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

Pundit Pap
for Jan. 25, 2004
Primary Dullards
Beltway moves to New Hampshire to attack Howard Dean, promote John Kerry
by the Pundit Pap Team

Jan. 25, 2004 -- NEW YORK (apj.us) -- Big TV Journalism's Official Opinion Shapers were all up in New Hampshire this Sunday -- looking uncomfortable as they reported from a state in the grips of a massive cold wave. They were there, of course, to cover this coming Tuesday's New Hampshire Democratic Primary -- and they almost universally ignored the top political story of the week: former Texas governor George W. Bush's pathetic excuse for a "State of the Union" speech that was nothing more than a thinly veiled opening speech to launch his reelection campaign.

Come to think of it, he wasn't elected -- let's face it, the Supremos' arguably criminal Bush v. Gore election tampering meant that your vote didn't count, particularly if you lived in Florida. So in reality this isn't a reelection so much as it is a mandate for a judicial coup. And you can assume that the Celebrity Press Whore Brigade doesn't want to go there, let alone look at the many wedge issues that Bush the Lesser brought up: bashing gay couples that want to acknowledge, affirm and strengthen their family values while saving our all-important community colleges and protecting the nation from Weapons-of-Mass-Destruction-Related Program Activities.

Besides, it's so much more fun for the press to pile on something -- anything -- that they can to make Democrats look bad. And this week, they had two: Howard Dean's howlin', pump-'em-up Monday night speech that the Media Hall of Mirrors twisted into some kind of evidence that Dean is some sort of rabid, sociopathic clear and present danger to our nation's security, and Michael Moore's claim that Mr. Bush deserted the Texas Air National Guard (more on that below).

Here's a look at the worst of the weekend's pap:

This Week with George Stephanopoulos
Cast: George "Steph" Stephanopoulos, George F. Will, Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Joe Lieberman (DINO-CT), Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), Sen. John Edwards (D-NC), former NATO supreme commander Wesley Clark.

Steph began TW by citing poll numbers showing Kerry way ahead in New Hampshire and the nation -- and, most dramatically, beating the Bush Boy in a head-to-head match if the election were held two days ago.

That can't have Karl Rove too happy.

But this was also the giveaway of Steph's theme of the week: ABC has decided to frame the race in terms of electability and momentum, not issues.

In the introductory segment before a quick interview with Joe Lieberman, Steph reinforced this by talking only about the candidates' standing in the horse race. The interview with Lieberman and his wife Hadassah began with talk about soup -- but then Lieberman said he felt that he'd had his best debate performance yet.

Funny, but most of the analysts, editorialists and Democrat-leaning bloggers disagree -- and not because of his right-leaning views but because of his lukewarm presentation -- but then, what else is Joe going to say? He's not going to come back with, "Let's face it, George, I sucked. Big time. It's all over."

Lieberman claimed he can beat the Bush Boy and has the record to go up against him (unfortunately, his record does not involve Bronze Stars, Purple Hearts, and not avoiding Vietnam by having Daddy stick his drunk ass in the National Guard). Bizarrely, Lieberman claimed that the choice for Democrats is between himself and Howard Dean.

We can only wonder if the only reason Lieberman is running for President is not only to position himself for a bigger power position in the Senate but to raise his name recognition a few notches so he can hike up his speaking fees -- that makes sense to us, and who can blame Joe for trying? God knows, his pie-in-the-sky high-hopes claims that he's doing great don't justify the run -- so it must be power and money.

Steph then interviewed some voters who want John Edwards on the ticket because they believe he can beat or help beat Bush. Edwards said at the top of his mini-interview that his strong showing in Iowa is the result of people finally seeing him close up and responding to his message and positions (and we have to agree that it was a strong factor -- Edwards plays very well to the camera). Edwards said he intends to beat Kerry. Steph said that voters don't think Edwards is clear on his position on the Iraq war; Edwards disagreed. Steph asked whether Edwards feels that, say, South Carolina should recognize a Vermont civil union; Edwards said no -- but also pretty much said that the federal government is not going to recognize gay marriage and therefore the only way the issue can win is at the state level. Edwards said he is against gay marriage (that is not going to help him -- and we predict he will soften and hedge his view down the line). Steph asked what his case is for beating John Kerry -- and Edwards said that while Kerry talks a good game about helping the middle class, Edwards himself has spelled out a number of specific positions that do help working families and the middle class. Did Howard Dean lose the nomination with his Monday speech? Edwards said that remains to be seen.

Then Steph played footage of GOP operative and FOX News Channel sourpuss Brit "Pruneface" Hume lying about Wesley Clark's stand on the Iraq war before cutting to Clark on the road -- and Clark opened his mini-interview by saying he can bring the issues of faith and values to the voters unlike any of the other Democrats. Steph asked some voters about Clark "having it both ways" about the war -- showing that Steph, like most of the Beltway elite, obviously did not do his homework on the subject -- and Clark in fact gave the lie to the flip-flop and singled out Brit Hume as pushing a false assertion. But Steph was intransigent and tried to twist Clark's words. He's lucky Clark didn't give him a David-Asman-style smackdown (http://wesleyclarkweblog.com/archives/000570.html#008771) -- instead, Clark made it clear that he wants American GIs to succeed where they are sent, but he in fact testified that there should have been Congressional assent and consent for the war along with full UN involvement. Steph tried to push the notion that Clark has not been clear -- but Clark rightly knocked the way Steph was "interpreting" his statements.

Here's the bottom line: Matt Drudge put up disinformation on his Web site. Ed Gillespie "picked up" the disinfo (and we'll be he knows who planted it with Drudge). The press picked it up from Gillespie. And now that they've all been proven to be dupes and fools, they refuse to correct the facts.

Steph played footage of John Kerry saluting the League of Conservation Voters before shifting into interview mode and proclaiming Kerry the front-runner. Kerry, not wanting to put the kibosh on his lead, acted like he was an underdog out to sell himself to undecideds (which is the smart thing to do). Then, voters speak: "Talks too much... angry and frustrated with the Senate... too attached [to the Beltway]." Kerry spun it all: he's blunt and straightforward, and he'll fight the special interests the way he does on Capitol Hill. Kerry was on an environmental tear, blasting Newt Gingrich for trying to gut the Clean Water Act. Steph quoted an op-ed piece by NYT right-wing shill David Brooks (c'mon, Steph -- at least tell viewers that Brooks is a Neocon apologist). Kerry jumped all over Steph, then blasted the hypocritically-named "No Child Left Behind Act" before calling for the days of Clintonian fiscal responsibility and standing up for the little guy. Steph again tried to tie Kerry to the Democratic Party "establishment," but Kerry continued to sell himself as an independent-minded guy who marched for civil rights, stands up for little guys, opposed Vietnam and stuck up for its veterans, fought in Congress against the Marcos regime, blew the whistle on Ollie North, and about half a dozen other talking points (some of which were admittedly mainstream Democrat positions). Steph's final question: how does Kerry shift into a national campaign? Kerry said he's not doing that -- he "respects" the people of New Hampshire and primary voters.

Steph said that Howard Dean had declined an interview.

We say good for Howard -- although you're not making any friends in the corporate press by telling the Heather Herd to grow up and by smacking down whores like Judas Maximus Staphylococcus!

-- Jane Grice

McLaugh-In
Cast of fools: John McLaughlin, Pat Buchanan, Eleanor Clift, Fat Tony Blankley, Larry O'Donnell

John McLaughlin and his hilarious encounter group of screaming heads seldom fail to entertain, providing a daffy if calculated escape from the kabuki theater of the "official" Sunday morning political-talk programs.

