The extensive coverage of Sen. John McCain's denunciation of the New York Times story about his alleged links to a female lobbyist underscored the united front by the McCains -- who appeared together in Toledo, Ohio -- and the reaction of the GOP's right wing, which appeared energized by the story. In addition, the McCain campaign's use of the story to spark a new fundraising campaign, doubts among non-conservatives about the anonymous sourcing of the piece, and Times executive editor Bill Keller's mildly phrased defense of the story received prominent coverage. Relatively little reporting was devoted to the actual allegations of McCain doing favors for the lobbyist's firm.
The Washington Post reports on its front page that McCain "disputed almost every part of the Times story. ... He denied the part of the story, also reported in The Washington Post, that his staffers had confronted him about his relationship with Iseman. ... Within hours of the story's publication, McCain sought to turn it to his advantage, sending out a fundraising appeal." The Arizona Republic reports, "As he has done in the past," McCain "squarely faced the cameras and microphones and directly and unequivocally answered each uncomfortable question, leading many observers to suggest that his only real long-term exposure might come from whether at some point it turns out he lied or misspoke while rebutting the assertions." The Chicago Tribune reports that "McCain officials challenged the accuracy of key aspects of the report, including claims that the staff banned Iseman from McCain's office because she was hanging around all the time. 'There was only one staffer who had the authority or the ability to do that, and that was me,' said Mark Salter, McCain's longtime chief of staff. 'And I never did anything of the kind because I had no reason to.'"
The New York Times, reporting McCain's denial, places the story on page A20, in contrast with the front-page placement of yesterday's piece.
Leading the charge for the McCain campaign on TV was attorney Bob Bennett, who made the rounds of the cable networks yesterday defending his client. On MSNBC's Hardball, Bennett said, "I think it's a very bad story. And it's like a big piece of cotton candy, which looks attractive, but when you bite into it, there's nothing there." CNN's The Situation Room also interviewed Bennett, who said that what was wrong with the Times story was that he "sat down with the reporters and spoke with them. ... We showed them maybe 10 to 12 instances where Senator McCain refused to do the things being asked of him by her lobbying firm and her, where he just declined. ... That never makes its way into the story. And I don't think that's fair."
All three networks led with the story last night, where a major theme was the ability of the McCain campaign to make the story about the New York Times. The CBS Evening News reported that McCain's "supporters and others are questioning the Times' journalism and motivations." CBS adds that the McCain camps feels "like they've weathered the storm and succeeded in turning the attention on The Times. As one very senior aide put it to us today, the story isn't about us anymore; it's about The New York Times."
Right Wing Rallies Behind McCain Several sources reported that the right wing, previously negative about McCain, was finding common cause with him in attacking the Times. The Politico reports that Rush Limbaugh "and other conservative commentators rushed to defend McCain on Thursday against a potentially damaging article in The New York Times, embracing a maverick they have often attacked. ... Ironically, a potentially damaging article about McCain may help bond him to conservatives, who are relishing the fact that he now needs them." The AP adds, "There were early signs that the brouhaha might actually help McCain solidify the GOP base. Conservative pundits who are some of McCain's harshest critics could have jumped on the issue to question the strength of McCain's family values. Instead, they went after the Times." Similarly, the New York Post reports McCain's "right-wing critics, who have been icy to the moderate senator, to unite behind him. 'This is beyond disgraceful,' Sean Hannity said on WABC radio. 'This is the most despicable act of liberal bias that I have seen in my life.'"
Leftist Bloggers Also Skeptical Of Story The Politico blogger Ben Smith writes, "Many widely read liberal bloggers, breaking with partisan patterns, are expressing discomfort with the Times' reporting and offering conditional defenses of McCain. ... The defense of McCain from the left reflects well on the blogs' objectivity, and they certainly aren't defending McCain on the substantive issues of the election. ... Still, their even treatment of the subject may disturb Democratic strategists who are relying on the bloggers to serve, in every case, as the kind of partisan strike force that conservative blogs and talk radio were in 2004."
Sen. Hillary Clinton, her campaign widely seen as near death, went into last night's debate in Austin, Texas needing to score a major victory over Sen. Barack Obama. The early media consensus this morning is that, despite a very well received closing, she failed to do so. The Los Angeles Times says Clinton "struggled to create space between herself" and Obama, while the Wall Street Journal reports on its front page that the debate "didn't seem to provide the much-needed turning point for the New York senator to slow the momentum of her Illinois rival." The New York Daily News reports that Clinton "performed well, but needed to land a game-changing haymaker. She didn't." The San Francisco Chronicle reports on its front page that Clinton "needed to do more than hold her own," but "left with a draw." In an analysis in the Dallas Morning News, Wayne Slater writes that Clinton "tried to draw differences with Barack Obama to suggest she's ready to be commander in chief and he isn't." However, "she had to do it without seeming disagreeable, and in the end, she seemed to fall short of the goal." In an analysis in The Politico, Roger Simon wrote that "by the end of the evening, one was still left wondering what Clinton's Plan B was, how she intends to snap Obama's 11-0 winning streak since Super Tuesday," while Obama had "made his two key points: First, inspiration matters," and "Second, his position against the Iraq war matters."
