On Monday's NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer actually used the President's own past statements about Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan to grill deputy Obama campaign manager Stephanie Cutter: "President Obama said this of Paul Ryan, that he was 'absolutely sincere about wanting to reduce the deficit'...gave him 'credit for at least being willing to put out there some very tough choices.' Does he still feel that way?" [ Listen to the audio ] Cutter attempted to rely on the usual Democratic fearmongering, accusing Ryan of a plan "that balances the budget on the backs of the middle class." Lauer... continue reading
On Monday's CBS This Morning , Bob Schieffer again forwarded the liberal talking point that GOP vice presidential apparent Paul Ryan's budget plan would drastically cut federal spending. Schieffer claimed, " There's some really tough stuff in there. I mean, he really slashes into social programs ...it's across the board – in order to try to get this budget back into balance." Ryan's proposal actually increases spending , but at a lower rate than President Obama's plan. The Face the Nation host also touted what former Democratic Rep. David Obey said about Rep. Ryan: " I just can't imagine why... continue reading
Good Morning America anchor George Stephanopoulos on Monday kicked off the program by tagging Paul Ryan as " the former prom king that once drove the Weinermobile ." The ex-Democratic operative turned TV host also authoritatively declared that "the White House is actually pretty pleased by the choice of Paul Ryan because they do see him as a target." (What else would they say? Would the campaign admit to being scared of the Republican?) [See MP3 audio here .] Reporter David Muir continued the media's false narrative about the Ryan plan: "Ryan is known in the political world for his... continue reading
Hoping to define vice presidential pick Paul Ryan early with liberal talking points, on Monday's NBC Today, correspondent Peter Alexander painted the Wisconsin congressman as "the architect of a politically polarizing budget plan to slash trillions in federal funding, including cuts to Medicare..." [ Listen to the audio ] Alexander began his report by offering this description of Ryan: "To Republicans, Ryan is viewed as a conservative, a courageous and visionary conservative. To Democrats, his views are seen as extreme." At the top of the show, co-host Matt Lauer only saw problems for Republicans and advantages for Democrats with the... continue reading
Minutes after Paul Ryan was introduced as Mitt Romney's vice presidential nominee, Saturday, a sour Andrea Mitchell dismissed the choice: " This is not a pick for suburban moms. This is not a pick for women." Playing off the GOP congressman's first speech as the presumptive nominee, Mitchell lectured, "I think that you're going to see that they [Team Romney] have decided that this is a base election." The liberal anchor for MSNBC worried that Ryan was "talking about what the base wants to hear." [MP3 audio here .] She said of his speech: "He talked about rights coming from... continue reading
As she subsitute hosted CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday, Nancy Cordes managed to avoid bringing up the controversial Obama super PAC ad that blames Mitt Romney for the death of a man's wife, even though Obama advisor Stephanie Cutter was a guest in the first segment. By contrast, George Stephanopoulos on ABC's This Week and and David Gregory on NBC's Meet the Press both raised the issue as Obama advisor David Axelrod appeared as a guest on both shows. On This Week , Stephanopoulos posed: One other issue this week before you go, this ad controversy this week, a... continue reading
Advancing a false narrative about how the wealthy are paying a lower tax rate than the middle class, CBS Bob Schieffer used his 60 Minutes session with the Republican ticket to push Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan to agree “fairness” means the rich should pay higher taxes. “A lot of people,” Schieffer contended, “think corporations and rich people are getting all these breaks and they’re getting stuck with paying the bills. They see some of the wealthiest paying the lowest tax rates. How are you going to fix that?” Schieffer next insisted: “Doesn’t fairness dictate that the wealthiest people should... continue reading
It's laughable when CNN's Erin Burnett claims to police "sandbox" politics when she covers for Obama like she did Thursday. Like her colleague Brooke Baldwin did earlier , she stood by the Obama spin that he "compromised" with Catholics on the birth control mandate and attacked a Mitt Romney ad accusing him of waging "war on religion." "[T]o say this President is waging a war on religion, I mean, the man goes to church. That's ridiculous," Burnett complained. "That ad does not add up," she stated, adding it "seems to be at best simplistic and at worst just wrong." And... continue reading
On a special Saturday edition of Hardball , MSNBC host Chris Matthews twice claimed that Republican Rep. Paul Ryan's budget "screws" needy people. During a segment with Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen, as he asked what it was like to work with Rep. Ryan as his colleague, the MSNBC host asserted that the plan "really screws the people who desperately need Medicare and programs like that." Speaking to Rep. Van Hollen, Matthews posed: You sit next to this guy with a totally different philosophy. What does he say when you whisper to him, when he comes out with his budget... continue reading
Previewing the choice of Paul Ryan as the GOP vice presidential candidate, the ABC, CBS and NBC morning shows all used Democratic framing to describe the House GOP budget plan that Ryan championed as a plan to, as CBS’s Bob Schieffer put it, “ cut more than $5 trillion over the next ten years .” ABC’s Bianna Golodryga passed along the demagogic rhetoric of liberals: “ Democrats, meantime, contest that it will destroy Medicare and Social Security. ” But Ryan’s plan would actually increase federal spending over the next ten years, from about $3.6 trillion this year to just under... continue reading