At the end of the contentious segment, CBS cut away to Al Roker who began the weather report. But then the camera unexpectedly cut back to Gumbel as he was rising from his seat, unsnapping his mike. And there was the very unsuspecting Gumbel, live on national television, sneering and mouthing the words: "What a f---ing idiot!"

Gumbel and CBS can conjure up all the excuses in the world, but it won't matter. It doesn't matter that he didn't know he was live. It doesn't matter that the mike was off so that his words weren't actually spoken. You can parse this one all you want, but not even Bill Clinton could get himself out of it. Gumbel said it, and millions witnessed it.

Imagine for a moment a network journalist interviewing an official from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and making that same comment on national television. There's not a scintilla of a doubt that his network would summarily have him fired before the sentence was finished, and probably would have a half-dozen apologies to the homosexual movement issued, too.

But Bob Knight's a conservative. Even less, he's a Christian. As far as CBS is concerned, it's about as serious an offense as insulting wallboard. This network (and NBC beforehand) has allowed Gumbel to hurl one insult after another against Christians for years, with never a word of complaint.

Gumbel was hosting the monumental failure "Public Eye" program on CBS when Matthew Shepard was murdered. He could not have been more forceful in his analysis:

"The Christian right per se and some particular members of Capitol Hill have helped inflame the air so that the air that (the murderers) breathed that night was filled, filled with the idea that somehow gays are different, and not only are they different in that difference, they're bad and not only are they bad, they are evil and therefore evil can be destroyed."

For good measure, Gumbel proceeded to list conservative leaders and organizations responsible for creating the climate that led to Shepard's murder, including Bob Knight's employer, the Family Research Council.

(If the argument about "creating a climate of evil" sounds familiar, it is because Gumbel used the same line to blame conservatives in general, and some like Rush Limbaugh, Ollie North, Michael Reagan and Bob Grant specifically, for the terrorism of Oklahoma City.)

"(Gumbel's) unable to disguise his contempt for conservative viewpoints on any number of issues," Knight told CBSNews.com in the understatement of the year. But Gumbel's disdain for Christians trumps any anti-conservative bias, which he makes clear at every opportunity. Regularly he'll call them "intolerant" or "the so-called religious right" or "extremists" or "ideologues." Never just ... Christians.

In February of 1993, Gumbel (then with NBC) referenced an attack by outgoing GOP chief Rich Bond on conservatives. "As he stepped down as RNC Chair," Gumbel stated matter-of-factly, "he had some parting shots for the religious right and fringe fanatics like Phyllis Schlafly." A year later, discussing the political scene, he announced: "We're back in just a moment to talk about the president's problems with the extremists of the religious right."

There is no attempt -- none -- to mask a bias here. That by itself should be inexcusable for a network that purports to be giving its audience impartiality on its news programs, of which "The Early Show" is one. But Gumbel is not simply biased; he's a bigot -- a hate-filled, insulting, anti-Christian, anti-religious bigot.

The Family Research Council has formally demanded an apology. Not a word from Gumbel, of course. But the official response from CBS to Gumbel's bigotry is simply amazing, reproduced here in its entirety:

"During a weather segment on Thursday morning's 'Early Show,' a brief camera shot with no audio of Bryant getting up from his chair accidentally appeared on air. He was making a casual remark of some sort, but it is unclear what the comment was and in any case, it bears no relevance to the content of 'The Early Show.'"

In other words, as far as CBS is concerned, Christians offended by Gumbel's obscene performance can go fly a kite. Thus speaketh the Christian Bashing Network.

Brent Bozell is Chairman of Media Research Center, a TownHall.com member group.

Gumbel's hostile reception for Knight had followed a much kinder approach to a representative of Planned Parenthood who had come aboard to support the Court's ruling overturning a law which banned partial-birth abortions.

Here's the how and when on Gumbel's vulgar insult, or at least what looked like one. Immediately after the interview, Gumbel threw the show to weather guy Mark McEwen outside. McEwen joked about his Survivor prediction: "A week ago, Bryant, remember Bryant I told you Dirk was going to get thrown off the island. I was a week late, one week late."

CBS then switched back to Gumbel inside, probably for his reaction to McEwen's quip, but instead viewers got about two seconds of Gumbel leaning forward to get up and out of his chair as he uttered: "What a fucking idiot." The first two words are audible and clear, the second two are inaudible but you can read his lips.

CBS quickly cut back to McEwen with the weather.

+++ Check it out for yourself, or at least as well as you can in the small RealPlayer screen. The MRC's Eric Pairel and Brandon Rytting now have a clip, of the end of the Gumbel/Knight interview, up on the MRC home page. Go to: http://www.mrc.org

To follow news about FRC's demand for an explanation from CBS, check out the MRC's CNSNews.com: http://www.cnsnews.com.

Here's a more complete rundown of the interview, courtesy of MRC analyst Brian Boyd:

Only Gumbel's first two questions were not hostile: "Your organization filed a friend of the court brief on behalf of the Scouts, why are you applauding this decision?"

And: "Does the ruling allow Scouts to ban only gay Scout leaders or any would-be Scout who happens to be gay?"

Knight answered: "Well it's about behavior, Bryant. When you say who is gay and who isn't, it's how it manifests itself. It basically says there's no place in the Boy Scouts for homosexuality. You know if you look at the big picture we have a critical shortage in America of boys who are growing up to be mature husbands and fathers. The Scouts play a crucial role in molding boys into manhood. You can't have homosexuality in the Boy Scouts because it steers their sexuality into completely non-productive and actually dangerous direction."

At this point Gumbel's personal view became clear: "Dangerous directions?"

Knight: "Homosexuality takes years off men's lives. The International Journal of Epidemiology said that a homosexual man at age 20 is likely to lose seven to 20 years off his life-span."

Gumbel talked over Knight: "Mr. Knight, scouting is supposed to be. "Wait, wait, wait, scouting is supposed to be about values. It's supposed to be about truth and honesty. Why does one's sexuality have to play a part in this?"

Knight: "Because sex has everything to do with morality. You can't have sexual activities without making moral decisions. It's not like race, skin color, ethnicity, whether you're white or black has no moral implications. What you do sexually says a lot about your moral character. That's why we have marital vows, that's why we channel sex into marriage, it's very important because-"

Gumbel cut him off: "But James Dale, the young man who was at the heart of this, was an exemplary Scout leader for many years. One who brought honor to the institution of Scouting, exemplified its ideals. What did he do to merit exclusion?"

Knight: "Well, he came out as a gay activist. He marched in a parade and once he did that he crossed the line. He said I don't agree with-"

Gumbel jumped in: "Did he become immoral?"

Knight: "No, he was exemplary. Because of the Scouts ban on homosexuality-"

Gumbel demanded: "Did he become immoral?"

Knight: "Pardon?"

Gumbel: "Did he become immoral?"

Knight: "I believe he acted immorally by saying, 'I'm going to impose my vision of sexuality on the Scouts and use the power of law to do so.' That's not a friendly act."

Gumbel sarcastically asked: "Mr. Knight, is scouting any safer or purer today by the decision to exclude gays?"

Knight: "Oh, I think it's a little safer, but I do worry that the Scouts now will be under fierce attack by people who think homosexuality is OK for boys to engage in. And they'll be pushing the Scouts out of public buildings and the public ought to be defending the Scouts fiercely. They have a right to treat this issue that seriously."

Gumbel ended the interview: "Robert Knight, got to let that stop there. Thank you."

And at this point CBS went to Mark McEwen with the weather and what is described above occurred with Gumbel seeming to say: "What a fucking idiot."

Now, forgetting even Gumbel's parting shot, compare the tone of his interview with Knight to how he treated Planned Parenthood President Gloria Feldt. Here are all of his inquiries, some of which were prompts for her to enlarge on her agenda:

-- "This ruling is being hailed as the most important abortion decision in the last eight years, why is it so crucial?"

-- "These DNX and DNE procedures are controversial, they are in the minds of many especially brutal. They are also banned in, there are laws relating to them in 29 other states. What does this decision say about those other laws in those other states?"

-- "Congress has three times in the past five years tried to pass a federal ban on these DNX these DNE procedures, are you at all concerned this victory may prove a temporary one?"

Tim Graham, Director of Media Analysis at the MRC, learned of ABC's cancellation and quizzed Sam Donaldson about it. He put what he learned into a Media Reality Check fax report distributed this afternoon. Here's an excerpt of the report, "Conservative Expert Robert Knight Gets Dissed by CBS, Cancelled by ABCNews.com," picking up after Tim described the Gumbel incident:

But CBS isn't the only network that had a problem with Knight. ABCNews.com producers asked for Knight to appear on yesterday's edition of the daily Sam Donaldson Internet program. FRC publicist Kristin Hansen was told Knight would appear with a representative of the gay left group Lambda Legal Defense Fund.

Hansen said she told ABC producers, "I just want to warn you that when Lambda finds out they're going to debate the Family Research Council, they'll demand that you drop us." The next morning, with the show slated for an 11:20 taping, and the ABC-ordered limousine idling on the street, ABC called to cancel. "It was like a half-hour before the show, and I get the call that 'Lambda won't go on with you. And in fact, we found James Dale [the gay man who sued the Boy Scouts with Lambda]'. I said I can't believe you're allowing your show to be dictated by your guests. You're completely stacking the deck."

When we called ABC for comment, Sam Donaldson called back, and he confirmed that they granted Lambda's last-minute demand. "This was about James Dale and his case. And we booked James Dale and the Lambda attorney. I can't do the show on James Dale without James Dale."

