On Wednesday's CBS This Morning , Jan Crawford boosted the latest pro-ObamaCare campaign from the President's supporters in Hollywood. Crawford played back-to-back soundbites from liberal comedian Will Ferrell's "Funny or Die" website, and highlighted the list of celebrities who have signed up for the campaign. The correspondent did later acknowledge that the controversial law is still " deeply unpopular, " and featured a clip from a recent anti-ObamaCare ad released by the Crossroads GPS super PAC [MP3 audio available here ; video below ]. During his lead-in for Crawford's report, anchor Charlie Rose trumpeted how "t he White House is... continue reading
In an exclusive interview with former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Wednesday's NBC Today , co-host Savannah Guthrie attempted to blame the Bush administration for President Obama's difficulty in garnering support for military action against Syria: "Looming over this debate time and time again has been the specter of Iraq. Most recently, the U.K. Parliament, many members cited the failure of intelligence leading up to Iraq as the reason that they won't take action now in Syria..." [ Listen to the audio ] Turning to Rumsfeld, Guthrie wondered: "Do you personally take any responsibility for that? Or feel any responsibility... continue reading
Chris Matthews channeled his inner-Helen Thomas on Tuesday, railing against Barack Obama's "disastrous" plan for military action against Syria. The Hardball host mocked the proposed goal of sending a message to Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, excoriating, "Will this mysterious signal get delivered? Will a signal go to Assad that he will never again use chemical weapons?" [MP3 audio here .] Matthews raged against air strikes on Syria, insisting, " In other words, the only thing we really know is we'll be killing poor people, committing an act of war with this notion that somehow it's smoke signals. " The usually... continue reading
Tuesday's CBS This Morning spotlighted the upcoming one-year anniversary of the Islamist attack on the U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, but whitewashed the role of President Obama and his administration, including that of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Anchors Charlie Rose, Norah O'Donnell, and Gayle King didn't once mention Obama or Clinton's name during an interview segment with author Fred Burton. In his new book, Burton revealed that "an unidentified security official in the Benghazi compound...messaged the U.S. embassy in Tripoli: ' Benghazi under fire, terrorist attack .'" However, Rose only vaguely referenced the White House's now-discredited talking... continue reading
On Tuesday's MSNBC Daily Rundown , NBC senior political editor Mark Murray dismissed the notion that if Democrat Terry McAuliffe lost the closely contested Virginia governor's race, it would not be a defeat for his strongest backers, the Clintons: "I'm not sure this race is going to impact Hillary Clinton or Bill Clinton if McAuliffe wins or if he loses. Simply because if Hillary Clinton were running against Ken Cuccinelli in this contest, she would be the clear favorite, she'd be leading in the polls by 10, 15 points." [ Listen to the audio ] Murray didn't bother to cite... continue reading
On Friday's PoliticsNation , MSNBC's Al Sharpton used Bill O'Reilly's recent retraction and apology to mock the FNC host by suggesting that The O'Reilly Factor generally lacks accuracy. After a clip of O'Reilly asserting that "I know you guys watch The Factor for accuracy," Sharpton cracked: "Really? People watch The Factor for accuracy? Hmm. Sounds like another false statement that needs to be corrected." Introducing the segment about O'Reilly correcting himself for claiming that Republicans were not invited to take part in the Martin Luther King, Jr., 50th anniversary commemoration, the MSNBC host began: "We're back with more fallout from... continue reading
While covering Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday, Martha Raddatz described the Syrian dictator as "looking poised and immaculately dressed." This light-hearted description is reminiscent of some of the softball questions asked by Diane Sawyer on February 5, 2007 . The then- Good Morning America anchor dished with the man who, in August, allegedly used chemical weapons on his own people: " You like video games? Do you have an iPod?" After the dictator announced that he did, Sawyer sounded more like an Access Hollywood host: " And you're a country music fan. Faith Hill? Shania Twain ?" She then moved on... continue reading
On Thursday's PoliticsNation on MSNBC, liberal talk radio host Joe Madison referred to Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh as "Jim Crow's grandson" and "Jim Crow Esquire" during a discussion of the absence of Republican figures at the Martin Luther King, Jr., 50-year commemoration. After a couple of clips of O'Reilly critiquing the social problems of some poor Americans, MSNBC contributor Goldie Taylor accused the FNC host of "wholesale maligning of an entire race and class of people" that is "simply unconscionable," even though O'Reilly was responding to a clip of President Obama in which the President complained that some Americans,... continue reading
ABC on Thursday night again offered a one-sided take on the fast food "strikes," promoting the "living wage." Economics correspondent Rebecca Jarvis featured multiple clips of angry protesters, but none of those on the other side. (She did the same thing earlier in the day on Good Morning America .) In comparison, NBC's Nightly News at least highlighted those worrying about the economic impact of doubling the minimum wage. World News anchor Diane Sawyer introduced, " A lot of people at the drive through window at your favorite fast food are asking the question, what is a fair living wage... continue reading
On her Friday MSNBC program, host Andrea Mitchell tried to ease the concerns of Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Lee and other members of Congress calling for a congressional vote on military action in Syria: "Barack Obama, as you know better than I do, was one of the leading Democratic politicians against the Iraq War. So if he says that this is different, that the evidence is there....does that persuade you since he has always come at this from a very cautious anti-war perspective?" [ Listen to the audio ] Accepting the odd juxtaposition of the President launching missile strikes from an... continue reading