♪ ♪ howard: it's sheer media partisanship, no other way to put it some anchors and pundits are rushing to defend john fetterman who, unfortunately, suffered a a stroke as he was winning the democratic nomination in pennsylvania. and they're taking an nbc reporter who was doing a good job. fetterman has journalists provide him with closed captioning on a monitor so he can more easily process their questions. nbc did just that in fetterman's first in-person tv sit-down. and there were moments when he

was struggling. >> i always thought i was pretty empathetic, emphatic. i think i was very, excuse me, empathetic. you know, that's an example of the stroke, empathetic. before having a stroke. but now after having that stroke is, i really understand, you know, much more kind of the challenges that americans have day in and day out. >> what you saw and heard there, the auditory processing challenges, the speech challenges -- howard: the nbc correspondent also shared this observation with her viewers -- >> we did find that in small talk before the interview without captioning it seemed it was difficult for fetterman to understand our conversation. howard: this prompted a fierce backlash. podcaster kara swisher called burns' account just nonsense. maybe this reporter was just bad at small talk. new york magazine offered up a cover story on fetterman saying

his comprehension is not at all impaired. he understands everything. burns didn't suggest otherwise, but plenty of stories have ripped her for her remarks. nbc and dasha burns were transparent, but that was rejected by some in this business who just want john fetterman to win that senate seat. i'm howard kurtz, and this is "mediabuzz." ♪ ♪ howard: ahead we'll talk to kellyanne conway about the coverage of the midterms in these final weeks. the pundits, not surprisingly, are taking opposite sides on the john fetterman controversy. nbc's lawrence o'donnell told fetterman that there are two democratic senators who suffered strokes this year are. >> no one, including none of the republicans mt. senate, thought -- in the senate, thought that those two senators should resign their office because they had strokes. howard: but media conservatives

openly questioning dependenterman's abilities. fetterman's abilities. >> the democrats want to put a guy who can't process speech in the senate. he can't process it. how is he going to be a senator if he can't hear what's happening in the senate? howard: joining us now to analyze the coverage, ben domenech, editor at large at the spectator. and in los angeles, leslie marshall, radio talk show host. ben, what do you make of the coverage of john fetterman's efforts to talk to journalists in general and the nbc interview in particular? >> first off, i think our sympathies can go out john fetterman and his family, everything that you have to deal with after a stroke is very challenging. but these are critical questions about whether you belong in the u.s. senate or not, and they are absolutely up for debate in terms of his mental condition and whether he's able to understand what's going on around him. this nbc reporter, dasha burns, has done, i think, a phenomenal service in terms of both her treatment of this, her

transparency with viewers, being very up front about the challenges that he seems to be going through and not engaging in this in some kind of fanciful or unserious way, but being very serious with viewers and not debating whether he has the whats i to understand, but whether he has the capacity to communicate, to respond would want this type of assistance. and the reaction to her is so telling about how much of our media is dedicated not to trying to get to the truth here, but just playing partisan football with the situation because, as you said in your open, they want john fetterman to be the next senator from pennsylvania. howard: leslie, what do you make of this backlash, main my from -- mainly from left-wing journalists for, frankly, describing the situation they had with fetterman? >> i think it's the way that it was recommunicated. you had townhall.com and other areas that weren't talking about the, you know, back and forth

and exchange outside of the interview and not being specific enough with regard to the interview, one. two, journalism 101, you never become a part of the story, and she certainly became a part of the story with this. and although i agree journalists need to report the facts, the problem when you do somebody's health -- and we're seeing this whether it's joe biden, dementia, donald trump and mental capacity and john fetterman and his stroke -- everybody out there seems to have gone to google medical school. and the problem is they're not doctors. journalists aren't doctors, none of us on this panel right here are doctors, and the doctors have to say whether or not an individual -- >> but, leslie -- >> -- can continue running for office as john fetter match's physician -- fetterman's physician -- >> you do not need to be a doctor to say i think he had a hard time understanding small talk, i think he needed the closed captioning in front of him. you don't need to be a doctor in order to share that kind of information with your viewers. howard: right.

