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On Wednesday's Countdown show, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann reported the recent deaths of 10 American troops in Iraq by commenting that they had "paid the ultimate price for President Bush's execution of the war." His comments came as he was introducing an interview with Thomas Ricks of the Washington Post on what the Iraq Study Group report could mean for American troops. Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the December 6 Countdown show:

Keith Olbermann: "On this, the same day the Iraq Study Group released its report, 10 more Americans paid the ultimate price for President Bush's execution of the war. The collective price America's military is paying and how the Iraq Study Group may change it is our number three story in the Countdown tonight."

I don't track Keith Olbermann's descents into mean-spirited bad taste systematically enough to definitively proclaim that he has charted a new low. Let's just say that he has once again indulged his proclivity to traffic for political purposes in the worst of ill-will.

Readers will recall during that during the 2004 presidential campaign, both members of the Dem ticket went clumsily out of their way to alert voters to the fact that Dick and Lynne Cheney have a gay daughter, Mary. In that same mean spirit, on tonight's Countdown Olbermann acidly observed: "the Vice-President is about to become a grandfather for the sixth time. Daughter Mary having a baby with her partner. You have to wonder if that is in the Christmas card for the conservative base."

ABC anchor Charles Gibson and NBC anchor Brian Williams let the Iraq Study Group's conclusion, that “the situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating,” speak for itself as they refrained from additional editorializing in opening their Wednesday night newscasts. But CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric inserted her personal views into the top of her newscast as she framed the day's news: “With each death, with every passing day, so many of us ask, 'Is there any way out of this nightmare?'” She proceeded to explain how “today we got an answer from a bipartisan commission headed by former Secretary of State James Baker and former Congressman Lee Hamilton.” All three December 6 broadcast network evening shows were anchored from Washington, DC.

O'Brien, during a more wakeful moment

As already noted here on NewsBusters, the Senate held a hearing today examining the role of the media in promoting climate alarmism. With others covering the newsmaking part of the discussion, I decided to drop by to observe things from a blogger's point of view.

I went into the hearing expecting it would be more interesting than your typical congressional hearing and wasn't disappointed. Dr. David Deming, a geophysicist from the University of Oklahoma recounted an experience he had with an NPR reporter who hung up on him after he declined to say that he thought global temperature increases were human-caused.

Apparently I was not joined in my assessment of things by CNN "American Morning" anchor Miles O'Brien who fell asleep during the discussion, according to several witnesses. Only a colleague's nudge prevented the slumbering former science correspondent from missing the entire discussion. One would think that O'Brien could have scared up some more interest considering his ongoing feud with Sen. Inhofe. The two have tangled on O'Brien's CNN show and both have denounced each other from their respective platforms.

The VRWC is apparently even vaster than we realized.

In a fund-raising email today David Brock, President of Media Matters, the organization that some might consider the left-wing counterpart to NewsBusters, claimed [emphasis added]:

"Media Matters has already exposed more than 6,000 instances of conservative misinformation in just two years -- and not just from right-wing news outlets such as Fox News Channel, but from sources like CNN, The Washington Post, and The New York Times."

Brock cites two instances in which Media Matters corrected errors at the Washington Post. But might the conservative rot run deeper? Could Paul Krugman be a deep RNC mole? Christiane Amanpour a conservative agent provocateur? E.J. Dionne perhaps a catspaw for Karl Rove?

As NewsBuster Matt Sheffield reported Tuesday, the Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works held a hearing Wednesday to discuss the media’s role in causing global warming hysteria in the country. The committee’s website encapsulated the proceedings (emphasis mine throughout):

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Chairman of the Environment & Public Works Committee, said today’s hearing about the media and climate change revealed that “Scare tactics should not drive public policy.” The hearing’s purpose was to examine the media’s presentation of climate science and featured scientists and media experts.

