With two front page stories on the topic, the New York Times sets two themes in today's media coverage of Sarah Palin's disclosure that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant. The Times, noting not only the teenage daughter's pregnancy, but Palin's now newborn with Downs syndrome, says that women across America now are having "to address the question of just how demanding a job a mother with such intense family obligations should tackle." In their second theme, echoed elsewhere in the media, the New York Times questions whether the McCain campaign did their political homework before selecting Palin.
ABC World News reported that Palin "asked for privacy for her daughter. Her children, she said, should have a zone of privacy. She said the teen would keep the baby and marry the father. But the revelation quickly drew a lot surprise in the political world." There was also "empathy from Barack Obama." Obama was shown saying, "My mother had me when she was 18. How family deals with issues and, you know, teenage children, that shouldn't be the topic of our politics." On Fox News' O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly said, "The governor says she will marry the father. We don't know much about him. Immediately, smear merchants began hammering the governor's family, angering Barack Obama." Obama was shown saying, "Let me be as clear as possible. I have said before, and I will repeat again, I think people's families are off limits. And people's children are especially off limits."
McCain knew about the pregnancy when he offered Palin the job. On the CBS Evening News, Bob Schieffer described how McCain found out, "Well, it happened this way. One of the vetters was going through the checklist of things and said, is there anything else that we should know? And she said, yes. Bristol is pregnant. That's how they found out. John McCain knew before he offered her the job about this, but it was fine with him. He thought it would be okay."
NBC Nightly News noted that "in an interview with Brian Williams before the pregnancy was made public, McCain praised Palin's work-life balance." McCain: "I think the example that she has set of home and family and service and putting her country first, I think frankly, it inspires me."
The Washington Post reports on its front page the Karl Rove "played down the political fallout from the situation. 'A lot of Americans know families, if not their own, that have seen something like this,' he said in an interview. 'The question is: How does the family deal with it? What they have said is that she is going to carry the child to term and that she and the father are going to be married. A lot of people will look at this and put it through the filter of their own experiences and know that there are a lot of different ways families deal with it, and I think this will be seen at the end of the day as laudatory.'"
Much of the media is examining what the revelation is likely to mean to conservatives, particularly evangelical conservatives, and the consensus is that the issue may actually be a plus for the McCain-Palin ticket. For example, CNN's The Situation Room reported, "In getting this news out to reporters today, McCain aides made a point of reminding us that she is -- she -- that her -- that her daughter is, in fact, keeping her baby. And when you talk to conservatives, they say that is one of the big reasons that they're actually deciding to rally around her, given the news that we heard today." The CBS Evening News reported on the impact of the decision, saying "the opinion of one group appears already set in stone. Rallies this weekend were overflowing with euphoric Christian conservatives. Many conservative leaders today said their support is unshaken." The Los Angeles Times reports "the initial political reaction" among Republicans "was one of dismay, but it was unclear whether there would be any long-term fallout, especially from the conservative right, which favors abstinence over sex education."
However, The Hill, in a story that contradicts much of the TV and print reporting on the Bristol Palin story, says "news that...Palin's 17-year-old daughter is pregnant could lessen the enthusiasm conservatives expressed for John McCain's running mate, strategists said Monday."
Democratic Women Hesitant To Target Palin? There are some signs in the media today that prominent Democratic women have been somewhat disarmed by McCain's selection of Palin. The Washington Post reports Ann Lewis, "a longtime adviser" to Hillary Clinton, said yesterday that Clinton is "not running against Sarah Palin, let's be clear. ... She is not on the ticket." Clinton "has issued only one statement on Palin -- congratulating her and noting that her policies would take the country in the wrong direction -- and has no plans to come out swinging against Palin, other advisers said."
In its "Political Bunch" blog, ABC News.com reported that Geraldine Ferraro, the only other woman to appear on a major national ticket, on NPR "defended Palin from charges that the Alaska governor -- who got her first passport last year -- doesn't have enough foreign policy experience. 'What she doesn't know she will learn very quickly, she seems smart enough,' Ferraro said." Ferraro added that she doesn't yet know whom she will vote for, saying, "I'm like one of you people, I'm sitting here working on my, on my decision. Y'know I'm a Democrat and I am a person who feels very strongly about issues that are facing this country so when I go into the booth I will make my decision."