and how is it becoming part of a story, leslie, to simply say this was the experience we had in interviewing john fetter? otherwise -- fetterman? otherwise you just say nothing about the situation where, obviously, the man is struggling, and our sympathies are with him and his family to deal with the after effects of a stroke. >> again, it is perception versus reality. and when you have a race this tight, the perception is -- and republicans have run with it, which means the perception was accurate -- that it looked like this reporter was trying to throw this individual she interviewed as running for senate mt. state of pennsylvania, very close race, john fetterman, under the bus. look, we've had two senators in the past, one a democrat, one a republican. you alluded to it earlier, one from new mexico, one from illinois. mark kirk was not expected, he had a much more severe stroke than john fetterman, and he made

a mying rack louse recovery. and the senator from new mexico, he is still in the senate, he suffered a stroke and, of course, the questions are larger than that, howie. are we saying if somebody's in - >> no, that's not a comparable situation. >> why is it not? because he can understand -- [inaudible conversations] >> you don't need to be able to -- >> audio, he's having auditory difficulty -- howard: one at a time. >> i'm sorry, it's not comparable to say a wheelchair means that you can't serve or something like that. no one's saying that. no one his that greg abbott -- >> what about somebody who's blind? >> no, i think it's harder to do it when you're blind, but i don't think that's something that keeps you from doing the job either. but these are all -- examples are people who had will be been elected, they already had that job, and they had the time within that space in order to be able to make those recoveries and those comebacks -- howard: you know -- >> that's totally a different circumstance than when the person doesn't have the job yet

and people are deciding whether to give it to him aren't. howard: and there's the question about whether he will be further recovered by the time the senate convenes in january. people can make up their own minds. they don't need to rely on the media coverage. they can watch fetterman and make their own conclusions. leapt me turn now to this question which day after day, particularly in "the new york times," but elsewhere i see a lot of critical stories, questioning stories about the trump-backed republican nominees who the press initially wrote off as being too extreme and raising a question. so, for example, new york times the other day, two days before the debate in ohio between senate nominees j.d. vance and his opponent, tim ryan, saying, well, you know, j.d. vance in 2017 started a nonprofit in ohio, and it kind of fizzled, only raised $220,000. and committing -- admits in the story that this was old muse. the times said this had been

broken last year by "business insider." take a look at clip from the debate. >> i didn't start a fake nonprofit pretending like i was going to help people with addiction like j.d. vance did. >> i put $80,000 of my own money into that organization, tim, and it absolutely did help people. howard: does it seem to you that virtually all of the critical stories are about these various republican nominees? >> of course. and it's been this kind of stuff that's being recycled through over and over again. we see a lot of this come up in the times, in other area rahs of the media as well -- areas of the media as well. and, look, a lot of these seem kind of desperate. i think that j.d. vance is going to win that ohio seat. i think a lot of political prognosticators agree with me on that front, so they're just lobbing these things through their allies in the press in order to regurgitate them and make use of them in that type of way to make a viral clip or something like that. howard: leslie, i am all for tough media scrutiny when you're running for these offices, but

it doesn't seem like it's aimed at tim ryan in ohio, mark kelly in arizona or mandela barnes in wisconsin. it just seems like the press, much of the press is laser focused on these republican nominees. >> it's funmy, because we just talked about john fetterman, who's not a republican nominee, and he's running against a trump-backed -- howard: well, he's starting to get -- >> to your point, the trump-backed candidates, i think the reason for it -- and i do think they get more scrutiny -- is because of their views. whether it be their view on abortion or whether it be their view believing the lie that the election was stolen and that joe biden is not truthfully the president of the united states. i think that's it, and i think also, further, there is a concern among republicans and among americans about the split in the republican party that still seems to be will, how much power does donald frump wield over that -- donald trump wield over that party and putting a

