On Wednesday's CBS This Morning , Norah O'Donnell zeroed in on her network's latest poll that found that " more Americans than ever want the health care law repealed. " However, she tried to explain it away by asserting that the public just needed to be educated: "This is the same problem the White House has faced from the very beginning about a lack of understanding about what is involved in ObamaCare." In the CBS News poll, 54 percent disapprove of ObamaCare. NBC's Chuck Todd also briefly noted at an end of a report that an " all-time record low... continue reading
CNN's New Day used Rep. Steve King's controversial remarks on illegal immigrants to paddle the GOP and hint that bigotry is partly behind opposition to the immigration bill. King had said that for every "valedictorian" illegal immigrant, 100 more are drug smugglers. " But it's important that he [King] said it, because this is what it's about on some level, " said New Day co-host Chris Cuomo on Thursday, as if to expose some Republicans as closet bigots. " There are people who believe this and that's something they have to deal with because they keep making up reasons why... continue reading
Scott Pelley devoted a minute and a half segment to the IRS scandal on Wednesday's CBS Evening News , the first time that the Big Three newscast had mentioned the issue in a month . Pelley asked Treasury Secretary Jack Lew if " any political appointee had oversight of the decisions that were made around the Tea Party applications, " and reported on some of the recent developments in the scandal. Mere hours later, Thursday's CBS This Morning didn't even cover the IRS portion of the Lew interview, but did play a clip of Pelley asking the Cabinet official about... continue reading
Now that former Democratic Congressman and current mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner has been caught, again, sending sexually explicit texts to women, the hosts of ABC's Good Morning America decided to ask the important question: What is cheating? Regarding the extremely graphic messages Weiner sent, reporter Linsey Davis wondered, "Is texting really cheating?...Do explicit E-mails, texts and tweets, like the ones Weiner sent even count as cheating?" GMA weatherman Sam Champion saw this question as a type of public service, lecturing, " It's a good conversation. I think a lot of people have had that talk lately." [MP3 audio here .]... continue reading
On Thursday's NBC Today , chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell couldn't contain her glee over Carolina Kennedy being appointed U.S. ambassador to Japan: "Caroline Kennedy was almost born to be an ambassador, a picture perfect daughter in a telegenic first family. She captured our hearts all the way through her intense personal heartbreak." [ Listen to the audio ] Mitchell acknowledged that Kennedy "has no particular experience in Japan," but quickly brushed it aside: "...she has something that the Japanese consider far more important in an ambassador, and that is a celebrated family name and a direct line to... continue reading
Throughout the coverage of the latest Anthony Weiner sex scandal on Wednesday's NBC Today , hosts and correspondents repeatedly made comparisons between Weiner's wife, Huma Abedin, and her long-time boss Hillary Clinton. At one point, Morning Joe host Mika Brzezinski declared that Abedin "has learned from the master, Hillary Clinton" on how to deal with scandal. [ Listen to the audio ] In a later segment, chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd similarly touted Clinton as Abedin's mentor in damage control: "But you can't help but remember, Huma works for Hillary Clinton. Is that her political role model? Is that... continue reading
On Tuesday's All In show, MSNBC's Chris Hayes attacked FNC's Bill O'Reilly for what he called a "super racist rant" because of a commentary the FNC host gave on Monday's The O'Reilly Factor about racial issues. Hayes charged that such commentary from O'Reilly gives a "cheap, crack-like high" to FNC's "old, fearful white audience." Hayes: The real reason Bill O'Reilly peddles this stuff is because it gives a cheap, crack-like high to the old, fearful white audience that watches Bill O'Reilly and gives Fox News its power, also known as the Republican base. These are the folks Bill O'Reilly is... continue reading
CBS Evening News stood out among the Big Three evening newscasts on Tuesday in their failure to cover former Rep. Anthony Weiner's admission that he sent lewd text messages even after his resignation in 2011. The CBS show apparently deemed the British royal family's new baby, the doping scandal in baseball, and whale watching to be more important news items. ABC's World News and NBC Nightly News both devoted air time to the Weiner story. The network finally reported on the latest revelations about the disgraced politician on Wednesday's CBS This Morning , but failed to point out his Democratic... continue reading
Appearing on Wednesday's NBC Today , MSNBC Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough made a strange analogy while discussing the latest Anthony Weiner sex scandal: "You know, let's just say he is the Chuck Yeager of sex scandals, he is constantly pushing the envelope, and breaking – I mean this is like The Right Stuff for sex scandals. Nobody has ever been here before, he is in new ground, new territory." [ Listen to the audio ] Moments earlier, Scarborough put Weiner in line with other disgraced politicians making political comebacks: "We now officially live in the age of Bill Clinton,... continue reading
Since new developments broke last week in the IRS scandal, CNN barely reported on it before dropping the story entirely. The network also deflected scrutiny away from the White House's possible role in the scandal. After Thursday's congressional hearing on the IRS targeting Tea Party groups, CNN issued just one report on it on Thursday afternoon. Correspondent Dana Bash reported "no proof" that the White House was involved and whitewashed the controversy that Tea Party groups supposedly received more scrutiny than liberal groups. One month ago, Bash was all over Democratic-friendly news that the IRS flagged both liberal and Tea... continue reading