Hotline After Dark -- Newt Gets Darker

The Israeli/Lebanon fighting dominated TV last night, with correspondents filing reports from all over the region. And the Pres. Bush/PM Blair conversation got plenty of air play.

NBC's Gregory: "Nobody from the White House is backing away from this. Aboard Air Force one coming home, Tony Snow, the press secretary, told the pool reporters that the president read a transcript of what was actually heard around the world and seen and he kind of rolled his eyes, according to Snow and laughed it off" ("Hardball," MSNBC, 7/17).

MSNBC's Matthews: "Well, to use a yiddishist, I guess he was saying for Hezbollah to stop all its kaka" ("Hardball," MSNBC, 7/17).

FNC's Baier: "Senior aides say while the president's remarks caught on that open microphone were more blunt, they basically mirror his public comments on the issue that world leaders have to speak with one voice to address the root causes of the Middle East crisis" ("Special Report," 7/17).

CNN's Malveaux: "The White House spokesman says that while the president's private comments may have been more blunt, that they certainly are consistent with what the president has said publicly in calling for peace in the Middle East" ("Situation Room," 7/17).

STILL READY FOR WAR

Newt Gingrich, on his WWIII comments: "When you have bombings in India, you have war going on in Afghanistan, you have war going on in Iraq, you have a war going on in Gaza and south Lebanon, you have Syria and Libya and North Korea actively plotting to defeat the democracies, you have Ahmadinejad, the leader of Iran, saying publicly he wants to defeat the Americans and eliminate Israel from the face of the Earth, you have people plotting to blow up New York tunnels, you have Canadians planning to blow up the parliament and behead the prime minister, my point is we are in a war" ("Hannity & Colmes," FNC, 7/17). [EMILY GOODIN]