A number of national polls out in the last 48 hours suggest that Barack Obama got a small bounce from his convention, but the media is speculating that the size of that bounce may have been limited by John McCain's VP announcement the morning after the Democratic convention ended. The Politico reports Obama's bounce in the polls "appears to be slightly smaller than the norm of past conventions, and it's gradually depreciating."
Sill, Obama does now have a lead in 5 of 6 national polls, the only exception being a Zogby Interactive online survey. The CBS Evening News reported last night a new "CBS News poll out today shows Barack Obama did get a bounce from the Democratic Convention. A three-point lead before the Denver convention has turned into an eight-point lead over John McCain." Bob Schieffer remarked, "I think it's a nice little bounce...but it's nothing special. Jimmy Carter got a bigger bounce than this in 1980. He got beat. I think what it may show is that John McCain's announcement of his vice presidential pick on the Friday after the Democratic Convention may have taken a little bloom off this rose." CBS News reported on its website that Obama leads McCain 48%-40% in its poll of 781 registered voters taken August 29-31.
USA Today, meanwhile reports a "USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Saturday and Sunday" shows Obama "now leads 50%-43% among registered voters. In the USA TODAY poll taken Aug. 21-23, the Illinois senator held a four-point lead." The poll surveyed 1,835 registered voters from August 30-31.
CNN reported on its website that a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Sunday night shows the Obama-Biden ticket leading the McCain-Palin ticket by one point, 49 percent to 48 percent, "a statistical dead heat."
The Gallup daily presidential tracking poll shows Obama leading McCain 49%-43%. The poll surveyed 2,733 registered voters from August 29-31. Obama led McCain 48%-42% in yesterday's poll. The Rasmussen Reports automated daily tracking poll for September 1 shows Obama leading McCain 47%-44%, and 49%-46% including leaners.
A Zogby poll showed McCain's "surprise announcement Friday of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate -- some 16 hours after Democrat Barack Obama's historic speech accepting his party's presidential nomination -- has possibly stunted any Obama convention bump. ... The latest nationwide survey, begun Friday afternoon after the McCain announcement of Palin as running mate and completed mid-afternoon today, shows McCain/Palin at 47%, compared to 45% support for Obama/Biden." The online survey was conducted Aug. 29-30, and polled 2,020 likely voters nationwide.
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
The Republican National Convention opened in St. Paul, Minnesota with an appeal by First Lady Laura Bush and Cindy McCain to raise funds for hurricane relief. NBC Nightly News reported, "On John McCain's orders in fact the convention suspended all political speeches. Just did some routine business for a few hours. ... Instead, delegates are busy raising money for hurricane victims as the party tries to rebrand itself to prove it has learned how to respond to a natural disaster."
The Washington Post reports Laura Bush "reprised her role as official spirits-booster Monday, taking the stage at a convention stripped of almost any pomp in an effort to convey to Republican delegates -- and the nation -- that things will be okay." The AP reports with "their plans for opening day of the Republican National Convention dashed, first lady Laura Bush and Cindy McCain instead appealed to GOP faithful to donate time and money to those caught in Hurricane Gustav." However, the Washington Times reports the First Lady "did what only she could do on an unprecedented occasion -- deliver tough political jabs on behalf of Sen. John McCain on a day in which the Republicans had forsworn overt political activity because of Hurricane Gustav."
So far, the media's take on the impact is mixed. The New York Times reports it "took resources, coordination and lots of volunteers, but the McCain campaign managed to push back the dreaded split-screen between St. Paul and Hurricane Gustav and save the Republican convention from a flood of bad Katrina memories." Organizers "turned the political event into a pageant of penance and patriotic redemption, a chance to don sackcloth and ashes and get the disaster relief effort right this time." In contrast, the Washington Post reports the "stripped-bare" convention opened "without pomp or soaring rhetoric, without any hardball politics, without anything really cool at all. Hurricane Gustav, even in its weakened state, stole the GOP's pageantry. What remained? A business meeting."
