Bob Schieffer all but broke out the death certificate for Mitt Romney's campaign on Tuesday's CBS Evening News and Wednesday's CBS This Morning , emphasizing the negative impact of the secretly-recorded videos released by the left-wing magazine Mother Jones: " I just can't think of anything that he could have said that could have hurt his cause more than what he said ." Schieffer claimed that " this was just an extraordinary moment ," and later added that " it would seem to confirm the perception that a lot of people have , and it seems to confirm the image... continue reading
On Wednesday's NBC Today , correspondent Michael Isikoff offered a congratulatory puff piece on the man who helped release a hidden camera video of Mitt Romney: "[It] became public as a result of some dogged sleuthing by a partisan political researcher with a very personal interest in the election.... James Carter IV, who helped out it, is basking in the afterglow, receiving fresh job offers from liberal bloggers and a high-five e-mail from his grandfather, former President Jimmy Carter." [ Listen to the audio ] The headline on screen throughout the report read: "'Poetic Justice'; Jimmy Carter's Grandson Helped Expose... continue reading
On Tuesday night, the journalists at ABC continued to hype a "secret video" of Mitt Romney in the most hyperbolic terms. World News anchor Diane Sawyer went so far as to call it a "political earthquake" and a "seismic day." The anchor excitedly began the show by teasing, "...Caught on tape. New moments from the secret video of Governor Romney talking to his rich donors about a lot of American voters." She wondered if Romney would be able to "limit the damage." [MP3 audio here. ] In the video, Romney talked about the 47 percent of Americans who don't pay... continue reading
In an interview with Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday's NBC Today , co-host Savannah Guthrie teed up the liberal congresswoman to rip into Mitt Romney over a hidden camera video of him at a fundraiser: "Republicans and Democrats have criticized him for it. I'm sure Democrats view it as a gift from above, but do you think with the big issues facing our country, this is something that should be a substantive part of our campaign?" [ Listen to the audio ] Predictably, Pelosi was eager for the topic to be an issue in the presidential race:... continue reading
The MRC is showcasing the most egregious bias we have uncovered over the years — four quotes for each of the 25 years of the MRC, 100 quotes total — all leading up to our big 25th Anniversary Gala next week. Click here for articles recounting the worst of 1988 through 2004 . Today, the worst bias of 2005 : NBC’s Brian Williams equates America’s Founding Fathers with the zealots running Iran; ex- New York Times editor Howell Raines goes on a post-Katrina rant about the human carnage caused by the Bush administration’s “churchgoing populism,” and Ted Turner tries to... continue reading
NBC and CBS felt compelled Tuesday night to fact check Mitt Romney’s assertion “47 percent of Americans pay no income tax” and both had to acknowledge his accuracy, but then tried to undermine Romney’s point. Noting the statistic had become “Tea Party mantra,” NBC’s Andrea Mitchell allowed “it’s true that approximately 47 percent of Americans do not pay federal income taxes, as Mitt Romney said, but,” she quickly added, “not because they are living off of the 53 percent.” Over on CBS, Anthony Mason relayed how “Roberton Williams with the non-partisan Tax Policy Center says, to be precise, 46.4 percent... continue reading
After CNN pounded away at the latest media-manufactured Mitt Romney gaffe, CNN's Brooke Baldwin remarked on Tuesday that the campaign faces a "tsunami" of "myriad issues." "Can they right this?" she questioned the Romney campaign's ability to weather the media storm, adding that they face "a tsunami, if you add up the myriad issues within the campaign." Baldwin was interviewing GOP strategist Chip Saltsman, who interestingly enough implicated the liberal media in his words without actually calling out the media for their bias. "[S]ince the convention, it's been one after the other after the other. And obviously this is a... continue reading
In an interview on CNN's Starting Point, Romney Campaign adviser Bay Buchanan gave an "indictment" of the media for paying more attention to a statement by a candidate than the foreign policy of the sitting President. "That's an indictment on the media, Soledad, that they would think that some little comment by the candidate is more important than a policy, an entire foreign policy of the President of the United States," said Buchanan. And CNN's Anderson Cooper proved that argument true as he led his show the previous night with tape of Romney and not a report that the U.S... continue reading
Just how bad is the media's track record this election season? On Monday, CNN's Anderson Cooper led his show with a manufactured Mitt Romney controversy instead of news that the U.S. may have had advance warning on deadly terrorist attacks. Here's how Cooper started his show: "On Libya, late word on what American diplomats may have been told about the threat from Muslim extremists, terrorists, just three days before the attack that killed four Americans in Benghazi. We're going to have that, but first, what could be a campaign blockbuster, what Mitt Romney said to big money donors about President... continue reading
In a bizarre display, Chris Matthews began his show on Tuesday by singing "If I Were a Rich Man" as a way of mocking Mitt Romney for being wealthy. [See video below. MP3 audio here .] Chris Matthews makes an annual salary of $5 million dollars. Matthews opened the program by announcing, "Let me start tonight" by singing a selection from Fiddler on the Roof . Highlighting a leaked video of Romney at a private fund-raiser, he then derided, "It's one thing to be rich and have the majority of voters convinced you're out to help the rich. Is there... continue reading