This public feud between Tim Russert’s forces and Arianna Huffington should be fun to watch:
Somebody’s feeling the heat…
How else to explain the widely-off-the-mark responses from NBC’s PR department in Lloyd Grove’s column to our reporting on Russert’s multitude of journalistic ethical conflicts.
Instead of dealing with the charges head on, the media giant and its Washington bureau chief Tim Russert have astonishingly decided to get down and dirty, dredging up and faxing to at least one reporter a 12-year-old false claim that I hired a private detective to snoop on Russert’s wife Maureen Orth while she was preparing a hit piece on me for Vanity Fair in 1994.
If the past few days have been any indication, it looks like the first battle in the war to control Congress will be for perceived ‘control’ of the media. Of course, the National Review begs to differ with charges that Russert et. al are ‘too conservative’:
First, Matthews points out what appears to him to be a “contradiction” in Bush’s position on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Bush’s position is that FISA is outdated but doesn’t require updating because the current surveillance program is legal). Russert agrees and argues that FISA is very clear on requiring new legislation authorizing the NSA to eavesdrop within the United States. Both miss the point that Bush has argued that the authorization to use military force after Sept. 11th gave him the authority to intercept suspected al Qaeda communications coming into the United States.
In the next clip, Matthews asks Dana Milbank what the headline for tomorrow will be. Milbank responds by quoting an LA Times reporter who compared Bush to Nixon in the press conference. Milbank says the reporter drew the comparison by saying that like Nixon, Bush seemed to be saying that his wiretapping activity was legal just because he said so — which completely ignores the complex legal arguments the administration has made supporting its position. Matthews and Milbank had a good laugh about the Bush-Nixon comparison.
Remember, the left-wing is arguing that these guys are too conservative.
Buckle up and enjoy.