TRUTH

TRUTH

There are no new truths, but only truths that have not been recognized by those who have perceived them without noticing. A truth is something that everyone can be shown to know and to have known, as people say, all along.

Mary Therese McCarthy (1912–1989)
Author and critic


Remember: One lie does not cost you one truth but the truth.

Friedrich Hebbel (1813–1863)
Dramatist and poet

NETWORKING

NETWORKING

"Discover twenty key people with whom you resonate favorably and can do vast amounts of business." -- Mark Victor Hansen

"Networking is simply the cultivating of mutually beneficial, give and take, win-win relationships. It works best, however, when emphasizing the 'give' part." -- Bob Burg

"It's not who you know. It's how well you maintain your Rolodex(R)." -- Patricia Fripp

"Network continually -- 85 percent of all jobs are filled through contacts and personal references." -- Brian Tracy

COMPASSION

COMPASSION

Keep your heart open for as long as you can, as wide as you can, for others and especially for yourself.

Morrie Schwartz (1916–1995)
Educator


I rather feel that deep in the soul of mankind there is a reflection as on the surface of a mirror, of a mirror-calm lake, of the beauty and harmony of the universe. . . . So much depends, I think, on how each one of us is introduced to and made aware of that reflection within us.

Prince Charles of Wales

MOTIVATION/INSPIRATION

MOTIVATION/INSPIRATION

"Motivation is an inner force that compels behavior." -- Denis Waitley

"Love is a better master than duty." -- Albert Einstein

"To succeed... you need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you." -- Tony Dorsett

"People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing that's why we recommend it daily." -- Zig Ziglar

POSITIVE QUOTE OF THE DAY

POSITIVE QUOTE OF THE DAY
-----------------------------

Pain is temporary, pride is forever.

-- Anonymous
-----------------------------

Man has never made any material as resilient as the human spirit.

-- Bernard Williams (1929-) English Philosopher
-----------------------------

The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person
doing it.

-- Chinese proverb

PROVERBIAL WISDOM

PROVERBIAL WISDOM


Make happy those who are near, and those who are far will come.

Chinese proverb


Hold a true friend with both hands.

African proverb

WE ARE OUR OWN WORST ENEMY

WE ARE OUR OWN WORST ENEMY


It is very dangerous to go into eternity with possibilities which one has oneself prevented from becoming realities. A possibility is a hint from God. One must follow it.

Soren Kierkegaard (1813–1855)
Philosopher


Till now man has been up against Nature; from now on he will be up against his own nature.

Dennis Gabor (1900–1979)
Physicist

FORECASTING

FORECASTING

Business—more than any other occupation—is a continual dealing with the future; it is a continual calculation, an instinctive exercise in foresight.

Henry Luce (1898–1967)
Editor and publisher


People often overestimate what will happen in the next two years and underestimate what will happen in ten.

Bill Gates
Founder of Microsoft

MODELING BEHAVIOR

MODELING BEHAVIOR

"The ability to adapt is everything!" -- Denis Waitley

"You can’t think your way into acting positively, but you can act your way into thinking positively." -- Nido Qubein

"Imitate until you emulate; match and surpass those who launched you. It's the highest form of thankfulness." -- Mark Victor Hansen

"Children have more need of models than of critics." -- Carolyn Coats

SCOLDING: ONE OF COMMUNICATION'S TOOLS OF LAST RESORT

SCOLDING: ONE OF COMMUNICATION'S TOOLS OF LAST RESORT
by Jim Rohn (Excerpted from Jim Rohn's 2004 Weekend Leadership Event)

You have to be very careful of scolding. Scolding, as a last resort, may be necessary but you must be very careful. Scolding someone is like giving them a cut, giving them a small cut with your words on the hand. Maybe it will serve its purpose, and the cut will heal and everything will be okay. You needed to get their attention. But you must not do it everyday, all the time. Some children end up with psychological scars because they have been cut (scolded) everyday. Scold, scold everyday and they wind up psychologically disadvantaged because of that kind of treatment. Because somebody has the words, but words are cruel; and they use them too often, all the time rather than saving them up as a tool of last resort. They just cut and scold all the time, and kids sometimes have a hard time working out of this because of that kind of environment. "Too severe, it's too severe", we say. In some countries if you steal, they cut off your hand. In our country we'd say, "That's a bit too severe isn't it?" But guess what they say, "It is very effective." Ask someone who has stolen, "Did you ever steal anything else?" And most assuredly they will answer, "Are you kidding with just one hand - No!" So it is effective, but we say too severe.

So parents, let me talk to you about cruel and unusual scolding. You must be gifted in thinking of ways to effectively communicate with your children. Now sometime severity is needed as a last, last resort. John Kennedy's father, "Old Joe", said this to John, and you will see when I give it to you that it will serve you in so many ways. Now here is what "Old Joe" said: "If it is not necessary to change, it is necessary not the change." I am sure you got that message now.

If it is not absolutely necessary to scold, then it is necessary not to scold. If it is not necessary to use sarcasm, then it is necessary in your communication not to use sarcasm. If it is not necessary to get angry, then it is necessary not to get angry; you get the idea.

If a parent screams all day at her children, the kids finally get used to it. They learn to say, "Momma, she just screams all day." Kids come over to visit and the kids say, "Don't mind Momma, she's just a screamer, she just screams all day." So the kids are just used to it. But now here is the big problem... when the 3-year old child heads for the street and a truck is coming and Momma screams; and nobody pays any attention.

See Momma should save up her screams, so the day it becomes a necessary tool of last resort, and she does scream, the world stops! See that's the key. These are called, "Tools of Last Resort", use them well!

To Your Success,
Jim Rohn

GOOD FRIENDS ARE GOOD MEDICINE

GOOD FRIENDS ARE GOOD MEDICINE

Our news is constantly filled with the reality of death and dying.
And each of us, if we live long enough, experiences the loss of
persons we loved.

Children ages eight through ten were asked what they thought about
death, and these are some of their answers:

"When you die, God takes care of you like your mother did when you
were alive - only God doesn't yell at you all the time." (Beth, 9)

"When you die, they bury you in the ground and your soul goes to
heaven, but your body can't go to heaven because it's too crowded up
there already." (Jimmy, 8)

"Only the good people go to heaven. The other people go where it's
hot all the time like in Florida." (Judy, 9)

"Maybe I'll die someday, but I hope I don't die on my birthday
because it's no fun to celebrate your birthday if you're dead." (Jon,
9)

"I'm not afraid to die because I'm a Boy Scout." (Kevin, 10)

"Doctors help you so you won't die until you pay their bills."
(Stephanie, 9)

I've observed that the loss of a loved one can be one of the most
difficult things we humans can face. And one of our greatest needs as
we experience such a loss is for simple, human comfort. I've known
friends of sick and dying people to sit by a bedside or in a hospital
room for hours, even days, at a time. I've sometimes heard them offer
words of prayer. I've seen food in homes of people who are dying
overflow from kitchen to dining room - food brought by comforting
friends from church and concerned neighbors. And I've observed
friends to just listen for as long as it takes. Caring friends are
needed medicine in such times.

When U.S. Congressman Sam Rayburn (1882-1961) discovered that he was
ill, he announced to the House of Representatives he was going back
home to Bonham, Texas for medical tests. Some wondered why he did not
stay in Washington D. C. where there were excellent medical
facilities -- probably some of the best in the world. His answer was
a beautiful tribute to friendship: "Bonham is a place where people
know it when you're sick, and where they care when you die."

No one wants to go through difficult times alone. So Rayburn traded
the best of medical technology for the closeness of loving friends.
He knew that good friends are good medicine. Sometimes the best
medicine there is.

-- Steve Goodier

TIME TO BE QUIET

TIME TO BE QUIET

Popular author and speaker Ken Blanchard sometimes tells a powerful
story about Red, a corporate president who, as a young man, learned an
important and life-changing lesson. Red had just graduated from
college and was offered an opportunity to interview for a position
with a firm in New York City. As the job involved moving his wife and
small child from Texas to New York, he wanted to talk the decision
over with someone before accepting it, but his father had died and Red
did not feel he had anybody to turn to. On impulse, he telephoned an
old friend of the family; someone his father had suggested he turn to
if he ever needed good advice.

The friend said he would be happy to give Red advice about the job
offer under the condition that the young man takes whatever advice he
was given. "You might want to think about that for a couple of days
before hearing my suggestion," he was told.

Two days later Red called the man back and said he was ready to listen
to his counsel. "Go on to New York City and have the interview," the
older man said. "But I want you to go up there in a very special way.
I want you to go on a train and I want you to get a private
compartment. Don't take anything to write with, anything to listen to
or anything to read, and don't talk to anybody except to put in your
order for dinner with the porter. When you get to New York call me and
I will tell you what to do next."

Red followed the advice precisely. The trip took two days. As he had
brought along nothing to do and kept entirely to himself, he quickly
became bored. It soon dawned on him what was happening. He was being
forced into quiet time. He could do nothing but think and meditate.
About three hours outside New York City he broke the rules and asked
for a pencil and paper. Until the train stopped, he wrote -- the
culmination of all his meditation.

Red called the family friend from the train station. "I know what you
wanted," he said. "You wanted me to think. And now I know what to do.
I don't need anymore help."

"I didn't think you would, Red," came the reply. "Good luck."

Sorry, I don't know if he took the job or not. But Blanchard reports
that, years later, Red headed a corporation in California. And he
always made it a policy to take a couple of days to be alone. He went
where there was no phone, no television, no distractions and no
people. He went to be alone; to meditate and to listen.

The French writer and Nobel Prize winner André Gide reminds us to "be
faithful to that which exists within yourself." But how can we be
faithful when we don't really know what is inside?

The answer for me is to be quiet. To still my mind...and to listen.
I'll soon know what to do.

-- Steve Goodier

POSITIVE QUOTE OF THE DAY

POSITIVE QUOTE OF THE DAY
-----------------------------

It is better by noble boldness to run the risk of being subject to
half the evils we anticipate than to remain in cowardly listlessness
for fear of what might happen.

-- Herodotus (485 - 425BC) Greek Historian
-----------------------------

I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh
try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere
behind the morning.

-- J.B. Priestly (1894-1984) English Author
-----------------------------

Let us move on, and step out boldly, though it be into the night, and
we can scarcely see the way.

-- Charles B. Newcomb
-----------------------------

I searched through rebellion, drugs, diets, mysticism, religions,
intellectualism and much more, only to begin to find...that truth is
basically simple - and feels good, clean and right.

-- Chick Corea (1941-) American Jazz Musician
-----------------------------

I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength
from distress, and grow brave by reflection.

-- Thomas Paine (1737-1809) British-American Writer

Answering The Call

Answering The Call
Taking Responsibility For Your Destiny

There are those of us who believe that our lives are predestined and that we should resign ourselves to our lots in life. Yet the truth is that it is up to each one of us to decide what that destiny will be. While each of us is born with a life purpose, it is up to us whether or not we will say yes to fulfilling it. And just like when we choose what to eat, who to keep company with, and whether to turn right or left when we leave our home everyday, choosing to say yes to your destiny is a decision that can only be realized when you take action to make that choice a reality.

Whether you believe it is your destiny to be a parent, an adventurer, an artist, a pioneer, or a spiritual guru, saying yes to your destiny is only the first step. While manifesting your destiny starts with knowing what you want and believing you can attain your goals, there are then the actions that must be taken and the decisions to be made before your destiny can truly happen. When you take responsibility for fulfilling your destiny and begin acting with the intention of doing so, you not only take fate into your own hands, but also you become the hands of your own fate. Doorways inevitably open for you to step through, and every choice you make can be a creative act toward realizing your goals and dreams. You begin to follow your instincts and intuition, recognize opportunities when they are presented to you, and seize those golden moments. You also begin to recognize the decisions that may not serve this greater picture and can more easily push them aside.

