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Contact Information for Pundit String-Pullers CBS 524 W. 57 St. New York, NY 10019 Phone: 212-975-4321 Fax: 212-975-1893 You can also fill out a " Feedback Form" on the CBS website. CBS Evening News staff suggested that faxing or mailing your comments increases the likelihood that they will be read. Westwood One The NewsHour |
Sunday, April 1, 2001 -- NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (APJP) -- The Sunday gasbags spent most of their time fretting over the possibility that their sponsors and owners would be deprived of a few financial vehicles to influence elections -- in other words, campaign finance reform and the impending passage of McCain-Feingold in the senate was at the top of all the pundit shows.
Here's what we caught:
FAUX News Sunday
Tony Snow wants the rich to buy free speech!
We caught the first half of FAUX News Sunday. Tony Snow framed the "debate" over campaign finance reform during the introduction as a "free speech issue."
That was no surprise -- after all, Rupert Murdoch, the owner of FAUX News Channel, would like to buy as much free speech and as many quid-pro-quos as he can!
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Thug) was given an early opportunity by Brit Hume to claim that a ban on soft money would harm the big parties (read: the GOP). "Soft money is -- free speech." McConnell also LIED and said that he's unlikely to be asked by the New York Times to write an opinion piece.
Oh, please -- we think the Sulzbergers will invite him again -- next April Fools' Day.
McConnell pledged that if McCain-Feingold passes, he will go to court and try to destroy it.
By the way, Mitch -- was that money you took from John Huang free speech? Funny how Tony never asked you about that!
Ceci Connelly tried to ask McConnell about the "doubling" of the amount of hard money private citizens would be allowed to contribute under McCain-Feingold -- and McConnell said that indexing of hard money is no substitute for soft money. That got a laugh from us -- right, Mitch, just like methadone is no substitute for real smack! Juan Williams asked if Bush might veto the bill -- and McConnell again threatened to go to court to kill campaign finance.
Swell -- McConnell is going to waste thousands, if not a couple million, of YOUR tax dollars to kill this legislation. Now, some of you will be surprised to learn that we are not too keen on McCain-Feingold -- not for the reasons that McConnell cites, but because once a conduit to contributions is cut off, other ILLEGAL conduits WILL be used -- along with a slew of loopholes. Outright bribery will replace legal mechanisms, especially if soft money is cut off.
Brit Hume seemed astonished that McCain-Feingold is going forward with such "apathy" on the part of most Americans. McConnell lied again, calling the editorial pages of the New York Times and the Washington Post the most powerful special interests in America.
Now that was funny -- because we recall him PRAISING these pages when they were calling for Bill Clinton's hide over the trumped-up horse-hockey concerning a few "hummers" the Big Dog got from one Ms. Lewinsky. McConnell helped foist that fraud on America with the complicity of the Clinton haters at the Times and Post.
Ceci Connelly tried -- but not hard enough -- to say that McConnell is a hypocrite for supporting soft money as free speech and opposing overseas women's health funding (including a small, small handful of abortions, mostly medically necessary).
Should Slobodan Milosevic, the former Yugoslavian dictator that hard-righters like John McLaugh-In seem to love, be handed over to the Hague for trial on war crimes? McConnell said he doubts Slobo will get a fair trial in Serbia -- but McConnell is also cool to international courts
We say extradite Slobo to Viacom Studios in New York for a trial on pay-per-view TV. Have Judge Judy hear the case. She'll get the entire mess straightened out in just under two hours -- leaving enough time for the execution and closing credits!
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) was the second guest -- and Tony spewed a meaningless FAUX O-Spin-ion Dynamics question that "proves" people want long-term tax rate reductions over immediate rebates by more than 3 to 1. Kerry was boosting tax cuts across a wide tax base. Tony lied, saying that both sides of the political fence agree that rate cuts are best. Tony has obviously not seen the Bartcop tax plan.
Kerry said that the Bush Baby Tax Scam will rob from Social Security and Medicare -- and Tony tried putting down Kerry for "throwing out... Democrat talking points." Kerry responded by saying that the robbery is a fact -- and there will be less money to give back to people than Bush claims he can based on GOP-controlled government economic forecast. Kerry added that tax cuts hardly do a thing to stimulate the economy, but interest rate cuts do.
Tony and Kerry debated debt pay-downs -- and Tony turned around and used a GOP talking point: that Kerry prefers spending to tax cuts. Well, DUH, Tony! Spend NOW, then save a bundle when interest rates drop, and take a massive cut to tax rates LATER.