The debate featured few clashes -- The Hill says Clinton "defied expectations" and "left home the sharp knives" -- but the AP reports that Clinton "accused" Obama "of political plagiarism" and "said he represented 'change you can Xerox.' Obama dismissed the charge out of hand, adding in a campaign debate, 'What we shouldn't be doing is tearing each other down, we should be lifting the country up.' The exchange marked an unusually pointed moment in an otherwise civil encounter." The audience "booed" Clinton's Xerox remark. USA Today adds Obama "dismissed the charge of lifting lines from [Massachusetts Gov. Deval] Patrick, his friend and campaign co-chairman, as part of the 'silly season' in politics."
Clinton's closing statement is generally receiving positive press this morning, and in many articles, is seen as the highlight of the debate. The Washington Post, in an article more positive than others about Clintons' performance, reports on its front page that the event "closed with a flourish, after the candidates were asked to describe how they had dealt with crises in their lives. ... It was Clinton who turned the question most to her advantage, alluding to her husband's affair with a White House intern and his subsequent impeachment but then shifting to say that what she went through paled in comparison to the challenges ordinary Americans face every day." Newsday says "it was her bittersweet closing statement recognizing the struggles of ordinary Americans that elicited the most positive response she's had in any debate. 'You know, the hits I've taken in life are nothing compared to what goes on every single day in the lives of people across our country,' said Clinton. ... When she finished, the audience gave her a standing ovation that took many, including Obama, by surprise." In an analysis, the AP says Clinton's final statement "was an unexpectedly gracious moment in a debate that was supposed to be a game changer for Clinton in the run-up to crucial primaries in Texas and Ohio March 4." The New York Post says that Clinton's campaign "highlighted the emotional closer as a profound moment that would reshape the race."
However, a number of commentators saw the final answer as essentially a capitulation. On MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, Jonathan Alter of Newsweek said, "Her ending was terrific, but it had a valedictory feel. It gave you a sense that if they lose Texas, she will be out on March 5th. And there's even a slight chance...that if she wants to really go out with class she'll do what John Edwards did" and withdraw early. "It's conceivable that...she could even get out sooner and then that would be a shocker and it would do her a tremendous amount of good."
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The Washington Post reports Sen. Hillary Clinton is "deadlocked" with Sen. Barack Obama in Texas and "holds a slender lead over him in Ohio, according to two new Washington Post-ABC News polls." The "closeness of the races in Texas and Ohio underscore the challenges facing Clinton over the next 12 days of campaigning as she seeks to end Obama's double-digit winning streak in their battle for the Democratic nomination." In Ohio, Clinton "leads Obama in the new poll by 50 percent to 43 percent, a significant but tenuous advantage given the shifts that have taken place elsewhere as candidates intensified their campaigns in advance of previous primaries. In Texas, the race is even, with Clinton at 48 percent and Obama at 47 percent."
A new Fox News /Opinion Dynamics poll shows Sen. Barack Obama topping Sen. John McCain 47%-43% in a general election trial heat. However, McCain leads Sen. Hillary Clinton 47%-44%. The poll also shows Clinton and Obama tied at 44% in the Democratic primary nationally.
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President Bush is back in the US today, and his Africa trip hasn't produced the public-relations bonanza back home that Bush's strategists had been hoping for. He has received favorable attention in the news media for his various programs to alleviate poverty and help African nations reduce disease such as AIDS and malaria. But the coverage has mostly been relegated to lesser status on the TV networks and the inside pages of the major newspapers, even though the President has received stirring receptions from the public and from African leaders throughout his trip. The Political Bulletin has learned that, from the White House point of view, one unfortunate fact is that there has been a surge of other news stories that have crowded out the President's sojourn. They included today's coverage of John McCain's relationship with a telecommunications lobbyist, Barack Obama's victories in recent Democratic presidential primaries, Hillary Clinton's struggling campaign, turmoil in Pakistan, and the US military's firing a missile at an errant spy satellite over the Pacific yesterday. One consolation: Bush appears to have had a wonderful time and was buoyed by the positive reaction he got in Africa all week.
And the media coverage at home what there was of it -- was almost entirely positive, even if it did not get the top billing. The AP reports Bush, "cheering Liberians to rebound from a 14-year civil war that left their nation in ruins, said Thursday that the US will keep lending a hand to make Liberia a symbol of liberty for Africa and the world." The New York Times notes Liberia was "selected as the final stop on Bush's tour "because the White House wanted to end on a high note."
