'Today' Focuses on Cheney Room Demands, Silent on Kerry's

On March 24, the Today show featured a segment on the Vice President’s personal needs for hotel visits. The piece, which aired at 7:20AM EST, featured three references to Cheney’s request that all televisions be tuned to Fox News. A few days later, the Smoking Gun,  the website that broke the Cheney story, did a follow up on John Kerry’s requirements. The NBC series has yet to cover this. And if they did, they would probably not report this demand:

"Newspapers: all local plus New York Times, Washington Post"

The Today story on Cheney, hosted by Michelle Kosinski, featured these probing comments:

Kosinski: "The room must have a microwave oven, the lights on, the temperature set at 68 degrees and all TVs tuned to Fox News."

Kosinski: "The VP seems to have simple needs. But what about that need for another network?"

Kosinski: "I asked his press person, why, why must it be Fox News all the time?"

The March 28 edition of MSNBC’s News Live did briefly mention Kerry’s list at 3:51PM, but host Chris Jansing left out the Senator’s specific request for The New York Times and Washington Post. Apparently, it’s only news when a Republican seeks out conservative media, not when a Democrat looks for liberal outlets. A connection that MSNBC overlooked in their report is the difference in the amount of the demands. Kerry’s requirements are lavish, while Cheney’s are meager. The Massachusetts Senator’s needs include bottled water (Poland Spring only, no Evian), a reverse osmosis filter, a "heavenly bed" for Teresa Heinz Kerry, soup (not cream based) and many more. Today, to their credit, did mention this when they interviewed hotel manager Jack Breisacher. Upon reading the Vice President’s sparse requests, he commented, "We could handle this in probably five minutes."

Some other notations about John Kerry’s tastes. The former presidential candidate is apparently very picky about his exercise. He prefers "a recumbent bike these days, not the regular old stationary bike." Additionally, despite being married to a ketchup heiress, Senator Kerry "will not be eating spicy food or anything containing tomato." A relationship counselor might have something to say about that. Finally, it is mentioned that being able to watch movies in a hotel "make JK very happy." Would it be impolite to ask what type of movies the Senator is enjoying?