spotlight on these candidates -- >> we literally just had her shell walker on the -- herschel walker on friday say biden won, and this is why i'm running. these people are getting scrutiny -- howard: what about their views? if their views are unacceptable to the media, therefore, they deserve more scrutiny? >> i understand that these folks are political outsiders, they don't have some of the same records that people have generally, but i think this is entirely about a partisan frame and the level of scrutiny being direct at them is not actually driven by some sort of split in the republican party or their alliance with former president trump, it's all about just the ideological breakdown. howard: i do think the coverage of herschel walker is different in that the daily beast and new york times have come up with substantial evidence about the abortion payment allegation which he continues to deny and his shifting story the about whether he had no idea who the woman was and now he does, it's mother of one of his kids, so i think that's a different

situation. but "the washington post" today has a pace on kari lake running for governor of arizona, republican, falsely claiming the election was stolen, embracing hard-right positions on abortion, immigration can, and half a sentence was devoted to the fact that democrat katie hobbs is refusing to debate her. when we come back, the last january 6th committee hearing, what exactly was new other than that last minute subpoena of donald trump? ♪ muck ♪s] ♪ i say, “so are they.” ♪ aleve - who do you take it for? the hiring process used to be the death of me. but with upwork... with upwork the hiring process is fast and flexible. behold... all that talent! ♪ this is how we work now ♪ >> tech: at safelite, we take care of vehicles

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howard: the final hearing of the house january 6th panel was largely a rehash though with some new footage and e-mails, so the big headline was the last minute vote to subpoena donald trump. >> they needed something to end with because this is the end. there's no way trump is ever

actually going to testify. >> it's hard not to look at it a bit as a, as sort of theater or show simply because the quick first question you have is why didn't you issue this two months ago, three months ago, six months ago? >> no one thinks he's going to show up especially because he would have to testify under oath. but they had to lay down their marker and do it for history. howard: ben.com can 9/11 -- ben domenech, doesn't the unanimous vote to subpoena trump, no debate just before the election, underscore the one-sided nature of this campaign? >> absolutely. and, i mean, i hadn't seen that chuck todd comment, but i have to agree completely with him. if you were serious about it, you would have done this months ago. you don't do this right before an election, and that's because it was always intended to be a partisan exercise designed to keep this as a news factor the going into the midterms. it was not actually meant to solve any of the real questions we have. howard: leslie, i'm sure you'd love to see trump grilled by

this committee, and interestingly, a source close to trump has told fox news, maggie haberman of "the new york times" and others that he'd consider it, he's tempted, he considered doing it live. no way in the end this happens, but was the vote basically political theater? >> i don't think it was political heater. honestly, you're wrong about me. -- theater. i don't want to see him testify because that would be political theater. [laughter] and i want the, i want the -- i'm sorry, i want him to be a memory, and i mean that historically, okay? you know, let's move forward. i'm a progressive -- >> but it'd be great theater, what are you talking about, leslie? [laughter] aren't we in the media? don't we want to see great theater? [laughter] >> i have a teenage daughter, i have enough drama in my life. [laughter] but look, here is the thing, no, i don't think -- what i think this is about is, is accountability. and is the president, you know, accountable, the former

president. and there are even those people that voted for him, even some that still support him that feel that there is a level of accountability. the newer video that we did see, and i think we're going to talk about that, with the house speaker and senate majority leader, you know, pelosi and schumer -- howard: yeah, let me get to that. >> -- shows -- yeah. who's in charge and shows -- you can't just have what happened on january 6th and -- howard: i'll come back to you on that. let me just jump in to say in trump's official response he didn't say whether he would testify or not but spent a lot of time talking about the rigged election. the committee has had some dramatic hearings, in my view. this was not it. with exceptions like the secret and service giving warnings about potentially violent days before january 6th, wasn't this a collection of greatest hits? >> absolutely, it was. and the committee failed in doing its job. i don't think that we actually came away from knowing a lot more than we did going into it.

