a cry for change. Finally, on Wednesday, the campaign announced that McCain aid Steve Schmidt, a veteran of the 2004 Bush reelection campaign, will take over the daily operation.

MARTIN: This is a remedy. It's an attempt to bring in somebody who is known for being very aggressive, very disciplined, somebody who will demand results and accountability from campaign operatives.

REID: At least officially, Schmidt will continue to report to campaign manager Rick Davis. But it appears the controls of the campaign have now changed hands. Chip Reid, CBS News, Washington.

RODRIGUEZ: Joining us now is Ed Rollins, a veteran Republican strategist who recently served as chairman of Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign. Good morning Ed.

ED ROLLINS: Good morning, how are you?

RODRIGUEZ: I'm well, thank you for being here. I know you know Steve Schmidt. You run in the same circles. Good choice for McCain?

ED ROLLINS: Excellent choice. This is a tough smart guy. The Bush people know how to run campaigns. They may have had other problems, obviously, being president, but not running campaigns, is not one of their deficiencies. This guy ran the war room, which is the rapid response and that's what this campaign needs. He'll put discipline in this campaign, he'll get them on message and there'll be a strategy there which there hasn't been.

RODRIGUEZ: What do you think his first priority should be? What's the biggest problem in the McCain campaign?

ROLLINS: Well, first of all, getting a message. Figuring out what the strategy's going to be. For Long term, four months to go, which is plenty of time. But at the end of the day you've got to make this candidate become very disciplined. You have to make -- go to events that make sense -- you can't go to Santa Barbara and talk about offshore oil without alienating a political base that's there. So, there's a lot of little things that have happened in this campaign.

RODRIGUEZ: Can you go to Latin America on Fourth of July week?

ROLLINS: Well you should not. And the reality is that -- and you shouldn't shake up your staff when you're down there trying to show what a leader you are internationally. So those are the kind of missteps that have occurred. What Steve will do is he'll put discipline in this campaign. You know, at the end of the day a campaign manager sometimes gets too much credit for victories, and too much blame for losses.

RODRIGUEZ: It's the candidate, right?

ROLLINS: It's the candidate. And what you are is a jockey. And the real test here is you've got a good jockey now. We'll see how good the horse is.

RODRIGUEZ: I've heard people criticize John McCain for not being enough like Barack Obama. Not having the same style, not having the same energy. But every time I have spoken with Senator McCain he makes it a point to point out how different he is.

ROLLINS: Well, he is different. I mean, you can't be Barack Obama. There's one Barack Obama. He's an extraordinary candidate, extraordinary communicator. John has great strengths. But he's still not defined to the American public. People know he's a prisoner of war, people know he's been a senator, but they don't know who he is, they don't know how effective a leader he can be. And that's what they have to prove in this campaign.

RODRIGUEZ: Okay, thank you. Ed Rollins, appreciate your time, thanks for coming in.

ROLLINS: My pleasure, thanks.



07/03/2008 10:40 AM
Former General Electric CEO Jack Welch: Global Warming Skeptic

While guest hosting Wednesday’s "Morning Joe", former General Electric CEO Jack Welch condemned global warming, the very theory MSNBC has been peddling for years. GE, of course, owns MSNBC; the rebuke of MSNBC’s favorite alarmist hypothesis came in a segment where hosts share noteworthy editorials. Welch decided to share an opinion piece from Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal aptly titled "Global Warming As Mass Neurosis." Welch informed the audience that the article has "a lot of technical numbers here to show you that NASA overstated what's happening." Welch summarized the article by saying "And they got an argument that states that global warming is the attack on capitalism that socialism couldn't bring"

After Jack’s synopsis, co- host Pat Buchanan interjects his belief that global warming is "a neo-Marxist idea for the transfer of wealth and power." Jack Welch jumps in to agree saying "Right" Pat Buchanan then decides to carry his rebuke even further by saying "And At the end global elites, and they’re, you know they’re gonna to dictate to all of us because of this phony idea that we're all in some eminent danger. I agree with that 100 %." Welch, the former GE CEO enthusiastically jumped in to agree saying "Absolutely!"

Later in the segment Mika Brzezinski did her best to put pressure on her former boss by saying "Alright, but I just want to say at some point this [global warming] is going to come back and haunt us if we don't address it, Jack." However ‘Neutron Jack’ refused to cede his ground and sarcastically responded "We'll see."

