MSNBC host David Shuster on Tuesday demonstrated his condescension for conservative tea party activists, deriding protesters who had arrived in Washington as "far right" and "going nuts." Talking to reporter Richard Wolffe, he chided, " I mean, what does the White House make of the opposition on the far right?" [Audio available here .] Later in the day, Shuster showed video of demonstrators who oppose the health care bill and dismissed, " Tea partiers are going nuts over the process Nancy Pelosi may use to pass the bill, even though it's the same process Republicans used when they were in... continue reading
Perfectly timed for the week President Barack Obama is pushing the House to vote on ObamaCare, on tonight's (Tuesday) episode of CBS's The Good Wife , set at a Chicago law firm, the lawyers "battle a health insurance company that refuses to pay for urgent in-utero surgery." The CBS.com plug for the March 16 episode: "In an emergency courtroom set up in a hospital, Alicia and Will battle Patti Nyholm and an insurance company that refuses to pay for life-saving in-utero surgery." The last time I critiqued The Good Wife (" CBS Drama Showcases Blank Book that Mocks Palin as... continue reading
While ABC and CBS on Monday night focused on President Barack Obama's "final push" for his health care bill and the plight of Ohioan Natoma Canfield, Obama's poster woman for victims of rising health insurance premiums, NBC anchor Brian Williams touted how at "one last campaign-style rally," in suburban Cleveland, "a shout-out from the audience gave him a chance to road test a new catch phrase: 'We need courage.'" Viewers saw a clip of Obama bemoaning "a lot of hand-wringing going on" in Washington, DC, interrupted by a woman's voice from the audience at the Walter F. Ehrnfelt Recreation and... continue reading
Chris Matthews, on Monday's Hardball, decried the GOP for obstructing Obamacare as he scolded the Republican Party as "nasty" and "narrow in its appeal" and strangely accused it of no longer being "a party of grand conservatism," as if opposing the current liberal version of health care reform isn't being conservative? Matthews, along with Democratic Representative John Larson of Connecticut, also wistfully pined for the days of a less combative GOP as the Hardball host wondered what happened to "the moderate Republicans" that "used to work...for positive government." [ audio available here ] The following exchange was aired on the... continue reading
Good Morning America's Jake Tapper on Monday interviewed a woman selected by the White House to represent victims of the health care industry. Tapper emphasized the sad case of Natoma Canfield, a cancer victim who "had to drop her Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield insurance because her monthly premiums kept skyrocketing." Yet, the ABC correspondent provided no horror stories from those who deal with government-run health care. He explained, "The President has been trying to tell [Canfield's] story to the nation." Obama mentioned Canfield in his campaign-style speech in Ohio to promote the health care legislation. However, back in February, neither... continue reading
The White House may have to waterboard its congressional allies to compel enough Democrats to support the health care bill and Congress will definitely have to raise taxes if the bill passes, CBS's Bob Schieffer insisted on Monday's The Early Show. [Audio available here .] As liberals focus on extending coverage to millions of uninsured Americans, Schieffer departed from the liberal talking points by pointing out that the current bill would definitely force Congress to raise taxes. "These Democrats don't know yet how much this bill is going to cost, they don't know exactly who's going to pay the taxes-there... continue reading
NBC's Savannah Guthrie gave little time to the GOP view on health care, on Monday's Today, as the reporter offered only one soundbite to a Republican compared to four Democrats in favor of the health care bill. In a report headlined: "One More Last Chance, Will Democrats Pass Health Care Reform This Week?" Guthrie began the piece: "Well we've said it before, but this is it. The White House press secretary boldly predicted that by this time next week, health care will be the law of the land, but privately aides acknowledge this one is coming down to the wire... continue reading
Three weeks after the mother on ABC's Brothers and Sisters ("Nora Walker" played by Sally Field) fretted over the GOP "denying global warming ," the ABC drama on Sunday night featured an episode centered around her daughter, " Kitty Walker-McCallister ," a Republican candidate for Senate in California played by Calista Flockhart, coming under attack from conservative rubes who think she used her influence to get the visa renewed for her older sister's French boyfriend, "Luc." At a campaign event with mini-video camera-toting bloggers visible, protesters boo and repeatedly chant: "America for Americans!" as they hold up signs, such as... continue reading
ABC's Cokie Roberts, who last December asserted that a "lot of people are going to like a whole lot once they see what's in" ObamaCare, during today's Roundtable discussion on ABC's This Week defended the "substance" of the health care bill Democrats in the House are being pressured to vote for, as she referred to civil rights legislation that cost some Democrats their seats and argued that this year some Democrats will "lose their seats over process, but they will take the chance because of the substance." Before dismissing Republican criticisms of Democrats as inevitable, she argued that parts of... continue reading
In 2008, just four years after leaving NBC News, Jane Pauley gave the maximum allowed donation to Barack Obama ($2,300) and campaigned for him in her native Indiana where she proclaimed "I want to see the cool, steady hand of Barack Obama on that Bible on Inauguration Day" and predicted Obama will be "an exceptional" President, enthusing: "I so look forward to it!" On Tuesday morning (March 9) Pauley reappeared on the Today show, which she co-hosted from 1976 to 1989 before spending more than a decade with Dateline NBC, as the narrator of a new monthly segment produced by... continue reading