Sunday, June 20, 1999 -- WASHINGTON/NEW YORK -- It was one of the most boring Sundays of political prognostication we've seen in a long time. The pundit elite, tails still positioned firmly between their legs for the beating they took in predicting the failure of Clinton's Kosovo policy, had trouble getting any licks in -- and completely ignored the big story out of the region, namely the overwhelming evidence of unimaginable atrocities committed against Kosovar Albanians by the Yugoslav army and Serb police in killing fields, concentration camps and torture chambers.

This omission was nothing less than an outrage.

On the other hand, there was a fair amount of attention paid to the failure of gun control legislation in the House of Representatives and to the G8 Summit in Cologne, so the weekend was not a complete washout. With respect to the former, there was quite a bit said about the NRA, with a few of the pundits implying disdain for the lobbying group's strongarm tactics (while not saying so outright).

And Steven Brill "tore new ones" for The New York Times and Washington Post over their outright fictional coverage of NATO's Kosovo campaign on CNN.

Here's how it went:

Fox Spin Sunday

Tony Snow's topics: gun control, defense lab security, and Campaign 2000. It was not one of the better FNS programs -- a boring slate of guests stalled the usual manic, high-impact pace.

The first guest: Democrat Rep. John Dingell, who sponsored amendments that weakened the House gun control bill. Dingell is one of the few Dems who accepts contributions from the NRA, the lobbying group that worked behind the scenes to rewrite the legislation to preserve the freewheeling atmosphere of their sacred "gun shows."

Dingell's summary of the "issue": "If you want to deal with the problems of kids, you don't start by harassing law-abiding citizens."

Well, golly, John, law-abiding citizens don't go to these unregulated shows to buy guns to blow away their classmates with!

Dingbat -- er, Dingell also said that he thought gun control is "unconstitutional" and monotoned the spin point of "depriving citizens of their rights."

John, the right to own guns is NOT guaranteed in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights -- even the NRA knows better than to argue this point at the Supreme Court level because they would lose.

Tony bored us by asking Dingell about security at defense labs, and Dingell said that Clinton had done a better job than his predecessors -- but called for improvements.

Other than that spin-point, the entire segment was a bore.

Spots: ADM, Nissan, Fox Shows.

The second segment dealt with security at labs supervised by the Defense Department. The guests: Sen. Richard Shelby, followed by Energy Secretary Bill Richardson.

Tony asked Shelby if defense lab responsibility should be taken out of the hands of the Energy Department; Shelby called for a NASA-like organization to oversee the labs, or a new subdepartment within Energy. In response to a question by Brit Hume, Shelby said he agreed with the Cox Report, but praised Secretary Richardson for the job he was doing.

Note that Republicans continue to back off from the blame game, knowing that the fact that the problems began under Reagan has gotten a huge amount of play in the media.

But Shelby misstepped as he also tried to deflect blame from Republican administrations by repeatedly calling for an end to "scapegoating" and more "accountability." This was foolish -- it only served to remind us of how there was no accountability under Reagan or Bush, and Clinton's team took the bull by the horns.

Tony played up rumors that espionage at the labs is still going on, and Shelby played into it -- talking about the "large amount of time" it may take to shore up security. At one point, Shelby claimed that the Chinese have gotten secrets from our lab -- something not even the Cox Report explicitly claims as 100% verifiable!

Tony asked if the White House would accept the report, adding that so far there is no indication that they are willing to. Well, no damn wonder -- the report is riddled with factual inaccuracies, blunders, omissions and highly speculative and specious conclusions.

Even Brit Hume lit into Shelby, asking him sarcastically about his committee's "finest hour" in the face of a decade-plus-long problem.

Tony then turned to Secretary Richardson, and asked about a claim made by Warren Rudman on "another program" that Richardson was not fully honest about the status of security and shoring up leaks. Richardson stood by his past statements -- and then detailed the steps that are being taken, including a "stand-down" tomorrow and Tuesday.

Brit asked if people had been fired -- and "why is it taking so long?" Richardson said people at Los Alamos had been fired -- and that investigation is ongoing and dismissals will happen.

But he should have said that they are not going to fire people without iron-clad cause -- and in a way that might damage ongoing counterintelligence operations.

Brit and Tony then tried putting the screws to Richardson on the theme of "too little too late." Richardson would not play that game, and himself called for no scapegoating. He also did not feel that a new agency to oversee labs is necessary -- and praised the scientific staff as he restated that "the agency has made enormous inroads" in shoring up security lapses.

Tony asked if anyone has been promoted. We could see where this one was going -- Tony was plugging "whistleblower" Notra Trulock. Richardson said that Trulock had been promoted -- and that one other person thought to be a whistleblower was in fact in hot water for possible breaches of security!

This was another gaffe -- Richardson should have blocked this entire line of questioning and said, "None of your business, since this is an ongoing investigation. Some have been promoted, others demoted or fired."

Spots: Dell, ADM ("Supermarket to Congress"), local spots for the New York Restaurant School and Toyota.

The next guest -- fringe GOP presidential wanna-be Gary Bauer, who is running exclusively on the abortion noise. Juan asked a great question -- what would you do if your daughter told you she had an abortion? Bauer did not answer, choosing to slam BushBaby instead for being weak on abortion. But Juan said "you haven't answered my question," and Bauer answered -- that he would blame "the man that abandoned my daughter."

Takes two to tango, Gary!

Brit Hume pressed Bauer on (surprise) a "woman's right to choose." Bauer blamed judges for abortions, and when Brit asked about a "litmus test," Bauer tried this spin line: "'Litmus test' is a liberal curse word." Bauer specifically targeted Supreme Court Justice David Souder, who he claimed was a "stealth" liberal and had served on the board of a hospital that performed abortion.

Bauer talked about his own litmus test: judges must be conservative, pro-life, and "can't be a bigot." Nice -- Bauer has started slamming pro-choice people as "bigots."

He added that appointees have to be "Reagan Conservatives." What the heck is that supposed to mean -- they are required to have Alzheimer's?

