by The Editors
and the APJ Pundit Pap Team

Sunday, May 16, 1999 -- NEW YORK/WASHINGTON -- Okay, which Senate wiseguy let Orrin Hatch loose?

The Utah Senator's ranting on behalf of the NRA became Issue One of the weekend's political chatfests, as Orrin made multiple appearances -- and left America with the impression that the avuncular conservative from Utah had gone stark raving mad because Congress might actually do something about unchecked sales of guns at unregulated gun shows, huge bullet magazines for automatic weapons, and loopholes which make it a cinch for the maliciously-minded to get a gun.

Meanwhile, he and a few of his moralist buddies were still blaming video games, Marilyn Manson and Natural Born Killers for the Columbine massacre, the pundits were trying to hype the Cox Report as the next big thing in the continuing assault on Clinton, and declaring NATO's Kosovo initiative a Clinton failure for the seventh week in a row.

Here's the scoop:



Fox News Sunday

NATO bombs kill Kosovar civilians -- Israeli elections -- gun control -- and Gore scolding Clinton! Yep, Tony Snow had three out of four issues to bash Bill with. he had obviously not read the Pundit Poll -- his hair still looks the same.

Oddly, one of the news stories in FNS' review of the headlines was about "Chinese hackers [breaking] into White House computers." The way they reported it, you'd think it was some sort of national crisis -- or another shot by Roger Ailes at embarrassing the White house -- or both. Fact is, Fox News never reports on domestic Clinton-haters having attempted the same thing repeatedly. More yellow-bashing from Fox? We think there's a bit of that, too.

Tony's first guest: NATO Secretary Jaime Solana, in a taped segment. Tony asked a series of questions on NATO's bombing of Kosovars evidently being used as human shields and Russia's involvement in the peace process -- and the ramifications of Russian President Boris Yeltsin evading an impeachment attempt.

"What are the sticking points with the Russians?" asked Tony. Solana said that the structure of troops and the extent to which the international courts will be used were the two big points of contention. This was odd -- these points are well-known, and we wonder why Tony would ask this in the first place.

But he did ask how many ethnic Albanians Solana thought Milosevic had killed. Solana did not answer with a specific number, of course. but instead blasted Milosevic for engineering a refugee crisis. And he also chided Tony, saying that it is unfair to claim that NATO bombing caused the refugee problem, since Slobodan had started the forced exodus of Kosovar Albanians well before NATO's bombing.

"Will it be necessary to keep Kosovars and Serbs separate?" asked Tony. Solana got to the real heart of the problem, saying that the idea of shifting or rewriting borders would be a bad idea.

Tony then welcomed his next guests, Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Chris Dodd (D-CT). He first asked McCain about the "dispute" over use of Apache helicopters, citing a New York Times article saying Sandy Berger was at odds with military officials over their use. And McCain sounded like he was supporting both ground forces AND Berger, saying that there were questions about Apache vulnerability. Tony's other guest, Chris Dodd (D-CT) said that the GOP had "Balkanized the Congress... over the war... we in the Congress are not fulfilling our Constitutional responsibility" by saying yes or no to funding. He should have pointed out that this "Balkanization" is nothing more than an attempt to "impeach" Clinton a second time.

This indirectly brings up an issue surrounding the War Powers Act -- and an argument being bandied about that Congress could vote "No" for war but still have their sentiment interpreted as "Yes" if they approve funding!

Tony tried to pin McCain down, asking at one point if the U.S. was being forced into a corner over ground troops to resolve the Kosovo crisis -- which McCain made look ridiculous by essentially debunking the notion. And Dodd pointed out that this is a NATO initiative, not just the U.S.. McCain said that Congress could veto financial support for the Kosovo initiative -- and slammed his fellow GOPers for attaching massive amounts of pork to the legislation. Dodd added "This is way beyond what was asked for... This I think gets out of hand when you get to the $11-to-12 billion range."

Tony then asked the Senators about Chinese claims that "charges of spying are fabricated." Dodd blasted the Chinese for that statement, questioning it in light of the accidental NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade. He made a great deal of assertions that workers in defense labs had the ability to walk out of a lab with secrets on a floppy disc.

