Last week, I noted that Ken Starr was featured on a CBS News segment about the nuclear option in which he seemed to take a firm stand against the Republican plan. I stand behind my post — it’s an accurate reflection of the CBS report — but questions have come up about the reliability of the original broadcast. At this point, I’m not quite sure what to believe, but I’m anxious to set the record straight.
To review for a moment, Starr was part of a taped segment on the nuclear option, aired last Monday (May 9). He was shown describing the effort to end judicial filibusters as “a radical, radical departure from our history and from our traditions, and it amounts to an assault on the judicial branch of government.” Later in the segment, Starr added, “It may prove to have the kind of long-term boomerang effect, damage on the institution of the Senate that thoughtful senators may come to regret.”
The CBS report, which you can watch online, was unambiguous. When the segment ended and Gloria Burger spoke to Bob Schieffer directly, Schieffer noted that the interview showed Starr “coming out on what looks like the opposite side of…the conservative wing of the Republican Party.”
But was the report accurate? Ramesh Ponnuru at the conservative National Review Online claims to have contacted Starr directly about the CBS report. Starr apparently forwarded Ponnuru an email he had already sent to someone else on this subject, in which Starr claims his comments were wrenched from context.
“[O]ur friends are way off base in assuming that the CBS snippets, as used, represent (a) my views, or (b) what I in fact said.”
Then Rush Limbaugh chimed in. True to form, he took a controversy about taking quotes out of context by taking the CBS report out of context. As Mickey Kaus explained, Limbaugh distorted the distortion.
Nevertheless, was CBS wrong? Did it misrepresent Starr’s comments about the fight over judicial nominees? Unfortunately, that’s not entirely clear.
First, the only evidence of Starr’s concern with the broadcast is NRO’s Ponnuru, Limbaugh, and some conservative bloggers who relied on Ponnuru and Limbaugh. Starr has not, for example, issued a public statement to clarify his comments or talked to any other reporters about his concerns. Even if he were convinced that the mainstream press wouldn’t deal with the follow-up fairly, Starr could talk to the Washington Times, Fox News, the Wall Street Journal editorial page, etc., to set the record straight and explain why the CBS report was wrong. He hasn’t.
Second, CBS hasn’t run a correction or a clarification. If Starr believed he’d been treated unfairly, he’d presumably contact the network about this and it would make some effort to address the controversy. That hasn’t happened either.
Third, the CBS report may have been largely accurate in describing Starr as a critic of the Republicans’ tactics. Indeed, just last month Starr was on Nightline last month for a live interview when this subject came up. Ted Koppel asked Starr if he would “go so far as to do away with the filibuster?” Starr said:
“I would not do away with the filibuster, in terms of Rule 22. But I would say, be judicious in its application. And I don’t think that that’s been happening. And I regret that.”
Because Starr specifically references Rule 22, we know that Starr really does oppose the nuclear option, because that’s the rule Republicans are targeting. He’s effectively embraced the McCain/Chafee line — Dems are filibustering too much, but the Republicans’ nuclear option is a step too far.
So, where does this leave us in terms of CBS? I’m withholding judgment pending more information. If NRO and Limbaugh are right, the report was highly misleading and needs to be corrected on-air. Then again, NRO and Limbaugh aren’t right too often.
I’ll update this post if I get more information. In the meantime, Dem statements about Starr opposing the nuclear option are accurate.