Liberal Lunatic of the Day (5/13/2005) CBS News

Liberal Lunacy ^ | 5/13/2005 | Beckwith

[Beckwith]

CBS News, once again displaying its total disregard for journalistic integrity, has distorted the news in a flagrant attempt to tarnish the Republican Party by using a sound bite that is so out of context as to be near criminal.

CBS reported that Ken Starr said the Senate Republican's plans to stop the Democratic filibusters of judicial nominations was wrong.

What Ken Starr really said, was that the practice of invoking judicial philosophy as a grounds for voting against a qualified nominee of integrity and experience was wrong.

CBS presented a video clip on the Monday edition of the CBS Evening News that shows former Federal Appeals Court Judge and Whitewater Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr saying that Senate Republican plans to address the Democratic filibusters of judicial nominations was "an assault on the judicial branch of government."

Right behind the CBS report, the AP reported: "Kenneth Starr, an appeals court judge on the D. C. circuit from 1983 through 1989, came out against the Republican plan to ban judicial filibusters on Monday. He told CBS Evening News that it is a 'radical, radical departure from our history and our traditions, and it amounts to an assault on the judicial branch of government.'"  This false story was picked up and re-reported by a number of mainstream newspapers.

link:  CBS Distorts Quote by Ken Starr to Attack GOP

[Beckwith]

Does this sound familiar?  Does this sound like a bunch of Texas Air National Guard documents magically appearing just before the presidential election?  You betcha!

Those who watched the CBS Evening News on Monday and those who then read reports which quoted from the CBS Evening News are convinced that Ken Starr was discussing the nuclear option in his remarks.  However, Ken Starr wasn't referring to the Republican's threat to stop the filibuster as wrong.  Just the opposite, he was referring to the Democratic filibuster as being wrong.

Starr refuted the CBS report, saying, "I sat on Saturday with Gloria Borger for 20 minutes approximately, had a wide ranging, on-camera discussion. In the piece that I have now seen, and which I gather is being lavishly quoted, CBS employed two snippets.  The 'radical departure' snippet was specifically addressed, although this is not evidenced whatever from the clip, to the practice of invoking judicial philosophy as a grounds for voting against a qualified nominee of integrity and experience.  I said in sharp language that that practice was wrong.  I contrasted the current practice with what occurred during Ruth Ginsburg's nomination process, as numerous Republicans voted to confirm a former ACLU staff lawyer.  They disagreed with her positions as a lawyer, but they voted to confirm her.  Why?  Because elections, like ideas, have consequences.  In the interview, I did indeed suggest, and have suggested elsewhere, that caution and prudence be exercised in shifting/modifying rules, but I likewise made clear that the 'filibuster' represents an entirely new use and misuse of a venerable tradition."

CBS is now refusing to make a video copy of the broadcast available to Ken Starr as he has requested.

Gloria Borger, her segment producer, and anyone else associated with CBS's deliberate mischaracterization of Starr's remarks should be terminated.

[Doctor Raoul]

Exploding pick ups, poison gas against our own soldiers, forged military records, and now this. Just another example of "high journalistic standards" of network news.