Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos reported live from Russia on Monday and Tuesday and, despite devoting 32 minutes to interviewing the country's President and other officials, never once brought up the hundreds of journalists who have been died mysteriously in the country over the last 17 years. On Monday, Stephanopoulos did challenge President Dmitry Medvedev on Iran, sanctions and other topics. But, on Tuesday, he conducted a softball interview, touting, " As a teenager, Medvedev saved for months to buy Pink Floyd's The Wall. You have a deep love of heavy metal. Where did that come from? " He also... continue reading
At the top of Tuesday's CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith proclaimed: "At an historic summit, President Obama joins world leaders to try to stop terrorists from obtaining nuclear weapons." He later declared: "It's the largest gathering of world leaders hosted by a U.S. President since the 1945 conference that founded the United Nations. And it's already yielded some quick results." White House correspondent Chip Reid reported on some of those "quick results": "Ukraine announced it will send its entire stockpile of highly enriched uranium, enough to build several nuclear weapons, out of the country, perhaps to the United States,... continue reading
In a Monday article, USA Today's Joan Biskupic ( her "Court Beat" blog ) identified retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens as "liberal," but in an accompanying sidebar on "second court picks by recent presidents ," she saw Republicans naming "ideological" conservatives to advance their agendas while Democrat Bill Clinton picked "pragmatic liberals." Yes, Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a "pragmatic liberal." Bikupic, a regular on PBS's Washington Week who left the Washington Post for USA Today ten years ago, contented "President Reagan and the first President Bush used their second Supreme Court nominations to make bold choices that strongly... continue reading
In his end-of-the-show commentary on Sunday's Face the Nation on CBS, host Bob Schieffer cited a Saturday New York Times article celebrating retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens: "that Justice Stevens 'may be the last justice from a time when ability and independence, rather than perceived ideology, were viewed as the crucial qualifications for a seat on the court.'" Schieffer agreed with that assessment and declared that for President Gerald Ford "sending John Paul Stevens to the Supreme Court is not a bad legacy." He concluded: "As Justice Stevens's fine service was being rightly celebrated last week, I couldn't... continue reading
CNN anchor Don Lemon subbed in for Rick Sanchez on the program Rick's List on Friday, and he sounded like Sanchez in charging that right-wing rhetoric is out of control. In an interview with former GOP congressman J.C. Watts, Lemon asked him to offer "words of wisdom or caution" to Republicans. When Watts insisted both sides do it, Lemon insisted "we have seen it on the Republican and the conservative side much, much more than on the Democratic side. The name calling in groups, with signs, calling people, you know, epithets, comparing them to Hitler. We've seen it much more... continue reading
MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow will host an April 19 special on Timothy McVeigh's 1995 act of terrorism and how it " puts into perspective the threat posed by anti-government extremism ." In an ad for the program, Maddow lectured, "It doesn't have to lead to violence, but it can and it has. We ignore this, our own very recent history of anti-government violence and the dangers of domestic terrorism, at our peril. " In a previous commercial for the special, an announcer questioned, "15 years later, can McVeigh's words help us understand today's anti-government extremists?" Will the left-wing host attempt... continue reading
On ABC's This Week, when retired ABC newsman Sam Donaldson recommended that President Barack Obama nominate, to replace Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, someone who "is going to stand up for the principles - on the left, if you will - that he believes in," Cokie Roberts jumped in: "I'm not so sure he is so far to the left." Donaldson agreed: "Well, I'm not sure either." Minutes later, Roberts contended the efforts of state attorneys general, to get a federal court to rule unconstitutional ObamaCare's requirement every citizen get health insurance, reminded her of the "nullification" which led... continue reading
A Wednesday night AP dispatch , "Nearly half of US households escape fed income tax," which predicted "47 percent will pay no federal income taxes at all for 2009," has drawn little attention on television news beyond a morning segment on CNN and some commentary on FNC where Neil Cavuto on Thursday afternoon discovered "no wonder" why so many "don't really care how much a government program costs. It's not costing them anything, so why should they? And no wonder they don't care about hiking taxes on the rich. No one's hiking taxes on them." (Laura Ingraham echoed that theme... continue reading
Wrapping a look at those whom President Obama may nominate to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, ABC's Terry Moran worried Friday night if Obama can "even hold" the liberal ground espoused by Stevens given "today's bitter political climate." He fretted that "the real question for President Obama" is: Could a nominee with positions as liberal as Justice Stevens on abortion, gay rights, presidential power - could that nominee even get confirmed in today's bitter political climate? Moran, from New Orleans, site of the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, on the Friday, April 9 World News: In the end,... continue reading
On Friday's Newsroom, CNN's Jeffrey Toobin again used slanted labeling about the Supreme Court, shortly after Justice John Paul Stevens announced his retirement. Toobin stated that President Obama's pick to replace Stevens would be a "moderate liberal," apparently like Justice Sotomayor. He continued that the President was no "liberal firebrand" and that the 2007 Heller decision was "activist" [audio available here ]. Substitute anchor T. J. Holmes brought on the CNN senior legal analyst 39 minutes into the 10 am Eastern hour, minutes after the news broke that Justice Stevens would step down after the current term of the Court... continue reading