Remembering that the decision to fulfill your destiny is always a choice can be empowering. Knowing you are fulfilling your destiny because you want to, rather than because you have to, can make a huge difference. When you are freed from obligation, obstacles in your way become challenges to be overcome, and the journey becomes an adventure rather than the obligatory steps you are being forced to take. Your destiny may be waiting for you, but whether or not you meet your destiny is up to you. Your fate is in your hands.

Emptiness Becomes Openness

Emptiness Becomes Openness
Sometimes a Loss Can Be a Gain

When we lose anything that we cherish, the sense of emptiness we are left behind with can be overwhelming. A space that was filled, whether in our lives or our hearts, is now a void, and the feelings of pain, loss, and separation can sometimes be difficult to bear. While it is always important to honor what we’ve lost, sometimes a loss can also represent a chance for a new beginning. When we are ready, the void left by a relationship, a job, or a dream can then be viewed as open space that can be filled with something new: new experiences, new knowledge, new job opportunities, new dreams, new people, and new ways to grow.

There are many ways to weave the threads of loss into a blessing. If you’ve lost a job or ended a relationship, your first thoughts may revolve around filling the void with a similar job or the same kind of relationship. Try not to rush into anything just to fill up the emptiness. The loss of a job can free you up to explore new opportunities, especially if you’ve outgrown the old one. Likewise, the loss of a relationship can give you a chance to rediscover your own interests, explore new passions, and meet different people.

If seeking the good in what seems like a bad situation makes you feel uncomfortable, then try to remember that you are not devaluing what you’ve lost or replacing it cold-heartedly. You are surrendering to the fact that, in life, we sometimes have to let go and allow for what is new to enter into the open spaces created by our losses. In doing so, you are honoring what has left you and welcoming the new into your life with open space, an open mind, and an open heart.

Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day

"Touch a thistle timidly, and it pricks you; grasp it boldly, and its spines crumble."
– Admiral William Halsey

"I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I have just lived the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well."
– Diane Ackerman

"Life begets life. Energy creates energy. It is by spending oneself that one becomes rich."
– Sarah Bernhardt

"Consider the postage stamp: its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing until it gets there."
– Josh Billings

"To play it safe is not to play."
– Robert Altman

"Inspiration is a guest that does not willingly visit the lazy."
– Pyotr Tchaikovsky

"Many things which cannot be overcome when they are together yield themselves up when taken little by little."
– Plutarch

Daily Insight

The pillar of the world is hope.
-- Nigerian Proverb

Hope is itself a species of happiness, and, perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords.
-- Samuel Johnson

You can't have more bugs than a blanketful.
-- Spanish Proverb

Nothing befalls a man except what is in his nature to endure.
-- Marcus Aurelius

God pays, but not weekly wages.
-- Polish Proverb

God enters by a private door into every individual.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

WHAT YOU KNOW

WHAT YOU KNOW


If you don’t know what you want, you won’t recognize it when you get it.

Author unknown


You can’t expect to win unless you know why you lose.

Benjamin Lipson
Consumer advocate and writer

BE PREPARED

BE PREPARED

The tougher the fight, the more important the mental attitude.

Michael Landon (1936–1991)
Actor


Every one minute you spend in planning will save you at least three minutes in execution.

Crawford Greenwald
Business executive

MIRACLES

MIRACLES

"The only way to live is to accept each minute as an unrepeatable miracle, which is exactly what it is - a miracle and unrepeatable." -- Margaret Storm Jameson

"The next time it begins to rain... lie down on your belly, nestle your chin into the grass, and get a frog's-eye view of how raindrops fall... The sight of hundreds of blades of grass bowing down and popping back up like piano keys strikes me as one of the merriest sights in the world." -- Malcolm Margolin

"The world is full of poetry. The air is living with its spirit; and the waves dance to the music of its melodies, and sparkle in its brightness." -- Percival

"Ingenuity, plus courage, plus work, equals miracles." -- Bob Richards

LOVE IS WORTH THE RISK

LOVE IS WORTH THE RISK

Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness.

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)
Philosopher and mathematician


Love is everything it’s cracked up to be. That’s why people are so cynical about it…It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for. And the trouble is, if you don’t risk anything, you risk even more.

Erica Jong
How To Save Your Own Life

MASTERY

MASTERY

"It is better to say, "This one thing I do" than to say, "These forty things I dabble in." -- Washington Gladden

"A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist." -- Louis Nizer

"A professional is a person who can do his best at a time when he doesn't particularly feel like it." -- Alistair Cooke

"I have made a ceaseless effort not to ridicule, not to bewail, not to scorn human actions, but to understand." -- Baruch Spinoza

WORDS CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

WORDS CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE
by Zig Ziglar

As a youngster I heard a little rhyme which said, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me." That's untrue. Words can give us hope and encouragement, or they can break our spirits and dash our hopes.

It has been said that one picture is worth ten thousand words, but the person who said that had obviously never read the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence or the 23rd Psalm. They'd never read Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address," or the impassioned pleas of Martin Luther King, Winston Churchill or Patrick Henry. Those words changed the course of history and gave individuals and nations a hope for a better future.

Charles Osgood says, "Compared to the spoken word, a picture is a pitiful thing indeed." For example, a father who was attending a three-day seminar with his teenage son stood up and, for the first time in the boy's memory, said, "I love you, Son, and I'm proud of you." A joyous, tear-filled coming together was the result of that father uttering those words. Yes, our words have awesome power.

In the business community, a service representative could respond to a question by saying, "I'll have to get back to you with the answer," or "I'll be happy to get back to you with the answer." In describing a friend someone could say, "She is a bright, attractive, ambitious, hard-working woman, but she wears glasses." The connotation is obviously negative. They could say, "She is a bright, attractive, ambitious, hard-working woman and she wears glasses." What a difference one word can make!

Yes, the changing of words changes the thought. Thought leads us into either positive or negative action. Needless to say, the right words produce the right thoughts which produce the right action which produce good results. Think about it.

Use the right words and I'll SEE YOU AT THE TOP!
Zig Ziglar

Daily Wisdom

Perseverance alone does not assure success. No amount
of stalking will lead to game in a field that has none.

I Ching

----
A thing of beauty is a joy forever,
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness.

John Keats

----
Knowledge increases in proportion to its use -
that is, the more we teach the more we learn.

Helena Petrova Blavatsky

----
There are two aspects in Nature: the perishable and the
imperishable. All life in this world belongs to the former,
the unchanging element belongs to the latter.

Bhagavad Gita

----
There are souls in this world which have the gift of finding
joy everywhere and of leaving it behind them when they go.

Frederick Wm. Faber

----
There is one art of which man should be master,
the art of reflection.

Samuel T. Coleridge

----
There is no gathering the rose without being pricked by the
thorns.

Pilpay

----

Avoiding Negative Vibrations

Avoiding Negative Vibrations
Taking on the Energy of Others

There are times when you may find that being around certain individuals or groups of people leaves you with feelings of discomfort. It may be that spending time with a particular friend feels draining or that dealing with a specific coworker exhausts you. Being around toxic or angry people is also draining. And you may even find that being surrounded by a crowd of people lowers your energy levels rather than perks you up. This is not that unusual. Each of us radiates energy and is capable of being influenced by the energy of other people. It is important to learn how to shield yourself, so you don’t unknowingly take on someone else’s energy. While some people know how to instinctively protect themselves from being adversely affected by energy, most of us need to discover and practice the technique that works best.

There are a number of ways to avoid being affected by people’s energy. Shielding is one preventative technique you can use. Center yourself and envision being enveloped in a cocoon of loving and protective light. This protective layer should allow you to consciously regulate the energy around you. The intent to shield oneself is all you need for this technique to work. You can even create a trigger word to assist you in quickly creating a shield. Say this word each time you create a new shield, until the word and the shield become automatically associated in your mind. If you run into a person whose energy you find draining, you may want to cleanse your own energy field after your encounter. Sage, cold showers, singing, mineral water baths, spending time in nature, and a simple break to recharge are all ways to accomplish this.

While it is important to know how to shield yourself from energy, there are those energies that you may not want to shut out. The energy of laughter from a newborn baby, the feeling of joy radiating from someone in love, and the frequency of calm emanating from an enlightened teacher are just some of the energies coming from others that you may want to have around you.

BEWARE THE NEGATIVE

BEWARE THE NEGATIVE


Pessimism wilts everything around it.

Michael Levine


Pessimism is depreciated will-to-live.

Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965)
Philosopher and physician

Enchanted Mind, Magic Happens

The Enchanted Mind is dedicated to expanding the human brain and mind. "Science has speculated that we are using 10% of our brain capacity." This site will help 'access and cultivate that other 90% of unrealized potential.' Check out the 'Site Map' for Puzzles, Science, Techniques, Interactive Puzzles and various Creativity sections that will help with your individual cultivation. This site intends to 'create a daily experience of humor, inspiration and creative problem solving. The combination of these three elements, if practiced daily, will open the mind, allowing creative genius to blossom. With this method you can stimulate creative thinking habits and add a little delight to your day.' Try out some of the suggestions! You have nothing to lose and everything to gain!

SMALL MEASURES

SMALL MEASURES

An inch of progress is worth more than a yard of complaint.

Booker T. Washington (1856–1915)
Educator and activist


A minute of thought is worth more than an hour of talk.

Author unknown

MARKETING

MARKETING

"Your marketing efforts have to be ongoing, consistent and relentless. Hi-Tech, Low-Tech, No Tech and sometimes totally shameless." -- Patricia Fripp

"Ninety percent of the success of any product or service is its promotion and marketing." -- Mark Victor Hansen

"Your competitive advantage must be perceivable, promotable, and something the market will pay for." -- Brian Tracy

"Because its purpose is to create a customer, the business has two basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs." -- Peter Drucker

PERSISTENCE GROWS YOUR ROOT SYSTEM

PERSISTENCE GROWS YOUR ROOT SYSTEM
by Vic Johnson (excerpted from Day by Day with James Allen)

"The person of good and lawful purpose cannot fail. It only needs that he daily renew the fire and energy of his fixed resolve, to consummate his object." - The Mastery of Destiny

It is the great equalizer for all of those reaching for success. It overcomes lack of education, money, talent, intelligence, looks and all other seeming advantages. President Calvin Coolidge said nothing could take its place: "Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."

I cannot think of one victory I've ever had that I won without persistence. For a while I just thought that I had to work harder and longer than anyone else in order to achieve because nothing has ever come easy for me. Then I really looked around and noticed that everyone else was just like me. Every mentor I've ever had and every successful person I've ever known has their own story of how persistence was the key to their success.

Here's what Bob Proctor teaches on one of the Universal Laws called the Law of Gender: "this law decrees that all seeds (ideas are spiritual seeds) have a gestation or incubation period before they manifest. In other words, when you choose a goal or build the image in your mind, a definite period of time must elapse before that image manifests in physical results."

One of my most favorite inspirational examples about persistence is the story of an Asian bamboo species that even after five years of watering, weeding and fertilizing is barely visible. Then, in a span of about six weeks, it grows two and a half feet a day to 90 feet and higher. It grows so fast that you can literally "hear" it growing. The question to ask is did the bamboo grow 90 feet in six weeks or did it grow 90 feet in five years?

