MEDIA WATCH MEMORIES 2001, PART 2

http://www.buzzflash.com/mediawatch/2001/12/Roundup_Pt_2.html

PART II: MAY - SEPTEMBER 2001

1) May 1 Edition

Later, I caught part of Letterman's monologue, which apparently was only the prelude to a Top Ten List that focused on Al Gore's weight. I read the list on line, which is a good thing, because after hearing Letterman's monologue, I would have kicked in the TV screen if I had stayed for the Top Ten List. Letterman, who just weeks before had been a guest at Al's college class, stood there and said that Al had gained 40 pounds and "his ass is so big it hides the quad. Unlike Clinton, he's worried about getting into his OWN pants."

Things were no better on The Tonight Show, as Leno decided to go after Bill. Guess it must have been a slow night. He showed a clip of a girl named Brandy thanking people, with cuts to a clip of Bill with a twinkle in his eye and a mischievous look. At least Bill looked alive, in contrast to the Smirk's usual vacant stare...Although we really didn't get a chance to see Smirk's face at that reading down in Texas which he called "fantastic" and which was full of sexual descriptions...

2) May 4 Edition

On Brian Williams on CNBC I caught a panel which included Laurence O'Donnell, Jim Warren of the Chicago Tribune, and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson. Williams asked if Bush was getting a free ride. Jim Warren said the press was being "unduly respectful" of Bush, partly because of the brilliant discipline, wanting access, and the "fatigue of the last few weeks of Clinton's administration." O'Donnell said that reporters would love to find a chink in the machine being run by Andrew card and "if there was a negative story, they would write it." Hutchinson, of course, said that she hoped the press would realize that they "didn't have to be negative." Ugh! Even Jim Warren had to drag in Clinton. My question: What does Clinton have to do with what Bush is doing?? Why are reporters so "fatigued" when it was they who were so obsessed with signing onto to GOP smears? And what is this nonsense about there being no "negative" stories to be found?? How about the entire Florida election? How about the stupid flip-flops with regard to China, including the latest by Rumsfeld? How about the quid pro quo's of Mitch McConnell and his wife? And the links to Enron and the California energy price hikes and "crisis?" How come I can find all these negatives to talk about and the so-called professional journalists can't get beyond how "funny" Bush's jokes are?

3) May 11 Edition

Then Howard Fineman materialized. Matthews was all hot about energy. Fineman said that before the Inauguration, a "wish list found its way to the Interior Department and Dick Cheney's Energy Task Force." The list was from mining, oil, and gas reps. They met with Cheney in January and at the time there wasn't any energy plan. Matthews asked if Bush et al are "trying to go real right then adjust it." Fineman said the "political handlers at the White House know they have to put a lot of parsley around the smell--it's not the core of their philosophy, but politically they know they have to do something." So, according to Fineman, I guess the GOP dislikes parsley? :)

4) May 29 Edition

Geraldo wasn't on, but apparently tomorrow he will be delving into "The Gold Club" the most profitable strip club in the nation. This is what the guy who delivered the goods during all the Clinton scandals and defended him to the end is reduced to? Who's passing out the story assignments--Jack Welch himself??

5) June 1 Edition

On to Jenna! Jane Parshall said it would get a lot of attention because she's the President's kid, but like all parents, the Bushes are "wounded" and they would take care of it behind closed doors like any family. Question: How many times has this been "taken care of" behind closed doors?? Katrina Vanden Heuvel said while it is cheap to make political points over this type of incident, she did say that if it had been a Clinton family member, the press would have been all over it and also said that it shows how Bush had glossed over his own past and that he fails to see it as a health issue that should be addressed...in other word, there is a double standard--the way he was treated versus his lack of compassion for others with similar problems. Parshall said it was unfair to assume it was a "cry for help." Then Matthews said that maybe the problem was that 21 was an unrealistic drinking age since everybody drinks at 18 and he said he had the exactly the same problem when he was young!! Which explains why he is brain dead today!! And also sounds like a way to "enable" the behavior of Bush's kids...and Bush himself!