Bauer showed his ignorance of international issues by blathering about "playing the China card [against] the Soviet Union" during the Reagan years as he said something pointless about defense labs. He was trying to defend the indefensible -- the lapses in security that happened on Reagan's watch.

Brit talked about "marginal tax cuts that the Democrats hate" -- a lie, since Democrats do not hate tax cuts and would cut them for poor families if the GOP would get out of their way.

Spots: First Union, Compaq, local spots for Honda and Oppenheimer Funds.

Panel time! Mara Liasson was in Germany at the G8 meeting. Hume conceded "a military triumph for NATO" as Mara talked about an unhealthy, "bloated" Yeltsin. She sees relations as rocky between Russia and the U.S. -- a shame that she's out of step with most observers who tried to spin the presence of a under two hundred Russian troops who "jumped the gun" and took over Pristina Airport as a major international crisis. Juan asked if this was the Clinton "triumph tour" and Mara previewed Clinton's tour of a refugee camp -- then talked about Clinton spending most of his time working on the gun control! Brit said something stupid about Clinton allowing his team to "distract" him -- but it was in fact the NRA that has distracted the administration and derailed what Americans want: gun control with teeth.

On this point, Juan said that for now the GOP has triumphed but would take a hit as soccer moms see a Congress not doing anything about violence and guns. Brit said it was the first time Democrats had been "outflanked" in a long time, and then called it a triumph for Republicans and Tom DeLay. Mara predicted -- wrongly, we feel -- that it would be hard to nationalize this issue.

We can tell you the issue will be nationalized -- and the GOP will lose.

Tony then introduced a clip produced by the Republican National Campaign Committee featuring Billy Tauzin as Patton ("...like crap through a goose.") The panel liked it -- except Juan, who correctly said that Tauzin should be embarrassed. Mara called Tauzin a "good old boy," and Brit (unsurprisingly) said he liked the "crap through a goose" part.

Even if we disagreed with the spin, it was a solid roundtable. If only the guests were even a quarter as exciting as the panel segment --

Spots (ADM's Morningstar Farms, Dell, and Fox Prime Time cartoons) preceded a vintage "Father's Day" Movietone newsreel with daddy JFK and Tony's final word on the joys of fatherhood. It sounded like Ozzie and Harriet revisited. Well, we suppose that if that's what Tony wants and can afford, he's entitled to it. A shame that so many American families can't engage in such an idyllic scene for lack of resources -- or family.

This Weak

"A stunning setback to gun control... the atrocities of war... [and] Campaign 2000."

Cokie Roberts began the program proper by announcing the breaking news that Serb forces were out of Kosovo -- hours before the deadline -- and that the KLA has agreed to demilitarize. She then turned to Sam Donaldson, in Cologne at the G8 meeting, who directly contradicted the pap from Fox News Sunday about U.S.-Russian strains by saying that the summit meeting had settled differences and healed relations in his voiceover for the short video segment.

Spots for Chrysler and T. Rowe price preceded the appearance of House minority leader Dick Gephardt. Cokie's set-up piece included footage of Rep. Carolyn McCarthy's heartfelt and tearful plea for gun control.

Cokie to Gephardt: "Should you be ashamed" of the collapse of the legislation -- as if it's his and the Democratic Party's fault? "Not at all," Gephardt said, arguing that the legislation would have weakened current law. In a follow-up answer, Gephardt argued for closing the gun-show loopholes. Cokie mentioned the GOP argument that the Democrats are "playing politics." Gephardt said they are saying that -- but are also saying that Democrats are going after the gun lobby -- and then wryly asked the GOP "which is it?"

George Will asked Gephardt what percentage of gun show sales are unlicensed dealers, and Gephardt said the numbers approach half. He didn't have numbers on the percentage of gun show sales as overall sales, but said that the Brady Bill pushed it up as shady types shifted to buying at gun shows to avoid background checks. Gephardt added that the GOP had done the NRA's bidding by delaying the vote until after midnight.

Will also asked Gephardt about Texas Gov. Bush signing a bill prohibiting Texas cities from suing gun makers. Gephardt says he supports the right of cities suing gun makers and slammed Bush for banning the right to sue.

Gephardt raised the image of "cozying up to the NRA at 1:30 in the morning" on a couple occasions and emphasized the poll numbers saying that 90% of Americans support gun safety legislation. Gephardt is urging Dems to fight for and run on this issue.

Will brought up Gore's weak poll numbers -- "17% behind in the ABC News poll" -- and Gephardt replied with what any first year poli sci major could tell you -- people tend to prefer the unknown to the known, but once they "know" BushBaby, Gore's numbers will go up.

Spots: First Union, IBM, ABC Shows.

The next guest: House Majority Whip Tom DeLay. Cokie gave DeLay free rein to slam "liberals" for saying "no" to "getting tough" on rapists and video games. DeLay cannot help but sound like some sort of Evangelo-Taliban extremist. A typical double lie from DeLay: "We were not playing politics and you [Cokie] said so."

Letter from a reader: Yesterday, on This Week with Sam and Cookie, I saw the replaying of the Scopes Trial as Cretin and Creationism were once again thrown together by the BugMan Tom DeLay. The cretin Congressman wants the country to give up established scientific theory, evolution, for the religious hope that God created the Earth, literally, in six days. Tom DeLay also believes that God was created in his image: short and squat, and with the aroma of pesticide. DeLay and his pals are the obvious mutation that occurs when living organisms are exposed to excessive toxic hormones, pesticides and industrial pollutants found in abundance in the eastern and southern United States. It was one of Cookie's finest moments to bring out the true colors of the BugMan. John Mark Portland, Or.

DeLay attacked Dems for rejecting gun control legislation after getting four of five key points "and we improved the gun show legislation."

Right, Tom-Bob, you improved the ease with which crooks can get guns at gun shows.

In response to a question by Will, DeLay denied that society was sick -- then blamed the "liberals" for society going south by "taking religion out of the schools... structure out of the schools... the kids are running the schools." Right, Tom, the kids are voting for school boards and approving bond issues. What a jerk!

