| About | |
| Contact Us | |
| Articles | |
| Topic Index | |
| Reports | |
| Quotes | |
| On the Web | |
| Links | |
| TW Tracker | |
| Support | |
Times Watch for
September 17, 2004
Why Should Kerry Have to Denounce Moveon.org Ad?
A new campaign ad from the left-wing Moveon.org draws Republican "ire" and moves Glen Justice to pen "Political Group's Antiwar Ad Draws Ire of the Bush Campaign" for Friday's paper: "The advertisement, which was run by the Democratic-leaning MoveOn PAC, noted that more than 1,000 soldiers had been killed and that billions had been spent on the war before saying: 'George Bush got us into this quagmire. It will take a new president to get us out.' Bush campaign officials immediately sought to paint the image in the advertisement as a soldier surrendering and called upon Senator John Kerry to denounce the advertisement even though it was created and run by a third-party advocacy group."
Justice lets Kerry off the hook by implying the Kerry campaign couldn't have had anything to do with the Moveon.org ad (though there are several links between the group and Kerry). So why has the Times repeatedly tried to link Bush to anti-Kerry ads put out by the Swift Boat Veterans and insisted Bush denounce them?
On August 31, longtime political correspondent R.W. Apple wrote: "The advertisements questioning Mr. Kerry's war record, the work of a 527 group of Swift boat veterans, were largely financed, at least initially, by rich Texas Republicans, some with past links to Mr. Bush. But Mr. Bush has never specifically condemned the Swift boat commercial, confining himself to a mild statement that Mr. Kerry served honorably."
Elisabeth Bumiller and David Sanger from August 27: "But when pressed repeatedly if he would specifically denounce the advertisements, which Mr. Kerry has said were being run with the tacit approval of the Bush campaign, the president refused to condemn then [sic]. Instead, he said he would talk only of the 'broader issue' of the political committees that take to the airwaves with attack advertisements."
On August 25, Jim Rutenberg and Kate Zernike wrote: "Mr. Bush's campaign aides have repeatedly said they have no connection to the group, almost all of whose challenges to Mr. Kerry and his war record have been contradicted by official war records and even some of its members' own past statements….Yesterday, the chairman of the Federal Election Commission defended the group's right to advertise. But it has gradually acknowledged ties to people close to the Republican Party and Mr. Bush's campaign."
For the rest of Glen Justice on the new MoveOn ad, click here.
• George W. Bush | Campaign 2004 | 527s | Iraq War | Glen Justice | MoveOn.org
The
Times on Discredited Dan Rather
Jim Rutenberg's Friday news analysis is devoted to Dan Rather and the discredited "memos" that purport to show Bush failed to meet his obligations to the Texas Air National Guard during Vietnam.
In "Familiar Roles for Rather and His Critics, a "news analysis," Rutenberg runs down Rather's past conflicts with conservatives and finds that even some in CBS are dubious of his latest "scoop."
"Sixteen years ago Dan Rather, the CBS news anchor, squared off on live television against Vice President George H.W. Bush, then running for president. The interview turned into a tense shouting match that cemented the impression among conservatives that Mr. Rather favors the other side….Ever since tangling with Richard Nixon as a White House correspondent more than three decades ago, Dan Rather has been the television presence conservatives love to hate."
Rutenberg goes into some of Rather's partisan history: "In his first defense of his show, Mr. Rather attributed the questioning to partisans. It took him three more days to acknowledge that some questioners--including forensic experts and other news organizations--had no apparent political motive. As the debate rages, Mr. Rather's 1988 tête-à-tête with the first President Bush is coming back to haunt him--as is his appearance at a Texas Democratic fund-raiser two years ago, an appearance for which he later apologized. Both leave him open to Republican charges of partisanship as he defends the initial report and presses the case that the issues it raised about Mr. Bush's service remain valid."
He tells of a network under pressure: "Internally and externally, pressure on Mr. Rather is mounting, with some of his longtime colleagues and journalism ethicists saying that he and the network refused to take the questions seriously for too long. A longtime CBS News correspondent, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said 'I can't understand why '60 Minutes' Wednesday didn't exercise more caution in checking the story out, and why they don't seem to have been the least bit skeptical of the documents.'"
For the rest of Rutenberg on Dan Rather and the "memos," click here.
• Campaign 2004 | CBS | Forged Documents | Liberal Bias | Dan Rather | Jim Rutenberg | Vietnam
Bad Labeling Habits on the Trail
Richard Stevenson and Robin Toner indulge in some unhealthy labeling bias in Friday's "Bush Says Kerry Is Pushing Nationalized Health Care."
Catching up with Bush in Minnesota, the Times gives Kerry ample room to rebut Bush's campaign criticism of the Democrat's health plan: "Mr. Bush's critique won applause from Republicans as he campaigned through Minnesota, a once reliably Democratic state that polls suggest is up for grabs in November. But his words drew a sharp rebuttal from the Kerry campaign, which said Mr. Bush was deliberately misrepresenting Mr. Kerry's plan, and from some independent analysts, who said the White House had little basis for its suggestion that Mr. Kerry was seeking to nationalize health care. Democrats see health care as one of Mr. Bush's greatest vulnerabilities, and Mr. Kerry has made it a central issue of his domestic agenda. Since Mr. Bush took office, the number of uninsured people has risen by 5.2 million, to 45 million, and insurance premiums have risen sharply."
(The Times lead editorial points out "that most of the increase is based on laws that Mr. Kerry supported in the Senate.")
Stevenson and Toner then go to those "independent analysts" who disagree with Bush--who coincidentally turn out to represent liberal advocacy groups, the Urban Institute and Kaiser Family Foundation.
The story mentions one conservative group (The American Enterprise Institute) and it alone is tarred with an ideological label: "Mr. Bush cited a study by the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative research organization, that put the price tag of the Kerry plan at $1.5 trillion. The Kerry campaign said that estimate ignored some features of the plan, double-counted others and used flawed methodology. Despite Mr. Bush's efforts to draw an implicit link between the Clinton health care plan and Mr. Kerry's proposal, some experts said there was no real comparison. 'What Kerry is proposing is like the renovation of a house, whereas Clinton was advocating completely rebuilding the structure,' said Robert Reischauer, president of the Urban Institute, who as director of the Congressional Budget Office in 1994 scrutinized the Clinton plan. Drew Altman, president of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a health research group, said Mr. Bush was proposing a bigger change in the nation's approach to health coverage than Mr. Kerry was."
For more on Medicare from Richardson and Toner, click here.
• George W. Bush | Campaign 2004 | Health | Labeling Bias | Medicare | Richard Stevenson | Robin Toner
American "Arrogance and Excess" in Protecting Embassy
Sarah Lyall's London Journal ties necessary (if ugly) safety measures around the U.S. Embassy in London to American "arrogance and excess."
Her story, "In Decorous Mayfair These Days, the U.S. Is Out of Place," notes "At a time when many ordinary Britons are enraged by American foreign policy and dismayed by tighter visa requirements--forcing them for the first time to visit the embassy in person, brave the fortified perimeter and wait for hours as their applications are processed--the scary-looking eyesore in this otherwise elegant area has become, to some, a symbol not just of American vulnerability, but also of its arrogance and excess."
For the rest of Lyall from London, click here.
• Britain | Sarah Lyall | Terrorism
E-mail TimesWatch Director, Clay Waters, with TimesWatch feedback at cwaters@mediaresearch.org