Meeting Madness

Thursday, June 24, 2004

The latest from the Political Grapevine:

Nader Not Leaving
A meeting at the Capitol between Ralph Nader (search) and the Congressional Black Caucus turned ugly after the Independent presidential candidate refused to withdraw from the race. According to The Hill newspaper Michigan Democrat Carolyn Kilpatrick told Nader, "Get your ass out," and one woman — heard through the wall — shouted, "You can't win." After many participants left the meeting early in frustration, Maryland Congressman Albert Wynn said of Nader, "The guy's got a Messiah complex."

Intel on Iraq
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the other day that after Sept. 11, Russian intelligence alerted the United States that Iraq was preparing terror attacks against this country. But the Media Research Center reports that the CBS Evening News never mentioned the story on Friday night. Neither did NBC's Nightly News, though both broadcasts ran stories critiquing the Bush administration's claim of a tie between Iraq and Al Qaeda. Meanwhile, Saturday's New York Times buried the story at the bottom of inside pages.

Related

Far From a Free Ride
The coverage of President Ronald Reagan after his death led some to recall him as "the Teflon president," who got a free ride in the press. But the Center for Media and Public Affairs, in a new study, finds that President Reagan received intensely negative coverage. The Center says it was two to one negative overall in his first year, with his policies doing even worse — three to one negative. The Center also found Reagan's coverage more than 90 percent negative in his re-election year of 1984, while his Democratic challenger Walter Mondale's press was 56 percent positive. As for his second term, the Center found that Mikhail Gorbachev did much better in the U.S. press and that even as he was leaving office, Reagan's press was two to one negative.

Market for 'My Life'
Customers lined up in Washington and New York to buy President Clinton's new autobiography, and the publisher claimed record sales. But bookstores across the country seemed not to be sharing in the demand. The San Francisco Examiner reported only a "smattering of people" in bookstores there, while one Palm Beach, Fla., bookseller complained about what he called a "real slow day." Meanwhile, bookstores in Houston, Virginia Beach, Tucson, San Antonio, Sacramento, Cincinnati and elsewhere reported modest sales of "My Life" — and no lines.

FOX News' Michael Levine contributed to this report

See Political Grapevine Archive

ADVERTISEMENT

FOX NEWS VIDEOS



uASK|uREPORT

BRIT HUME'S COMMENTARY

Blog Postings


  • Lies, spies and .summits
    Seven Democratic members of the Intelligence Committee wrote CIA director Leon Panetta a letter to ask him to “publicly correct” a statement he made saying that it is not ” the policy or practice of the agency to mislead Congress.” The Democrats say Panetta told Congress that senior CIA officials concealed actions and misled lawmakers [...]

    read post
  • Stimulus the sequel, public option, Palin 2012??, and .the direction of media coverage
    In an interview with Fox News, President Obama said a second stimuluscould still be an option—Major Garrett sat down with the President today in Moscow. President Obama said that he was aware that given the economic crisis recovery would prove to be difficult no matter what, but that unemployment was nearing 10% and he was [...]

    read post
  • Agreements, protests turned deadly andcomedian turned politican (finally)
    President Obama met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev today in Moscow and both menpledged they were on a path to “reset” ties between the United States and Russia. The two leaders signed a statement to reduceeach country’snuclear arsenals. President Obama and President Medvedev held a joint news conference in which Medvedev said his talks with [...]

    read post
twitter
ADVERTISEMENT

VIDEO