A good if biased question from Tony to McCain: "Clinton apologized for the embassy bombing; should China apologize for the student assault on our embassy in Beijing?" McCain said that China was not acting "like a superpower [but] a third-world country sticking their thumb in our eye... we could have a serious period where confrontation could result... [they] need to show some maturity right now."

Tony also asked Dodd about Clinton "chiding" Hollywood for violence, then "collecting" $2 million. Interesting choice of words -- designed to make Clinton look like a hypocrite. And Dodd said he saw nothing wrong with Clinton's words and in fact agreed with him -- and that Clinton would be a hypocrite if he refused financial support over a single issue.

After the first wave of spots (ADM, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Dell Computers, and Fox Shows The Simpsons and Family Guy), Tony turned to gun control. His guest: Sen. Orrin Hatch. It would prove to be the first in a number of histrionic appearances by Orrin, who seemed more fired up than we've seen him in a long time -- so much so that he sounded like a ranting madman.

Tony said "Chuck Schumer got under your skin." And Orrin went after Schumer with both barrels, pulling out a letter from a long time ago in which Schumer said -- or so Orrin claimed -- the so-called "pawn shop" loophole was OK.

Oh, we see, Orrin, it's NOT OK for someone to change their mind -- that is, if you're letter literally says that and is not being quoted out of full context. Orrin raved on about "phony political advantage" over the issue of gun violence, entirely trying to avoid the issue of how easy it is to get weapons at gun shows. And Brit Hume put the wood to Orrin: "They've got you on the run." Orrin ranted yet again, this time about the legislation, ending with "They're still playing this game... It's hypocritical." He held up a chart saying that there had been only one Brady Bill prosecution in three years.

But Hatch was himself being a hypocrite, undermining his OWN argument by showing how unpopular these laws are among prosecutors, especially in the South. They don't want to be bothered with anything that might exacerbate gun-loving cops in the South -- whose organizations and unions are closely tied to the NRA. And he was pushing the usual NRA line that gun laws should be enforced but are not -- while hiding one of the primary reasons they are not, namely political gerrymandering by prosecutors and local law enforcement.

Orrin claimed that Republicans were behind gun reform. Right, Orrin -- they're keeping it easy for kids to kill other kids. Now that's reform -- NRA style.

Mara hammered Orrin about his Hollywood views; Orrin complained about "music that is ripping our kids apart" and video that makes kids violent.

Video games? Funny, these Columbine-type situations don't happen to gamers in Europe and Japan. Orrin is basing this ridiculous assertion on the fact that two mentally ill kids played video games. He's got the cart before the horse -- the two Columbine shooters were sickos who were bullied to the breaking point -- and who happened to play video games.

Orrin repeated his views in the same words on video games and music talking about the "culture of violence." Again, Orrin is lying -- it is a culture of hate in which just about the cruelest people in America -- Mean-spirited elitist high school kids who pick on classmates who are different, marginalized kids who were different because they weren't bullying jocks, pushy, proselytizing holier-than-thou Evangelicals or college-track nerds.

Orrin went on to label Janet Reno's Justice Department "the most political I've seen" -- this from the man who has helped mastermind a filibuster of Clinton's court appointees, which is damaging the entire Judicial branch.

But he also commented on how his colleague Jim Sasser (now Chinese Ambassador) was held hostage -- the U.S. has apologized, now it's time for that "police state" to apologize for terrorizing our embassy. Fueling that new Cold war all your defense contractor pals want, are you, Orrin?

Spots: Honda, IBM, The X Files, and local spots for Syms Clothing, Toyota, the Weed Hound, and "Clean Air New Jersey."

Tony then turned to Susan Estrich and Dick Morris (who got way more time than Susan). Tony pulled out some ridiculous Fox Opinion Dynamics numbers saying people want to watch George Bush.

And we agree -- they want to see this rich kid go down in flames.

