Posted on 09/12/2006 3:52:09 PM PDT by Laverne
To: National Desk
Contact: Brendan Daly or Jennifer Crider, 202-226-7616, both for House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Jim Manley or Rebecca Kirszner, 202-224-2939, both for Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid
WASHINGTON, Sept. 12 /U.S. Newswire/ -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid sent the following letter today to the presidents of network news companies calling on them to devote more coverage to House and Senate Democrats if they continue to give extensive coverage to President Bush's national security speeches.
Below is the text of the letter:
September 12, 2006
Steve Capus, President, NBC News, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10112
Dear Mr. Capus:
No subject is more critical to the American people than our national security. Yet as the press has widely reported, the issue of national security has regularly been politicized and exploited for partisan gain by the Bush Administration and Republicans in Congress. The President's recent speaking schedule and his nationally televised prime time speech last night strongly suggest that similar tactics will be employed in the coming weeks leading up to Election Day to heighten public anxiety and promote partisanship.
Over the weekend, The New York Times reported that Republicans intend to use a series of national security speeches in what The Times has characterized as a "carefully calibrated strategy" to win the midterm elections. The issue of national security should not be politicized. The security of our nation surely deserves a thorough public discussion, and different viewpoints deserve similar coverage so that the American people hear alternative ideas. We write to you today to request that if you plan to continue to devote extensive live coverage to the President's national security speeches over the next few weeks, you similarly provide substantial coverage to the national security events and statements of House and Senate Democrats.
Until now, there has been a complete absence of balance in the news coverage of national security issues. Over the last month as campaign efforts have begun in earnest, according to Media Matters, there have been 64 percent more conservatives appearing on the Sunday news shows than Democrats. In a speech that was supposed to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the September 11 tragedy, last night President Bush was given almost 20 minutes of primetime coverage on all major networks for a speech that continued to inaccurately link 9/11 to the war in Iraq.
Congressional Democrats have a wealth of experience, authority, and the ideas as to how we could better secure our nation, combat terrorism, and ensure a significant transition in Iraq. House and Senate leaders hold frequent press conferences and briefings on a wide variety of national security issues ranging from Iraq to border security to the state of our military readiness. Most of these receive scant coverage, even when offering specific alternatives to Administration policies.
In order to provide the American people with complete information to make the best choices come Election Day, we ask that you commit your network to providing fair and equitable coverage to the viewpoints of both Republicans and Democrats on these crucial national security debates.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
NANCY PELOSI, House Democratic Leader
HARRY REID, Senate Democratic Leader
Are they going to threaten ALL of the networks now?????
So fun to sit back and watch them yell "I'm MELTING.....!"
That's rich. They want "rebuttals" to the President's national security speeches. They have truly crossed over to the other side.
LMAO, Pelosi and Reid should be careful of what they wish for. If they got "fair coverage," the media would cease to focus solely on the president's perceived shortcomings and actually tell us something negative about the Democrats for a change, like their knee-jerk partisanship and attack Bush on everything and anything mentality that grips them instead of the exclusively fawning coverage their given by the Clown Car Media.
The Republicans get 1 minute for every 100 minutes of Rats now, it's just the Republicans make the most out of their 1 minute and the Rats just ramble on.
Funny. I don't seem to recall similar concerns being expressed when Clinton was using the bully pulpit.
These people are so funny; they OWN the networks, there is not one conservative anchor on the big three; there are no real conservative pundits on any channel except FNC, and they balance it with a dem. Again I say, their internal polls must be showing President Bush and the pubbies are making progress with their message. Too funny.
I agree. The network should devote fair coverage to house and senate democrats. They should tell the people how these people try to censor the networks, how they vote, and what they will do if--god forbid--they gain the power again, and who their backers are.
This is a good idea. The more media exposure they get, the more likely they are to say something stupid a'la Claire McCaskill.
They can't survive the sunlight. The only reason they are doing well now is because the Republicans can't get their act together and they are sitting there saying 'We aren't Republicans'.
The more speeches they give, the more they talk, the worse they do.
So, the Democrat party's main function now is to write complaining letters and threats to the media as opposed to working with the President to wage the war on terror. Why am I not surprised?
HAHAHAHA!!!!! It's so hard to take them seriously when they spout crap like this. They must be prepping for their Reid & Pelosi stand-up gig at the Palace:
Harry Reid: "Say goodnight, Nancy."
Nancy Pelosi: "Are you questioning my patriotism?"
President Bush hit a home run last night and a couple last week, many Dems are starting to spit just like Chrissy does when he gets upset.
Yeah, weren't they screaming about Bush's speech last night being "political," it wasn't, yet they are mad because they weren't given opportunity to bash the president's dignified and somber remarks? The president lead the nation in remembrance of 9-11 and reported to the American people, appropriately, on where we're at in the war on terror and to plea for patience and unity. Yet Democrats wanted to turn it into a political brawl like everything else they do and say. Then this morning they hypocritically accused the president of playing politics with 9-11. Typical of these DemoCrites.
>Congressional Democrats have a wealth of experience, authority, and the ideas as to how we could better secure our nation, combat terrorism, and ensure a significant transition in Iraq.
Ideas such as??? (besides cut, run and talk with the terrorists about their feelings)
I think I see the theme for their excuses after they lose a few seats in the November elections - "the media isn't being fair to us."
This is ridiculous. If the president believes that 9/11 signalled the beginning of a war of which Iraq is a key part, then he had an obligation to use last night's speech as a call for wartime unity.
Over and over again, Republican Senators need to state that the Democrats are blinded by their irrational dislike and distrust of President Bush. Question their patriotism, question their judgment, hit them hard.
Desperate Dingy.
That speech last evening must have polled threw the roof....they are really whining.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.