Striking a sympathetic tone toward the U.N. ambassador on Wednesday's NBC Nightly News , anchor Brian Williams lamented: "It was another one of those days for Susan Rice.... who again found herself today in the middle of a power struggle between some Republicans on the Hill on one side, and the President..." [ Listen to the audio ] In the report that followed, chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell eagerly described a moment in a recent Obama cabinet meeting: "With Hillary Clinton nodding her approval, the President sent a strong message to Senate Republicans, 'Don't mess with my U.N. Ambassador.'"... continue reading
Good Morning America on Thursday allowed a mere 23 seconds to the latest on Susan Rice's possible Secretary of State nomination and her troubled role in providing false information on the Libya. Yet, the same program devoted over two minutes of the precious 7am half hour, supposedly the time for hard news, to the claim that Bigfoot is "real." [MP3 audio here .] Guest co-host Amy Robach opened the show by enthusing, "Part-human, part-primate. Is Bigfoot real, after all?" Co-anchor George Stephanopoulos hyped "a prominent veterinarian who says she can prove Bigfoot exists and that he's related to all of... continue reading
Following the lead of NBC political director Chuck Todd lamenting House Republican committee chairs being "all white men ," on Wednesday's Nightly News , anchor Brian Williams similarly declared: "...the GOP is dealing with the issue of optics and diversity in politics. Getting a lot of coverage, of the congressional committee chairs selected thus far for the next Congress, they are all white males." [ Listen to the audio ] Williams briefly noted the reason: "The leadership points out they were all selected for a reason, including seniority." He then proceeded to shill for the Democrats: "...on their side of... continue reading
Norah O'Donnell and Charlie Rose tossed softball questions at Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar on Wednesday's CBS This Morning on the looming fiscal cliff, just two days after they hounded Republican Senator Bob Corker on the same issue. Rose casually mentioned to Senator Klobuchar how " the President believes you can't get there by deduction. You have to raise [tax] rates. Is that your view? " O'Donnell merely asked, " Is this posturing on the fiscal cliff, or is there real work being done? What's your sense? " By contrast, Rose tried to get Senator Corker to " forgo the [anti-tax... continue reading
In an exchange with MSNBC Harball host Chris Matthews on Wednesday's NBC Today , co-host Savannah Guthrie pondered the possibility that U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice lied about Benghazi: "...should she have been more direct that the information she was providing to the American people was at that point, not just preliminary, but incomplete? I guess the bottom line is, did she mislead?" Matthews replied by wondering: "...was she a flack...just out there mouthing the words that somebody told you, or is she a thoughtful cabinet minister – to be a potential cabinet minister?" He then laid the blame entirely on... continue reading
Good Morning America's reporters on Wednesday continued to fret about the fate of Susan Rice, lamenting the GOP "buzz saw" the UN Ambassador ran into on Tuesday. ABC's Martha Raddatz hyped all the pressing issues in the world as a possible reason to just confirm the potential Secretary of State nominee quickly. Martha Raddatz worried, "You have got Iran that is trying to acquire a nuclear weapon. You have got North Korea. There's satellite photos just out showing that North Korea would like to test another long-range ballistic missile." She then reminded that this is "such a critical time in... continue reading
Taking a gratuitous shot at Republicans at the end of his Wednesday MSNBC show, The Daily Rundown , NBC political director Chuck Todd insisted on making this declaration: "By the way, though, all of the committee chairs in the House Republican conference....All white men....Picture of the party's potential problems." [ Listen to the audio ] Todd, who is himself a white man, was reacting to Democratic strategist Karen Finney making a "shameless plug" for the number of women elected to Congress, who she hoped would bring "a little bit of sanity to the process." As Todd hit the House GOP,... continue reading
On Tuesday's CBS This Morning , Norah O'Donnell hounded popular Christian pastor Rick Warren over his support of defining marriage as being between one man and one woman. O'Donnell quoted the second greatest commandment of Christianity - " love thy neighbor as thyself " - to Warren as she asked, " Why do you oppose same-sex marriage? " When the Saddleback Church senior pastor affirmed that he was " in favor of not redefining marriage ," the anchor used the current trend in polls towards approval of such unions to lobby her guest to change his views: O'DONNELL: John McCain's... continue reading
CNN kept pushing for Republicans to abandon Grover Norquist and his anti-tax hike pledge on Monday evening. Piers Morgan belittled Norquist and ostracized him from the debate over tax hikes. " Why are you so concerned about protecting the vast wealth of America's small percentage of increasingly rich people? Why do you care?" Morgan pressed Norquist, adding, " Everyone laughing at you from afar. " [Video below. Audio here .] After quoting Warren Buffett's call for higher tax rates, Morgan openly agreed with Buffett. "I mean he's absolutely right, isn't he?" he told Norquist. "But Grover, only you in America... continue reading
Anti-tax activist Grover Norquist has suddenly become liberal Public Enemy #1 as the media pressures Republicans to accede to rising taxes. Frank Bruni devoted one of his excessively personal New York Times columns Tuesday to demonizing Norquist: " Is Grover Finally Over? " The text box: " Pledges are for purists, who have no place in a democracy ." Is that how the paper feels about regulatory activists like Ralph Nader? I once took a long train ride with Grover Norquist. This wasn’t intentional. We found ourselves next to each other on the line to board an Acela from Washington,... continue reading