NBC Airs Obama Campaign Press Release and Pretends It's News
At the top of Thursday's NBC Nightly News, anchor Brian Williams did his part for President Obama's re-election as he announced: "Game on. The President and Vice President hitting it hard tonight on the campaign trail." Introducing the supposed news report, Williams touted how Republicans were "eating up time and money and effort" in the primary race, while "Democrats were in full fall campaign mode."
White House correspondent Kristen Welker sounded more like the White House press secretary as she set up a string of sound bites from Obama and Joe Biden: "President Obama defended his energy policy in suburban Maryland today, and attacked his GOP rivals....Assuming the traditional vice presidential role of campaign attack dog, Biden bared his teeth before a receptive audience of auto workers in politically-important Ohio....he slammed the Republican candidates who opposed the auto bailout." Not a single Republican sound bite was included.
Welker wrapped up the blatant Obama campaign cheerleading by promoting a new propaganda video: "Now also today, the campaign released a 17-minute documentary. It was put together by Oscar-winning director Davis Gugenheim and narrated by Tom Hanks. It's the Obama team's way of saying, 'Game on.'"
On Friday's NBC Today, fill-in news anchor Tamron Hall followed the Nightly News lead as she proclaimed: "The Democrats are ramping up their re-election campaign with President Obama traveling to Chicago and Atlanta today for fundraisers. And in Ohio Thursday, Vice President Joe Biden attacked the Republican candidates by name, saying they would bankrupt the middle class."
Unlike Welker's report, Hall did take some time to provide updates on the GOP race, focusing on gaffes and difficulties for the Republican candidates: "Meantime, Rick Santorum, who's trying to win Sunday's Puerto Rico primary, said he was misquoted when a local newspaper reported him saying that if Puerto Rico wants to become a state, everyone should speak English. Mitt Romney is scheduled to campaign on the island today amid reports of campaign money troubles."
Here is a full transcript of Welker's March 15 Nightly News report:
7:00PM ET TEASE:
BRIAN WILLIAMS: Game on. The President and Vice President hitting it hard tonight on the campaign trail.
7:06PM ET SEGMENT:
WILLIAMS: And now we turn to presidential politics. While the GOP primary season continues to grind on, eating up time and money and effort they would rather devote to the general election campaign, today the Democrats were in full fall campaign mode, seemingly, with Vice President Biden taking on the GOP on the economy. Our report tonight from NBC News White House correspondent Kristen Welker.
KRISTEN WELKER: With Republican candidates hammering him for high gas prices and calling for more drilling, President Obama defended his energy policy in suburban Maryland today, and attacked his GOP rivals.
BARACK OBAMA: Lately we've heard a lot of professional politicians, a lot of the folks who are, you know, running for certain office, who shall go unnamed. They've been talking down new sources of energy.
WELKER: The President didn't name names, but Joe Biden sure did.
JOE BIDEN: Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, these guys have a fundamentally different economic philosophy than we do.
WELKER: Assuming the traditional vice presidential role of campaign attack dog, Biden bared his teeth before a receptive audience of auto workers in politically-important Ohio.
BIDEN: The guy I work with every day, the President, he didn't flinch. This is a man with steel in his spine.
WELKER: And he slammed the Republican candidates who opposed the auto bailout.
BIDEN: A million jobs saved, 200,000 new jobs created, and the verdict is in, President Obama was right and they were dead wrong.
WELKER: The speeches were held at the exact same time, a ploy for a campaign split screen? The White House deflected that question.
JAY CARNEY: I would refer you to the campaign.
WELKER: But strategists say the imagery is clear.
STEVE MCMAHON [DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST]: Joe Biden is doing what vice presidential candidates often do, which is calling the other side out on issue differences.
WELKER: Now also today, the campaign released a 17-minute documentary. It was put together by Oscar-winning director Davis Gugenheim and narrated by Tom Hanks. It's the Obama team's way of saying, "Game on." Brian.
WILLIAMS: Kristen Welker across town from us here in Washington at the White House. Kristen, thanks.
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Comments
"We'll decide...
Submitted by almostacowboy on Fri, 03/16/2012 - 1:01pm.
what's news."
-MSM
WOW! Fall sure came early!
Submitted by CobraMan on Fri, 03/16/2012 - 1:34pm.
"Democrats were in full fall campaign mode."
So, Obama has already started his fall campaign? Fall sure came early in DC.
Of course, it shouldn't surprise anyone that Obama is in a "fall" campaign mode in early March, as he's falling in the polls.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
Biden, a Toy Poodle
Submitted by CobraMan on Fri, 03/16/2012 - 1:36pm.
By the way, BIDEN as an attack dog? Come on! That Toy Poodle isn't going to intimidate anyone!
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
This is journalism
Submitted by ruby2ssday on Fri, 03/16/2012 - 2:17pm.
About 20 years ago, most news outfits laid off all their outside reporters. After that the reprinting of press releases as news has been the standard. Grammar and spelling errors are not even corrected let alone any fact checking. If you don't understand this new paradigm you will never get your "news" published for the public to read. Hear that Repubs?
