ABC’s George Stephanopoulos Denies Having Conference Calls With White House Staff

I met up with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos at the National Capital chapter of the Society of Financial Service Professionals’ Annual Professional Night this evening and asked if he had strategy session conference calls with aides in the White House as reported by Politico’s John F. Harris.

Politico’s Michael Calderone recently reported that Kerry Smith, ABC News Sr.VP for editorial quality, wrote that Stephanopoulos "speaks to Mr. Emanuel, a friend he has known for nearly two decades, as a source, just as he speaks to countless sources across the political spectrum each and every day. That is his job as an anchor and reporter and one that he does according to the highest standards."

Stephanopoulos seemed adamant that the conference calls between himself and White House aides have never happened. The video transcript of the exchange is below.

STEPHANOPOULOS: There are no strategy sessions at the White House. None at all. Never had one. Not once.

PICKET: So you haven’t called up Mr. Emanuel or Mr. Begala?

STEPHANOPOULOS: No conference calls never–not once…ever.

Stephanopoulos could very well be playing with semantics, but even his casual communications, as clarified by ABC’s Smith, with high ranking White House personnel is not something one should feel comfortable with. So what’s really going on here? From the side of the aisle that wants a truth commission and transparency in government this is neither truthful nor transparent.

VIDEO: Bush and Obama Receive Different Reactions From Military

Blackfive.net has posted this amazing video showing how different the military reacted to former President George Bush than to President Obama. It is very telling.

Liberals Expected to Protest Steele in NYC over Apology to Limbaugh

An inside source associated with the NY GOP has said they may be expecting anti-Rush Limbaugh protesters at an event with RNC Chairman Michael Steele tonight in New York City. The event is to take place at 960 5th avenue (77th and 5th) at 6pm.

Update: The individuals will be protesting Michael Steele for apologizing to Limbaugh. Chairman Steele had previously called Limbaugh’s show “incendiary” before issuing an apology to the talk show host.

Barney Frank: Cut Military Spending By 25%

Barney Frank told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow he wants to slash military spending by 25%. Omitted from the conversation was how the Obama administration plans to pay for the recent announced deployment of troops to Afghanistan.

FNC’s Cavuto Shows Montage of Obama Blasting Earmarks-Video

Fox News Channel’s Neil Cavuto showed a montage of President Obama claiming he was against any kind of earmark, yet the current spending bill has almost 9000 earmarks in it. Here is another example of Obama going back on his word.

John Ziegler Confronts Max Blumenthal at CPAC ‘09

Filmmaker John Ziegler had a contentious confrontation with Daily Beast’s Max Blumenthal. I spoke to Ziegler today and asked what happened.

Rep. Henry Waxman Wants To Apply Censorship Doctrine To The Internet

If Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) is not trying to investigate conservatives, he is trying to squelch their voices. Waxman has jumped into the so-called Fairness Doctrine discussion as of late. Waxman, however, has added another dimension to the issue recently…the internet (h/t The Prowler).

Media Research Center’s Jeff Poor spoke with FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell last year about the internet and the Fairness Doctrine. McDowell talked about a real possibility of internet content being regulated in the near future.

According to The Prowler, Waxman and his staff are already looking at ways to police content on the web. (Bolding is mine throughout)

Senior FCC staff working for acting Federal Communications Commissioner Michael Copps held meetings last week with policy and legislative advisers to House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman to discuss ways the committee can create openings for the FCC to put in place a form of the "Fairness Doctrine" without actually calling it such.

Waxman is also interested, say sources, in looking at how the Internet is being used for content and free speech purposes. "It’s all about diversity in media," says a House Energy staffer, familiar with the meetings. "Does one radio station or one station group control four of the five most powerful outlets in one community? Do four stations in one region carry Rush Limbaugh, and nothing else during the same time slot? Does one heavily trafficked Internet site present one side of an issue and not link to sites that present alternative views? These are some of the questions the chairman is thinking about right now, and we are going to have an FCC that will finally have the people in place to answer them."

Waxman and his staff are also thinking about creating congressionally mandated advisory boards to police both radio and TV programming:

One idea Waxman’s committee staff is looking at is a congressionally mandated policy that would require all TV and radio stations to have in place "advisory boards" that would act as watchdogs to ensure "community needs and opinions" are given fair treatment. Reports from those advisory boards would be used for license renewals and summaries would be reviewed at least annually by FCC staff.

What about policing internet content? According to The Prowler, the House Energy and Commerce Committee is already looking into this.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is also looking at how it can put in place policies that would allow it greater oversight of the Internet. "Internet radio is becoming a big deal, and we’re seeing that some web sites are able to control traffic and information, while other sites that may be of interest or use to citizens get limited traffic because of the way the people search and look for information," says on committee staffer. "We’re at very early stages on this, but the chairman has made it clear that oversight of the Internet is one of his top priorities."

This is all hardly a surprise, as liberals have never liked that internet content is not regulated in someway.