Tony then touched on foreign policy as he played a clip of a stammering Shrub telling Arafat to stop the violence. Kerry said Arafat is not preparing Palestinians for peace -- based on what they are teaching children in schools, including hate and the fostering of violence. Israel needs protection against terrorism -- and slammed Arafat for his violent rhetoric at an international forum following hopeful and even concessionary words by Shimon Peres.
Will Kerry run in 2004? As one would expect, Kerry was coy on the subject -- meaning probably.
This Weak
Should the McVeigh execution be televised? Should This Weak be quietly euthanized?
We caught the second half of This Weak -- which began with the question: should the Tim McVeigh execution be televised? George Stephanopoulos narrated an extended piece that touched on a number of the issues: death penalty opponents including Phil Donahue who feel that it should be televised to show how inhuman and inhumane the process of electrocution is, and another advocate who said that a desensitized viewership would look at it as just more reality TV.
Then the round table chimed in -- "Staph" said that TV news units are reluctant to entertain this debate, and that there may well be a closed-circuit broadcast for families of Murrah Building victims. Will said that televising the execution would undermine the "solemnity" of the occasion. Linda Douglass said that "this is something where our government has told us that we can't handle it." George Stephanopoulos said that he feels the government has no right to censor executions on content -- but how do you do it? A late-night execution? Sam Donaldson called it a national issue -- and George Will, ever the trivia nut, said the last public execution took place in 1936.
Hey -- our Slobodan solution could apply to this mess! Make McVeigh's execution a cable/satellite pay-per-view event. Get Vince "WWF" McMahon to produce it, thereby not only guaranteeing that it would not be reality television but also insuring a maximum of tawdriness, exploitation, trailer trash appeal, and overall disgust over capital punishment along with record-breaking ratings. Give all the proceeds to the families of McVeigh's victims.
The panel then turned to campaign finance reform -- Douglass said the it will pass the Senate by a pretty substantial margin, and that Democrats stuck together. Staph said that Smirking George was attempting to splinter Dems -- but failed. He added that the hard-money changes help the GOP. George Will was in line with most Federalist hard-righters, calling it a first amendment issue. Sam mentioned the Wellstone amendment; Douglass said that the limits on advocacy groups in that amendment would likely not pass judicial muster. The insane Will said that Bush Baby says what he means and means what he says. Will was referring to campaign reform -- but we know most viewers were thinking of any number of verbal gaffes by Snippy indicative of a learning disorder, too much boozing and drug use, or both.
Sam brought up the House budget resolution -- which he said is tough to back off of. Staph thinks it will pass, Douglass said she thinks that Cheney will cast a tie-breaking vote for the Senate version -- but just where are budget cuts going to be made? In child abuse programs or financing of more local policemen? Staph said that forecasts indicate that back-loading of the tax cuts will lead to a Reaganomic-style deficit and economic slump. Will fretted about the economy and a "trivial" Democratic tax cut.
Sam turned to the notorious case of a woman killed by attack dogs in San Francisco -- and seemed incredulous that the dog owners got 15 years to life. George "Staph" said that Sam had not been on the jury, and Douglass said something confusing about the intent of the dog owners. Will actually was sympathetic to the victim -- saying that the dog owners were "malignant." Sam seemed upset that they were being punished for being "mean people."
Good grief. We say the redneck attack dog owners had it coming.
The McLaugh-In Group
John's encounter group in lock-step with the right wing
Issue one: McCain's triumph! John actually saluted McCain -- and played a clip of our loopy, bogus POTUS talking about the bill but signifying nothing. John seemed to be bullish on the doubling of the personal hard money limit. John made much of Sen. Wellstone's amendment to stop nonprofit organizations from running political ads 60 days before an election -- as a judicial spoiler. Will it pass? Michael Barone, in line with Mitch McConnell, said that editorial rooms in New York, Boston and Washington were the big proponents of the bill.
Were Mike and Mitch asked to say that by Jim Gilmore and the RNC? You be the judge...
Eleanor said that McCain gets the big triumph in Smirk's first 100 days... while Bush Baby looks passive on a range of issues. Tony Blankley said that DeLay may throw a monkey wrench into the works -- and that "first amendment rights" are being infringed.
That's the THIRD right-winger to make this a "speech" issue this weekend. Talk about lock-step...
Also note that on McLaugh-In, Tony Blankley is billed as a writer for the Washing-Moon Times, the paper owned by arch-conservative fake Messiah and Bush buddy Sun Myung Moon.
