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1. Ann Curry Tells Bush: Americans 'Suffering' Because of War During a live interview with the President and the First Lady from Tanzania on Monday's Today show, NBC's Ann Curry pestered Bush about the Iraq war and its economic impact on Americans as she lectured: "I mean they say they're suffering because of this war." Curry had discounted Bush's insistence that he carries a "burden" in taking the nation to war as she lamented: "Some Americans believe, that they feel they're carrying the burden because of this economy. I mean they say they're suffering because of this war." When Bush said he disagreed, a puzzled Curry countered: "You don't agree with that? Has nothing to do with the economy? The war? The spending on the war?" Curry later pressed Bush to concede the war is lost and so no more Americans should die "in vain" in Iraq: "At some point, if you're absolutely wrong, you don't want any more soldiers to die in vain." 2. ABC's Gibson Trumpets How France 'Requires 31 Vacation Days' Fretting over how "Americans give back 438 million vacation days a year" when they could be "sitting on a beach," ABC anchor Charles Gibson concluded the Presidents' Day World News by channeling envy of European socialist rules as he complained that "America is the only major country in the world that has no government-mandated time off." Citing how "psychologists say people are better workers, less stressed, if they take their time," he helpfully suggested "you might consider moving to France. There, the government requires 31 vacation days plus holidays." No mention, of course, of how that (plus a 35-hour work week) hurts French productivity and job creation, to say nothing of requiring significant immigration. 3. 60 Minutes Hails Happy Danes, Denmark's 'Social Safety Net' On Sunday's 60 Minutes, anchor Morley Safer did a segment on Demark being ranked the happiest country in world consistently for the past three decades and wondered: "What makes a Dane so happy? And why isn't he wallowing in misery and self doubt like so many of the rest of us?" Safer also talked to a group of Danish students and seemed impressed with how advanced Denmark's welfare state has become: "For example, no student loans hanging over their heads -- all education is free in Denmark, right on through university. And students can take as long as they like to complete their studies." One of the students responded: "And we get paid to go to school, actually. Instead of in the U.S., you pay to go to school, we get paid to go to school if we pass our exams." An amazed Safer continued: "Americans watching this, particularly people your age, would be bowled over by the very idea that the government pays you to go to school...Denmark also provides free health care, subsidized child care and elder care, a social safety net spread the length and breadth of the country." 4. Gore to the Rescue, Clift Touts 'Unstoppable' Gore-Obama Ticket Friday on a Newsweek blog, Eleanor Clift championed the idea of Al Gore becoming the Democratic nominee at a deadlocked convention: "A scenario that a few weeks ago seemed preposterous is beginning to look plausible to some nervous Democrats looking for a way out of the deadlock between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.....What if the super delegates decide not to decide, denying either candidate the requisite number of delegates to secure the party's nomination. Democrats want to win. The new rallying cry: Gore on the second ballot." Clift relayed: "A Gore-Obama ticket would be unstoppable, the thinking goes, matching the presumptive Republican nominee, McCain, on national security and experience, while embodying a powerful message of change."
Because of War During a live interview with the President and the First Lady from Tanzania on Monday's Today show, NBC's Ann Curry pestered Bush about the Iraq war and its economic impact on Americans as she lectured: "I mean they say they're suffering because of this war." Curry had discounted Bush's insistence that he carries a "burden" in taking the nation to war as she lamented: "Some Americans believe, that they feel they're carrying the burden because of this economy. I mean they say they're suffering because of this war." When Bush said he disagreed, a puzzled Curry countered: "You don't agree with that? Has nothing to do with the economy? The war? The spending on the war?" Curry later pressed Bush to concede the war is lost and so no more Americans should die "in vain" in Iraq: "At some point, if you're absolutely wrong, you don't want any more soldiers to die in vain." [This item is based on a Monday posting, by Geoffrey Dickens, on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] The Today show co-anchor also asked if the President was "chagrined" by the McCain campaign request that Bush not "appear too often by his side." Curry did begin the session with a question favorable to Bush: "What moved you to care so much about Africa?" The following exchange occurred, live from Africa, in the 7:30am EST half hour of the Monday, February 18 Today show on NBC:
ANN CURRY: You know I know that it helps that you've got the support of, with your children and your wife on this mission and, and I want to mention that your wife has stood up for you on so many issues. She once told me about you, when I asked her about how Americans, you know, were upset about the war in Iraq. I'm gonna get to the quote here. She basically said, "No one suffers more than their President. I hope they know the burden of worry that's on his shoulders every single day for our troops." So I've been wondering, ever since she said that, will the burden of worry, do you think, about this war in Iraq ever truly leave you?