Tony started by asking Morris about a comment made in the latest column by the overrated and probably undersexed Maureen Dowd (who hardly deserved a Pulitzer for her smarmy little Times column) that Clinton is trying to be Gore's Dick Morris. Morris, famous for his ability to suck the toes of hooker dominatrixes, did the expected -- saying that Gore should "distance" himself from Clinton, trying in so many words to imply that Clinton was some sort of leper. Morris also trashed Gore's campaign boss Tony Coelho, who Morris claimed masterminded the Democrat loss of Congress in '94 -- a completely untrue assertion. Morris also tried to "dis" White House pollster extraordinaire Mark Penn. But the only message that came through was how bitter Morris seems to be since he is no longer in the arena with pollsters who actually know what they are doing -- nor will he ever again be.

Morris was challenged on the assertion that the Coelho team leaked that Gore campaign was in trouble by both Juan-Williams substitute Jeff Birnbaum -- and by Susan Estrich, who could not keep a straight face over most of Dick's ridiculous claims.

Tony asked Estrich about Liddy Dole, and Estrich said her stance on guns would keep her from the presidential nod, but she'd make a strong VP contender. Morris said that in open-primary states it was a great way for crossover voters to go for Dole. And Morris made yet another absurd assertion, saying that the only person running was Bradley -- but Dick was right that Bush was running on his family name. He predicted that, like Mondale, he's ahead now, but would not be when the votes were counted in Philly.

Estrich praised Bradley for reaching out to constituencies so early -- and actually called the Gore-Bradley situation a "horse race."

Spots: Dell, ADM, Fox Shows, and a local spot for Oce, and a pro-local-phone-competition (a business coalition not-so-cleverly disguised as a 'citizens' group).

Panel time! Tony tried to make much (negative, of course) of Clinton giving Gore advice. Mara said that she felt Clinton thought he'd make things better by talking to a reporter -- but made them worse. Jeff said that Clinton would "keep sticking his finger in." Hume said that the race is still slow -- and that the Gore campaign was in trouble.

But none of them stated the obvious -- that any time Clinton does anything, his detractors in the press will spin it negative. Of course, they did not need to -- as they proved this in unanimity.

Mara mentioned the "Lewinsky scandal" before talking about Gore's stand on Kosovo. But Jeff praised Gore for stepping in and taking charge when "he saw his campaign was in trouble," and Mara added "the tragedy is that if the President didn't step in, Gore would have had a good week." How hypocritical.

Tony set up Hume to bash Coelho as a possibly crooked businessman -- but Mara added that the questions about Bush's business dealings are going to be an issue. Jeff downplayed the Texas Rangers deal -- but did not touch some of the questionable oil dealings Dubya has been involved with.

Hume talked gun policy -- and mentioned, of all things, independent candidate John Anderson's having gotten booed in New Hampshire nearly two decades ago when he said he supported gun control! Good grief, Brit, his marginal campaign was already in trouble on other issues!

Tony "polled" the panel for a "one-to-ten" prediction on the likelihood of whether Hillary Clinton would run for the Senate in New York -- Hume: 5 -- Mara: 7 -- Jeff: 7.

Spots: First Union, IBM, Fox News Shows.

Tony's final thoughts were on Jesse Ventura's biography -- in which he admitted to visiting bawdy houses! His point: that politicians want to keep secret what they believe!

Could he have been talking about Bush Baby?



This Weak

At the top, this looked to be a promising This Week -- Dianne Feinstein would face off against Orrin Hatch, and departing Treasury Secretary Bob Rubin would be a guest.

But Sam Donaldson (the program would be Cokie-less) opened with the leak of the week -- Linda Douglass reported that ABC News had learned that the Cox Report paints a "dismal picture of security" at defense labs, and that the "Administration would be downplaying incidents."

Guest one was Rep. Chris Cox -- who claimed that there were "two chapters" to the declassification of the report, and the that House is scrubbing all information that was vital to national security. "Given where we are, we're [Cox made a gesture of smallness with his hands] that close" to releasing it -- "very soon."

Was there massive Chinese spying, asked Sam? Cox said that it was "of such gravity that it needs the top attention of policy-makers in Congress and the executive branch" -- acting as if they hadn't acted at all, which is a lie.

Will made sure to slip in his own half truth -- that redactions were being made "to protect intelligence sources." In fact, redactions are also being made to protect ongoing investigations which may include a look into why some intelligence authorities were not so forthcoming to the Clinton Administration in the first place. And Cox claimed that "leaks were coming from the Administration" -- a claim that makes no sense, since most of the information that has been leaked has been half-information easily spun against the Administration.