Obama, Biden Temper Rhetoric In Bow To Gustav The New York Times reports that despite the tradition of Labor Day being the opening to the general election, Sens. Barack Obama and Joe Biden "altered their arguments against Senator John McCain, vowing that it was not a day for partisan politics. Before traveling to Milwaukee on Monday evening, Mr. Obama addressed an afternoon crowd in downtown Detroit. 'Today is the day for all of us to come together as Americans and send our thoughts and prayers to our brothers and sisters who are worrying at this very hour,' he said." The AP adds that Obama "urged hundreds of thousands of supporters Monday to donate to the Red Cross to help victims of Hurricane Gustav" and "scaled back Labor Day speeches to unions in an effort to keep the focus on the Gulf Coast."
Bush, Cheney Convention Cancellation A Plus For McCain? McClatchy reports this morning that although "they were reluctant to say it out loud, many Republicans were relieved Monday that President Bush didn't attend the Republican National Convention. They didn't like to talk about it on the record, in part because they didn't want to admit an unintended political benefit in Hurricane Gustav, which led both Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney to cancel their scheduled speeches Monday to the convention." The Christian Science Monitor similarly reports Gustav "already appears to have given McCain a political gift: Bush and Vice President Cheney canceled their Monday night speeches, and they are not likely to attend the convention at all. The absence of these unpopular figures helps McCain distance himself from them." On the NBC Nightly News, NBC political director Chuck Todd said, "The idea of having four days of saying that John McCain is a Republican and President Bush and Vice President Cheney speaking was actually not going to be helpful to him." On MSNBC, correspondent Dan Abrams said, "In the end, is this almost a best case scenario? ... You have now got this political environment where you don't have to have President Bush speaking, you don't have to have Vice President Cheney speaking, and you get the popular Bush [the First Lady] up there with Cindy McCain."
However,The Hill reports the White House "said Monday that President Bush might appear at the Republican National Convention later in the week after initially canceling to monitor Hurricane Gustav."
The AP reports this morning that John McCain brought in at least $47 million in August, his best fundraising month yet "and a sign that he is dispelling doubts about his campaign among conservative donors." The amount "was just shy of the $50 million that Democratic rival Barack Obama raised in July." One official "said the campaign had raised $10 million since McCain announced Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate on Friday." Bloomberg News reports that overall, the GOP expects to have $240 million on hand by the end of the week, including the $85 million McCain will get in public financing and the Republican National Committee's warchest, for the fall campaign.
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
Top
Coverage of Gustav is offering measured praise for the federal government's response to Hurricane Gustav. That response is often positively compared to the Administration's handling of Katrina in 2006. On CNN's The Situation Room, for example, anchor Wolf Blitzer said, "They learned lessons from three years ago, the Federal, state and local authorities, and they were with an abundant of caution doing the right things this time." Gloria Borger added, "Yes, I think it is lessons learned. I think it's the ability to self-correct in this country. I think Congress has spent an awful lot of time, $15 billion. Their work is not done. Only 20 percent of the construction is done in that area, but clearly they have learned how to evacuate, they've learned how to lead." On Fox News' O'Reilly Factor, correspondent Geraldo Rivera praised "the absolute superb coordination of every level of government, from President Bush down to the cop on the beat, the National Guardsmen patrolling these streets. This is the flip of Katrina. ... This was superb." On CNN's Larry King Live, anchor Anderson Cooper said "so far," there was "no comparison whatsoever" with Katrina.
Hurricane Gustav remained the dominating focus of the network evening newscasts Monday, even as each led with stories reporting that the storm had proven not to be a repeat of Hurricane Katrina. The CBS Evening News noted that the President, who was "scheduled to speak at the Republican National Convention...instead flew to Texas and visited an emergency command center there. He said the government was much better prepared this time." The New York Times, meanwhile, says, "There was no sign that the disaster of 2005 -- when thousands were left stranded in misery for days and 1,600 people were killed, many of them elderly -- would be repeated."