and i think it also failed as politics because january 6th shows up nowhere in the, you know, top 10, top 15 concerns of most voters in america. and that's something that i think as both a a partisan exercise and as a political exercise that was designed to dig into finding more truth about things that would, i just think that it didn't succeed in east respect. howard: leslie, as you mentioned, the one thing i found interesting and compelling was this new footage behind the scenes of nancy pelosi and chuck schumer as all these events were unfolding calling the pentagon, calling the governors of virginia and maryland, calling the acting attorney general saying, please, get us some national guard troops. that9 footage was shot by speaker's daughter, alexandra pelosi, so they knew they were on camera. but did it really change the overall media narrative? [laughter] >> well, i think it depends

whose twitter feed you're looking at. mine, we're talking about how nancy pelosi wasn't acting as president of the united states that day. but i want to say something to ben's comment because you don't even know it, you proved my point. the reason this isn't politics or purely politically motivated is just what ben said. it is not what voters left or right dare about. it's not in the top 3, 5 or even 10 of the hit parade of items voters care about going into the midterms. and if it were, i may answer this differently. but i don't think just for that alone it's politics because it doesn't change one election, it doesn't change one vote or one outcome whether you subpoena donald trump or not, whether you show this footage or not -- >> then why do it? >> they're doing it because due diligence. >> come on, you're not -- can due diligence -- >> why do it then? >> that's not the reason that you try to subpoena donald trump at the very last minute in an obvious attempt to try to make

this an election issue. howard: but -- >> well, he's not running in the midterms. >> but we talk about it enough as if he is. [laughter] >> which is one of the reasons i don't want him -- [laughter] i don't want him being interviewed and i don't want -- howard: ah, she doesn't want -- [laughter] just briefly, i mean, trump's constant talk about the rigged election is always amplified by the media. >> yes. howard: the media love talking about donald trump. but if he were to testify, thrld be a zillion people watching, and it would crowd out other stuff that republicans want to say. >> yeah, i think republicans largely are fine with this playing out the way most people think, this is something that is the dangled but doesn't actually happen. and i think that's probably going to be the way things end up which is, frankly, republicans want to focus on the economy, inflation, on crime and the border, and those are, i think, the issues that voters -- howard: yeah. trump may say he wants to do it, but in the end, i think the lawyers will talk him out of it.

leslie marshall, ben domenech, thanks so much. up next, alex jones hit with a gargantuan financial settlement ten years after sandy hook, and coloradan -- kellyanne conway is on deck. alice loves the scent of gain so much, she wished there was a way to make it last longer. say hello to your fairy godmother alice and long lasting gain scent beads. try spring daydream, part of our irresistible scent collection. this is going to be great. taking the shawl off. i did it. is he looking at my hairline? my joint pain isn't too bad. well, it wasn't this morning. i hope i can get through this. is plaque psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis making you rethink your everyday choices? otezla is a pill, not a cream or injection

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howard: finally, finally conspiracy theorist alex jones has been held accountable. in a lawsuit brought by eight a families whose children were killed in the sandy hook massacre a decade ago, the info wars founder who long called the mass shooting a hoax was ordered to pay them nearly $1 billion. joining us now from connecticut, the state where this took place, charlie gasparino, senior correspondent for fox business network. charlie, nobody believes alex jones has a billion dollars to fork over, but how much of a message did this decision on damages send? >> i mean, i think it sends a pretty harsh message. it basically says that if you're going to be in the conspiracy game and if that game does hurt people because, remember, this

was not libel and per se, this was stuff like people getting harassed, people getting threatened, people -- you know, and all of us in the public eye get harassed and threatened. trust me, i get it all the time. [laughter] i get nasty phone calls to my house, but that's what i signed up for. these are average people who did not sign up for it, and i think it's justice due. and, you know, one of the things though i think is troubling is what i read in "the new york times" today. there was a columnist, can't remember her name, but she wrote about that the government essentially has to go in and ramp up a surveillance state on conspiracy theorists, and i think that would be the worst possible thing in the world. howard: right. >> not only would it utterly fail and create silos, but it would -- it's just -- hu hu -- hu. howard: let me just stick with alex jones because for years he said this didn't happen. adding to the unimaginable pain of these parents --