The This Weak tag team of Sam and George were trying to hype the Cox report as damaging to Clinton. We can tell you that the Bush and Reagan Administrations will also be implicated, perhaps even at a far more damning level -- for sacrificing national security to the gods of privatization and cost-cutting.

Sam asked questions about the "Dong Feng" missile, and Cox claimed that " ``There is no question that what the People's Republic of China is now doing is a direct result of what they have stolen from the United States" and that American tech was a component of the missile. Sam quizzed Cox about a TRW employee implicated in Chinese espionage, and Cox raised more questions than answers when he mentioned that the employee had been under surveillance through 1997 -- but didn't say when it had started or to what extent investigators had kept the Clinton Administration in the loop.

Sam turned talk to the bombing of the Chinese embassy, and Cox claimed that China had "resurrect[ed] the Cultural Revolution" in response! Hilarious -- especially considering that this reporter saw a number of Chinese student protesters wearing Levis and Gap clothing on ABC's own coverage of student protests and vandalism at the embassy!

Yep, there is a cultural revolution sweeping China. It's called "free markets" -- and one fact the GOP is hiding because it is so politically inconvenient and would undermine their yellow-bashing campaign is that China's military-civilian industrial leaders want to Westernize China, faster and to a far greater extent than most of the old-guard Beijing politicos want to!

Spots: GE, Merrill Lynch, and Texaco.

Sam then turned to the "donnybrook" over gun control, recounting the GOP hairpin turn on gun show restrictions. Linda Douglass bored us with a recounting of Congressional action.

Sam then welcomed Orrin and Feinstein. He started by asking Orrin why he reversed his vote, and Orrin temporarily flip-flopped from the attitude he showed on Fox, calmly saying this was an "evolving situation." Sam fired back: "But you flip-flopped!" Hatch stumbled and stammered about "evolving."

Feinstein said that she "respect[ed] my chairman Hatch" -- then fired her own volley at Orrin, saying that Democrats were not trying to shut down gun shows but were trying to close a loophole in the law, including the pawning of guns. "I hear rumors that the bill may be taken down -- that would be an injustice against the American people... I would be hopeful that the Republican leadership will not take this down."

Sam pressed Orrin on promising that he would not take the bill down, and Hatch exposed the fear the GOP faces in looking weak on crime when he said "nobody wants to take this bill down" -- then started ranting about gun control.

It was the same song and dance we saw on FNS -- Orrin raving like a demented NRA loon.

Will sounded ridiculous when he calmly claimed that banning mega-magazines which can store dozens of rounds was "the tip of the iceberg" -- an old NRA canard, and utter silliness. Feinstein said that closing the loopholes would not affect law-abiding gun owners, but she does want to ban large-capacity magazines which are tools of crime.

And Will was right when he essentially conceded that the GOP is on the losing side of the political argument. Orrin: "Now look, this is a phony issue -- not one [law] helped prevent [Littleton]."

Maybe it's because these laws are worthless, Orrin, when pro-gun cops and prosecutors refuse to enforce the Brady Bill.

Sam asked Feinstein what she though Democrats would get -- instead, Feinstein said that the law was as important as anything that they would pass this year. Orrin responded by ranting that he wanted cooperation from Democrats -- a lie, because he doesn't want cooperation, only acquiescence. When Sam said they had to cut it off, Orrin said, "Aw, c'mon!"

Too late, Orrin -- you damaged your own case by looking like Heston's lapdog -- make that a Rottweiler!

Spots: Dell, Merrill Lynch, America's Pharmaceutical Companies, GE ("this curl, this smile..." this nausea), and ABC shows.

Roundtable time started with Sam saying to George Stephanopoulos that the Gore campaign was in trouble -- and began yammering the NewYork Times article about Clinton's phone call to a reporter. Steph bashed Clinton for "doing damage... to the Gore campaign... Clinton will be his campaign manager." Steph, does the name Coelho mean anything to you? More stupid points were made:
Bill Kristol called Clinton's call "an act of vanity" and fanned rumors of what was said by Gore
Sam reminded Steph that Gore hired Coelho
Steph pointed out that Gore is gaining on Bush (but these numbers are meaningless, Steph)
Will claimed that enough news of campaign problems become self-fulfilling (right, George -- just as fulfilling as the predictions by you and other Sabbath blowhards that the GOP would gain in the House and Senate in the midterm elections)
Kristol predicted action on gun control, and a 50-50 vote would mean that Gore would break the tie
Steph claimed that Dems want the gun bill to fail so they could demonize the NRA, and Will claimed Dems want the issue more than the bill (hey Georges, who says they can't have both?)
Kristol claimed that the Oliver Stone film Natural Born Killers caused the Littleton tragedy in passing, as if it were a fact -- typical words from a Rupert Murdoch lackey who wants you to forget that the film was a devastating indictment of Murdoch-owned Fox TV's style of "real-life' programming and pseudojournalism (the type practiced by Steve Dunleavy specifically) and that the film's violent criminals are motivated to commit heinous acts in the name of fame and glory. Remind you of any recent incidents, Billy?

Spots: Dow, local spots for the ABC affiliate's programs.

The roundtable then revved up its spin machine on China and the Cox Report:
Kristol: "I don't want China to help get us out of Kosovo!" He predicted that there will be bad U.S.-China relations
Steph said that China allowed the protests to release the frustrations of people who might well have protested the tenth anniversary of Tiananmen
Will claimed that the "orchestration" of protests "proves" that China considers us an enemy (well, gee, George, why are the free-marketers within the Chinese power structure still trying to cozy up to BOTH parties? Could it be that they need "enemies" like us?)
Kristol claimed that Reagan won the Cold War, again stating a misleading oversimplification if not an outright lie as fact
There was a brief bit of talk about the attempted impeachment of Yeltsin which led Kristol to say "it's hard to get an impeachment these days" -- we'd add it's as difficult as getting any discussions of value out of most of the Sunday pundits.

Spots for Pfizer, International (truck manufacturers), GE and ABC shows preceded a brief taped interview with retiring Press secretary Bob Rubin -- framed in a bad news spin by Sam.

"Free at last?" he asked, and Rubin said he has five or six weeks of work ahead. Did he decide not to leave because of the "Lewinsky crisis?" (Good grief, Sam, give it a rest -- you and your cute little Fox News wife lost the battle and the war!) No, said Rubin, it was economic issues -- he should have said to Sam, "It's the economy, stupid!" In response to Sam's comments about "troubling signs on the horizon" (and when aren't there any, Sam?), Rubin predicted robust growth, to which Sam asked, "won't people have to pay more?" -- implying inflation and higher interest rates. Rubin unspun Sam's oversimplification by pointing out the complexity of the markets. He even said "I don't watch the market day-to-day" (i.e. the long run is what he watches). He lauded a projected surplus and said that America should seize on the opportunity of savings.

Sam then said that tobacco money would not be there and Kosovo would cut into the surplus, but Rubin said that the numbers still point to surpluses -- and the question was to pay down the debt or cut taxes. He argued that the path to discipline was the way to go (in other words, pay down the debt).

Rubin praised the IMF for dealing well with difficult and complex issues, but the challenge is to help developing nations in an environment where the US is the only nation seeing growth in their economy (can anyone say "Internet"?).

Will he run for New York Governor in 2002? Rubin said unequivocally that he would not run for office. Sam dissed Maddy Albright by mentioning talk of Rubin for Secretary of State -- and Rubin again swatted down the persistent Mr. Donaldson, ruling it out.

After the interview segment ended, Sam said he asked him about a number of other things he might do -- all of which Rubin answered with "No." Sam said that "clearly" Rubin plans to do something, but "I clearly didn't ask the right question."

Which is true about 99% of the time, Sam. And maybe Rubin doesn't trust you with his plans.

Following spots for "Go get 'em, kid" (who was the sponsor?), AT&T, and GE, Sam plugged some ABC news shows with nothing in the way of a final word.



Meet the Press

Tim Russert's first guest was the Chinese Ambassador to the United States. Russert spent his time with the Ambassador accusing him of representing a totalitarian government with only a state controlled media and asserted that the Chinese government itself stirred up people to riot outside the American embassy in Beijing.

