Free Republic

Since last week's Politico story about the regular phone calls between former Clinton White House'ers Rahm Emanuel, George Stephanopoulos, Paul Begala and James Carville, several conservative outlets have raised the question of a conflict of interest. Media Research President Brent Bozell has been one of the most vocal critics (Rush Limbaugh's callers also jammed the ABC News phone lines). Bozell, who makes a claim not part of the Politico story that these are "strategy phone calls," requested ABC respond to the story on Newsbusters and in an open letter. "With each passing day, ABC's failure to speak to and about...

ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos is engaged in daily private phone briefings with Obama Chief-of-Staff Rahm Emanuel. He then presents himself as a credible journalist and nonpartisan commentator in reporting about the administration. Such a move crosses journalistic lines, is a clear conflict of interest and must be stopped immediately. The Media Research Center is calling on MRC Action Team members to email Stephanopoulos, David Westin, the President of ABC News and Westin’s boss, Anne Sweeney, Co-Chairman of Disney, and Sweeney's bosses, ABC/Disney's Board of Directors, demanding an immediate end to this obvious conflict of interest. Complete the form below to...

(see article for photo of Rahm's special secure phone--in his own hands)As the sun comes up each morning, Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s chief of staff, calls his pals in the media – CNN’s James Carville and Paul Begala, ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, and pollster Stan Greenberg. That was no problem last month, but Emanuel is now President Obama’s Chief of Staff, and the calls have now taken on an air of conspiracy. Where’s the shock and outrage and the suggestion that Emanuel is coordinating media coverage? From our perspective, two things surprise us about this story. First, that no one has objected...

A coalition of Democratic-leaning organizations is spending millions of dollars on a campaign aimed at convincing five Republican senators to back the economic stimulus legislation. The Campaign for Jobs and Economic Recovery, a group of labor and political organizations, is targeting GOP Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Olympia Snowe (Maine), Judd Gregg (N.H.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Chuck Grassley (Iowa) with a 30-second spot. The ad includes audio excerpts from President Obama’s Jan. 8 speech at George Mason University, when he made his case for the stimulus package that could exceed $900 billion.

House Republicans have proposed an alternative that leaders say would create 6.2 million jobs for only $478 billion. "What Member can't go back his or her District and explain: Rather than voting for a bloated bill, ... I voted for an alternative that would create twice the jobs at half the cost, and faster?" a House Republican leadership aide said. "That's why we didn't lose a single Republican and picked up 11 Democrats." Pushing back against the unanimous House Republican vote against President Obama’s stimulus plan, the White House plans to release state-by-state job figures “so we can put a...

Pushing back against the unanimous House Republican vote against President Obama’s stimulus plan, the White House plans to release state-by-state job figures “so we can put a number on what folks voted for an against,” an administration aide said. “It’s clear the Republicans who voted against the stimulus represent constituents who will be stunned to learn their member of Congress voted against [saving or] creating 4 million jobs,” the aide said. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the lawmakers will have to answer to their constituents. “I do believe that there will be people in districts all over the...

Politico reports that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel holds daily chit chat sessions with several Old Media pals every morning to start his day. Apparently Emanuel has for years been involved with daily bull sessions to plan media coverage and ideological strategy with CNN's James Carville and Paul Begala, as well as ABC's George Stephanopoulos, with the occasional participation of pollster Stan Greenberg. But there is one little problem with this daily palling around with mediots these days: Emanuel now works for the White House. As Politico's John Harris notes, "in any given news cycle, it is quite...