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March 5, 2000 -- WASHINGTON -- We took a very brief look at the pundit shows this weekend. Topic one -- McCain is doomed. Topic two: Bradley is doomed. Topic three: those Bush ads in New York.
Fox Noise Sunday
Tony Snow gave the first guest, Governor George Pataki, free rein to bash GOP presidential candidate, slamming McCain on education and "Catholic Voter Alert" phone calls that Pataki practically blamed McCain for making himself as e expressed "outrage as a Catholic... injecting religion is a horrible mistake!" Pataki also talked about a "warm" phone call between George W. Bush and New York Cardinal John O'Connor. Pataki was particularly disingenuous when he essentially claimed that McCain was not a uniter and Bush was -- when McCain is the GOPer with real crossover appeal! Pataki's appearance was another unpaid FNS political spot for George W. Bush -- one just as dishonest as the attack ads fired against McCain on clean air and breast cancer. Tony also "asked" Pataki whether McCain's conduct ruled him out as a VP and whether "he should drop out" if he does not do well on Super Tuesday.
The next two guests: California Rep. David Dreyer and and California Secretary of State Bill Jones. Tony asked Jones why he switched endorsements from Bush to McCain -- and Jones fired away ad ads that "distort McCain's position" from "people close to the Bush campaign." The thrust of Tony's questioning presupposed that McCain's popularity is plummeting. Tony also asked Jones whether McCain had signed a pledge that he would not challenge California delegates if he wins the California popular vote but Bush wins the GOP tally -- and Jones warned it would not be a good idea not to encourage crossover voters.
Dreyer said "the real target is Al Gore." The message: the Bush team wants the public to think McCain is a minor irritation and the final tally predetermined.
"When I cam out of New Hampshire, they called me everything and a fascist!" That was a punch line from Pat Buchanan -- to whom Tony and Brit Hume gave about twelve minutes to act relevant. we ignored the man.
The primary topic of the panel segment: making as much as they could of McCain's characterization of Pat Robertson as "evil," using Star Wars metaphors. Naturally, Fred "The Weasel" Barnes called McCain Darth Vader and said Jerry Falwell was not evil. Mort Kondracke said that McCain backed off the rhetoric when it did not work in Washington; Hume called it "a desperate" tactic "that failed" and was the beginning of the end for McCain. Mara Liasson said McCian "shoots from the lip." Juan Williams said that McCain wants to open up the GOP to people who abide by the Robertson-Falwell agenda. The unspoken verdict: McCain is toast, and most of the panel seems glad (except for Juan, who likes McCain's big tent initiative, and Tony, who may have to start kicking Gore around instead0..
The Pope John McLaugh-In Group
Issue one: McCain's referring to leaders of the Christian Right as evil. There was the usual blather from the usual panel. McLaugh-In made the point that religious conservatives take attacks on their leaders personally. Tony Blankley claimed that McCain was trying to paint Bush an anti-Catholic bigot. Eleanor Clift said that Bush's campaign team were misrepresenting McCain's views and statements.
There were some Super Tuesday predictions on the GOP side; Jim Warren called McCain a "goner." The entire panel predicted that Bush would get somewhere around 75% of the delegates on Tuesday.
The next segment was a red-baiting, China-bashing fest centered around increased tensions between China and Taiwan -- no doubt to drive the public to demand a hike in defense spending so that McLaugh-In sponsor GE can make overpriced antimissile toys that might work with a little luck.
Eat the Press
We caught the first segment of Eat the Press -- John McCain was Tim Russert's guest. Tim led with the Reuters poll showing Bush ahead in key states. He was surprisingly easy on McCain at the beginning of the show, asking "realistically" what it would take for McCain to win big on Super Tuesday, and whethe it's over if he only wins Massachusetts and Connecticut. McCain wisely brought up electability.
