face the nation

This is how liberal your Sunday talk shows are:

Single-source interviews are the showcase segments on the Sunday shows, which tend to compete for access to guests they consider the top newsmakers—which, in the world of Beltway media, usually means politicians. In the eight-month study period, partisan-affiliated one-on-one interviews were 70 percent Republican—166 guests to Democrats’ 70.

Then you got this part:

Unlike the one-on-one interviews, these roundtable segments include some voices from outside the two parties; partisan sources—who leaned Republican, 180 to 109—accounted for less than half of the guests. But the nonpartisan guests didn’t alter the right’s advantage, with Republicans and/or conservatives making 282 appearances to 164 by Democrats and progressives (categories that are less interchangeable). Middle-of-the-road Beltway journalists made 201 appearances in roundtables, which serves to buttress the argument that corporate media’s idea of a debate is conservative ideologues matched by centrist-oriented journalists.

So the round table is a little better, with only a 63% domination from Republicans. Still, I don't see how you can consider this the "liberal" media.

Steve Benen explains:

I especially loved the "Exclusive!" with the exclamation point, as if this were a rare, special occurrence.

For those keeping score at home, as of this weekend, there will have been 47 Sundays since President Obama's inauguration in January. With this 16th appearance on a Sunday morning talk show this week, John McCain will have been a guest on one of the programs every 2.9 weeks. No other official in the country has been sought out by bookers this often.

Since the president took office, McCain has been on "This Week" three times (September 27, August 23, and May 10), "Fox News Sunday" three times (July 2, March 8, and January 25), CNN's "State of the Union" three times (October 11, August 2, and February 15), and "Face the Nation" four times (October 25, August 30, April 26, and February 8). His appearance on "Meet the Press" this weekend will be his third (December 6, July 12, and March 29).

This pattern should really be troubling to the GOP, especially the more conservative end of the party. The Sunday talking heads act as though McCain is the defacto mouth piece for the party, and he clearly isn’t. On top of that, this love of McCain is probably a big factor in the decline of viewership when it comes to Sunday talk shows. It’s old and stale, much like McCain himself.

In my ongoing effort to help the right wing blogs go after those who trash Sarah Palin, I have decided to submit another name; Newt Gingrich:

“I think that she is going to be a significant player,” said Gingrich during an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation”. “But she’s going to be one of 20 or 30 significant players. She’s not going to be the de facto leader.”

How dare Newt diminish the rising star in such a way! Who does he think he is? The right wing blogs will make sure Newt has no place in American politics anymore. Or will they have a serious crisis as one of their idols is starting to shoot down another idol? Oh the head spin!

As much as he pisses me off at times, I still like Chuck Schumer. This morning on Face the Nation, Orin Hatch kept invoking the old "Clinton did it" excuse when talking about the Libby commutation. Schumer responded; "two wrongs don't make a right".

For as "bad" as Clinton was for this country (according to Republicans), they sure love defending Bush with the old "Clinton did it" meme. So why are they comparing their hero to their nemesis? Simple - it's because they are the party of childish excuses.

This Week with George Stephanopoulos

• Nicholas Burns, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, on the status of diplomatic efforts to end the violence in the Middle East
• Daniel Ayalon, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S., on the growing battle against Hezbollah.
• ROUNDTABLE: Fareed Zakaria, Jay Carney, Claire Shipman, and George Will.

Meet the Press

• Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations, Dan Gillerman
• Lebanon's Special Envoy, Nouhad Mahmoud.
• Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations, Dan Gillerman, and Lebanon's Special Envoy, Nouhad Mahmoud.

Face the Nation

• Fuad Siniora Prime Minister of Lebanon
• Shimon Peres Deputy Prime Minister of Israel

There is no listing up for Late Edition. Wolf Blitzer is broadcasting from the Middle East so I guess it is a pot luck on interviews.

So what say you Mr. Gonzales

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Sunday he has asked
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to testify during open hearings on the
legality of the Bush administration's domestic spying program.

Hearings are planned for early February into the National Security Agency
program that President Bush approved in 2002, said Sen. Arlen Specter (news,
bio, voting record), R-Pa. They will examine whether the congressional
resolution authorizing the president to use force against Iraq allowed
eavesdropping without a court order, as the administration contends, he
said.

Gonzales' testimony is being sought because he is the principle spokesman
for the administration's position, Specter said.

The attorney general was White House counsel when Bush initiated the
program, a role that could raise issues of attorney-client privilege in
seeking his testimony. A message left with the Justice Department on Sunday
was not immediately returned.

Asked on CBS's "Face the Nation" if Gonzales had agreed to appear,
Specter said, "Well, I didn't ask him if he had agreed. I told him we were
holding the hearings and he didn't object. I don't think he has a whole lot
of choice on testifying."

Academics and others will be asked to appear, part of a list of witnesses
"who think the president was right and people who think the president was
wrong," Specter said.

Article continues

here.

On Face the Nation, Attorney General Gonzalez told Bob
Schieffer that when he was informed of the investigation into the Valerie Plame
leak, that he immediately notified the White House chief of staff. He was
notified at 8 in the evening and they decided to wait notifying the rest of the
staff and the President until the next morning.

This now raises some new questions into the investigation.
It makes you wonder who the chief of staff notified that night. This could have
resulted in some late night shredding or planning on how to cover up the case.

Gonzales also said he has testified before the grand jury.
Now the investigation might take an even new and more interesting turn. Now it
will most likely be looking at what happened the night before the White House
was officially notified of the investigation!