Brad Wilmouth's blog

On Saturday's Today show, as NBC correspondent Michael Isikoff - formelry of Newsweek - filed a report on the drive to make people safer at movie theaters after the Aurora massacre, heconcluded his report by suggesting that, because "the powerful National Rifle Association has blocked any move for stricter gun laws," people will have to settle for "beefed-up security and greater vigilance," as if the NRA were preventing people from being safer.

Toward the end of the report, Isikoff relayed the complaint of gun control activists that it is too easy to obtain certain types of guns. Isikoff:

CNN anchor Piers Morgan devoted a considerable portion of his Friday program to pushing for more gun control, breaking with those who have advised delaying such talk until after a period of mourning for shooting victims in Aurora, Colorado.

Morgan not only began Piers Morgan Tonight with a "Piers' Special Commentary" calling for more gun laws, but, later in the program, he included three guests who argued in favor of more gun control, with only one to argue against, with whom the CNN host ended up becoming agitated as Denver University Professor David Kopel scolded Morgan for not waiting longer before launching into a divisive political debate.

Shortly after beginning the show, Morgan played a clip of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg advising the presidential candidates to talk about the gun control issue, and then began his commentary:

On Friday's Inside Washington on PBS, regular panel member Nina Totenberg - a correspondent for NPR - generalized that "bankers and business" are not only the "super-rich" but also the "super-crooked" as the panel discussed the issue of Mitt Romney's taxes and President Barack Obama's "you didn't build that" gaffe in which he dismissed the importance of individual effort in entrepreneurship while crediting government. Totenberg:

In a pre-recorded interview which ran on Wednesday's Piers Morgan Tonight, CNN's Piers Morgan pressed Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia from the left on abortion rights and Scalia's views on Roe versus Wade.

After earlier articulating the argument that a Supreme Court should perhaps be flexible as times change, Morgan again brought up the issue of "changing times" and seemed to lump abortion in with other rights that women acquired in the 20th century, as he asserted, "Everybody believed that was the right thing to do."

Appearing as a panel member on Sunday's Melissa Harris-Perry show, syndicated columnist and former CNN correspondent Bob Franken obnoxiously accused Mitt Romney of trying to portray the NAACP audience he spoke to as "Willie Hortons" whom he could use to motivate his Republican base. He went on to claim that Rush Limbaugh, whom he called the "grand dragon of radio," represents people who wish to return to Jim Crow segregation in America.

After fellow panel member and MSNBC contributor Joy Reid charged that Romney attended the NAACP convention to impress moderate white voters and also to motivate his conservative base, Franken began:

On Sunday's Melissa Harris-Perry show, MSNBC host Harris-Perry went on a rant about Mitt Romney's speech to the NAACP as she accused the GOP presidential candidate of only attending the convention for the purpose using negative audience reaction as "red meat to feed to his base," making African-Americans into "props." She began:

Appearing as a panel member on Sunday's Face the Nation on CBS, Time magazine's Rana Foroohar - identified as assistant managing editor in charge of economics and business on Time's Web site - lamented that she was "sad" at how much taxes are being discussed as she asserted that "one thing that's not going to get us some kind of a growth boom is a tax cut," and then called for more government spending which she claimed would entice businesses into more economic activity.

Without clarifying that the recent political debate about taxes has been about preventing tax rates from increasing as the Bush tax cuts expire, Foroohar dismissed the effectiveness of tax cuts and explained her prescription for the economy:

On Sunday's NBC Nightly News, CNBC chief Washington correspondent John Harwood warned that, unless the Romney campaign succeeds in changing the campaign subject away from Bain Capital, he could be "left out in the political wilderness pretty quickly" if both the Obama campaign and the media press Romney on the subject persistently.

After host Lester Holt asked "why is the question of when" Romney "was actually running things" at Bain Capital "so key," Harwood responded:

Appearing as a panel member on the weekend's syndicated Chris Matthews Show, Huffington Post editoral director Howard Fineman - formerly of Newsweek - praised former President Eisenhower's decision to advise then-President Johnson to "carry out Jack Kennedy's agenda" in the aftermath of the Kennedy assassination.

Fineman ended up referring to Eisenhower's advice as "amazing statesmanship and foresight." Fineman:

As Meghan McCain appeared as a guest on Tuesday's Chelsea Lately show on E!, host Chelsea Handler defended President Obama's economic record and ended up praising McCain for admitting that she sometimes smokes marijuana.

Early on in the interview, Handler declared, "I like you, too. I mean, I like, I don't hate all Republicans, I just, most of them. But I like you because you're, like, you're pro-marijuana legalization, you're pro-gay, kind of?"

Appearing as a guest on Friday's The Tonight Show on NBC, former Saturday Night Live cast member Dana Carvey demonstrated the tendency of comedians to have fun with President Obama in a fashion that builds him up while poking fun at Republicans in a way that tears them down.

When asked by host Jay Leno about the presidential election, Carvey remarked that Obama is "like a Zen master of speaking" before mocking Mitt Romney's speaking ability:

Appearing as a panel member on Friday's Inside Washington on PBS, Bloomberg View's Margaret Carlson - formerly of Time magazine - asserted that Mitt Rommey "wanted the boos" he received as he delivered his speech to the NAACP.

She went on to say the GOP presidential candidate is "taking those boos to his fund-raiser with Dick Cheney," and that "he's so proud of them."

