Good Morning America's Yunji de Nies on Friday touted Michelle Obama's "five-star," "luxurious" vacation to Spain, skipping any discussion of controversy over the $148,000 trip. In January of 2009, however, the very same program chided Laura Bush for introducing new presidential dinnerware, despite the fact that the bill was being paid by a private organization. De Nies gushed, "They toured the plaza in old Marbella. Cooled off with chocolate gelato and bought matching sun dresses. Michelle and Sasha Obama are making a splash in Spain." News reader Juju Chang vaguely hinted at criticism, allowing, "Michelle Obama may be taking heat... continue reading
"The number that really excited Democrats is three: Think Ginsburg, Sotomayor and Kagan," NBC's Kelly O'Donnell excitedly announced Thursday night while leading into a clip of Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, who exclaimed as he bounced on his heels on the Senate floor: "Three women will serve together on the United States Supreme Court for the first time in our nation's history!" The news equally excited the TV network journalists. "History was made in this country today when the Senate confirmed Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court," declared fill-in NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt as viewers were treated to... continue reading
CNN anchor Rick Sanchez revisited his vendetta against Fox News, Glenn Beck, and Rush Limbaugh on Thursday's Rick's List. Sanchez brought on outgoing Representative Bob Inglis, who lost a primary challenge to a Tea Party-backed Republican candidate, and when he harped about "flamethrowers" on TV and radio, the anchor pressed him on whether he meant the two radio hosts and his network's competitor [audio clips available here ]. Sanchez interviewed Rep. Inglis just before the top of the 4 pm Eastern hour. He introduced the politician by emphasizing the South Carolina Republican's overall conservative record and his recent defeat in... continue reading
While Thursday reports on both ABC's Good Morning America and NBC's Today featured Proposition 8 supporters questioning the impartiality of California Federal Judge Vaughn Walker's decision to strike down the state's referendum defending traditional marriage, CBS's Early Show failed to provide any such arguments. On Good Morning America, correspondent Terry Moran explained: "Opponents of same-sex marriage vowed to fight on and blasted the judge for, they said, letting personal interests trump his legal duty." A clip was played of one Proposition 8 supporter: "The judge has imposed his own agenda upon the voters and the children and the parents of... continue reading
NBC's Today show invited on the reporter, whose Rolling Stone article essentially got General Stanley McChrystal fired, on Thursday's show to complain that the Pentagon denied him an embed because the war in Afghanistan isn't going well. After Today co-anchor Meredith Vieira questioned Michael Hastings for his explanation as to why the Pentagon denied him an embed, Hastings concluded "This is a symptom of essentially the war, and how the war is going...The war has hit its all-time low." This caused Vieira, herself, to cry censorship, as she asked: "Do you think the military is trying to say to reporters,'We... continue reading
On Thursday's Good Morning America, George Stephanopoulos sought out the reaction of liberal Slate correspondent Dahlia Lithwick to discuss Proposition 8. No conservative guest appeared in opposition. Back in November of 2008, in the days after the legislation banning gay marriage passed, GMA also brought on supporters of gay marriage. Stephanopoulos asked Lithwick, the legal correspondent for Slate, to comment on how swing vote Justice Anthony Kennedy might rule in a potential Supreme Court hearing. Lithwick, not exactly using neutral language, responded, " But time after time, [Kennedy's] not just been the fifth vote for anti-discrimination principles. But, he's also... continue reading
In the first voter referendum on ObamaCare, Missourians on Tuesday overwhelmingly (by 71 to 29 percent) backed Proposition C which called upon the state to enact a statute to "deny the government authority to penalize citizens for refusing to purchase private health insurance," an outcome the St. Louis Post-Dispatch described as "rebuking President Barack Obama's administration." On Wednesday night, however, the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts skipped the bad news for President Obama - yet all found time to celebrate his 49th birthday. (The Missouri repudiation of a central tenet of ObamaCare came a day after another setback for... continue reading
The front page of Wednesday's New York edition of the New York Times featured the news that a controversial plan to build a mosque two bocks from Ground Zero was approved by the city's landmarks commission: " Mosque Plan Clears Hurdle In New York - Bloomberg Pleads for Religious Tolerance ." Reporters Michael Barbaro and Javier Hernandez actually led with Mayor Michael Bloomberg's weepy speech about religious tolerance, which falsely asserted that denying permission to build a 13-story Islamic center topped by a mosque would somehow be "denying the very constitutional rights" that New York City police and firefighters died... continue reading
MSNBC News Live guest host Cenk Uygur on Wednesday railed against opposition to gay marriage, asserting that conservatives " fought against women's rights and they lost. They fought against civil rights for blacks and they lost ." He also touted the supposed moral superiority of liberals, lecturing, "This country is fundamentally progressive." [ MP3 audio here.] To bolster this case, Uygur quoted Marting Luther King: "'Cause as a very smart man once said in the middle of another civil rights battle, 'The arc of history bends towards justice.'" Yet, liberals hardly have a spotless record when it comes to human... continue reading
On the Wednesday edition of her self-titled MSNBC show, Andrea Mitchell actually hit a Democratic Senator from the left on tax cuts. Democratic Indiana Senator Evan Bayh appeared on Andrea Mitchell Reports to offer his support to extending the Bush tax cuts as a way to stimulate the economy but a skeptical Mitchell pressed: "Senator, given the deficit and the wealth of the upper class, and the fact that they sit on their money and put it into savings, why give them this tax break?" Bayh went on to tell the NBC correspondent that raising taxes "will lower consumer demand... continue reading