During live coverage of Barack Obama's Tuesday press conference Chuck Todd surprisingly pressed the President about Democratic Senator Max Baucus calling ObamaCare a "train wreck." It was surprising because his own network has yet to report on the almost two-week old warning that the Montana Senator made to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius during an April 17 hearing. Until Tuesday morning's press conference not one of the Big Three (ABC, CBS and NBC) network reporters or anchors reported on Baucus's criticism. Aside from the April 17 hearing there was an additional opportunity to cover the "train wreck" remark... continue reading
Good Morning America on Tuesday hailed the announcement that Jason Collins is gay. News reader Josh Elliott compared the Washington Wizards basketball player to Jackie Robinson,the first African American baseball player and someone who faced actual violence. GMA devoted 12 minutes to promoting and celebrating Collins. George Stephanopoulos trumpeted, "This morning, one-on-one with a true pioneer. NBA player Jason Collins tells the world he's gay.' [MP3 audio here .] Co-host Robin Roberts touted Collins as "a man who has broken barriers." Gay rights activist/news anchor Josh Elliott compared, " But it's been sports figures like Jackie Robinson who have so... continue reading
Amid the celebration on Tuesday's NBC Today over the "groundbreaking" "game changer" announcement by NBA player Jason Collins that he is gay, co-host Matt Lauer brought on liberal New York Daily News columnist Mike Lupica, who ranted: "I hope that the league of old men and women on the Supreme Court are paying attention to this....Because same-sex marriage and the constitutionality is now going to be heard....This is a human rights issue, it's not a civil rights issue." [ Listen to the audio ] Moments later, after Lauer wondered about the possibility of other players coming out, Lupica proclaimed: "Women... continue reading
During a Tuesday press conference at the White House, CBS's Bill Plante channeled his colleague Bob Schieffer's 2009 "open sore" pronouncement about Guantanamo Bay as he asked President Obama about an ongoing hunger strike among many of the detainees there. Plante hinted at sympathy for the prisoners as he wondered, " Is it any surprise, really, that they would prefer death rather than – have no end in sight to their confinement? " The correspondent's leading question allowed the President to revisit the issue and call for the closure of the facility, just over three months after his administration closed... continue reading
ABC's blackout of the gruesome charges against abortionist Kermit Gosnell continued on Tuesday, 43 days after the trial began. This came one day after a Media Research Center study found that the network's Good Morning America has devoted 109 minuted and 41 stories to other shocking criminal trials. Apparently, ABC's disinterest extends only to cases that might put the pro-abortion agenda in a negative light. Instead of covering the Gosnell trial, which went to the jury on Monday, GMA offered a full report on the Michael Jackson wrongful death case, another story on the case of a Utah doctor charged... continue reading
At the top of Sunday's NBC Today , co-host Erica Hill cheered President Obama's performance at Saturday's White House Correspondents' Dinner as she announced: "Comedian-in-chief....President Obama gets lots of laughs at the White House Correspondents' Dinner." Moments later, fellow co-host Lester Holt gushed that Obama was "very, very funny...very loose." Hill agreed, suggesting the President "take that show on the road." [ Listen to the audio ] Following a report on how Obama "embraced his role as comedian-in-chief," Hill asked Meet the Press moderator David Gregory for his thoughts on the presidential stand-up. Gregory happily joined in the Obama praise:... continue reading
On Friday's All In show on MSNBC, host Chris Hayes not only praised President Obama for being the first sitting President to speak to Planned Parenthood in the group's history, but he also seemed to lament the fact that pro-choice Democrats are not confident enough to actually use the word "abortion" more openly, as he noted that the President avoided the word during his speech. The MSNBC host asserted that the President "made history" as he plugged the segement before a commercial break: "President Obama made history today doing something that took 97 years for a President to do. That's... continue reading
Newsweek's Eleanor Clift, on Sunday's The McLaughlin Group , slammed the host for daring to use the term "illegal alien" in discussing the new proposed immigration bill. In her first chance to criticize McLaughlin, after he used the phrase in a pre-taped piece, the long-time panelist griped: "And I would also ask you, John, let's call them undocumented immigrants. Illegal aliens, I think is a rather offensive term." The following exchange was aired on the April 28 edition of the syndicated McLaughlin Group : JOHN MCLAUGHLIN in pre-taped piece on immigration proposals: As for the 11 million illegal aliens in... continue reading
The journalists at Good Morning America gushed over Barack Obama's performance at the White House Correspondents Dinner on Saturday. On Sunday and Monday's program, the reporters enthused over the "hilarious" "comedian-in-chief" who was "on fire." On Monday's program, former Democratic operative turned journalist George Stephanopoulos fawned over a mock video that Obama participated in: "He did this film, a take-off on Lincoln , where he plays Daniel Day Lewis playing Obama...which was hilarious." Correspondent Lara Spencer hyped, "[Obama] was on fire." Jon Karl lauded, "He's always been pretty good at this. I think he's gotten better." On Sunday's GMA ,... continue reading
On Monday's CBS This Morning , Chip Reid forwarded the talking points of " some Democrats [who] say less vocal victims of the budget slashing have been left out in the cold. " Reid asserted that " millions of Americans harmed by the sequester [are] wondering what Washington plans to do for them " after Congress expedited the passage of a bill that ended the furloughs of air traffic controllers. CBS News political director John Dickerson also spotlighted how "these across-the-board cuts have affected...all kinds of things – kids getting their Head Start, meals for poor people, even cancer treatments... continue reading