While the broadcast networks have generally empathized with the distress of airline passengers over the TSA's new and intrusive airport searches, they have not - thus far, at least - gone so far as to impugn the Obama administration as launching a war against Americans' civil liberties. Indeed, NBC's Matt Lauer on Monday even sympathized with TSA Administrator John Pistole: "I hate to even think of what happens if the government caves in on this, and relaxes these procedures, and someone manages to get something on board a plane and causes harm. Imagine the questions you'll be asked at that... continue reading
On Monday, all three network morning shows eagerly highlighted former First Lady Barbara Bush voicing opposition to a Sarah Palin presidential run while suggesting the former Alaska governor has spent too much time in the public eye. As Harry Smith proclaimed at the top of CBS's Early Show: "It's all Palin all the time. But could the most famous family from Alaska be on the verge of overexposure?" Later on the Early Show, senior White House correspondent Bill Plante noted: "But there are critics. In an interview with Larry King, former First Lady Barbara Bush weighed in on the possibility... continue reading
ABC's Christiane Amanpour on Sunday again gave national U.S. television exposure to a liberal reporter with the London-based Financial Times as she brought Ed Luce, the newspaper's Washington Bureau Chief and former Clinton administration operative, aboard her This Week roundtable. Luce declared the world would react "with deep horror, I think, but also some amusement," to a presidential bid by Sarah Palin and charged Republican opposition to START shows "there's a greater hatred of Obama than there is a love of American national security." Echoing the standard liberal spin about how President Barack Obama just failed to effectively communicate his... continue reading
On Thursday's Fox and Friends, FNC hosts Gretchen Carlson and Steve Doocy gave attention to a University of Virginia study which found that, since Prince William County in Virginia became more strict in dealing with illegal immigrants in 2007, the jurisdiction has enjoyed a substantial drop in crime - including a 32 percent drop in violent crime - while neighboring Fairfax County has seen crime levels remain steady. Introducing an interview with Prince William County board of supervisors chairman Corey Stewart, co-host Doocy began: "Back in 2007, Prince William County in Virginia became the first large jurisdiction in the country... continue reading
On Sunday's syndicated Chris Matthews Show, panel member and former CBS anchor Dan Rather - currently with HDNET - made an over the top metaphor about the Republican Party wanting to "cut out President Obama's heart and throw his liver to the dogs." The panel was having a discussion of the likelihood of gridlock, with substitute moderator Norah O'Donnell asking, "Isn't there some pressure on the Republicans not to deal?" Inspiring hysterical laughter from panel member Katty Kay of the BBC, Rather quipped: "All kinds of pressure, and I think they stated it straightforwardly - some may say it is... continue reading
Appearing as a panel member on Sunday's syndicated Chris Matthews Show, the BBC's Katty Kay suggested that Tea Partiers are willing to go against the "country's interest" rather than to "deal" with President Obama. Kay: "And if there is going to be a wing of the Republican Party that says, do not on any issue, on any case, even on its merits, compromise with the President, it's gonna be the Tea Party. And if the Tea Party is driving the energy in the Republican Party ... Republicans in Congress are going to have to look very carefully at how they... continue reading
Appearing as a guest on Saturday's Huckabee show on FNC, Whoopi Goldberg - co-host of ABC's The View - complained that bloggers disseminate inaccurate information about her without the need to "fact check," and that "they poop on you and they walk away." Goldberg: "But a blogger can say endless stuff. They don't have to fact check. ... And then that is picked up and made into some other story on another station, and it becomes the truth. See, I think fact outweighs assumption. So if you have facts in your hands, then you can talk, then you can have... continue reading
Displaying a clear conflict of interest during Friday's 12PM ET hour on MSNBC, anchor Contessa Brewer did a story promoting electric car charging stations but did not disclose to viewers that the channel's parent company, General Electric, was selling the very same product. GE commercials for the charging stations have frequently aired on MSNBC in recent weeks. Brewer began the segment, a part of NBC-Universal's "Green is Progress" week, by declaring: "Houston, the city known for gas pumps and oil gushers, is getting the nation's largest network of electric car charging stations." The company providing the charging stations was not... continue reading
While most of the country took a collective gasp over the verdict in the trial of al-Qaeda terrorist Ahmed Ghailani, Cenk Uygur spun the disconcerting outcome as a success story for the Obama administration. Anchoring the 3:00 P.M. EDT hour of MSNBC's live news coverage today, the liberal host of "The Young Turks" boldly and bizarrely proclaimed "our justice system worked." After accusing congressional Republicans of being "scared of terrorists," implying that terrorists who want to kill us aren't worth fussing over, Uygur dismissed the notion that acquitting Ghailani on more than 280 charges exposed the shortcomings of trying suspected... continue reading
On Thursday's Parker-Spitzer, CNN's Kathleen Parker bizarrely and inaccurately claimed that Alexander Hamilton came to the United States illegally and drafted the Constitution: "Let's remember... a lot of Americans did come through the back door such as Alexander Hamilton. He got off the boat from the West Indies, and all he did was write the Constitution and become the first Secretary of the Treasury ." Parker raised this false history during a discussion of Pedro Ramirez, Fresno State University's student body president, who was outed as an illegal immigrant by a student newspaper . After playing clips from Ramirez and... continue reading