He also kept bringing up "rapists." We'd love to ask him about allegations that he engaged in hot-tub trysts with underage Mexican prostitutes -- which would constitute statutory rape.

DeLay seemed to be on a tear against TV and video games in particular -- and Will asked DeLay if he thought teaching evolution was turning kids into killers! If DeLay hadn't sounded like such an Evangelical extremist ("evolution is only a theory"), it would have been funny -- but this is the latest piece of hate pap coming from the intolerant, vindictive Christian right

Cokie asked DeLay if he was in fact the de facto Speaker of the House. DeLay looked uncomfortable with the question and said that Dennis Hastert was, and had shown leadership on tax cuts and balancing the budget. How wrong can you get? The GOP has failed to get its way on both issues! Cokie then tried to "spin" the Dems turning DeLay into the "new Newt" and making him a dart board. DeLay made a smug comment about his face being a dart board, acting as if he was relishing the role of "bad guy."

But the fact is that DeLay is so in bed with hard-right special interest groups -- and has a record of being tied to some of the shadiest deal-making in the Beltway -- that he is the bad guy. Just ask the American citizens who are denied the minimum wage using loopholes that DeLay champions.

Following a break, Sam Donaldson introduced his taped interview with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Sam played him up as the "leader" of NATO, pressing for bombing and troops -- but Blair praised Bill Clinton for his leadership role and NATO for staying unified.

"Can you win the peace?" asked Sam as he speculated on what would become of the KLA (this interview preceded the announcement of a preliminary agreement between the KLA and NATO). Blair cited the fact that the KLA knows that Kosovars would not be home or going home without NATO -- and then shifted to what will become of Milosevic.

And Sam asked Blair, "...why not go after him?" Blair stated many factors -- international law, standing agreements -- then summarized Serbia's economic and military situation, saying that it is in the interest of Serbs to "get rid of Milosevic."

Blair also supported Russians "integrated" into the peacekeeping plan. Sam asked about the possibility that Russians may not accept orders from the British commander of KFOR, but Blair pointed out a history of similar successful arrangements in crisis areas, including Bosnia.

Blair said that he could not contemplate Russia becoming a full member of NATO -- but that the major task is maintaining good relations between Russia and NATO, and it is going well.

Does Blair have a favorite in the U.S. 2000 election? Blair would not answer.

Finally, Sam asked about the issue of Britain ceding sovereignty to a united Europe, and Blair said that Europe and the world are coming together, and a united Europe is in the interest of Britain -- over which the Union Jack would continue to fly.

Spots (for Ford, Invesco, Xerox, and ABC Shows) preceded the roundtable with Bill Kristol, and the Georges -- Stephanopoulos and Will:
Steph said Gore's two jobs were to distance himself from Clinton and differentiate himself from Bush
Bill said that Gore still has to overcome Bill Bradley "who has none of this Clinton baggage"
Cokie focused on Gore separating himself from Clinton (with indirect swipes at Clinton's character) while Will pointed out that Gore did distinguish himself from Bradley in a speech this week
There was some actual talk of the poor -- and Kristol depicted Bradley as the bigger supporter of poor kids
When talk turned to the GOP side of the race, Cokie brought up BushBaby's signing a bill stopping Texas municipalities from suing gun makers, and Will said it would help Bush (is Will alive above the neck?)
Bill said that whole sections of Bush and Gore speeches are interchangeable Steph said that Bush's good numbers are the result of looking at the "compassionate" but not the "conservative"
On the subject of gun control, Will said that Congress worked exactly the way the Founding Fathers intended, and Steph agreed -- then saluted the NRA for gerrymandering members of Congress despite (his "disclaimer") his disagreeing with their stand
Cokie recounted the 90-plus percent support among the public for gun safety laws
Steph said that during his interview, DeLay essentially came out for teaching creationism in school.

There was a brief final segment from Sam on the "Yeltsin health watch" -- and today's evidence being "mixed" with Yeltsin being supported by people as he walks -- yet having the muscle to give a Russian bear hug to German Chancellor Schroeder. Sam's conclusion -- all parties are accentuating the positive.

Right. Now if we only could get Sam and Cokie to even acknowledge any positives coming out of the White House...

Reliable Sources

The subject of this week's RS: Kosovo coverage. The guest with the most impact: Steven Brill.

Brill slammed Kosovo coverage as being as poor as that of the Lewinsky flap! He accused major news organizations of peddling fiction -- for example, the Washington Post headline "NATO Softens Conditions" and the New York Times article claiming that bombing had strengthened Serbia's military.

Bernard Kalb told Brill that he was being too tough on the media for using anonymous sources. Brill cited the example from the NY Times article using a comment from Gen. Wesley Clark not being the response to a question posed in the article -- in fact, the quote had been from three days before the article!

Brill also made Newsweek's John Barry look like a fool as he defended the Post article -- but ignored the fact that the Post writers did not even bother to properly refer to a key prior NATO communiquŽ.

Since the launch of Brill's Content, Sunday chat shows have not invited Brill all that much -- with the notable exception of RS. No wonder -- Brill is too smart, too well-armed with facts, and too assertive for the Sabbath Gasbag "spin" shows. They're all scared of the guy.

Face the Nation

The first guests were Jack Quinn, advisor to Vice President Al Gore, and Ceci Connolly, who is covering the Gore campaign for The Washington Post.

Bob Schieffer said that Al Gore's purpose is to associate himself with the economic prosperity of the Clinton days but also to divorce himself from the President's personal behavior. How is Al Gore different from Bill Clinton in policy?

Quinn took issue with Bob's premise, saying this campaign will be about Al Gore, his values and his leadership. Quinn cited the economic crisis of eight years ago and the Clinton/Gore team eliminating the out-of-control deficit left by Reagan and Bush. Quinn added, "We've got a crisis facing the American family and the Vice President's speech was very detailed in talking about how he would help the American family meet that crisis, he talked about reforms in education, expanding family and medical leaves, and dealing with this crisis of guns and violence."