And Russert was correct -- but is was bad form to insult a diplomat on network television, especially when it was the US that made the mistake, bombing the Chinese Embassy in Serbia and killing Chinese nationals.

The Ambassador said he is stunned by the Congress and the lack of understanding by Americans of Chinese anger over the incident. The Ambassador added that he wants a comprehensive investigation of how the bombing occurred (politics as usual).

Then Russert brought up one of his favorite topics, if not his very favorite: Clinton-bashing. This time, Tim quoted Johnny Chung as saying the head of the Chinese military told him he liked Clinton and "so here's $300,000 to help him win."

The Ambassador made Tim look just plain dumb by pointing out that China has lots of better things to do with its money.

Striking out on that one, Russert shifted to Chinese espionage. "China stole nuclear secrets from the US," said Russert. "China does not have a policy to steal American high tech," the Ambassador replied. He told Russert that China tested its first atomic bomb 15 years ago, its hydrogen bomb 12 years ago ,and launched its first rocket nearly a decade ago. China has never stolen U.S. high tech, he claimed. "Does the U.S. spy on China?" he asked. Russert said, that is a question your reporters should ask of my government.

Then Russert, good Catholic that he is (and this writer wants to point out that he too is a Catholic), asked the Ambassador whether China will stop its policy of "forced abortion and sterilization." The Ambassador said that the Chinese Constitution guarantees freedom of religion. He said the country encourages family planning in the cities -- but did not mention forced family planning.

At all times, the Ambassador linked Russert's attacks to U.S. aggression against China in Serbia.

Russert then asked about the Tiananmen Square protests and China's violently quashing them nearly a decade ago -- will the Chinese "admit their mistake" in a memorial. The Ambassador told Russert that on "Black Friday" -- the day of the American bombing of the Serbian Chinese Embassy -- he received hundreds of letters and visitors apologizing for the incident.

"We have differences, they should be resolved on the basis of mutual respect. However, the relationship has suffered because of the U.S./NATO attack. China did nothing wrong here. We do cherish the consensus reached between our two presidents. Now we have serious damages. The U.S. and NATO must bear all responsibility for this action," said the Ambassador.

Ambassador Thomas Pickering, the next guest, talked about the commonality between the two nations and the fact that he wants to work on our differences. He said World Trade Organization status is in the offing -- and should be pursued. He guaranteed that the investigation of the Chinese embassy bombing will be done thoroughly and accurately.

Pickering refused to say that China stole military secrets. He quoted the early Cox Committee report, which the Administrations had already adopted months before, and reminded Russert that many countries wants to steal our technology. Russert spat out that "two cabinet members have already admitted that China stole secrets -- and now you are telling me you are not sure?" Russert, snide little swine that he is, knows full well that Pickering has no standing to say one way of the other -- he is a diplomat.

Russert then attacked Pickering personally over the Kosovo situation. Pickering said the air war is working -- the same line. Russert wanted to know if Milosevic is using refugees as human shields. He quoted a Kosovar saying that he was told "Now you will feel the wrath of NATO bombing. " Pickering, however, said he is still investigating this charge.

Pickering said he thinks that Milosevic should pay for what he has done. But he does not go so far as to say Slobodan will be charged as a war criminal -- a move which every American diplomat and official has adopted.

Russert then asked whether the US will spend $30 billion to rebuild Serbia. We will help, said Pickering, but if Milosevic stays, neither European nor U.S. taxpayers will pay for the rehabilitation of Serbia.

Russert claimed that Yeltsin "barely survived" an impeachment attack from the Communists in the Russian Duma. Of course, this is not true. Pickering supports Yeltsin, said his luck is holding and that he knows the new prime minister appointed by Yeltsin. Russert said that Yeltsin's health is deteriorating. Pickering said he is not a television doctor -- putting Russert in his place.

Russert then quoted a Russian communist sympathizer claiming that Clinton has personally destroyed the faith the Russian people had in the U.S. by his actions in Serbia. We can tell you that this is absolutely untrue, and that the Russian communists are attacking Yeltsin in the same manner that the GOP went after Clinton. They are attempting to demonize Yeltsin and anyone aligned with him -- including Bill Clinton himself.

