On Sunday's NBC Nightly News , anchor Lester Holt touted how President Obama's plan to "propose tax hikes for wealthiest Americans" during Tuesday's State of the Union address would be "potentially putting Congress in the position of appearing to defend the highest income earners over the middle class." Turning to CNBC chief Washington correspondent John Harwood, Holt wondered: "John, will a Republican Congress go along with any of this?" Harwood seized the opportunity cheer Obama's politically posturing: "It's not likely, Lester. But that doesn't mean they aren't important. These proposals and others from both parties in Congress all mark a... continue reading
Good Morning America journalists on Monday eagerly promoted good news for Barack Obama. Co-host George Stephanopoulos hyped an ABC News/ Washington Post survey "showing the President going to a pretty high approval ratings, going up to 50 percent, the highest he's had in 18 months." Jon Karl enthused, "With unemployment down, gas prices lower, Americans feel better about the economy. You know, just three months ago only 27 percent in our poll said that the economy was either excellent or good." He added, "That is the highest level of the Obama presidency." When the news wasn't so rosy for Obama,... continue reading
President Obama is set to give his seventh State of the Union address on Tuesday night and on Monday, January 19, CBS This Morning did its best to give him some free publicity during their preview of the president’s annual speech. CBS reporter Bill Plante hyped President Obama’s tax increase agenda and argued that the goal of his State of the Union “is to put Republicans on the defensive as the party of the rich.” During the segment, Plante did play two soundbites from Republicans who harshly criticized Obama’s latest tax-and-spend proposal, but the CBS reporter surrounded the clips with... continue reading
Tuesday night, Barack Obama delivers his second-to-last State of the Union address, this time as a lame duck President with relatively low approval ratings and facing a Congress entirely controlled by the opposition party. But if history is a guide, he can count on encouraging reviews from many in the establishment media. Back in 2009, when Obama was a popular new President, journalists enthused about his first speech before a joint session of Congress. “He wowed us,” MSNBC’s Chris Matthews exulted. “He began on hope. He ended on hope,” a satisfied George Stephanopoulos declared on ABC. Fast forward to last... continue reading
Monday is Martin Luther King Day, a federal holiday signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1983, and on Sunday morning, ABC’s This Week decided it was the perfect opportunity to scold the Republican over his civil rights record. During the show’s weekly “powerhouse puzzler” segment, guest host Martha Raddatz asked the This Week panel “which president signed a law making MLK’s birthday a national holiday?” The ABC reporter then played a clip from ABC’s report on the signing ceremony in which ABC’s Sam Donaldson proclaimed “the president and Dr. King's widow walking into the Rose Garden together in... continue reading
Barack Obama on Friday conducted an almost hour-long news conference with journalists, but faced no questions on his administration's much-maligned decision not to send a representative to last Sunday's massive anti-terror rally in France. ABC journalist Jon Karl wondered if the President had any thoughts on Mitt Romney possibly running for president again. After a nearly 20 minute preamble, Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron finally got to reporters. After offering up a tough question, Karl lobbed this softball: "If I may, Mr. President, I really like would hear your reaction to the news that Mitt Romney is thinking... continue reading
On Friday, while all three network morning shows covered Secretary of State John Kerry arriving in Paris to offer U.S. condolences following the recent terrorist attacks, none of the broadcasts mentioned one of the most embarrassing moments in American diplomatic history that occurred during the visit – Kerry bringing musician James Taylor to a press conference to sing "You've Got A Friend" to the French people. The bizarre attempt at international damage control – following the Obama administration's failure to have a single top U.S. official attend a anti-terror march in Paris on Sunday – played out while the NBC,... continue reading
On Friday, CBS This Morning reported on news that Duke University had cancelled plans to have a Muslim call-to-prayer projected from the school’s famous bell tower at the Duke Chapel and, while Duke suggested that there were “several factors” that led to the decision, the segment prominently tied it to Rev. Franklin Graham and subsequent threats against them. CBS News correspondent Julianna Goldman fretted that the cancellation came as “students, faculty, and administrators spent months working on a new way to make campus feel more inclusive for its 700 Muslims.” Goldman added that the event was axed “following security threats... continue reading
Former Democratic operative turned journalist George Stephanopoulos on Friday fawned over Jimmy Carter. Though much of the interview with the "heroic" ex-President focused on his humanitarian work, Stephanopoulos also prompted Carter to push his liberal agenda. The politician went on a rant against the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United campaign finance ruling, calling it "the stupidest ruling and the most damaging ruling that the Supreme Court has ever issued." Ever ? Worse than the 1857 Dred Scott case that ruled African Americans to not be citizens? Worse than 1896's Plessy vs. Ferguson, the case that legalized racial segregation? Stephanopoulos offered... continue reading
In an interview with newly elected Colorado Senator Cory Gardner for PBS's Charlie Rose , Bloomberg View columnist Al Hunt grilled the Republican on conservatives in Congress being obstructionist: "Some of your Republican colleagues, Ted Cruz in the Senate, those twenty-four House members who voted against Speaker Boehner, they're not interested in getting things done as much as they are in putting down markers. Isn't it more likely there'll be a series of confrontations rather than any kind of collaboration?" Later in the same interview, Hunt cheered how well the economy was doing but worried the new Republican Congress could... continue reading