This week was no exception, with John starting group therapy by expostulating about Howard Dean's so-called "rant" following the Iowa caucuses -- and the aftermath, including interviews and a very funny, self-deprecating Top Ten List on CBS' The Late Show. Pat Buchanan called it the "most destructive performance by a primary candidate" since Gary Hart's legendary "Monkey Business" debacle -- and wrung his hands over a ranting Dean having his finger on the nuclear arsenal. Eleanor Clift said that she was actually there and she felt it was appropriate for Dean to pump up his dispirited troops, but "it was too hot for television" and "even" the Democratic establishment attacked him (c'mon, Eleanor -- they hate Howard). Tony Blankley, a toadie of cult leader Sun Myung Moon, called Dean politically dead. Larry O'Donnell said Dean's campaign was dead even before his Monday speech, and he lost on his policies, primarily tax issues. O'Donnell repeated the lie that Dean says he will raise taxes. Did the Diane Sawyer interview with the Deans help? Yes, said Eleanor, and she and Larry had a dustup about Dean's antiwar stance helping or not helping Dean. Pat, who is himself a critic of the Iraq war, said hats off to Dean for being openly antiwar

Throughout the segment, John was acting as a Dean "defender" -- does he think that Dean would lose to the Chimp? You betcha! John also made odd mention of Ron Suskind's The Price of Loyalty, in which Paul O'Neill even let loose against the closest thing we have to a President, Alan Greenspan.

There was some pointless debate over who the better candidate was --Dean before Iowa or Dean before New Hampshire. But Larry predicted Dean will never finish higher than third. We can't wait for Larry to be proven wrong.

What about Kerry? John showed a clip of Kerry challenging the Shrub on national security ("Bring! It! On!"). Eleanor said he's got the lead, he has the presidential "Lincolnesque" image. Larry bragged that he'd predicted Kerry would be the front-runner last year. (Note that Larry rarely brags about getting any of his pundit forecasts right -- could it be that Chippy the Chimp is right more often than Larry?) Pat talked intensely about Kerry being "relaxed". John said Pat sounds as if he thinks Kerry can beat the Bush Boy -- and Pat all but said yes before he said he's too liberal and probably can't take Florida. Tony admitted -- to our amusement -- that his prediction that Kerry was politically over last June was off the mark! While the panel laughed it up, Tony saluted Kerry's military service before proclaiming him too hopelessly liberal.

Then John turned to attacks on Wesley Clark for Michael Moore having called Li'l W. Snippy a "deserter" at a Clark rally, and then tried to frame Clark as being "ill-informed" concerning the facts surrounding Smirk's desertion of the Texas Air National Guard. Tony did his best to prop up Smirk by practically blaming Clark for Moore's claim. Eleanor tried to spell out the problems with the Bush Boy's so-called National Guard "service" as Tony tried to shout her down and Pat grumbled something about Moore's claim being a "slander."

You've just gotta love it -- exposing the Chimp's dirty laundry is now somehow a libel of our Dear Leader. Karl Rove might start liking you if you keep it up, Pat...

So who will win in New Hampshire and who will be runner up?
Pat: Kerry, Dean
Eleanor: Kerry, Dean or Clark
Tony: Kerry, Dean or Clark
Larry: Kerry, Dean, with Clark close third
John: in a surprise, Dean narrowly, Kerry

-- JJ Balzer

Feed the Press
Players: Tim Russert, Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark

Tim Russert's first guest was General Wesley Clark.

At the outset Clark made a big mistake: when Russert asked him if he would win in New Hampshire, Clark said, "No." When he quickly realized what he'd said, he tried to recover by saying that anything could happen anywhere!

That was not good.

Russert next tried to embarrass him over the Iraq war and Clark's one time support of the president. That didn't work, because Clark himself went on the offensive, debunking Russert's assertion quickly..

Then Russert tried to directly blame -- you guessed it -- Bill Clinton for the Iraq War, saying that the situation started in the Clinton Administration.

Good work, Timmy. You are following Karl Rove's orders well to wit: "Make ANY Democratic candidate look bad." Russert is, understandably, a whore for the General Electric Board of Directors They pay him handsomely to wear their kneepads. GE and NBC executives do not want to see a Democrat -- any Democrat -- in the White House.

And Russert made his marching orders embarrassingly clear as he continued his assault not only on Clark but the rest of the Democratic presidential field. Russert even had the gall to question whether Clark has "evidence" that politics played a role in the decision to go to war in Iraq!