>> absolutely. howard: -- can who lost their children and then only said, yeah, it was real when the lawsuits came. and even in court he was kind of defiant, i'm done apologizing, and now says money ain't there meaning he's not going to be able to pay, although we'll see about it. >> there's ways of tracking down money. he's not poor. i never really watched alex jones, i did a couple years ago, and he was selling all these supplements. so he makes money through that, and i think they'll be able to trace that. they traced some of it on o.j. simpson when the families of, the goodman family sued o.j. simpson after he was acquitted. of the murder of the son and nicole brown simpson. again though, i want to make it really clear here, alex jones is a despised figure right now because we are talking about it. last thing you want is the government to come in and make him a martyr of the lunatic fringe that the times called

for. and i i think that's the knee jerk of the media on this story is, like, he's so bad, we need to cancel him completely. you know -- howard: let me, let me, charlie, let me turn now to kanye who's been booted off twitter and instagram after a blatantly anti-semitic post. are you surprised it was kind of a one-day uproar perhaps because ye, as he's now known, has mental health problems? >> yeah. i mean, quite frankly, i think we give all these celebrities, kanye west pushes it to the extreme, but the last thing i want to hear is, you know, eva longoria telling me, you know with, influencing me and telling me what to think and virtue signaling. i think one of the problems with kanye west is that he's always been a provocateur, and we always gave him and people like him way too much credibility. and now as it turns out he's

more than just a provocateur, he's out of his mind and a racist, you know? so that's -- i think this gets to the sort of celebrity culture that the media is involved in. again, or i'm not comparing -- howard: no, i get it. but he is, at the same time, a huge star and, you know, has zillions of dollars -- >> right. why do i care what he thinks in terms of politics? howard: well, yeah. but he has to be held accountable too. charlie, good to see you, as always, thanks so much. next on "mediabuzz," is the coverage of the midterm elections tilting toward the democrats? we'll ask kellyanne conway in a moment. ♪ ♪ so i choose neuriva plus. unlike some others, neuriva plus is a multitasker supporting 6 key indicators of brain health. to help keep me sharp. neuriva: think bigger.

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the election is a reference tunnel on joe biden, then democrats will lose. -- referendum. the president doing limited campaigning, raising money and announcing these infrastructure projects around the country. >> well, that's right. in fact, the media at this point is one of the threats to democracy. they wake up every morning, they think it says january 6, 2021, on everybody's call. en daughter, a terrible day in our nation's history -- i've been up front and consistent about that day -- and they don't seem to understand and represent in their polling or in their coverage, howie, the 74 million plus trump-pence voters who were not at the u.s. capitol on january 6th, 2021, who are truly suffering under the economic and crime policies of joe biden and kamala harris -- howard: so how are the media a threat to democracy? i mean, that's a pretty strong line. >> no, no, no, they're -- excuse me, i was saying that they are talking about threats to democracy, and yet when you have

9 in 10 members of the media, the fourth estate, vote a certain waying when they totally undercover, undervalue and underrepresent the 74 million plus people who voted against joe biden in 2020, they are going -- and their polls and stories underrepresent and they don't try and go to get the story, they're trying to still get the former president, we don't have a fair fourth estate. and i'm someone who's tried very hard to work with them over the years transparently, on camera, not off camera like some of the leakers i worked with, to try to, to try to have joint custody of the country for the four years we were there. and it never seems to work. and i think now it's at a fever pitch. they're worried that donald trump will have a rematch in joe biden and just make a binary choice between how life was under trump when you had pre-covid you had inflation under 2%, you had record low unemployment including among women, among african-americans, asian-americans,

