On Monday's NBC Today , political director Chuck Todd analyzed the state of the presidential race following a series of new national polls showing a slight Romney lead: "Well, look, the first debate really did sort of shift things....the numbers I've seen, and in talking to both campaigns, something shifted fundamentally." However, only four days earlier, on Thursday's Today , Todd argued the debate was "not as helpful to Romney as he might have hoped," leading co-host Savannah Guthrie to conclude: "Alright, so the debate had maybe not as much of an impact." That was as the ABC and CBS... continue reading
Good Morning America's Jake Tapper on Sunday actually raised the issue of media bias, highlighting that Mitt Romney operatives " generally think that the media is in the tank for President Obama ." [See video below. MP3 audio here .] Some of Tapper's colleagues on ABC have given Republicans good reason to believe this. The journalist was responding to weekend GMA anchor Dan Harris's question about whether the "stage may now be set for an Obama comeback narrative." Tapper replied, "absolutely" and added, "So, yes, they [Team Romney] think that, without question, the media is ready to write the Obama... continue reading
In an obituary for former Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter on Sunday's NBC Nightly News , correspondent Kelly O'Donnell summarized his shift in political allegiance this way: "Specter's views, supporting abortion rights, immigration reform, and gun control, made him too liberal for the Tea Party movement...Under assault, he bolted to the Democratic Party." Introducing O'Donnell's report, anchor Lester Holt declared Specter to be "a longtime voice of moderation in Washington, and at times a figure of controversy." As evidence of Specter's controversial nature, O'Donnell cited him questioning the credibility of Anita Hill during a 1991 Supreme Court hearing: "Specter angered many... continue reading
With New York Times political reporter Jeff Zeleny sitting next to her on the Fox News Sunday set, radio host Laura Ingraham demanded: “I would hope that the New York Times , as they camped outside of Scooter Libby’s house, during the whole Valerie Plame thing -- are you guys camped out of the Susan Rice residence?” After reciting the administration’s dissembling, she concluded: “This is ridiculous and I think the press is partly culpable here.” Zeleny avoided her point and instead contended Mitt Romney has an opening at the next debate to question President Obama, conceding Obama “hasn’t really... continue reading
A week ago Sunday morning, St. Louis Post-Dispatch readers awoke to the newspaper’s presidential endorsement editorial, “ Obama for president: A second term for a serious man .” Yet it was very hard to take the editorial seriously. “Ideologically, the P-D is similar to the New York Times , but it’s so knuckleheaded that it almost makes the Times look sophisticated,” the Wall Street Journal ’s James Taranto observed the next day, passing along how “we had some good laughs at the P-D ’s editorial yesterday endorsing Obama’s re-election.” The October 7 editorial maintained: “To expect Barack Obama to have... continue reading
Bill Maher likes to deride conservatives for living “inside a bubble” where they consume news from only those with whom they agree and so are unaware of the “facts,” but he could just as well be describing the insular world of himself or others in the liberal media. Case in point: An NPR and Washington Post contributor who spends her days reading left-wing magazines and watching MSNBC, to the exclusion of any conservative news sources, so much so that she conceded: “My 14-year-old daughter can rattle off the entire MSNBC line-up, so that should tell you something about our household... continue reading
On Friday afternoon, Joe Biden lived up to his reputation for committing gaffes, not even a day after Paul Ryan zinged the Vice President over how "sometimes the words don't come out of your mouth the right way" during Thursday's debate. At a rally in La Crosse, Wisconsin, Biden claimed Planned Parenthood " under law cannot perform any abortions ." In reality, the organization is the largest abortion racket in the country. Hours later, none of the Big Three's Friday evening newscasts had covered Biden's patently false claim. But just two days earlier, these programs devoted a combined five minutes... continue reading
The Biden-Ryan vice-presidential debate Thursday night brought out the media's "fact check" squads, including the New York Times , which had a squad of reporters evaluating the statements of Joe Biden and Paul Ryan online during the debate. Still, with perhaps 15 reporters on the job Thursday night, the paper still had to out-source a crucial Biden misstatement on Libya to the one-man fact-check machine at the Washington Post , Glenn Kessler, the next morning. The Times boiled down a few of its findings for Friday's print edition under " Check Point " on topics including Medicare, the stimulus, and... continue reading
Adopting Obama campaign talking points that Mitt Romney has dramatically shifted positions, on Friday's NBC Today , co-host Matt Lauer asked Donald Trump: "Are you happy with the Romney campaign right now? In the last couple of weeks he has clearly moved toward the center, way closer to the center than he was during the primaries and the early part of the campaign. His comments on abortion out in Ohio." [ Listen to the audio ] Trump dismissed any concerns: "I think he's doing amazingly. It started with the debate. We were all a little bit worried for a while... continue reading
Good Morning America's Jon Karl on Friday touted Joe Biden's performance at the vice presidential debate, hyping that the Vice President brought up Mitt Romney's "infamous" comments about the 47 percent who don't pay income taxes. Karl concluded that Biden was "often dominant," but "maybe a little too dominant." Contrasting Barack Obama's weak performance with the tone of the VP, Karl marveled, " Unlike the President, Biden slammed Ryan over Romney's infamous comments about the 47 percent of Americans who don't pay income taxes " MP3 audio here .] If the remarks are "infamous," it's because journalists such as ABC's... continue reading