6) June 8 Edition

Hardball revisited--Matthews had mentioned in his opening that he would be discussing the Civil Rights Commission report by sneering "For what it's worth--...or is it another political smear?" Rep. Corrine Brown (D-FL) faced off against Rep. Mark Foley (R) and she was LOUD! She called what happened "a dereliction of duty in the face of increased voter turnout. "There's no question in my mind--the election was STOLEN in Duval County...The Supervisor for the state did not spend a dime on voter education, but we spent $4 million purging 'felons,' some who had never been arrested...They knew people were being taken off the rolls...The company told them--they did not CARE that thousands of black voters were disenfranchised..." Foley said that there wasn't any racism and Corrine broke in to say "I didn't say racism--I said they were involved in stealing the election--Motor Voter is directly under the governor."…Corrine wouldn't be sidetracked by the little weasel, and she answered, "The point is--it's the governor's responsibility to oversee the election."

7) June 12 Edition

The News Hour (PBS)--I caught the Mark Shields/Paul Gigot discussion about the alleged "vandalism" story…Then Jim Lehrer descended even lower down the evolutionary scale. He said he had mentioned the original vandalism story "as a given and it hasn't been mentioned since. It's a caution light for all of us." Better late than never, right Jim?? Shields interjected: "To this day, we don't have a name" of anyone who reported anything. Then the unctuous Gigot offered that "We formed a stereotype in the early days of the Clinton Administration in our minds of the White House as a fraternity house, partly with good reason, and we overplayed the story." To the bitter end, these so-called analysts can't take responsibility for erroneous reporting and want to turn everything back on the "victim." Typical.

8) June 19 Edition

O'Reilly -- Jerry Nadler (D-NY) described the push to privatize Social Security as "a disaster." He said there is no problem with Social Security as it is now structured and in 15 years it will be using reserves that were built up precisely for that purpose. Rob Portman (R-OH) said there was a demographics crunch. Nadler countered that if you make the assumption of growth for 1.3% then it will run out in 38 years, not 16 years and privatizing won't help that at all. Also, if you take into account that Social Security pays current recipients, then Social Security is earning about 7% and if you applied the same conditions to the stock market, it's returns would be down to the same level as Social Security has--2.2%.

9) June 21 Edition

Larry King-Guest Jon Stewart (The Daily Show) totally bamboozled Larry. Larry asked about Bush in Europe and Jon answered, "WOW! The first thing he's going to get is one of those drinking fountains he saw in the bathroom…" Larry couldn't tell whether Jon was kidding or not! "So, he did well!" exclaimed Larry. "He did TERRIBLE," Jon shouted. "He's a uniter not a divider. He did unite them-This is a continent that can't unite on currency…He got SWEDEN angry! Now they can't stand us! I like my Presidents to have more travel experience than the average college senior!" He did a great bit on SDI, describing the lasers, and satellite positions, and how complicated it is versus the Bush policy on energy: "The one is very imagineering---energy? Well, we can dig a hole in the ground!" Jon described election night as "a magical night" since they had written for either as winner and wound up running out of jokes when it was indecisive. He said Bush "plays that whole Texas twang, regular guy-who's father was President-He's affirmative action-he's a quota--- (representing a) legacy."

10) July 7 Edition

Hardball-A "different kind of Hardball" with Mike Barnicle "interviewing" Chris Matthews. It was SOOOOO CUTE!! Barnicle led off by saying cartoonists are picturing Bush as smaller and smaller, and Matthews wondered if we had a "disappearing President." Matthews said Clinton was "obnoxious" about always being out and always "showing up" but thinks Bush has "faded" too soon and he should meet people in the suburbs and on college campuses. Does Chris mean Bob Jones University when he refers to "college campuses?" Matthews also revealed that he hopes Bush succeeds just so he can stuff it to the "elitists." For some reason, Matthews seems to believe Bush is an average Joe because he can't speak English but conveniently forgets the money and family ties that have gotten him where he is today. I guess in Matthews' world, elitists are those who actually have some brains. Or, he is acting out his inferiority complex over his working class roots a la Peggy Noonan.

