BiasAlerts

In a panel discussion on Wednesday's NBC Today, committed liberal and advertising executive Donny Deutsch denounced critics of Chrysler's Super Bowl ad: "Republicans should be quiet because by saying this is a Barack ad, you're saying this is America the beautiful, America is on its way back....They're looking like fools." Moments later, Deutsch admitted the ad touted an Obama accomplishment: "And by the way, Barack did make the move to save the auto industry. Like him or not, that's a fact." Earlier in the discussion, attorney Star Jones expressed the same sentiment: "The truth hurts. I mean, if, in fact,... continue reading

CNN host Randi Kaye was eager to provide same-sex marriage supporters with a stately platform on Wednesday afternoon. In her interview of the plaintiffs in the case to overturn California's ban on same-sex marriage (Proposition 8), she asked them first about their wedding plans. "Are there some wedding plans now in the works for the two of you, or do you see this as just another round in a very long fight?" she gleefully asked. Then Kaye teed them up again with this softball question: "Are you considered heroes by those who support same-sex marriage? What are you hearing from... continue reading

Hocking his new novel on Wednesday's NBC Today, author Josh Bazell launched into a rant against the GOP and Rick Santorum specifically: "If I were to create a character who, say, had been the senator from Pennsylvania...get up at a debate and say that global warming was a hoax and that we had to change the Constitution to limit the rights of gay people. No one would believe that." [ Listen to the audio ] Bazell, son of NBC medical correspondent Robert Bazell, further proclaimed: "And if I said then, you know, that the entire Republican establishment sat quietly through... continue reading

Even Chris Matthews, who famously gushed about the " thrill " Barack Obama gave his leg, is troubled by the President's "frightening" decision to force Catholic charities to provide birth control through health care. Discussing the issue on Tuesday's Hardball, the host sputtered, "...How can you make the [religious] teacher pay for birth control without losing their authority, their moral authority?" Matthews didn't seem sure how to broach the subject. Talking to E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post and Susan Milligan of U.S. News and World Reports , he warned, " It gets to that interesting point to me, which... continue reading

Sorry, Founders: The 'terse and old' U.S. Constitution has been ruled out of date by Supreme Court reporter Adam Liptak for failing to provide such 'rights' as free health care. Liptak made the front of Tuesday's New York Times 'Side Bar' news analysis, ''We the People' Loses Followers ,' the paper's most e-mailed and viewed news story of the morning. Liptak arrives at his judgment via a new study by two law professors. The analysis, at least after being filtered through Liptak's coverage, seems to hew to the liberal ideology of the Constitution as a 'living document,' (i.e. whatever a... continue reading

Even when told that paying for birth control would violate the consciences of certain religious organizations, CNN's Soledad O'Brien wondered why the groups still shouldn't have to cover contraceptives for interested employees. O'Brien cited statistics from the abortion-supportive Guttmacher Institute showing that even the vast majority of Catholic women use birth control. She then asked why so many shouldn't have the option to pursue such practices, regardless of what the Catholic Church teaches. "But a lot of their employees aren't Catholic, right?" O'Brien asked of Catholic schools and hospitals. She said of the HHS mandate, "ultimately isn't that giving an... continue reading

CBS This Morning on Tuesday led its broadcast with the Obama re-election campaign's decision on Monday night to reverse its opposition to super PAC fundraising. Charlie Rose teased the report by noting how " the White House ... flip-flops on controversial super PAC donations ." ABC's Jake Tapper used the same term on Good Morning America. NBC's Today show completely ignored this breaking development. During his report on the CBS morning show, correspondent Bill Plante highlighted President Obama's " denunciation of that Supreme Court decision which allowed unlimited fundraising " and played a clip from his 2010 State of the... continue reading

ABC broke its network silence on Tuesday morning, finally offering a report on the Obama administration's decision to force religious organizations to provide birth control in their health care plans. CBS again skipped the subject. On NBC's Today , Andrea Mitchell admitted that the action has " even touched a nerve with some liberal Democrats ." [MP3 audio here .] While Mitchell underlined the political danger the President is facing in swing states as a result of angering Christians, she softened the blow by making sure to note, "...Surveys indicate that most Catholics believe they can be good members of... continue reading

After finally deciding to actually cover the controversy swirling around the Obama administration's attempt to force Catholic institutions to pay for birth control in health insurance plans, NBC's Today on Tuesday ( which ran a full story from Andrea Mitchell ) also brought on leftist MSNBC host Rachel Maddow to dismiss all legitimate opposition to the move as a "pretty far-right perspective" and "an extension of anti-abortion politics." [ Listen to the audio ] While co-host Matt Lauer began by wondering if President Obama had "miscalculated on the issue," he quickly seized on Maddow's supposed "logic" on the topic: "...you... continue reading