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NBC's 'Today' Continues Blackout on Fast and Furious Controversy

By Matthew Balan | June 20, 2012 | 16:36

A  A
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NBC's Today kept up its complete omission of the Fast and Furious gun-running controversy on Wednesday, even as a House committee prepared to vote later in the day on whether to find Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress. CBS This Morning stood among the Big Three morning newscasts in devoting a full report to the issue. ABC's Good Morning America gave only a 20-second news brief on the controversy.

Overall, NBC has punted on the story since December 2010, when the scandal first emerged. NBC Nightly News had its own blackout on Fast and Furious until June 12, 2012, when correspondent Kelly O'Donnell finally mentioned "Congress's investigation of a failed operation that sent U.S. guns into Mexico" during a 30-second news brief. The issue hasn't been mentioned since on the evening newscast.

Eric Holder, U.S. Attorney General; Taken From MRC.orgCBS This Morning anchor Erica Hill introduced correspondent Nancy Cordes's report by noting how "a House committee is due to vote today on finding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress. Holder has refused the Oversight and Government Reform Committee's demand for documents from the controversial 'Fast and Furious' gun-running operation." Cordes highlighted during the segment that "Holder says there's no evidence of a cover-up; that he's already provided 7,600 pages worth of documents; that this is, essentially, a Republican fishing expedition."

On Good Morning America, news anchor Josh Elliott gave his sole news brief on Fast and Furious six minutes into the 7 am Eastern hour:

JOSH ELLIOTT: Meanwhile here at home, Attorney General Eric Holder could be charged with contempt of Congress today. A House committee is demanding more documents about the government's Fast and Furious program, a failed sting operation that allowed weapons to get into the hands of Mexican gangs. Holder calls the committee's threat to hold him in contempt pure politics.

The ABC morning actually hasn't been much better than its NBC counterpart, as they've have only given one other news brief on the controversy over the past 18 months.

The full transcript of Nancy Cordes's report from Wednesday's CBS This Morning, which aired 15 minutes into the 7 am Eastern hour:

Story Continues Below Ad ↓

ERICA HILL: On Capitol Hill, a House committee is due to vote today on finding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress. Holder has refused the Oversight and Government Reform Committee's demand for documents from the controversial 'Fast and Furious' gun-running operation, which was first exposed by CBS News. Committee chairman Darrell Issa says a last-minute meeting on Tuesday went nowhere.

[CBS News Graphic: "Holder On The Hot Seat: Attorney General May Face Contempt Vote"]

REP. DARRELL ISSA, (R), CALIFORNIA: It's, ultimately, the attorney general who is the custodian of the documents we wish to receive, and that's why the contempt cites him. We would hope that the President would ask his attorney general to be more cooperative.

CHARLIE ROSE: Nancy Cordes is on Capitol Hill this morning. Nancy, what is happening here?

NANCY CORDES: Well, Charlie, what's happening is the Republicans say that Holder is not giving them the documents they need to investigate whether the Department of Justice covered up its involvement in 'Fast and Furious', or tried to silence whistleblowers, after a U.S. Border agent, Brian Terry, was killed in Arizona, and two guns that had been walked as part of the program were found at the scene.

Attorney General Holder says there's no evidence of a cover-up; that he's already provided 7,600 pages worth of documents; that this is, essentially, a Republican fishing expedition. And so, he had an ultimatum of his own for Issa: I'll give you more documents if you agree to drop the subpoenas against me.

ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL: I have to say, given the extraordinary nature of the offer that we made, and given the extraordinary way in which we have shared materials to date, that I think we are actually involved more in political gamesmanship, as opposed to trying to get the information they say they want.

CORDES: So unless someone blinks this morning, this contempt vote is going to go ahead in the committee. If it passes, then it would go to the House floor. If it passes in the House, it would come to the Senate. But the Senate, Charlie and Erica, is controlled by Democrats, so it's likely that the move would die there.

ROSE: Nancy Cordes, thank you so much.

About the Author

Matthew Balan is a news analyst at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow Matthew Balan on Twitter.
  • Bias by Omission
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Comments

Today: A Show Produced by Nitwits for Nitwits

Submitted by libBuster on Wed, 06/20/2012 - 4:46pm.

