Another sycophantic book about President Barack Obama, another showcasing of it by NBC News. Five weeks after three NBC News shows featured David Remnick to promote 'The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama,' Friday's NBC Nightly News aired a first-person recitation, from Newsweek's Jonathan Alter, of a laudatory anecdote about Obama told to him by self-interested members of Obama's staff and contained in Alter's new book, 'The Promise: President Obama, Year One.' (Earlier in the day, Alter was provided with a friendly forum on the Today show .) "We have a preview tonight of exclusive reporting about the... continue reading
In a Friday article for Yahoo! News , reporter John Cook revealed FBI documents that detail allegations that former CBS Evening News anchor Walter Cronkite offered CBS News resources to transport fierce Vietnam critic and Democratic Maine Senator Edmund Muskie to a Florida anti-war rally in November of 1969. (h/t TVNewser ) According to Cook, the FBI files describe how "Cronkite encouraged students at Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla., to invite Maine Sen. Edmund Muskie to address a protest they were planning....Cronkite told the group's leader that Muskie would be nearby for a fundraiser on the day of the... continue reading
Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos on Friday cited a new poll and marveled to viewers that Barack Obama " is largely escaping blame for his handling of the [oil spill] crisis ." Reporter Jake Tapper discussed the government's reaction to the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. He proclaimed, "[Obama] is said to be angry and disappointed, not just at the delay, not just the fact that there are obviously steps that could be taken to help prevent this, but he's very disappointed about the finger-pointing that went on between all the corporations involved." Stephanopoulos, a former Democratic operative turned... continue reading
If Jonathan Alter's interview segment, on Friday's Today show with NBC's Meredith Vieira, is any indication of what to expect from his new book on the Obama presidency, readers should not look forward to an insightful, hard-hitting treatment of the President as the Newsweek columnist praised Obama as not "a phony" who has a "psychological health to him." On to plug his book, The Promise, Alter - after being cued up by Vieira to explain why Obama's approval ratings remain "strong" in a new NBC News poll - boiled it down to his bringing an "authenticity" and "thoughtfulness" to his... continue reading
The night after two major national polls confirmed overwhelming majorities support Arizona's impending immigration enforcement statute ( 59 percent per Pew and 64 percent per NBC/WSJ ), CBS and ABC promoted the cause of activists in the minority. Both devoted full stories to the "uproar" and "emotional civil war" over the law and moves by a few liberal local government bodies to enact boycotts, only getting late in their stories to those who like the law. The Thursday night stories were pegged to a boycott vote by the Democratic city council of Los Angeles, but CBS's Bill Whitaker and ABC's... continue reading
On Wednesday's Dylan Ratigan Show on MSNBC, host Dylan Ratigan didn't see any point to continuing the war in Afghanistan and slammed military air strikes against terrorist targets as: "kids with joysticks in New Jersey and Las Vegas dropping predator bombs on civilians willy-nilly." [Audio available here ] Ratigan began a panel discussion on Afghanistan with Democratic strategist David Goodfriend and Republican strategist Brent Littlefield by wondering: "Is there anybody in this administration on either side that can actually justify the American presence in Afghanistan at this point?" Littlefield attempted to explain: "we had the previous president, took the country... continue reading
Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos on Thursday appeared frustrated that perceived successes by Barack Obama have failed to help his own party. The former Democratic operative turned journalist interviewed current Democratic operative James Carville and complained, "You know, you've seen over the last month health care passes. Jobs are being created. The President has an arms control agreement with the Russians." Stephanopoulos added, " Yet, nothing seems to move these [poll] numbers ." Back on March 1, 2010 , the morning show host was more hopeful. He repeated liberal talking points about the effect passing health care would have: "...The... continue reading
MSNBC reporter Andrea Mitchell on Wednesday actually expressed some journalistic outrage over a White House PR video disguised as an interview, deriding the administration for "crossing a number of lines when it comes to journalism." An irritated Mitchell highlighted a video on the White House website that features Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan. [Audio available here .] Most other media outlets have ignored this story. Mitchell, however, complained to reporter Kelly O'Donnell: "But, the White House has gone overboard, I think some would suggest, in terms of the control of all of this." Attacking the "pseudo interview," Mitchell mocked, "... continue reading
NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd seemed astonished by how a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll confirmed solid agreement with Arizona's immigration enforcement law - "a whopping 64 percent support the law," Todd marveled, "and we read them the law verbatim exactly as it's been written" and still, he repeated, "64 percent approve of it." NBC also treated as surprising the majority backing for racial profiling to prevent terrorism, while Todd didn't mention what NBC's polling partner, the Wall Street Journal, found most newsworthy. Lead of the WSJ.com post: Republicans have solidified support among voters who had drifted from... continue reading
On CBS's Sunday Morning, correspondent Mark Phillips described the latest adaptation of the Robin Hood legend by director Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe: "And so here is an evil King John, squeezing his subjects for more taxes....A nd here is Robin. Not as a thief, but as a revolutionary figure trying to limit the King's power. Robin Hood meets Che Guevara." [Audio available here ] Protesting high taxes and wanting to limit government power is the equivalent of a communist revolution? Sounds more like the tea party movement. After making that bizarre comparison, Phillips further explained the plot of... continue reading