Memo To Tim Russert: Dick Cheney Thinks He Controls You.

[kpete]

They Likey Tim

Memo to Tim Russert: Dick Cheney thinks he controls you.

This delicious morsel about the "Meet the Press" host and the vice president was part of the extensive dish Cathie Martin served up yesterday when the former Cheney communications director took the stand in the perjury trial of former Cheney chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

Flashed on the courtroom computer screens were her notes from 2004 about how Cheney could respond to allegations that the Bush administration had played fast and loose with evidence of Iraq's nuclear ambitions. Option 1: "MTP-VP," she wrote, then listed the pros and cons of a vice presidential appearance on the Sunday show. Under "pro," she wrote: "control message."

"I suggested we put the vice president on 'Meet the Press,' which was a tactic we often used," Martin testified. "It's our best format."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/25/AR2007012501951.html

[Robbien]

1. I so hope Timmy boy sits up and pays attention

In the Wapo no less. Russert is Cheney's bitch.

Wow.

[leeroysphitz]

18. I hope NBC's spnsors and management sit and pay attention.

I for one will not watch any news program where this administration (or any other for that matter) is made to feel that they can "control the message".

[Annces]

2. I wonder if Cathie Martin and Mary Matalin will have their reputations

tarnished because of this. I sure hope so. Matalin used to be a regular on McNeil/Lehrer. These people are just paid liars.

[Robbien]

7. It is almost as if there is a media blackout on Mary Matalin

Only these three sites even mention her name in relation to the Libby trial

http://www.slate.com/id/2158157/entry/2158330/
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/26/washington/26libby.html?hp&ex=1169787600&en=af289fe4c593d2f4&ei=5094&partner=homepage
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1999552,00.html

Funny there is so little press about the person who administered Cheney's leaking machine.

[Benhurst]

3. Poor Tim. He thought the merchants of death at GE were his masters. NT

[bambo53]

4. WoPo comments section

People are really ripping Timmy a new one in the comments section below the article at Washington Post. It would appear that a lot of people are pissed at the media's pathetic involvement in propaganda and Little Russ's shameless whoring for the administration and their war. But then, WE already knew all this.

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. Memo To Tim Russert:

and he thinks you're an asshole, too.

[Norquist Nemesis]

6. Also known as "frame the debate" and "frame the conversation"

The trouble is now, as it was then, that the other side of the "debate" gets little (or no) coverage and the Bushetals remain unchallenged.

[EV_Ares]

8. Whoa, poor Timmy boy coming across as we all knew. What do

you guys think his reaction along with the "Meet The Press" crew will be to this? Also, does anyone think there will be any info on how fox news simply puts out what they are told.

[Uncle Joe]

9. Thanks for the thread kpete

Kicked and recommended

[IWantAChange]

10. The Libby trial might be a watershed event..... let's postulate.......

Am I dreaming or are there major cracks developing in the facade of what I call Repug BizzaroWorld? Is it possible that some of the less-than-hardcore Republicans out there being given a peek under the tent might rethink their loyalties?

[The Wizard]

11. Timmy and the Presstitutes

They went from the Fourth Estate to the Fifth Column.
Shortly after George W. Bush declared his candidacy for president in June of 1999, General Electric Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jack Welch was contacted by Bush political advisor Karl Rove. Welch later informed associates that Rove told him a Bush administration would initiate comprehensive deregulation of the broadcast industry. Rove guaranteed that deregulation would be implemented in a way that would create phenomenal profits for conglomerates with significant media holdings, like GE. Rove forcefully argued that General Electric and the other media giants had a compelling financial interest to see Bush become president.
(snip)
In private, Welch was proud to have personally cultivated Tim Russert from a "lefty" to a responsible representative of GE interests. Welch sincerely believed that all liberals were phonies. He took great pleasure in "buying their leftist souls", watching in satisfaction as former Democrats like Russert and MSNBC’s Chris Matthews eagerly discarded the baggage of their former progressive beliefs in exchange for cold hard GE cash. Russert was now an especially obedient and model employee in whom the company could take pride.
Does the White House or the RNC count MTP appearances as gifts in kind as MTP is considered their best format?
Pox (deliberate typo) News is just a smoke screen for the rest of the corporate media.
The old Soviet Union was more honest with Pravda, TAAS and Izvestia. We have become what we fought against in WW II and the Cold War?
As the Bushbots are wont to say: We let those soldiers die in vain if we stop fighting.

[scarletwoman]

20. I have to ask, are you quoting from something? I like your post, but you've got a "(snip)" in there

that leads me to wonder if you've pasted something from somewhere else.

I'm asking because I'd like to read original source for this writing, if it isn't you. Either way, I thank you for posting these well-said thoughts.

sw

[librechik]

21. It's from this:

http://www.makethemaccountable.com/coverup/Part_04.htm

great article, from a friendly source

[scarletwoman]

23. Thank you! I assumed it was a friendly source -- since I liked it so well -- I just wanted to know

who it was.

