Barking at Kyra: Lefty Media Watchdogs Not Phillips Fans

Some have speculated that the "a--holes" CNN anchor Kyra Phillips referred to in her ladies'-room chat might have been President Bush and other Republicans. The folks at the liberal group Media Matters for America, however, don't view Phillips as a GOP-basher. In fact, Media Matters has posted on its web site several items taking Phillips to task for supposed conservative bias. For example:

July 12, 2005: "...Philips [sic] responded to a call by Democratic senators for President Bush to fire White House senior adviser Karl Rove for his alleged role in the outing of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame by saying [that there is] 'definitely a major smear campaign going on [against Rove].'"

January 20, 2006: "...Phillips misstated the false assertions Washington Post ombudsman Deborah Howell made regarding Democrats and indicted Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff...Phillips misstated what was wrong with Howell's statement and therefore entirely misconstrued the substance of reader complaints...As Media Matters for America has noted, Democrats received money from Abramoff's clients, but not from Abramoff directly."

February 2, 2006: "...Phillips characterized Cindy Sheehan as an 'anti-war activist' while casting Beverly Young, wife of Rep. C.W. 'Bill' Young (R-FL), as a 'staunch advocate for the troops.' Both women were removed from the visitor's gallery of the House of Representatives prior to the start of President Bush's January 31 State of the Union address for wearing T-shirts with political messages. Sheehan's shirt listed the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq at that point -- 2,245 -- along with the question 'How many more?' Young's shirt read: 'Support the Troops -- Defending Our Freedom.'

"Philips [sic] did not say how Sheehan's status as an 'anti-war activist' or how the message on her shirt differentiated her from a 'staunch advocate for the troops' such as Young."

July 26, 2006 headline above an item concerning an interview with novelists Jerry Jenkins and Joel Rosenberg: "CNN or CBN? Phillips asks apocalypse authors: '[A]re we living in the last days?'"