Bob asked him to comment on Gore answering in exactly the same way questions about his disappointment in Bill Clinton. Jack said he was not surprised, and that Al Gore had said that a long time ago, but that he is also capable of forgiveness. Then he changed the focus back to real issues, saying that Gore also said that he's terribly proud of the work that the President and he did getting this economy out of the ditch where it was during the Bush years.

And in a ditch it was!

Gloria Borger raised the same question again and asked Connolly if this is why the Vice President has been called "wooden." Is he over-coached on these things?

Connolly doesn't know if it's a matter of over-coaching. "The American people aren't electing a performer at chief. But you have to be genuine and credible and when the answers are verbatim, he looks over-prepared and not so genuine."

He can't win, can he? He is not genuine because he is consistent to the letter? We all know that had he been inconsistent, he wouldn't hear the end of it. If that's the worst they have against him, no wonder they will be talking about his "growling" voice!

More on that later.

Gloria quoted Tony Coelho who said that he would love it if the Republicans want to beat up on Hillary Clinton. She asked Jack Quinn if that is what the Gore campaign wants.

Jack said that what he believes Coelho was saying was that the Republicans would be crazy to launch a mean-spirited personal campaign against the First Lady. If she runs, she will win and she will be a great Senator. And he added that her presence in this race can do nothing but good for the Gore campaign.

That was a comment aimed at giving the lie to Republican anti-Hillary spin.

But Connolly said she thinks it may adversely affect the campaign in terms of fund raising. We can tell you -- she is dead wrong.

Bob: "How did the Gore campaign play to you as a reporter this week?... How did people receive it?"

Connolly said Gore's announcement speech went very well. It was well written and well delivered. Then she said something about a "growling thing" that he does, a big guttural yelling. And she is "not entirely certain what it's all about, although, I confess, on television it looked pretty good.... The challenge for Gore is to keep the energy going for more than one speech."

Growling thing??? Is THIS what the press think matters to us about a candidate?? More evidence that the biased media is out of touch!

Jack added: "We'll keep it going if we can have a discussion about the issues [Gore] addressed in detail during that announcement. Al Gore can't wait to begin this dialogue with the American people and to get into a serious debate with the Republicans about what they'll do to help the American family meet the crisis that it faces."

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Bob Schieffer welcomed the next guest, Senate minority leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) and asked him about the House killing "the rather modest gun control legislation measures that had been passed by the Senate. Is it dead now?"

Daschle: "It was such a tragedy, such a lost opportunity. It was a real victory for the lobbyists and a defeat for the American people. But we still have some hope. There is a glimmer of hope that we could put it back in at conference.... The Senate position will be that we ought to include these provisions.... We're going to fight as hard as we possibly can to ensure that they are included in the final bill."

Bob: "Will you settle for anything less than what was in the Senate bill?"

Sen. Daschle said no. The Senate bill wasn't even all they wanted. It "represented a very moderate approach to making some additional steps. What the House bill does is actually move back from current law. It's less than what we have in current law today."

Gloria mentioned that the killer amendment was proposed by a Democrat (John Dingell) and that many Democrats voted to kill the bill. "How can you explain that?"

Daschle instead answered with, "The fact is [that] 80% of the Democrats supported our position. 80% of the Republicans opposed it. The Administration could not have been more forceful, they could not have been more engaged.... That will continue to be that way. We will see the overwhelming majority of Democrats support this position."

Gloria asked if this is going to be a cutting-edge issue for the Democrats to try and win back the House and the Senate?

Sen. Daschle said the American people will make this decision. "When you see the resonance that this issue has all over the country... I think this is going to be a very powerful issue and I think that the Republicans are going to be scrambling. They are going to have a lot of explaining to do next year this time."

Bob said that Gore's people publicly say they are very happy about Hillary running for the Senate, but he also hears that they are panicked about it, that they think she is going to suck up all the money in New York and energize Republicans, etc. "What's your take on all of this?"

Daschle: "I think Hillary Clinton is the dream candidate. You look at her resume, you look at her record, you look at her ability to articulate, you look at all of the things that she can bring to the Democratic party in New York and across the country, and the Republicans would salivate to have candidates like that."

Bob: "Are you hoping that the Republicans will beat up on her as a way to help Gore?"

Daschle: "I don't think I have to hope. I am sure they will!"

We all laughed!

Sen. Daschle went on: "That seems to be the approach they use not only in New York but elsewhere. It will happen there too. But she can handle it. In fact, I think it will help her."

Gloria asked him about that line the Republicans love to repeat, "but don't you worry that the public is suffering from some form of Clinton fatigue?"

Daschle: "When you see the numbers, I don't see there is much fatigue. When you've got a President with 60% approval ratings and the popularity that he has all over the country.... That is true of Mrs. Clinton as well."

Bob asked him about the HMO reform.

Daschle: "We are going to push as hard as we know how the next two weeks to make it happen.... It's our highest priority this month.... We are going to offer it as an amendment to everything that comes across the Senate floor."

Gloria: "What is the problem?"

Daschle: "The problem is the Republicans are unwilling to allow us to offer amendments, as is often the case... like whether or not we include all Americans... whether or not we hold insurance companies accountable.... We are going to force it in every way, shape and form we know how. This has got to be legislation we pass this year."

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The next segment with Republican presidential candidate Steve Forbes was a total waste of time. Bob pushed him in every way to hear his views on how the House handled gun control. But Steve just wouldn't answer directly and, in his usual robotic fashion (talk about wooden!), only repeated the old Republican lines. It was obvious that he realizes, and rightly so, that this is another suicidal issue for Republicans.

Then Gloria asked him if he believes Republican Congressional leaders are leading the party well right now. Forbes indirectly said no. When asked what they were doing wrong, he continued not answering directly and, instead, kept extolling his own campaign. She asked him again and to be specific. He finally mentioned Social Security and taxes but quickly added that the "Democrats are even worse and that is why" he is the answer!

We were seriously beginning to fall asleep.