Obviously it grew 90 feet in five years, for all the time when growth wasn't visible it was developing a massive root system that would later support its magnificent growth.

Can you see where the current circumstance in you life are developing your massive root system? Can you see where you must continue to "fertilize" and "water" yourself even though maybe you can't see any visible changes today?

Napoleon Hill thought that persistence was such a key to success that he devoted an entire chapter to it in the classic Think and Grow Rich. He writes, "Persistence is a state of mind, therefore it can be cultivated… Before success comes in any person's life, he is sure to meet with much temporary defeat, and, perhaps, some failure. When defeat overtakes a person, the easiest and most logical thing to do is to 'Quit.' That is exactly what the majority of people do. More than five hundred of the most successful people this country has ever known told the author their greatest success came just one step beyond the point at which defeat had overtaken them.

And that's worth thinking about.

Vic Johnson

LOVE

LOVE

"To love and win is the best thing. To love and lose the next best." -- William M. Thackeray

"If you would be loved, love, and be lovable." -- Ben Franklin

"Love of our neighbor consists of three things: to desire the greater good of everyone, to do what good we can when we can, and to bear, excuse and hide others' faults." -- St. John Vianney

"If you judge people, you have no time to love them." -- Mother Teresa

Drained No. 2 Alabama survives Kentucky

One week after big victory over Georgia, Tide barely beats Wildcats 17-14

No. 1 OU tunes up for Texas by crushing Baylor

Bradford throws for 372 yards and 2 TDs, Murray runs for two scores

Daily Wisdom

Do not think that man is but flesh, skin, bones and veins;
far from it! What really makes man is his soul; and the
things we call skin, flesh, bones and veins are but a
garment, a cloak; they do not constitute man. When man
departs this earth, he divests himself of all the veils that
conceal him.

Zohar

----
He who is firm in will molds the world to himself.

Johann W. von Goethe

----
Love rules the court, the camp, the grove,
And men below, and saints above:
For love is heaven, and heaven is love.

Sir Walter Scott

----

What Is America Getting from Its Investment in Education?

What Is America Getting from Its Investment in Education?
By Lindsey Burke

With Congress considering a $700 billion rescue package for our financial market, taxpayers are rightfully asking questions about how these funds will be spent. But all too often we forget to apply the same scrutiny to the nearly $600 billion we spend as a nation each year on K-12 education.

Any fair accounting should conclude that we’re getting sub-par returns on this investment.

While many of the nation’s best and brightest go off to pursue fulfilling educational experiences at colleges and universities across the country, significant numbers of students leave high school with gaping holes in some fundamental academic concepts.

National test scores reveal that many students are failing to master basic skills. On the National Assessment of Educational Progress, 33 percent of fourth-graders score below basic on reading, as do 26 percent of eighth-graders. According to the Department of Education, fourth-graders not performing at a basic level are unable to make general conclusions about what they read. At the eighth-grade level, this means students are unable to make simple inferences or interpret ideas. For both grade levels, these are crucial skills to master to ensure future academic success.

In addition, a poor grasp of basic content knowledge means children are exiting high school unprepared for college or the workforce, if they even graduate at all.

National graduation rates have stagnated around 73 percent, with numbers significantly lower for minority students. In 2006, only 61 percent of Hispanic students and 59 percent of black students graduated. An independent analysis found that, in some of our nation’s biggest cities, fewer than half of all students finish high school. In the Baltimore City and Cleveland Municipal City school districts, only about one-third of all students graduate. Indianapolis has a graduation rate of only 30 percent, and a mere 24.9 percent of Detroit students complete high school.

These shockingly low graduation rates should incite a national outrage. And while some politicians will surely call for investing more tax dollars for public school as the solution, a lack of funding is not the source of the problem.

Detroit, for example, spends more than $13,000 per year on each student. In addition, the city school districts of New York, Philadelphia, Dallas, Denver, and Atlanta all spend well over $10,000 per pupil yet have graduation rates below 50 percent.

Historically, decades of increased funding for public education have not led to better outcomes. A new Heritage Foundation report, Does Spending More on Education Improve Academic Achievement? found that education spending is at an all-time high, and student performance has flat lined.

The report details a 23 percent real increase in per-pupil spending in the past decade and a real increase of 49 percent over the past 20 years. With these figures in mind, it is hard to make the argument that a lack of funding is the problem. Per-pupil spending has more than doubled since 1970, yet academic achievement has remained flat.

So if more money isn’t the answer, what will lead to academic improvement?

While policymakers need to continue implementing education reforms to improve the efficiency and productivity of our schools, a big part of the solution will come from the home. In a new Heritage Foundation report Academic Success Begins at Home: How Children Can Succeed in School, Christine Kim reviews the social science literature and finds a strong link between family structure and parental involvement with student outcomes.

According to the study, evidence suggests a correlation between family structure and high school dropout rates. This fact naturally influences future educational outcomes and opportunities for our nation’s children. Family structure, or a lack thereof, appears to affect college admission and completion rates.

Parental expectations have a greater influence on children than peer influences. Kim notes, “Parental expectations of achievement, particularly adolescents’ perceptions of such expectations, appear to strengthen their actual motivation and ability in school.”

Kim explains that reform efforts emphasizing involvement and greater parental choice in education will be the best steps in enhancing student academic achievement.

“Instead of favoring proven ineffective education policies, policymakers seeking effective education reform should consider policies that strengthen family structure in America and bolster parental involvement and choice in education.”

Regardless of the quality of school that a parent must send their child back to this fall, one thing is certain: Their involvement in that child’s education-meeting with teachers, helping with homework, classroom involvement-will prove to have a positive, significant effect on educational attainment and aspiration. In an era of demoralizing national data on academics, it is encouraging to know that the ultimate underpinning of a child’s success still resides with the family.

The newfound attention aimed at federal spending thanks to the financial market rescue should focus attention on government spending overall, especially in the case of education, where exorbitant spending has proven ineffectual in combating current tribulations. Basic laws of subsidiarity tell us to leave the money-and the choice-in the hands of parents.

ABC's GMA Skips Own Poll to Promote Favorable Obama Numbers

1. ABC's GMA Skips Own Poll to Promote Favorable Obama Numbers
Good Morning America on Wednesday reported on a new Quinnipiac poll that highlighted leads for Barack Obama in Florida and Ohio, but completely skipped the network's own national poll that found a tight race. A September 30 ABC News/Washington Post survey concluded that Obama leads Senator McCain by four points -- 50 to 46 percent. In contrast, GMA last week trumpeted an ABC News/Washington Post poll that showed Obama with a nine point lead. On September 24, former Democratic aide-turned journalist George Stephanopoulos touted the larger lead and asserted, "...You have to go back to 1948 for the last time when a candidate having this kind of a lead, in late September, lost." He mentioned that on the issue of the economy, the Illinois Senator is "blowing away John McCain." An onscreen graphic proclaimed: "Obama Surges Ahead." But, just a week later, GMA not only ignored findings suggesting a closer national race, the morning show highlighted a rival poll's state numbers.

2. VP Debate Moderator Ifill Writes Book About 'Age of Obama'
There's one good reason Gwen Ifill, the host of the PBS show Washington Week, is moderating the vice presidential debate: she has a forthcoming book about Barack Obama (and other black Democrats) called The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama. In addition to her portrait of Obama, Ifill will also investigate Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, a close friend of Obama's; Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who Ifill describes as "very charismatic" in the video; and Rep. Artur Davis of Alabama. "They all chose to get into politics for the most upstanding of reasons, and they all have achieved much more than their parents could have hoped." It doesn't hurt that it's made Obama a mega-best-selling multi-millionaire author.

3. 'Brilliant' Ifill Cousin Scours Palin: 'Offensive to Black Women'
Here are more signs Sarah Palin could face an uphill battle with PBS host Gwen Ifill. Professor Sherrilyn Ifill of the University of Maryland Law School, whom Gwen Ifill has lauded as "my brilliant baby cousin," has written that black women are not buying Sarah Palin's "false claims to feminism" and is portrayed as too perfect: "when women who are privileged present as though they have it all together, it's offensive to black women."

4. Jon Stewart's Plan to Mock Barack: He's Too Hopeful
In an interview in the October 3, 2008 issue of Entertainment Weekly, liberal comedian Stephen Colbert explained what an emerging critique of Barack Obama might be: "He's a hope-ronaut. He's in a rarefied level of hope where the rest of us have to take tanks up with us." Interviewer Josh Wolk skeptically replied, "Is that really a comedic take? Seems more like a compliment." Not backing down, Colbert's Comedy Central colleague Jon Stewart made clear that this "attack" on the Democratic nominee would be different then that of the harsh jibes at Republicans: "Even if you're satirizing how wonderful they are, that hyperbole is setting them up for an expectation to fail, especially within the American political system now, where authenticity -- and apparently mediocrity -- are the manna that the populace feeds upon." Earlier in the piece, Stewart derided: "You 'good values people' have had the country for eight years, and done an unbelievably s---ty job. Let's find some bad values people and give them a shot, maybe they'll have a better take on it."

ABC's GMA Skips Own Poll to Promote Favorable
Obama Numbers

Good Morning America on Wednesday reported on a new Quinnipiac poll that highlighted leads for Barack Obama in Florida and Ohio, but completely skipped the network's own national poll that found a tight race. A September 30 ABC News/Washington Post survey concluded that Obama leads Senator McCain by four points -- 50 to 46 percent. In contrast, GMA last week trumpeted an ABC News/Washington Post poll that showed Obama with a nine point lead.

On September 24, former Democratic aide-turned journalist George Stephanopoulos touted the larger lead and asserted, "...You have to go back to 1948 for the last time when a candidate having this kind of a lead, in late September, lost." He mentioned that on the issue of the economy, the Illinois Senator is "blowing away John McCain." An onscreen graphic proclaimed: "Obama Surges Ahead." But, just a week later, GMA not only ignored findings suggesting a closer national race, the morning show highlighted a rival poll's state numbers.

(The Washington Post also reflected the skew. Last Wednesday, the top of the front page headline screamed: "Economic Fears Give Obama Clear Lead Over McCain in Poll." But this Wednesday, while still on the front page, the poll article did not hint at the nine-point gap closing to four, "Most Voters Worry About Economy: Majority Consider Situation a Crisis.")

[This item, by the MRC's Scott Whitlock, was posted Wednesday on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

In the 8am hour on Wednesday, news anchor Chris Cuomo explained, "Barack Obama is actually widening his lead now in the key battleground states. A new Quinnipiac poll shows Obama leading John McCain by eight points in Florida and leading by eight points in Ohio, as well." Less than an hour earlier, at 7:11am, co-host Robin Roberts played up the state numbers: "A new poll out this morning has Barack Obama leading John McCain by eight points in Florida, eight in Ohio, and 15 points in Pennsylvania."

The MRC's Rich Noyes reported in a September 29 CyberAlert posting that the earlier ABC poll had come under fire for an oddly weighted sample. Democrats outnumbered Republicans by 16 points in the survey, a larger than usual amount. See: www.mrc.org

A transcript of the September 24 segment, which aired at 7:02am and featured the larger poll lead:

7am tease
DIANE SAWYER: Breaking news this morning, Barack Obama gains ground in a new ABC News poll. A nine point lead over John McCain. And Sarah Palin, who came to New York for meetings with foreign leaders. Your new views on her. They've shifted too.

7:01am
ROBIN ROBERTS: Also, the new ABC News/Washington Post poll, found that voters believe that Barack Obama has a better handle on their economic concerns and there are also new numbers on the Palin factor, now that the public has gotten to know John McCain's running mate a little bit better. George Stephanopoulos will break it all down for us in just moments.