Then Russert had the nerve to bring on Tom DeLay -- the felonious House Majority Whip who has now taken the helm of the House from Dennis Hastert, the putative Speaker.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but Tom DeLay is, in two words, a Texas putz. he is a bully feared by weaker men in the GOP and known for his ability to make hollow threats, intimidate and literally whip people into shape. He was a nearly invisible force in the Republican attempt to lynch the President -- but a powerful one, running a "war room" to organize the attempted impeachment coup and to promote Juanita Broaddrick's phony-sounding claim that Clinton assaulted her some two decades ago.

DeLay laughed in the face of the Chinese Ambassador figuratively and said that the Chinese stole several types of technology. He said he and his buddies "warned" the President that this would happen. Of course, he is trying to blame the President. The credibility of NATO is damaged, he added. DeLay refused to define victory. He claimed the President's definition of victory if not victory it is merely a negotiated settlement.

DeLay said he thinks that being in Kosovo is not in our national interest -- proving both his stupidity and lack of depth on international relations. Serbia has for 2000 years been a critical geographic military flash point. Its status is of supreme importance to the U.S. and the Allies.

And Russert surprised us, ripping into DeLay and pointing out that George "BushBaby" Bush, his man and fellow Texan, said just the opposite. He claimed that DeLay ran around the House and tried to undermine the President, which he actually did in his usual arm-twisting manner -- something George Jr., did not and cannot do. DeLay attempted to deny this -- at which point Russert told him that Mary "I'm Not an Attorney" Bono had said that DeLay was twisting her arm to vote against our troops and airmen!

But DeLay would do anything to hurt the President -- he views the Serbian action and any House votes on Kosovo as Impeachment Two. His intense hatred for Bill Clinton is widely known.

Readers should know that Tom DeLay is about as important to this nation as a cesspool cleaner -- yet he delights in pretending that he is a major force to reckon with in the House. Privately, House members detest the man by a vast majority. He was reprimanded late last week by the House Ethics Committee for "whipping" a trade organization because they hired a Democrat. He told the organization that they "should" be hiring a Republican. This is a clear violation of ethic s rule, but, of course, because Republicans control the house, he was not censured -- only warned to keep his big mouth shut.

DeLay said he does not want to discuss guns or games or movies. They are "simply objects" he said. The problem is "this culture, without a sense of religion." DeLay said he wants the President's salary to be raised to $400,000 -- but too late for Clinton, we bet.

General Colin Powell was on next. Russert made certain that everyone knew he served on the Board of "America's Promise" - a right-wing mind control twelve-step system that will show kids what "counts:" money, future and giving back. Now, on its face, it seems that this is a good program. Powell said he wants to reinstall the concept of family, marriage and love -- forever. He then attacked what he calls racial preference problems, but which he describes as racism. Other commentators may miss this distinction -- a distinction that Powell makes quite clearly -- but that the public relations people for America's Promise (see this month's issue of Fortune) never repeats.

Russert brought up "The Powell Doctrine" which is not the Powell Doctrine, but rather the Weinberger Doctrine -- which is to use the most force possible to win. Powell reminded Russert that it is called the Powell Doctrine, but that Weinberger and Teddy Roosevelt's "Big Stick" policy came way before the GOP stuck the moniker on Powell.

Of course, Powell didn't follow his own advice in Iraq, when he stopped short and allowed Saddam to stay in power. But he went ahead and attacked the President for doing exactly what HIS president did 8 years ago. What a hypocrite!

Russert asked Powell if he will run for vice president. Powell, smartly, said no. He cannot risk his family's mental health further. But Powell hinted that he might accept the Secretary of State position -- although saying he won't. Powell gave Bush and McCain $1,000.00 campaign contributions.

One thing we want to know: how come we never hear anything about this so-called "America's Promise" campaign except on Meet the Press? Powell plugged the program last year on MTP -- the first and last time we had heard about it. If it is so big, and so successful, why aren't the media focusing on it?

We'll tell you why: because it is not successful, even though it is well-intended -- if you think America should return to a DeLay-Powell style Puritanism.



CNN Lame Edition

Wolf "the ambush" Blitzer was absent, with Frank Sesno covering for him.

Of course, Sesno followed the pre-arranged script of bashing the Clinton Administration and reporting the news more in the manner of America's enemies than of a free press.