Bob also asked him about posting the Ten Commandments in schools. Forbes favors that. Then Bob asked him which version he favors, the Old Testament, the Jewish version, or the New Testament!

We were roaring with laughter!

We finally tuned out as Forbes continued not answering the remaining questions.

Ads: Bayer, Xerox.

Bob's final word was on his own fake "exploratory committee" which he "launched" sometime ago. He said the response has been humbling and listed some of those who sent contributions in jest. He then added that some kind souls actually believed him [scary thought, huh?] and that he raised $200! He then announced that he is not really running for anything and is sending back the money!

Lame Edition

Wolf Blitzer began Lame Edition with a report about Yeltsin health -- but anyone can see that Yeltsin is barely there! Sometimes we wonder if it's really someone with a Yeltsin costume on (or a lookalike). But according to their reports, Yeltsin is "fine."

Then followed an interview with President Clinton. It is both fascinating and puzzling that the President would grant such an interview to Blitzer when The Wolf Man ambushed him with the Lewinsky question that spawned the finger-wagging tape that Blitzer, Russert, Tony Snow and the rest of the Sabbath hypocrites still play to embarrass the President and anyone close to him.

As the interview progressed, it became apparent that this was a great decision by Clinton. As the interview progressed, it became more and more obvious that Blitzer is a smarmy little snake. You would have expected Blitzer to have honed his "ambush" style in the last year and a half, but he looked and sounded absolutely weak!

Blitzer asked each question about Kosovo with the most negative tone possible; the President answered each with style and clarity. While Blitzer was making a vain attempt at snatching the President's and NATO's overwhelming victory in Kosovo, the President answered solidly that it was indeed a victory.

For example, when Blitzer asked "when the U.S. and President Reagan sent troops into Lebanon, there were high expectations. When you sent troops into Somalia, there were high expectations. Things could go sour quickly."

Sort of like Blitzer's own reputation for integrity.

Blitzer tried to say that Reagan's failures were Clinton's and that Somalia was a failure, but forgot to mention the success in Bosnia.

Makes you wonder.

The President answered by saying that indeed Somalia was a failure but taught us lessons which led to the success in Bosnia -- which in turn led to even more success in Kosovo since we intervened much earlier this time!

Trying to incite more paranoia and ever hoping for another Cold War (maybe CNN wants a sequel to their acclaimed "Cold War" series and is just setting the stage), Blitzer asked the President, "...A lot of people were concerned when the Russians sent those 150 or 200 soldiers into Pristina so secretively. With the Russians still having thousands of nuclear warheads, should Americans be concerned about the security, the safety of that nuclear arsenal if there's a problem between civilian and military control of the Russian military?"

Remember what was said in last week's review -- that Wolf really expected us to be worried about 200 Russian soldiers vs. 50,000 NATO troops? And how Blitzer and his allies tried to portray the Russian capture of the airport as a "huge coup," trying to make it appear as if taking the victory away from NATO? Well, apparently Blitzer and CNN still haven't gotten the message.

President Clinton said that he had planned on the Russians being a part of the peacekeeping force all along, and that the airport was no big deal! NATO would be working inside the airport with Russia.

Blitzer then asked about the gun legislation defeated in the House, by asking if this was "a big political bonanza for Democrats in the coming election." President Clinton answered him with great authority saying that he didn't want a political bonanza but a safer America and Dems did not seek to make political points on this. If we wanted a political bonanza, he added, we would have gone in with a bunch of issues that we knew were popular that we had no chance to pass.

The President, with this answer, nailed the Republicans who were trying to use people and situations to play politics with, while the Democrats were simply trying to tie up a loophole because it meant safety for our children and society at large.

When Blitzer saw that President Clinton had torpedoed his attempt to discredit the Democrats, he again changed the subject -- to something more "personal."

Blitzer then asked the President about whether VP Gore was trying to "distance himself" -- pulling out a tape from the Blitzer Ambush Video Library showing VP Gore saying in an interview that the President's behavior was "inexcusable."

The President answered quickly and emphatically that he had said even worse of himself, so he wasn't exactly surprised or hurt by Gore's answers!

Wolf asked about the President's view about Jr. Bush and whether he was ready to be President. The President basically said that when BushBaby decides to specify his agenda and talk about specific issues, then he'll be able to form an opinion.

When Blitzer, obviously longing to top his Lewinsky ambush, failed to do so, he turned to Hillary, asking him whether the report in U.S. News and World Report that Hillary was leaving the White House early in the Fall to set up house in New York was true.

Blitzer applied the spin that Hillary was using the Senate race as an excuse to leave the President.

The President answered by explaining in elementary terms (a process Blitzer's guests frequently have to use to make him understand reality) that because Hillary may be running for the Senate, if she does she will logically need to spend more time there, but won't be moving out -- as Blitzer and other pundits like to claim. Hillary will not be giving up her First Lady responsibilities, but will find a house to live in for when she is campaigning there. When Blitzer then asked if the President would live in New York, he said that he would gladly divide his time between the two cities.

He ended the interview asking about his role after the White House, the President said it would be modeled after President Carter's example. He hopes to build his library, open a public policy center, and "continue to work on some of the issues of world peace and reconciliation of people across these racial and religious lines that I've devoted so much of my life to."

Then came the ironic statement of the day from the President "This is your last trip with me, so I want to thank you for six and a half good years."

Then the hypocritical statement of the day was Blitzer " It's been an honor to cover you."

It is unbelievable that Blitzer dared use the word "honor" in describing his coverage of the President... in fact, it is the last word that could be used to describe Blitzer.

Then Blitzer interviewed Prime Minister Jacques Chirac of France. He opened that interview with the statement obviously meant to cause friction between nations of NATO by saying "There seems to be a disagreement over the definition of humanitarian aid in Yugoslavia. Would rebuilding electrical power plants inside Serbia, would that be humanitarian aid, as opposed to developmental aid?"

Chirac answered : "And of the electric plants, humanitarian maybe. Not all of them. Maybe, because of the heat, production of heat for the housing for winter."