7:02am
SAWYER: But let's get right to the news this morning. It is our brand-new, ABC News/Washington Post poll. And here's a benchmark: Two weeks ago, Senator McCain led by two points. Now, Senator Obama leads by nine points. 52 percent to 43 percent. And, as we said, to break it down for us with the bottom line, ABC's chief Washington correspondent, host of This Week, George Stephanopoulos. Good morning, George.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Hi, Diane.
DIANE SAWYER: All right. Take us through it. Is this shift just the economic upheaval? Is it something personal with the candidates?
STEPHANOPOULOS: Boy, it is all about the economy, Diane. People are angry and shocked and worried about the economy. And that is all helping Barack Obama right now. Go back to our poll a couple of weeks ago. On the trust to handle the economy, Obama had about a five-point lead. Now, it's up to a 14-point lead for Obama on trust to handle the economy. And then when you ask this question, who understand our economic problems better? Barack Obama is blowing away John McCain on that point. They say he gets it. It's a 24-point lead. All of this is fueling the first time that Barack Obama is above 50 percent. And, Diane, you have to go back to 1948 for the last time when a candidate having this kind of a lead, in late September, lost.
SAWYER: Hmm. 1948. Let me zero in, then, on a couple of the most talked about groups of voters. And one of the most changeable groups. White women. Tell us what we're seeing now. And the Hillary Clinton voters, particularly.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Boy, we are really seeing something here. I don't want anybody to get this wrong, but white women are the swingers of 2008. You know, two weeks ago, we saw that John McCain had opened up an 11-point lead over Barack Obama on white women. Now, it's down to a two-point lead for Obama. They've come, again, on concerns of the economy. Now, with Hillary Clinton voters, Barack Obama is still having a bit of a tough time. He's only getting about 77 percent of the Hillary Clinton voters. But he's doing far better with Democrats overall, getting 88 percent of Democrats.
SAWYER: All right. A couple of footnote issues here. Age. What did our polls show about age as a factor?
STEPHANOPOULOS: More and more people worried about age. 48 percent of voters say they see that age is an issue. And if you think age is an issue, those 48 percent of voters, they break heavily for Barack Obama by 30 points. We also looked at Sarah Palin. You know, we know there was a big Sarah Palin effect coming out of the Republican convention. She has high favorable rates. She's coming back down to earth a little bit. Her favorable rating has gone from 58 on September 7th, now 52 percent now [sic]. So a little bit of a deflation there.

VP Debate Moderator Ifill Writes Book
About 'Age of Obama'

There's one good reason Gwen Ifill, the host of the PBS show Washington Week, is moderating the vice presidential debate: she has a forthcoming book about Barack Obama (and other black Democrats) called The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama. Ifill talks about the book project on YouTube: www.youtube.com

In addition to her portrait of Obama, Ifill will also investigate Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, a close friend of Obama's; Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who Ifill describes as "very charismatic" in the video; and Rep. Artur Davis of Alabama. "They all chose to get into politics for the most upstanding of reasons, and they all have achieved much more than their parents could have hoped." It doesn't hurt that it's made Obama a mega-best-selling multi-millionaire author.

[This item, by the MRC's Tim Graham, was posted Wednesday on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

Ifill presents Obama and the others as the idealistic successors of Martin Luther King: "This book is about a generation of people who took seriously the achievements that their parents fought for. They knew that Martin Luther King did what he did so they can do what they're doing, and they decided to follow through."

The obvious question in all this is whether Ifill is not merely writing about a "breakthrough" for Obama and the new generation of black Democrats, but rooting and wishing and hoping for it. The less obvious question that her liberal friends might ask: why no profiles of black female politicians in your book?

Our 2004 Media Reality Check on Gwen's Greatest Hits is here: www.mrc.org

In an interview with her former Washington Post colleague Howard Kurtz earlier this month, Ifill suggested people like Obama (with their "immense accomplishments") are somehow left out of the "lazy" racial dialogue, and expanded on the need for what supporters call affirmative action:

"We're very lazy when we think about race in this country," Ifill says. "We try to put it in a box. It's Jesse versus Al, or Jesse and Al versus everyone else," she says, referring to Jackson and Sharpton. "We love simplistic conflict. There's a whole group of people who have Ivy League degrees and immense accomplishments who actually benefited from the things their parents were fighting for."

So why aren't there more of them in the media ranks at the Republican convention?

"You have to look hard," Ifill says. "That's a failure of news organizations, mostly newspapers, to support and promote people of color."

Kurtz's September 4 article: www.washingtonpost.com

Again, we need to ask: does Ifill want the elites to "support and promote people of color" from Ivy League colleges just in the media....or all the way to the White House?

'Brilliant' Ifill Cousin Scours Palin:
'Offensive to Black Women'

Here are more signs Sarah Palin could face an uphill battle with PBS host Gwen Ifill. Professor Sherrilyn Ifill of the University of Maryland Law School, whom Gwen Ifill has lauded as "my brilliant baby cousin," has written that black women are not buying Sarah Palin's "false claims to feminism" and is portrayed as too perfect: "when women who are privileged present as though they have it all together, it's offensive to black women."

The Community Times, a suburban Maryland newspaper, found Professor Ifill was ardently opposed to the Alaska Governor when they did an e-mail interview:

"From the first day, Palin presented herself as shooting a bear in the morning, field dressing it, cooking up the breakfast, diapering the babies, passing legislation in the afternoon, cleaning the house, satisfying her husband, etc., etc., etc. And it's just not true," she wrote in an e-mail interview. "It's hard to be an average working mom, really hard. And when women who are privileged present as though they have it all together, it's offensive to black women."

She said, "black women are not easily confused by false claims to feminism. When women like Palin lay claims to ‘representing' average women, I think that black women have a visceral reaction to it."

Ifill added that Palin "missed her opportunity when she announced Bristol's pregnancy to explicitly talk about how painful it was to her as a mother -- instead of making it as though this too was also part of her perfect life.

"Hillary has the sympathy of women because of what she went through with Bill in front of the whole country. Michelle [Obama] takes pains to be self-deprecating and to talk about her concerns and fear about her girls. She insists that she couldn't do what she does without the help of her mother. Most importantly, both champion issues that affect the lives of real, average women - universal health care, equal pay, choice, etc. To do so is a recognition that real working women (not political wives or politicians) need policies that will help them maintain their families. What's the point of Palin's brand of feminism if it doesn't translate into real returns for average women?"

The September 17-posted article with the e-mail: www.communitytimes.com

It can be noted that the professor is so passionate an Obama supporter that she also denounced Hillary Clinton as a phony feminist: "When she knocked back a shot and a beer in that bar in Pennsylvania, Mrs. Clinton ended any pretense of running as a feminist." She compared it to Michael Dukakis in a tank, a failed "macho stunt."
Gwen Ifill's family pride came through in her monthly washingtonpost.com online chat on October 4, 2007:

Pittsburgh, Pa.: Is Professor Sherrilyn Ifill at the University of Maryland Law School, who's spoken out so eloquently and thoughtfully on symbols of racial hatred lately, any relation to you?

Gwen Ifill: She is indeed my brilliant baby cousin, and the author of an excellent book "On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the 20th Century."

See: www.washingtonpost.com

Cousin Gwen supported that book at an event at the liberal D.C. bookstore Politics and Prose. As The Politico reported in February of 2007:

Ifill's reading illustrates how decisions are made. She had everything you need: a name to draw a crowd (her cousin, moderator of PBS's "Washington Week," introduced her); a friendship with Jim Lehrer of "The News Hour," also on PBS; and a book with a liberal, social-justice bent, about lynchings that took place outside the Deep South.

"Jim Lehrer's a great friend of the store," Meade said, adding that the store probably would have held the reading anyway, given the content of Ifill's book. "If it's something that involves civil rights, civil liberties, we're pretty interested in it usually."

The idea that Politics and Prose has a liberal bias has caused the store some consternation, but it's rooted in reality. The bookstore draws a graying, turtleneck crowd in a neighborhood known for its liberal politics in a city that gave George W. Bush fewer than 22,000 votes in 2004. Would you expect the shelves to be buckling under the weight of Sean Hannity and Co.'s latest books?

The bookstore's most well-known snub went to Matt Drudge, a conservative and the creator of The Drudge Report. Cohen reportedly called him "a rumormonger and a troublemaker" in 2000 when the store rejected his request for a reading.

Politico story: www.politico.com

Jon Stewart's Plan to Mock Barack: He's
Too Hopeful

In an interview in the October 3, 2008 issue of Entertainment Weekly, liberal comedian Stephen Colbert explained what an emerging critique of Barack Obama might be: "He's a hope-ronaut. He's in a rarefied level of hope where the rest of us have to take tanks up with us." Interviewer Josh Wolk skeptically replied, "Is that really a comedic take? Seems more like a compliment."

Not backing down, Colbert's Comedy Central colleague Jon Stewart made clear that this "attack" on the Democratic nominee would be different then that of the harsh jibes at Republicans: "Even if you're satirizing how wonderful they are, that hyperbole is setting them up for an expectation to fail, especially within the American political system now, where authenticity -- and apparently mediocrity -- are the manna that the populace feeds upon." Earlier in the piece, Stewart derided: "You 'good values people' have had the country for eight years, and done an unbelievably s---ty job. Let's find some bad values people and give them a shot, maybe they'll have a better take on it."

Asked whether things will change if the Democrats control both houses of Congress and the White House, Stewart railed against the party for past examples of not being liberal enough: "And then they [Democrats] got in and were like, 'Really, you want to eavesdrop? Okay, we'll let this one go. But this is the last blank check! Unless you want another.'"

[This item, by the MRC's Scott Whitlock, was posted Wednesday on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

For the interview, Colbert dropped the faux conservative act that he perfects for The Colbert Report and railed against the Bush administration. On the subject of change, he complained: "Any change is as good as a vacation at this point...I don't know if you've paid much attention to the past eight years, but it has been a s---burger supreme. If somebody gives me an empty burger, it's better than eating s---."

In a previous example of the difference between the satire Stewart directs at conservatives versus liberals, Stewart famously referred to columnist Bob Novak as a heartless "vampire demon" on September 18, 2006. See the September 20, 2006 CyberAlert: www.mrc.org

The entire EW interview can be read here: www.ew.com

-- Brent Baker

Couric Patronizingly Challenges & Lectures Palin; Coddled Biden

1. Couric Patronizingly Challenges & Lectures Palin; Coddled Biden
In her day-on-the-campaign-trail stories about the VP candidates, Katie Couric didn't even try to deliver equal treatment. Last week, after her piece on her day with Joe Biden, CyberAlert outlined what she must do to be consistent with Palin this week. She failed. Unlike with Biden, in the "Sarah Palin: Behind the Scenes" story on Tuesday's CBS Evening News, Couric declared a McCain-Palin policy position "misleading," deliberately highlighted a policy disagreement between the two (drilling in ANWR), condescendingly demanded that Palin list the names of newspapers she read in Alaska and then treated Palin's conservative views as alien and thus in need of explanation -- pressing her on whether she agrees global warming is "man-made," hitting her repeatedly on whether it should be illegal for a 15-year-old rape or incest victim to get an abortion or the "morning-after" pill and requiring she offer her position on teaching evolution. Couric asserted that "it will take about ten years for domestic drilling to have an impact on consumers," before accusing Palin: "So isn't the notion of 'drill, baby, drill' a little misleading to people who think this will automatically lower their gas prices?" On how Palin is an ill-informed dolt: "What newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this to stay informed and to understand the world?"

