Shown the Thursday Washington Post headline, “Victory in California Calms G.O.P.” followed by the New York Times headline, “Narrow Victory by G.O.P. Signals Fall Problems,” NPR's Nina Totenberg exclaimed on Friday night's Inside Washington: "The Times is wrong!" Syndicated columnist Mark Shields suggested his disagreement with the spin of the New York Times: "I don't think there's any question that if the Democrats had won they'd be yelling at the tree tops.” Shields added his analysis that the Times missed: “The culture of corruption, I think, is not a viable campaign message for 2006 for the fall. That ought to be a warning to the Democrats.”
On Thursday, in postings for the MRC's TimesWatch and on NewsBusters, “Double Huh: NYT Headline Says GOP's Cali Win Means 'Fall Problems' for Party,” Clay Waters provided a look at the tilted June 8 front page New York Times article about the congressional race in which Republican Brian Bilbray beat Democrat Francine Busby to replace imprisoned Republican Randy 'Duke' Cunningham.
A transcript of the relevant portion of the June 9 Inside Washington, a half-hour weekly panel show produced by Washington, DC’s ABC affiliate which carries it on Sunday morning after This Week. Before that, it airs on the affiliate’s all-news cable channel, NewsChannel 8, and Friday night at 8:30pm on DC’s PBS station, WETA channel 26.
Host Gordon Peterson over pictures of the headlines: "Here are two headlines from Thursday's newspapers: The Washington Post, ‘Victory in California Calms G.O.P.’ Same story in the New York Times: ‘Narrow Victory by G.O.P. Signals Fall Problems.’ What's your interpretation of that?"
Mark Shields: "I don't think there's any question that if the Democrats had won they'd be yelling at the tree tops. The reality is that, two realities from this. If the Democrats couldn't win that district when the only statewide primary is a Democratic primary for Governor-"
Peterson: "This is the Duke Cunningham."
Shields: "The Duke Cunningham seat in Southern California, then they're not going to win that district. That's the first thing. Second, the culture of corruption, I think, is not a viable campaign message for 2006 for the fall. That ought to be a warning to the Democrats. And third, I think Brian Bilbray, basically a moderate, winning on an anti-immigration platform stiffens the resolve of Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee and in the House itself, and I think the chances for an immigration bill have just taken a serious blow."
Charles Krauthammer: "I hate to say this, but Mark is rights on three counts. I'm shocked."
Shields: "Let me revisits my remarks."
