CyberAlert
Monday October 1, 2007
1. MSNBC Smears Limbaugh with 'Phony Soldiers' Distortion
All day Friday, even after Rush Limbaugh corrected the misinformation, MSNBC promoted a story fed to them by the far-left Media Matters about how Rush Limbaugh had called military personnel who served in
Limbaugh opened his noon EDT radio show on Friday by explaining how he was referring not to any real soldier but a phony one, notably Jesse MacBeth, who became a hero to the left when he recounted how his Army unit murdered innocent Iraqis. In fact, he hadn't even completed basic training.
Nonetheless, MSNBC headlined a 4pm EDT segment "'PHONY SOLDIERS' INSULT; Rush Limbaugh: U.S. Troops Who Oppose Iraq War are 'Phony.'"
At the top of the next hour, Chris Matthews teased Hardball: "Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh says veterans who support withdrawing the troops are 'phony soldiers.' Those are his words."
Then at 8pm EDT, with "Limbaugh Bashes Vets for Withdrawal" on screen, and briefly "...Phony Soldiers..." over video of Limbaugh, Keith Olbermann teased Countdown: "Comedian Rush Limbaugh tries to back out of his quote: Servicemen protesting the war are quote, 'phony soldiers.'"
2. Sore Loser: With No Thomas Interview, NBC Features Anita Hill
CBS's 60 Minutes got the first interview with Clarence Thomas on the occasion of the release of his memoir and ABC's Good Morning America is in line for the morning show exclusive interview with him to air multiple days this week, thus leaving NBC News out of the mix.
So, the losing network decided to resurrect Anita Hill.
Anchor Lester Holt teased Sunday's NBC Nightly News: "Her story. Justice Clarence Thomas speaks out, and tonight so does the woman who nearly derailed his confirmation. My exclusive interview with Anita Hill."
Though Hill's charges against Thomas look pretty tame through the later revelations of Bill Clinton's actions with women, Holt depicted them as "charges of crude sexual advances" and "shocking allegations." Also, without any mention of the left-wing activists with whom Hill colluded, Holt sympathetically described her as "a reluctant witness."
3. Steph on Clinton: 'Philanthropist Who Happened to Be President'
ABC's George Stephanopoulos put on a sycophantic display in his pre-taped interview on Sunday's This Week with his former boss, ex-President Bill
Holding up the magazine as the two sat in a room at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting, Stephanopoulos touted "this great story in The Atlantic this month about your philanthropy" which "says you're basically re-inventing philanthropy" and, quoting the author, "'history may remember Bill Clinton as the philanthropist who happened to be President.' You okay with that?"
The ever humble
Next, Stephanopoulos oozed that the 1991 campaign slogan of "buy one, get one free" with Bill and Hillary is now "about as resonant as ever" with Hillary and Bill.
As
4. ABC Lobbies for Liberal Legislation on Time Off; Touts '08 Dem
On Friday's Good Morning America, for the fourth time this year, the ABC program skewered
After lumping the
5. Field Charges that Anti-War Comment Caused Fox to Bleep Her
Actress Sally Field charged, on Friday's Good Morning America, that Fox censored, as part of some pro-war agenda, her Emmy night remark that "if mothers ruled the world, there would be no Goddamned wars."
According to the Flying Nun star, "when it has to do with war at all on Fox, I think they all ran around like a bunch of chickens and started pulling wires, you know, 'Get her off the air!'"
Of course, the actual reason her comments were edited was because Fox feared being fined by the FCC for her use of "Goddamned."
Other edits that night included a profanity and Ray Romano's use of the word "screwing." In fact, Fox allowed several conservative-slamming, non-vulgar jokes to air unimpeded.
GMA co-host Diane Sawyer again indicated that the TV star's edited anti-war tirade at the September 16 Emmys was simply no big deal. Sawyer dismissively observed: "Again, we were saying at the time, everybody in
Agreeing with the implication of American provincialism, the Brothers and Sisters star noted, "And in
6. NBC Gives Springsteen Platform for Litany of Liberal Complaints
Giving a live concert on the Friday Today show, Bruce Springsteen didn't just sing but railed against the past six years of George W. Bush's administration. Although he didn't mention Bush by name, the outspoken liberal rocker didn't need to connect the dots as he hit just about every complaint leftists have charged against the current administration. During his talk-up before his performance of "Living In the Future," Springsteen yelled about "rendition," "illegal wiretapping," "voter suppression," "an attack on the Constitution," "the neglect" of New Orleans and "the loss of our best young men and women in a tragic war."
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A usually-daily report, edited by Brent H. Baker, CyberAlert is distributed by the
The 2,499th CyberAlert. Tracking Liberal Media Bias Since 1996
6:25am EDT, Monday October 1, 2007 (Vol. Twelve; No. 172)