2. Matthews: Granholm a 'Genius,' So How Can She Play Palin?
On Tuesday night's Hardball, Chris Matthews wondered if Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, "an Ivy League grad" and "genius," was really a good choice to play the role of Sarah Palin in Joe Biden's debate prep. During a segment with Democratic consultant Nancy Skinner, who is prepping Granholm, the Hardball host implied the "Harvard Law" graduate may not be the best "fit" to play the Republican vice presidential nominee: "She's a genius. You think she is, in, in her manner, in her background and she's born in Canada. How does she sort of fit the role of Sarah Palin? Why is she a good sparring partner to play that role?"

3. Jack Cafferty's Palin Derangement Syndrome Reaches New Heights
CNN commentator Jack Cafferty, true to his form over the past several weeks, launched another attack on Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on Tuesday's The Situation Room. During his regular "Cafferty File" segment during the 4 pm Eastern hour of the CNN program, he played a clip from the latest interview the Alaska Governor did with Katie Couric, in which she partially answered her critics' questioning of her readiness by repeating the list of offices that she has held over the years. After she concluded with her past position of Alaska oil and gas commissioner, the CNN veteran condescended: "A regulator of oil and gas. How can -- how can anybody, including John McCain, take this woman seriously?...When this is over they all write books. Hers will be titled, 'How I Committed Political Suicide on the CBS Evening News.'" When he returned at the end of the hour to read some of the viewer responses to the question, Cafferty read nothing but negative responses to the question, with one exception, and he continued his condescension after reading it. A woman named Trudy wrote: "Within three minutes, you remind me why I don't watch the opinionated news on CNN....Your condescending attitude towards Sarah Palin is another example of the lock-step Left trying to portray a Republican as less intelligent." Caffery then replied, "Trudy, when it comes to Sarah Palin, that's not much of a reach."

4. CNN's Fareed Zakaria Mind-Reads Palin, Rips Her Qualifications
CNN world affairs analyst Fareed Zakaria, in a column published in the October 6 issue of Newsweek where is he the top editor of the international edition, condescended towards Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, labeled her "utterly unqualified to be Vice President," and complimented Katie Couric for her "smart question" to the Alaska Governor in a recent interview. He later asserted clairvoyantly that "she has never spent a day thinking about any important national or international issue, and this is a hell of a time to start." As a result of this slam, CNN host Wolf Blitzer interviewed Zakaria on Monday's The Situation Room, in which the analyst referenced Tina Fey's nearly word-for-word quotation of Palin from the Couric interview on last Saturday's SNL program, which was played earlier in the program: "The scary answer was on the economy -- the one you displayed switching back and forth between Saturday Night Live, because it was absolutely clear, that she simply did not understand any of the issues involved. She did not understand the question."

5. CBS's Smith Asks Palin's Parents About Criticism of Daughter
On Tuesday's CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith aired the second half of his interview with the parents of Sarah Palin, Chuck and Sally Heath, and described: "From mayor of Wasilla to governor of Alaska, and now a vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin's sudden appearance on the national scene has been celebrated, and increasingly criticized." Palin's father responded: "They're digging and digging for the bad side, yeah. And there is no real bad side. They're fabricating a lot of things, which I don't want to go into, yeah." Smith then followed up: "Is that hurtful to you as parents?" Palin's mother replied: "Very. Very. Mostly because you know how it affects the kids."

6. Congresswoman to ABC's Cuomo Panicking on Bailout: Calm Down!
A Republican and a Democratic member of Congress attempted to calm Good Morning America news anchor Chris Cuomo during an interview on Tuesday. Cuomo interrogated GOP Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave and her Democratic colleague, Mary Kaptur, about just what they would do now that the Wall Street bailout package had been rejected. After noticing the high pitched tenor in Cuomo's voice, Kaptur observed, "...You're very anxious." In a soothing voice, she instructed: "I can hear your voice there. For the sake of the country, and even for the sake of the markets, I think you should operate prudently and with a little bit of calm in your voice today." This was after a barely restrained Cuomo thrust responsibility onto those politicians who opposed the bailout: "Your vote and the failure of this bill- are you ready to accept the potential responsibility for bringing down this economy as a result of your vote?" Continuing to point fingers, he accused, "You saw yesterday, 50 percent of Americans hold stocks. You lost $1.2 trillion in value."

Couric Patronizingly Challenges & Lectures
Palin; Coddled Biden

In her day-on-the-campaign-trail stories about the VP candidates, Katie Couric didn't even try to deliver equal treatment. Last week, after her piece on her day with Joe Biden, CyberAlert outlined what she must do to be consistent with Palin this week. She failed. Unlike with Biden on September 22, in the "Sarah Palin: Behind the Scenes" story on Tuesday's CBS Evening News, Couric declared a McCain-Palin policy position "misleading," deliberately highlighted a policy disagreement between the two (drilling in ANWR), condescendingly demanded that Palin list the names of newspapers she read in Alaska and then treated Palin's conservative views as alien and thus in need of explanation -- pressing her on whether she agrees global warming is "man-made," hitting her repeatedly on whether it should be illegal for a 15-year-old rape or incest victim to get an abortion or the "morning-after" pill and requiring she offer her position on teaching evolution.

Couric asserted that "it will take about ten years for domestic drilling to have an impact on consumers," before accusing Palin: "So isn't the notion of 'drill, baby, drill' a little misleading to people who think this will automatically lower their gas prices?" On how Palin is an ill-informed dolt: "What newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this to stay informed and to understand the world?" Couric wouldn't let go: "Like what ones specifically?" and "Can you name a few?"

Jumping to social issues, as the two sat on the campaign bus, Couric insisted Palin reiterate how she adheres to views Couric framed as extreme:

# "If a 15-year-old is raped by her father, do you believe it should be illegal for her to get an abortion? Why?...But ideally, you think it should be illegal for a girl who was raped or the victim of incest to get an abortion?"

# "You don't believe in the morning-after pill?...I'm sorry, I just want to ask you again. Do you condone or condemn the morning-after pill?"

# "Do you believe evolution should be taught as an accepted scientific principle or one of several theories?"

[This item, by the MRC's Brent Baker, was posted Tuesday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

Growing up, Palin "consumed newspapers with a passion." As for Palin's newspaper reading habits, Kaylene Johnson's biography, 'Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska's Political Establishment Upside Down,' recounts on page 21: "From the time she was in elementary school, she consumed newspapers with a passion. 'She read the paper from the very top left-hand corner to the bottom right corner to the very last page,' said Molly [Sarah's younger sister]. 'She didn't want to miss a word. She didn't just read it -- she knew every word she had read and analyzed it.'" Barnes and Noble's page for the book: search.barnesandnoble.com

Earlier in the piece, Couric had wondered: "Do you consider yourself a feminist?"

Biden faced no such onslaught of demands for his views on contentious issues, though few viewers know where he stands on such issues as partial-birth abortion, allowing minors to have abortions without parental notification, or same-sex marriage.

Instead, Couric had hailed him in a way she did not with Palin: "He's the close-talking, free-wheeling, ice-cream eating Democratic nominee for Vice President. Senator Joe Biden isn't holding back."

Couric's obsession with Palin's social issue views matched what ABC's Charles Gibson pursued with Palin three weeks ago. The September 15 CyberAlert item recounted:

He ran through several social issues -- from abortion to guns -- forcing her to state positions Gibson certainly realized would cement her to ideologically conservative positions seen as extreme by many of his viewers....

# "Roe v. Wade, do you think it should be reversed?...John McCain would allow abortion in cases of rape and incest. Do you believe in it only in the case where the life of the mother is in danger?...Would you change and accept it in rape and incest?"

# "Embryonic stem cell research, John McCain has been supportive of it."

# "Homosexuality, genetic or learned?"

# "Guns: 70 percent of this country supports a ban on semiautomatic assault weapons. Do you?"

Full rundown: www.mrc.org

The September 23 CyberAlert posting, "Couric Has Cushy Chat with Biden, Will She Be as Warm with Palin?" proposed:

If Katie Couric is to be consistent and treat Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin...as gently as she did Democratic VP nominee Joe Biden in her day with him Thursday in Ohio which became a story on the Monday night CBS Evening News, she will (Couric quotes from the Biden story in the parentheses):

See: www.mrc.org

Amongst the disparate aspects of the two "Behind the Scenes"/on the campaign trail stories, based on my list and so not counting the most obvious lack of any tough policy questions to Biden:

# Hail her outspokenness: ("You say what's on your mind and I think people appreciate that.") COURIC WITH PALIN: No such praise.

# Ignore obvious factual/historical flubs: (Biden: "When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on television...") FDR was not in office at the time of the 1929 crash and his "fireside chats" were on the radio. COURIC WITH PALIN: She corrected Palin on the supposed payoff to off-shore drilling and repeatedly followed up when she didn't get the answer she wanted.

# Relay as reality positive campaign spin about her attributes: ("Relating to the fears of the average American is one of Biden's strong suits.") COURIC WITH PALIN: No such equivalent connection made to the concerns of average Americans as Couric, instead, pushed Palin to espouse her presumed less-popular social views.

# Cue up campaign rally attendees to praise her: ("What was it about what he said that really resonated with you in particular?" Answers: "I think he expressed what most working Americans feel at the moment. He seems to relate to our pain." and "I want him in office because I believe he will do things for women.")

COURIC WITH PALIN: In about the only positive portion of the fairly lengthy eight-minute-plus story, Couric touted: "Speaking of energy, Palin has brought plenty of it to the campaign trail, attracting huge, enthusiastic crowds, like this one at Capital University." Viewers then heard from an excited woman in the crowd: "I strongly support McCain, but I love Governor Palin!" Even here however, Biden made out better: He got three glowing soundbites from attendees in the crowd which Couric set up: "What was it about what he said that really resonated with you in particular?"

Couric also cited how "her trademark feistiness is on display as she delivers a punchy soundbite about her rival, Joe Biden" ("I've been hearing about his Senate speeches since I was in, like, second grade"), but Couric turned that into a negative: "You have a 72-year-old running mate, is that kind of a risky thing to say, insinuating that Joe Biden's been around a while?"

# Empathize with the challenge she faces at the upcoming debate: ("Are you worried you're going to have to pull your punches a bit because of her gender and you don't want to seem like you're bullying her? It's a different dynamic when it's a male/female thing, isn't it?") COURIC WITH PALIN: Didn't empathize with Palin's debate challenge.

# Not apply any ideological label: ("We decided to take a closer look at the 65-year-old Senator from Delaware.") COURIC WITH PALIN: Here Couric was balanced as she did not apply an ideological tag to Palin.

Tuesday's CBS Evening News report followed a just as slanted preview on Monday. The September 30 article, "Couric Badgers Palin on Pakistan; Had Cued Up Biden on Economy," recounted:

On Monday night's CBS Evening News, anchor Katie Couric announced her day "on the campaign trail with Governor Palin" won't air until Tuesday, but CBS still made room for an excerpt of her time Monday in Ohio with Sarah Palin and John McCain in which Couric repeatedly pressed the two about an overheard comment Palin made Saturday about Pakistan, badgering them with five follow-ups before moving on to Palin's "reaction" to criticism of her answers during her previous Couric session. But a week-and-half-ago, when Couric's day on the campaign trail story with Joe Biden was delayed by news on the financial front, CBS ran video of Couric cuing up Biden on what he and Obama would do to resolve the crisis followed by one challenging question with no follow-up.