Thanks again,
sw

[Poiuyt]

12. Could Tim Russert actually be PROUD of the fact that he's helping Bush/Cheney?

At first I thought that he would be embarrassed and humiliated by the revelation that Cheney has been using him. Any true journalist would be. But what if he's only too happy to help them? Even worse, what if he had offered to help them catapult the propaganda?

[emulatorloo]

15. I don't think we should get too excited over the term "use"

My guess is that it is common language amongst PR people and doesn't have the sinister connotations we are seeing.

For example, DU'ers use the internet to spread thier message. I use the telephone to call you. I think that is how a PR person 'uses' the term

And besides that Russert is Fitzgerald's star witness.

As you know, Libby claimed he learned Plame's identity from Russert.

And Russert is testifying -- "HELL NO! We never talked about Plame."

[NoAmericanTaliban]

13. Surprise, surprise, surprise - Pumpkinhead is controlled by the WH!!

[nxylas]

14. The liberal media again

Somebody had to be the first to say it.

[ellie]

16. Bwahahahahaha!

Sorry, but I just can't help it. Every time I look at Tweety's paunchy face I want to hurl. He is probably proud of the fact that he is just a tool.

[Cass]

17. Well, Russert is exposed for the shill he is. We knew that, now lots

more people know it. He lost whatever credibility the public at large thought he had.

Remember how quick Libby was to throw Russert under the bus last year? I remember Russert having a Sunday night discussion panel with Andrea Mitchell and a couple other Washington reporters about Libby's accusation against him. Russert looked postively stricken that Libby would point the finger at him, the loyal stooge.

This trial is blowing my mind already.

[kcass1954]

19. Interesting article - lots of info there...

Fat Timmy under "control" - check

Friday news dumps - check

Spokespersons who were out of the loop - check

Tenet taking fall for uranium claims by WH - check

No dealing with "journalists" (and I use that term VERY loosely) who attack WH - check

Leak news/info to "selected" news outlets - check


Who here hasn't know all this stuff for several years? It is nice to see WP reporting confirmation of what we've recognized as SOP for a good while.

[scarletwoman]

22. Excellent summation! Well-said!

I concur, of course, with your overall point: that anyone paying attention for all these years already knew all these things.

There appears to be at least a 5-year lag time between what the internet-informed citizens know and understand, and the corporate media's halting and reluctant acknowedgement of same.

sw

[creeksneakers2]

24. I don't think "control message" implies

that Russert is under White House control. It just means to put the White House spin on a story. However, Russert is in fact under White House control. The call from Libby to Russert that Libby claimed was the source of his information on Plame was actually a put-the-fix-in call.

Chris Matthews was upsetting the White House with his coverage of the Plame scandal. Libby called Russert to ask that Matthews be silenced. Russert called the head of NBC and told him that if Matthews didn't back off, NBC would have a hard time booking guests from the administration. The head of NBC spoke to Matthews, and stopped Matthews from provoking the White House any further.

My source for this is the book: Hubris; by Michael Isakoff and David Corn

[emulatorloo]

25. I agree, just standard "PR speak" -- and Tim Russert is Fitzgerald's Star witness

Russert is the one who will unequivocalby testify that he didn't tell Scooter about Plame, which was Scooter's big lie to the FBI and Grand Jury.

[Morgana LaFey]

26. OMG - Look at this, from the article

(Ya'll really ought to read the article):


At length, Martin explained how she, Libby and deputy national security adviser Steve Hadley worked late into the night writing a statement to be issued by George Tenet in 2004 in which the CIA boss would take blame for the bogus claim in Bush's State of the Union address that Iraq was seeking nuclear material in Africa.

After "delicate" talks, Tenet agreed to say the CIA "approved" the claim and "I am responsible" -- but even that disappointed Martin, who had wanted Tenet to say that "we did not express any doubt about Niger."


DUers pretty much knew that Tenet's "confession" was bogus -- here's proof. AMAZING.

[robertpaulsen]

27. How embarrassing for Timmy.

If It’s Sunday, It’s Meet The Veep’s Agenda?
By Christy Hardin Smith @ 8:15 am

snip

Gee, should the change the name of the show to "Meet The Veep's Agenda"? Want to wager whether any guest on the show this Sunday will have the nerve to tweak Russert about this? And wouldn't THAT make for some must see teevee…

By the way, I'm with Emptywheel on this question: can someone ask Cathie Martin to name the "conservative commentators" who had lunch with Cheney to address the Wilson controversy. Because I would certainly like to know whether one of those commenters had a last name spelled "N-O-V-A-K." FOIA request on the Secret Service logs, anyone?

http://www.firedoglake.com/

[Irishonly]

28. Hee Hee

Every time I read the memo I can't help myself-I just start laughing. It isn't anything any one of us didn't know but there is just something about seeing it in print.:rofl: