Flush twice... it's a long way to Sally Quinn's place!

Pundit Pap for Sunday, July 25, 2004
When Press Whores Attack!
Sunday pundits call John Kerry stiff and liberal, refuse to ask probing questions about Bush failures leading up to 9/11
by JJ Balzer

This Sunday's big topics were -- no surprise -- the freshly-issued report of the September 11 Commission and the Democratic National Convention, which begins tomorrow in Boston. But the spin on the issues was a little bit unexpected.

The Sunday shows we saw played up the enormous pressure on Congress and the White House to act immediately on the commission's recommendations. Moreover, it looked to this viewer as if NBC, CBS, ABC and CNN intentionally avoided the issue of why the Bush Junta seemed to willfully downplay the threat of Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda -- in stark contrast to a Clinton team engaged in trying to stop Osama and his homicidal sickos. This contrast was in fact detailed in the final 9/11 Commission report despite the "spin" that no "blame" is being assigned.

The other surprise -- an encouraging one -- was the Democrats' keynote speaker for the convention, Barack Obama, who made the rounds of at least three shows we saw (Face the Nation, "Meat" the Press and CNN Late Edition) -- and lived up to and even beyond the hype that he is a "rising star in the Democratic Party." By the end of the week, he will be a star.

Here's the quick lowdown on three of the Sunday abominations.



This Weak
Playas: George Stephanopoulos, 9/11 Commissioners Bob Kerrey and Lee Hamilton, Ted Kennedy, and (ecch!) Sam Donaldson, Cokie Roberts, George Will and Mark Halperin

The bookers at ABC weren't able to get the 9/11 Commission co-chairs, Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton. They did manage to book Bob Kerrey and John Lehman, who were not disappointing in the least. Kerrey pushed for quick action by Congress and former Texas governor Bush on the panel's very specific recommendations. Steph parroted the whining complaint of entrenched executive branch apparatchiks about another so-called "layer of bureaucracy," but Lehman said there already is such a layer -- the "community management" apparatus -- that would be dismantled. Lehman sounded as if he believed the panel's solution is a cure-all, and Steph played along, asking if the proposals could be in effect rammed through. Kerrey promoted the idea of a national counterterrorism center.

Steph then turned to a more inflammatory part of the report that designated Islamic hardliners as "enemies" -- but also said that Lehman wants to reach out. Lehman said that yes, "terrorists" must be taken out, but there's a need for outreach -- for example, VOA-style broadcasting and support for public schools as an alternative to religiously extreme madrassas. (Hey -- that second idea would be a great one for our own country, come to think of it.) Steph and Kerrey mixed it up about the significance of the conflict between Israel and its displaced Palestinians. Kerrey wants alliances with moderate Muslims. Lehman says a linchpin to lessening the threat of terrorist mass murder will be bringing the Iraqi mess to a "successful conclusion". (Translation: we have to get out, and we have to leave a stable and peaceful regime -- a tall order in the face of a problem far more complex than Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle and the rest of the Neocon cabal wanted to grasp.)

There followed a largely non-substantial segment with the genial Ted Kennedy, who unfortunately looked to have hit the Grecian formula a bit hard. Mind you, it wasn't as jarring as the face lift Laura Bush seems to have gotten late last year, but that phony gray just doesn't look becoming on one of the most senior of our nation's Senators. It was no surprise that the focus was on Kerry and the convention -- but it's disappointing that Steph didn't divert from the official pre-convention script points that sound like they're fresh off the RNC blast fax, for example the completely ridiculous claim that Kerry and Edwards are somehow quantifiably two of the most liberal Senators presently in office, based on the more-influential-than-it-deserves-to-be National Journal's system. Mind you, their Almanac of American Politics is indispensable for political junkies, but far too much attention has been given to this meme from a Beltway insider magazine that most people will never find on their local newsstand. (Honestly, how many non-political pros do you know who subscribe?) Steph also made much of Kerry trying to "make a personal connection" with the voters -- in other words, a not-so-veiled allusion to Kerry's so-called aloofness.

