Spinning liberal-friendly stories as the end of the world is a popular thing at ABC. Good Morning America 's Jim Avila on Wednesday hyped the scandal involving Chris Christie as "traffic armageddon, " a hyperbolic term the network loves. On Saturday, Avila mentioned the "four-day traffic armageddon." [MP3 audio here .] As the sequester set in on April 22, 2013 , co-anchor George Stephanopoulos freaked out: "Breaking this morning: Airport armageddon. Almost seven thousand flights could be delayed." On March 1 , 2013, a GMA graphic warned of "budget armageddon." On April 23 reporter Matt Gutman predicted an "airline apocalypse."... continue reading
On the Monday, January 13, All In with Chris Hayes on MSNBC, host Hayes laughed off the view that encouraging marriage can help some women out of poverty as he spoke to a guest, Shenita Simon-Toussaint, who argued that she has found that being married is more expensive. Hayes posed: Can I ask you a question, Shenita? There's been this conversation about marriage, and marriage and poverty and the relationship between them. And I met your husband and your kids the last time you were in here, and there is this idea like, you know, single women out there, if... continue reading
Carol Costello hinted at her liberal slant on the gun issue on Wednesday's CNN Newsroom as she discussed the recent movie theater shooting in Florida. Costello lamented the "b izarre conversation now taking place in America: instead of talking about whether loaded guns ought to be allowed in movie theaters, many people are talking about 'text rage.' " An on-screen graphic during the segment also suggested that a lack of strict gun control was partially to blame for the incident: " Which Is To Blame: Gun Laws Or 'Text Rage'? " [MP3 audio available here ; video below ] The... continue reading
On the same day that the latest report on the terrorist attack in Benghazi was released, the journalists at Good Morning America chose to obsess over an "exclusive first look" at People magazine's "revealing" interview with Michelle Obama. Focusing on the scoop, lifestyle anchor Lara Spencer gushed, " So honest on a range of topics, including her take on plastic surgery and Botox . We have an exclusive first look right here." [MP3 audio here .] Regarding the First Lady's 50th birthday, Spencer could hardly contain herself. She announced, "The big day is fast approaching." The host insisted that the... continue reading
In a glowing profile of Texas state senator and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis that amounted to a campaign commercial on Wednesday's NBC Today , correspondent Maria Shriver proclaimed: "Wendy Davis became a familiar name last year when she stood in her pink tennis shoes for eleven hours to defeat a Texas abortion bill. Even though the bill eventually passed, Davis became a star. And her story, her personal story, resonated across this country." [ Listen to the audio ] Following footage of cheering Davis supports, Shriver lobbed this ridiculous softball to the Texas abortion heroine: "Everybody says Wendy Davis... continue reading
Known more for getting in the faces of celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Justin Bieber, the tabloid/paparazzi show TMZ turned its camera sights on conservative Ted Cruz and the Tea Party. Not surprisingly the cast couldn’t get through the segment without mocking conservatives as racist, homophobic and just totally uncool. After ambushing the GOP senator to get his take on a coloring book titled “Cruz to the Future” being a top Christmas-seller, the TMZ team turned to a different book that featured the Tea Party, as the announcer mocked: “Meantime you got the Tea Party Coloring Book. No Colors Allowed!”... continue reading
On Monday's NBC Nightly News , anchor Brian Williams ignored bad ObamaCare enrollment numbers for young people, but made time to announce the retirement of a long-standing liberal congressman, a development that neither ABC's World News nor the CBS Evening News deemed worth mentioning. "Big loss for the Democrats in Congress," stated Williams, who said outgoing Rep. George Miller was "often called the Ted Kennedy of the House." NBC ignored the latest ObamaCare enrollment numbers which the CBS Evening News picked up on, highlighting the low enrollment among young people which is detrimental to the law's success. [Audio here .]... continue reading
Two months ago, MSNBC's Chris Matthews called Sen. Rand Paul a " pissant " for ranting about what Matthews is now hyping as yet another problem for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. In November, Sen. Paul called "offensive" Christie's appearance in a federally-funded tourism video for New Jersey during an election year. Matthews, sticking up for the governor, branded Paul a "pissant" and said his rant "makes him smaller." Yet on Monday's Hardball , Matthews reported a federal investigation into the video as another headache for Christie: "When it rains, it pours." [Video below. Audio here .] "When it rains,... continue reading
In an interview with former Defense Secretary Robert Gates for Yahoo News on Monday, newly-named global anchor Katie Couric urged him to express regret for criticism of President Obama in his new memoir: "Do you think in any way, shape or form that this was the wrong thing to do? It was just bad form?" [ Listen to the audio ] Gates replied: "No, I don't. The reality is there are a lot of contemporary issues that are at the heart of this book....And to write about them in 2017, it would be completely irrelevant." Couric followed up: "You have... continue reading
On a special edition of All In with Chris Hayes on Monday, January 13, MSNBC host Hayes and NBC's Maria Shriver devoted the hour to a discussion of poverty in America, 50 years after President Johnson announced the "War on Poverty." At one point, the two gave New York Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand an unchallenged forum to push for paid family medical leave, without any concerns about the cost to businesses, as Gillibrand fretted that the federally mandated Family and Medical Leave Act does not go far enough since employees are often unable to go without income while taking leave... continue reading