Hume Recites How 'ABC News Getting Hammered By Liberal Media'

Reporting that “ABC News is getting hammered by the mainstream and liberal media,” as if they aren't the same, FNC's Brit Hume led his Thursday “Grapevine” segment with examples of the left-wing outrage over Barack Obama being pressed at Wednesday's debate on subjects the media consider off limits. Hume highlighted how “the left-leaning Washington Post TV writer Tom Shales said anchors, quote 'Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos turned in shoddy, despicable performances,'” (Noel Sheppard's earlier post on Shales).

Hume proceeded to note how Greg Mitchell, Editor of the Editor & Publisher trade magazine, “said it was quote, 'perhaps the most embarrassing performance by the media in a major presidential debate in years.'” Naturally, Keith Olbermann brought him aboard Thursday's Countdown to expound further.

Hume also cited Walter Shapiro at Salon.com, a veteran of Time magazine and USA today, who asserted that “what he called the 'fizzle in Philly...could have convinced the uninitiated that American politics has all the substance of a 'Beavis and Butt-Head marathon.'”

Hume's Thursday, April 17 Grapevine item on FNC's Special Report with Brit Hume:

ABC News is getting hammered by the mainstream and liberal media for its execution of last night's debate between Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, in which Obama was grilled at length about the recent controversies affecting his campaign.

The left-leaning Washington Post TV writer Tom Shales said anchors, quote "Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos turned in shoddy, despicable performances," that dwelled on what he called "specious and gossipy trivia."

Greg Mitchell at the liberal Huffington Post Web site said it was quote, "perhaps the most embarrassing performance by the media in a major presidential debate in years."

Andrew Sullivan at The Atlantic's Daily Dish blog called it quote, "petty, shallow, process-obsessed...utterly divorced from the actual issues that Americans want to talk about." Walter Shapiro at Salon.com said what he called the "fizzle in Philly...could have convinced the uninitiated that American politics has all the substance of a 'Beavis and Butt-Head' marathon."

But ABC was not without its defenders, the New York Sun said the debate was quote, “Charles Gibson's finest hour.” Stephanopoulos told The Politico newspaper quote, “we asked tough but appropriate questions.”