Then -- a nausea-inducing "blast from the past" as Steph welcomed (gag) Sam "Greasy Gray Toupee" Donaldson, Cokie "Moralist Schoolmarm" Roberts and George F. "F" Will. Steph sickened us with a snippet of stealth Republican Cokie's smarmy, sleazy interview with John Edwards, but at least her questions made it clear as to the official ABC News Script, as she implied that John Kerry is not making a personal connection with the voters (i.e. he's a stuck-up Massachusetts snob) and Kerry and Edwards are "too liberal" (snort). What the hell is ABC News thinking by allowing this pseudojournalist whose contempt for anything not lily-white GOP to hold court on the public's airwaves? At least Edwards cut her down to size by bringing up the GOP's (translation: Cokie the Media Whore's) penchant for divisiveness.

Needless to say, Edwards tore apart the smarmy questions Cokie was trying to foist on the viewers -- despite the fact that ABC had the volume up way further on Cokie than on Edwards. Steph's analysis -- the answer to "liberal" is "family and faith." Cokie touted how awful "partial birth abortion is" before shouting that Edwards and Kerry "have a problem" because they opposed legislation that would ban late term abortions. There was the usual nattering and naysaying from Will. Sam seemed happy that Steph had asked Ted Kennedy if Kerry is a liberal.

We turned off this blatantly mediocre exercise in character assassination and waited for the start of our favorite screamfest...



McLaugh-In!
Players: John McLaughlin, Pat Buchanan, Eleanor Clift, Tony Blankley, Clarence Page

Issue one was John Kerry -- and the big surprise was the "analysis" from Pat Buchanan, who pegged Kerry as a centrist. It almost sounded like a forecast for -- and hope of -- Kerry victory from Pitchfork Pat! Tony Blankley tried throwing a few epithets at the presumptive Democratic candidate for president -- but there was a tone of impending and humiliating defeat in the voice of the flabby yet sartorially splendid Moonie Times editor.

Issue two was the 9/11 Commission Report -- and the conclusion that "every line of defense failed." Eleanor reminded viewers that the Commission said that Al Qaeda and radical Islamic ideologues are the enemy -- NOT Iraq, which is completely omitted from the report. Tony desperately tried to qualify the "no collaboration" (between Saddam and Osama) meme -- and sounded foolish doing so. Pat said that Commission said they did not explain why we were attacked -- and that is the pivotal, fundamental question. Eleanor retorted that our ties to Israel and repressive regimes in the Arab world are underlying reasons for the attacks.

What about a Director of National Intelligence -- "or a competent national security advisor like Sandy Berger?" The panel laughed out loud, no doubt due to the "sockgate" ratf%$# almost certainly perpetrated on Berger by Karl Rove -- but Pat likes the idea, while Eleanor cautioned that it does come down to the person who has the job.

Issue three -- the Bush Boy's NAACP no-show. Clarence Page all but called it a fatal blunder for Bush's hope to garner any support from black voters. John bellowed about Condi Rice and Colin Powell. (Maybe he should survey the black community to see how they feel about those two. Here's a hint, John: they're not terribly popular). Eleanor said that Bush's ploy to appear before the Urban League was an outreach to black suburbanites.

How much of a post-convention bounce will Kerry get?
Pat: 7%
Eleanor: 4-6%
Tony: 5%
Clarence: 7% -- but it won't last
John: 3%



Meat the Press
Playas: Tim Russert, Barack Obama, Thomas Kean, Lee Hamilton, Tom Brokaw

Tim welcomed Obama, who said he will try to present the vision the Democrats have for the nation -- the need for job security, health care, respect abroad -- and predicted campaign success. Tim got in a cheap shot against Clinton (the length of his keynote speech) -- and then quoted Obama having said Kerry has no "oomph" (typical "divide the Democrats" tactics in which Tim revels). Obama instead said that a prudent, smart candidate takes time to "ramp up" their campaign -- and people start tuning into the prez campaign at convention time.

