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Insider Report: Katie Couric vs. Matt Lauer Special from NewsMax's Most Informed Sources
Headlines (Scroll down for complete stories):
1. Good Domestic Terrorist, Bad Domestic Terrorist
The most underreported story of the past week is certainly the stunning news that a self-styled "anarchist" charged with plotting to bomb Coast Guard, Navy and National Guard stations in western Washington was getting off with a slap on the wrist.
So much for "homeland security."
Public defender Thomas W. Hillier II said poor widdle Paul Douglas Revak was merely "expressing his frustration with how the administration was dealing with the Iraq situation and got a little carried away."
Isn't it fascinating how violent these "peace" activists can be?
Hillier said he expected Revak would be home for Christmas.
We weren't aware that "anarchists" celebrated Christmas. Don't they worship at the altar of "winter solstice"? And since when are "anarchists" so eager to get a break from the system they're always whining about?
Despite that risk that other left-wing extremists will have open season on American servicemen, no one seems concerned. No one in the media but NewsMax has given this story any significant play.
Now we've received a tip alleging a shocking reason for the light sentence Revak received. We can't give details until we verify the report, so be sure to log onto NewsMax.com next week for any developments.
Meanwhile, another story about possible domestic terrorism received far more media attention this past week.
After a chase at sea that sounded like something out of a Hollywood action movie, FBI agents arrested Steve John Jordi and accused him of plotting to blow up gay bars and abortuaries in south Florida.
Pastors at First Baptist Church in Coconut Creek informed on Jordi because they "stand against any acts of violence," assistant pastor Tom Hunter said.
"Public attention these days focuses on the threat of international terrorists motivated by religious zealotry. But the arrest of a South Florida man is a loud reminder that home-grown terrorist fanatics can also threaten death and destruction, and that stopping them requires constant vigilance," said the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel in an editorial.
True enough.
George Kirkman, a reader from Greenville, S.C., noted the irony and summed up the double standard perfectly. "It bothers me that a right wing terrorist can get hammered, but a left wing terrorist gets a slap on the wrist," he wrote. "A terrorist is a terrorist."
2. Howard Dean's Confederacy of Dunces
Hollywood is cranking out a movie version of John Kennedy Toole's hilarious novel, "A Confederacy of Dunces."
Question: Will it star Howard Dean and Sen. Robert "KKK" Byrd?
One of our sources in the White House this week expressed unhappiness with NewsMax Magazine's cover story on Dean and complained that it was neutral rather than negative.
We pointed out that it was up to Dick Gephardt, Wesley Clark, John Kerry and Karl Rove, not us, to sabotage the Vermonter's prospects ... and noted that Dean was doing a better hatchet job on himself than even Rove could hope for.
As our magazine and Web site have long noted, Dean's worst enemy is his own mouth.
So how come the rest of the media didn't start pointing this out until this week when they objected to his remarks about the Confederate flag?
"As Dean forges ahead, his temperament gets closer look" fretted a headline Wednesday in USA Today.
According to the article, "The furor over Dean's recent comment that he wanted votes from 'guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks' was a prime example of how his blunt shorthand can cause controversy on the national stage. ... Dean is continuing to feed the perception among some voters, campaign strategists and academics that he is angry, edgy and - a cardinal sin in politics - not cheerful. They question whether he can defeat Bush. Some go even further: They wonder what his performance says about his suitability for the presidency."
The New York Times asked this bizarre rhetorical question: "So why, now, are Dr. Dean's remarks so incendiary, when for so long they were not deemed worthy of even a squib in most papers, or a peep from his opponents?" Note to the Times: We're glad you're starting to point out your own biased and faulty coverage.
"'Achilles' heel' might cause Dean to stumble," said the headline on Jules Witcover's column in the Baltimore Sun. "In the weeks ahead, his foes can be counted on to jump on any similar slip or slur to argue that Mr. Dean's penchant for speaking first and thinking afterward reveals a lack of discipline that would make him unsuitable for the presidency."
"People say they want politicians to get real, but just let one try to say something not totally blow-dried and focus-grouped, and everyone piles on - especially if, like Dean, he's the front-runner," wailed the left-wing magazine The Nation.
After cheeky students at Dartmouth College unveiled Confederate flags Thursday at an appearance by Dean, the candidate's mouthpiece Matthew Gardner complained "it's sad that whoever is behind this felt forced to resort to misrepresentation."
"Misrepresentation"? Didn't Howard Dean say he wanted to embrace fellas that display Confederate flags?
Editor's Note: Howard Dean exposed - get the real story - from NewsMax's special investigative report - Click Here Now.
3. Bill Clinton's Confederate Flag
Speaking of all things Confederate, the New Zealand Herald chimed in with a fascinating and little-seen story.
"Author Tony Horowitz provides another insight in his marvelous book 'A Confederate in the Attic,' noting that few of the weekend warriors who dress up as Civil War combatants to re-enact Civil War battles want to be caught playing dead in Union blue.
"Bill Clinton, the smartest Democrat in a generation, knew better than to go anywhere near the issue, quietly declining all suggestions that he remove the Confederate motif from Arkansas' state flag. As Clinton recognized, Yankee moralizers are no more welcome today than were the carpetbaggers of 142 years ago."
The newspaper noted that for Dean, "front-runner in the flat-footed field" vying for the Democrat nomination, "winning the hearts and ballots of Dixie's Bubbas and Billy Bobs is essential if he is to become the next President. Without the South, where Republicans have just picked up two more governorships, Dean doesn't have a hope."
Precisely.
And it's hard to imagine the New Englander succeeding where Al Gore of Tennessee failed so miserably. Dean's recognition of gun rights will be undercut by his embrace of racial quotas that discriminate against whites, his support for civil unions and his occasional foolish comments on foreign policy and defense, such as his complaint when American GIs took out Saddam Hussein's evil genocidal sons.
After all, "Bubba," as the Washington Post and other members of the Eastern media establishment this week so condescendingly described those awful Southern white males, doesn't have much sympathy for mass-murdering Saddamites.
4. Katie Couric vs. Matt Lauer
A civil war between the stars of the Peacock network's Today show has been brewing for some time.
A major media insider with a whole bunch of friends at NBC gave NewsMax the real story about the Today program and some of the negative press Matt Lauer has been getting.
Recently, the National Enquirer splashed a cover story alleging Lauer had engaged in drug use almost two decades ago. The story had the corroboration of a house of cards and was based on a lie detector test given to an alleged drug dealer.
NewsMax didn't even bother to cover the story. Is it fair to report such things twenty years after the fact? With so little corroboration? And what importance does it have for the public? After all, we know Matt Lauer has not been an advocate for strict drug enforcement laws.
But the story itself, so out of place, had some scratching their heads as to who might be behind this negative press.
As the Romans might ask, "Cui bono?" -- who benefits by such disclosures about Lauer?
One media insider tells us that Katie Couric's entourage enjoyed the fact Lauer was smashed by the Enquirer. Our source noted Katie's friends were just a little "too gleeful" about Matt's PR problems.
As it turns out, things are not so happy at the morning show. Matt is said to be angry that Katie is the star and that Katie bags all the big interviews.
And Katie doesn't like Matt. Despite her TV persona, our source describes Katie as "Mean. This lady can be vicious and stomp you out like a bug."
Editor's Note: Katie Couric has made the Deck of Weasels. Check out the hilarious playing cards that were featured in USA Today, People Magazine and more - Click Here.
More: Don't forget to check our NewsMax's special report on Howard Dean - Click Here.
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