The Big Three networks' evening newscasts on Friday jumped on the latest development in the traffic scandal surrounding Chris Christie. NBC and CBS both led with the accusation from the former Christie appointee, who claims that the New Jersey governor knew more about the lane closures than he previously asserted. CBS's Scott Pelley trumpeted how " Chris Christie just got thrown under the bus in that traffic jam scandal that has jeopardized his presidential ambitions ." Brian Williams hyped the " explosive new allegations ," and that "this scandal has again engulfed Chris Christie – embarrassingly on the eve of... continue reading
NPR's resident ObamaCare booster , Julie Rovner, lionized outgoing liberal Congressman Henry Waxman on Friday's Morning Edition . Rovner trumpeted how "during his 40 years in the House, he focused on passing legislation – lots of legislation – the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act , the Orphan Drug Act, nutrition labels, food safety, and the Affordable Care Act. Waxman played a major role in all of them ." The correspondent left out any conservative/Republican criticism of the California representative, and let a fellow Democratic member of Congress and two liberal talking heads laud the retiring politician, with one... continue reading
At the top of Thursday's NBC Nightly News , anchor Brian Williams proclaimed that "the [Republican] governor of Georgia [Nathan Deal] chose to fall on his snow shovel" over how Tuesday's rare southern snowstorm "was handled, or better yet, mishandled" in the state. However, the coverage that followed failed to mention Atlanta's Democratic Mayor Kasim Reed by name even once. [ Listen to the audio ] In his report, correspondent Tom Costello declared: "A lot of anger directed toward city and state officials for failing to heed the weather forecasts. And today we learned that both the Governor and the... continue reading
On Thursday evening's newscasts, both CBS and NBC announced the retirement of Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) but only CBS labeled him a liberal. ABC ignored the news. "Democrat Henry Waxman in California, now in his 20th term, was elected with the post-Watergate class of 1974. He became one of the leading liberals in the House," reported CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley. In contrast, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams simply identified Waxman a Democrat. "And a surprise announcement out of Washington today, a big figure in Democratic politics is calling it quits. Henry Waxman has represented his L.A.-area district... continue reading
Comedian Jon Stewart grilled House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi over the failure of the ObamaCare website on Thursday night’s Daily Show , and got Pelosi to admit "I don’t know" why the company behind HealthCare.gov failed. Stewart asked, "in terms of like, we're going to set up a health care web site that is an exchange. People are going to come to it. Why is it so hard to get a company to execute that competently?" Pelosi answered "I don’t know." Stewart laughed incredulously. [See video below.] "Let me get the House Minority Leader, I can ask her. Hold on... continue reading
On Thursday's The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC, substitute host Ari Melber tried to hype former Nevada Lieutenant Governor Sue Wagner, who left office almost 20 years ago, as a "conservative" who recently left the Republican Party because of the Tea Party. But, as she appeared as a guest, Wagner quickly identified herself as having been "somewhat liberal my entire life," and put the icing on the cake at the end of the interview as she sdmitted to which news network she "always" watches. Melber sought to undermine the Tea Party as he began the segment: "Many conservatives... continue reading
On Thursday’s PBS NewsHour , anchor Gwen Ifill fed the tired old stereotype that the Tea Party ruins everything. [Listen to MP3 audio here .] During a discussion about the nation’s political outlook for the coming year, Ifill posed this question to The Washington Post’s Michael Gerson: Michael, let me ask you about this ‘alternative vs. the opposition’ language that John Boehner used. I heard Michael — Marco Rubio use it yesterday. Is that sustainable when the Tea Party is really the party of opposition? Gerson, a Joe Scarborough-style conservative and former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, didn’t push... continue reading
What is wrong with the hosts at MSNBC? Ronan Farrow, who will begin anchoring a network program on February 24, made a tasteless joke on Tuesday night, comparing war hero Cory Remsburg's struggles to that of politicians in Congress. Farrow tweeted , "Cory 'struggles on the left side.' Congress relates.'" During the State of the Union, Barack Obama movingly recounted the difficulties of the 30-year-old Remsburg who, after being deployed ten times, was almost killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. Farrow has not apologized for the tweet and he's not alone in his cheap shots. MSNBC journalists have been... continue reading
On her Thursday 1 p.m. ET MSNBC show, host Andrea Mitchell gushed over NBC News special anchor Maria Shriver's political activism as "the force behind the influential Shriver Report about women and poverty in America": "Maria, my God, what you have started, what you have launched here....Equal pay for women...you went and you talked to the President about before his State of the Union, when he was still writing it. And he delivered in terms of addressing that." [ Listen to the audio ] Mitchell eagerly touted Obama continuing to push the issue on the road: "...just within the last... continue reading
The journalists at ABC are again going after gun ownership in the most absurd manner possible. Diane Sawyer and David Muir want American parents to know that they shouldn't leave unattended guns around toys, candy and in the backpacks of children. On the Monday and Thursday World News , as well as Friday's Good Morning America , Sawyer and Muir previewed their hour-long Young Guns special and portrayed an epidemic of accidental shootings involving kids. The ABC program, designed to show how Americans dangerously keep their guns, featured weapons stuffed in ridiculous, staged locations. On Monday, David Muir explained, "Those... continue reading