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C-Span-I caught a rerun of Bill Clinton's speech at the Professional Performing Arts school commencement ceremony. Bill recounted how moved he was by the letter he received and told how he loved the arts. He related how he sang when he was young, but how at puberty his vocal range went "from 3 octaves to 3 notes." His message was that while finding their individuality through the arts, the students had to remember that it was interconnected to the "common humanity" found in all people. Boy, do I miss this guy…

11) July 10 Edition

CBS Radio Morning News-Imagine waking up to hear a cheery reporter delivering the news that president Bush finds it "amazing" that the Presidency is not a 9-5 job and actually follows the president around on the weekends!! Just finding out after how many months on the job?? Is this is how Poppy ran the White House? Isn't this weird??

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C-Span-I caught a tape of a 6/24 Democratic Action Rally in L.A. thrown by the Southern California Americans for Democratic Action. Standing in front of a banner reading "Wake up Democrats," Rob Reiner described the selection and called it a "tragedy." Reiner reminded the crowd that Gore won the election by 600,000 votes AND the electoral vote. Then he addressed his "Nader friends," saying that it was the most "disingenuous thing to say, that Ralph Nader, who claimed to tell the truth, told the biggest lie of the campaign-that there is no difference between Bush and Gore-and we're seeing the effects now. Reiner described how for 7 years he has worked to help children get a good start in life, cited studies about the benefits of helping children in early childhood, and then shouted, "Every single effort we've made has been killed by the Republicans-Gore had set aside $50 million for early childhood intervention." Then he said, "We have to rally the troops-otherwise, we'll be here a year from now with no right to complain."

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Hardball-Chris Matthews was there with Tom Squitieri of USA Today, Former Rep. McCollum (forget his first name, but he was a Repug), that reporter O'Donnell, and a quote from Sally Quinn, not exactly Snow White herself. Topic? Condit. Reaction: Wanted to take a heavy lamp to Matthews' hysterical head. Verdict: Tune out. I refused to even go near O'Reilly on FOX. I watched the end of a movie with a big dog that played football.

12) July 13 Edition

Brian Williams MSNBC--On the Salvation Army flap, Williams said, "It was the President trying to get around the law." An ACLU rep was incensed because Bush was making the Federal Government "an agent in promoting discrimination-that's not what the Federal Government should be about." But this is the Bush Administration-where all the rules have changed! Howard Fineman said that Bush had "miscalculated"-much too polite Howard!!

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The Daily Show-"After visiting 34 states and half of Europe including Slovenia," began Jon Stewart, "Bush finally visited a place well known by his grandfather - where he picked up some indentured servants." Jon showed the clip of Bush messing up the pledge of allegiance. "At this point, Maria, a new Guatemalan citizen, informed Bush that he had missed "questions 1 & 2 on the citizenship test. Then Jon said, "Did you see the people behind him-they looked like the wanted to get back on the boat and leave!!"

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PBS/The News with Jim Lehrer-Carl Gottleib from the Project for Excellence in Journalism was on to discuss problems with journalism. Wolf Blitzer, of all people, was one of the panel, trying to make himself even more serious for PBS. Blitzer quoted the Maureen Dowd column about the Condit story being as important as things like the Patients' Bill of Rights and how the role of the press is "to force the truth." Gottleib said that the Condit coverage has "cleared the bar" and he said the saturation coverage alienates viewers and eats at the credibility of journalism.… How about when they get the facts about Bush hidden from them and just get "happy news" about the election fraud?? Phil Bronstein of the San Francisco Chronicle (and Sharon Stone's husband) said that the public is "not stupid" and the press always responds to the public. Err, that seems to be the problem, Phil-the public wants dumbed down news and that's what you're giving them!! It was all a bunch of pompous people, stroking each other-Gottleib was playing nice, but it looked to me like he thought they were all full of it!!