Who among us would expect Ann Curry or to grasp the Constitutional issues at play here?  Ann Curry, a Space Cadet???? Left wing she is. But she is no Walter Cronkite. This from Ladies Home Journal:

She was warm and earnest, but also a little spacey; Al Roker once called her "our ambassador from Planet Zebulon." And she had a kind of ditzy, girlish innocence. In 1998, when I interviewed her for this magazine, a Today staffer told me how they were going to cover picture hanging on the show, and they were all discussing it. "Yes!" Curry piped up. "It's so important to be well hung." "We all started snickering," the staffer said, "and Ann was going, 'What? What? What did I say?'"

 

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LOL

Submitted by Galvanic on Wed, 06/20/2012 - 4:46pm.

Reminds me of a number of Al Gore anecdotes.

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Invented the Internet

Submitted by libBuster on Wed, 06/20/2012 - 6:04pm.

Well Curry didn't invent the Internet, but she is helping to kill of a 60 year old brand: "The Today Show"

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Hammer Him Down

Submitted by happi_flyer on Wed, 06/20/2012 - 4:45pm.

Holder has shown to be a slippery weasel of an AG, who doesn't know the first thing about jurisprudence. He is nothing more than a political hack who happens to have the characteristics that Obama feels is necessary to protect him while he (Obama) is dismantling the Constitution.

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A.G. HoldHer.......................

Submitted by thgirbla on Wed, 06/20/2012 - 10:40pm.

A.G. HoldHer is not worried about getting thrown under the Bus, because The LIAR in Chief will grant HIM a Presidential Pardon before HE leaves office, following HIS defeat in Nov. for protecting HIS Boss and keeping HIM out of Jail and being impeached !!!

Tthgirbla
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"NANCY CORDES: Well, Charlie,

Submitted by celator on Wed, 06/20/2012 - 5:08pm.

"NANCY CORDES: Well, Charlie, what's happening is the Republicans say that Holder is not giving them the documents they need...."

The Republicans "say"? As in, they are probably making this stuff up? Good grief, the entire civilized world knows that Holder isn't turning over all the requested documents. By Holder's own admission he isn't turning over all the documents. He's turned over about 7000 +/- of the 140,000 +/- documents requested. That's not cooperation.

Here's my theory of why Obama and Holder are stonewalling (in addition to revealing their roles in this mess): there are emails from a wide range of people who participated in the caper, urging F&F. offering advice, strategy, counsel, and encouragement. Their motivation was to screw up the 2d Amendment. The last thing they want for their political careers is to have their names revealed. The documents would open the whole network of those who conspired to make this happen.

"This is not your mother's Democratic Party"--Andrew Breitbart, CPAC, February 2012
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J. edgar in contempt?! Say it ain't so!!!!

Submitted by stratosaurus on Wed, 06/20/2012 - 5:28pm.

It's okay, mister holdup -- I've got more than enough contempt for you to share with congressbozos. I'll make sure to send along my regards to whomever gets to use the cattle prod on you. We'll just call it "enhanced interrogation".

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No doubt holder is very

Submitted by Bhaal on Wed, 06/20/2012 - 5:38pm.

No doubt Holder is very disappointed his Jedi mind trick didn't work.
(hand wave) "These aren't the documents you're looking for."

"For evil to triumph it is enough only that good men do nothing".
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Watch for Lauer to move to a 2-day work week.

Submitted by SickofLibs on Wed, 06/20/2012 - 5:47pm.

But what about his putrid partner Kilimanjaro Curry?

Perhaps Dr. Thnyderman will bring us up to date on this <yawn> story.

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I've carried on my personal

Submitted by rockyracoon on Wed, 06/20/2012 - 5:59pm.

I've carried on my personal black-out of NBC news (progressive propaganda) for many years now and will continue to due so until I'm called home.

 

Facts are like kryptonite to the liberal.

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Look for the 49th Congressional District to be redrawn

Submitted by Kingfish17 on Wed, 06/20/2012 - 6:03pm.

As soon as the Democratic legislature in California gets the chance, look for the 49th congressional district to be cleverly redrawn.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas...on the taxpayer’s dime." Barack Obama

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Dereliction of Jounalistic Duty

Submitted by HardRightTurn on Wed, 06/20/2012 - 10:10pm.

