the Communist Broadcasting System and its chief mouthpiece?
Posted on 08/31/2004 4:40:16 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
As your intrepid reporter on liberal bias at the morning news shows, a thought was running through my mind as I watched last night's speeches by McCain and Giuliania: "these are so good, there is no way the morning shows can spin these as anything but a major blow to John Kerry."
Apparently the morning shows agreed, because to varying degrees they adopted the strategy that the best coverage was limited coverage, or in the absolutely mind-blowing case of CBS' Early Show, NO COVERAGE AT ALL!
OK, in fairness, there was some brief mention of the convention during the Early Show's news recap at the very top of the hour.
But when it came to the extended segments during the first half-hour, first up was a rehash of the Kobe Bryant case. Surely, I thought, the convention must be next. But no, it was an update on surgery on conjoined twins. "No, this can't be happening," I thought. "They must be building toward a big conclusion to the half-hour with a major convention segment."
Uh, no. The final segment was devoted to informing us that it was rainy in Richmond yesterday.
Over at the Today Show, rather than extended coverage of the convention, we were treated to the second installment of a near week-old interview that Matt Lauer had done with Pres. Bush. OK, not as bad as CBS' Richmond weather report, but the big news of yesterday was what happened in the convention, and we saw very little of it. Rather than any extended excerpts from the McCain/Giuliani speeches (and don't forget that NBC did not broadcast the convention last night), we were treated to another soporific interview between Katie and Tim Russert.
Finally, at GMA, Diane Sawyer conducted a live interview with First Lady Laura Bush. I must say that Laura looked absolutely beautiful and conducted herself with her characteristic charm and class. That was put to the test when Diane Sawyer crudely asked her "so, are you going to attack John Kerry tonight?" "Of course not," replied Laura, maintaining her good-natured composure as someone might when a visitor's dog soils the living room carpet.
Both Today and GMA focused of course on W's inelegant phrase yesterday regarding our ability to win the war on terrorism. Nice try, but that would only stick if people thought for a second that W wasn't tough on terrorism or that Kerry was tougher. Don't make me laugh.
I thought a clear highlight of last night's speeches was Giuliani's parody of Edwards' 'two Americas' theme, when Rudy suggested that perhaps Kerry needs two Americas: one to take one position, the other to take exactly the opposite position on the same issue. But of course none of the networks let Americans see that this morning.
All in all, an infuriating performance by the MSM. But let's take it as a compliment and a good sign: they know how devastating the McCain/Rudy one-two punch was last night, and didn't dare let the American people see too much of it this morning.
Multi-morning show ping to the Today Show ping list.
Finally, 41 minutes into the hour, CBS gets around to its convention coverage, with an interview with Rudy.
Very first question out of Smith's mouth: "why has the war in Iraq been so divisive?"
Great analysis. My mother just told me that Katie Couric is getting ready to interview Laura Bush.
It's a very good thing that the MSM no longer controls access to information.
So, who's laughing? ABC and Clear Channel have just made this the talking point of the morning newsblasts: "Bush Doesn't Think We Can Win The War!" Watch for the rest of the MSM and the DNC fax to pick up on it.
No one watches that drivel anymore, anyway. Aren't the network's news ratings way down?
If you didn't watch the convention on C-Span last night, you really missed some great moments. Even Fox blabs all the way through some fine presentations and only covers the major speeches. If they had covered the entire evening last night, their ratings would have been better since I'm sure I'm not the only Fox viewer who switched to C-Span. The alphabet networks are so biased that they ought to have millions of viewers complain to their local affiliates and file these complaints with the FCC. The local boys don't want to anger Republican viewers or advertisers and only they can exert pressure on the partisan network bigwigs.
Rudy hit a home run! It would kill them to show a soundbite of his speech. Like it matters. The Big Three skipped coverage of the opening of the Convention.
To quote John Kerry from last week, "would that it were." The overall ratings are down, but millions of Americans still tune in to the broadcast network's morning shows every day.
Contrasting the two conventions, I noticed quite a difference....
The Democrat Convention honored John Kerry for 4 months of service in Vietnam, because it was all about him and his quest for the Presidency.
The Republican Convention is honoring ALL those who serve(d) in the military. Excellent presentation.
[After excellent speeches, including, but certainly not limited to, McCain and Guliani, the libDems probably spent a sleepless night trying to come up with talkingspoints spin.]
Exactly. And in the face of such a devastating one-two blow, CBS obviously decided that silence was golden. "This too will pass," they fervently hope. But will they dare ignore Laura and Arnold tonight?
What did you expect?
Did ABC show the video of one of NYs finest getting his head kicked in by the lovely Kerry supporters? He 's now in critical condition. If it were Bush supporters, it would lead every show.
Good contrast. With Kerry its all about HIM. Every one else is an afterthought.
I watched the whole thing last night ..and caught up with those things I missed on CSpan...The MSM can't hide the great beginnings yesterday from those of us paying attention..
I just saw Laura on Fox..She looks so beautiful, is so gracious.."Texas Proud" of Laura here...;)
We all know Democrats can do no wrong. Hey, its time to move on.
Russert on Imus (Bleech); they did agree that Guliani 'sliced and diced' Kerry and the crack about Edwards' 2 Americas was 'laugh out loud' funny...
Imus joked he was 'reassessing' his position on Kerry.
Kerry to jumpstart his campaign needs to work on "is Iraq the right way to go"? Unless he tells a better way to handle Iraq, economy, not be too cautious, people not going to jump.
Moderators for debates; Jim Laird, Charlie Gibson, Scheaffer, and ?. No Brokaw or Russert.
Kerry
To the best of my knowledge, not one word about it, let alone any video, on any of the MSM shows this morning.
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