At the top of Tuesday's CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith proclaimed: "Angry Americans. A new report declares the recession officially over. But many of us are not feeling it. Even taking on the President himself." Later, he seemed to portray the President as a victim: "...a lot of Americans are still suffering its [the recession's] effects, and are taking it out on President Obama." In a report that followed, correspondent Bill Plante noted how "numbers may be going in the right direction" but touted "frustrated" Obama supporters speaking out at a Monday CNBC town hall. In between clips of... continue reading
Interviewing Bill Clinton for Tuesday's Good Morning America, George Stephanopoulos' nine minute segment mostly amounted to a strategy session that was devoid of tough questions. Stephanopoulos stuck to softball comments, such as inquiring of the Clinton Global Initiative. He also speculated how Barack Obama could regain his "gut connection" with the American people. [MP3 audio here .] Some people, if they were interviewing their former boss, might feel an extra responsibility to ask probing, grueling questions. Instead, Stephanopoulos brought up Sarah Palin: "Is she qualified to be president?" He followed up, "What's your gut on that?" The former Democratic operative... continue reading
ABC, CBS and NBC all ran full stories Monday night on how an old video clip showed Delaware Republican Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell talking about how, as a high-schooler, she had "dabbled into witchcraft." CBS, however, used O'Donnell to pivot to marveling at how other Tea Party-affiliated Senate candidates remain viable despite what CBS considers exotic views. "Christine O'Donnell's witchcraft comments may have spooked some Republican leaders," Nancy Cordes related on the CBS Evening News, "but her fellow Tea Party Senate candidates are living prove that unusual assertions are not necessarily campaign killers." Cordes elaborated with some contestable summaries of... continue reading
In selecting which excerpts, from his sit-down with former President Jimmy Carter, to showcase on Monday's NBC Nightly News, Brian Williams began with the not so humble boast from Carter that "I feel that my role as a former President is probably superior to that of other Presidents, primarily because of the activism and the injection of the Carter Center into international affairs," but also decided to highlight Carter's blast at Fox News for "totally distorting everything possible concerning the facts" and having "no regard for the truth." Williams cued up Carter, who is making the rounds of friendly media... continue reading
It seems like every few years there's a new mascot for Team Global Warming. First it was the polar bear, then the Arctic fox and now it's the walrus's turn. On Monday's Today show, Lee Cowan traveled to Point Lay, Alaska to report on how shrinking ice sheets are leaving walruses stranded, in between their feedings, adding: "Much like the polar bear, they can't swim forever." In fact it didn't take long for Cowan to bring up the dreaded specter of global warming as he aired a soundbite of a local tribal president worrying: "I always thought the Arctic would... continue reading
Kate Zernike, New York Times reporter and author of " Boiling Mad ," appeared on C-SPAN's " Washington Journal " September 10 to discuss her book. Around 14 minutes in, a caller argued that the 1968 campaign for president of Southern segregationist governor George Wallace marked the roots of the Tea Party movement. Zernike basically agreed, skipping over concerns about encroaching government and big spending while adding that in the movement there is a feeling of "us vs. them," with "them" being the poor, blacks, and illegal immigrants. Kate Zernike: "Thanks for calling. Actually, you will see, you will find... continue reading
MSNBC News Live host Thomas Roberts on Monday pleaded with his Twitter followers to help get Lady Gaga on his program, at one point hyping the pro-gay rights singer as the "Joan Baez of her time." [MP3 audio here .] In the 11am hour, Roberts, who is openly gay and hosted The Advocate On-Air , explained that he had Tweeted Lady Gaga to come on the air and talk about her appearance in Maine to rally support for overturning Don't Ask Don't Tell. He lobbied, "And I want Gaga to join me. So, I want you to help me. I've... continue reading
CNN contributor John Avlon returned to his consistent theme of bashing conservative on Monday's Newsroom, labeling Delaware Republican Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell the " new queen of the wingnuts ." Avlon also referenced Reason magazine's label of O'Donnell as a " crackpot of the first order " and didn't provide the full context of her 1997 remarks on AIDS. Anchor Kyra Phillips led the 9 am Eastern hour of Newsroom with the Republican's 1999 appearance on ABC's Politically Incorrect where she cited how she "dabbled" in witchcraft as a teenager. After playing a clip from the 11-year-old appearance, Phillips continued... continue reading
A new CNN/Money survey of 31 top economists found a majority of them say the top priority - given the weak state of the economy - is for Congress to extend the Bush tax cuts for all income groups. But talking about this policy recommendation with CNN/Money's Paul La Monica on Monday's American Morning, co-anchor John Roberts rued the conundrum of needing to keep tax rates low for economic reasons - putting "more money in the pockets of people" - while at the same time, because of the "frightening" trillion-dollar deficits, "you've got to bump up your [the government's] revenue... continue reading
NBC's Matt Lauer invited on Jimmy Carter, on Monday's Today, to defend his record and comment on the Tea Party movement as the former President claimed if "all my reforms" had "taken effect" the United States wouldn't be having any energy problems right now and hoped that by 2012 any influence of the Tea Party would be "dissipated." On to promote his new book, White House Diary, Carter also praised the passage of Obamacare but claimed its opponents had "cast it in a very negative light, which it does not deserve." For the most part, Lauer tossed softballs at Carter... continue reading