See: mrc.org

Now to the Tuesday story based on Couric's time on Monday with Palin:

The "Katie Couric Reports, Sarah Palin: Behind the Scenes" segment on the September 30 CBS Evening News:

KATIE COURIC: The vice presidential candidates hold their one and only debate this Thursday night in St. Louis. Joe Biden and Sarah Palin spent part of this day preparing -- separately, of course. Now, before that debate prep, I spent some time with Governor Palin out on the campaign trail. And in an exclusive interview, she spoke frankly about a number of controversial issues -- including at least one disagreement she has with Senator McCain.
The day began early. After being briefed by her staff, Sarah Palin heads out with her 14-year-old daughter, Willow, in tow.
COURIC TO WILLOW: So nice to meet you too. I didn't realize you were going to be coming along. That's exciting. Are you having a good time with all this?
WILLOW PALIN: It's so fun.
COURIC: Is it really?
WILLOW PALIN: I love it.
COURIC: 8 a.m., she hits the ground running.
COURIC TO SARAH PALIN: Do you have any down-time, though? Do you ever feel like you can actually-
SARAH PALIN: I get to go running every day, which is my sanity. Sweat is my sanity.
COURIC: First, a photo-op with hotel staff. Then it's off to the McCain campaign plane, where we were invited up front to ask a handful of questions.
COURIC TO PALIN: Do you consider yourself a feminist?
PALIN: I do. I'm a feminist who believes in equal rights and I believe that women certainly today have every opportunity that a man has to succeed, and to try to do it all, anyway. And I'm very, very thankful that I've been brought up in a family where gender hasn't been an issue. You know, I've been expected to do everything growing up that the boys were doing. We were out chopping wood and we were out hunting and fishing and filling our freezer with good wild Alaskan game to feed our family. So it kinda started with that.
COURIC: In Columbus, Ohio, the candidates sat down with me for their first joint interview, where we focused on energy policy, specifically, off-shore drilling.
COURIC: Governor Palin, it will take about ten years for domestic drilling to have an impact on consumers. So isn't the notion of "drill, baby, drill" a little misleading to people who think this will automatically lower their gas prices, and quickly?
PALIN: We should have started ten years ago tapping into domestic supplies that America is so rich in. Alaska has billions of barrels of oil and hundreds of trillions of cubic feet of clean, green natural gas onshore and off-shore. Should have started doing it ten years ago, but better late than never. It's gotta be an all-of-the-above approach to energy independence.
COURIC: I know you'd like to see drilling take place in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and Senator McCain, you oppose this. You call it, quote: "one of the most pristine and beautiful parts of the world." Who's right?
McCAIN: Did you expect two mavericks to agree on, to agree on everything? We just have, we'll be talking more and more about this issue. But for us to agree on everything would make us, I think, a little bit boring and we're anything -- You can say a lot about us, but we're anything but boring.
COURIC: Speaking of energy, Palin has brought plenty of it to the campaign trail, attracting huge, enthusiastic crowds, like this one at Capital University.
WOMAN IN CROWD: I strongly support McCain, but I love Governor Palin.
COURIC: Her trademark feistiness is on display as she delivers a punchy soundbite about her rival, Joe Biden.
PALIN, ON STAGE: I've been hearing about his Senate speeches since I was in, like, second grade.
COURIC TO PALIN: You have a 72-year-old running mate, is that kind of a risky thing to say, insinuating that Joe Biden's been around a while?
PALIN: Oh no, it's nothing negative at all. He's got a lot of experience and just stating the fact there, that we've been hearing his speeches for all these years. So he's got a tremendous amount of experience and, you know, I'm the new energy, the new face, the new ideas and he's got the experience.
COURIC TO PALIN: And when it comes to establishing your world view, I was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this to stay informed and to understand the world?
PALIN: I've read most of them, again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media.
COURIC: Like what ones specifically, I'm curious that you-?
PALIN: Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me over all these years.
COURIC: Can you name a few?
PALIN: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news, too. Alaska isn't a foreign country, where it's kind of suggested it seems like, "Wow, how could you keep in touch with what the rest of Washington, D.C., may be thinking and doing when you live up there in Alaska?" Believe me, Alaska is like a microcosm of America.
COURIC: Our conversation continued aboard the campaign bus.
COURIC TO PALIN: What's your position on global warming? Do you believe it's man-made or not?
PALIN: Well, we're the only Arctic state, of course, Alaska. So we feel the impacts more than any other state up there with the changes in climate and certainly it is apparent. We have erosion issues and we have melting sea ice, of course. So, what I've done up there is form a sub-cabinet to focus solely on climate change. Understanding that it is real and-
COURIC: Is it man-made, though in your view?
PALIN: You know there are man's activities that can be contributed to the issues that we're dealing with now, with these impacts. I'm not going to solely blame all of man's activities on changes in climate because the world's weather patterns are cyclical and over history we have seen change there. But kind of doesn't matter at this point, as we debate what caused it. The point is: it's real; we need to do something about it.
COURIC: We also talked about her positions on a number of social issues.
COURIC TO PALIN: If a 15-year-old is raped by her father, do you believe it should be illegal for her to get an abortion? Why?
PALIN: I am pro-life and I'm unapologetic about my position there that I am pro-life. And I understand good people on both sides of the abortion debate. Now, I would counsel to choose life. I would like to see a culture of life in this country. But I would also like to see, taking it one step further, not just saying I am pro-life and I want fewer and fewer abortions in this country, but I want then those women who find themselves in circumstances that are absolutely less than ideal, for them to be supported, for adoptions to be made easier.
COURIC: But ideally, you think it should be illegal for a girl who was raped or the victim of incest to get an abortion?
PALIN: I'm saying that, personally, I would counsel that person to choose life, despite horrific, horrific circumstances that this person would find themselves in. And, if you're asking, though, kind of foundationally here, should anyone end up in jail for having had an abortion, absolutely not. That's nothing that I would ever support.
COURIC: Some people have credited the morning-after pill as, for decreasing the number of abortions. How do you feel about the morning-after pill?
PALIN: Well, I am all for contraception. And I'm all for any preventative measures that are legal and safe, and should be taken, but Katie, again, I am one to believe that life starts at the moment of conception. And I would like to see-
COURIC: Ergo, you don't believe in the morning-after pill?
PALIN: I would like to see fewer and fewer abortions in this world. And again, I haven't spoken with anyone who disagrees with my position on that.
COURIC: I'm sorry, I just want to ask you again. Do you condone or condemn the morning-after pill?
PALIN: Personally, and this isn't McCain-Palin policy-
COURIC: No, that's okay, I'm just asking you.
PALIN: But personally, I would not choose to participate in that kind of contraception.
COURIC: Do you believe evolution should be taught as an accepted scientific principle or one of several theories?
PALIN: Oh, I think it should be taught as an accepted principle. And, you know, I say that also as the daughter of a school teacher, a science teacher, who has really instilled in me a respect for science. It should be taught in our schools. And I won't ever deny that I see the hand of God in this beautiful creation that is Earth. But that is not part of a policy or a local curriculum in a school district. Science should be taught in science class.
COURIC: The Governor told us, though she's not a member of any church, she visits a couple of them regularly when she's home. She took issue with news reports that one of them, the Wasilla Bible Church, sponsored a conference where gays could be made straight through prayer.
PALIN: When the media gets it wrong, it frustrates Americans who are just trying to get the facts and be able to make up their mind on, about a person's values. And I don't know what prayers are worthy of being prayed and I don't know what prayers are going to be answered or not answered. But, as for homosexuality, I am not going to judge Americans and the decisions that they make in their adult personal relationships. I have one of my absolute best friends for the last 30 years who happens to be gay, and I love her dearly and she is not my "gay friend," she is one of my best friends, who happens to have made a choice that isn't a choice that I have made. But I'm not going to judge people.
COURIC: People may judge her after Thursday's debate where she'll be unfiltered and unedited -- something reporters complain the campaign has resisted.
PALIN: The campaign knows that I am an open book. My record is out there and my life is out there.

CBSNews.com transcript and video, which does not match what is above since the posted transcript includes portions not aired, the text above reflects corrections to that transcript and also includes a few exchanges aired but not in the CBS transcript: www.cbsnews.com

Matthews: Granholm a 'Genius,' So How
Can She Play Palin?

On Tuesday night's Hardball, Chris Matthews wondered if Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, "an Ivy League grad" and "genius," was really a good choice to play the role of Sarah Palin in Joe Biden's debate prep. During a segment with Democratic consultant Nancy Skinner, who is prepping Granholm, the Hardball host implied the "Harvard Law" graduate may not be the best "fit" to play the Republican vice presidential nominee: "She's a genius. You think she is, in, in her manner, in her background and she's born in Canada. How does she sort of fit the role of Sarah Palin? Why is she a good sparring partner to play that role?"

[This item, by the MRC's Geoffrey Dickens, was posted Tuesday evening on the MRC's blog: newsbusters.org

A little later in the segment Matthews painted Palin as empty-headed as he worried the "neo-conservatives" would "home-school" her in the "ideology of the right," like they did to Dan Quayle and George W. Bush.

The following exchanges occurred on the September 30 edition of Hardball:

CHRIS MATTHEWS: Joining me now is Democratic consultant Nancy Skinner, who helped prep Jennifer Granholm, the Michigan governor, who is playing Sarah Palin in Joe Biden's debate prep. What an interesting role you're playing. Also with us MSNBC political analyst Pat Buchanan. Nancy, tell me why you think Governor Granholm, who's what, an Ivy League grad law? What? Didn't she go to Harvard Law or something? She's a genius. You think she is, in, in her manner, in her background and she's born in Canada. How does she sort of fit the role of Sarah Palin? Why is she a good sparring partner to play that role?

...

PAT BUCHANAN: Let her own philosophy, her own personality come through. Let her be, Sarah be Sarah. If she loses then you lose, but you don't lose on somebody else's game-plan.
MATTHEWS: Pat, you have forgotten the nature of a neo-conservative. They find these-
BUCHANAN: She's not a neo-conservative!
MATTHEWS: No, no!
BUCHANAN: Yeah.
MATTHEWS: The people briefing her are, in this home-schooling exercise that's going on. It's just like they did with Quayle or George W. Bush. They get a newcomer who hasn't had a lot of book learning in the ideology of the right, and they teach them the right words. You don't think that's going on right now? Randy Scheunemann is not filling her with that ideology right now?

Jack Cafferty's Palin Derangement Syndrome
Reaches New Heights

CNN commentator Jack Cafferty, true to his form over the past several weeks, launched another attack on Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on Tuesday's The Situation Room. During his regular "Cafferty File" segment during the 4 pm Eastern hour of the CNN program, he played a clip from the latest interview the Alaska Governor did with CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric, in which she partially answered her critics' questioning of her readiness to be Vice President by repeating the list of offices that she has held over the years. After she concluded with her past position of Alaska oil and gas commissioner/regulator, the CNN veteran condescended: "A regulator of oil and gas. How can -- how can anybody, including John McCain, take this woman seriously?... When this is over they all write books. Hers will be titled, 'How I Committed Political Suicide on the CBS Evening News.'"

When he returned at the end of the hour to read some of the viewer responses to the question, Cafferty read nothing but negative responses to the question, with one exception, and he continued his condescension after reading it. A woman named Trudy wrote: "Within three minutes, you remind me why I don't watch the opinionated news on CNN.... Your condescending attitude towards Sarah Palin is another example of the lock-step Left trying to portray a Republican as less intelligent." Caffery then replied, "Trudy, when it comes to Sarah Palin, that's not much of a reach."

