In national politics, most in the business will tell you that things don't get serious until after Labor Day. That's when many Americans who normally ignore politics will start tuning in.

That's true this year as always, but the '06 election cycle also brings a new problem: the political censorship of advertising which even peripherally dares to mention a politician. Jacob Sullum has more on this outrage (h/t: NB reader sarcasmo):

As of Friday, when the 60-day blackout period for "electioneering communications" by nonprofit interest groups begins, political speech will enjoy less protection than dirty movies. While a sexually explicit film is protected by the First Amendment if it has some socially redeeming value, an "electioneering communication" is forbidden even if it deals with important and timely public policy issues.

Supporters of this ban, imposed by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, say they want to eliminate "sham issue ads" that are aimed at electing or defeating a candidate and therefore should be funded only by political action committees subject to campaign contribution limits. But since the ban applies to any TV or radio spot that mentions a federal official who is up for re-election, it also prohibits genuine issue ads.

On Monday's Late Show on CBS, David Letterman read a humorous list of suggested sign-offs Katie Couric could use at the end of the CBS Evening News. Among the proposals: “Three of tonight's stories were fake. Write in if you think you know which ones,” "I’m gonna go get my freak on," "Let’s turn this mother out again tomorrow," "Til tomorrow, morons,” “Return to your sad little lives,” “From me to you, suck it” and, my favorite, “Putting the 'BS' in CBS.” (Full list below)

UPDATE: Couric ended Tuesday's CBS Evening News by showing Letterman reading seven of his ideas, but none of the ones hinting at false stories: "Save us, Superman," "Well, I’m off to the dog track," "That’s the deal, Lucille," "Here, kitty kitty kitty," "Keep feelin’ the funk," "Oh, Lordy, I gots the news fever" and "I’m Katie Couric, I'm gonna go get me some ribs."

Cut And Run - Sung to the Tune of ''Let It Snow''
By Edward L. Daley

(Feel free to sing along with the instrumental version
http://www.geocities...)

Oh the Weathermen all were Marxists
Their successors now are heartsick
So they beat their anti-Bush-war drum
Cut and run, cut and run, cut and run.

They're showing no signs of stopping
And their leadership's flip-flopping
Surrender-monkeys everyone
Cut and run, cut and run, cut and run.

When we finally win this war
I'll enjoy saying ''I told you so''
To the people who think Al Gore
Really won back in O-Ohhhh...

The peaceniks just keep on bitching
As their moles go right on snitching
John Murtha's their favorite son

Cut And Run - Sung to the Tune of ''Let It Snow''
By Edward L. Daley

(Feel free to sing along with the instrumental version
http://www.geocities...)

Oh the Weathermen all were Marxists
Their successors now are heartsick
So they beat their anti-Bush-war drum
Cut and run, cut and run, cut and run.

They're showing no signs of stopping
And their leadership's flip-flopping
Surrender-monkeys everyone
Cut and run, cut and run, cut and run.

When we finally win this war
I'll enjoy saying ''I told you so''
To the people who think Al Gore
Really won back in O-Ohhhh...

The peaceniks just keep on bitching
As their moles go right on snitching
John Murtha's their favorite son

It was stunning, and yet it was eerily reminiscent of the extraordinary discipline of Team Clinton. Days before the ABC miniseries "The Path to 9/11" was to air, they determined the network fudged in its commitment to follow faithfully the facts in the 9/11 Commission report. A scene or two in the otherwise remarkable presentation was false.

And this was the angle Team Clinton needed in order to pounce. The Clinton campaign kicked into high gear in the days before it aired, with the ex-president and his lawyering aides and Democrats in Congress all pressuring ABC to dump the film.

It’s important to understand that Team Clinton didn’t demand the film be edited for accuracy. They wanted everything -- including all the accurate criticisms and findings – thrown in the garbage. Clinton had his usual cleanup squad write letters to ABC chief Bob Iger demanding the $40 million movie be deep-sixed: "We expect that you will make the responsible decision to not air this film."

On the September 10 episode of "Sunday Morning," Katie Couric talked with the "Jersey Girls," the 9/11 widows who endorsed Senator John Kerry for President in 2004 and have been highly critical of the Bush administration. However, there was no balance or features of 9/11 families who support President Bush such as Debra Burlingame, who lost her brother in the terror attacks. In the piece, Couric just barley touched on the groups endorsement of John Kerry in 2004, while she picked out select quotes from Rush Limbaugh, (no date given for his supposed remarks) and a quote from Ann Coulter's book "Godless" that present the views of those who disagree with the 'Jersey Girls' as being unsympathetic to their loss:

Rosie O’Donnell, the new host of "The View," restrained herself for exactly one week before letting fly with her extreme liberalism. On the September 12 edition, in response to fellow co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s comment that militant Islam is a grave threat, O’Donnell stated that "radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America." The comedienne also attacked America’s response to 9/11:

O’Donnell: "We were attacked not by a nation. And as a result of the attack and the killing of nearly 3,000 innocent people we invaded two countries and killed innocent people in their countries."

