Barack Obama's second inaugural met with much praise from the journalists at ABC. World News anchor Diane Sawyer hyped the President's mentions of gays as a recognition of the "modern American family." Jon Karl touted the "Democratic Reagan." After Stephanopoulos asserted that Obama made the "first explicit mention...in an inaugural of gay Americans," Sawyer seemingly worked in a subtle plug for her network's primetime line-up: " He is talking about a modern American family. He's talking about gay and straight, rich and poor, everyone together." Stephanopoulos made the speech all about Obama: "The President, perhaps thinking of himself as he... continue reading
A panel discussion on Monday's NBC Today on President Obama's second term quickly devolved into anti-Republican ranting, with correspondent Andrea Mitchell proclaiming: "It's been so toxic that I think the President is betting that the American people...are really fed up with this. And that it will be in the Republican Party's advantage to play somewhat toward getting something done." [ Listen to the audio ] Special correspondent Tom Brokaw followed up by touting how the GOP "lost big time" in the 2012 election and declared: "Now the Republicans are in disarray , trying to organize their party so they have... continue reading
Four years ago, ABC journalist Bill Weir swooned that "national pride" made the cold of Inauguration Day seem warmer and that even the seagulls were "awed." On Monday, the reporter was at it again, hyping "history" is "keeping [inauguration-goers] warm." On Good Morning America , the morning show crew gushed over every detail. News reader Josh Elliott referred to the First Lady's new haircut as the "bangs that thrilled the nation...[Obama's] dear wife and the hair." Later, during live coverage, Weir talked to a 16-year-old in pajamas, visiting Washington for the inauguration. He wondered, "History is keeping you warm, right?"... continue reading
New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd spoke in such illustrious language about the "brilliant" president and his "super-brain" that she even bowled over Obama fan Mika Brzezinski who exclaimed: "Now that's love!" Appearing on the Monday edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe , Dowd predicted that "five years from now" the Morning Joe crew will be gushing about Obama's "brilliant political memoir" but then lamented that they would look back and ask: "Why couldn't he have applied that super-brain to Washington and gotten it to work better?" The following is the relevant exchange as it was aired on the January 21... continue reading
Conservatives have long joked that the national press corps see Barack Obama as the second coming of Jesus Christ. Today, Newsweek – at least what’s left of it, an online product for tablets and e-readers – made it official. Next to a side shot of Obama’s head, the “Inauguration 2013” cover story pronounces: “ The Second Coming .” It’s an article by long-time Newsweek veteran Evan Thomas, who left the magazine after Tina Brown took over from the Washington Post Company and folded the debt-ridden publication into her Daily Beast site. The January 18, 2013-dated online magazine, was posted Friday... continue reading
All three broadcast network evening newscasts on Friday night ran short items on the federal corruption indictments against the bumbling former Mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, but skipped his party affiliation, a fact Reuters considered newsworthy – if not until their sixth paragraph : “Nagin, 56, and a Democrat...” ABC anchor Diane Sawyer generously described Nagin as “the face of Hurricane Katrina...then the Mayor of New Orleans fighting for his city.” On CBS, anchor Scott Pelley conversationally relayed: “We heard today that Ray Nagin, the former Mayor of New Orleans, was indicted on federal corruption charges...” The toughest line... continue reading
It turns out that the Romney campaign was right to claim that Fiat, which owns Chrysler, would be making Jeeps in China instead of America, even though the media disparaged that case at the time with PolitiFact going so far as to declare the ad " Lie of the Year ." According to PolitiFact, the campaign falsely implied the jobs would be outsourced, among other claims. As Reuters reported Thursday: " Fiat (FIA.MI) and its U.S. unit Chrysler expect to roll out at least 100,000 Jeeps in China when production starts in 2014 as they seek to catch up with... continue reading
Anderson Cooper's lone guest to talk guns on Thursday night was the anti-gun New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I), echoing CNN's ridiculous disparity of pro-gun control guests and gun rights advocates on its newscasts. Cooper pitched him a fairly easy interview, first asking, "your impressions of the President's proposals on gun control. Are you happy with them?" He later teed up Bloomberg to bash the NRA. "What do you think of the NRA, of how they have been fighting this?" he questioned. Bloomberg predictably scoffed at the NRA. "I don't think their strategy makes any sense at all. The other... continue reading
CNN's Carol Costello on Friday morning scolded Whole Foods CEO John Mackey for calling ObamaCare "fascism." She also questioned why he was entering the ObamaCare debate at all and lectured him that many of his customers would disagree with his opposition to ObamaCare. "And you realize when you say 'fascism' it brings up Nazi Germany and all sorts of things. And we really want that kind language out of our public forum at the moment, don't we?" Costello admonished Mackey. [Video below. Audio here .] MSNBC host Keith Olbermann decried President Bush as a fascist back in 2008, but CNN... continue reading
On Thursday, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams took time out of the broadcast to provide this supposed "news" update: "First Lady Michelle Obama turned 49 today. But the big news came as the First Lady's office inaugurated a Twitter account and sent out this picture showing the First Lady's new bangs. Which Vanity Fair's website instantly praised, calling them 'featherly,' and tracing their lineage in hair terms to Brigitte Bardot." [ Listen to the audio ] Coverage of the grooming development continued on Friday's Today as White House correspondent Kristen Welker proclaimed: "The buzz over her bangs was immediate... continue reading