Larry Kudlow said McCain-Feingold stomps out the rights of a minority: rich white guys. Clarence Page seems to like that. Will it be struck down in the courts? Larry said yes. Will Bush sign a bill if it is substantially as is? Eleanor said he's boxed in -- yes. Tony said, "Yeah (grumble), he'll sign it" but forecast court problems. John tried to say that Democrats are in a box too -- over the hard money cap. John said that some are taking perverse pleasure in Dems now fearing campaign finance reform. Tony said, "They've pushed the campaign and they lost!" John said that people on the Hill don't want it -- and bellowed in his best vintage McLaugh-In style, "it's a cha-RAAAADE!" Page said that they're scared that it's embraced by the public. Screaming ensued. And then we heard this hilarious, politically incorrect comment from Clarence:
John: "Coming up after the message -- is it okay to give blacks, Hispanics and native Americans preference in college applications?"
Clarence Page: "Especially me!"
Hey Clarence -- you've been slumming with McLaugh-In for too long!
Issue two: hostile takeover! Economy in trouble! Markets down! But Smirk "seems to be right" that then American economy is "fundamentally strong." So why has he been bad-mouthing and LYING about the economy, John? And Smirk admitted that Daschle has supported tax cuts. John's question: is this a hostile takeover of the issue by Democrats? Eleanor said that most people see the rich get a big, big payoff. So is the $300 rebate a good idea? Supply-sider Kudlow said no -- the slowdown is not a consumer slowdown (that's a lie) but a market shakeup -- so we need lots of tax cuts for those rich market investors. Tony and Eleanor argued over Bush Daddy and poll data that shows taxes to be a "major issue."
Ha, ha, ha -- most people have bigger issues they want dealt with than His Illegitimacy's phony tax cuts.
Is it too late for Bush to recapture the tax issue? We heard a unanimous "no" from the panel.
Issue three: one Judge Friedman rules against "preferential quotas" at the University of Michigan law school -- but UM will appeal. Page said he was not surprised by the decision -- and that the Bakke decision said that race could be ONE of MANY factors, while Friedman's decision was based on a different argument. John slammed the "philosophy" behind affirmative action, giving Kudlow and Tony a chance to fire back with typical right-wing boilerplate. Eleanor raised an interesting issue -- that Friedman also slammed admissions offices favoring the offspring of alumni. Gee -- you mean like the Bush Klan at Yale?
For once, a few good predictions:
Larry: George Bush's "tax-cutting budget" will pass the Senate ( well, no duuuh)
Eleanor: "Thanks to lobbying by Queen Noor." Congress will cough up more money to defuse land mines around the world
Tony: a surprising prediction -- Snippy will deny the sale of Aegis-class destroyers to Taiwan (what'll Freak Republic think?)
Clarence: Smirk's environmental stumbles will be his "gays in the military" setback (worse than that, we say, in that it will impact internationally)
John said "[t]he hunt for loopholes in the new campaign finance bill will be so successful that reform will be practically neutralized."
Defeat the Press
Tim jump-starts Cold War, tries to put McCain on the spot
We caught the first half-hour of Defeat the Press. "Has John McCain won his battle? His opponents -- most unhappy!"
Tim Russert, hoping for a Cold War, turned first to "breaking news" -- the collision of a US surveillance plane with a mainland Chinese fighter over the South China Sea and its emergency landing on a Chinese island.
Tim asked what our message to the Chinese be? John McCain said that first, the Chinese should not be allowed to board the plane -- and that an apology from China may be warranted if the Chinese collided with our plane. He was not sure whether the incident happened over international waters. He wants to see a quick repair of the plane -- and thinks that a U.S. repair crew will have to be flown in. McCain cited "a number of problems" in Sino-U.S. relationship, notably the persecution of the Falun Gong.
McCain forecast as many as 60 senators voting for McCain-Feingold. Tim quoted Sen. Frost claiming that the bill would destroy party politics -- and McCain said it will have "a significant but not a profound effect on politics," and emphasized his claim that parties are conduits for soft money. What about the Wyly brothers? McCain said that they would have to fully disclose who they are under McCain-Feingold. Could Democrats block the bill in the House based on the increase in hard money? McCain said there would be resistance to the bill because it upsets the status quo and threatens incumbents. Tim brought up the possibility of a conference committee if the House passes a different bill, CQ said that "McCain would be left out of the championship round." McCain said that would hope to be one of the conferees, but attempts to neuter the bill behind closed doors in a smoke-filled room would result in parliamentary maneuvers -- including calling on conferees to report out at the demand of the legislature.