Video clip (44seconds): Real (1.19 MB at 225 kbps) or Windows Media (1.37 MB at 256 kbps), plus MP3 audio (198 KB)

CBS’s "Sunday Morning" claimed the rights of Muslims in America have been trampeled since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. "Sunday Morning" ran a story narrated by Elizabeth Kaledin, a reporter who normally discusses health issues, that featured three Muslims complaining about American policy since 9/11 and offered no voices of Muslims who disagree. One of the three, Mohammed el Filali claimed:

"There is liberty and justice for all, except if you're Muslim."

Latest dispatch from the MSM moral-relativism front.

MSNBC's Tony Maciulis appeared on the network's 'The Most' show this afternoon to report on a story dealing with Craigslist, the online classifed ad website.  A man called Jason Fortuny had posted a fake personal on the Craigslist's Seattle page, posing as an attractive 27-year old woman seeking sex with men.   The ad elicited numerous replies, many including explicit photos of the suitors. 

Fortuny in turn posted the men's replies, including the photos, on another website, no doubt causing embarrassment if not more for many of them.

'Most' host Alison Stewart asked Maciulis whether the men who submitted the replies "were doing anything wrong?"

Jane Fonda, Rosie O'Donnell and Gloria Steinem team up for a new radio network and NBC's Today, not surprisingly, is ready to promote it. The Today show invited on the "legendary Jane Fonda," as Ann Curry called her, to plug the new Women's Radio Network this morning. In fact the Today cast couldn't contain their excitement for the "sometimes controversial" activist.

Curry: "By the way Jane Fonda, you look great. You look marvelous."

Lauer: "Yikes! She looks fantastic doesn't she? I don't think she can hear us otherwise she'd be saying thank you."

WSYR radio talkjock Jim Reith has just stated that if the government were serious about ending the War on Terror they would "nuke Baghdad, nuke the Sunni triangle, nuke Tehran...then look at Syria and say 'What?'" Reith apparently believes that the failure to use nuclear weapons proves that the "military-industrial complex" is directing the GWOT for profit. "That's how we ended World War II," Reith said.

Tuesday's New York Times Arts section fronts L.A.-based reporter Edward Wyatt's "More Questions of Accuracy Raised About ABC Mini-Series on 9/11 Prelude."

From the start, Wyatt adopts the POV of the Clintonians that tried to stop ABC from airing the miniseries:

"The first half of ABC’s dramatic mini-series 'The Path to 9/11,' which drew fierce advance partisan reaction last week over its portrayal of Clinton administration officials, drew an estimated 13 million viewers Sunday night, several million more than a rebroadcast of a CBS documentary about Sept. 11 but far fewer than NBC’s opening-week National Football League game.

When not forced to compete with primetime broadcast football (NBC's "Sunday Night Football"), ABC's "The Path to 9-11" bested the competition on Monday, the second day of the two-part series. Reports Drudge:

ABC 'PATH TO 9-11' TOP RATED SHOW OF MONDAY NIGHT... 8.3 RATING/12 SHARE FOR ABC MOVIE, BEAT 'CSI: MIAMI' RERUN [6.8/11] AND NBC 9-11 'DATELINE' [3.7/6].

ZAP2IT has more details:

The conclusion of ABC's miniseries "The Path to 9/11" led ABC to a ratings win Monday. Numbers for the night are approximate, as a presidential address marking the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks interrupted regular programming in much of the country.

ABC averaged a 7.4 rating/11 share for the night, finishing well ahead of CBS' 5.2/8. NBC was third at 4.2/7. FOX, 4.0/7, came in fourth, and The WB trailed with a 1.2/2.

He is the President, and he can stand wherever he wants! And, not surprisingly, the Liberal Media is ignoring this story!

Following up his performance on “Democracy Now” as reported by NewsBusters, James Meigs, the Editor-in-Chief of Popular Mechanics, penned a great op-ed that was published in Tuesday’s New York Post (hat tip to American Thinker). Meigs comically began (emphasis mine):

ON Feb. 7, 2005, I became a member of the Bush/Halliburton/Zionist/CIA/New World Order/Illuminati conspiracy for world domination. That day, Popular Mechanics, the magazine I edit, hit newsstands with a story debunking 9/11 conspiracy theories. Within hours, the online community of 9/11 conspiracy buffs - which calls itself the "9/11 Truth Movement" - was aflame with wild fantasies about me, my staff and the article we had published. Conspiracy Web sites labeled Popular Mechanics a "CIA front organization" and compared us to Nazis and war criminals.

Makes one wonder what these folks think about Tim “The Toolman” Taylor! After discussing the various conspiracy theorists, including but not limited to the folks at “Loose Change,” Meigs continued (emphasis mine):

Feingold decries creation of term 'Islamic fascism'
Craig Gilbert, JS Online

Sen. Russ Feingold said Monday that President Bush and his
administration should stop using the term "Islamic fascism" when
describing the fight against al-Qaida, saying it is a flawed
description, is "insulting" to Muslims and damages American efforts to
make friends in the Muslim world.

"Call them whatever you want - monsters, butchers - but the use of
the term 'Islamic fascist' puts the name of Islam . . . in an
exceptionally negative light," the Wisconsin Democrat said in an
interview. "It's insulting and extremely unwise from a tactical and
strategic point of view."