Then Blitzer asked the ludicrous question whether rebuilding bridges was "humanitarian aid."

Boy was he reaching! Chirac just answered no. "We cannot help a country that has no use for democracy. We cannot help a country to rebuild, I mean, economically speaking, if it's not a democracy."

Blitzer then said something that could have proved inciteful by saying that most Americans felt that we paid for the bombing campaign, shouldn't Europe be paying for the cleanup and rebuilding? Please, Wolf, stop being a putz..

Then Blitzer thought that by asking Chirac the same question three different ways -- about whether NATO will aggressively arrest Milosevic -- he'd get the answer that he wanted. But Chirac kept repeating, "We won't go in after him."

I'm sure Chirac must have been laughing hysterically inside at this pathetic Napoleonic reporter.

The last question to Chirac was whether the bombing could have been avoided. "No brain" Blitzer still hasn't grasped the fact that in order to stop the ethnic cleansing, we all had to bomb.

Chirac said there was no way to avoid the war.

Next came the interviews of Senators Joe Biden and John Ashcroft.

While begrudgingly admitting that the President indeed achieved success in Kosovo, Ashcroft was left with only one option of criticism, complaining that we should set a definite time limit to bring our troops home. You could "feel his pain" in giving the President credit for a successful air war.

Biden answered " in the face of the commitment of putting in a total 50,000 troops, only 7,500 or thereabouts are going to be ours. It seems to me, that it [pulling out troops now] would fly in the face of this cohesion. I don't think we should make any long term commitments to either pull out or stay. I think we should get about the business of doing what we are doing and let events -- you know, dictate to us what we have to do."

Then Ashcroft made a stunning admission by saying "We've had about a 50 percent cut in defense over the last 15 years. We can't have just -- a program or a philosophy of sending troops anywhere there's a problem, and be capable of defending our own interests on a sustained basis."

Considering that President Clinton has been in office only 7 years, over half of the declining defense has been under the Reagan/Bush administrations. Did he really mean to admit that?

A caller asked Ashcroft if the gun legislation situation in the House would help the Republicans pick up seats in the House. Ashcroft, looking a bit ashen (no pun intended), reluctantly said that it wouldn't. Biden said that this would help the American voters speak their minds showing their dissatisfaction, and may change the majority over.

Quickly changing the question to whether Al Gore has the nomination sewn up, Biden said no, that Bradley is a formidable contender, Gore is the front-runner but it really is too early to tell.

When asked about Bush Jr. locking the Republican nomination, Ashcroft said not yet, basically hedging the same way as Biden.

During the round table, Steve Roberts was forced to admit that the Kosovo situation was a victory for the President, and to this viewer's amazement, even Tucker Carlson admitted so, but include one caveat: saying that it was "mostly legitimate."

Tucker then said that the President will still face tough questions on the Hill about Russia and the KLA. Boy, that "Crow a la Clinton" is really sticking in Carlson's throat.

Blitzer then tried asking a question to again make the President look bad saying that the President spent a lot of time talking and worrying about the gun issue back home.

Hey Blitzer: is the President supposed to abandon domestic policy while away, especially during the crucial vote?? Maybe the pundits are infuriated that this President can conquer two fronts at once. Roberts said that although the President lost the bill, he won the issue. Roberts went on to say Dems "are planning a fall campaign which runs on two words, Wolf, that is, the fall of 2000. Those two words are incompetence and extremism. That's what they're going to try to pin on the Republicans. And the defeat of this bill plays into both of those."

Roberts, however, tried to call the President a liar by saying that the President wasn't honest about not wanting a political bonanza. He said that wasn't true. But Roberts is wrong because he ignored the President saying that they could have attached all sorts of amendments that would play into political playing.

Then Carlson basically said that because Rep. Carolyn McCarthy was crying, saying that the Republicans don't are about women or children, that it will work against the Republicans. He portrayed Maloney as an overemotional woman using her tears for political gain.

Give me a break!! Tucker is the poster boy for chauvinist pigs!

And even panelist Susan Page took issue with this, saying that it's an honest issue that the voters will be taking into account -- especially given the fact that the NRA was able to delay the vote by 2 weeks ensuring this "victory."

Roberts said that both Gore and Bush Jr. were running -- in effect -- against Bill Clinton by offering "Clinton policies but with more honorable characteristics."

Carlson said that he didn't think Bradley was really going to register in the race, calling him a nice guy but a lousy campaigner.

And with that said, we turned off the idiot box to take our minds off today's stupidity -- and laugh at Blitzer's ninety minutes of failed ambush!

The McLaugh-In Group

Eleanor Clift was back. But then again, so was Michael Barone, ex-editor of Reader's Digest and now a writer for waning U.S. News & World Report.

Issue One: Russia's Separate Peace. Naturally, McLaughlin started off with a non-topic -- as long as it's about international relations, John wants it on The McLaugh-In Group. He seemed to be defending Russia's attempt to gain its own sector -- a la Berlin -- in Kosovo. What it looks like, he claimed, is the UN having miswritten its orders and allowing for a "unified command" in Kosovo. With Russia throwing a temper tantrum -- Clinton could be "in trouble" with his public statement that the UN was in charge.

James Warren of the Chicago Tribune claimed that the territorial integrity of Kosovo must be maintained and that NATO, in a practical sense, is in charge. McLaughlin called Warren's view "patronizing."

Tony Blankley -- ex-mouthpiece of arch-felon Newt Gingrich -- defended Russia as well.

Clift said that if you give Russia its own sector, you will have all the Serbs in Kosovo living there -- a partition which no one wants. McLaughlin called this patronizing as well!

Barone said Yeltsin has a "heroic role in history" and wants to flex his muscles.

McLaughlin said that a partition is a good idea, and cited a column by marginal right-winger Charles Krauthammer -- a name we almost never hear anymore. Clift reminded McLaughlin that Russia couldn't even supply the 200 troops it landed at the Kosovar airport!

McLaughlin asked whether it is a good or bad idea that the US entered the fray:

Barone: Bad

Clift: Good

Blankley: Bad

Warren: Good, and for years to come.

McLaughlin: "A horrid and horrific blunder!" We thought for a moment he was talking about his show.

Issue Two: "Stuck With UCK" (the Kosovo Liberation Army).

McLaughlin talked about KLA atrocities: bands of vengeance-seeking KLA troops still threatening to kill Serbian civilians in retribution. NATO forces are arresting them.

Does the UCK intend to kill all Serbs?

Clift: Well it is understandable, and NATO has a huge task to make them a responsible Kosovo army.

McLaughlin claimed that Clift should have admitted this seeking for vengeance when the Serbs were seeking it against the Kosovars.

Of course, McLaughlin remains just about the only one on earth who compares the atrocities of the Serbs to the KLA leaders fighting to stop destruction of property ad ethnic cleansing. He pretended that a few articles attacking the KLA are justification for his ludicrously overblown opinion.

And even Barone attacked McLaughlin's obvious ignorance on the matter saying yes, the KLA committed atrocities -- but on nowhere near the level the Serbs did.

But McLaughlin moronically kept it up, talking about UCK "desecration" of Serb churches and the rape of a nun, showing pictures.

Will the UCK eventually take over Kosovo, he asked?

Barone: Yes

Clift: Yes, "and you John McLaughlin will be called as a character witness for Milosevic." Bravo, Eleanor?

Blankley: Yes -- unless something is done to stop it.

Warren: He thinks not.

McLaughlin: They will take it over.

McLaughlin then turned to BushBaby, talking about of how wonderfully he's doing, including some meaningless poll that showed Bush-Gore at 56-34 respectively.

Blankley said Bush is already in the presidential race against Gore.

Clift thinks that Bush is in bigger trouble when suburban moms learn that he is the most anti-choice governor in America.

McLaughlin said "he's got it all!" The APJ Media Room filled with laughter! Right on, John! He sure does have it all -- including a history of alcoholism and drug abuse -- a great record for a potential Commander-in-Chief.

Warren "reminded" Gore that Bush is leading with women.

Barone claimed that his abortion record is on parental consent for minor's abortion. But Clift pointed out that Bush is signing a bill to cut off all funding to family planning clinics -- including Planned Parenthood. -- giving the lie to Barone's pap.

"You Can Call Me Al" was McLaughlin's next ploy. The spin: Al Gore is running away from "the dark side of Clinton," said John, who chortlingly contrasted "button-down Gore vs. pants-down Clinton." He mocked Gore's speaking Spanish during his announcement, then showed clips of Gore talking about Clinton's "inexcusable conduct."

Warren thought Gores speech was poor and it read better than it sounded. McLaughlin claimed that Gore "cut himself off from Clinton wonderfully" -- but, of course, no one is listening yet, and the cut has not been made.

One might argue, however, that Gore should be careful not to cut too far since he would run the risk of losing the majority of Americans who still support the President.

Blankley said "Gore did not stumble." Well -- that was a surprise!

Predictions:

All agree that Microsoft will not be split up. Isn't that amazing? Has anyone pondered the Microsoft-NBC connection called MSNBC?

Meet the Press
a.k.a. "Pretend to Be a Journalist"

Tim Russert, who seems to worship Mary Matalin and James Carville, had them on yet again this week, ostensibly to celebrate Father's Day.

It was the only segment worth watching -- although uninformative as ever. We wish Carville and Matalin would stop playing Amos and Andy and give us the benefit of their political wisdom.

Among Russert's other guests was Bob Woodward, who is making the rounds of pundit television pushing his latest expose, Shadow, a look at the last five presidents including Clinton.

Russert made sure to have some Clinton bashers as his first guests.

First up was Warren Rudman. Russert read a statement by Secretary Richardson saying that American secrets are safe. Rudman claimed that Richardson has taken back that statement and has made a great effort to change things. He also said that the body politic responds to the latest fire. If the Chinese spy case had not come forward, he said, nothing would have been done. Russert read stinging words from Rudman's own report which called the security system "dysfunctional, arrogant and uncaring."

Rudman said the attitude of "these people" are astounding. He explains that the President issued an order 18 months ago ordering that all the things the GOP found now were to be fixed but that the Department of Energy simply ignored this. The President, according to Rudman, was not pleased.

Rudman said both the polygraph and foreign business vetting is still not in place and that he will recommend a new security service separate from the Department of Energy. He will essentially recommend that the agency be put over to one side of the DOE and have it operate as the NSA operates at the Defense Department. The alternative, he recommends, is that it be totally autonomous.

Russert thinks it is stupid that we have not had a Secretary of Energy who is an "expert" in intelligence. Well, Tim, we hate to tell you this, but we are talking about the Department of Energy -- not the CIA. It should be the CIA's responsibility to find spies.

Rudman took one shot at the President. He said Clinton should have issued his executive order more promptly after the 1997 briefing and gave the New York Times credit for the ongoing security cleanup.

Huh? The time taken was the normal amount that other Presidents have taken to issue Executive Directives. Reminds us of the overblown if not outright phony criticism Clinton has gotten for "abusing" the recess appointment process by naming Jim Hormel as Ambassador to Luxembourg.

Russert then repeated his ridiculous claim that "the President lied to the American people" when he made a public statement that no espionage had been brought to this attention. Russert knows quite well that there were at least three CIA and FBI investigations going on at the time. Had the President revealed that he knew about them, he could have tipped off any spies that were still inside the labs that they were under investigation. Yet, for the past five weeks in a row, Russert has continued to plaster this quote across the screen in a lame effort to humiliate the President and make him "personally" responsible for the failure of our security agencies to a proper job.

Russert is a disgrace to truth -- and a disgrace to the once-great NBC.

Dan Quayle: call us cynical, but he can't see he has no chance.

Dan Quayle was the next guest. Russert immediately focuses in on Roe V Wade. Quayle wants to appoint strict constructionists and judges who respect "religion and morality." The pundit shows should provide a laugh track for this lame excuse for a presidential contender -- he is that funny!

