Wednesday's CBS This Morning stood out as the only Big Three network morning show to devote a full report to Colorado voters recalling two pro-gun control state legislators. Barry Petersen highlighted how " those who oppose gun control have a lot to celebrate " with the recall, and how "those backing the two senators spent seven times more money – $3.2 million " than the gun rights supporters who spearheaded the campaign [MP3 audio available here ; video below ]. By contrast, NBC's Today on Wednesday didn't devote a second of air time to the Colorado recall election. Instead, they... continue reading
Appearing as a guest on MSNBC's PoliticsNation on Monday, Joan Walsh of Salon tagged Rush Limbaugh as a "racist troll" after a clip of the conservative talk radio host criticizing President Obama for being indecisive on Syria, quipping that American military action ordered by Obama should be called "Operation Shuck and Jive." Host Al Sharpton called Limbaugh's words "ugly" as he introduced the clip: But what is happening now is that some are getting ugly. And when you have the debate, as even I've raised questions, that's one thing. But when you start getting ugly like the head of the... continue reading
MSNBC anchor Toure on Wednesday insisted that he was not a 9/11 truther, despite having several tweets indicating otherwise. After being confronted on Twitter , the Cycle anchor denied , "But I am not so there's that." However, he has previously tweeted, " How could a plane crash into the Pentagon? And not appear on video cameras?? And leave little wreckage??? #Don'tbuyitfiremenow." Another Tweet from 2009 featured a paranoid video claiming that the Pentagon was hit by a missile: "This fascinating video raises questions about the Pentagon attack: 757 or missle [sic]? http://bit.ly/12AOlN" On the subject of Van Jones, a... continue reading
In news briefs on Tuesday and Wednesday, NBC Today anchor Natalie Morales touted: "Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be given the National Constitution Center's Liberty Medal for her years in public service and her work on human rights." The two segments totaled 36 seconds of air time. [ Listen to the audio ] Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the network morning show only managed to offer a couple mentions, totaling 10 seconds, to the anniversary of the September 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya that killed four Americans – a major security failure that occurred during Clinton's tenure at... continue reading
All three networks on Tuesday and Wednesday touted a new report showing the gap between the wealthiest one percent of Americans and everyone else has grown to its widest level since the Great Depression. Yet, none of them mentioned that Barack Obama was president for the last five years, the time in which the disparity grew so large. In contrast, ABC, NBC and CBS hammered Mitt Romney in 2012 for supposedly being out of touch with average Americans. On Tuesday, Nightly News anchor Brian Williams apocalyptically hyped the new study by a group of international economists: " We learned today... continue reading
The Big Three network morning shows on Wednesday briefly noted the one-year anniversary of the Islamist attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, but not one pointed out the latest development in the ongoing controversy over what happened. On Tuesday, CBS correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reported on Twitter that Secretary of State John Kerry "tells [C]ongress he will not honor the request to make Benghazi survivors available for questioning. " Norah O'Donnell highlighted on Wednesday's CBS This Morning that "Republican Congressman Darrell Issa wants to interview survivors" and that " he's giving the State Department until Monday to meet his... continue reading
In his Monday interview with President Obama, CNN's Wolf Blitzer failed to ask any tough questions of the President. In contrast, Fox News's Chris Wallace grilled Obama over the administration's handling of the Syria conflict. For instance, Wallace brought up the lack of popular support for a military intervention, Secretary of State John Kerry's comment that a military intervention would be "unbelievably small," and Republican criticisms that the administration has failed to make a convincing case for military action. Blitzer mentioned none of these things, though, simply teeing Obama up with soft questions. In fact, Blitzer ignored CNN's own poll... continue reading
Barack Obama appeared on all three networks (as well as CNN, FNC and PBS) Monday night to try and salvage support for his planned strike against Syria. But it was World News anchor Diane Sawyer who appeared ready to preemptively credit the President with possibly solving the unraveling issue. The host began the program by touting, " And moments ago, I sat down with President Obama who seemed to be signaling the tough stand by the U.S. may have caused a dictator to back down ." [ MP3 audio here .] Sawyer added, "If Bashar al-Assad yields control of his... continue reading
At the end of Monday's Andrea Mitchell Reports , fill-in host Kristen Welker teed up a taped congratulatory message of Mitchell marking the fifth anniversary of Rachel Maddow's left-wing MSNBC show: "It is a very special day here at MSNBC. Five years ago, The Rachel Maddow Show made its debut. Rachel, congratulations from all of us. And Andrea, even though she's on the road, wanted to be sure to send along her good wishes to her dear friend." [ Listen to the audio ] Mitchell gushed to Maddow: "Rachel, my friend, happy fifth anniversary. This is a big deal, so... continue reading
On Monday's CBS This Morning , Charlie Rose cited how Hillary Clinton once referred to Bashar al-Assad as a "reformer," but didn't use the former Secretary of State's name in his question to the Syrian despot. When al-Assad asked to specify who had called him a "reformer, " Rose vaguely replied, " People who write about you; people who talk about you; people who analyze Syria and your regime ." [MP3 audio available here ; video below ] The veteran PBS host continued, "Now, they say – their words – a 'butcher' – comparisons to the worst dictators ever to... continue reading