 “As the Democrats rush to pass costly carbon cap legislation in the next Congress, today’s hearing showed that the so-called ‘scientific consensus’ does not exist. Leading scientists from the U.S. and Australia denounced much of the media for becoming advocates for alarmism rather than objectivity.” Senator James Inhofe said.

The press release continued:

As fellow news analyst Geoffrey Dickens blogged, Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio bonded with Matt Lauer on his global warming hype movie, Eleventh Hour. But before DiCaprio demands a host of new government regulations to clean up the environment, he should look at his own Hollywood pals. On Wednesday’s Fox and Friends First, hosts Steve Doocy, Gretchen Carlson, and Judge Andrew Napolitano hosted author and columnist James Hirsen to expose the hypocrisy of the Hollywood elite. Despite their constant preaching about the environment, they are in fact one of the largest polluters in metropolitan Los Angeles.

Gretchen Carlson asked the question, "why don’t we hear about this?" Good question. The entire transcript is below.

Judge Andrew Napolitano: "Is Hollywood a major contributor to air pollution? Our next guest says the film and TV industries on the west coast are a huge factor. Columnist James Hirsen joins us now from Santa Ana, California. He's also the author of Hollywood Nation. Good morning James and welcome here."

In a story on the resignation of United Nations ambassador John Bolton, reporter Helene Cooper, for the second time in three weeks, suggests (mockingly?) that defeated Sen. Lincoln Chafee, one of John Bolton's chief Republican critics, is actually a possibility to succeed Bolton as ambassador to the U.N.

Stephen Spruiell of National Review Online caught it first when the story was posted to the Times website Monday, but the story was subsequently changed both online and in print, deleting the Chafee reference.

Earlier today my colleague the MRC's Business & Media Institute director Dan Gainor testified before a Senate panel on the media's biased presentation of climate change science. Gainor's testimony is a coup for the MRC and invaluable for the public record. Of course the aim is not to legislate or regulate the media. By no means. But it's an honor when your boss gets to flesh out our hard work and intensive research for the congressional record.

Read more about it at BusinessandMedia.org, particularly right here.

Oh, and here's the link to our study on the media's 110-year history of hype on climate change: "Fire and Ice."

On Wednesday morning, the highly anticipated report from the Iraq Study Group [ISG] was released to the public. The ISG’s report contained seventy-nine recommendations for the United States in its effort to lessen the violence in Iraq and protect American forces. One of the major recommendations of the panel was a call for the withdrawal of most U.S. combat troops by early 2008.

During an 11am press conference Wednesday, Jonathan Karl, ABC’s senior national security correspondent asked the panel pointedly why their recommendations should outweigh the advice President Bush receives from military commanders on the ground:

Jonathan Karl, ABC News: "You're certainly a group of distinguished elder statesmen, but tell me why should the President give more weight to what you all have said, given that, as I understand, you went to Iraq once–with the exception of Senator Robb, none of you made it out of the Green Zone–why should he give your recommendations any more weight than what he’s hearing from his commanders on the ground in Iraq?"

Following up on one aspect of Cavuto's rout of Krugman on Fox News yesterday (covered overall by Noel Sheppard earlier today here at NewsBusters) --

Cavuto elicited this stunningly out-of-touch statement from Krugman about the situation for the average person and the middle class that is obviously not true (excerpt is at the end of this Hot Air clip):

Cavuto: .... You're saying that it's somehow dramatically worse now than it was 10 years, 20 years ago?
Krugman: It is dramatically worse now than it was 10 or 20 years ago.

Horse manure, Paul, and here's the proof. The figures below are from the Census Bureau, and show real (inflation-adjusted) income from 1985-2005 (bottom half of data at linked page):

Culture Shock on Capitol Hill: House to Work 5 Days a Week

By Lyndsey Layton
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 6, 2006; A01

Forget the minimum wage. Or outsourcing jobs overseas. The labor issue most on the minds of members of Congress yesterday was their own: They will have to work five days a week starting in January.

