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May 13, 2005
CBS News, a Glutton for Punishment
Is CBS Doing it Again?
In a May 9th report on the judicial filibuster battle, CBS News quoted Ken Starr as coming out against the Republican's proposed use of the "nuclear option".
However, Ken Starr is now stating that the quotes that CBS used have been taken completely out of context.
"I have now seen the CBS report. Attached is an exchange with Steve Engle, who alerted me earlier today to the other dimensions of the wild misconstruction of what I said in the Gloria Borger interview. Here's a brief background. I sat on Saturday with Gloria Borger for 20 minutes approximately, had a wide ranging, on-camera discussion. In the piece that I have now seen, and which I gather has been lavishly quoted, CBS employed two snippets. The 'radical departure from our history' snippet was specifically addressed to the practice of invoking judicial philosophy as a grounds for voting against a qualified nominee of integrity and experience. I said in sharp language that that practice was wrong. I contrasted the current practice and that employed viciously against your [Engle's] father with what occurred during Ruth Ginsburg's nomination process as numerous Republicans voted, rightly, to confirm a former ACLU staff worker. They disagreed with her positions as a lawyer but they voted -- again rightly -- to confirm her. Why? Because elections, like ideas, have consequences. You know all this too well and indeed painfully well, as we remember the terrible ordeal of Bob Bork in 1987. In the interview I did indeed suggest and have suggested elsewhere that caution and prudence be exercised in shifting or modifying rules but I likewise made clear that the filibuster represents an entirely new use and misuse of a venerable tradition. Anyway our folks here at Pepperdine's public information office are scrambling to get the full transcript of the entire interview but our friends are way off base in assuming that the CBS snippets as used represent, A, my views, or B, what I in fact said. Kindly feel free to share this message with anybody you deem appropriate."
If this was merely a case of editing producing a mistaken view, wouldn't the reporter try to correct that impression? Gloria Borger had that oppurtunity during an exchange with Bob Schieffer at the end of the segment:
If what Starr says is true, then CBS News has willfully distorted his views. Already, editorials repeating Starr's statement associated with the slant put forth by the CBS report have appeared. From the Indianapolis Star
"Frist's threat to go nuclear isn't setting off alarms only among left-wing organizations and Democratic operatives. Conservative legal scholar Ken Starr, the former Whitewater prosecutor who is now dean of Pepperdine University law school, told CBS News that the Republicans' plan is a "radical, radical departure from our history and our traditions, and it amounts to an assault on the judicial branch of government."Ken Starr has been attempting to recieve the full transcript of his interview with Gloria Borger. Thus far, CBS has not done so and there are unconfirmed reports that it is in fact refusing to do so. If CBS News is stonewalling, it will illustrate that they have learned absolutly nothing from the Rathergate fiasco. Maybe they enjoy getting pummeled in the blogs and elsewhere. Or worse still, perhaps they just don't care.
Posted by Skayhan at May 13, 2005 04:45 AM
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