Then Tim turned to negative campaigning for over fifteen minutes. He played two attack ads by Bush allies -- one claiming McCain "opposes many issues for women's health" -- but they're the ones tacked onto large "pork" bills. McCain's reply: "She's right. America deserves better than what's coming out of the Bush campaign." He then destroyed the ad's thesis he did support women's health -- and attacked "earmarking," a technique by which small initiatives are tacked onto unrelated spending bills. Tim then got a laugh from McCain as he played the fake "Republicans for Clean Air." McCain laughed again at the end of the commercial and said "Oh, really?" he talked about the terrible record of air pollution in Texas, then targetes the people behind the ads: "here's two Bush cronies... $2.5 million dollars... we now trace to the Wiley Brothers." McCain attacked the attackers themselves and essentially said that the Bush campaign was in on the ads. McCain then pointed out that in Washington, McCain is being attacked for being pro-environment in Washington radio ads!
It was priceless McCain, stripping the clothes from Emperor "Clean Air."
Tim asked if Bush was running an honorable campaign -- and McCain, in so many words, that he was not, and would be ashamed of running the sort of campaign Bush was running. He also expressed some skepticism about running as VP on a Bush ticket, saying that the Veep essentially checks on the President's health and attends state funerals -- duties he does not find enjoyable.
Then Tim attacked McCain: "You said Bush twists the truth like Clinton." Tim said it in his most pointed, animated manner -- he just couldn't resist bashing ol' Bill. McCain said that Bush has to change his approach to politics. Tim then attacked McCain for having Southern Partisan neo-confederate Richard Quinn on his campaign staff.
Of course, McCain had no problem defusing Tim's attacks -- he actually looked as if he enjoyed it.
Tim played the taped anti-Bush "Catholic Voter Alert" phone call. McCain ballsily defended the content of the call. Tim then tried to nail McCain about his knowledge of the calls, recounting the chronology of denials from his campaign. McCain defused this bomb by saying the Bush claims were false -- he paid for no calls saying Bush was an "anti-Catholic bigot," which is what the Bush campaign accused McCain of doing.
We tuned back in as Tim welcomed Bill Bradley -- then immediately started asking him about Maria Hsia, convicted of campaign finance law violations this week in what Tim loves to call the "Gore Buddhist temple fundraiser." Tim then started with similar velvet gloves questions -- then asked about the scenario: "You get a call in the Oval Office -- China has invaded Taiwan." What's going on here? Is GE requiring "its" pundit shows to plug this scenario? Bradley said that if he were president that scenario would not happen. When Tim brought up inflammatory statements from Beijing, Bradley surprised Tim by saying that he would call Taiwan and remind them that there is a one China policy! He accused the GOP of politicizing the issue -- and implied that the GOP is undermining "One China." Tim brought up normalized trade with China during the current war of words -- and Bradley said he cannot understand why China went with the trade agreement because it will open up China.
We'll tell you, Bill -- it's because the military-tied entrepreneurs have tossed Mao's Little Red Book in favor of Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal Asian Edition.
Tim also did the red scare two-step with the issue of "former KGB agent" Vladimir Putin, now top dog in Russia. Bradley said America has not been aggressive enough about containing nuclear materials.
Not much later, Tim said that Bradley had "embraced Al Sharpton," then read a litany of his most outrageous comments -- many taken out of context. Bradley said he had not "embraced" Sharpton. "Why not confront Sharpton's views in front of his own people?" Bradley said Sharpton is mellowing -- and was a little critical of Sharpton. Tim then tried to contrast "Sharpton and Farrakhan on the left" with Falwell and Robertson on the right.
Farrakhan -- on the left? The man is a social conservative and has castigated Jews most of his career. Were he white, he sounds like he'd be right at home at Bob Jones University. Tim was parroting the GOP line -- as usual -- and looking the fool.
Line of the Week
Overheard on CNN's Reliable Sources -- Frank Rich of The New York Times recounted the video footage of Bush Jr. on the stage at Bob Jones University embracing Jones Double Junior -- a clip that was played over and over on news cable stations and network evening news shows. Rich called it a "Monica-Lewinsky-rope-line moment."