A Republican "Caricature" to Call Hillary Clinton Liberal

"Remember Hillary Rodham Clinton and the conventional wisdom about how polarizing a figure she is? Well, think again. Recent polls have shown that Mrs. Clinton, the junior senator from New York, may have turned a corner politically, sharply reducing the number of voters in the state who harbor negative views of her. Pollsters say the change is remarkable for a woman who has long been shadowed by a seemingly implacable group of voters -- commonly referred to as Hillary haters -- who dislike her, no matter what she does, and who pose a potential obstacle to any presidential ambitions she may harbor….The result of these comments has been an emerging image of Senator Clinton that is far different from the caricature that Republicans have painted of her: that of a secular liberal whose stances are largely at odds with a public that they say is concerned about the nation's moral direction."
-- Raymond Hernandez, February 22.

"Simpsons" Gay Wedding a Welcome "Tonic"

"The episode was not the funniest in 'Simpsons' history, but it was a tonic at a moment when television seems increasingly humorless and tame -- fearful of advertiser boycotts by the religious right and fines from the Federal Communications Commission."
-- TV-beat reporter Alessandra Stanley on the gay-wedding episode of "The Simpsons," February 21.

Europe Leery of "Strident" Bush Rhetoric

"This is the Europe that President Bush will find when he lands in Brussels on Sunday, Feb. 20: a continent still deeply divided over how much to bend to the will of Washington on issues of war and peace, and how warmly to support the Bush crusade to spread its definition of freedom around the world….In discussing national security, the Europeans emphasize the word 'stability,' the Americans the word 'liberty,' even if it borders on what the Europeans might consider adventurism. Washington's strident statements about liberating Iran, for example, have spread concern across the Continent that America may try to use military force there."
-- Elaine Sciolino previewing Bush's trip to Europe, February 20.

Meet My "Associate," Gennifer Flowers

"Other presidents, such as Richard M. Nixon and Lyndon B. Johnson, secretly recorded conversations from the White House. Some former associates of President Bill Clinton taped personal conversations in apparent efforts to embarrass or entrap him. But Mr. Wead's recordings are a rare example of a future president taped at length without his knowledge talking about matters of public interest like his political strategy and priorities."
-- David Kirkpatrick on the release of audio tapes from Bush before he became president, February 20. Among Clinton's "former associates" was his mistress Gennifer Flowers.

Bill Moyers' "Slight Liberal Flavor," but Carlson's an "Ideological Conservative"

"And as ultraconservatives and bottom liners circle, PBS appears to be too accommodating in response. When conservatives attacked the respected Bill Moyers, labeling him a dangerous liberal, PBS offered Tucker Carlson and Paul Gigot. Whatever slight liberal flavor might be dug out of the Moyers broadcasts, those are openly ideological conservative editorialists. Will they do investigations like Mr. Moyers?"
-- From a February 21 editorial defending PBS.

Reality Check: "The entire federal government -- the Congress, the executive, the courts -- is united behind a right-wing agenda for which George W. Bush believes he now has a mandate. That agenda includes the power of the state to force pregnant women to surrender control over their own lives. It includes using the taxing power to transfer wealth from working people to the rich. It includes giving corporations a free hand to eviscerate the environment and control the regulatory agencies meant to hold them accountable. And it includes secrecy on a scale you cannot imagine….And if you like God in government, get ready for the Rapture."
-- Some "slight liberal flavor" from Bill Moyers from the November 8, 2002 edition of his old PBS show, "Now."

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E-mail TimesWatch Director, Clay Waters, with TimesWatch feedback at cwaters@mediaresearch.org