Never try to say ABC anchor Diane Sawyer hasn’t been tough on oppressors. In one interview in 1998, she stared one in the face and said, "You’ve been compared to Saddam Hussein. Nero. To Torquemada, who was head of the Inquisition."

Oh, forgive me. That wasn’t a dictator she was questioning. It was Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel investigating Bill Clinton’s lying under oath. This was a common practice for ABC at the time. Their website had an infamous instant poll asking if there was an "Ig-Nobel" prize, who should win it? The choices were Saddam, Slobodan Milosevic, Osama bin Laden and....Linda Tripp.

So how do ABC news anchors like Sawyer perform when they land "exclusive" interviews with actual dictators? The rings of international thugs are kissed for the privilege. Their obvious lack of respect for the concept of democracy is politely skimmed over. The real threat they pose to America is downplayed – or ignored.

In a flagrant instance of intellectual dishonesty, Media Matters, which might be considered the liberal alter ego of NB, edited Chris Matthews' "fascist" slur of Rudy Giuliani out of its account of yesterday's Hardball.

As I noted here, on yesterday's show, Matthews, discussing Rudy with former congresswoman Susan Molinari, had this exchange:

Matthews: "He got the pee smell out of the phone booths in New York. Even phone booths that aren't booths, they're just a place to make a phone call, had that smell about them before. I think I've been to New York enough times -- he did clean up that atmosphere in New York."

Molinari: "You bet he did. He stopped making excuses for people. . . "

Matthews, interrupting: "Was he a little bit of a fascist?"

In a scene right out of Stanley Kubrick's classic film "Dr. Strangelove," and a clear sign of the insanity of the times, liberal blogger Arianna Huffington and liberal Time reporter Joe Klein are actually fighting about which one is more anti-war.

Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!

With that in mind, our story began on Sunday when Klein innocently wrote a post at Time’s “Swampland” blog concerning what was said by leading Democrats and Republicans on the various talk shows that morning. Here's what seems to be the passage which really got Arianna's dander up:

Talk about leading the witness . . .

Rajiv Chandrasekaran was the Baghdad bureau chief for the Washington Post during the tenure of Paul Bremer as head of the Coalition Provisional Authority in the period succeeding the removal of Saddam Hussein. Chandrasekaran is the author of Imperial Life in the Emerald City, a book generally critical of Bremer's administration -- but apparently not critical enough for Chris Matthews. Chandrasekaran was Matthews' guest on today's Hardball.

At one point, Matthews launched this vulgar leading question about Bremer:

"Did this guy blow it? Was he a joke? Was he an arse on a golden horse?"

View video here.

While the blog world churns over washingtonpost.com blogger William Arkin, the "On Balance" blog at the same website has a guest column today from Steve Fox, a former national political editor at the Post website about sharing 9/11 facts with his 8-year-old son. "On Balance" isn't about media bias -- it's about balancing work and family -- but Fox certainly demonstrated his political take, since his son was soon suggesting he would throw the F-bomb at President Bush:

My eight-year-old son recently came home with a book titled: September 11, 2001: The Day That Changed America.

My first reaction: What's THAT book doing in an elementary school? Then I remembered that whole censorship thing. As a journalist, I'm supposed to be against that. As a parent, I want all 9/11 books moved to the middle school library.

This was one of the topics discussed at a conservative bloggers briefing that I attended this afternoon: the media are complaining that Senate Republicans are shutting off a debate on Iraq war policy by, well, voting against shutting off debate.

"What?!" you say. I feel ya. So did Townhall.com blogger Mary Katharine Ham, who argues that reporters guilty of this sin of commission need to get religion and read up on the journalist's bible, the AP Stylebook:

Now, why is Fox the only outlet reporting that the "Democratic majority failed to shut off debate" instead of the Republicans succeeded in blocking debate. I am no parliamentary expert, that's for sure, but I do know cloture ends debate. So, how do Republicans voting against ending debate get accused of ending debate?

The name Burhan Ghalioun is likely unfamiliar to most Americans. However, on January 22, he made some statements on Al-Jazeera television that should make many politicians and media members in this country sit up and take notice (video available here courtesy of Memri).

He began:

The main problem that prevents us from trying to overcome the crisis is that the clerics have become the leading shapers of public opinion. These clerics have no true knowledge of society or politics. Whoever turns on Al-Jazeera TV or any other channel see that the clerics control everything.

He startlingly continued:

Mexican Migration Project Director Calls for a North American Union

JBS.org | February 1, 2007

According to Princeton University sociologist Douglas Massey, director of the Mexican Migration Project, the way for America to solve its immigration problem is for the U.S. and Canadian governments to pay for Mexico's infrastructure and "social projects" — leading to an eventual North American Union.

At Terra.com, a Spanish-language news publication, an article reported on activities that took place in none other than Washington, D.C. (The translations that follow are mine.) How many of you saw this one on the nightly news?

According to Luisa Fernanda Montero, who reported the story for Terra.com, Douglas Massey, director for the Mexican Migration Project, stated that not only was the United States' immigration policy "negative and counterproductive," but also that Canada and the United States have a financial obligation to build up Mexico itself.

Rush Limbaugh Shills for Bohemian Grove

You Tube | February 2, 2007

John Connor of the Resistance Manifesto forces Limbaugh to talk about Bohemian Grove, after which Mr. Oxycontin attempts to minimize the importance of the elite compound, flying in the face of the facts that both Star Wars and the Manhattan Project were conceived there.

UK Government Plays Fear Card To Trump Blair Scandals
Beheading scam, bird flu and letter bomb take headlines to disguise cash for peerages criminality

Prison Planet | February 5, 2007
Paul Joseph Watson

By an amazing coincidence, a criminal inquiry into a cash for peerages scandal in Britain that last week threatened to cost Tony Blair his premiership, was immediately followed by a number of scary scenarios involving terrorism and bird flu, stealing the headlines and sparing Blair's blushes.

We should not seriously consider for a second that Blair's government had anything to do with a quick fire series of fear-laden stories that amply terrified the British public enough to distract from the Prime Minister's troubles and remind them who the bosses are, especially as every single other major terror alert has not in any way been a lurid manifestation of Downing Street, expedited at the most politically opportune moment to frighten the population into acquiescence.

News Corpse | February 5, 2007

Last Friday, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Rupert Murdoch sat on a panel where he lamented what he described as a “loss of power” due to the ascension of the Internet and other new media. The notion that this captain of one of the most dominant media conglomerates in the world is trembling in the shadow of bloggers is simply absurd. Especially when you consider the fact that his company is also a dominant player on the Internet with an aggressive acquisitiveness that includes MySpace, the world's largest online social networking site.

But there was a more shocking exchange that took place that ought to have caused more of a stir amongst professional journalists and all freedom loving people. It was an exchange that revealed something that most conscious beings knew, but which I have never seen explicitly articulated.

You thought there was a political divide concerning the war, taxes, and abortion? Well, a newly released National Journal poll of members of Congress indicated just as strong a diametric view of whether anthropogenic global warming is real or not.

Called a “Congressional Insiders Poll,” the study asked 10 Senate Democrats, 48 House Democrats, 10 Senate Republicans, and 45 House Republicans: “Do you think it’s been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the Earth is warming because of man-made problems?”

The results:

On Monday’s Today co-host Matt Lauer interviewed 2008 Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards about the Iraq War and his healthcare plan. Lauer did asks some tough questions such as challenging Edwards’s call for a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops in Iraq within the next 18 months. Lauer read the National Intelligence Estimate, which said that would be a disaster, and he asked "so why are you right and why is an intelligence estimate, that’s basically a compilation of the best ideas of 16 intelligence groups in this country, wrong?"

However, Lauer offered some praise for this liberal former Senator. When Edwards painted a grim situation in Iraq, Matt Lauer exclaimed "I applaud your honesty." At the end of the interview Lauer showed his love for Edwards when he stated, "you’re a superstar as well." The entire transcript is below.

Ralph de Toledano, long-time conservative commentator and author died Saturday, Feb. 3, at the age of 90. See The Washington Times article here. For the young conservatives out there, go get Mr. De Toledano's books and read them! They are filled with excellent, detailed information about many of the major issues that have dominated the conservative movement, U.S. and world politics, and the media.

Mr. De Toledano's book, "Seeds of Treason," is an excellent primer on the Alger Hiss-Whittaker Chambers case, which in many ways helped to define the conservative movement in post World War II America. Other excellent books by Mr. De Toledano include: The Greatest Plot in History; J. Edgar Hoover: The Man in His Time; Spies, Dupes and Diplomats; RFK: the Man Who Would Be President; Notes from the Underground; and Nixon.

Rather than debate the antagonizing and less than intelligent spoilers on this site, why not spend some of that writing time changing this cancerous media establishment.

To start, get NBC and/or GE to fire Keith Olberman and  William Arkin.

This shareholder is going to sell his GE stock, and tell Investor Relations why.

http://www.nbc.com/Footer/Contact_Us/

http://www.ge.com/en/ge/contact.htm

Irony: GE has a big section on their website titled "Citizenship"

Why bother being a good "Citizen" making clean energy, when the media outlets you own are spewing negative, cynical and anti-military pollution.  

Commonsense

"The curse of the wiseman who stays out of politics, is to be governed by fools."  Plato

Rather than debate the antagonizing and less than intelligent spoilers on this site, why not spend some of that writing time changing this cancerous media establishment.

To start, get NBC and/or GE to fire Keith Olberman and  William Arkin.

This shareholder is going to sell his GE stock, and tell Investor Relations why.

http://www.nbc.com/Footer/Contact_Us/

http://www.ge.com/en/ge/contact.htm

Irony: GE has a big section on their website titled "Citizenship"

Why bother being a good "Citizen" making clean energy, when the media outlets you own are spewing negative, cynical and anti-military pollution.  

Commonsense

"The curse of the wiseman who stays out of politics, is to be governed by fools."  Plato

On Tuesday’s "Good Morning America," anchor Diane Sawyer continued to gush over the dictator of Syria. As already noted on NewsBusters, the ABC anchor gingerly questioned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over the country’s political and cultural repression. But she also defended him, reminding American viewers that "change must come slowly."

A second segment focused on Assad’s wife, Asma. In this piece, Sawyer’s most laudatory yet, she profiled the Mideast power couple and a viewer could be forgiven for assuming that this was a look at the wife of a 2008 presidential contender and not the spouse of a dictator.

Sawyer informed her audience on just what an amazing couple they make and closed the segment with a direct appeal for more understanding of the Syrian dictatorship:

Diane Sawyer: "So, while the world debates the intentions of her husband on the world stage, the two of them are clearly symbols of a new generation in the Middle East. The former doctor, the former banker, schooled in England, steeped in Syria. And she might say, asking the West for a new conversation about a new day."

Never let it be said that politicians are the only ones who side-step the hardball questions in Washington. In today's Post Politics Hour chat at washingtonpost.com, reporter Peter Baker had a no-comment answer on WashPost blogger William Arkin's anti-troops fulminating:

Greenville, S.C.: Yo Peter -- you got any problems with your colleague William Arkin writing an entire column based on the American troops in Iraq being mercenaries and then, after taking a lot of heat, saying words to the effect of "I probably should not have used the word 'mercenary'"? Is this the kind of diversity The Washington Post is looking for?

Peter Baker: Sorry, this is beyond my field. William Arkin writes for the web site and this is a question better directed to the editors there.

O’Reilly began (video available here, hat tips to Hot Air and LGF): “In a stunning display of hatred, NBC News military analyst William Arkin wrote two Internet columns chastising members of the United States Armed Forces for daring to criticize civilian dissenters of the Iraq war.”

After reading some of the offending passages, O’Reilly released the hounds:

Tom Friedman is at it again. Whenever a reporter asks him how to fix the Middle East, Friedman's response is increasingly the same - increase taxes! On this morning's Today show NBC's Meredith Vieira brought on the New York Times columnist to discuss the Iraq debate on Capitol Hill. Setting up Friedman with his own premise, Viera asked: "Well you've said, 'We need to reshape the game board.' What do you mean by that?" Friedman then gave a long-winded response that eventually revealed his solution: "Oil tax." Below is the conversation as it occurred in the 7am half hour of the February 6 Today show:

Meredith Vieira: "Well you've said, 'We need to reshape the game board. What do you mean by that?'"

Open for discussion...

In a huge blow to America’s ability to defend itself from future terrorist attacks both home and abroad, the European Central Bank has told SWIFT, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, that it must halt the transfer of personal banking information to American authorities by April.

As reported by Agence France-Presse on February 1 (h/t to Dan at Riehl World View): “The agency, the European Data Protection Supervisor, told the bank to come up with measures ‘to make its payment operations fully compliant with data-protection legislation,’ urging it to ‘take appropriate measures as soon as possible.’”

Hadn’t heard about this? Well, how could you? After all, according to Google and LexisNexis searches, the only major American media outlet to bother reporting this was, coincidentally and quite ironically, the New York Times.

Isn’t that a delicious twist of fate? Yet, the hypocrisy in this goes much deeper.

Imagine that during the days of apartheid in South Africa, Diane Sawyer had just completed an interview of the white leader of the regime. What are the odds she would have emerged to inform viewers, in sympathetic tones, that the leader had reminded her of an old Afrikaaner saying to the effect that change must come slowly?

Yet that's just what Diane did after her interview with Syrian dictator Bashar Assad in which he claimed Syria wasn't ready for democracy. The screencap you see here is of Diane giving a dramatic portrayal of Assad's words. Emoted Diane:

"The president reminded me that all over the Arab world, there is a standard saying, 'chouay, chouay' [my transliteration] which means 'slowly, slowly. Change must come slowly.'"

Have a look at the video clip of Diane's dramatic rendering here.