Appearing on Monday's NBC Today , Obama biographer David Maraniss discussed how after the President was able to "resolve all of these contradictions" in his life, his biggest problem in the White House ha s been the country's failure to be as enlightened: "...why can't Congress, why can't the country? Why is there so much polarization?...he said there's no blue states or red states but the United States. Sort of an attempt on his part to transcend all of that." Substitute co-host and moderator of Meet the Press , David Gregory, began the interview by teeing up the author's sympathetic... continue reading
In an interview with actress Candice Bergen for Thursday's NBC Rock Center , correspondent Harry Smith brought up Bergen's long-running 90's sitcom, proclaiming: "Well you can't talk a bout Murphy Brown and not also say Dan Quayle.... What Vice President Quayle said in a 1992 speech was an attack on the c hara cter Murphy Brown for glorifying single motherhood." A portion of the speech played, with Quayle warning against, "Mocking the importance of fathers by bearing a child alone and calling it just another lifestyle choice." A sound bite followed of Bergen reacting in character on the CBS show:... continue reading
On Friday's World News on ABC, anchor Diane Sawyer cited a recently hyped quote from former Governor Jeb Bush as the Florida Republican theorized that President Ronald Reagan "would be criticized" by Republicans today "for doing some of the things that he did." As Sawyer recalled it, during a piece on former President George H.W. Bush, she asserted: He was raised in privilege, but with a sense of duty and respect for others. From these rocks, the 41st President watches politics from a distance, his son saying neither his father, nor Ronald Reagan, would be accepted by any rigid Republican... continue reading
Appearing on Friday's NBC Today , Meet the Press host David Gregory advised the Obama campaign on how defeat Mitt Romney: "What the President's got to do is say, 'Hey, don't forget about George W. Bush. Things got really, really bad under him.'" [ Listen to the audio ] Co-host Matt Lauer was skeptical: "I hear him saying that all the time....do you think that strategy works, the blame Bush strategy, or do people want you to take ownership of this economy at this stage?" Gregory was undeterred: "...they've got to prevail in providing context. Saying, 'Look, it's not about... continue reading
ABC and NBC on Friday both excitedly touted Barack Obama's "star-studded" celebrity fund-raisers in New York City, gushing over the "Prez in the City." Neither network wondered if $40,000 per plate dinners with millionaire celebrities might make the President seem out of touch, a charge often leveled at Republican Mitt Romney. On Good Morning America , reporter Jon Karl enthused, " Call it Prez in the City , a star-studded, big city Obama fund-raiser at the Manhattan home of Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker." "The A-list evening didn't end there," Karl added, highlighting Obama's follow-up party with... continue reading
Breaking news! Liberal activist Sandra Fluke will be voting for President Obama! CNN thought this announcement not only worthy of a CNN.com op-ed , but hosted Fluke in person for an interview during the 9 a.m. EDT hour of Newsroom on Thursday. Fluke was welcomed on cable news after she was publicly defamed by Rush Limbaugh -- and was published on CNN.com -- and on Thursday CNN's Carol Costello hailed her as the "woman who became the face of the fight over whether insurance plans should cover contraceptives." So the religious organizations who were affected by the HHS birth control... continue reading
While CNN's Soledad O'Brien tossed softballs at Democratic Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles, she was not so kind to her Republican guest during the next hour, on Thursday's Starting Point. O'Brien reported poor poll numbers for both the Romney and Obama campaigns, but went after only the Romney campaign's economic message in detail. O'Brien teed up the Democratic mayor to respond to Romney hitting Obama for wanting more public sector workers. But she posed the same question of Romney advisor Jim Talent, putting him on the defensive, rather than bringing up, say, President Obama's remark that the private sector... continue reading
Interviewing Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of th e liberal Catholic group NETWORK , on her Thursday MSNBC show host Andrea Mitchell touted the organization's effort "to rally opposition to Paul Ryan's proposed health care cuts" with a nationwide "Nuns on the Bus" tour. In part, Campbell ranted that they wa nted to make sure "our nation's soul is not corrupted further by the House Ryan budget." Campbell began by touting Catholic bishops "who also say that the House-passed Ryan budget is actually immoral," and proclaimed that she and her left-wing colleagues, "know how terribly important it is that the... continue reading
Chris Matthews isn't even trying anymore. The liberal anchor on Wednesday went into full Democratic adviser mode. Talking to Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren, he turned an interview into a strategy session, saying of the campaign against Republican Scott Brown: "Let me help you on this, to the extent that I, as a journalist, can help you." Providing an additional contribution, Matthews somehow managed to skip the controversy that's been plaguing Warren's campaign for a month and a half: The fact that she has repeatedly tried to pass herself off as a Native American. (At one point, the Democrat claimed... continue reading
According to ABC News' Matt Negrin, Republicans are "victimizing" and "demonizing" Attorney General Eric Holder. The ABC network has almost completely ignored the growing Fast and Furious scandal, but an online article written by Mr. Negrin put the blame on the GOP. (Negrin mocks the concept of media bias on his Facebook page . See screen cap below.) In fact, it seems Negrin's ABCNews.com article was so biased, the network altered the headline. The original title spewed, "Demonizing Attorney General Eric Holder, GOP Is Fast and Furious." The altered headline reads: "Against Attorney General Eric Holder, GOP Is Fast and... continue reading