Fox Special Report reported that "after several years of triggering protests on international travels, Mr. Bush was warmly welcomed here in Africa, and he seemed to enjoy himself more than usual because of it." The Los Angeles Times reports Bush told journalists that "the journey was 'one of the most exciting' of his presidency because of its focus," which "offered 'a chance to herald courageous people in their efforts to deal with hopelessness,' he said." In an analysis of the tour, the Washington Post says for "a president in his final year in office and saddled with low poll numbers, heading overseas, especially to a generally friendly part of the world, offers affirmation not always available at home." It has "been years since Bush drew crowds in the United States comparable to those he saw in Dar es Salaam."
The Los Angeles Times editorializes that Bush's "six-day trip...was a poignant reminder that Africa might be the only foreign continent that will be sorry to see him leave office. He has arguably done more for that part of the world than any other US president, though his critics seldom give him credit for it."
Yesterday, the Financial Times editorialized, "Bush bequeaths an unhappy foreign policy legacy to the world and to his successor. But he deserves credit on one issue: an extraordinary effort in the international fight against HIV/Aids." And on MSNBC's Hardball, Chris Matthews said, "In truth, I'm very proud that our President has been so committed -- seriously -- to fighting AIDS and malaria in a continent where I lived for a couple years and worked over there in the Peace Corps and still care a lot about."
Some Negative Coverage The Washington Post says Bush "steered clear of countries where stability, human rights and progress toward democracy have degenerated during his tenure, among them Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Chad, Uganda and Kenya." Critics "say that several less-than-democratic African leaders have skillfully played the anti-terrorism card to earn a relationship with the United States that has helped keep them in power."
And in a second editorial, the Los Angeles Times notes "religious groups are fixated on the need to stop HIV transmission through premarital and extramarital sex, but what's killing African women by the millions is unprotected sex with their husbands." The Times adds, "By providing life-saving drugs to HIV-positive pregnant women, the president's program claims to have prevented 157,000 infants from becoming infected. This is a huge accomplishment. What the US funding hasn't done is reduce unwanted pregnancies."
The Los Angeles Times reports, "The two main [Pakistani] opposition parties announced today they would work to form a coalition government, after dealing the party of President Pervez Musharraf a bruising defeat in this week's elections." The Wall Street Journal says former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari, "widower of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto, said their parties agreed on a common agenda." But, the Journal adds, it "may prove to be...fractious coalition."
The New York Times calls the "speedy accord...another setback for the embattled Pakistani president as well as his backers in Washington." The Financial Times quotes State Department spokesman Richard Boucher saying, "The fact that there will be a new government and there's been an election that the Pakistani people can be proud of that's a very important factor." "Pakistan, he added, "will remain a key US ally." The Washington Post, USA Today, and Los Angeles Times also report the story.
In an op-ed titled "A Milestone On The Road To Democracy," Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf writes in the Washington Post that Pakistan "faces three main tasks: defeating terrorism and extremism; building a stable and effective democratic government; and creating a solid foundation for sustained economic growth. Because these goals are shared by the vast majority of Pakistanis, I am certain we can and will accomplish them, and I stand ready to work with the newly elected Parliament to achieve these objectives."
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The AP reports CIA Director Michael Hayden "acknowledged Thursday that two rendition flights carrying terror suspects refueled on British territory, despite repeated US assurances that none of the secret flights since the Sept. 11 attacks had used British airspace or soil." The Los Angeles Times notes the "damaging revelations" came "after the United States said it conducted a further, more exhaustive inquiry." A separate AP report notes the CIA's disclosure prompted "an embarrassing reversal" for the British government. The Financial Times reports the US "admitted...to inadvertently misleading the British government." For his part, the Washington Post reports, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown "expressed 'disappointment' that the United States notified the British government of the flights just last week and called it a 'very serious issue.'"
The Washington Post /AP reports, "In a stunning turnaround, the former chief military prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay said Thursday he would be a defense witness for the driver of Osama bin Laden." Air Force Col. Morris Davis, "who resigned in October over alleged political interference in the US military tribunals, told The Associated Press he will appear at a hearing for Salim Ahmed Hamdan." The Wall Street Journal also reports the story.
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Jay Leno: "Hillary Clinton still doing very well in one state -- the state of denial, ladies and gentlemen."
Jay Leno: "Well, after winning ten in a row, political experts say there's a very good chance that Barack Obama could end up as our next president. See, that shows you the progress we've made in this country. We can have a black man in the White House. I remember when we couldn't get a black man in the cast of 'Friends.'"
David Letterman: "Did you read about John McCain? Well, according to 'The New York Times,' John McCain may have had an inappropriate relationship with a young blonde. That sounds like presidential material to me!"
David Letterman: McCain "looks like a guy with a collection of movies he bought at the car wash."
David Letterman: McCain "looks like a guy on the beach with a metal detector."
Jimmy Kimmel: "I don't know if anything happened or not, but I think the rule of thumb should be every year you're in a Vietnamese prison camp, you should be allowed one extramarital affair."
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