Selling the networks an empty suit.
Day in and day out, Ari Fleischer goes before the press and...lies. So why were the major networks suprised when Ari talked them into carrying President Hooked on Phonic's speech before the AEI last week? Do the heads of the news divisions even watch their own programs?
ABC, CBS and NBC broke into regular programming to carry President Bush's speech on the Middle East Wednesday evening after White House spokesman Ari Fleischer made off-the-record calls to their Washington bureau chiefs. But when Bush's address to the American Enterprise Institute, also aired by the cable news networks, dealt only generally with the future of a post-Saddam Middle East, some network bigwigs felt they'd been had.
The White House had been "lobbying" for live coverage of Bush's remarks, ABC's Ted Koppel said on "Nightline," but "in one form or another, he has said all of these things before."
Fleischer says no formal request was made and that his calls had "nothing" to do with the fact that Hussein was getting an hour of airtime that night in Dan Rather's "60 Minutes II" interview.
"It wasn't sold one way or another," Fleischer says. "I read them paragraphs from the president's speech, a very factual read-through. They made their own decision. . . . None of them on the phone suggested to me that it doesn't sound newsworthy."
Says one network executive: "The White House was incredibly heavy-handed with the request. At a time when we're leading up to war, they said it was going to make news." An executive at another network allows that "they didn't bully us. . . . They don't quite ask for time, but they say it's going to be quite important."
Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice...I'll hire Michael Savage for "balance".
...and speaking of the Savage Weiner...looks like he's off to a rousing start:
Savage is angrily threatening to counterattack "with all the abilities I have," including filing lawsuits and, if necessary, mobilizing his army of listeners.
"I'm not Dr. Laura and I'm not going to lift my skirts and run," Savage told The Post, referring to the tough radio shrink whose 2000 TV show was set upon by gay-rights groups that scared away advertisers and, arguably, forced a toned-down program that few watched, resulting in an early demise.
"If we let these bastards win, they will have elevated themselves to being a de facto national television censorship board," said Savage.
The Bronx-raised Savage says he's being persecuted because of "my conservative beliefs, pure and simple" and vows to counterattack if he feels his career is threatened - alleging, if necessary, a litany of abuses like "civil and/or religious rights violations, hate crimes, economic terrorism" and even racketeering.
Yeah. yeah. Everyone from the Bronx is real tough....especially guys named Weiner who have to change their names to Savage. Too bad "Wolf Blitzer" was already taken...