What makes this vivacious segment so amusing is that as the former Chief Executive Officer of General Electric, Jack Welch, was once the head of a company that owns MSNBC. MSNBC is a network that hawks global warming mythology on a regular basis. Just two months ago Newsbusters profiled how MSNBC firebrand Chris Matthews was shocked by global warming skepticism. Apparently, Matthews never talked to his old boss about the subject.

A partial transcript is below:

 

Mika Brzezinski: Now, we have one more opinion page to get to. Jack, what did you choose?

Jack Welch: I choose.

Brzezinski: He brings his own in his pocket.

Welch: I brought this from yesterday's "wall street journal," page A 15.The title of it is global warming as mass neurosis.

Brzezinski: What?

Welch: Global warming as mass neurosis.

Brzezinski: What are you saying Jack?

Welch: Well, what they’re saying is, that a, NASA has changed some of their numbers. Some of the hottest days, they have a lot of technical numbers here to show you that NASA overstated what's happening. But then they go on to try and explain this is a movement. Global warming as a movement. And they’ve got a theological basis for it, they’ve got a sociological basis for it and they got a psychological basis for it. And they got an argument that states that global warming is the attack on capitalism.

Brzezinski: hmm....

Welch: That socialiam couldn't bring

Pat Buchanan: Right

Welch: and that other movements couldn't bring. It's the same crowd that brought you out of control population. It's a very thoughtful piece. And it's on A 15. Anybody who even hasn't even had their mind completely jammed shut on global warming has to read it. Has to read it.

Brzezinski: Ok, I'll read it.

Buchanan: It's a neo-marxist idea for the transfer of wealth and power

Welch: Right.

Buchanan: From people to elites.

Tucker Carlson: That’s exactly right.

Buchanan: And At the end global elites, and they’re, you know they’re gonna to dictate to all of us because of this phony idea that we're all in some eminent danger. I agree with that 100 %.

Brzezinski: You guys aren't using foresight.

Welch: Absolutely!

[chatter]

Buchanan: We've got three guys, let's work on Barnicle. This is al gore's surrogate here. You want to defend him?

Mike Barnicle: It’s an inconvenient truth, I’ll tell you that.

Brzezinski: It’s very inconvenient.

Welch: But this is a must read. A 15."Wall street journal."

Brzezinski: Yesterday’s "Wall Street Journal"

Buchanan: Is it Brett Stevens?

Welch: Yeah, Brett Stevens.

Brzezinski: Alright, but I just want to say at some point this is doing to come back and haunt us if we don't address it, jack.

Welch: We'll see.

Barnicle: Even John Mccain says, you know, he'd rather go after global warming now under the assumption –

Buchanan: Well, we’re going to cut him loose.

Barnicle: Okay. All right.

Brzezinski: Oh boy, I am a little outnumbered here.

Welch: Right now in this political campaign, A 15 of the "wall street journal" is not the most popular article. This is a thoughtful guy taking a position, not some politician running for office.

Welch: All I can say, between global warming and Ben Bernanke and George Bush, they are doing a good job on capitalism.

Brzezinski: And we all do have a neurosis. I think it might be economic. Tucker Carlson.

Welch: And you forgot Congress.

Brzezinski: Yes, there is that.



07/03/2008 09:58 AM
Global Warming Update: Snow Blocks Key Road in Montana Park

Due to record snowfalls in Montana this year, Glacier National Park's famous Going-to-the-Sun Road was finally opened to tourists Wednesday -- much later than normal.

With the exception of 1943 when park officials chose to let the white stuff thaw naturally due to the nation being in the middle of World War II, this is the latest opening in the history of this thoroughfare which connects both sides of the park.

As reported by the Missoulian Wednesday (emphasis added, picture courtesy Missoulian via AP and NYT):

The entire Going-to-the Sun Road will open Wednesday morning, providing visitors with access to the heights of Glacier National Park.

The opening of the Sun Road has been a particular challenge this year because of a snowy winter, late-spring storms and avalanche activity. [...]

Trails in the Logan Pass area are currently covered by several feet of snow. Visitors are urged to use caution and know their own personal limits when considering travel on snowy terrain. Snowpack in the Logan Pass area is double what is typical for this time of year. This includes the popular Highline Trail, which is under considerable amounts of snow. Crews are working to make the Highline and other trails passable to hikers in the coming weeks.

This is one of the latest openings of the entire Sun Road. The latest opening on record is July 10, 1943, when the snow was allowed to melt out. The earliest Logan Pass opening to motorized traffic occurred on May 16, 1987.

As the New York Times reported on this issue Wednesday, record snowfalls throughout the Rockies this year have thankfully diminished drought conditions (emphasis added):

“Snow in the mountains is money in the bank,” Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana said. “The snow will melt and run into the streams through September. It’s good for the fisheries and good for irrigation.”