The horror.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/05/AR2006120501342_pf.html

Today's starters:

The much-hyped Iraq Study group has finally released its report. Hot Air has a nice roundup, you can read it in HTML form via NZ Bear. LGF looks at the group's conclusions regarding Israel and finds much to dislike. Related: Wacky lib bloggers are upset with incoming Democratic congress's lack of desire to impeach President Bush.

In other news, OpinionJournal has an interesting op-ed by a sister of one of the pilots who was killed on 9/11 about the topic of airline security and the Muslim imams who were ejected off a U.S. Airways flight recently.

In lighter fare NRO has a funny joke about God's profession that I won't reveal the details to; Reason Magazine has an interview with the creators of South Park (hat tip: NB reader sarcasmo) in which Matt Stone and Trey Parker comment about a number of subjects including their unsuccessful campaign to air an innocuous cartoon depiction of the founder of Islam Mohammed. At least they weren't fired or threatened with death, though.

It’s almost becoming a daily occurrence now, isn’t it? Another major media outlet has confirmed that all the pre-election blather concerning a withdrawal of American troops from Iraq if Democrats took over Congress was just another part of that Party’s elaborate bait and switch scheme. This time on its knees in the confessional was Newsweek (hat tip to NB member “aero”), and none other than two of its crack investigative reporters, Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball (emphasis mine throughout):

In a surprise twist in the debate over Iraq, Rep. Silvestre Reyes, the soon-to-be chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said he wants to see an increase of 20,000 to 30,000 U.S. troops as part of a stepped up effort to “dismantle the militias.”

Excuse me? Wasn’t this man appointed by incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi who went around the country promising voters that troops would be withdrawn from Iraq if Democrats won and she became Speaker? Are you kidding me? Shouldn’t this evoke tremendous anger from the writers at Newsweek? Au contraire:

The ink is barely dry on the Iraq Study Group's report and the mainstream media has already decided that the "bipartisan consensus" is gospel.

Just in case any neanderthals who might question this august group haven't gotten the message, MSNBC has created a stunningly blatant online push poll to get them in line.

Mark Tapscott of the Washington Examiner weighs in on how the Associated Press can extricate themselves from the Jamil Hussein/burning men story in Iraq. Sound familiar?

What AP appears not to grasp is that the most serious questions about its credibility are already in the minds of millions of people, thanks in part to the bloggers, but also to the few mainstream media organizations that have covered the growing controversy.

What is most puzzling about the AP reaction is its failure to do the one thing that would instantly put the critics in their place - produce Capt. Jamil Hussein. If he is in fact an Iraqi police captain, it is impossible to understand why he cannot be produced and his credentials verified.

"Captain Jamil Hussein" is but one of 14 Iraqi-sounding names of sources quoted by AP that U.S. military officials say cannot be verified as credible sources.

Produce Jamil Hussein. Brilliant!

By this point, the Associated Press has almost assuredly tried to contact Jamil Hussein to come on camera, in uniform, in his police office to prove that he does in fact exist, thereby shutting down this gathering storm.

Just as assuredly, the present silence from the Associated Press on the matter indicates that they have likely failed to produce their source for over 60 news stories.

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman declared that the insurgency in Iraq has been defeating the U.S. military for the past four years during an interview Wednesday with Good Morning America’s Diane Sawyer. While making the argument that there is no "two to three year" solution for the violence occuring in Iraq, Friedman declared victory for the insurgents:

Thomas Friedman: "...I don't believe myself that there's a two to three year solution where we just train a few more troops. The issue isn't training, Diane. After all, who's training the insurgents? Nobody. They're doing just fine. They've basically been defeating the U.S. military for the last four years."