I've been off the past 2 weeks
Submitted by fivestring_assassin on Fri, 03/16/2012 - 2:28pm.
re couperating from some surgery and I've notice MSNBC breaks away anytime King Hussain has a conference...the other cable networks continue with their regular programming
Same with NBC this week with the presser with the gentleman from England....CBS and ABC stayed with regularly programming while NBC had a "Special News Report"
Naw,,,they're not obsessed with Obama or his re-election
Joe Bi-DUMB, Bares His Dentures?
Submitted by Motormouth KOS on Fri, 03/16/2012 - 3:22pm.
This doddering fool is so busy changing his Depends, I can't imagine how he could ever find the time be informed and why anyone would care what he says..
JOE BIDUMB: Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, these guys have a fundamentally different economic philosophy than we do.
Translation: We waste taxpayer money on phony green energy ventures, which these thieves funnel back into the campaign...
BIDUMB: A million auto jobs saved, 200,000 new jobs created, and the verdict is in, President Obama was right and they were dead wrong.
Translation: We bailed out incompetence like GM and Chrysler. they still owe us money. Ford didn't take a dime and is growing at twice the rate.
The Obamination... A crisis leading to a catastrophe..(please donate to MRC)
NBC " News Alert" The
Submitted by pilgrim4jc on Fri, 03/16/2012 - 3:23pm.
NBC " News Alert" The President has just flushed the tolet and our own Andrea Mitchell had a front row seat, since her, Ed, Brian, etc. are attached by the lips to the Presidents butt! Film at 11!
Wait a minute!! Back the truck up!!
Submitted by motherbelt on Fri, 03/16/2012 - 4:12pm.
Hasn't Obama insisted that he's NOT campaigning???
He insisted that Until the Republicans Have a Nominee, We Don't Have a Campaign.
Did I miss something here?
Might want to check those "talking points" again, Mr. Williams, and Misses Welker and Hall.
NBC: National Barack Channel!
Submitted by Mary Louise Turner on Fri, 03/16/2012 - 4:54pm.
NBC, for the last five years, has disgraced itself and the Nation with its passion for Ears. I call it the "National Barack Channel" because it never sees, hears, or speaks evil of its idol. Worst of all, the Barack Barrage occurs all day long, from "Today" to "The Tonight Show". And Brian Williams gets (ugh!) $25 million a year for promoting Ears-related propaganda...obscene! I will not watch anything NBC again, even sports, for a L-O-N-G time...
Re-birth of the Birthers
Submitted by berlet98 on Sat, 03/17/2012 - 2:10am.
Re-birth of the Birthers
When a grinning Barack Hussein Obama finally produced his long form Hawaiian birth certificate on April 27, 2011–following years of questions fueled by strong suspicions he was born in Kenya–he felt certain all doubts that he was constitutionally-qualified to hold the office of the presidency had been laid to rest.
They hadn’t.
Principal contributing factors for the qustions related to the inexplicably inordinate delays in providing the Long Form certificate and the million or so dollars the Obama camp spent to avoid the minimalist task of simply displaying a piece of paper. Neither the delay nor the money expended made any sense.
Testimony to the lingering doubts, Arizona’s Sherrif Joe Arpaio recently launched a privately-funded 6 month investigation into the matter of exactly who and what our president was, Kenyan or American?
As he announced at a press conference, no major media source had investigated the controversy so his cold case posse of volunteers would look into the issue in order to resolve it once and for all.
Arpaio said after receiving the posse report, ”We believe probable cause exists indicating that forgery and fraud may have been committed, not only in President Obama’s long-form birth certificate, but more disturbing evidence suggests that another fraud may have been committed regarding his selected service registration card. Based on all of the evidence presented and investigated I cannot in good faith report to you that these documents are authentic.” (http://abcn.ws/zrMUTU)
Although Arpaio was convinced that both Obama’s birth certificate and draft card were forgeries, he isn’t prepared to accuse the president, yet. The investigation is continuing.
Left unmentioned by the sheriff is the issue of Obama’s Social Security card number which was originally issued to a French immigrant born in 1890 and re-issued to Obama in the state of Connecticut in 1977. The 15 year old Barry was residing in Hawaii with his maternal grandparents at the time and never resided in the Nutmeg State.
At least one blogger has suggested the grandparents’ connection with well-connected Connecticut socialite, Helen Canfield, helped grease the skids to secure a SSN for Obama since he lacked an American birth certificate.
On the other hand, Snopes.com, long an avid Obama defender, alleged the SSN was valid. Snopes termed the brouhaha “fantastical.” As “proof,” Snopes said Jean Paul Ludwig’s SSN was different and offered for verification a link to the Social Security Death Index which turned out to be useless and referred searchers to Ancestry.com.
Personally, I’m dubious as to all the birther allegations despite their potent arguments that Barack Hussein Obama was not born in the United States of America and thus ineligible to serve as president–and subject to prosecution as a liar and usurper.
Perhaps due to my septuagenarian naiveté, I find it difficult to accept that America’s mainstream media would not have reported those damning facts.
However, a composite, 11 minute video of the president’s statements . . . (Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=17584.)