CNN's Piers Morgan provided some honey-tongued flattery for the liberal media's favorite Republican candidate, John Huntsman, on Wednesday. Morgan lauded Huntsman's foreign policy credentials as "very impressive" and blistered the rest of the GOP field as far less competent. "Are you frustrated that you are still lagging in the polls when the credentials that you seem to offer at this very challenging time for America, particularly in the international stage, seem so much more impressive than many of your rivals?" Morgan asked, kissing up to the long-shot Republican. If that wasn't enough of a boon to Huntsman, Morgan then brought... continue reading
A day after Times Watch noted that the New York Times virtually ignored Obama's supposedly 'famous' '57 states' gaffe during the 2008 campaign, reporter Michael Shear rectified that omission, albeit in a story on gaffe-prone GOP candidates, " Flubs Rubbing Some Republicans the Wrong Way ," in Wednesday's paper. The Republican presidential candidates have served comedians a full platter of laughs this year - a steady diet of gaffes, misstatements, puzzled looks and long, awkward pauses. To a remarkable degree, the candidates have turned the cringe-inducing moments to their advantage, asserting that they demonstrate an authenticity different from the slick... continue reading
According to Politico , Barack Obama's "lazy" gaffe is "catching fire," but you wouldn't know that if you got your news from the major networks. The President's remark, made at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference in Hawaii on November 12, that "We've been a little bit lazy" in attracting "new business into America" received a grand total of just 36 seconds on the Big Three (ABC, CBS, NBC) morning and evening news shows. In contrast, Herman Cain's long pause - when answering a question about Libya on November 15 - generated 11 segments on the Big Three networks in just... continue reading
The network morning shows on Thursday took a mostly light-hearted look at clothing company Benetton's ad campaign featuring the Pope kissing a Muslim cleric. The ads, which have now been pulled under legal pressure, were summarized by Good Morning America's Josh Elliott. He parroted, " It was part of Benetton 's Unhate campaign, challenging people to have the courage not to hate ." Elliott described the company's removal of the ad as "bowing to pressure from the Vatican." None of the networks, however, mentioned any possible negativity from Muslims. Only NBC's Today referred to them as "very, very controversial," with... continue reading
CBS's Chris Wragge spotlighted a millionaire's bid to raise taxes on the rich on Thursday's Early Show, all the while omitting that his guest is a big money donor to liberal candidates like Al Franken and to Moveon.org. Wragge didn't bring on any opponents of higher taxes, nor did he play sound bites from them. Instead, he played three clips from proponents, including former Clinton aide Robert Reich. Wragge and co-anchor Erica Hill trumpeted the " so-called patriotic millionaires [who] are begging Congress to raise their taxes " as they teased the segment three different times before it began. Hill... continue reading
ABC's World News on Wednesday and Good Morning America on Thursday both reported on the revelation that Newt Gingrich received almost $2 million while consulting for Freddie Mac over an eight year span. Yet, the network ignored the fact that the company (with a Democratic President) is still giving massive bonuses and will now be asking the federal government for an additional $6 billion. On World News, Jon Karl highlighted only the Gingrich connection, highlighting attacks by Michele Bachmann. Yet, while ABC focused only on this, the CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News also ran full stories on, as... continue reading
As reports started coming out on Wednesday on the search for White House shooting suspect Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, one common detail was mentioned, including in The New York Times : "Late on Friday, the police searched the Occupy DC protest camp...after reports that the suspect might have spent time there." NBC, ABC, and CBS left that fact out of their evening and morning coverage of his arrest. All three network evening news programs made the Wednesday afternoon arrest of Ortega-Hernandez their lead story. NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams proclaimed: "Shots fired at the White House, prompting an urgent manhunt... continue reading
New York Times political reporters Jeff Zeleny (pictured) and Jim Rutenberg teamed up on Tuesday for a preview of the possible presidential head-to-head matchup Obama vs. Mitt Romney: ' As the Primary Campaign Grinds On, Romney's Team Prepares for Obama .' But they felt the need to put a metaphorical finger on the scale with a negative description of the GOP: The easy treatment of Mr. Romney has also allowed him to avoid getting mired in promises to the far right wing of his party that could turn off independent voters in the general election. 'There's a little eye-rolling when... continue reading
The New York Times Sunday Review resembles the hard-left New York Review of Books more and more with every passing week. Formerly the Week in Review, the revamped Sunday Review is lighter on news analysis from liberal Times reporters and heavier on outside essays, often with a hard-left outlook. It's put together by veteran Times man Andrew Rosenthal, who demonstrates his " alarm " about 'right-wing' Republicans at his New York Times blog ' The Loyal Opposition .' This week's target: Ronald Reagan. Yale professor Harold Bloom's long essay, 'Will This Election Be the Mormon Breakthrough?' was devoted mostly to... continue reading
By noon on Wednesday, CNN had already hosted a Wall Street protester and a leftist "community organizer" to talk about the Occupy Wall Street movement. Anchor Suzanne Malveaux then interviewed Van Jones, former Obama-appointee and Marxist, and told him he'd make a "good spokesperson" for the Occupy movement. Van Jones, was Obama's green jobs czar before he was booted for a petition he had signed in 2004 demanding investigations into links Bush may have had to the 9/11 attacks. Jones, along with CNN's other guests, supported Occupy Wall Street. After introducing Jones with a list of his accomplishments, Malveaux gushed... continue reading