Matt Lauer is getting greener by the minute. Fresh off his promotion of Al Gore the Today co-host turned to noted environmental activist/actor Leonardo DiCaprio to plug his latest enviro-flick. Initially on to promote his movie on the African diamond trade, Blood Diamond, Lauer couldn’t resist asking DiCaprio about his first liberal love, global warming. DiCaprio went on to push his upcoming movie, Eleventh Hour, that featured the "greatest minds in the world," on the subject of global warming. DiCaprio claimed his scientists represented "over 90 percent of the collective thought," on the issue but absurdly lamented they don’t get the appropriate amount of time in the media claiming: "But then when it's on the media you have that 10 or five percent and there sitting opposite on a chair and it becomes an argument when they are actually the minority."

Referring to the last time Dan Rather made assertions without documentation, Bill O'Reilly said Dan Rather should produce proof after claiming that Fox News got "talking points" from the White House.

Said Rather on HDnet:

I think it's fair to say, Bill, in fact I know it is, that FOX News operates in at least a somewhat different way than every other news organization that I know, that they have their "talking points," in which somebody in the hierarchy, whether this is Roger Ailes who runs the place or not, we know that they get talking points from the White House. And they can say well, we don't always take those talking points, but I think it's pretty clear that they had wished the election had gone another way.

O'Reilly said he had previously defended Rather during the Memogate scandal, but once again it appears he has no proof for his assertions.

Mr. Rather's assertions are nonsense, untrue, seriously dopey. I've been here from the beginning, and have never seen a White House "talking points." — And I don't know anyone else who's seen one either.

I asked senior management if they have ever seen a White House talking points. No one had.

So we called Dan Rather to ask for some "documentation." He's on the road, but said he'd come on “The Factor” next week to explain. Can't wait.

Professor, in So Many Words, Says That Jimmy Carter Deserves Another Prize: Best Fiction Writer in an Alleged Non-Fiction Book; Prediction is that Media Will Ignore

_______________________

Great catch and follow-up comment by blogger Nasty Brutish & Short -- The Carter Center of Emory University has lost a Middle East Fellow, namely Professor Kenneth Stein, "solely as a result of Carter's new book, Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid" (link is to a post at Powerline, which has Stein's full e-mail; also discussed by J-Pod and Goldberg at NRO's The Corner).

Here's the money paragraph from Stein's resignation letter:

President Carter's book on the Middle East, a title too inflammatory to even print, is not based on unvarnished analyses; it is replete with factual errors, copied materials not cited, superficialities, glaring omissions, and simply invented segments. Aside from the one-sided nature of the book, meant to provoke, there are recollections cited from meetings where I was the third person in the room, and my notes of those meetings show little similarity to points claimed in the book. Being a former President does not give one a unique privilege to invent information or to unpack it with cuts, deftly slanted to provide a particular outlook.

Since today is being hyped as Bow to the Iraq Study Group Day, we should note that this is not a White House commission, but a group assembled by Congress. It’s also affiliated with the U.S. Institute of Peace. (Not all of those affiliated commissions get massive hype from journalists. For example, take Newt Gingrich and George Mitchell’s commission on United Nations reform last year.) Gail Russell Chaddock of the Christian Science Monitor explained recently it began with veteran Republican Rep. Frank Wolf of northern Virginia:

The Iraq Study Group is the flip side of the usual blue-ribbon panel, whose launch is often its high point. It began modestly as a one-line earmark in last spring's emergency defense spending bill - "$1 million ... for activities relating to Iraq."

This was just too delicious for words…but I’ll try. As many of you are aware, most conservatives who study the economy and the markets view the New York Times’ Paul Krugman as being one of the most disingenuous pols on the landscape. Krugman has regularly been shown to flat out lie about economic data in his articles to prove his specious points, and was accused by the Times’ former ombudsman Byron Calame of regularly doing exactly that.

Well, on Tuesday, Krugman got his well-deserved comeuppance as Fox News’ Neil Cavuto called him out for such errors in transmission, and actually called Krugman a liar (must-see video available here):

Here’s what I’m saying that you’re doing: You are lying to people. That’s what I think that you’re doing.

Krugman then actually had the nerve to respond: “I haven’t heard a lie yet.” He mustn’t proofread his work. Luckily, Neil was having none of this: