The Note
W A S H I N G T O N, June 25, 2004—<br> -- NOTED NOW
TODAY SCHEDULE (all times ET)
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Morning Show Wrap
Evening Newscasts Wrap
NEWS SUMMARY
In Washington, opinions about who is going to win the presidential election are like "Adam Clymers" -- everyone has one.
"Adam Clymers," of course, is a common political euphemism for a certain part of the human anatomy. LINK
Public opinion polls still suggest that most Americans, regardless of for whom they are voting, still think the President will win, but it's early yet and that number seems to be (naturally) tightening.
This has been a week in which, as the anchormen say, we have had to make up the lead of The Note each day, because the presidential race seems to have hit a newsless groove.
Which is not to say that there aren't a lot of potentially race changing things happening in the news cycle:
-- rumblings of NATO getting more involved in Iraq-- major new violence and death in Iraq-- the engagement over "Fahrenheit 9/11"-- Deputy Defense Secretary Wolfowitz learning what the word "Romenesko" means-- the possibility of a new CIA chief-- the President of the United States being interviewed in a criminal probe by a no-nonsense prosecutor-- the kicking of the can of the Cheney energy task force documents down the road past election day-- continued signs (mostly) of economic expansion-- serious Nader ballot jousting
And, of course, news of Tuesday's colorful and heated exchange between Vice President Cheney and a man who is apparently fingernails-on-the-blackboard to the Veep, Vermont Democratic Sen. Pat Leahy.
If you haven't heard about this encounter, read the Washington Post's pathbreaking account here LINK, and tell us if you Notice a word that doesn't normally appear in Washington Post and Disney publications.
Some Democrats have seized on Cheney's outburst (His office isn't much denying the account from Leahy's side . . .); on the President's testiness with an Irish television interviewer; and some other signs of alleged White House collar-tightening to suggest that the Bush-Cheney campaign realizes more than ever before that it COULD lose the election.
Democrats who work on presidential campaigns as a rule tend to evince a greater sense that they fear they are going to lose than do Republicans. Or you could call it "doubts about whether they are going to win."
That pattern has largely held in most of the Bush and Kerry ranks this spring and summer, although among both sides' senior message meisters and numbers crunchers, there are some Bushies who are sober eyed about the possibility of loss, and some Kerryites who claim to see the mood of the nation and the trend of the poll lines adding up to making their guy the favorite.
As William Pitt, Earl of Chatham once famously said, "Confidence is a plant of slow growth in an aged bosom."
In a campaign year in which both sides stress that world and national events beyond their control could decide the outcome of the election, having confidence helps a lot.And through all of the Kerry campaign's growing pains and off-tune days, let history record that on the metaphorical eve of the veep pick, the national conventions, and the debates, the famous "confidence gap" is smaller than it has been in quite some time.
A loose and jangly President Bush travels to Ireland today for talks with European Union leaders.
The summit will aim to stress accord despite their differences over the Iraq war and the Middle East peace process.
Organizers of a "Stop Bush Campaign" claim at least 20-thousand people will rally in Dublin tonight before traveling to picket the summit tomorrow.
On Sunday the President travels to Turkey to take part in a NATO meeting focusing on Iraq. He is in Ankara for the meeting on Monday, and returns to Washington, D.C. on Tuesday.
Sen. John Kerry speaks to workers about "investing in jobs of the future" and holds a rally at a High School in Massillon, Ohio, this morning. The Senator then flies to New York City for an evening fundraiser he will attend with former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.
Watch ABC News' "Nightline" tonight for an inside look at the day on the trail - a day in the life of Sen. John Kerry.
On Saturday, Kerry returns to Washington and gives remarks at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Annual Conference. He then returns to Boston were he has no public events scheduled for Sunday.
On Monday, Kerry speaks in Boston at the annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors (He might have to finesse some labor issues…) and then in the evening he heads to Baltimore for a Kerry Victory 2004 reception.
We'll be watching today and into the weekend to see if Sen. Kerry does any semi-public veepstakes business and to see if Jack Ryan keeps going on with his Senate bid in Illinois, in the face of some Republicans publicly and semi-publicly calling for him to drop out.
Today, Vice President Dick Cheney travels to Saginaw, Mich., to speak about improving the economy at the Duro-Last Roofing factory and he also appears on Fox News Channel's "Your World with Neil Cavuto" at 4:00 pm ET.
Former President Bill Clinton takes his book tour to Los Angeles where he will speak at the AFSCME convention in Anaheim before attending a book signing at Brentano's bookstore in Century City. On Monday the "Bill Clinton Booktour" hits San Francisco.
In the Senate, Majority Leader Frist has announced that today's session will be a brief one in order to pass ambassadorships and other non-controversial legislation. Also on the Hill will be Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, and Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as they testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee on "The Transition of Sovereignty In Iraq: U.S. Policy, Ongoing Military Operations, and the Status of U.S. Armed Forces."
Sen. John Edwards is the keynote speaker at the Iowa Democratic Party Hall of Fame Awards Ceremony tonight -- the night before the start of the state party convention. Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack speaks at this event as well. The ceremony begins at 8:30 pm ET at the Polk County Convention Center.
On Saturday, Ralph Nader gives the keynote address at Oregon's Green Party convention in Salem, Ore. Also on Saturday, the Green Party will nominate its candidates for president and vice president Saturday during its convention in Milwaukee.
On Sunday, "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" focuses on Iraq with an interview with National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice from Turkey. Then This Week brings you an exclusive interview with "Anonymous," the senior CIA officer in charge on monitoring al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden who has written a new book, "Imperial Hubris," which argues that the U.S. is losing the war on terror. Finally, a panel featuring former U.N. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, New York Times columnist David Brooks, and Newsweek International editor Fareed Zakaria will talk about next week's handover of sovereignty in Iraq.
Next week, Rep. Pat Toomey, in conjunction with the Republican National Committee, will sponsor four events across Pennsylvania to discuss the sanctity of marriage and why those who share those values must continue to support the positive Republican agenda for America.
The Commerce Department has revised its read on first-quarter economic growth, putting the growth rate of the Gross Domestic Product at a slower-than-expected 3.9 percent, ABC News' Ramona Schindelheim reports. It is a surprise, given that economists did not expect to change their earlier reports of 4.4 percent growth. It turns out that exports during the first three months of this year were slower, and imports higher. As a result, Schindelheim Notes, the Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates on Wednesday.
Fahrenheit 9/11:
USA Today's Kasindorf and Keen give "Fahrenheit 9/11" USA Today's "Cover Story" treatment, questioning whether the movie will change voters' minds before the elections. LINK
The duo report that Michael Moore told them part of his goal is to persuade Naderites to vote for Kerry, and they also report that associate producer Joanne Doroshow admitted to them that the most controversial scenes -- showing Saudis leaving the country shortly after 9/11 -- are "confusing." The story is otherwise a wrap of issues surrounding the movie, although Kasindorf and Keen do Note that "on one level, [Moore's] already having his biggest success" because the movie is playing on three times the number of screens that "Bowling for Columbine" ever played on.
(Although Variety and the Chicago Tribune's Jeff Zeleny Note today that the theater count is still "relatively low" despite being the largest number ever for a documentary. Dare we wonder whether more people will see "White Chicks" this weekend?)
Zeleny recaps the partisan arguments surrounding Michael Moore's agenda, whether or it will influence -- much less be seen by -- anyone who supports the President's politics, and whether or not it has enough reach to make a difference. LINK
AP's Sharon Theimer reports on Citizens United's arguing in an FEC complaint that the movie shouldn't be allowed to run ads featuring Bush fewer than 30 days prior to the Republican convention. LINK
(Do read Variety's Gabriel Snyder's socko version of this story.)
Hollywood Reporter's Paul Bond reports on filmmakers' attempts to refute Moore -- including a recently announced festival dedicated solely to films criticizing debunking him. LINK
Variety's Snyder writes that "while Michael Moore's pic has dominated headlines this week, it's not the top dog going into the weekend box office race." That honor goes to "White Chicks," and "Farenheit's" box office success will be based on "strong demand for the pic is outside of Democratic strongholds," Snyder Notes.
It is burning up the New York box office, though. LINK
The New York Times' Felicia Lee Notes that 777-FILM accidentally listed the movie as NC-17 yesterday. LINK
USA Today reports that the DVD version of "Fahrenheit 9/11" will be ready just in time for the election. LINK
The San Francisco Chronicle's Ruthe Stein looks at all the attention paid in the film to the hair and makeup of White House staffers. LINK
Speaking of White House staffers, Communications Director Dan Bartlett was asked by Diane Sawyer early this morning whether he intended to see the movie. "I'm busy these days and I doubt that will elevate to the top of my movie watching list. If I wanted to see a good fiction movie I might see 'Shrek,'" Bartlett quipped.
He continued, criticizing Moore: "Mr. Moore has made it a habit of his not to pay attention to facts. And he comes from a very extreme ideology which he in fact opined that we shouldn't have a military response to 9/11 and bin Laden. He's outside the main stream."
Asked specifically about the scene in which Bush condemns terrorist attacks then quickly segues to his golf game, Bartlett invoked the golfing traditions of presidents past: "I think any American can appreciate that the burden that a President, whether it be President Bush, President Clinton or previous presidents -- General Eisenhower played golf -- are always asked to comment on things going on in the world, but they have to go on with their personal lives as well," Bartlett said.
Moore managed to get under CBS' "Early Show" host Hannah Storm's skin this morning when he called the CBS Evening News "propaganda" and wouldn't "move on" as Storm urged him to do during his criticism of the media. In his only morning show interview of the day, Moore also defended his decision to literally put thoughts into President Bush's head above video of Bush reading to kids in Florida on the morning of Sept. 11. "Sure" it's fair, Moore said. "First of all, it's satire. The thoughts I'm voicing in his head are my humor. Actually, I think it's very generous that I'm even assuming he had thoughts in his head."
Campbell Brown and Harvey Weinstein, Noted! LINK
Rep. Mark Kennedy, who was among the congressmen Moore asked to send their son to Iraq, blasted Moore as a "master of the misleading," according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune's Kevin Diaz. LINK
And let the reviews (outside New York and L.A.) begin:
Reuters' Gorman Notes that many of the reviews say the movie is "brilliantly provocative but unflinchingly partisan." LINK
AP's Christy Lemire says that the funny scenes are often "too snarky, too condescending," and "inadvertently undermines Moore's message," whereas the films's "more sedate moments" are "far more effective, ironically." LINK
Knight Ridder's Bill Ferguson thinks that "both Moore and Bush are masters of oversimplification." LINK
Washington Post's Ann Hornaday just loved it, calling it "required viewing, not just for the thousands of like-minded activists who have vowed to make the documentary a box office hit this weekend, but for anyone who wants to be culturally literate." LINK
Three and a half stars from the Salt Lake Tribune. LINK
The Pittsburgh Tribune Review isn't so upbeat, to say the least, calling the movie "the most self-serving piece of American-bred anti-American propaganda ever to achieve the high profile it has. And it has done so, make no mistake, through the self-aggrandizement of the publicity-crazed filmmaker." LINK
