Rather than focus on the myriad of problems plaguing the implementation of ObamaCare, on Tuesday, all three network morning shows instead provided coverage of the First Family getting a second dog. On NBC's Today , White House correspondent Peter Alexander happily announced: "Move over Bo, there's a new dog in town, Sunny. And for her inaugural play date, the White House released it's own music video. A pair of presidential pets frolicking on the South Lawn, that'll get tails wagging." [ Listen to the audio ] On ABC's Good Morning America , news reader Elizabeth Vargas reported: "The one-year-old female... continue reading
ABC was the only network on both Monday night and Tuesday morning to highlight New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signing a bill banning gay conversion treatment. On Tuesday's Good Morning America , ABC News political director Rick Klein touted, " The Chris Christie brand is all about independence, a non-partisan person who leads the state of New Jersey in the best way he knows how." An ABC graphic added an editorial, placing quote marks around the word therapy: "Chris Christie and Gay Conversion: Bans 'Therapy,' Angers Conservatives." Regarding Christie's 2013 reelection bid and his potential 2016 presidential campaign, Klein understandingly... continue reading
On Friday's PoliticsNation show, MSNBC host Al Sharpton reacted to FNC's Bill O'Reilly criticizing him the night before , as the FNC host had called out Sharpton for taking out of context his contention that some who receive food stamps are "parasites" who take advantage of the system, and divulged that he had made a donation to one of Sharpton's charities in the past. After having tagged O'Reilly with "hypocrisy" in a plug before the segment, Sharpton brought up the donation from O'Reilly and declared: What are we supposed to think about a man who privately is generous, but who... continue reading
On Monday's Morning Edition on NPR, Minnesota Public Radio correspondent Elizabeth Stawicki featured Karen Pollitz of the Kaiser Family Foundation during a report about ObamaCare, but failed to mention the left-leaning political affiliation of the organization. Stawicki merely labeled the foundation " non-partisan ." The public radio journalist also failed to mention that Pollitz is an alumna of both the Obama and Clinton administrations, and previously worked for two Democratic politicians. During her lead-in for the segment , host Renee Montagne underlined " the importance and difficulty of getting younger people to buy health insurance ...for the new law [ObamaCare]... continue reading
After the Republican National Committee voted to refuse CNN and NBC from hosting 2016 GOP primary debates, NBC took two days to even mention the news before again ignoring it. In fact, CBS spent more time covering the boycott of NBC than NBC itself did. The RNC threatened a boycott after CNN Films and NBC Entertainment both planned productions on Democrat Hillary Clinton as she is predicted to run for president in 2016. At Friday's summer meeting, the RNC made good on its threat, but NBC reported it only once. The only mention on NBC came on Sunday's Meet the... continue reading
Filling in for Andrea Mitchell on her 1 p.m. et MSNBC show on Monday, Hardball host Chris Matthews wrapped up an interview with Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz by adorning her with praise: "Congresswoman, I want to congratulate you on one thing that nobody ever gives you credit for, which is uniting the Democratic Party as it's never been united." [ Listen to the audio ] Matthews, co-hosting with his wife Kathleen, continued to gush: "And I'm telling you, it's not – I grew up with a Democratic Party that was never united, and you are united. And... continue reading
On Friday's PoliticsNation show, during a segment in which host Al Sharpton linked the Obama rodeo clown in Missouri to alleged GOP extremism, MSNBC contributor Joy Reid declared that "the people who were whooping it up at that rodeo clown show are going to be all" the GOP have "got left," and went on to predict that the party is "shrinking down to its most extreme elements." After clips of from past GOP presidential debates, Reid responded: It's not just the candidates that are a problem for the GOP, it's the audience. They are getting to the point where the... continue reading
At the end of Sunday's NBC Meet the Press , moderator David Gregory excitedly announced to his panel of guests: "We're coming up on an anniversary that is going to give the President an opportunity to highlight some – a presidential leadership moment." [ Listen to the audio ] Gregory was referring to the upcoming 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech and teed up Democratic Congresswoman Donna Edwards: "President Obama going to recreate that moment, in effect, on the – on the Washington Mall. How significant is it?" Edwards replied in part: "I think he's... continue reading
Former Democratic operative turned journalist George Stephanopoulos on Sunday parroted Barack Obama's talking points, insisting that a shutdown of the government would wound a "weak" Republican Party for a "generation." On Good Morning America , Stephanopoulos touted the President for "cutting his vacation short" due to unrest in Egypt. After allowing that Obama has "little leverage" over House Republicans, he narrated that the White House believes " the Republican Party is in an even weaker position, that if they shut down the government, say, over their calls to defund ObamaCare, they will relegate themselves to minority status for a generation."... continue reading
On Thursday's PoliticsNation on MSNBC, as host Al Sharpton devoted a segment to discrediting the NYPD's Stop-and-Frisk policy, Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, appearing as a guest, misleadingly recounted that crime began to drop during the early 1990s administration of Democratic Mayor David Dinkins to argue that the more recently implemented Stop-and-Frisk has had little impact on crime. Rep. Jeffries did not even mention that dramatic drops in crime occurred primarily after Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani succeeded Dinkins. Jeffries: The numbers, Reverend Sharpton, as you've consistently pointed out, speak for themselves. Stop-and-Frisk has nothing to do with the dramatic decline in... continue reading