Hillary Clinton made her views known on this issue back in 1998, when her husband was embroiled in the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal. Matt Drudge reported on Clinton’s comments about regulating internet content.

Hillary Clinton Continued:

I don’t have any clue about what we’re going to do legally, regulatorily, technologically – I don’t have a clue. But I do think we always have to keep competing interests in balance. I’m a big pro-balance person. That’s why I love the founders — checks and balances; accountable power. Anytime an individual or an institution or an invention leaps so far out ahead of that balance and throws a system, whatever it might be — political, economic, technological –out of balance, you’ve got a problem, because then it can lead to the oppression people’s rights, it can lead to the manipulation of information, it can lead to all kinds of bad outcomes which we have seen historically. So we’re going to have to deal with that. And I hope a lot of smart people are going to –"

In 1999, then Deputy Attorney General (now Attorney General) Eric Holder talked about “reasonable restrictions” on internet content following the tragedy of the Columbine Massacre. VIDEO

Last November, I asked FCC Commissioner and Fairness Doctrine cheerleader Michael Copps about his thoughts on applying the Fairness Doctrine to the internet. VIDEO:

I think we do have to have an expectation that the internet, if that is going to become the primary vehicle for even broadcast over the years not tomorrow or the next day, but over the years, There has to be some discussion about how the internet encourages a civic dialogue that’s adequate to the needs of the country, but I think that’s way premature too say exactly this. We haven’t even teed up the question. I’m trying to get people to talk about it. If we can talk about it then maybe we can come up with some intelligent answers.

However, government regulation of private citizen’s speech is un-constitutional. Waxman and company may be biting off more than they can chew on this one.

Liberals only quieted down some about internet content regulation, when they found how the internet could benefit themselves in elections.

Angering a liberal base that enjoys reading websites like Daily Kos, Huffington Post, and Democratic Underground would be risky. After all, if Waxman is insistent that all internet content is to be policed for so-called balance, that should include liberal sites as well….right, Congressman Waxman?

Photo Credit: PBS

UPDATE 3/6/09 – A spokesman for Acting Chairman Copps has denied that any plans for regulating internet content is happening.

FNC Reports Rasmussen Poll: If Election Were Today GOP Would Pick Up 40 Seats(video)

During an interview with Virginia’s Democrat governor and DNC chair Tim Kaine, Fox News Channel’s Trace Gallagher reported Rasumussen’s latest poll, stating if elections were held today the GOP would pick up 40 House seats. Governor Kaine was later asked his thoughts on the Census being handled by the White House and he replied,

“The census is going to be done like its has been done every ten years, and I haven’t heard any credible arguments that there’s going to be done any way differently than what we’ve been doing in the past.”

How about Article I Section 2 of the constitution governor? Michael Barone of U.S. news and World Report put it best,

“Here’s an argument that it’s unconstitutional for the president to take over the Census from the secretary of commerce. It goes like this: Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution provides for an “actual enumeration” and a statute passed by Congress provides that the duties under this clause are to be performed by the secretary of commerce. Article I (as Joseph Biden didn’t know in debate) is about the legislative, not the executive branch. Hence, it is argued, the president can’t substitute a sampling for the enumeration required to be done by the secretary.”

The Democrats may be well aware as to how unpopular the so-called stimulus package is turning out for them, and controlling the census from the White House may be their only chance to keep the GOP from making big wins in upcoming congressional elections.

Obama Throws Biden Under The Bus At Presser

President Obama told the press yesterday that “not surprisingly” he didn’t know what Vice President Biden was talking about in regards to the 30% chance Biden gave the stimulus to fail. How many more times will Obama put up with anymore Biden gaffes before he begins to start rethinking the 2012 bottom ticket? Bets are on.

Deborah Burlingame: Obama Said He Was Not Worried About Safety Of U.S. In Bringing Gitmo Detainees To American Soil

Deborah Burlingame, a 9/11 family member who lost her brother Charles “Chic” Burlingame during the 9/11 attacks, spoke to media at the National Press Club today about her meeting with President Obama last week. Burlingame was joined by Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) and Move America Forward’s Melanie Morgan. Inhofe presented proposed legislation that would keep U.S. taxpayer funds from going towards transferring any detainee (like those in Guatanamo) anywhere in the United States or its territories for the purpose of housing and incarceration.

Burlingame relayed Obama seemed comfortable and not worried about security by having Guantanamo detainees in a federal lock up (emphasis mine):

He said he was not at all worried about the security of the American people in bringing the detainees here. Not in the least worried about that. His reasoning was this:

‘ Al Qaeda doesn’t have a conscience they’re not interested in going back and springing these guys. They’re forgotten once they are put away in our federal facilities. He said, furthermore there are so many soft targets in the United States, like a shopping mall, why would Al Qaeda go after a hard target like a federal lock up or military prison, when they could choose a soft target.’

Burlingame later added that Obama was “non-committal” about visiting Guantanamo Bay when she asked him.