NO MORE CBS-CBS Belittles Bush's Convention Speech After Fawning Over Kerry
CBS News, which had fawned over John Kerry's convention appearance,
belittled George W. Bush's effort. Just before Kerry emerged into the hall
in July, Byron Pitts passed along sycophantic spin points from Kerry
operatives about how before every important event Kerry will "make a sign of
the cross, then kiss the St. Christopher's medallion his mother gave him as
a child." Plus, Kerry always keeps with him his "Vietnam dog tags" as a
reminder he's "been down, but he always finds a way to get up." Thursday
night before Bush emerged, John Roberts rued how he was expected to use the
"compassionate conservative" phrase even "though some critics would probably
say it's a mantra that rings pretty hollow considering some of the policies
that his government has pursued in the last three-and-half years."
After Kerry's speech, Pitts relayed how Kerry had supposedly reminded
his sister that on her deathbed their mother told him, "integrity, that's
what matters," and "tonight," Pitts truckled, "John Kerry tried to show that
integrity." Five weeks later, following Bush's address, Roberts pointed out:
"He seems to have completely forgotten about Osama bin Laden who remains at
large. There was no talk about him. Also no talk about a couple of the other
great challenges facing America on the international stage, and those are
the problems with nuclear programs in both Iran and North Korea."
Earlier, wrapping up a CBS Evening News piece, Roberts had taken the
same shot at the "compassionate conservative" phrase he did hours later
before Bush's speech. On the Evening News, Roberts warned of a claim Bush
would make in his upcoming speech: "He hopes to rekindle his year 2000
mantra of compassionate conservatism, a goal his critics say would be a
stunning feat given his record of the past three years."
Comparing and contrasting Pitts and Roberts matches up since they hold
the equivalent positions at CBS News with Pitts covering Kerry and Roberts
assigned to Bush.
Near the top of CBS's prime time 10pm EDT hour on Thursday night, from
a backstage spot, Roberts previewed: "You're also going to hear the words
'compassionate conservative' escape the President's lips for the first time
in quite a while. That was the mantra that he wore in the 2000 election, a
mantra that he believes helped him win that election, so he is going to try
to adopt that again in the 2004 campaign, though some critics would probably
say it's a mantra that rings pretty hollow considering some of the policies
that his government has pursued in the last three-and-half years."
Following President Bush's speech, Roberts asserted, over video of
on-stage celebrating: "On job loss, the President actually wasn't as strong
as he typically is on the topic when he's out on the campaign trail where he
says certainly the economy has begun creating some jobs, but we're not doing
as well as we need to, we need to do a lot better. There wasn't much about
that. He just talked about programs to create more jobs in the future."
"Certainly what we heard here tonight was another plea from the
President to stick with him on the war on terror, to not change commanders
in the middle of the battle. The President didn't talk as much about Iraq as
he did about 9/11. In fact, when we're talking about security, it was almost
all about the war on terror, a clear reason for that is the idea that he
polls much better on the war on terror than he does on the war in Iraq. The
majority of Americans in several recent polls think that the war ion Iraq
was a mistake. But they all still give him very high marks for fighting the
war on terror."
Roberts then got in his jab: "It is interesting to note though, Dan, he
seems to have completely forgotten about Osama bin Laden who remains at
large. There was no talk about him. Also no talk about a couple of the other
great challenges facing America on the international stage, and those are
the problems with nuclear programs in both Iran and North Korea."
CBS's Bob Schieffer, who following Kerry's speech had gushed about how
"this is the best speech I have ever heard John Kerry make," was less
impressed with Bush's effort, complaining that it "was too long."
Schieffer's evaluation of Bush: "I certainly agree with you, Dan, that the
last part of this speech was the best part of the speech. But it took him a
long time to get there. I think the speech, just quite frankly, was too
long. We were told that he was going to lay out a bold program, a bold
agenda for the next four years. I'm not sure he did that, but, as you say,
he did lay out a list of ideas, many of which had been around for quite some
time."
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