NBC Uses Trump Endorsement to Promote DNC Attacks on Romney
Following Democratic National Committee talking points to the letter at the top of Thursday's NBC Nightly News, anchor Brian Williams saw Donald Trump's endorsement of Mitt Romney as an excuse to bash the Republican frontrunner: "New fallout from Mitt Romney's choice of words about the very poor, and tonight a new endorsement from a man who's catchphrase is 'You're fired.'"
In the report that followed, correspondent Peter Alexander gleefully touted Democrats smearing Romney in the wake of Trump's backing: "For Romney, the endorsement of a billionaire businessman with this as his signature line [clip of Trump saying "You're fired"] Gave Democrats new fodder for attacks on cable." A nasty sound bite followed from DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz: "They both like firing people and they’ve both made millions doing it."
After playing a clip of a new DNC ad making the same point as Schultz, Alexander offered up a video montage of Romney's supposed gaffes during the campaign, declaring: "And it's not the first time Romney's gaffes have gotten him into trouble."
On Friday's Today, the Trump endorsement itself was treated as if it were a new Romney gaffe. Co-host Matt Lauer wondered: "What about the timing of this?...he stands next to a billionaire the day after he made this gaffe concerning the very poor. Couldn't the Romney campaign have called Donald Trump and said, 'Look, we appreciate the endorsement. Could we hold this off a little while and do this a few weeks down the road?'"
Meet the Press host David Gregory further criticized the Romney campaign's handling of the endorsement: "I just think that there was an aspect of this that was ham-handed. I think, you know, you had Mitt Romney saying, 'I've been successful, but Donald, not quite as successful as you.' I don't that really helps with the down-with-the-people tour over the next few weeks." Gregory added that Romney has "got to kind of work through this."
Turning to chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd, Lauer speculated on how soon Romney would run away from Trump: "Would you expect Mitt Romney to now take this endorsement and yet carefully, subtly, but immediately begin to distance himself from Donald Trump?"
Considering Trump is the star of one of NBC's long-running reality shows and a frequent guest on Today, it does not appear the network is eager to "distance" itself from the real estate mogul anytime soon.
Read the complete transcript of the February 2 Nightly News report.
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Comments
Williams
Submitted by grammajane on Fri, 02/03/2012 - 6:43pm.
get out of your messiah's bed, quit bowing to him and start acting some so-called professional. You are loosing viewers on "both" your shows from all your bias bashing. Grow up
Whenever I see Brian Williams
Submitted by deerjerkydave on Fri, 02/03/2012 - 7:23pm.
Whenever I see Brian Williams I think of the time when he bowed to President Obama. It is sickening.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLYtHHxTTmc
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"The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the Federal Government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State Governments are numerous and indefinite. -James MadisonIt's a bit ironic that Williams and NBC News make a big deal . .
Submitted by Galvanic on Sat, 02/04/2012 - 2:37am.
. . . out of folks firing people when NBC does it all the time. When a TV show doesn't get enough ratings on NBC, the network drops it and the entire cast and production company are out of a job.
Is Williams concerned that his handlers fire people?
The attacks on Trump were not
Submitted by David Kramer on Sat, 02/04/2012 - 3:30am.
only from the Leftist media. Romney hacks initially began the barrage when they heard rumors he was going to endorse Newt. Ace of Spades has a great article on that. It was funny to see them attempt to remove their feet from their well endowed mouths, or computer for that matter.
It gave Brian Williams fodder.
Submitted by Superman on Sat, 02/04/2012 - 8:18am.
It's so funny to hear Brian Williams say that this gives Romney's opponents fodder because Brian Williams himself is a Romney opponent. It is clear as day that Brian Williams is a shill for Obama and the Democrats and is using NBC Nightly News as a vehicle to praise Obama and the Democrats and attack Romney and the Republicans. And I think that's a shame because people deserve to hear fair and objective reporting from the nightly news programs and not political activism.