My advice to Clark would have been not to have answered except to say, "Who are you working for, George W. Bush?"

But Clark did give a fairly good example of the politicization of the decision to go to war, and Russert abruptly stopped this line of questioning. "Is the war in Iraq worthwhile?" asked Russert, who sounded like he was debating Clark and that he was appearing in the role of former Halliburton über-boss Dick Cheney.

"I was not for giving the President a blank check for going to war," answered Clark assertively -- yet Clark remained the military gentleman.

And, as one could have predicted the moment FOX "News" Channel, drug addict Rush "Hillbilly Heroin" Limbaugh and MSNBC glommed onto the sound bite in question, the moronic Mr. Russert brought up Michael Moore's words, "The General [Clark] versus the Deserter [that smirking Bush boy]."

In a naked attempt to embarrass Clark with the words of the entertaining filmmaker, Russert asked whether calling the President as deserter was "appropriate."

Well, duuuh, Timmy! Of course not! Bush was not necessarily a deserter -- he was certainly either a malingerer or a super-secret agent who disappeared into the night for a year or more. We'll never know.

But Clark never said that Bush was a "deserter" -- so why was the porcine pundit try to hang Moore's words around Clark's neck like the albatross it actually is to the former Texas Governor? Because these are Russert's marching orders: malign Clark, malign Dean, malign the rest of the Democratic presidential candidates right down to Dennis Kucinich and Rev. Al Sharpton, no matter how bad it might make Russert look.

But "words are important," says Russert, adding, "The penalty for desertion is death. Do you endorse those words?" (Ha, ha, ha! Here's a question for Russert: does he endorse the words, "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa"?)

Clark said he supports freedom of speech, but he would not have characterized the situation that way. That was a good answer.

What Bush has done is desert every child, every poor American, and every elderly man and woman who can't pay for their medications. In other words, he is again a deserter.

Russert began asking the same question over and over: "Is there any evidence that George Bush is a deserter?!" It was a hilarious little spectacle -- Russert looked to be visibly going mad. Then Russert asked, "When one of you major supporters says that, isn't is a distraction?" I was practically rolling on the floor -- Russert is as patently obvious as Joseph Goebbels.

Russert then turned his attention to gays in the military. Clark did not swallow that bait, saying that he would not continue "Don't ask don't tell" but would instead reexamine the situation. He did not say he would endorse gay marriage -- but would support giving gay couples the same rights as straight Americans. Russert said that Clark had told the Advocate that if they wanted to call it marriage than so be it -- or some such spin. Russert just would not stop, trying in vain to paint Clark as a hypocrite and a gay supporter.

Russert then tried to hang Clark for having voted for Nixon and Reagan -- and because he was a lobbyist for a security company. Oh, brother -- what next? Russert claimed that there was a BIG discussion about Clark and abortion. He asked, if you can believe it, if Clark believes that life begins at conception (a right-to-life "litmus test" of a question if there ever was one). Clark said he is pro-choice -- and told Russert that this is something people must consider for themselves.

Russert continued to pressure him [because Russert himself likes to shove his devout Catholicism in Democrats' faces] and then had the gall to say, "You can understand that some people [meaning Tim Russert himself] think that life begins as conception!"

Russert just may be the most pathetic excuse for a journalist or an entertainer in the history of television journalism. He tries to pull the wool over the public's eyes -- including those of his bosses -- and should be dismissed from his position as host of Meet the Press post haste.

Of course, ARCHER DANIELS MIDLAND had bought the very first commercial on MTP. ADM is one of Russert's biggest sponsors. ADM collects tax credits and gas tax rebates for its Big Ethanol Giveaway Program -- a payback to the tune of $1.5 billion dollars of YOUR tax money.

Think about it.

Following the break, who should show up but NBC Nightly News anchorman Tom Brokaw -- no doubt to rescue that louse Russert.

Brokaw reminded viewers how McCain trounced Bush in New Hampshire and compared this to Kerry murdering Dean in the polls -- today, 36% to 24% in one poll, a 12 point lead.