hispanic-americans, veterans and the like. we had gas prices at 2.50. everybody knows what they see, not what the media say -- howard: a contrast, a contrast. i take your point, a contrast to president biden. there's a lot of media attention the, as there always is, on donald trumpment not just on the doj dock do units and investigation, but the way he pounds about the stolen election. he's still doing it. so i asked you this last time. as one of the few in his inner circle who told your former boss at the time that he lost the election fairly, is this all amplified by the media, to be sure, a distraction for republicans? >> well, i disagree with your premise. i think it's actually lessened over time. if you listen to what he says at his rallies, if you listen to the wonderful policy speech he gave at america first policy institute, afpi, two months ago here in washington when he returned for the first time since he left as president, that

speech took him over an hour to focus on the election. when you focus on what america misses about him which is the lack of inflation, a better economy, they miss the fact that he envelopessed around the globe in our military -- invested around the e globe, you didn't have putin in ukraine, a nuclear-capable iran, you didn't have 4 million people walking across therd border, fentanyl as the number one killer of 18 to 45-year-olds. president trump and first lady melania trump broke the back of that crisis. first decline, now it's over 107,000. you can fill up citi field and yankee stadium and still be looking for seats under joe biden. the media polls are really complicit here. in 2020 did they not only release ridiculous polls showing joe biden beating donald trump in wisconsin by 17 points, that wasn't true. when you put lies out there like that and you're depressing the

vote, you're depressing the donors, you're creating and manipulating public opinion not respecting and reflecting, and just quickly, the senate seats in 2020 in north carolina, in iowa, in maine, in south carolina, in montana all showed republican senators losing or within the margin of error. they all won outside of the margin of error except for north carolina. there wasn't a single poll that showed susan collins winning in maine. she won by 8.6%. howard: let me get a world in here -- >> that's terrible. howard: the polling may be i off this year, but the house january 6th hearing concludes with the subpoena of donald trump. would you suggest that he seize and the moment and testify? >> i happen happened to speak with him that day and see him, so i know exactly what i would tell him because i did. i think the january 6th committee should have done its work a whole year earlier. it doesn't show up in anybody's polls each though the media tries to make it front and

center. they want this election to be about abortion, january 6th, trump and climate change. the voters say the election is about ruing finish rising costs and raising crime. we don't get in that way. so i think that the subpoena, if you really believe that he's some threat to democracy and that he's central to this entire proceeding which wasn't a legal proceeding, which wasn't a typical congressional committee proceeding, they didn't have evidence from the other side, they didn't have cross-examination particularly former colleagues of mine in the white house many of whom were unreformed trump sycophants, very difficult to deal with, and now they somehow are under oath but not being challenged you were under cross-examination -- howard: so what -- >> trump was central to that. you start with him, now i'm not going to tell you what i told him, but i'll tell you what i believe which is if trump was central to this proceeding, then you start with him. you don't end with him. you have the guts to subpoena him from the beginning. and if to just do that, even

democrats are calling it symbolic, likely not to happen. howard: yeah, sounds like -- >> they know that republicans are going to take over the house and it's meaningless. howard: we talked at the top of the show about john fetterman, his stroke, finally starting to get some attention in the pennsylvania senate race. what do you make of the way the media have covered that and the backlash against nbc on that issue? >> probably the biggest embarrassment for the media of this cycle is how they've covered the fetterman/oz race. they are completely incurious, and sometimes inconsolable when it comes to covering what is clearly a limiting factor to this man's ability to be senator. now, voters will need to suss it out themselves, howie, and i don't like to rob voters of their choices and voices by telling them who's electable, who can win and who can't win. it's all nonsense. but the complete anvil that was placed on this dasha from nwc

news' shoulders -- nbc news' shoulders because she dare report what she witnessed in realtime, people saying you could have waited million after the midterms. the expectation that she and the rest of the mainstream media are cheering for and augerring and actually enabling a democratic control of the -- look, john fetterman has a lot of problems. howard: gotta go. >> he's pro-criminal, he's against school choice, he ruined a town of 20,000 that has less than 2,000 now the, and that's where he should be held to account. i think oz making the race about fetterman is how oz is going to win that race. howard: kellyanne, nice of you. after the break, new research on both parties and the media, even the desire for a third party. frank lujts joins us right after this. ♪ ♪ els cold & flu relief with more concentrated power. because the only thing dripping should be your style!