First up was news headlines, which mentioned that another person has dropped out of the race in Israel for Prime Minister, leaving only two candidates, Bibi Netanyahu and Ehud Barak. Their slant: Netanyahu is in big trouble.

Then Sesno turned to Carl Rochelle, reporting from Kosovo, who showed various clips from this morning's talk show circus -- excuse me, I mean circuit, leading off with a clip of Tom DeLay saying "we have no strategic interests [in Kosovo], there's no national security interests. Only excessive rhetoric with underwhelming force."

I guess DeLay doesn't consider stopping another Hitler who is ethnically cleansing Kosovo and threatening to spread his terror to neighboring countries to be in our national security interests -- especially when we would be pulled into it late and at a disadvantage. But then, what can you expect from a professional "roach man?"

The next clip of Gen. Shelton disputed DeLay's comments, but then Rochelle had to "chide" the Administration and the Pentagon for sending over the Apaches and not using them, and for not saying when or how they would use them.

Excuse me, Carl, but what kind of backwards reporting is this? Are you saying that the Pentagon has to give out a blueprint of how and when they expect to change course, or when and how they'll use other equipment? Gee, Carl, why don't we just have Gen. Shelton get on the phone to Milosevic to tell him our plans and cut out the middleman? That way the Serbs can know exactly when to shoot our men out of the sky!

Next was an interview with Attorney General Janet Reno. One thing worth mentioning is that it is worrisome that she is so shaky. She has Parkinson's disease, and you could tell that she fought to keep it under control, but several times the shaking was uncontrollable.

Sesno asked Reno about the fight with the Republicans about gun control, and if the measure passed the other day in the Senate was enough. She said no, that it still leaves a huge loophole for flea markets and other small shows, and actually makes it worse by reducing the requirement of a background check from 3 days to 24 hours. As she said that when you consider that gun shows and flea markets only run for a period of 3 days, the proposed legislation doesn't adequately cover these events.

Then Sesno asked Reno if handguns should be banned in this country -- obviously a ploy to scare right wing-nut extremists into thinking she'd throw out the 2nd Amendment -- she replied "not as long as you make sure that the only people allowed to own handguns are those who are legally entitled to own them." Sesno also called ridiculous the new law requiring a second background check on those who pawn a gun. Reno countered that it's just another precaution to make sure that someone who has pawned a gun and comes back to get it isn't' someone who shouldn't have a gun in the first place.

What's the old saying? "If you have nothing to hide, then you have nothing to worry about."

Sesno then turned to our elected officials live from Montenegro: Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ). What was noticeable was that Hutchison was getting a lesson on the realities of war, and she may be starting to realize the ridiculousness of her earlier calls for "discussion before bombing." It was clear that her words of support for the refugees and her call for other nations to help is in sharp contrast to her earlier stance. But of course, she's hard-line enough to still spew out the right wing-nut rhetoric (i.e. no ground troops). Lautenberg disagreed with her call against ground troops.

The next guests were Senators Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Max Baucus (D-MT). Shelby spent his time trying to compare the action in Kosovo to Vietnam and the Gulf War. Sen. Baucus refuted Shelby's points by saying that the Gulf War was a totally different animal, given the contrast of a flat, dry terrain and the much more mountainous and dangerous terrain of Kosovo. Shelby had some classic doublespeak quotes: "I don't think we're losing, but whether we're winning or not I don't know." and "the Administration seems to wants something short of victory."

Earth to Shelby: this isn't just America's war, it's a joint effort with 18 other countries!

Sesno then turned to Lawrence Eagleburger, the former secretary of state under Bush, who also tried to draw comparisons with Vietnam, and is not so shy about bashing the President and NATO.

Hey CNN: what ever happened to supporting your government during a war by reporting the facts? Instead, CNN has decided that they'd rather continue their attacks on President Clinton, distorting the facts to fit their Bill-bashing agenda. They have decided that if the Pentagon refuses to give them the blueprints to the war so that they can have the scoop to tell the world, they will attack the Pentagon as being "undecisive."

We're not just talking Lame Edition -- all in all, CNN has become a 24 hour "let's see how bad we can hurt our own country" station.

-- ---The Editors and Pundit Pap Team