Ron Brownstein -- another journalist that the GOP can always count on for aid and comfort -- also commented on the Dean-bashing that went on in Iowa. Kerry HAS a lot of experience, says Brownstein, who added that Dean, should he come our strong enough in New Hampshire, will make the argument that Kerry flip flops.

But Dean, we regret to say, will not come out strong enough or wealthy enough.

And Brownstein's comments served as Tim's big cue to play the "Dean Scream Speech." We were waiting for that -- we knew it was inevitable. It looked bad - no argument. But it wouldn't have been had not so-called "independent journalists" like Tim Russert piled on. Russert and the "mainstream" media KNEW that the White House is VERY concerned about running against Dean -- for the simple reason that Dean is the only outsider that can effectively and successfully attack Bush in the general election campaign.

Then that overrated little cow pie and self-appointed "dean" of the incestuous Beltway punditocracy, David Broder, who morphed into an intellectual call girl for the right wing during height of the Era of Clinton-bashing -- piped up with his cut on Dean.

It was a blood bath.

Russert claimed he offered Dean a full hour as his guest on Meet the Press -- knowing, of course, that only an idiot would appear with Russert given the present ersatz brouhaha -- which, unfortunately, has legs. Gloria Borger -- who, now that she's employed by CNBC, has revealed herself as another working woman for the GOP -- was also on the panel. Russert showed a clip of Dean saying that he wouldn't drag his wife along as a prop for his campaign. Borger laughed in her best snot-nosed manner.

Russert continued showing clips, including one in which Dean admits his Iowa speech was "not presidential" followed by a clip of Dr. Judith Steinberg Dean saying the her husband does not lose his temper. Borger -- which Russert pronounced "Borgia" (as in Lucretia Borgia? how appropriate) -- said the Dean campaign thinks it worked. Of course, Borgia believes that Judy Dean was well spoken --- BUT what bothered her was that Howard Dean kept answering questions directed to Judy Dean in an interview with Diane Sawyer. Brokaw, trying to look wise, fell back on the old-hat trite opinion that the people want someone who can beat George Bush and that people "had their doubts" going into Iowa about Dean's ability to do just that.

Then Broder said that we can't count Dean out and that there won't be a blowout for Kerry in New Hampshire. So Brownstein rushed in and defended Kerry's strength as a "comfortable port in a storm." Of course, Brownstein knows that the White House would love to see Kerry as the Democratic candidate because Kerry supported the President on the Iraq War. Brokaw can't see how Kerry can be defeated!

Good grief. How can any serious journalist say something like this? It is tantamount to an endorsement.

Tim asked if the story line about Dean's "temperament" wasn't something IMPORTANT to the voters (translation: "Isn't Dean too whacked out to be the President?").

Russert should just resign.

Borger called Dean's speech a "manic outburst." Brownstein said that Dean was going down in New Hampshire because of other remarks he made.

Once again, this was a huge overstatement by Brownstein, who we predict will get an invitation to a White House dinner as his reward.

Brokaw said that Clark is struggling -- and then just about claimed that Clark himself called the President a deserter.

Brokaw did NOT mention Michael Moore as the one who said this without Clark's knowledge. Was Brokaw trying to tell us that Clark was told that Moore was going to say this?

Broder claimed that he "can't believe" that Clark didn't put "that snake" to bed. Brokaw interjected, "We do know that Bush had a long absence" during his service.

Is he a hypocrite, too? Someone had better look up the definition of "deserter" to set the record straight.

The few minutes left to the panel was simply gibberish about technical politics about which none had any knowledge.

-- Morrie Friendly

PS: HERE IT IS, according to JEFF KOOPERSMITH, who is working on a long piece about Michael Moore's charge against George W. Bush.

DESERTER: One who abandons his post; as, a soldier who abandons the public service without leave; or a sailor who abandons a ship when he has engaged to serve.

DESERTION: An offence which consists in the abandonment of the public service, in the army or navy, without leave.

Food for thought?