Mr. Schweitzer cited more good news from the state climatologist, who, he said, has forecast a cooler and wetter July than normal. Still, the governor said, even though things are better, “no matter what the weather is, we’re never more than two weeks from a drought.”

For now, residents feel they have some breathing room. “We got so much moisture in June, it released a pressure valve,” said Lisa Bay, a rancher near Wolf Creek, Mont. “It was a grand sense of relief.”

The situation is similar in Wyoming. Snowpack in the Bighorn Mountains, in the north central part of the state, is 79 percent higher than the 30-year average, and 112 percent above the average in the area drained by the Powder and Tongue Rivers.

“Everything is up from average,” said Leanne Stevenson, manager of natural resources and policy for the Wyoming Department of Agriculture. “A lot of what makes a difference is not how much, but how long it stays cool, and we actually had spring this year.” [...]

In Yellowstone National Park, some backcountry areas are blocked by snow and some rivers are high and muddy. “Our ongoing challenge is backcountry access,” Al Nash, a park spokesman, said. “We have high flowing water, mud and, in shady areas, snow. It just isn’t accessible right now. It could easily be another month before we have access.”

But the snows will help the park recover from a drought that has caused ponds and wetlands to dry up, killed fish, reduced vegetation and even lengthened the period between eruptions of the famous geysers.

“One good year doesn’t overcome a drought,” Mr. Nash said. “But it’s sure welcome and helpful.”

Rivers that in the last eight years usually retreated to their normal levels in May or early June are still running up to their banks. Many people who came to the Northern Rockies to fly fish in June found their favorite rivers the color of chocolate milk. [...]

On the Yellowstone River near Livingston, Mont., record high flows forced local officials to close a bridge that appeared to be collapsing because of high waters, stranding 24 people on an island for a few days until a temporary one was installed. Farmers and ranchers, though, are happy. “We were way behind in moisture, and we caught up and got an extra five or six inches” of rain in June, said Mr. Schweitzer, a farmer and a soil scientist. “Every extra inch of rain above average means seven more bushels per acre, and we got six inches,” he said. “We’ll get 40 more bushels per acre this year. That makes it a billion-dollar storm.”

Oddly -- or maybe not not-so! -- the terms "climate change" and "global warming" were nowhere to be found in the Times article. Hmmm.

Of course, one year's worth of record snowfalls doesn't disprove the global warming myth. However, as drought conditions in this region ease, as do temperatures around the supposedly warming planet, shouldn't there come a point when a more honest and fact-based discussion concerning climate change ensues?

What if 1998 continues to be the warmest year in this cycle, and temperatures moving forward continue their recent downward path? Shouldn't we begin re-evaluating whether or not there's any cause for alarm as well as the possibility that scientists who have been calling this all part of a long-term nature climate cycle are actually correct?

Or does that make too much sense?



07/03/2008 09:56 AM
German Magazine: 'Astonishing' Progress in Iraq

The American press is seemingly against reporting positive Iraq news so it is refreshing to see some new reporting out of the country from the German magazine Der Spiegel which notes the "astonishing" pace of things there:

There is an unexpected air of normalcy prevailing in Baghdad these days, with consumption flourishing and confidence in the government growing. The progress is astonishing, but can it last?

Pork is available in Baghdad once again. Not just in the Green Zone, where US diplomats can enjoy their spare ribs and Parma ham, but also across the Tigris River, in the real Baghdad, at "Al-Warda" on Karada Street. Bassim Dencha, 32, one of the few Christians remaining in Iraq and the co-owner of Baghdad's finest supermarket, has developed a supply line from Syria. As a result, he now has frozen pork chops and bratwurst arranged in his freezers, next to boxes of frozen French fries and German Black Forest Cakes. And the customers are buying.

For four years, selling pork or alcohol in Baghdad was a security risk. But the acts of terror committed by Islamist fundamentalists, who once punished such violations of their interpretation of the Koran with attacks on businesses and their owners, have gradually subsided. The supply of imported goods is also relatively secure today, now that roads through the Sunni Triangle are significantly safer than they were only a few months ago.

There are some caveats of course, since Iraq is still a war zone:

Despite the palpable changes in daily life in the Iraqi capital, people are still being killed, because the Islamic fundamentalists and terrorists are not willing to give in, nor have they been eliminated completely. Eleven people died in attacks last Tuesday, seven on Wednesday and 38 on Thursday.

