For the second straight night, ABC's World News scolded Senator Jim Bunning for daring to block a $10 billion spending bill until it is offset by cuts elsewhere, parading out victims as Diane Sawyer and Jonathan Karl painted him as a nuisance "even fellow Republicans" - that would be a liberal one - oppose. (After the EST broadcast, news broke that Bunning has agreed to some sort of deal.) Sawyer thundered in teasing her top story: "Tonight on World News, the 'Politics of No.' For the second straight day, one Senator stymies Congress, unemployed Americans struggle and we track that... continue reading
On Tuesday's Rick's List on CNN, Rick Sanchez again hinted that the Texas Governor Rick Perry is a racist. Sanchez, reacting to the distinct possibility that Perry would win the Republican gubernatorial primary, referenced a comment he made at a tea party rally in 2009: "He was talking about states' rights. States' rights is, to most people of color, a racist term " [audio clip available here ]. The CNN anchor discussed the Republican primary with Wayne Slater of the Dallas Morning News. He asked the journalist, "Perry's going to win this thing, right?" After Slater noted how Senator Kay... continue reading
It's hard to imagine NBC's Matt Lauer celebrating the birthday of a conservative organization but the Today co-anchor, on Tuesday's program, invited on former Democratic Mayor of New Orleans and current president of the National Urban League Marc Morial to cheer the 100th anniversary of the founding of the liberal group. Of course the birthday announcement served as an excuse for Morial to publicize the Urban League's latest liberal initiative something Lauer eagerly plugged: MATT LAUER: You've brought some folks here with you. They're all waving the flag. And, and if you look at the buttons here Marc, it says... continue reading
Reporting on Republican Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning blocking spending legislation over deficit concerns at the top of Tuesday's CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith proclaimed: "Congressional quagmire. Democrats blame one Republican senator for preventing thousands of federal workers from working." In a later report, White House correspondent Chip Reid continued to assail Bunning: "The White House is pointing its finger at a single Republican senator who they say is standing in the way of federal aid for hundreds of thousands of unemployed Americans....he is single-handedly holding up a routine piece of legislation." Rather than address Bunning's spending concerns, Reid declared:... continue reading
MSNBC host David Shuster on Tuesday touted the threat that " right-wing fringe candidates " could pose to "more mainstream Republican" politicians. The segment, which aired on News Live, identified tea party candidates as "fringe" three times. While Shuster was introducing reporter Luke Russert, an MSNBC graphic hyperbolically derided, " Conservatives Target Their Own Fringe. " After Russert discussed how a third party candidate in Nevada could help Senator Harry Reid, another graphic announced, "Third Party Support: Sen. Reid Benefits From Fringe Candidate." Is it the official position of MSNBC that tea party-supported individuals are all part of the "fringe?"... continue reading
Matt Lauer pressed former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney mostly from the left, on Tuesday's Today, as he made the case that the economy is doing better thanks to the President as he posited "Aren't we better off?" and even questioned the relevance of a possible Romney 2012 presidential campaign. MATT LAUER: In your new book No Apology: The Case for American Greatness, you say that, "The country needs a renewal and fresh ideas to cut through complicated problems." Do you see yourself as the best person to offer thos e fresh ideas? And I, I ask that, with all due... continue reading
Liberal weatherman Sam Champion appeared on Friday's Nightline to attack the idea that global warming could be dismissed because of the snowy winter suffered by much of the country. He complained, "There's really no way you can connect it to climate change or global warming. This is a seasonal pattern that we're in." [Audio available here .] And yet, on the June 9, 2008 edition of Good Morning America, Champion reported on the late spring heat wave much America was enduring. He alerted, " Dr. Stephen Schneider of Stanford University believes climate change is also playing a role. " Schneider... continue reading
A retiring Senator not facing re-election stood up last week for principle, insisting new federal spending be covered by a matching reduction elsewhere, but instead of hailing Senator Jim Bunning as a "maverick" making sure the ruling party adheres to its promise new spending will be "paid for," television network journalists on Monday night painted him as an ogre, focusing on the presumed victims of delayed spending. Teasing World News, ABC anchor Diane Sawyer stressed how he's "denying" people unemployment benefits so ABC decided to "confront" him : "One man's stand. A single Senator stops the whole Congress, denying thousands... continue reading
In a segment on the banking industry on CBS's Sunday Morning, fill-in anchor Anthony Mason cited the movie "It's A Wonderful Life" and wondered: "Who would you say is today's equivalent of the movie's villain, the dastardly Mister Potter?" His answer: "If you ask the Huffington Post's web mistress Arianna Huffington, it's these guys." Footage rolled of big bank CEOs. Mason touted Huffington's class warfare against the banks: "Are you angry at banks that are supposedly too big to fail....Well, an internet provocateur has some advice....Huffington has launched a campaign that drives the point home with a sledge hammer....The 'Move... continue reading
These must be really desperate times for the Democrats, if the syndicated Chris Matthews Show that was aired over the weekend is any indication, as both the host and one of the guests claimed Barack Obama would need to tap into military, musical and even mystical powers to get a health care reform bill passed. During the intro of his show, Matthews declared that Obama "must now lead the band with all the music and magic he has in him " and guest panelist Michael Duffy, of Time magazine, reported that Obama is going to unleash " the infantry, the... continue reading