13) July 17 Edition

Reliable Sources-Howie Kurtz was joined by Michael Isikoff, Bernard Kalb, and someone else on the panel. Molly Ivins was the featured guest. On the Levy case, she said the media obsession would ultimately contribute to "the long slide. The subject switched to politics. Molly Ivins gave the press a "D" for covering Bush. She likened the Washington press corps to a "hen yard"-cluck, cluck, cluck. Everybody says what everybody else says."… "It's not-what you're not covering…and sins of omission are always a sin for journalists (sic) but what is covered is sloppy and there will be trouble at the other end. She cited the "$300 tax cut-40% won't be getting it. In the black and brown community, word is getting around that telemarketers are on the phone offering loans against the tax cut at 1,000% interest." Howie Kurtz thanked her for her "Texas reality check." Then he mumbled something about "doing the same thing," which I interpreted as the Washington media blowing off the reality check.

During the Back Page segment, Kalb commented on the Bush trip to NY. He said "if Bush saw it as doing good works, the media saw it as naked politics." Kalb said it's the media's job to see through the photo ops. Bernard, I know that-why don't you tell your media buddies??

14) July 27 Edition

Greenfield at Large-What a scary show!! Bill Baldwin, editor of Forbes Magazine, said "the smaller the surplus, the less likelihood it will be spent-it should be spent on something like missile defense." Baldwin looks crazed. Matt Miller, a columnist as well as the host of "Left, Right, & Center" said, "Bush is moving spending down RADICALLY-more than even traditional conservative notions which make spending in missile defense and healthcare difficult. James Surowiecki of the New Yorker said, "If we go into deficit spending again long term, it won't be good for interest rates."

Baldwin returned, "Deficits are great-you have Treasury bonds, you're money is safe. There are no Treasury bonds without defense." But wait-I thought we were all supposed to want Social Security to ditch bonds and gamble in the market???

Miller said it best: "Bill Clinton's surplus-the goal was to make it safe for government to be able to think big, so government could get its house in order and spend on needed programs. The amazing thing about Bush is that without the popular vote, he got a tax cut that eliminates the chance to do things with the surplus. How our ambitions have shrunk ever as we got out of the sea of red ink. George Bush's father put out a health plan as big as Bill Bradley's-Bush's is a fraction of it." On Social Security: "The worry is that in 2010 and very soon after, when 76 million baby boomers hit their rocking chairs, the cost of benefits and healthcare costs will go through the roof." Surowiecki-"It makes you wonder why we're giving away the surplus." Miller-It's going to be that much harder 10 years from now once boomers retire-to get progressive things done now, like covering the uninsured." General consensus-Means testing, folks.

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The Daily Show-U.S. vs. Them-Bush, taking a "courageous stand against the forces of Big Climate."

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CBS Radio-this A.M., I heard a brief mention of how Bush will ignore the biological weapons agreement, because it works against "the interests of the country AND…business interests." I nearly fell out of bed-I wanted to hear more about these "business interests." Everything this Administration does is solely in the interest of business, isn't it? Odds are we will never get any story on the mysterious "business interests."

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Michael Savage-One of the most hateful personalities on the radio is Michael Savage. Today, he mused, "Isn't it strange that only Democrats have sex scandals?" I was so damned mad I dashed off an email explaining how that was because the corporate media refused to air any of the GOP's dirty laundry and attached a copy of the "GOP Hypocrisy Hall of Fame" which lists about 15 GOP biggies and their various transgressions. I added on Tim Hutchinson for good measure… Guess what? The e-mail on his home station's website bounced…

15) July 31 Edition

CNN Headline News-Tipped off by the Mike Malloy Show, I tuned in to see a segment called "Cutting Loose" which showed our esteemed Secretary of State Colin Powell rolling around on the floor of a stage singing "El Paso" at the Asia Pacific Summit with his "Japanese counterpart" (a woman) playfully slapping him and then flopping down on top of him. I didn't see FOX pushing this display of the Bush Administration's "dignity."

