After a Wednesday New York Times story gushed over the "indelible image" of a boy touching President Obama's hair in 2009, Friday's NBC Today dutifully promoted the pro-Obama fluff as co-host Savannah Guthrie declared: "...that photograph has gone viral online.... the boy asked President Obama if he had hair just like his own. The President said yes, then bent over and invited the then-5-year-old boy to see for himself saying, quote, 'Touch it, dude.'" [ Listen to the audio ] Guthrie's report prompted laughter throughout the morning show studio. She then turned to her fellow co-hosts and warned: "But don't... continue reading
Appearing as a guest on Thursday's Piers Morgan Tonight , actress and comedienne Ali Wentworth brought up "reproduction rights" and Planned Parenthood as issues she is concerned about when host Piers Morgan turned the discussion to politics and what American women will be looking for in the presidential election. Wentworth began her answer by flippantly referring to her anatomy: Well, first of all, I would like my vagina to be taken off the table in politics. After she and host Morgan joked about her explicit choice of words, she added: I have a hard time with reproduction rights being in... continue reading
On Thursday's Piers Morgan Tonight , during an interview with Obama supporter and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, host Piers Morgan declared that he was "absolutely thrilled" when President Obama promised to close Guantanamo Bay, and showed disappointment that Obama "broke that promise." Morgan further complained that Guantanamo Bay is "an institution I believe flies in the face of everything American justice has ever stood for." Last month, Morgan had previously described himself as "quite disappointed" because Obama did not close Guantanamo. On Thursday's show, the CNN host went on to ask "why should we believe him" when President Obama makes... continue reading
In February of 2008, NewsBusters first highlighted MSNBC’s Chris Matthews oozing “I felt this thrill going up my leg” while listening to a speech by Barack Obama. Conservatives reminding him of it has certainly annoyed Chris Matthews ever since, so much so that he lashed out at C-SPAN’s Steve Scully, sinking to including the non-profit cable network’s senior executive producer as amongst the “jackasses” who dare to ask him about his infamous Obamagasm moment. The confirmation of Matthews’ incredibly thin skin came Tuesday at a panel session during the National Cable and Telecommunications Association’s convention in Boston. “I hope you... continue reading
Unsatisfied with Tony Perkins' explanation of his opposition to same-sex marriage, CNN's Brooke Baldwin flat-out asked him why homosexuals "bother" him "so much," on Thursday afternoon. Apparently for CNN, opposing same-sex marriage is the same bigotry. "[Y]ou've never been to a home of a same-sex couple. Why do homosexuals bother you so much?" she asked her "personal" question. Perkins brushed off the loaded question saying "They don't bother me," but Baldwin looked surprised and followed up on it. [Video below. Audio here .] "But if they don't bother you, then why shouldn't they have the same right to get married?"... continue reading
CNN's Soledad O'Brien spun Mitt Romney's words into a dodging-the-question moment for the candidate on the matter of Bain Capital, on Thursday's Starting Point. O'Brien was emphasizing Romney's "reluctance" to mention his days at Bain, which had been the focus of attack ads from the Obama campaign that O'Brien herself justified the other day. Specifically, she took Romney's interview with Time magazine where he was asked if he welcomed attention about Bain. Romney had answered "of course" and then explained why the American people were more interested in President Obama's record. CNN, however, left out that explanation. Romney did also... continue reading
Apparently at CNN, the phrase "Republicans are the problem" is not challenged, but encouraged. On Thursday's The Situation Room, host Wolf Blitzer simply tossed softballs to GOP-bashing Norm Ornstein, who had hit the party before as "extreme" and "unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence, and science." Ironically, Blitzer was three weeks behind schedule as Ornstein and co-author Thomas Mann penned their critical Washington Post op-ed in late April and were welcome guests on NPR and PBS shortly after. Could he possibly have responded to Media Matters slapping the media for ignoring the two "well-respected, centrist political commentators"? Regardless, Blitzer... continue reading
CBS This Morning stood out as the only Big Three network morning show on Thursday to cover a conservative group's allegation that the Obama administration gave a movie director and writer " special access to government officials involved in the commando operation that killed Osama bin Laden ," as reported by Reuters on Wednesday. ABC's Good Morning America and NBC's Today ignored the story. Correspondent Chip Reid outlined that "the documents...obtained by Judicial Watch, a conservative government watchdog group...reveal that director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal... met with top national security officials; gained access to Seal Team 6; and... continue reading
Following a report on Wednesday's NBC Nightly News about the dropping value of Facebook's initial public stock offering and possible investigations into what went wrong, anchor Brian Williams saw an opportunity to adopt the talking points of the left-wing Occupy Wall Street movement: "Is this a case of the rich get richer, another advantage to the 1%...?" Williams posed that question to New York Times reporter and CNBC host Andrew Ross Sorkin, who enthusiastically added to the class warfare rhetoric: "Boy does it feel that way, Brian. This is that and probably a lot more. And it couldn't come at... continue reading
Roger Ailes was right. Earlier this week, the Fox News president made waves by asserting that Jon Stewart confessed to being a "socialist" while the two were in a bar once. Outlets such as Huffington Post and Mediaite reported the story as an accusation or an open question. It isn't. Appearing on CNN in the year 2000, the comic openly explained his ideology. After a caller on the December 15, 2000 Larry King Live asked about being objective, Stewart conceded, " I think I would say I'm more of a socialist or an independent ." He added, "No one would... continue reading