Hey Dan, here's an idea -- how's about we appoint The Pope?

Quayle did point out that judges can change once they have their lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court (thank the Lord). On the issue of gun control, Quayle thinks the Dingell proposal was the best one.

Quayle wants to focus on how families are going to spend more time together. He thinks it will be -- to cut taxes! However, he doesn't talk about the atmosphere of greed that national television pushes through its sponsors. Quayle thinks that Serbia was "a failure" and that this will "continue to be a mess."

Then Russert stuck it to Quayle, pulling up numbers from the latest New Hampshire Poll showing him at 4% -- among Republicans! Of course, Quayle attacked the poll, saying that if you believe them you think that Bush will win all 50 states.

What followed was gobbledygook about "cynicism." Russert wanted to know where Quayle disagrees with BushBaby. Quayle said he "doesn't know what Bush stands for," but he does disagree with BushBaby because Bush supported the Serbian intervention.

Russert kept up the heat, telling Quayle that 61% of potential voters said there is "no chance at all" that they would ever vote for him.

There is no question that Russert is the most mean-spirited Sunday pundit. Normally he focuses his cruelty on Clinton alone, but this Sunday his truly pathetic persona went amok, attacking a more-than-dark-horse outsider like Dan Quayle. Why not simply ignore the guy? Why humiliate him on national television with polls showing so clearly what a loser he is?

Bob Woodward, the self-appointed "top investigative reporter of America," was next. Woodward, who claimed to have talked to people about President Clinton who would never have talked to the President, and who still hasn't revealed the source of his "expose" of Nixon -- "Deep Throat" -- is now on a non-stop book tour to make him wealthier than he deserves to be for taking the words of the "Throat" and making them his own. Now, suddenly, Woodward is an historian.

In his new book, Shadow, Woodward tells of the "ghost of Nixon" which haunts the White House today. Tim asked Woodward whether a deal was made to pardon Nixon prior to his resignation. Woodward claimed that Ford was offered a deal, and then rejected it -- but Ford's testimony was written by Al Haig, Nixon's aid.

Woodward also said that Reagan was not dirty -- only wrong. He also stated that Reagan was already far progressed into Alzheimer's when Lawrence Walsh took his deposition in 1991. George Bush would not talk to Woodward, as well he should not have. Bush, who decries the state of scandal-mongering in Washington, wrote a letter to Woodward stating so.

Russert wanted to know if character is important in choosing a president. Woodward said of course.

Wow -- how enlightening.

Russert, to his credit, brings up BushBaby's past. Woodward said that a person's biography does not begin at age 40 -- and that Bush's dodginess about his own past will simply not work. Reporters will find out what happened during his earlier days, and will focus on it.

Too bad. But then, that's how Woodward makes his money -- on the backs of other's misery.

Woodward devoted more than half his book to bashing Bill Clinton -- of course. However, Woodward at least does not attempt to make the President out as evil, but nonetheless vulnerable and "an island" as a person.

Russert pointed out that the President called Louis Freeh a "%*@$&^". Woodward defended Freeh, and well he should -- but it is quite understanding as to why Clinton would be angry at him. Woodward then began to bash Clinton, saying that he lied to Bob Bennett, his wife, the American people, yadda yadda yadda. Tim Russert asked the same questions of Woodward that Charlie Rose asked him a few days ago: how Bob Bennett would have talked to Woodward while he is the President's counsel.

Even The Weekly Standard called this week's issue "All the President's Back-Stabbers." One need only look at Bob Bennett's brother William Bennett to know what he might be capable of.

Woodward also reported that Democrats -- seven of them -- were going to call for the President to resign. He claimed that Senator Kent was going to "march" to the White House and demand his resignation. However, the facts got in the way and changed the upstart Democrats' minds -- a fact that neither Woodward nor Russert would elaborate on since they were more eager to sell books than tell the whole truth on the show today.

And think about this: what a joke it is to rely on Kent Conrad, a nothing Senator if there ever was one.

But what more can you expect from Tim "Half-Truth Personified" Russert?

Next up were Matalin and Carville. Matalin said Bush has to work for the GOP nomination next year, although he is leading. She claimed that Bush has always been pro-life and you don't reduce the number of abortions by talking about it.

Carville said he does not know that abortion will be a front-and-center issue. If Pat Buchanan runs as a third party candidate it will, of course, be a big issue.

Carville gauges BushBaby this way -- "If this guy goes, the Republicans are gone." By contrast, he said the Democrats have two outstanding candidates. With respect to BushBaby, Carville added that he has never seen someone get this much altitude so fast. He is unsure what that will mean. However, he thinks that Bush couldn't go wrong because he is the only answer for the GOP -- of course, they have everything invested in him.

A discussion ensues as to whether BushBaby is a conservative at all.

Of course he's not. He's a Clinton Democrat. Everyone knows that -- and that's why everyone in the GOP is in his corner.

Bush is for strict gun control. Bush is really pro-choice. Bush is a tax-and-spend Pentagon boy. Bush is compassionate. Are we describing President Clinton or George Bush Jr.?

Carville then said the entire GOP is in the back pocket of the NRA and Big Tobacco. Tom DeLay said, on the floor of the House, said that "teaching evolution" has made our kids the way they are today -- violent. He said that BushBaby will be directly connected to this Republican Congress and will not be able to escape from under it.

Russert then moved to Hillary Clinton, showing a new poll that has her ahead of Giuliani 47%-39%.

Matalin thinks that Hillary will have trouble with the "carpetbagging" issue. Of course, Mary is dead wrong -- and she knows it.

Russert then basically demanded that Carville promise him that Hillary won't use the NY Senate seat to run for President in 2004! We could not contain our laughter -- Russert really, really hates the Clintons! And Carville replied that he would be glad to help her run for President.

Matalin had the final word, claiming that the GOP is ready to run against either Gore or Bradley.

We say that may be true -- and that they had best be prepared to lose, big time.

---The Editors and Pundit Pap Team