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Tim Russert-Guests were James Carville and Michael Murphy, McCain's campaign manager. Carville said, "We're busted and distrusted" as far as Bush's first six months go, calling Smirk "arrogant and isolationist." Carville on the tax cut: "Over 2 trillion dollars in 10 years, phony bologna accounting. The military is befuddled because they don't have the money. They can't rebuild the military because they can't pay for it. The most egregious part of the cut is going to the top 1% in the future. We don't have to live with it. This man has broken more campaign promises than President Clinton did in 8 years. His word is 1/16 as good as President Clinton's."

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C-SPAN guest Paul Gigot: An irritated caller accused the C-SPAN hosts of bias, saying that they would criticize some guests who made critical comments, and gave others guest softball questions. With Gigot, it was definitely "Softball Question Day." Another caller asked Gigot if he could honestly say that there wasn't an effort to suppress the minority vote in Florida and if the shrillness of the WSJ would change and mentioned Vince Foster. Gigot said there "wasn't any systematic attempt" to minimize the vote; in terms of the shrill tone of the editorial page, he said they did it DELIBERATELY to have an impact-he said they felt terrible about Vince Foster, but thought what they wrote was "pretty mild." So, it's definite that the WSJ will continue to have, what Gigot calls, "an edge." You are warned-but, face it, this is the guy who approved of the GOP thugs closing down the vote counting office in Florida, so there's no surprise there.

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FOX, CNN-both covered Bill's speech (Harlem). CNN's preview coverage mentioned the $800,000 first choice office and the fact that there was a protest. But Joe Lockhart said that sometimes first choices aren't the best and look at how happy Bill is to be in Harlem. Fact is, Bill looks absolutely incredible-about 10 years younger than when he was in office! The CNN anchors, Lou Waters and Natalie Whoever ? commented that Joe Lockhart and Bill a looked a lot more relaxed than during the scandals. Duh! While waiting for the speech, FOX was doing its continuous Chandra/Condit coverage.

16) August 3 Edition

Hardball-Matthews started with Condit, but moved on to the Patients' Bill of Rights featuring Dick Armey. Armey called the Patients' Bill of Rights one of the "most heartwarming" things of the week and said the GOP always held "the patients…first in their hearts." Barf! Give me a break!!! Matthews, citing some unnamed poll, said Bush was 4 points up, Congress was 10 points down, and Bush was doing well on leadership, a little bit down on energy, and Armey said Bush was doing well because he is a "straight-shooting guy."

…Matthews asked why the negativity against Bush in the media isn't working. He mentioned the "simian" representation of Bush and how Bush is getting smaller and smaller in cartoons. Armey said that the negativity wasn't working because people were excited because Bush didn't hang with the "Eastern mucky mucks" and was honest, especially after eight years of "slickness." Matthews just fawned all over Armey and never contested one statement, not one. Which just goes to show that, contrary to what Chris says, there really isn't any negativity toward Bush on most of the radio and talk shows. It's only the cartoonists and comics taking a hard look at Bush.

*Run the Numbers. Seventy-two percent said Bush had too many wealthy people in his administration, and two-thirds thought he was too close to big business. Matthews was going to discuss Bush's successes and weak spots in the polls, but I decided it wasn't worth taking the time to hear the spin.

