Just prior to President Obama's Thursday press conference on Iraq, NBC's chief White House correspondent and political director Chuck Todd was caught on an open mic joking that Republican Senator John McCain "must have had heart palpitations" after former general and CIA director David Petraeus seemed to back up President Obama's inaction during the crisis. Todd quipped: "Did anybody check John McCain? Is he okay now that David Petraeus came out against doing anything?" In a statement to Business Insider on Friday, McCain communications director Brian Rodgers hit back at Todd: "It's not like further evidence was needed to prove... continue reading
Mark Halperin, a frequent panelist on MSNBC’s Morning Joe and Time magazine's senior political analyst, made an intriguing observation on Monday’s show about the IRS scandal. After saying that the recent news regarding the destroyed hard drive belonging to former IRS official Lois Lerner would be “a test for the news media,” Halperin took a stance on the scandal that few on the cable channel would dare take. “I think with a different administration, one that was a Republican administration, this story would be a national obsession and, instead, it's getting coverage here and a few other places, but it... continue reading
Good Morning America's reporters on Saturday, Sunday and Monday swooned over the celebrity fans of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Yet, GMA' s hosts found no time for the possible 2016 candidate's book tour gaffe . On Monday, Lara Spencer enthused, "...It's clear that Clinton has a super fan in Katy [Perry]. The singer posted this snapshot and told her millions of followers, 'I told Hillary Clinton that I would write a theme song if she needed it.'" [MP3 audio here .] Spencer praised that the singer could create a "great" campaign song for the Democrat. The day before ,... continue reading
Promoting an upcoming White House summit on working families during an interview with President Obama aired on Monday's CBS This Morning , co-host Norah O'Donnell lobbed a series of softballs on the issue, starting with: "I know you said in your State of the Union, 'When women succeed, America succeeds.' What's the single most important thing you think you can do to help working women?" [ Listen to the audio ] Obama seized the opportunity to spew talking points: "Well, the question is not just what can I do, but I think what we as a society need to do... continue reading
Liberal Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne did his best to spin on behalf of the IRS over their targeting of conservative groups during an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press . Dionne was part of the panel on Sunday, June 22 and insisted: “The problem with the IRS story is the IRS was trying to do what needs to be done, which is there is an abuse of the 501 (c)(4) status.” The segment began with MTP moderator David Gregory insisting that “this is a story that doesn't go away for President Obama. No direct evidence of wrongdoing. But this... continue reading
ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, co-host of Good Morning America and moderator of This Week , sat down with Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor for an interview that aired on Sunday's This Week. The interview, which was more of a glowing profile of Ms. Sotomayor, touched on a variety of subjects ranging from her recent encounter with Hillary Clinton to whether or not the justice still experienced sexism on the bench. Stephanopoulos wondered “You also write in your book about some of the sexism you faced even as a prosecutor. Any as a Supreme Court justice or does it go away?” Sotomayor... continue reading
On Sunday, June 22, NBC’s Kristen Welker did her best to cover up the fact that the more than 170,000 illegal immigrants who have been captured crossing the Mexican border since October 2013 are actually illegally entering the United States. In a 90 second report on Sunday's Today , it took Ms. Welker 85 seconds before she used the term “illegal” in her report with Today co-host Erica Hill describing the situation as merely a “surge of immigrants coming into this country.” The on-screen graphic that accompanied the report failed to use the term “illegal” instead choosing the politically correct... continue reading
The Big Three networks' Friday evening newscasts finally noticed the latest development in the IRS scandal (they omitted it on Thursday), after Rep. Paul Ryan grilled Commissioner John Koskinen earlier in the day. It was the first ABC, CBS or NBC evening newscast mention of the IRS since news of the missing e-mail broke a week earlier. ABC's David Muir spotlighted " the outrage ...involving the IRS claiming to have lost thousands of crucial documents – lawmakers asking, how can the tax man be let off the hook for losing documents, while ordinary taxpayers would never get away with that?... continue reading
On Friday’s edition of CNN Newsroom with Don Lemon, host Don Lemon and CNN chief congressional correspondent Dana Bash made some unusual remarks about a Republican, but later retreated to downplaying one of the many scandals facing the Obama administration this midterm election year. Discussing a hearing being held by the House Ways and Means Committee that featured testimony from IRS commissioner John Koskinen regarding the destroyed -- or as the IRS terms it "recycled" -- hard drive of former IRS official Lois Lerner, Lemon began by referring to Congressman Paul Ryan as “not a happy man today.” [MP3 audio... continue reading
Despite the newest revelation in the Veterans Affairs scandal on Thursday that one in ten veterans have to wait at least one month before they can get an appointment to see a doctor, CBS and NBC refused to cover the latest news in both their evening news shows on Thursday night as well as their morning shows on Friday morning. ABC News only gave 14 seconds of coverage to the issue in a news brief during the 7:00 am hour on Friday’s Good Morning America . CBS News chose to instead publish an article about it on their website Thursday... continue reading