On Tuesday's NBC Nightly News , anchor Brian Williams noted President Obama and the four former living presidents reciting the Gettysburg Address to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's historic speech, but ignored the fact that Obama omitted the phrase "under God" from his reading and refused to attend the event marking the anniversary. [ Listen to the audio ] Williams made a point of declaring that project orchestrated by documentary filmmaker Ken Burns was "urging Americans to memorize and celebrate the Gettysburg Address," and emphasized: "Considering it's one of the most important speeches in American history, think about... continue reading
MSNBC anchor Ed Schultz declared that his patriotism court was in session again on Wednesday and found another conservative guilty. The liberal host repeatedly smeared Michele Bachmann as "anti-American." In several media appearances, the Republican congresswoman insisted that "we predicted" ObamaCare would be a disaster and added, "We hate to say we told you so." This prompted Schultz to fume. "I' m glad to see Michele Bachmann is so happy about a law's problems. I think it's fair to call Michele Bachmann's attitude anti-American." [MP3 video here .] Still acting as ObamaCare's chief defender, no matter how many problems develop... continue reading
A day after a high-ranking Medicare official estimated that "30 to 40 percent" of ObamaCare's federal exchange hasn't even been built more than a month after its rollout, CNN's Chris Cuomo actually challenged the notion that ObamaCare is "not working." "How can we say it's not working when it isn't implemented yet? How can you say premiums are skyrocketing when they haven't put the plans into effect yet?" Cuomo asked Sen. Ted Cruz, on Wednesday's New Day , after Cruz stated that the law "isn't working, let's start over." [Video below the break. Audio here .] Cuomo accused Cruz of... continue reading
On Tuesday and Wednesday, CNN ignored a bombshell revelation that "30 to 40" percent of the online federal exchange has not been completed almost two months after its rollout. CNN prefaced the hearing Tuesday morning by reporting that ObamaCare's "top technology manager" Henry Chao was set to testify before Congress. Although CNN.com reported Chao's words, the network completely missed the story. CNN.com reported: "Earlier on Tuesday, CMS Deputy Chief Information Officer Henry Chao told members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee that the federal marketplace was just 70% completed, meaning 30% of the marketplace still needed to be developed... continue reading
After censoring any coverage of the continuing ObamaCare disaster since Monday morning , NBC did manage to find time to cover Michelle Obama's fashion choices and the First Couple's first date on Wednesday's Today , with co-host Matt Lauer excitedly telling viewers to stay tuned: "First Lady Michelle Obama opens up about her very first date with the future president as well as her biggest fashion regret." [ Listen to the audio ] In the segment that followed, news reader Natalie Morales gushed: "We're used to seeing First Lady Michelle Obama looking very stylish and picture perfect, but in a... continue reading
Wednesday's CBS This Morning stood out as the only Big Three morning show to spotlight Henry Chao's stunning revelation to Congress – that a significant portion of the I.T. infrastructure needed to support HealthCare.gov has yet to be built. NBC's Today completely ignored Chao's testimony, while GMA aired a 19-second brief that vaguely summarized the hearing. Meanwhile, the ABC show devoted a 1 minute and 45 second report to a puppy that sleeps with a baby. Major Garrett reported that Chao " told Congress Tuesday the team making emergency repairs still has another major task to accomplish: building 30 percent... continue reading
On Tuesday's PoliticsNation , MSNBC.com Executive Editor Richard Wolffe accused Texas Senator Ted Cruz of "encouraging, inflaming and yes, flirting" with "fringe elements" who are "very ugly" and "racist" as he responded to a clip of the Texas Republican suggesting that the House could have grounds to impeach President Obama. Host Al Sharpton set up the segment by recounting birther conspiracy theories against the President before moving to a completely unrelated clip of Senator Cruz, and then brought aboard wolffe for comment. Wolffe griped: Ted Cruz has flirted with these fringe elements all the way through, and the fact that... continue reading
ABC's Good Morning America may be many things, but subtle isn't one of them. George Stephanopoulos and Pierre Thomas on Wednesday made sure to point out to viewers that it was a "conservative," "Tea Party" "Republican" congressman who was arrested for buying cocaine. The journalists found the story so enticing, the show led with it, bumping an "exclusive," "frightening" story about al Qaeda operatives secretly living in America. All six network newscasts on Tuesday and the morning shows on Wednesday made sure to point out Representative Trey Radel's GOP affiliation. Many of them identified him with the Tea Party. But... continue reading
Appearing on Tuesday's Tonight Show , former President George W. Bush got a laugh from the audience with this one-liner: "We've always had such great relations with NBC." Host Jay Leno added to the joke by taking his own shot at the network: "I'm glad one of us has." [ Listen to the audio ] The brief exchange was prompted by Leno asking the former commander-in-chief and former First Lady Laura Bush about their daughter, Jenna Bush-Hager, being a correspondent for the Today show: "And Jenna is on the Today show...Is that fun?" Laura Bush replied: "It's fun. It's fun... continue reading
How's this for intellectual diversity? The panel on Monday's AC360 Later included three NYC liberals and was unanimous in support of same-sex marriage. The topic was the spat between Liz and Mary Cheney. "I don't think you can actually respect somebody to whom you want to deny the most basic rights," declared The Daily Beast 's Peter Beinart, who also teaches journalism at the City University of New York. [Video below. Audio here .] Beinart condemned all opponents of same-sex marriage: "This has been the right wing's kind of line for a couple of years now, basically that 'we just... continue reading