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better luck next time. but i haven't even thrown yet. you threw good money away when you bought those glasses. next time, go to america's best - where two pairs and a free exam start at just $79.95. can't beat that. can't beat this, either. book an exam today at americasbest.com howard: it's no secret there is growing anger at the entire political system, and that includes the media. if. >> i think it's the oversensationallism the media puts forward and the fear mongering that it puts out there. we focus on the extremes, and i'm fearful about the democracy of the united states. howard: that was frank if lunlts' focus group. joining us now is frank luntz, veteran pollster who has worked with many republicans. your poll shows that 63% think both democrats and republicans

are inadequate and a third party candidate is needed. you know a third party candidate's never going to win an election. what role is -- have the media play played in fueling this frustrationsome. >> it's a cry for help, and we keep ignoring it. i've thought about what was the best way to present this to you and to to your viewers, but the public has now said enough is enough. it's beyond just anger. it's frustration. it's not even about an election. it's now about the entire country and whether our democracy survives. that we play these partisan games, we filibuster on shows like yours rather than having a genuine give and take, hearing all sides of a debate and making a rational choice. and if you look at these debates that have been happening over the last weeks, they're all personality-based as candidate after candidate smash each other, damning each other. and the voters are punished as a result.

americans want a change, and they expect the media to be a part of fixing the problem, not making the problem worse. howard: all right. you say the media have it all wrong, the public wants unity. seems to me -- it doesn't seem that way to me at all, in fact. that given the tribal loyalties to donald trump and joe biden and the two parties no matter what they say or do, what allegations are made, there's a lot of polarization and hyperpartisan sent inspect this country. sentiment in this country. >> yes, and that's significant. but that's the 15% on the left and the 15% on the right, and the fact is that the rest of the country's looking at this and is saying, what's going on with our country? why do we have people who are leading these political parties that seem to be filled with hate and scorn? you have the current president saying shut up in a debate. you had the previous president speaking over his challenger, not even giving him a chance to be heard. if you don't think that

democracy's in serious trouble, then you're not listening to the voters who are out there. and it's not about a left and right anymore, it's about getting things done. it's one of the reasons there are solutions to this -- howard: i'm all about getting things done, but let me -- i want to throw out some more numbers. 72%, you say, are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore, to coin a phrase. are the media stoking that anger and frustration? >> by emphasizing every time that a political figure is rude, is abusive, is at their worst in a public debate, i mean, when they lose their temper or they -- it's basically a claim of gotcha, only it's not a game anymore. and the fact is 95% of the time the members of congress are actually getting along. but they only focus on the 5% where they don't. the news networks put on the most extreme people who offer the most vicious criticism, and it's having this poisonous,

toxic effect and, therefore -- howard: should the most vicious criticism be ignored? or is this part of how the candidates or politicians break through and they know that, so they act in more inflammatory ways? >> that's the correct question. you just gave the answer. you are 100% correct. but, howie, are we going to stop? are we going to try to get control of this? and i blame the republicans who deny the election in 2020 because all the evidence in every state has shown that joe biden was elected. and i blame the democrats in these states who talk about voter suppression. the biggest example of an election denier is actually stacey abrams, a democrat running for governor a second time after losing four years ago. so, howie, we have to be consistent. we can't be hypocrites. but most importantly, we have to show the public that we can get things done, and as a pollster, as a focus group moderator, the hate that i get in my focus

groups, how people talk over each other and yell at each other -- yes, they care deeply and passionately, but we've lost deeps, and i'm afraid we're going to lose our democracy as a result -- deseven sigh. howard: 7 # % say the problem is the politicians and people running for office, but that's what we have to cover. you seem to think personality shouldn't matter. it's always mattered in politics. just briefly. >> there's a way to make it work, and that's why rank choice voting is so essential. give people a greater say in their vote, making primaries nonpartisan, opening up the system so you're not always electing the far left and the far right. that's how you bring change, and that's how you start to hear about the issues, the results and the things that really matter to most people watching this morning. howard: all right. frank limits in los angeles, thanks very much for joining us this sunday. still to come, a leak to the "l.a. times" prompts a high-level resignation over utterly racist talk. ♪