Is the situation truly improving in Iraq? Is it possible to rely on these changes in everyday life or are they merely an illusion? According to the quarterly report that the Pentagon issued in mid-June, the number of armed incidents has declined by 70 percent since last summer, bringing it down to 2004 levels -- from about 180 daily incidents to 45. More than 320,000 of the 478,000 soldiers in the Iraqi Army, the report claims, are now capable of fighting without American support, and more than €3.8 billion ($5.9 billion) of Iraq's own reconstruction budget totaling €6.4 billion ($9.9 billion) has already been invested in projects. "The security, political and economic trends in Iraq continue to be positive; however they remain fragile, reversible and uneven," the report concluded.

This sounds like realism underscored by cautious optimism. An interim report by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), which caused a stir in Washington last week, is more pessimistic. The authors are critical of the Iraqi government for still not having passed a law that would regulate the development of oil fields and the distribution of profits among the country's 18 provinces. They also criticize the US war effort in Iraq for consuming $400 million (€258 million) a day and point out that there is no evidence "of a strategic plan" by the US government.

The pessimists have strong arguments and experience on their side. And experience has shown that things usually go downhill in Iraq, with only brief uphill periods. Nevertheless, the number of optimists is growing, and the administration of US President George W. Bush no longer has a monopoly on confidence. After years of resistance, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have now announced that they will be sending ambassadors to Baghdad. Thanks to the high oil price, the economy in Iraq, which produces 2.5 million barrels a day, is also improving. The government has now been able to give its civil servants a generous pay increase, and it also expects to cut the price of gasoline, currently at €0.60 a liter ($3.52 a gallon), in half. Fittingly enough, German automotive giant Daimler plans to open an office in Baghdad and build trucks there in the future -- 18 years after Saddam Hussein's invasion of neighboring Kuwait.

Hat tip: Ace



07/03/2008 09:52 AM
MSNBC Gets Caught Cooking the Books, Has to Recant

What do you do when you just can't win your ratings time slot? Answer: Cook the books. That's what MSNBC tried to do regarding "Hardball with Chris Matthews" and the 5:00pm slot:

CNN and Fox News Channel both pointed out Tuesday that MSNBC included special coverage of Tim Russert’s death and memorial in its June data ratings for Hardball With Chris Matthews – prompting MSNBC to say it made an error.

The flap was over a press release that MSNBC issued, based on Nielsen data, with the headline “MSNBC’s ‘Hardball’ No. 1 Among Adults in June at 5 p.m.”  

According to the release, Hardball averaged 190,000 adults 25 to 54 in June, beating CNN and Fox News at 5 p.m. in that demographic for the first time since February 2002.

But the announcement immediately drew fire from CNN and Fox News, who charged that MSNBC was using straight 5 p.m. time slot data for June, not data solely for Hardball.

By using the 5 p.m. info, rather than program data, MSNBC was including in its tally special coverage it had aired on Meet the Press moderator Russert’s death and memorial.

Without that special coverage, MSNBC’s numbers drop. Instead, CNN’s Situation Room at 5 p.m. ranked No. 1 in June in the 25-to-54 age group, averaging 186,000 of those watchers, while Fox News’s American’s Election HQ was second with 179,000.  MSNBC’s Hardball was third with 171,000.

An MSNBC spokesman conceded that the network had made an error in including the Russert coverage along with that for Hardball at 5 p.m.

But hey, when you're perpetually getting beat by your cable news rivals, you'll do whatever you can, right? This reminds me of a similarly hilarious tidbit from a couple years back when "Countdown's" Keith Olbermann actually ... bragged about winning the -- wait for it -- 12:00am midnight time slot over his competitors at Fox News and CNN! 

Yes indeed, that "coveted" midnight rating. 



07/03/2008 09:50 AM
NB on TV: Brent Bozell on Fox & Friends About the Adoring Obama Coverage of the Big Three

At about 8:05am ET this morning, MRC President Brent Bozell, publisher of NewsBusters, appeared on Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends" to discuss the networks' slavish coverage of Barack Obama and his campaign for President.

As Mr. Bozell says himself in the video (Windows Media), the Big Three (NBC, ABC and CBS) aren't delivering news stories so much as they are issuing Obama campaign press releases, save for the fact that the campaign itself would be too embarrassed to engage in this kind of overwrought hyperbole.

Mr. Bozell expounds on the glowing coverage of Barack Obama, and juxtaposes it with the now vicious reporting on his opponent John McCain, and goes on to predict how the two Party conventions will be covered.



07/03/2008 09:41 AM
Where Will You Be This Fourth?