On its front page, the Wall Street Journal reports, "Determined to prove they could manage the fallout of a devastating storm more effectively than the bungled and politically disastrous response to Hurricane Katrina, which killed more than 1,800 people in 2005, federal, state and local officials this time around carried out one of the largest and smoothest evacuations in US history." The Christian Science Monitor similarly calls the evacuation "a sign that emergency preparations among residents and public officials alike, if not perfectly smooth, are improved since hurricane Katrina." USA Today says that "contrast was emblematic of Bush's presidency, one defined by his response to emergencies: 9/11, recession, Hurricane Katrina. After Katrina, even his own White House staff had found the response terribly lacking and issued 125 recommendations for improvements." The AP reports, "The image of Bush, standing with FEMA Director David Paulison, shaking hands with emergency workers was that of a hands-on president in charge."
In what media reports are casting as a key development in US efforts to end its military role in Iraq, Iraqi authorities yesterday took over security in Anbar province, a former al Qaeda stronghold. USA Today calls the handover a "landmark step toward the withdrawal of more American troops." President Bush "declared in a statement that al-Qaeda had been defeated in the western desert province, which was on the brink of collapse to the Islamic militant group two years ago," and the transfer "was greeted by politicians as a sign of the dramatic security progress that has been made throughout Iraq in the past year."
NBC Nightly News, the only network to report the story, called the handover "a milestone," noting that the province "was once the center of the Sunni insurgency in Iraq" where "more than 1,000 US troops died." The AP also says "the transfer of Anbar province, the cradle of the Sunni insurgency and the birthplace of al-Qaeda in Iraq, marked a dramatic milestone in America's plan to eventually hand over all 18 provinces to Iraqi control so US troops can go home." Fox News' Special Report reported, "There may be no more stunning reversal of fortune in Iraq than in Anbar province," and the New York Times says the handover ceremony "capped one of the starkest turnabouts in the country since the war began five and a half years ago." The AP adds "the 25,000 American troops remaining in Anbar will focus on training Iraq's military and police forces and standing by to help if the Iraqis are unable to cope with any surge in violence."
The Washington Post reports this morning that the aftermath of ICE's "massive immigration raid" at Howard Industries in Laurel, Mississippi, last week "has led critics to suggest that the Bush administration is backpedaling from its aggressive use of criminal charges and fast-tracked trials against illegal immigrants caught at workplaces." Spokeswoman Kelly A. Nantel said the agency "continues to target egregious employers...to identify individuals engaging in identity theft, and we seek criminal charges where appropriate." The Post adds, however, that the handling of the Mississippi raid "was a stark departure from the way authorities conducted the previous record-setting sweep," which saw the apprehension of 389 workers at an Agriprocessors meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa. "Nearly 300 were charged, convicted and sentenced within 10 days in group trials in temporary courts set up at a fairground." In the Mississippi case, only 8 people were charged with criminal violations.
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
Top
Jay Leno: Obama "really went after McCain. Whoo! He did not hold back. It was something. If it was any worse, he could have been charged with elder abuse."
Jay Leno: "And we're very excited" because 16-year-old "Olympic gold medal winner, gymnast Shawn Johnson," is "here tonight." Johnson just "got back from Beijing," which means she has "more foreign policy experience than Sarah Palin."
Conan O'Brien: "Just a few hours ago, John McCain surprised everybody by choosing a younger woman as his running mate." So, "congratulations, Angela Lansbury."
Conan O'Brien: "No, of course, John McCain named Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. ... Now, when...McCain introduced" Palin, she "got up and...referred to herself as a 'hockey mom.'" And for "those people who don't know, a hockey mom is a soccer mom with fewer teeth."
Jimmy Kimmel: "So McCain today scores major points with a key voting bloc -- female moose hunters."
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
Top
Click image for larger view.
Smart analysis, insightful reporting, in-depth perspective—in a new, digital format.
Log in | Buy Now | See sample
View sample page 2View sample page 3View sample page 4View sample page 5advertisement
Get your POLITICALBULLETIN
Click image for larger view.
Smart analysis, insightful reporting, in-depth perspective—in a new, digital format.
Log in | Buy Now | See sample
View sample page 2View sample page 3View sample page 4View sample page 5Embed exclusive U.S. News headlines, rankings, columns, and blog postings to your Web site, blog, or social network.
advertisement
Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our Terms and Conditions of Use and Privacy Policy.