[This item, by the MRC's Matthew Balan, was posted Tuesday evening on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

For more on Jack Cafferty's almost constant criticism of Sarah Palin, see the September 29 CyberAlert item "Cafferty Exhibiting Palin Derangement Syndrome, Scolds Blitzer" at: www.mrc.org

In fact, Cafferty is so eager for the destruction of Sarah Palin's political career that when he read the viewer responses to his question during the 5 pm Eastern hour, he graphically described his anticipation for the vice presidential debate on Thursday evening. When a viewer suggested that all three Senators on the two main presidential tickets return to Washington, DC to work on the financial bail-out, he quipped in reply: "[A]s long as they don't compromise the debate on Thursday. I would crawl through a barbed wire fence nude to get a seat in front of a TV set for that."

After the commentator read two more viewer responses, substitute anchor John Roberts asked half-jokingly, "You [are] enthusiastic about this debate on Thursday?" Cafferty replied, "I can't wait! I can't wait!" Roberts cracked, "It's an interesting visual."

The full transcript of Jack Cafferty's Cafferty File segment, which began nine minutes into the 4 pm Eastern hour of Tuesday's The Situation Room; and the transcript of the viewer replies, which aired 57 minutes into the same hour:

JACK CAFFERTY: Last Friday, we ran a piece of tape from an interview that Governor Sarah Palin did with the CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric. She was asked about the bail-out package. Palin rambled on incoherently for a minute or more, about trade and jobs and health care, and all manner of things except the bailout package. Her answer made no sense at all. That segment of The Cafferty File found its way on to YouTube after the broadcast last Friday. As of about an hour and a half ago, it had received one million, one hundred thousand hits. Well, guess what? She's back. Palin did another interview with Couric. This time, she was asked about the first interview. Check this out:
KATIE COURIC: Governor Palin, since our last interview, you've gotten a lot of flak. Some Republicans have said you're not prepared, you're not ready for prime time. People have questioned your readiness since that interview, and I'm curious to hear your reaction.
SARAH PALIN: Well, not only am I ready, but willing and able to serve as vice president with Senator McCain, if Americans so bless us and privilege us with the opportunity of serving them -- ready with my executive experience as a city mayor and manager, as a governor, as a commissioner/regulator of oil and gas --
CAFFERTY: A regulator of oil and gas. How can -- how can anybody, including John McCain, take this woman seriously? Here's the question: is Sarah Palin helping her chances by continuing to do these (laughs) interviews with Katie Couric? When this is over they all write books. Hers will be titled, 'How I Committed Political Suicide on the CBS Evening News.' Go to CNN.com/CaffertyFile. You can post a comment on my blog. It must be embarrassing on some level to John McCain to have to go around sweeping up after her.
JOHN ROBERTS: I talked to him this morning, and we'll actually play some of that later on today, and he still has full confidence in her and her ability to be president should the need, God forbid, ever arise.
CAFFERTY: I'll bet that's not a true statement.
ROBERTS: Check please. Thanks Jack.
CAFFERTY: (Laughs.)

....

ROBERTS: Jack Cafferty asked a provocative question earlier this hour. He's back now with some of his responses.
CAFFERTY: Thank you, John. The question this hour: is Sarah Palin helping her chances by continuing to do these awful interviews over there at CBS with Katie Couric? They're -- they're just frightful.
Karen Missouri writes, 'No. She didn't do the interview with Katie Couric. Palin and McCain did the interview with Katie Couric. He didn't let her answer a lot of questions that she was supposed to answer. Palin always sounds the same. She sounds like a wind-up doll. Oil and gas regulator? Excuse me?'
Liz in Tucson [Arizona]: 'I have no doubt she fits right in in Alaska but not the world stage. McCain ought to have not asked her. If she were a sincere and honest person, she would not have accepted the place on the ticket. This was clearly not a decision for the betterment of our country.'
Trudy writes, 'Within three minutes, you remind me why I don't watch the opinionated news on CNN. It's difficult for the Republican Party to run against Obama and the entire broadcast media. Your condescending attitude towards Sarah Palin is another example of the lock-step Left trying to portray a Republican as less intelligent.' Trudy, when it comes to Sarah Palin, that's not much of a reach.
Saar, Tel Aviv, Israel: 'In the 1970s, Bette Midler said it best, and this is what John McCain must believe too. Midler said, "Of course, I have standards. They may be exceedingly low, but I do have standards."'
Kay in Tallahassee: 'I think she made it worse in the second interview. She had to bring Daddy McCain along to help her. She looks like she can't talk to the press on her own.'
Carolyn in New York: 'I agree with you completely. I have never before felt frightened for my country, but the idea of Sarah Palin becoming president is truly beyond belief. John McCain put our national interest in last place when making this selection. Country first? Far from it.'
And Kev writes, 'Katie Couric may very well be saving the U.S, and perhaps the world, from the idiotic words of Sarah Palin. Can you imagine four years of her? I'm not sure she's qualified to be governor of Alaska. It's great, though. You couldn't write this stuff.' Indeed, you couldn't. If you -- she makes Tina Fey look legit.

CNN's Fareed Zakaria Mind-Reads Palin,
Rips Her Qualifications

CNN world affairs analyst Fareed Zakaria, in a column published in the October 6 issue of Newsweek where is he the top editor of the international edition, condescended towards Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, labeled her "utterly unqualified to be Vice President," and complimented Katie Couric for her "smart question" to the Alaska Governor in a recent interview. He later asserted clairvoyantly that "she has never spent a day thinking about any important national or international issue, and this is a hell of a time to start."

As a result of this slam, CNN host Wolf Blitzer interviewed Zakaria on Monday's The Situation Room, in which the analyst referenced Tina Fey's nearly word-for-word quotation of Palin from the Couric interview on last Saturday's SNL program, which was played earlier in the program: "The scary answer was on the economy -- the one you displayed switching back and forth between Saturday Night Live, because it was absolutely clear, that she simply did not understand any of the issues involved. She did not understand the question."

[This item, by the MRC's Matthew Balan, was posted Tuesday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

For Zakaria's column in Newsweek, "Palin is Ready? Please," go to: www.newsweek.com

Zakaria, a naturalized American citizen who declared in May 2008 that "era of... 'American exceptionalism' is over," began his column in a snotty fashion. His title: "Palin is Ready? Please." His lead sentences stayed in this vein: "Will someone please put Sarah Palin out of her agony? Is it too much to ask that she come to realize that she wants, in that wonderful phrase in American politics, 'to spend more time with her family?'" He then brought up the interview with Couric, whom he characterized as having a "trademark sympathetic style." He must be only catching Couric's interviews with liberals like Obama and Al Gore, since that's usually when she's "sympathetic."

For more on Zakaria's declaration that "era of... 'American exceptionalism' is over," see the May 6, 2008 CyberAlert item, "Newsweek Editor Declares Era of 'American Exceptionalism is Over'" at: www.mrc.org

After excerpting the "money" excerpt from the Couric interview about the economy, Zakaria brought up Campbell Brown's "sexism" charge against the McCain campaign for keeping Palin "under wraps." He "corrects" this assertion with his version of "common sense:" "Some commentators, like CNN's Campbell Brown, have argued that it's sexist to keep Sarah Palin under wraps, as if she were a delicate flower who might wilt under the bright lights of the modern media. But the more Palin talks, the more we see that it may not be sexism but common sense that's causing the McCain campaign to treat her like a time bomb."

Zakaria then continued by stating his final conclusion about McCain's running mate, including a backhanded compliment of the Alaska governor: "Can we now admit the obvious? Sarah Palin is utterly unqualified to be vice president. She is a feisty, charismatic politician who has done some good things in Alaska. But she has never spent a day thinking about any important national or international issue, and this is a hell of a time to start."

He ended his column by more or less questioning John McCain's patriotism: "In these times, for John McCain to have chosen this person to be his running mate is fundamentally irresponsible. McCain says that he always puts country first. In this important case, it is simply not true."

Zakaria continued his Palin bashing during the Blitzer interview:

WOLF BLITZER: ...Fareed, you wrote a provocative column. I woke up this morning and read it in The Washington Post. Among other things, you said this, you said, 'Senator McCain says he always puts country first. In this important case, it is simply not true.' And basically, you say it's time for Sarah Palin to drop out for the good of the country. Explain what you have in mind.
FAREED ZAKARIA: Well Wolf, I'm really not looking at this as a game. I'm looking at this as a serious matter of governance. I think you've just been watching -- you've been anchoring very well exactly what is going on here. The American financial system is in the greatest crisis it's been in since the 1930s. The economy is probably more stressed than at any point from various different areas, and this is complicated stuff. I think that there is a fundamental test of governance that is going to have to be applied, and is going to have to be applied to the House, and to the House Republicans in particular. But look, it applies all the more seriously to the people we are considering having as president and vice president. They have to be able to govern. You know, we can talk about the games and the gaffes, but what has become absolutely clear watching Sarah Palin, in her responses to interviews -- and the Katie Couric interview was the last straw -- frankly, there were others. Is that it's not that she when asked these complicated questions or difficult questions. It's not that she doesn't know the right answer. It's that she clearly does not understand the question. This is way beyond anything we have ever seen from a national candidate.
BLITZER: Well, what about the argument that Senator McCain makes -- she's got a proven track record. She's very popular in Alaska as governor, has the highest job approval rating of any sitting governor right now -- 80 percent like what she's doing in Alaska, and she brings this executive experience with her that neither Joe Biden nor Barack Obama has.
ZAKARIA: Well, you know, if you delve into that, you discover that the executive experience is running a very small town. Alaska itself is an unusual state. 85 percent of its budget is -- comes from oil revenues. Basically, you're just distributing oil revenues that are being provided for you by digging holes in the ground. This is good training to be president of Saudi Arabia, not the United States. Look, what is absolutely clear is we are dealing with very, very difficult issues. The financial crisis is probably the most complicated financial crisis we have experienced yet, and it was absolutely clear -- the most scary answer in the Katie Couric interview was not on foreign policy. The foreign policy stuff was funny. The scary answer was on the economy -- the one you displayed switching back and forth between Saturday Night Live, because it was absolutely clear, that she simply did not understand any of the issues involved. She did not understand the question. This is a woman who is going to be, as the phrase goes, a heartbeat away from a 72-year-old man if McCain wins. The actuarial odds of her becoming president are very high. They are actually significant. It's sort of about a one in five chance.

CBS's Smith Asks Palin's Parents About
Criticism of Daughter

On Tuesday's CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith aired the second half of his interview with the parents of Sarah Palin, Chuck and Sally Heath, and described: "From mayor of Wasilla to governor of Alaska, and now a vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin's sudden appearance on the national scene has been celebrated, and increasingly criticized." Palin's father responded: "They're digging and digging for the bad side, yeah. And there is no real bad side. They're fabricating a lot of things, which I don't want to go into, yeah." Smith then followed up: "Is that hurtful to you as parents?" Palin's mother replied: "Very. Very. Mostly because you know how it affects the kids."

After the clip of the interview was played, co-host Julie Chen asked Smith: "Did they talk about how difficult it is to hear their daughter be the butt of so many jokes ever since she stepped out onto the national spotlight?" Smith responded: "Well, you know, it's interesting, because we talked to Chuck about that. He saw the -- at least the first episode from 'Saturday Night Live' and he said that he thought Tina Fey did a good job. I'm not so sure they would have appreciated this past Saturday night's episode, though." Chen replied: "Yeah, I agree." On Monday, Chen remarked on that latest SNL skit, declaring: "Tina Fey has just so much material to work with, this is like, probably a dream come true for her."

