ABC's Funeral

Transcript of ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT, JANUARY 20, 2005. We join the program "in progress".

The Protesters

PETER JENNINGS: The country is divided. There were Americans here today opposed to much of what the president stands for ? particularly the war in Iraq.

PROTESTER [leading crowd in a chant]: Peace, yes! War, no! Peace, yes! War, no!

JENNINGS: But the president spoke to essential American themes. This is a confident man who believes deeply in the mission.

Washington was either very quiet today or, in several places, noisy with discontent. This woman lost her son in Iraq.

UNIDENTIFIED MOTHER OF SON KILLED IN IRAQ: I came here today to try to stand up for the truth. The truth is that the war is a disaster; that it?s based on lies.

JENNINGS: The demonstrators never got very close to the president. There was no threat. But they could be heard.

Our White House correspondent was in the motorcade.

TERRY MORAN: Things are now being thrown at the motorcade, which is making the [unintelligible] very nervous.

PETER JENNINGS: And there were also thousands of the president?s supporters. By the time he got close to the White House, it was ? as planned ? time to get out and walk a bit.

And after the president and the family had settled in to the reviewing stand, finally the parade got seriously underway.

Nearly 11,000 people who had saved and worked hard to be here. Forty bands and a wide array of floats. For everyone here today, in one way or another, this was an important day.

The Inaugural Speech

PETER JENNINGS: At any inauguration, there are always mixed emotions; not including, of course, the particular passions that appear today about the war in Iraq.

But the people who won are really happy. And after a close election, that was certainly true for Republicans here today. There is too ? you saw it here today ? a feeling of oneness as the country celebrates continuity and a stable political process. Here again is our White House correspondent, Terry Moran.

TERRY MORAN: From the grand vista of the Capitol steps, Mr. Bush addressed much of his speech to audiences far away.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Today, America speaks anew to the peoples of the world.

MORAN: Amid all his ringing rhetoric today, the president made several explicit and expansive foreign policy commitments that he claimed will bind his administration to democratic activists anywhere in the world.

PRESIDENT BUSH: The United States will not ignore your oppression or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you.

MORAN: And to repressive governments.

PRESIDENT BUSH: We will encourage reform in other governments by making clear that success in our relations will require the decent treatment of their own people.

MORAN: Those sweeping promises of how foreign policy will be run in a second Bush administration will be met with skepticism overseas; in part because of U.S. support of oppressive regimes such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan.

FAREED ZAKARIA [editor, Newsweek International]: I think the president?s speech is bold; it?s noble. But it is also an invitation for the rest of the country to constantly point out how the United States falls short and how we are being hypocritical.

JENNINGS: Many thanks, Terry. Terry Moran. PETER JENNINGS: Back at the White House this evening, ABC?s George Stephanopoulos has been with us all day. George, one thing that struck me ? I think it struck you as well ? there was not a single mention of the word "Iraq" in the president?s address.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Not once in 2,000 words. Of course, the mission in Iraq suffused the speech, Peter. This was an idealistic speech, as Terry Moran said, about advancing liberty throughout the world. And Iraq is the chief battleground right now. And the president?s success over the next four years and into history will be determined by Iraq.

But the president didn?t talk too much at all about constraints today. He set out that expansive vision for the government here at home but did not mention the budget deficit or how we?re going to achieve it.

Today was the day for idealism, not realism.

JENNINGS: Many thanks, George. George Stephanopoulos.

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Funeral for Marine Reservist

PETER JENNINGS: And in Rockport, Texas, today ? just about the time the president was speaking ? there was a funeral for a young Marine reservist. Twenty-one-year-old Matthew Holloway was killed in Iraq last week by a roadside bomb.

His brother told a local paper that as much as Matthew wanted to be home, he was very proud of what he was doing in Iraq. And it is something you hear from so many people in the services, including the 10,000 who have already been wounded.

As you can see, the advertised search for a military funeral to run against the backdrop of the inauguration paid off for ABC. Those who thought the removal of the solicitation from their website was a result of the network's realization that it had exceeded the bounds of good taste can now see that ABC has no such self-imposed limitations. The dismissive money quote from Stephanopoulos ("Today was the day for idealism, not realism.") with a few modifications is applicable to the coverage provided by ABC: This was a day for views, not news.