Appearing as a guest in a pre-recorded interview aired on Wednesday's The O'Reilly Factor on FNC, actor Jimmie Walker explained why he believes President Barack Obama "is not the guy" for the job of President and declared that, "You just can't blindly vote for somebody just because they are [your race]. Sometimes, even a brother, you have to let him go when he's not doing the gig."

Substitute hosting MSNBC's The Ed Show, Georgtown University Professor Michael Eric Dyson defended comedian Chris Rock's recent lambasting of July 4 as "white people's Independence Day."

Dyson even invoked a quote from 19th century abolitionist and former slave Frederick Douglass expressing similar sentiments, missing the point that, in modern times, all Americans benefit from America's existence as an independent nation. By contrast, during the years slavery still existed in 19th century, it was more reasonable to complain that actual slaves were not benefiting from independence. Dyson rationalized:

On Friday's The Ed Show, MSNBC analyst Richard Wolffe - formerly of Newsweek - compared Mitt Romney's economic plan to a "pre-9/11" mentality as he went along with substitute host Michael Eric Dyson's complaint that Republicans are being "clearly obstuctionist" against President Obama's economic agenda.

Dyson asked the question:

Uniquely among the broadcast network evening newscasts, on Friday's NBC Nightly News, substitute host Kate Snow briefly noted that it was former President George W. Bush's 66th birthday, and that the former President was in Africa as part of an effort to fight against cancer on the Third World continent. Snow read the item:

Since liberal producer Aaron Sorkin's HBO series The Newsroom made waves a couple of weeks ago with its infamous speech asserting that America is "not the greatest country in the world anymore," CNN host Piers Morgan has repeatedly brought up this charge with guests on his Piers Morgan Tonight show.

Morgan, who so far has not brought up the speech with any clearly conservative guest who might disagree with the premise, first raised the issue on the Wednesday, June 20, show with guest Billy Corgan of the rock group, the Smashing Pumpkins. Morgan:

On Sunday's Today show, as he read a brief item on the passing of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, NBC's Ron Mott recounted criticism painting the conservative Israeli leader as "increasing tensions between Israelis and Palestinians" by expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Mott:

On the night after seeming oblivious when Michele Bachmann explained the difference in principle between pushing all Americans to purchase health insurance versus pushing only the portion of Americans who make the choice to drive to buy car insurance, CNN host Piers Morgan again brought up the comparison on Tuesday's Piers Morgan Tonight as he hosted liberal actor Billy Baldwin as a guest.

Wednesday's Today show on NBC ran a four and a half minute piece profiling Saratoga Springs, Utah, Mayor, and congressional candidate Mia Love, who has a very good chance of being the first black female Republican elected to Congress.

MSNBC's Daily Rundown show on Tuesday ran a similar report on the Utah Republican.

On the July 4 Today, guest co-anchor Willie Geist introduced the report:

On Monday's CBS Evening News, correspondent Bill Whitaker seemed to allude to a debunked statistic that most guns that go to Mexican drug cartels originate in the United States as he repeated accusations by the newly elected Mexican president's party that the U.S. is the "exporter of guns fueling the violence" in the drug wars. Whitaker:

On Monday's Piers Morgan Tonight, as host Morgan debated guest Rep. Michele Bachmann on ObamaCare, after the Minnesota Republican explained that a government requirement to purchase health insurance differs from a requirement to buy car insurance because "no one is forced to buy a car if they don't want to," her answer went over the CNN host's head as he continued to press the same flawed comparison.

After asking his guest, "Do you have car insurance?" and the followup, "Who told you to (buy it)?", Bachmann had responded:

As the weekend's syndicated Chris Matthews Show concluded, the entire panel chose political figures echoing sentiments either from the left or at least in criticism of conservatives to answer host Matthews's "Big Question" of who has "made a big, gutsy decision so far this year."

Uniquely among the broadcast network evening newscasts, the NBC Nightly News, not only ran a full report on the House of Representatives vote to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, but the network also noted that some Democrats joined Republicans on the vote.

By contrast, ABC's World News and the CBS Evening News only mentioned the dozens of Democrats who walked out of the Capitol in protest as they devoted only about half a minute each to the story.

Appearing as a guest on Friday's Piers Morgan Tonight on CNN, actor Jeff Daniels - who stars as Will McAvoy in HBO's The Newsroom - admitted that he agrees with a now infamous speech delivered by his character - and written by liberal producer Aaron Sorkin - in which McAvoy rants that "America is not the greatest country in the world anymore."

After running a partial clip of the speech, host Piers Morgan praised the writing as a "great speech," and posed the question: "When you said it, did you believe it yourself?"

Sitting alongside Sorkin who was also a guest, Daniels recalled the first time he saw the line after the liberal producer wrote it:

During the concluding "Big Question" segment of this weekend's syndicated Chris Matthews Show, the entire panel voiced their belief that Mitt Romney is "better off" if he is perceived by voters to be a "pragmatic, deal-making moderate" rather than a "true blue conservative."

Matthews posed the question:

Appearing as a panel member on this weekend's syndicated Chris Matthews Show, MSNBC's Howard Fineman - also of the Huffington Post - described President Obama as having a "superhero's challenge" in Washington in having to deal with "a different planet than the one he originally was on."

A bit earlier, Fineman had recounted that President Obama was "confused" when he came to Washington and found that conservatives were not willing to work with him. Fineman: