The journalists at ABC News have not made an effort to hide their disgust with the conservative effort to oppose funding ObamaCare. On Wednesday, Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos derided Ted Cruz's fight against it as " bizarre ." On Thursday night, World News's Jon Karl sneered that it was "absurd." [MP3 audio here .] Karl described the possible government shutdown as a situation where "we've got a furious President calling his opponents crazy...and a Republican Party willing to go to the brink." The journalist brought up past confrontations between Obama and the GOP, petulantly wondering, "Lessons learned? Nah." The... continue reading
Appearing on Thursday's NBC Today , Meet the Press moderator David Gregory was already predicting the GOP would get the blame for a government shutdown: "Washington loves to engage in the same kind of destructive behavior every couple years, whether it needs to or not.... There's a universal feeling that the party that's more divided, that's Republicans, will feel most of the heat on this from the public..." [ Listen to the audio ] Referring to the fast-approaching debt ceiling, co-host Savannah Guthrie fretted: "...we now have a date on the real doomsday...we will reach the borrowing limit in this... continue reading
NBCNews.com followed the lead of Politico on Wednesday in hyping left-leaning attacks of Senator Ted Cruz for reading Dr. Seuss' "Green Eggs and Ham" during his marathon floor speech against ObamaCare. Kasie Hunt and Carrie Dann spotlighted the critiques of Cruz from overt liberals, including former Obama campaign adviser David Plouffe; and Senators Chuck Schumer and Claire McCaskill. The two writers also turned to Kansas State University's Phil Nel, whom they identified as a " Seuss biographer ". However, they omitted that Nel donated thousands of dollars to Obama's 2008 and 2012, as well as to pro-abortion group Emily's List... continue reading
On Tuesday's All In show on MSNBC, host Chris Hayes twice asked California Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee if Israel is an "obstacle" to a "diplomatic settlement between the U.S. and Iran," as the two discussed the possibility of a meeting between President Barack Obama and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani at the United Nations gathering. After playing a clip of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealing for help to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, Hayes posed: Last year, Netanyahu famously got up before the U.N. General Assembly with a drawing of a bomb. Is Israel an obstacle to a diplomatic... continue reading
On Wednesday's CBS This Morning , Norah ' we shouldn't editorialize ' O'Donnell hinted that Senator Ted Cruz's 21-hour floor speech might jeopardize the Republican Party's chances in the 2014 congressional race. O'Donnell asked Cruz's colleague in the Senate, Bob Corker, if he was " concerned that what your fellow senator is doing could hurt your party's chances of taking back the U.S. Senate? " Charlie Rose later played up how supposedly, " some people are saying this is about personal ambition and being seen fighting for this, because it serves his [Cruz's] own presidential ambitions ." [MP3 audio available... continue reading
On Tuesday's The Last Word on MSNBC, host Lawrence O'Donnell called Rush Limbaugh a "drug addict" as he recounted a discussion between the conservative talk radio host and Texas Senator Ted Cruz over the issue of blocking ObamaCare. After showing a clip of President Obama attacking Senator Cruz, O'Donnell did not acknowledge the point that making the American population dependent on an inferior government-dominated health care system, a la Britain's National Health Service, would make it difficult to return to a preferable market-based system, as the MSNBC host went along with Obama's distortion that conservatives have admitted that people would... continue reading
On Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, CNN lambasted Sen. Ted Cruz who led a 21-hour Senate floor speech against Obamacare. During the speech by Cruz and other Republican senators, CNN hosts Piers Morgan and Chris Cuomo mocked Cruz as "deluded" and a "kid playing with matches." Chief congressional correspondent Dana Bash called it "by many people's account here a fool's errand." [Video below. Audio here .] "Dana, one question really, amongst other things he may have been eating, can we include magic mushrooms?" Morgan snidely asked on Tuesday night's Piers Morgan Live , after clips played of Cruz reading the... continue reading
The networks reacted negatively to Ted Cruz's "long-winded protest." On Wednesday, George Stephanopoulos derided it as " bizarre ." This is not exactly the reception Democratic state senator Wendy Davis received when she fought against pro-life legislation in Texas. [MP3 audio here .] On June 27, CBS This Morning correspondent Manuel Bojorquez thrilled, "The marathon filibuster that went viral has turned a little-known Texas lawmaker into a national political star." He added, "Some political analysts are comparing it to the 1988 Democratic convention speech that catapulted Ann Richards to the national stage." On July 1, CNN's Miguel Marquez enthused, "A... continue reading
While ObamaCare remains widely unpopular with the American people, on Tuesday's ABC World News , anchor Diane Sawyer touted how "the President is bringing out the big gun to argue it will lead to a healthier and cheaper medical cost for Americans." In the report that followed, correspondent Bob Woodruff gushed: "Call it Bill Clinton to the rescue....the President turns to the man he calls his secretary of explaining stuff." [ Listen to the audio ] On NBC Nightly News , chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd declared: "...the White House thought, hey, this is a great opportunity to tap... continue reading
The networks on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning derided the conservative uprising against ObamaCare, mocking Senator Ted Cruz's "bizarre," "long-winded protest" against funding for the law. This stands in stark contrast to how ABC, CBS and NBC hyped "folk hero" Wendy Davis. On Wednesday, Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos opened the program by needling the "Tea Party senator's all-night marathon fight against the President in a bizarre, blockbuster speech on Capitol Hill." [MP3 audio here .] Reporter Jeff Zeleny, rather than focus on the substance of the arguments from Senator Cruz, gossiped, "He talked about Dr. Seuss. And in the... continue reading