Along with freedom of the press comes responsibilties. The hubris of the Leftist media to believe that if they don't report it, their viewership won't find out about it, feeds right into the hands of the New Media, the Free Media if you will. The Old Leftist Media is designing its own demise.

To more fully comprehend the Left, one must read “Leftism As Psychopathy” by John Ray, M.A., Ph.D. Caution, it might scare you a little bit.
http://jonjayray.tripod.com/psycho.html

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MSLSD................

Submitted by thgirbla on Wed, 06/20/2012 - 10:36pm.

And who owns MSLSD/NBC..............................G.E. Corp. !!!
Who is the largest contributor and supporter of The LIAR in Chief and HIS Administration............................G.E. Corp. !!!
Who contributes more ReElection $$$'s to The Narcissistic Man Child in the Oval Office than any other Corp.......................................G.E. Corp. !!!
G.E.'s CEO is a primary adviser to The Liar in Chief !!!
YOU do the math why they are NOT covering ANY negative stories about The LIAR in Chief and HIs Adminiatration !!!

Tthgirbla
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Mission Accomplished

Submitted by needle on Thu, 06/21/2012 - 11:02am.

NBC started straying away from being an objective and reliable source of news and information many years ago, probably around the time of the Vietnam War.

More recently it created MSNBC, which became a stalking horse for raw partisan propaganda. Sure it has miserable ratings, but that's OK because it has developed its own niche market of liberats -- that was a typo, but I think I'll let it stand -- who hate American values. MSNBC has become our own homegrown form of Al Jazeera.

Now NBC has pretty much completed its journey away from being an objective and reliable source of news and information to being the flagship the DNC media. It is completely unrealistic to expect the flagship the DNC media to discuss or even acknowledge crony capitalism and corruption at the hands of Democrat politicians, like Solyndra and so many other wasteful and corrupt distribution of the taxpayer's money. NBC's almost complete blackout it Holder's corrupt running of the DOJ is only to be expected.

We should expect to see more and more deceitful, distorted and dishonest video clips and "reporting" from NBC and its affiliates from now on. It deserves its own special subdivision of the MRC, like Times Watch.

Normalized
Biased
Claptrap

- Looking forward to the self-annihilation of the Manipulated Stories Machine.

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ABC is just horrible at reporting the facts...

Submitted by maxvolt on Thu, 06/21/2012 - 9:01am.

Below is what the "so-called ABC-Journalist" who millions of citizen "drones" count on to tell them the facts stated;

"CORDES: So unless someone blinks this morning, this contempt vote is going to go ahead in the committee. If it passes, then it would go to the House floor. If it passes in the House, it would come to the Senate. But the Senate, Charlie and Erica, is controlled by Democrats, so it's likely that the move would die there."

CORDES could not be more wrong on this assessment. A Contempt vote does NOT, repeat DOES NOT require a SENATE VOTE at all...This is Gov't 101...and our journalists who are suppose to be "we the Peoples" eyes and ears on Government dont even understand that from their Civics 101 class. The fact is the House only needs a "simple majority" on a contempt vote...and it DOES NOT NEED TO GO TO THE SENATE, as it was the House Committeee that was held in contempt, and the SENATE has had no dealings on this matter...DUH!!!!

You viewers of ABC, do you realize the incorrect information you are fed on a daily basis from ABC, this is NOT, by any stretch of the imagination an isolated occurrence...you are fed by uneducated, agenda driven, bush league, propagandist talking heads...and you take it all in as your gospel? Pathetic. I wont call you "good people" as this piece does...I'll call you useful idiots playing a key role in the destruction of America and its liberties, by your lethargy and astounding ignorance.

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Bought and Paid for

Submitted by @fngconservative on Thu, 06/21/2012 - 11:42am.

MSNBC and NBC News are becoming non credible news sources., if they haven't already jumped the shark. Most of what they do can't be believed. This is an ongoing pattern of deception that threatens to sink the entire newsrooms of both.
Follow me @FngConservative
www.twitter.com/fngconservative

Follow the me and the rest of us @fngconservative
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