Yesterday Matt Lauer treated Hillary Clinton with kid gloves but on this morning's Today, Bush, once again, got the hostile treatment from Lauer. However in this morning's portion of Lauer's long interview with the President, Bush stepped up, even calling Matt out for trying to "justify" the Democratic position.

Lauer: "Do you know of any Democrats, that in your opinion, are trying to or would like to appease terrorists?"

George W. Bush: "I know Democrats who want to leave Iraq before the job is done and that would be a terrible mistake."

Lauer: "But those Democrats don't see the war in Iraq as inseparable from the overall war on terror."

Reports NY Daily News:

Former President Bill Clinton said yesterday that his administration had thwarted a number of large-scale terror attacks but acknowledged its efforts were "not enough" to prevent the horror of 9/11.

Clinton would not comment directly on the ABC miniseries that began airing Sunday that suggests he was soft on Al Qaeda, but he said yesterday that his administration stopped other attacks similar to 9/11.

During his administration "some attacks were prevented, a couple that would have done as much damage as 9/11," he said.

"Many cells were rooted out," Clinton said at a dedication of a 9/11 memorial in Bayonne, N.J., "but in the end, it was not enough" to prevent 9/11.

Starter topic: Why did so many left-wing blogs, dependant on free speech themselves, want the government to force ABC not to air "Path to 9/11?" Ann Althouse's answer: "It's too late to decide to attack bin Laden, so let's attack this TV show."

Washington Post "staff writer" Sally Quinn -- better known as the wife of the retired longtime WashPost Executive Editor Ben Bradlee -- lamented on the front of Tuesday's Style section that Katie Couric is battling sexism in the media culture: "The buzz about Katie Couric has an oddly familiar ring to me. And to Barbara Walters, Connie Chung, Lynn Sherr and Judy Woodruff -- all of us women who have sat in a news anchor chair." It doesn't seem to matter that Couric makes more money and drew way more promotion from the CBS brass. She's still oppressed somehow.

What followed was a chorus of laments from these pioneering TV news women that nothing has changed in 30 years. Some of these laments suffer when compared to the facts. For example, Quinn wrote:

On this morning's Today show NBC's Matt Lauer and Kelly O'Donnell advanced the Democratic Party's whine, er, line that Bush was politicizing 9/11. Lauer opened this morning's Today: "The politics of 9/11. President Bush makes a prime time speech calling for vigilance in the war on terror but some Democrats cry foul....Democrats are furious saying that he used the anniversary of 9/11 for political purposes."

In the 7 am half hour Ann Curry introduced O'Donnell's report:"Today's attack in Syria came just hours after President Bush warned in a prime time speech that terrorists are still bent on striking America but his defense of the war in Iraq on the 9/11 anniversary has some Democrats very angry. NBC's White House correspondent Kelly O'Donnell has more this morning."

As reported by NewsBuster Brad Wilmouth here, Keith Olbermann on Monday’s “Countdown” was in full attack mode on America’s president. Now, some might cynically say that he does this every evening, and they might have a point. However, yesterday was the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and Olbermann’s behavior was disgraceful. Given the solemn nature of this occasion, Olbermann’s rant might be the worst performance by a supposed press representative in recent memory. In fact, this seemed as mean-spirited and unacceptable as the comments made by Bill Maher on ABC shortly after the 9/11 attacks that resulted in his termination.

With that in mind, I have sent the following message by e-mail to Dan Abrams, MSNBC’s new general manager. For those that are interested in sending Mr. Abrams their views on this subject, I included e-mail addresses at the end of this post that hopefully will maximize the likelihood of such messages reaching his desk:

Byron York has written an article that does an excellent job of summarizing Bill Clinton's failures on terrorism. As he states in the article, no one has to really make anything up about his failures, the truth is adequate enough.

The best part of his article is that it is written journalistically...in other words, he has not filled it with a lot of his opinions.

Wow !!!  How refreshing to be able to just read the facts and not have to filter through opinions. When that happens, I am free to formulate my own.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NzhjODk1ODg4M2NiODU4Yzc3YWE1OTA1MDNmYWQ5M2Y=

Back in July, Time magazine elevated left-liberal blogger Ana Marie Cox, better known as Wonkette, to Washington editor of their online site, Time.com. Cox, whose background includes stints at Mother Jones and The American Prospect, had built her reputation, and audience, with occasionally witty, constantly snarky and generally profane commentary on the sex lives of Washington residents. But she had an audience, and Time apparently felt that that justified her promotion. So she moved from the fringes of the blogosphere towards the mainstream press.

And now she's moved further. It's a good bet, I'd think, that most of the audience of The Early Show don't know her background. Well, they didn't learn any of it from her appearance this morning, when she was introduced as, yes, the Washington editor of time.com. Yes, that's what she is. But she's not a non-partisan political analyst, not in any way, shape or form, even though CBS treated her, presented her to their audience, as if she were. She was the first analyst that CBS had on to talk about the President's speech last night. At least through the first hour, she was the only analyst that CBS had on to talk about the President's speech last night.