ABC's George Stephanopoulos on Tuesday showed little interest in grilling Robert Gibbs over serious allegations made by a Democratic Congressman. Talking to the White House press secretary, the Good Morning America host could only manage a single question: "[Representative Massa has] made very specific and pointed charges against Rahm Emanuel, Democratic leaders in the House. What's the White House response?" And that was it. Stephanopoulos simply moved on to health care. He didn't ask about allegations that a naked Emanuel once approached Massa in the shower of the House gym and screamed at him. Further, wondering about "the White House... continue reading
On Monday's The Dylan Ratigan Show on MSNBC, host Dylan Ratigan dragged out his standard attack against the tea party movement as he also bashed Liz Cheney for criticizing Justice Department attorneys: "Liz Cheney goes so far off the right-wing deep end, that now even some right-wingers are saying she has gone too far. If only the tea party would do the same with its Nazis and racist members." In the segment that followed, Ratigan attacked Cheney for an ad put out by her organization KeepAmericaSafe.com , referring to Justice Department lawyers who once defended accused terrorists as the "Al... continue reading
"During the presidential campaign, candidate Barack Obama often used the phrase 'fired up' to do just that to the crowd. Democrats have been openly wondering when he was going to bring that campaign energy and fire to an issue like health care reform," Brian Williams announced at the top of Monday's NBC Nightly News," and "today the President chose an event at a quiet Philadelphia suburb to get loud. He made his case and he rallied the troops and now readies to head into battle yet again on this topic." ABC's Diane Sawyer noted "the President made a direct attack... continue reading
On Monday's Newsroom, CNN's Kyra Phillips sympathetically interviewed a woman who unapologetically Tweeted her chemically-induced abortion as it happened. Instead of offering the pro-life viewpoint, Phillips lamented how her guest received "e-mails and the responses [which] were so brutal." The anchor later admitted that she "didn't want to get into a debate about abortion." During the interview, Phillips tossed softball questions at blogger Angie Jackson, who is known on Twitter as " antitheist angie," or " Angie the Anti-Theist " on her blog (Phillips didn't mention her guest's political or philosophical outlook during the entire segment). After playing a clip... continue reading
HDNet's Dan Rather stepped on one mine after another in the racial minefield that exists when talking about the nation's first black President as the former CBS anchor, on the syndicated Chris Matthews Show over the weekend, uttered the following take on the President's ability to get health care passed and how the GOP and independents would view it. [ audio available here ] DAN RATHER: Part of the undertow in the coming election is going to be President Obama's leadership. And the Republicans will make a case and a lot of independents will buy this argument. "Listen he just... continue reading
MSNBC's David Shuster on Monday attacked Republicans as racist for calling embattled Congressman Charlie Rangel a "crooked, Harlem Democrat." Talking to ex-Virginia Governor Doug Wilder, the host complained about a press release by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC): " They could have called him the crooked New York Democrat. They could have called him a crooked Democrat. " [Audio available here .] Shuster continued, " Why crooked Harlem Democrat? And did you see that as being racially tinged? " Clearly, the provocative part of the NRCC's press release was labeling Rangel corrupt. How is it inaccurate to refer to... continue reading
In part one of his exclusive interview with Karl Rove NBC's Matt Lauer, on Monday's Today, plucked out a page from the former White House adviser's new memoir where Rove went after journalists that called his tactics "'fear-based" that played on a stupid electorate, to which Lauer questioned, isn't that "somewhat true?" During the interview Lauer also threw out some of the most salacious charges about Rove being behind a racist smear campaign against John and Cindy McCain during the 2000 South Carolina primary something he denied but Lauer pushed: "While Rove denies any involvement in any smears, some prominent... continue reading
Near the end of Monday's CBS Early Show, co-host Erica Hill touted a new Parade magazine survey on volunteerism in America: "it indicates America is in the midst of what some are calling a compassion boom." Moments later, the magazine's contributing editor, Emily Listfield, argued: "There's something we call the 'Obama Effect.' People are responding to the President's call to service." Interestingly, the Parade article made no mention of an "Obama Effect" in explaining why people are volunteering more. Apparently Listfield only felt the need to make that observation when appearing on CBS. Hill set up Listfield's explanation by noting:... continue reading
Not the biggest deal, but emblematic of how the Washington press corps consider anyone to the right of center, no matter if barely so, to be a "conservative," while anyone who strays at all from a perfect liberal line is not worthy of an ideological label. Setting up Sunday's Face the Nation, CBS's Bob Schieffer described guest Evan Bayh simply as "the Indiana Democrat" while tagging Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who is every bit, if not more, off the conservative reservation as Bayh is off the liberal one, as a "conservative Republican." Schieffer: Today on Face the Nation: Is Washington... continue reading
It wasn't on the Fox News Channel (FNC) nor a Fox News production carried on Fox (such as Fox News Sunday), but President Barack Obama received a warm and appreciative session with John Walsh, marking the 1,000 edition of America's Most Wanted , an entertainment program carried by the network which has failed to air the Obama press conferences shown by ABC, CBS and NBC. Walsh began by offering Obama "congratulations on all the work you've been doing since you were President" and proceeded to praise "the work you've done with the Recovery Act," aka the stimulus monstrosity, "but I... continue reading