Transcript
Pundit Watch
March 3, 2001
BOB GARFIELD: George Bush has benefitted from an age old truism that dates back to about a month ago. It's hard for the media to tear apart more than one president at a time. If Bush is experiencing something of a honeymoon, Bill Clinton has been whipsawed by a Tijuana or, should I say, Zurich divorce. Which brings us to the pundit watch as overseen by the [ECHO VOICE] Punditron 2000.
BROOK GLADSTONE: Punditron 2000 is the licensed property of Truthco International. At Truthco they ain't buying -- you're lying.
BOB GARFIELD: Pundits are like impressionist paintings --broad brushstrokes but the closer you get the less sense they make.
BROOK GLADSTONE:Numbers are not often the pundit's friend. Take this utterance by National Review editor Lawrence Kudlow on the McLoughlin Group.
LAWRENCE KUDLOW: The potential, the potential -- and this local U.S. Attorney is going to deal with it -- is for a criminal conspiracy with respect to money. There may be other angles, John. There may be a sexual angle. Denise Rich apparently was in the White House a hundred times. I mean that's like a twice a week addiction.
BOB GARFIELD:If we ignore the lessons of history and set aside the sexual angle for the moment, we were wondering about the premise -- Denise Rich visiting the White House a hundred times was first reported by the New York Post and spread by the website Newsmax.com. A visit to Newsmax yields well over a hundred articles on "Pardongate." Some were leaks of supposed National Enquirer stories. Most simply reported how other media outlets had advanced details of "Pardongate."
BROOK GLADSTONE:On the "one hundred times" stat, Newsmax is living documentation of how a fact gets reported, repeated and generally accepted for no reason other than the fact that if it were true, it would be cool. When Dan Burton mentioned the supposed "one hundred visits" on the Fox Newschannel, it further solidified the number. But then on the very same Fox Newschannel, Bill O'Reilly corrected the record! He said his own investigation had determined that there were fewer than one hundred visits. Odd then, that he should go on to say this on his appearance on David Letterman. DAVID LETTERMAN Now what about -- now is, is Denise Rich--
BILL O'REILLY: Unbelievable!
DAVID LETTERMAN: -- going to testify? Will we learn anything there?
BILL O'REILLY: I, you know if she has time -- she was at the White House a hundred times! I don't know if she can fit it in to her schedule -- [LAUGHTER] it's very busy. Taking the shuttle to Washington!
DAVID LETTERMAN: [LAUGHS] Is that true? Was she actually there twice a week for the - for two years or a year or whatever?
BILL O'REILLY: It was a report on, on Newsmax or something like that -- said Denise Rich had her own key to the White House! Just came in and--
DAVID LETTERMAN: But is that true? Is that true?
BILL O'REILLY: I don't know. She was there a lot. She had-- a lot of access--
DAVID LETTERMAN: Now, now that brings up an interesting question. Do you, do you try to make sure everything you talk about is true or you just talk about whatever you feel like talking about? [LAUGHTER]
BILL O'REILLY: We will - if, if-- [LAUGHTER]
DAVID LETTERMAN: Because it's-- just a whole different deal. [APPLAUSE]
BOB GARFIELD: Newsmax reported the exchange as O'Reilly Tells Letterman He Reads Newsmax -- but that's not good enough for the [ECHO VOICE] Punditron 2000. Let's put the "hundred times" stat through the Punditron. [PUNDITRON WORKING NOISES]
BROOK GLADSTONE:Less than twenty times. The AP, the Washington Post, the New York Times all say their sources put it at less than twenty times. So America can rest easy. It wasn't about the sex. It was about the bribery!
BOB GARFIELD: Unless it was about sex.