17) August 7 Edition

Hardball-by far the worst show of the night. Chris Matthews continues to deliver a ratcheted up snideness against Dems, while protecting Bush. Last week he said he was going easy on Bush because he hasn't made up his mind about how he feels about him and was giving him the benefit of the doubt. Believe me, he's made up his mind, even if it's just to smear every Dem in the news. He added a new guest to his panel tonight, a Deborah Orin from the New York Post, which really shows where he's coming from. I caught Matthews, Orin, and Larry O'Donnell, who usually is fairly sane, lambasting the New York Times. Matthews was offended that the Times seemed to be "against" Bush and listed all his accomplishments. Orin agreed, saying that a victory in the House still is a victory, but the Times won't call it that. She then slammed the Clinton White House for running 24-hours a day, while "Bush seems to be getting things done in a normal day." She positively glowed as she said that Bush wants to spend time with his WIFE and Matthews said Bush liked down-home types and wasn't into hanging out with the powerful in Washington. What a load of manure!! Note to Orin on the "normal day": It takes more time and effort to correct 12 years of Republican destruction than for a guy like Bush to destroy 8 years of hard-won accomplishment. Hey, in 6 months he's already got us messing with the Medicare trust fund!! Great accomplishment, right Deborah???

…It was on to Al Gore. Right from the beginning, Matthews sneered at Gore, mockingly describing his resurfacing as a "jaunty stage persona, is this beard for foreign consumption only." O'Donnell took the bait, saying the beard was "a very conspicuous attempt to bring an image that he's a scholar, like he's really separating himself from politics." Matthews then asked, "Who will be the first reporter to do a smarmy story describing Gore as being "tan, … comfortable in his own skin now." Then Matthews took off on a New York Times editorial saying that if not the party leader, Gore should be an "elder statesman" commenting on issues. Matthews sneered at this, and Orin asked, "Don't you want to see what's on Gore's feet?? Maybe socks and sandals?" O'Donnell joined in the fun by saying that Gore "wants to make it look like he's undergone some existential transformation."

It is now clear to me that Gore will be getting the Clinton treatment from now on. He will be mocked, put down, and sneered at, and turned into a caricature of his true self. The guy went to Europe. He grew a beard. "Existential transformation???" What a load of crap!!

18) August 14 Edition

20/20-I had to force myself to watch bits of the Bush "walk around the ranch" puff piece done by Claire Shipman, who was supposedly booted from another network for being too pro-Gore, but has since apparently learned her lesson and is now spinning for Bush on ABC. "He knows every tree and rock and every passing cow as if he put them there himself." "So this is really a working vacation!" "He seems fully consumed by his duties and not given to introspection." (Is that good or bad, Claire??)

19) August 17 Edition

The Daily Show-Jon Stewart did a huge takeoff of the NEW CNN Headline News. "What a great way of seeing everything without retaining anything," he chided. He showed Andrea Thompson doing a story on a bride being shot at her wedding, cupped his hand to his ear and announced, "Quiet…I'm just being told now…WE'VE HIT ROCK BOTTOM!" Then he said CNN was for everyone who wants their news "fast, informative, and good looking" and showed pics of all the sexy gals and guys on the tube these days, including lots of leg, a FOX specialty.

20) August 21 Edition

…C-SPAN, Daniel Ellsberg… He is not happy with the state of the press today. He recalled how back in 1971 at the time of the Pentagon Papers, the newspapers defied the Attorney General's and President's view that they were violating the law. It was an amazing time in history where "every major paper decided to trust their own judgment and not that of the President." He set the scene: This was a time when "not one government official during the course of the Vietnam War who thought the war was disastrous resigned. Only one Senator read the secret documents into the record, and one Representative made a statement in the House. BUT…BUT…17 newspapers acted in a unified act of disobedience to cover the story of the Pentagon Papers."