Tim then quoted speculation from the New York Times about Obama's speech. Obama previewed his speech: two of the big issues are jobs, the inability to afford private education. Tim talked about Obama's parents: dad from Kenya, his white mom from Kansas, married in Kansas, and Obama meaning "sent by God" in Swahili. Obama's reply: a typical biography for an Illinois politician -- and it got a brief laugh out of Tim. Tim said the choice of Obama as keynote speaker was because he's young and black. Obama actually cut and run with Tim's comment, turning his suggestion that the Dems are pandering into a point about sending a message to all Americans. (He should have also said that it would be ridiculous to say that the choice of Tim for host of Meat the Press was because he's white, fat, and hates Democrats almost as much as Jack Welch. Or was it ridiculous?)

Tim ran footage of the Bush Boy asking if the "Democrat party" takes African-Americans for granted. Obama said that blacks don't vote GOP because Democrats back voting rights and civil rights -- and Kerry and Edwards walk the walk while Bush talks the talk. (That is, when he's not using the McCarthyite pejorative "Democrat party." Someone should sit the smirking little snotnose down and explain to him that the proper term is "Democratic party.")

Tim then played the race card, trying in effect to cast blacks as somehow immoral, bringing up the number of black children born out of wedlock. (Golly, Tim, why is the very same moral dilemma on the increase among whites?) Obama beat Tim's bias like a piece of bad meat by pointing out that the "either-or," moral absolutist approach fails -- it is an issue of personal responsibility, but it is also an issue of a lack of opportunities. Then Tim ran footage of Bill Cosby's scathing critique of a black subculture that holds education and critical thinking in contempt. Obama shifted the paradigm slightly -- indirectly saying that it is time for parents and community leaders to challenge a culture that puts consumerism ($500 sneakers) about intellectualism.

There was some back and forth about the propriety of going into a war against Iraq -- and the need for both success and an honorable withdrawal.

Tim then quoted a scathing comment by Obama about the ideology of going to war foisted by Bush and Rove. Tim tried to write it off as a political attack -- but Obama made Tim look shrill and shallow by pointing out that Obama had been critiquing the war ideology, and Kerry presents a sane policy alternative. Tim tried to put Obama in the position of being "right" about Saddam when Kerry and Edwards were "wrong." Obama essentially pointed out that Kerry and Edwards were given bad information -- and again said that Kerry's the man to fix and consolidate international relations. Tim kept trying to get Obama to say Kerry and Edwards were wrong -- but he wouldn't.

Tim also tried to get Obama to slam rich donors who are financing the 2004 Democratic Convention. Instead, Obama talked about Kerry's voting record.

And in one final swipe at the media, Obama was critical of Beltway rhetoric (i.e. use of the word "liberal") filtering down to state politics in response to Tim's question about whether he's a liberal or not.

Obama looks to be a formidable speaker, and he was very fast on his feet, matching and trumping each of Tim's rhetorical and biased flourishes. He's no mere "rising star" -- he has a strong shot at winning that Senate seat in Illinois.

The next guests were 9/11 chairmen Kean and Hamilton. No revelations, no newsworthy sound bites -- but there was an hilarious slip of the tongue on Russert's part when he asked if the workings of government vis-à-vis stopping Al Qaeda were affected by the "impeachment of President Bush." That's right -- Little Wuss, er, Russ said Bush when he meant Clinton.

The impeachment of President Bush. Well, one can still dream...

Finally, Tim welcomed Tom Brokaw for a segment in which Tim spent most of his time spinning Kerry as a stiff, dull, no-personality loser and liberal. He said something snarky about Americans' "comfort level" with Kerry in the White House. (Hey, Tim -- why not ask about Americans' "comfort level" with a brain-addled, dry-drunk, holy-roller, moral-absolutist LIAR in the White House.)

Tim'n'Tom also obsessed on the latest specious NBC-Wall Street Journal Poll that shows Bush ahead by two percentage points. Funny, but Tim didn't seem to mention this thing called "margin of error" -- which, in Tim's case, is nearly everything that he spouts.

Yes, politics fans, this is what passed for intelligent political discussion on this beautiful Sunday morning. Now, aren't you glad that we save you the agony?