When asked if the FRC would be invited on next week to take the other side of the case, Donaldson said "No. Our show had three clips from an executive of the Boy Scouts we had interviewed." He added, "I don't know much about the Family Council [sic], I have my staff helping me here. I cannot control the way Lambda feels."

When Donaldson was asked if it would serve viewers to inform them of Lambda's dump-FRC demands, since he told viewers the Boy Scouts declined to appear, Donaldson said that might be warranted if Lambda had refused to appear with any opponent. "They did not say that. They said they wouldn't appear with this particular group. They said a Boy Scout attorney would be fine."

Since his case drew national attention in 1998, Dale has made six network morning show appearances, and only one of them featured an adversary (Rep. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas on January 3, 1999). This is part of a pattern. Of the morning show segments on gay rights in 1993, the largest year for TV news stories on homosexuality (756 network morning, evening, and magazine show stories), the networks invited 69 gay-rights advocates to only 23 opponents. In 1995, the ratio was 13 to 3.

FRC's Hansen explained that Knight appeared on CBS because of a booking pinch: James Dale had been booked by The Early Show, but he backed out for higher ratings at ABC's Good Morning America.

At the end of the contentious segment, CBS cut away to Mark McEwen who began the weather report. But then the camera unexpectedly cut back to Gumbel as he was rising from his seat, unsnapping his mike. And there was the very unsuspecting Gumbel, live on national television, sneering and mouthing the words: "What a f---ing idiot!"

Gumbel and CBS can conjure up all the excuses in the world, but it won't matter. It doesn't matter that he didn't know he was live. It doesn't matter that the mike was off so that his words weren't actually spoken. You can parse this one all you want, but not even Bill Clinton could get himself out of it. Gumbel said it, and millions witnessed it.

Imagine for a moment a network journalist interviewing an official from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and making that same comment on national television. There's not a scintilla of a doubt that his network would summarily have him fired before the sentence was finished, and probably would have a half-dozen apologies to the homosexual movement issued, too.

But Bob Knight's a conservative. Even less, he's a Christian. As far as CBS is concerned, it's about as serious an offense as insulting wallboard. This network (and NBC beforehand) has allowed Gumbel to hurl one insult after another against Christians for years, with never a word of complaint.

Gumbel was hosting the monumental failure "Public Eye" program on CBS when Matthew Shepard was murdered. He could not have been more forceful in his analysis:

"The Christian right per se and some particular members of Capitol Hill have helped inflame the air so that the air that (the murderers) breathed that night was filled, filled with the idea that somehow gays are different, and not only are they different in that difference, they're bad and not only are they bad, they are evil and therefore evil can be destroyed."

For good measure, Gumbel proceeded to list conservative leaders and organizations responsible for creating the climate that led to Shepard's murder, including Bob Knight's employer, the Family Research Council.

If the argument about "creating a climate of evil" sounds familiar, it is because Gumbel used the same line to blame conservatives in general, and some like Rush Limbaugh, Ollie North, Michael Reagan and Bob Grant specifically, for the terrorism of Oklahoma City.)

"(Gumbel's) unable to disguise his contempt for conservative viewpoints on any number of issues," Knight told CBSNews.com in the understatement of the year. But Gumbel's disdain for Christians trumps any anti-conservative bias, which he makes clear at every opportunity. Regularly he'll call them "intolerant" or "the so-called religious right" or "extremists" or "ideologues." Never just ... Christians.

In February of 1993, Gumbel (then with NBC) referenced an attack by outgoing GOP chief Rich Bond on conservatives. "As he stepped down as RNC Chair," Gumbel stated matter-of-factly, "he had some parting shots for the religious right and fringe fanatics like Phyllis Schlafly." A year later, discussing the political scene, he announced: "We're back in just a moment to talk about the president's problems with the extremists of the religious right."

There is no attempt -- none -- to mask a bias here. That by itself should be inexcusable for a network that purports to be giving its audience impartiality on its news programs, of which "The Early Show" is one. But Gumbel is not simply biased; he's a bigot -- a hate-filled, insulting, anti-Christian, anti-religious bigot.

The Family Research Council has formally demanded an apology. Not a word from Gumbel, of course. But the official response from CBS to Gumbel's bigotry is simply amazing, reproduced here in its entirety:

"During a weather segment on Thursday morning's 'Early Show,' a brief camera shot with no audio of Bryant getting up from his chair accidentally appeared on air. He was making a casual remark of some sort, but it is unclear what the comment was and in any case, it bears no relevance to the content of 'The Early Show.'"

In other words, as far as CBS is concerned, Christians offended by Gumbel's obscene performance can go fly a kite. Thus speaketh the Christian Bashing System.