Appearing on MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports on Monday, Molly Ball of The Atlantic argued that the reason ObamaCare critics were seizing on the comments from Jonathan Gruber was because things were going so well for the law: "...part of the reason this controversy has become such a focal point is that there isn't a lot of other bad news about ObamaCare. The website is operating....The people who have care are pretty happy with it. Most Republicans, even the leadership, admit that they're not going to do a wholesale repeal." Ball continued: "So I think a lot of critics are seizing... continue reading
CBS and NBC's morning and evening newscasts on Saturday and Sunday ignored Pope Francis's condemnation of abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, and in-vitro fertilization during a Saturday meeting with Catholic doctors in Italy. Their omission is glaring when compared to their hype over a supposed " seismic shift towards gays and divorcees " in a proposed document from a bishops' meeting – a draft which was ultimately rejected by the Church leaders. Surprisingly, ABC's fluff-filled Good Morning America devoted nine seconds to the pontiff's speech , but only mentioned his targeting of euthanasia: [ video below ] RON CLAIBORNE:... continue reading
Now that even the networks have grudgingly covered Jonathan Gruber's repeated attacks on the "stupidity" of American voters, MSNBC on Monday touted the President's efforts to distance himself. An MSNBC graphic hyped, "Obama Slams Gruber: Defending ObamaCare" and NewsNation host Tamron Hall insisted the President is "is firing back against" the accusations. Hall assisted the Obama damage control effort, quoting, "Former adviser David Axelrod put it this way, tweeting, quote, 'As one who worked hard to make ACA and its benefits clear: Let me say, if you looked up stupid in the dictionary, you would find Gruber's picture.'" She cheered,... continue reading
On Monday, November 17, Jose Diaz-Balart officially took over the hosting duties on MSNBC’s The Daily Rundown , replacing Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd, and now anchors two hours of MSNBC’s morning programming. The MSNBC host used his expanded role at the network to promote President Obama’s proposed executive action on immigration reform and warned that the GOP has “got to be very careful” in how they respond to the president. Diaz-Balart never explained exactly why the GOP needs to “be very careful” in their response to Obama’s executive action and Kasie Hunt never bothered to challenge her colleague... continue reading
After 2013 comments from ObamaCare architect Jonathan Gruber crediting passage of the law on "the stupidity of the American voter" went viral over a week ago, NBC's Today finally covered the major controversy on Monday. Co-host Savannah Guthrie made it sound like a breaking news headline: "...big story out of Washington this morning." News anchor Natalie Morales followed: "A new controversy now is brewing over comments made by MIT professor Jonathan Gruber, the self-described architect of ObamaCare." Correspondent Peter Alexander began a full report on the topic by declaring: "This is certainly not the kind of headline the President was... continue reading
In a scathing article for the Los Angeles Times on Sunday, reporter Robyn Dixon slammed Australia as “The adolescent country. The bit player. The shrimp of the schoolyard.” She contemptuously added: “For Australians it's not so bad – most of the time – to be so far away, so overlooked, so seemingly insignificant as to almost never factor in major international news. The lifestyle makes up for it.” What garnered the nation so much scorn from Dixon? It’s conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott, whom she accused of creating “an awkward, pimply youth moment so embarrassing” at the recent G-20 summit... continue reading
On Sunday, Governor Bobby Jindal (R-La.) sat down with Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd and was repeatedly hit from the left over his refusal to expand Medicaid as part of ObamaCare. Todd began the interview by asking Jindal: “But obviously, expanding Medicaid coverage, you'd have more people off of the uninsured roles in Louisiana if you did it. Why aren't you doing it?” As the interview progressed, the NBC News Political Director falsely claimed that Medicaid “would cost your state nothing. In fact, look, you've got your own fiscal problems right now with the deficit issue. You'd have more... continue reading
It took nine days, but ABC and NBC finally covered the controversial videos of ObamaCare architect Jonathan Gruber making disparaging remarks about the American voters. Since the first video surfaced, CBS had been the only “big three” (ABC, CBS, and NBC) network to cover the Gruber video, but on Sunday, November 16 ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos and NBC’s Meet the Press briefly mentioned the videos. However, as of this writing, ABC and NBC’s morning and evening newscasts have yet to mention the Gruber controversy once. During an interview with Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell, Meet... continue reading
As of Saturday afternoon and a full eight days after the first video of ObamaCare architect Jonathan Gruber surfaced, major broadcast networks ABC and NBC and the Los Angeles Times have persisted in keeping their audiences in the dark on this story. Over the course of Friday evening and Saturday morning, news outlets that previously had ignored Gruber arrived on the scene included the Associated Press (AP) , the print edition of The New York Times , and the online site of USA Today . The New York Times posted a second entry on one of its blog sites (known... continue reading
During her Fox Business Network (FBN) show on Friday afternoon, Melissa Francis told viewers that she “was silenced” by executives at CNBC when worked there after she criticized ObamaCare on-air and told viewers that the “math of ObamaCare simply didn’t work.” Speaking in regards to what ObamaCare architect Jonathan Gruber said about relying on the “stupidity” of voter and the need for lying to get the law passed, Francis opined that while: “It is shocking, but it actually doesn’t surprise me because when I was at CNBC, I pointed out to my viewers that the math of ObamaCare simply didn’t... continue reading