07/03/2008 08:54 AM
Open Thread

For general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: When will Democrats heed America's call for more American energy?

Poll after poll shows strong support for more energy production here in the United States in order to help lower gas prices. We have vast resources that can be explored in an environmentally-safe way in Alaska, the Rockies, and far off our coasts. And the American people overwhelmingly favor doing just that. Even self-described liberals, according to a Pew Research Center poll released earlier this week, are now moving in the direction of more American energy. But the Democrats in charge of Congress are turning a deaf ear to these calls. While even a growing number of liberals now recognize the need for unlocking America’s natural energy resources, Democratic leaders are proving themselves to be to the Left of the Left. Indeed, Speaker Pelosi and her allies have been worshipping at the altar of radical environmentalism since well before I [Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Oh.)] got to Congress back in 1991. Since then, the Speaker and I have had the opportunity to cast 46 votes to increase the production of American energy. I was proud to cast the “pro-energy” vote all 46 times. The Speaker, in contrast, did so all of two times.

Thoughts?



07/03/2008 08:20 AM
Television Sets Cause Global Warming

You can add another thing to the growing list of causes of global warming: television sets.

I kid you not.

Frankly, I think the climate alarmists are going too far with this one, for a nation hooked on TV doesn't seem likely to change its viewing habits to save the planet.

Of course, I could be wrong about how folks will respond to what the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported Thursday (emphasis added):

The gas, widely used in the manufacture of flat screen TVs, is estimated to be 17,000 times as powerful as carbon dioxide.

Ironically, NF3 is not covered by the Kyoto protocol as it was only produced in tiny amounts when the treaty was signed in 1997.

Levels of this gas in the atmosphere have not been measured, but scientists say it is a concern and are calling for it to be included in any future emissions cutting agreement.

Turn off the TV, the party's over!

*****Update: My colleague Jeff Poor has found the actual study cited in this report. Also, he accurately points out that one of the study's authors is a proud member of the UN's infamous IPCC.



07/03/2008 07:35 AM
Aaron Brown: I Wasn't Opinionated Enough for Cable News

Former ABC and CNN anchor Aaron Brown granted an interview to TV Guide about his new gig as host of the PBS foreign-affairs chronicle Wide Angle. He told them today's journalism students were cynical because they saw "journalism failing" before the Iraq war. Brown declared that the cable-news business wasn't for him, because it was based on "big broad opinion guys" -- as if Aaron Brown wasn't a liberal crusader?

Brown, who teaches journalism at Arizona State University, said today's students don't know much about television history and don't have enough respect for his TV news icons, like the late Peter Jennings:

Their view of the business is very broad. They see it all as "the business," as everything from the Travel Channel to ABC. I saw the business when I was their age as the networks and local TV. Their view of television is much broader. They are also incredibly cynical. A lot of that has to do with the Iraq war. They just saw journalism failing.

TV Guide suggested to Brown "The cable news business sort of shifted under your feet in the years you were in it. You were hired as a guy who could report and anchor live for hours, but the business became more about personalities." Brown agreed:

Fox found its audience and the business was redefined as a business that loved or needed big broad opinionated personalities. When you look at what's successful on cable, that's what it is. Whether its Keith Olbermann, or Lou Dobbs or Bill O'Reilly or Sean Hannity, they tend to be big broad opinion guys. I was a news anchor of a different time. The people that I admired and taught me my craft were very traditional news anchors. Peter Jennings was the best news anchor ever born, not withstanding, he was a traditional news anchor.

It's certainly true that Brown sought to anchor in the mantle of Jennings, but both were liberal sermonizers. Let's go back to our MediaWatch newsletter and the earliest days of the Contract with America in 1995:

With Congress debating the Contract with America, ABC attacked its premise, citing voters as the problem -- for not realizing how many government benefits they receive.

On the January 5, 1995 World News Tonight, Aaron Brown reported from "Knox County, Tennessee...In November, it voted Republican, 2-1. Then and now, it likes the message of smaller government." After quoting residents unhappy with taxes and spending, he opined: "That's a pretty common complaint around here... It is also dead wrong. In fact, Knox County gets back much more from the federal government than its residents pay in." He castigated voter hypocrisy: "When people in Knox County talk of smaller government and less spending, they may mean it, they probably do. But do they want to lose this bus? Or this highway? Or this tunnel? Do they want to lose this lab? This cop? This teacher? Do they really want to make that choice at all?"

Yeah, right, Brown's no "big broad opinion guy." Brent Baker has more recent examples here.