[This item, by the MRC's Kyle Drennen, was posted Tuesday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

The full transcript of the Tuesday segment:

7:30AM TEASER:
HARRY SMITH: And also coming up in just a couple of minutes, part two of my exclusive interview with Sarah Palin's parents. We went to Wasilla, Alaska. They had amazing things to say about their daughter and the family. We'll hear that in just a little bit.

7:35AM TEASER:
SMITH: When we come back from this commercial break, part two of my exclusive interview with Sarah Palin's parents.

7:38AM SEGMENT:
HARRY SMITH: Joe Biden and Sarah Palin, the vice presidential candidates, will square off in a debate Thursday night at Washington University in St. Louis. And we decided we wanted to learn a little bit more about Sarah Palin, so we visited with her parents in Wasilla, Alaska. This is Sarah Palin country. And a visit to her parents home is a little like being in a natural history museum.
CHUCK HEATH: Everything in here has a story and this is my best find, what I consider my best find ever.
SMITH: This one right here?
HEATH: I found this summer. Gold mine, it's called a Steppe Bison and they went extinct about the time of the mammoths.
SMITH: Really?
HEATH: And the mammoths went extinct, oh, 8,000 - 10,000 years ago. And we found him frozen in the permafrost.
SMITH: People who haven't been here, I'm not sure they get Alaska.
HEATH: You have to live here and experience it. Yeah.
SMITH: You got some serious antlers working here.
HEATH: These are -- people say, 'gee, did you shoot all those?' No. Those are all sheds, you know, antlers are shedding.
SMITH: Oh, of course. These are a lot of, a lot of antlers. Chuck and Sally Heath moved to Alaska from Idaho 44 years ago.
HEATH: I told Sally we'd come up for one year, I knew better, but we'll try it for one year and which a lot of guys tell their wives, here we are.
SMITH: What did you think?
SALLY HEATH: I was all game for an adventure. It was going to be a challenge with three tiny kids at the time, but we were willing to do it, young and dumb.
SMITH: The Heath's third child, Sarah, was outspoken and competitive. Did you have a sense what she was going to be when she grew up?
HEATH: No. She sure didn't give us an indication it would be politics.
SMITH: From mayor of Wasilla to governor of Alaska, and now a vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin's sudden appearance on the national scene has been celebrated, and increasingly criticized.
CHUCK HEATH: They're digging and digging for the bad side, yeah. And there is no real bad side. They're fabricating a lot of things, which I don't want to go into, yeah.
SMITH: Yeah, yeah. Is that hurtful to you as parents?
SALLY HEATH: Very. Very. Mostly because you know how it affects the kids.
SMITH: And they're worried about what the future might hold.
HEATH: I'm concerned about how the kids will adapt to it, that living in Washington D.C., because they're Alaskans, they snow machine and they ski and they do all of these things here. Not too many snow machines in Washington D.C., yeah.
SMITH: Despite having braved the wilds of Alaska for four decades, nothing has quite prepared them for the storm of attention that has followed Sarah. Did you see it coming?
HEATH: The governorship has finally sunk in. But this VP, it hasn't sunk in at all yet, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I'm still 'what?.'
SMITH: Yeah, yeah? Seemed like a dream almost?
HEATH: Yeah. You know, a dream or fantasy. Yeah, yeah.
SMITH: Good dream or bad dream?
HEATH: Well, I think -- I hope it's going to be a good dream, yeah, I'm sure it's going to be a good dream, yeah.
SMITH: Yeah, yeah.
HEATH: She's never let us down yet, yeah.
SMITH: Yeah, as they say, you almost have to be from Alaska, or at least go there, to get it, to really understand it. And I really want to thank Chuck and Sally Heath for opening up their home to us over the weekend and giving us the opportunity to visit, guys.
JULIE CHEN: Yeah. Did they talk about how difficult it is to hear their daughter be the butt of so many jokes ever since she stepped out onto the national spotlight?
SMITH: Well, you know, it's interesting, because we talked to Chuck about that. He saw the -- at least the first episode from 'Saturday Night Live' and he said that he thought Tina Fey did a good job. I'm not so sure they would have appreciated this past Saturday night's episode, though.
CHEN: Yeah, I agree.

Congresswoman to ABC's Cuomo Panicking
on Bailout: Calm Down!

A Republican and a Democratic member of Congress attempted to calm Good Morning America news anchor Chris Cuomo during an interview on Tuesday. Cuomo interrogated GOP Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave and her Democratic colleague, Mary Kaptur, about just what they would do now that the Wall Street bailout package had been rejected. After noticing the high pitched tenor in Cuomo's voice, Kaptur observed, "...You're very anxious."

In a soothing voice, she instructed: "I can hear your voice there. For the sake of the country, and even for the sake of the markets, I think you should operate prudently and with a little bit of calm in your voice today." This was after a barely restrained Cuomo thrust responsibility onto those politicians who opposed the bailout: "Your vote and the failure of this bill- are you ready to accept the potential responsibility for bringing down this economy as a result of your vote?" Continuing to point fingers, he accused, "You saw yesterday, 50 percent of Americans hold stocks. You lost $1.2 trillion in value."

[This item, by the MRC's Scott Whitlock, was posted Tuesday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

In a bipartisan manner, both Congresswomen attacked Cuomo's argument. Republican Musgrave reasoned, "We didn't pass a flawed bill. We not only answer to Wall Street, we answer to Main Street. We answer to our constituents." Democrat Kaptur asserted she would not be "railroaded because someone who spent his life on Wall Street wants to become master of the universe and have the American people give $700 billion to the Treasury."

Cuomo's "pass anything" attitude could also be seen in a one-sided graphic from a previous segment that set up the interview. It read, "Great Bailout Goes Bust: Wall Street to Congress: 'Idiots'"

A transcript of the interview, which aired at 7:08am on September 30, follows:

CHRIS CUOMO: So, that gives us our feel on Wall Street. The question bounces back to Washington, D.C. Where are their heads? Specifically, the people who voted against this plan? So, let's bring in a couple of members of Congress right now. We have Marcy Kaptur, Democrat of Ohio. And we also have Marilyn Musgrave, a Republican from Colorado. Can you both hear me? It's good to have you this morning.
MARCY KAPTUR (D-OH): We can hear you.
MARILYN MUSGRAVE R-CO): Good morning. Yes.
CUOMO: All right. So, let's begin with what this vote could mean. Both of you, answer this in hand, if you would. Representative Kaptur, we can begin with you. Your vote and the failure of this bill- are you ready to accept the potential responsibility for bringing down this economy as a result of your vote?
KAPTUR [Graphic: "Voted 'No' to bailout"]: Well, first of all, our vote, if that were the only issue in what is troubling this economy, we couldn't possibly bring it down. We need to have a good bill. Not a fast bill. We have to be prudent in what we do. Our banking committee is fundamentally strong. The problem with what's happening in the markets today is a credit crunch, not a liquidity problem. One of the things the President of the United States could do today is to get his S.E.C. Chairman to change the accounting rules for mark to market to loosen up these credit markets. And then the other issue that we have is the market foreclosure challenge and every main street across the country. This bill did not effectively deal with that. We have to address the real estate issue and get that mortgage market working again. This bill would not do that. So, I think that we have to really look for something that will make the markets function in the way that they should, not reward bad behavior and give all these bills to the American taxpayer who didn't cause this problem. We have a strong system. We have a strong economic system. The markets will work. And frankly, for Wall Street, I would say, calm down. Don't panic. Don't be led to anxious behavior. Franklin Roosevelt said, the greatest thing we have to fear is fear itself. Don't be led by fear. Be led by responsible and prudent behavior and we'll get through this.
MUSGRAVE [Graphic: "Voted 'No' to Bailout"]:You know what? You're not going to see partisan bickering today or any partisan rancor. But what you will see is a Republican and a Democrat coming together to say we need a bill that is good. We're not going to act in haste. That bill was flawed from the very beginning. I was out opposing it before all the thousands of calls started coming in to my office overwhelmingly opposing it. But you know what? We know that inaction is not the answer. And we're coming back to work on Thursday.
CUOMO: But- But inaction- Right. But, representative, inaction has been the answer because you didn't pass this bill. If you talk to people in the markets, they say you see what happens- But you see what happens yesterday-
MUSGRAVE: We didn't pass a flawed bill. We not only answer to Wall Street, we answer to Main Street. We answer to our constituents.
CUOMO: But what about Main Street's interests? But what about Main Street's interests, representative? You saw yesterday, 50 percent of Americans hold stocks. You lost $1.2 trillion in value. That's more than the bailout amount, one single day. You have to know that the credit markets affect people at home, their credit cards, their auto loans.
MUSGRAVE: What we're doing is we're coming back on Thursday. And we're coming to work and craft a good bill. Marcy and I are in a working group together. We're trying to come up with the very best solution for this country. And the responsibility that we feel is to pass a good bill.
CUOMO: What does that mean exactly? Define good bill for me.
MUSGRAVE: We're not going to get out of it in 72 hours. We're not going to get out of it in 72 hours.
CUOMO: Right. But can you tell me more about what makes it a good bill? I'm sorry. We're just dealing with the communication from Wall Street to New York.
MUSGRAVE: Accounting rules need to reflect reality.
KAPTUR: Let me just say that, now, you're very anxious. I can hear your voice there. For the sake of the country, and even for the sake of the markets, I think you should operate prudently and with a little bit of calm in your voice today. What we want to do is be responsible, not for what happens on Wall Street. But for what happens to the American taxpayer, generations hence.
MUSGRAVE: Yes.
KAPTUR: There is a credit market seize-up. But the answer to that is not the bill that we had yesterday. The answer is for the President to go and call his S.E.C. chairman today and to change those mark to market rules that are making it difficult for inner-bank lending. That would do so much to help the economy. And that does not require legislation by the Congress. That's a regulatory change. The other deal we have to do is have a deal that talks to the housing crisis, which is at the heart of what has caused this implosion. And we need those workouts. We don't need to hemorrhage anymore on Main Street. This bill did not do that. We are working to try to do a bill that meets the needs of America.
MUSGRAVE: We are.
KAPTUR: That will be the best thing we could do for Wall Street.
CUOMO: Right And of course both of you understand that any anxiety here is because of the interests of team on Main Street, and wanting to make sure they don't get caught up in politics. So, the question to you two is, what are you going to put in this bill that will make it what you keep calling a good bill? Do you have a solution?
KAPTUR: Yes. That's what I was talking about. A change in the accounting rules that would ease up the credit crunch, which is really at the heart of what some of the anxiety in the marketplace. That can be done from an accounting standpoint. I think one of the problems is that Mr. Paulson is a day trader. He's not a banker. And there's a different psychology that operates on Wall Street. We need to use the regular tools we have through the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which has been employed, if you look at some of the resolutions that have been occurring. But we need to- We don't need to lose anymore banks. We need to ease up on those accounting rules so that the normal system can un-seize and those loans can be made across this economy. Then, we need to deal with the housing situation, with dispatch. And this bill did neither yesterday. So, we're going to work together here. We're going to try to inject some reason into this debate.
MUSGRAVE: Yes, we are.
KAPTUR: And not be railroaded because someone who spent his life on Wall Street wants to become master of the universe and have the American people give $700 billion to the Treasury.
CUOMO: The concerns are certainly there. I appreciate you two coming on to make sure that everybody knows they are addressing their concerns at home. Because at the end of the day, that's what we're all worried about. So, thank you to both of you for being with us this morning.
MUSGRAVE: We'll be working together. Thank you very much.

-- Brent Baker