31 Vacation Days' Fretting over how "Americans give back 438 million vacation days a year" when they could be "sitting on a beach," ABC anchor Charles Gibson concluded the Presidents' Day World News by channeling envy of European socialist rules as he complained that "America is the only major country in the world that has no government-mandated time off." Citing how "psychologists say people are better workers, less stressed, if they take their time," he helpfully suggested "you might consider moving to France. There, the government requires 31 vacation days plus holidays." No mention, of course, of how that (plus a 35-hour work week) hurts French productivity and job creation, to say nothing of requiring significant immigration. The anchor of the newscast on the network owned by Disney showed a picture of smiling vacationers with Mickey Mouse before he ended by noting: "And someone asked me today, ‘Why are you making a big deal of this? You're at work today.' Good point." [This item, by the MRC's Brent Baker, was posted Monday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] Yearning for European time-off mandates is nothing new for the networks, particularly NBC's Today show. A few examples I quickly found in the MRC's archive, and these don't include the more common calls to follow Europe's lead in mandating paid maternity and family leave: # CNN contributor Polly LaBarre on In the Money, June 9, 2007: "We work longer hours, we work harder, we work with fewer breaks than any other industrialized nation on Earth....To put this in perspective, we work more than medieval peasants used to work....We're a country that has no mandated paid vacation whereas the European Union has a floor of 20 days and vacation champs like France and Sweden offer 39, 40 paid days."
Keith Miller: "Break out the band, bring on the drinks. The French are calling it a miracle. A government-mandated 35-hour work week is changing the French way of life. Two years ago, in an effort to create more jobs, the government imposed a shorter work week on large companies, forcing them to hire more workers....These American women, all working in France, have time for lunch and a life." Avivah Wittenberg-Cox: "More Americans should be more aware that an economy as successful as the French one managed to be successful without giving up everything else in life." Katie Couric, following the end of Miller's taped piece: "So great that young mother being able to come home at three every day and spend that time with her child. Isn't that nice? The French, they've got it right, don't they?"
The MRC's Brad Wilmouth corrected the closed-captioning against the video to provide this transcript from the end of the Monday, February 18 World News on ABC:
CHARLES GIBSON: Finally tonight, did you work today? It is, after all, a federal holiday, Washington's birthday. It's a holiday in many states, as well. But we learned today Americans are apparently uncomfortable taking days away from work. Consider this number: It is estimated Americans give back 438 million vacation days a year, 438 million. People could be sitting on a beach, taking pictures of themselves in front of famous landmarks, playing golf, just kicking back reading a book. But no, they work. America is the only major country in the world that has no government-mandated time off. 75 percent of Americans do get paid vacation, 14 days the average. But then the average worker gives back three of those days. Why do we do this to ourselves?
'Social Safety Net' On Sunday's 60 Minutes, anchor Morley Safer did a segment on Demark being ranked the happiest country in world consistently for the past three decades and wondered: "What makes a Dane so happy? And why isn't he wallowing in misery and self doubt like so many of the rest of us?" Later in the segment, Safer discovered that low expectations of the Danish people was the key to their happiness and he concluded that: "Wanting it all is a bacterium that stays with us from youth to old age -- wanting a bigger house, fancier car, more stuff. And when we get more, there's always someone with even more stuff who's just as unhappy. Some suggest that the unhappiest zip codes in the country are the wealthiest, like the Upper East Side of New York." [This item, by Kyle Drennen, was posted Monday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] Safer began the segment by referring to the Declaration of Independence, just prior to touting Denmark's socialism: "Tonight, we talk about happiness, that quirky, elusive emotion that the Declaration of Independence maintains we have every right to pursue...the main scientific survey of international happiness, carried out by Leicester University in England, ranks the U.S. a distant 23rd, well behind Canada and Costa Rica. But you'll be pleased to know we beat Iraq and Pakistan. And the winner is? Once again, Denmark." Later, while talking to Danish professor Kaare Christiansen, Safer wondered if a nation's power makes it unhappy: "Do you think there's some kind of inverse relationship between the more powerful you are, the more unhappy you are, and the weaker you are, the happier you are?" Safer also talked to a group of Danish students and seemed impressed with how advanced Denmark's welfare state has become: "For example, no student loans hanging over their heads -- all education is free in Denmark, right on through university. And students can take as long as they like to complete their studies." One of the students responded: "And we get paid to go to school, actually. Instead of in the U.S., you pay to go to school, we get paid to go to school if we pass our exams." An amazed Safer continued: "Americans watching this, particularly people your age, would be bowled over by the very idea that the government pays you to go to school...Denmark also provides free health care, subsidized child care and elder care, a social safety net spread the length and breadth of the country." Another student concluded that: "I mean, we're pretty much free to do whatever we want. We're secure from the day we're born, for a Dane who lives in Denmark." Of course Safer did note that a government "safety net" is not free: "But in getting all of those wonderful gifts from the government, the Danes do pay a price. How much would a, sort of, middle-income person pay in taxes?" To which Dr. Christiansen replied: "About 50... half." Safer acknowledged that fact: "And that is one trade-off most Americans are not willing to make." Safer then talked to Harvard psychologist Tal Ben-Shahar, who explained why Americans are so unhappy, we just expect too much: "In America, part of the ethos, part of the American dream, is that more is better, and the more is better usually applies to the material realm. And that doesn't pan out, that doesn't work, it doesn't make us happier...It is about having realistic expectations. It's... it's about not trying to fit in more... more than we can handle. We can't handle it all, we can't have it all, but we can have a lot." At the end of the segment Safer asked one of the Danish students to offer Americans some advice. The student mimicked Shahar: "I have an advice. Don't... don't depend too much on the American dream. Yeah, I think you might get disappointed." Here is the full transcript of the segment:
MORLEY SAFER: Tonight, we talk about happiness, that quirky, elusive emotion that the Declaration of Independence maintains we have every right to pursue. And man, do we pursue it. We're suckers for an endless stream of self-help books that promise a carefree existence for a mere $24.95. Television hucksters of every kind claim they have the key to Nirvana. So the happiness business, at least, is one big smiley face. As for the rest of us, well, the main scientific survey of international happiness, carried out by Leicester University in England, ranks the U.S. a distant 23rd, well behind Canada and Costa Rica. But you'll be pleased to know we beat Iraq and Pakistan. And the winner is? Once again, Denmark. Over the past 30 years in survey after survey, this nation of 5.5 million people -- the land that produced Hans Christian Andersen, the people who consume herring by the ton-- consistently beat the rest of the world in the happiness stakes. It's hard to figure -- the weather is only so-so; they're heavy drinkers and smokers; their neighbors, the Norwegians, are richer, and their other neighbors, the Swedes, are healthier. So it's ironic or something that the unhappiest man in history, or at least literary history, was that Prince of Denmark, Hamlet, who lived in this gloomy rock pile at Elsinore. Of course, Hamlet had every right to be depressed. After all, his uncle murdered his father, seduced and married his mother, and was an all- around perfect scoundrel. But Hamlet aside, what makes a Dane so happy? And why isn't he wallowing in misery and self-doubt like so many of the rest of us? That's a question that also intrigued professor Kaare Christiansen at the University of Southern Denmark.
Gore-Obama Ticket Friday on a Newsweek blog, Eleanor Clift championed the idea of Al Gore becoming the Democratic nominee at a deadlocked convention: "A scenario that a few weeks ago seemed preposterous is beginning to look plausible to some nervous Democrats looking for a way out of the deadlock between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.....What if the super delegates decide not to decide, denying either candidate the requisite number of delegates to secure the party's nomination. Democrats want to win. The new rallying cry: Gore on the second ballot." Clift relayed: "A Gore-Obama ticket would be unstoppable, the thinking goes, matching the presumptive Republican nominee, McCain, on national security and experience, while embodying a powerful message of change." Clift's dreaming appeared on the "Stumper" blog run by Newsweek cub political reporter Andrew Romano, who introduced Clift's ruminations by touting Gore's prescience: "He foresaw global warming. He 'took the initiative' on the Internet. And he knew exactly how Iraq would turn out. Who's to say that Al Gore hasn't known all along that the Democratic race would descend into some weird state of gridlock -- and that only he, the Goreacle, could rescue the party from civil war?" [This item is based on a Saturday posting, by the MRC's Tim Graham, on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org ] "Al Gore to the Rescue?" read the headline over the February 15 posting by Romano. An excerpt from Clift's proposition: Al Gore on the second ballot: A scenario that a few weeks ago seemed preposterous is beginning to look plausible to some nervous Democrats looking for a way out of the deadlock between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. It goes like this: We love them both, but neither is a sure bet when it comes to electability. It's not about gender and race, each has more mundane vulnerabilities. Hillary's negatives will drive white men to John McCain; Obama's inexperience will require a gut check on the part of voters. What if the super delegates decide not to decide, denying either candidate the requisite number of delegates to secure the party's nomination. Democrats want to win. The new rallying cry: Gore on the second ballot. The last time a political convention went to a second ballot was 1952, but this is a year with so many twists and turns that nothing is impossible. Gore would be tempted on so many levels. He would only have to endure two months of campaigning, not long enough for voters to remember what they didn't like about him eight years ago. Gore has sat out the primary process, refusing to offer even so much as a hint of where his sentiments lie. Years of playing second-fiddle to Hillary in the White House no doubt precluded his endorsement for her. Surely he would happily take Obama as his running mate, ending the Clinton dynasty and positioning the Democrats for a potential 16-year reign at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. A Gore-Obama ticket would be unstoppable, the thinking goes, matching the presumptive Republican nominee, McCain, on national security and experience, while embodying a powerful message of change. The Gore second-ballot scenario isn't being seriously considered by Democratic Party leaders (as far as we know). But a number of individual high-profile Democrats are talking about it, along with any number of other ideas to end the seemingly intractable stalemate.... END of Excerpt For Clift's posting in full: www.blog.newsweek.com
-- Brent Baker
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