21) August 24 Edition

The Daily Show-Jon Stewart did a scathing segment on the Bush Vacation: Lost in America. He showed a clip of Bush signing a burley Harley factory worker's crotch, then moved on to the Middle East. After reporting how Bush refuses to comment after being asked repeatedly about the tensions, up went the graphic with Bush's whining, "Every time I talk to y'all, you ask me about the Middle East!" To which reporters reply, 'Sorry to bother you, MR. PRESIDENT.'" You had to see it-it was very funny! Especially the Bush signature on the crotch…

MSNBC News with Brian Williams-happiest graphic of the night: a goofy picture of Bush in the upper left hand corner, the rest of the screen filled with a chart depicting the falling surplus…big arrow DOWN! To actually see Bush LINKED to something bad happening…what a relief!!

22) August 28 Edition

8/24 Bush Press Conference-- Bush's mouth went into twisting contortions as he was being asked about the disappearance of the surplus outside of Social Security and the fact that the missile defense costs were not included in the budget. That's when he said he would use Social Security funds during economic recession or for war. Bush was "sorry that Mitch Daniels isn't here to lay out our forecasts" when a reporter questioned the 3.2% growth forecasts for 2002 and 2003. Of course, he was sorry because he couldn't answer himself. Instead, he said the tax "rebate" was in place to stimulate the economy and that Congress has to "readjust" its spending attitudes. And then came the best part: "If I'm off by a point or two, then it's up to Congress to reset its sights." He tossed of that "point or two" like it meant nothing!! Crowing about the "fiscal straightjacket" for government, Bush said, "That's great news for Congress!"

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Greenfield at Large--Greenfield ended with a comment on what he saw was the "key" to a second Bush term: the best thing to happen would be if the Dems took over the Congress in 2002. Why? Because the president has someone to blame and historically, that's the way it has worked. How depressing!! If we win, we lose!!!!

23) August 31 Edition

Hannity & Colmes-a new low tonight for the H & C gang!! Of course, most of this mess was devoted to Gary Condit… Hannity proclaimed that "This is a consequence of Clinton and not getting him out of office!!" …Dick Morris showed up, rehashed Clinton, called the "Clinton episode"…"chilling"…"Kathleen Willey-she was the personification of the innocent victim." Don't you love it when Morris comes on to spew?? This time he made a comment that even woke Alan Colmes up-referring to Condit, he said, "If he hadn't committed murder, he couldn't be lying about the affair." Colmes screeched, "That's not fact!!" and Morris spat back, "It's opinion and that's what we do on this show!" Isn't there any way to get this pig out of here?? Where are the defamation laws?????

24) September 11 Edition

FOX News Edge--John Podesta was on with Steve Forbes. Podesta said Bush has to get things on a better fiscal footing, particularly in the out years, with those big tax cuts looming. Forbes said the "villain" was Alan Greenspan for tightening up and now not pumping more money into the economy. He said the tax cut should be moved UP to right NOW! Vesper kept saying it was a "boom-bust cycle" and didn't have anything to do with Bush. Susan Page of USA Today said it's mostly about politics and Vesper said the Dems would look like whiners if they didn't have a plan. Podesta said they had a plan that worked for eight years and Bush has done a U-turn on it that explodes out in later years.

The Daily Show-Thank goodness, they're back! Opening salvo: "Are you employed?? Then you're the only one!!" Jon did a scathing bit on Bush, the economy, and "leadership," showing a clip of Lott, Hastert, Bush, and Cheney marching up to the podium and laughing followed by Bush declaring how worried he is about unemployment. (The sincerity is simply excruciating!) Jon took his head in his hands and said, "We're doomed! Unless Bush has a plan…" which turned out to be "we're going to do something about it." Oops!!

Well, Lehman Brothers is telling Lou Dobbs on the Moneyline rerun that there's going to be another leg down for the economy. So, either Bush comes up with a plan pronto, or we'll have plenty more nights when Jon Stewart says, "WE'RE DOOMED!"

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And that was the last word from MEDIA WATCH as we wrapped up on the night of September 10, 2001….

…Have a DIFFERENT New Year…

Copyright 2001, Gloria R. Lalumia

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