Tim then tried to slam McCain as he claimed that republican caucuses fall silent when he entered the room. Instead, he helped burnish McCain's reputation as a maverick by allowing McCain to say he's not Miss Congeniality.
Then Tim ran some of the ridiculous Rep. Tom DeLay. McCain said that he wishes DeLay would sit down and read the bill -- and he hopes DeLay's rhetoric does not make its way to the Senate floor. He is also confident that a decent bill will pass the House.
Tim then accused McCain of embarrassing Bush Baby by pushing campaign reform and stealing the limelight. Naturally, McCain said that he was not out to embarrass Little George -- but we think and hope McCain was lying. McCain sees George the Lesser for who he is -- a weak-minded marionette rapidly losing credibility and popularity with those who were hoodwinked into voting for him and are becoming rapidly disillusioned.
Then Tim pulled up some smart-ass polls showing that in a dispute, more people would back McCain over Bush (49% to 40%) -- but that GOPers would back BushBaby by more than 70%. McCain brushed off Tim's question about whether he's in the wrong party -- but we think McCain should have said that once you cut out the Republicans who are knee-jerk Smirk-ettes, religiously insane evangelical, and bigots, most would back McCain over Bush.
Tim next turned to a quote from Rupert Murdoch's Weakly Scam-dard claiming that McCain does nothing but back liberal issues -- a laughable mischaracterization. McCain practically laughed out loud, saying that his credentials speak for themselves and he backs Arizonans . Tim tried to get him to say he MIGHT jump parties -- and that he would NOT run again for President.
Tim's next guests -- one of the smartest men in the House, Marty Meehan (D-MA) and Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA). Davis actually undermined his boss, Tom DeLay (Tim ran some of the more extreme quotes from last week's Defeat the Press) by saying that the bill would pass the Senate and the House would have to move. Tim then quoted an anonymous legislator cited in Roll Call who said House Dems don't want a campaign reform bill. Meehan said that the prior "addictive" use of soft money is no excuse not to get rid of it. Meehan also supports a higher hard money dollar limit. Tim said that Dems are going to "wink" and say they don't want an increase in the hard money ceiling -- a dumb notion. Meehan should have ridiculed Tim's outrageous assertion -- but he did say that it's not true. Davis said that there is huge concern that parties cannot get involved in local races, and that races will be less competitive.
Gosh -- you mean that it's more likely that voting results will be indicative of voters' actual overall sentiments? How awful!
Davis wants to see administrative law judges in the FEC, bashing Clinton for numerous so-called crimes. Ha, ha, ha -- we're all for it, because it's a slam-dunk that Karl Rove and his cronies would be indicted!
Tim said that it would be horrible if political parties could not respond to ads not produced by the other party. Meehan slammed the assertion, saying the current legislation levels the playing field and is good for both parties.
Tim then quoted Davis having said that parties would split into two entities -- official and unofficial -- to violate the spirit of the law -- as if all of Washington had not seen this 747-sized loophole in campaign finance legislation. Meehan said that it's ridiculous to say union dues money would go to soft money -- why is it that members of Congress have to raise so much soft money?
Tim, Meehan and Davis actually settled into a wonk-speak segment on the mechanics of how campaign legislation might pass out of the House -- and got Davis to say that he considers tax cuts, an HMO....er, patients' bill of rights and education reform to be a higher priority than campaign finance, and it may be until the fall that the bill comes up.
Meehan said such a scenario is unacceptable -- and there's going to be no meaningful patients' bill of rights until soft money is gone -- he even got in the last word: "This is just a formula for more gridlock [and] the American people get it."
Where's Slobo?
Mind you, we only sampled the first half hour of the major network shows, but we have to wonder -- even with McCain-Feingold poised for a Senate vote, why so little talk about the arrest of former Yugoslav dictator Slobodan Milosevic, the "butcher of the Balkans"? All we saw were a couple questions on FNS.
Well, we think we know why: for years, conservatives whined and moaned about U.S. peacekeeping in a region they falsely claimed was of no strategic interest to our nation, wringing their hands over American soldiers whose lives would be in peril. We all know the rest of the story -- while Bush Daddy turned his back on signs of trouble, Clinton took action that led to the end of ethnic cleansing, global exposure of horrific crimes against humanity, and the end of the proto-Nazi Milosevic regime. The Clinton doctrine is directly responsible for the arrest of Milosevic. Just don't hold your breath waiting for the pundits to say it...
...which is probably why they hardly mentioned the issue.
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