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howard: the los angeles times obtained an audio recording of nury martinez in racist talk, it ignited a firestorm. of she was heard dispatienting a white councilman who has a black son. >> which, i was, like, let me take him around corner, and i'll bring him back. there's nothing you can do to to control him. howard: that means little monkey. after days of trying to relinquish only her leadership post, mart martinez resigned. joining us now from eagle pass, texas, griff jenkins, fox news

correspondent and anchor. and, griff, how did nury martinez cling to her seat for days as protesters and finally president biden calls for her -- called for her and the other two council members in that meeting to resign? >> well, howie, first of all, let's just step back and say we certainly got an insight into really the machinations and the inter-fighting that goes on in any major city council. but this tape undeniably exposes unbelievable racism at the highest levels, the latino ranks of the city council is. n if ury martinez, perhaps, delivered a case study of how not to handle things because once the anger of this tape began to rise over her clearly racist comments, she wasn't willing to resign her seat, she simply resigned her position as the president of the council hoping to placate the anger that was spreading. the labor leader, ron herera, of the federation had to resign fully his position.

but yet it wasn't until a few days later that everybody or, including president biden, called on her to resign her seat that she finally did so. and then in her resignation letter that she begins with saying she's heart broken about it, goes on to say she hopes she will inspire little latina girls around the country to be a leader like that. and at no point does she even mention the the tape in her resignation letter. howard: yeah. relate me jump in. >> the real question is, howie, who made that reporting and who leaked it? howard: right. we don't know the answer to it. somehow it made its way to the los angeles times. that remains a mystery. look, the white council member at issue here, mike bonnen, said we were appalled, angry and absolutely disgusted that martinez attacked our son with racist slurs, and i don't want to lose sight of that. she talked about short, dark people, indigenous mexicans coming to l.a.'s koreatown, and the national media attention, i would think, has got to be an

embarrassment to the hispanic community. >> right. and you saw the hispanic community in l.a., actors, famous people speaking out partially against it as well as members of that federation of labor, some 800,000 members strong, saying they're upset that this happened and that the tape was around, it was recorded almost exactly a year ago, october 18th of 2021. they're mad that it wasn't brought to light by the leader there. so ultimately, we'll see who leaked it. we may never find out although that labor attorney is asking for an investigation saying that the recording was made illegally, and they're upset that the "l.a. times" published. they, obviously, stand behind that. howard: yeah. >> what an insight into the unbelievable racism at the highest level in l.a.'s city council. howard: makes you wonder what else is said behind closed doors. thanks so much, griff. that's it for this edition of "mediabuzz." i'm houser kutz. subscribe to my podcast, media

buzz meter. apple itunes is a great place to do it. we had a a lot to get through today, the subpoena of trump, the fetterman sum, kanye, alex jones and the story you just heard. always appreciate you watching. we're back here next sunday, 11 a.m. eastern, with the only media analysis show on national television. i say, “so are they.” ♪ aleve - who do you take it for? all across the country, people are working hard to build a better future. so we're hard at work, helping them achieve financial freedom. we're investing for our clients in the projects that power our economy. from the plains to the coasts, we help americans invest for their future. and help communities thrive.

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don't hesitate. ask your doctor about otezla today. arthel: 23 days until the critical midterm elections and the issues that really matter to voters are taking center stage. one of them crime. in new york kathy hochul big leave over republican lee zeldin done is shrinking as rising crime has voters wondering which party can lead to better days ahead. welcome to fox news live i'm arthel neville. eric: thank you for joining us. you know the issues of bail reform and other issues are really on center stage in the gubernatorial race in new york city. this comes a