It seems that Arianna Huffington has run up against the impenetrable wall that is Tim Russert’s ego. Huffington, who is currently on tour for her new book Right Is Wrong: How The Lunatic Fringe Hijacked America, Shredded The Constitution, and Made Us All Less Safe, will be appearing on CNN, ABC, and CBS. She had been booked on Morning Joe and Countdown with Keith Olbermann as well, but those bookings were suddenly and inexplicably cancelled.

NBC confirmed that Huffington wouldn’t be booked on any NBC-affiliated show to promote her book, but refused to explain why. Huffington’s people say that this is Tim Russert’s doing, that Russert is out for revenge because Huffington called him a “conventional wisdom zombie” in her book and devoted seven pages to faulting Russert for allowing his Meet the Press guests to go unchallenged (not to mention HuffPo’s RussertWatch).

OUR KEY FINDINGS:

• Despite previous network claims that a conservative advantage existed on the Sunday shows simply because Republicans controlled Congress and the White House, only one show, ABC’s This Week, has been roughly balanced between both sides overall since the congressional majority switched hands in the 2006 midterm elections.
• Since the 2006 midterm elections, NBC’s Meet the Press and CBS’ Face the Nation have provided less balance between Republican and Democratic officials than Fox Broadcasting Co.’s Fox News Sunday despite the fact that Fox News Sunday remains the most unbalanced broadcast overall both before and after the election.
• During the 109th Congress (2005 and 2006), Republicans and conservatives held the advantage on every show, in every category measured. All four shows interviewed more Republicans and conservatives than Democrats and progressives overall, interviewed more Republican elected and administration officials than Democratic officials, hosted more conservative journalists than progressive journalists, held more panels that tilted right than tilted left, and gave more solo interviews to Republicans and conservatives.

Now that Congress has switched hands, one would reasonably expect Democrats and progressives to be represented at least as often as Republicans and conservatives on the Sunday shows. Yet our findings for the months since the midterm elections show that the networks have barely changed their practices.

BUSH WANTS OSAMA DEAD OR ALIVE…
“I want justice. And there’s an old poster out West, I recall, that says, ‘Wanted: Dead or Alive.’” [President Bush, on Osama Bin Laden, 09/17/01]

…BUSH DOESN’T CARE ABOUT OSAMA
“I don’t know where he is. You know, I just don’t spend that much time on him… I truly am not that concerned about him.”[President Bush, Press Conference, 3/13/02]

SADDAM/AL QAEDA LINK

BUSH SAYS IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEEN AL QAEDA AND SADDAM…
“You can’t distinguish between al Qaeda and Saddam when you talk about the war on terror.” [President Bush, 9/25/02]

…BUSH SAYS SADDAM HAD NO ROLE IN AL QAEDA PLOT
“We’ve had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved in Sept. 11.” [President Bush, 9/17/03]

WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION

BUSH SAYS WE FOUND THE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION…
“We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories… for those who say we haven’t found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons, they’re wrong, we found them.” [President Bush, Interview in Poland, 5/29/03]

…BUSH SAYS WE HAVEN’T FOUND WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
“David Kay has found the capacity to produce weapons. And when David Kay goes in and says we haven’t found stockpiles yet, and there’s theories as to where the weapons went. They could have been destroyed during the war. Saddam and his henchmen could have destroyed them as we entered into Iraq. They could be hidden. They could have been transported to another country, and we’ll find out.” [President Bush, Meet the Press, 2/7/04]

IRAQ FUNDING

BUSH SPOKESMAN DENIES NEED FOR ADDITIONAL FUNDS FOR THE REST OF 2004…
“We do not anticipate requesting supplemental funding for ’04″ [White House Budget Director Joshua Bolton, 2/2/04]

…BUSH REQUESTS ADDITIONAL FUNDS FOR IRAQ FOR 2004
“I am requesting that Congress establish a $25 billion contingency reserve fund for the coming fiscal year to meet all commitments to our troops.” [President Bush, Statement by President, 5/5/04]

CREATION OF THE 9/11 COMMISSION

BUSH OPPOSES CREATION OF INDEPENDENT 9/11 COMMISSION…
“President Bush took a few minutes during his trip to Europe Thursday to voice his opposition to establishing a special commission to probe how the government dealt with terror warnings before Sept. 11.” [CBS News, 5/23/02]

…BUSH SUPPORTS CREATION OF INDEPENDENT 9/11 COMMISSION
“President Bush said today he now supports establishing an independent commission to investigate the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.” [ABC News, 09/20/02]

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

BUSH OPPOSES THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY…
“So, creating a Cabinet office doesn’t solve the problem. You still will have agencies within the federal government that have to be coordinated. So the answer is that creating a Cabinet post doesn’t solve anything.” [White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, 3/19/02]

…BUSH SUPPORTS THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
“So tonight, I ask the Congress to join me in creating a single, permanent department with an overriding and urgent mission: securing the homeland of America and protecting the American people.” [President Bush, Address to the Nation, 6/6/02]

GAY MARRIAGE

BUSH SAYS GAY MARRIAGE IS A STATE ISSUE…
“The state can do what they want to do. Don’t try to trap me in this state’s issue like you’re trying to get me into.” [Gov. George W. Bush on Gay Marriage, Larry King Live, 2/15/00]

…BUSH SUPPORTS CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT BANNING GAY MARRIAGE
“Today I call upon the Congress to promptly pass, and to send to the states for ratification, an amendment to our Constitution defining and protecting marriage as a union of man and woman as husband and wife.” [President Bush, 2/24/04]

SOCIAL SECURITY SURPLUS

BUSH PLEDGES NOT TO TOUCH SOCIAL SECURITY SURPLUS…
“We’re going to keep the promise of Social Security and keep the government from raiding the Social Security surplus.” [President Bush, 3/3/01]

…BUSH SPENDS SOCIAL SECURITY SURPLUS
The New York Times reported that “the president’s new budget uses Social Security surpluses to pay for other programs every year through 2013, ultimately diverting more than $1.4 trillion in Social Security funds to other purposes.” [The New York Times, 2/6/02]

NATION BUILDING

BUSH OPPOSES NATION BUILDING…
“If we don’t stop extending our troops all around the world in nation-building missions, then we’re going to have a serious problem coming down the road.” [Gov. George W. Bush, 10/3/00]

…BUSH SUPPORTS NATION BUILDING
“We will be changing the regime of Iraq, for the good of the Iraqi people.” [President Bush, 3/6/03]