Brian Williams Lashes Out at CNBC Guest Who Dared Criticize Obama
Assuming he even tried, Brian Williams could not suppress his smirk Tuesday night as he took a shot at a guest who had appeared earlier that day on CNBC. Businessman and Mitt Romney support Ken Langone said that President Obama's anti-business rhetoric and lack of leadership was preventing a true economic recovery from taking hold, exclaiming at one point that "businessmen and fat cats need to feel like they're doing something good, not that they're villains and not that their criminals."
In response, Williams decided to carve out a full minute from from his Nightly News to regale viewers with a sarcastic shot at Langone from the left-wing Gawker.com: "The writer John Cook on the Web site Gawker said, "Why should you make fat cats feel badly about getting fat, while the middle class taxpayers who financed that bailout slide into poverty? They need to be made to feel good about earning record profits!"
Williams made clear his politically-correct lens at the start of his piece: "Here's something you don't hear every day, because people usually don't say it out loud. Ken Langone is a businessman, co-founder of Home Depot, a philanthropist, and an ardent foe of President Obama. And this morning on Squawk Box on CNBC, under questioning by Andrew Ross Sorkin, he said this."
Nightly News viewers then saw the following clip from Squawk Box, followed by Williams reading Gawker's put-down of Langone:
KEN LANGONE: If we change the faces in the White House, we're on the road to recovery. I believe -
CNBC's ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: Do you believe it's that simple?
LANGONE: I believe it's that's simple. We need leadership, we need cheerleading, we need encouragement. Businessmen and fat cats need to feel like they're doing something good, not that they're villains and not that their criminals.
WILLIAMS: As you might imagine, people had at Mr. Langone all day. The writer John Cook on the Web site Gawker said, "Why should you make fat cats feel badly about getting fat, while the middle class taxpayers who financed that bailout slide into poverty? They need to be made to feel good about earning record profits! It's hard enough without cheerleaders." End of quote.
Williams could have quoted even snottier elements of the online jab that evidently delighted him. "Hey! Billionaires have feelings, too, you know. Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone took to CNBC this morning to defend their honor from that bully Barack Obama, who is killing the economy by refusing to literally dance for them while holding pom-poms made of shredded cash," Gawker mocked.
Langone's obvious point -- so obvious, that it should go without saying but sadly must be spelled out for liberal media types -- is that Obama's deliberate anti-business rhetoric is fundamentally at odds with generating the psychological conditions for a strong recovery. Some businesses may be alarmed by the left-wing rhetoric, while others may ignore it, but no profit-seeking capitalist will be encouraged to take risks in such a climate.
In a piece of the CNBC discussion not shown to Nightly News viewers because it could not as easily be mocked, Langone condemned Obama for choosing petty and divisive class warfare tactics over genuine leadership:
LANGONE: Dammit, leadership is critical in anything you do in life, and this is not -- I'm sorry -- this is not leadership. This is politics, frankly, at its worst. Not at its best, but at its worst. And we need to fix it....I leave you with a parting shot: Don't sell America short. We're the greatest country on earth, we're going to get our bearings back. We're going to succeed.
- Rich Noyes's blog
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Comments
How much did Brian Williams
Submitted by Van Halen on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 1:20pm.
How much did Brian Williams earn last year?
From the DNC or NBC?
Submitted by Fredy on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 1:39pm.
Did you want the totals from the Democratic party, democratic doners, democratic labor union bosses, and other associates or just the NBC totals?
Of course they wouldn't show that last part....
Submitted by nonncom on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 1:22pm.
It in no way meets their agenda to criticize and villainize another businessman.....
Why does anyone care what college dropout BeeBee Williams say?
Submitted by ConservaSerb on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 1:29pm.
BeeBee is a clear leftist. He's hateful. Spiteful. Arrogant.
Who oversaw the "bailout?" Who passed the "new" Wall Street regulations? Who forgave certain companies? Who sat there for years defending the idiotic practices of Fanny and Freddie?
The Libocommies. And because most of the ShitStreamMedia is in the tank for them, they now attempt to rewrite history.
A wise & frugal government, which shall leave men free 2 regulate their own pursuits of industry & improvement, & shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government. T. Jefferson
Ugh. "Lashes out"? Seems like
Submitted by balboa on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 1:31pm.
Ugh. "Lashes out"? Seems like Williams was reporting on the response to those statements.
Ugh is right
Submitted by MrShy on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 2:04pm.
Hey meathead, what responses did Brian and his team pick out to report on?
- shy on vinyl
Join Mr. Shy and The 1* Percent
Oh Archie...
Submitted by balboa on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 10:25pm.
Oh Archie...
Typical CKL balboa crap
Submitted by The Vet on Sat, 11/26/2011 - 1:38am.
1. Make a cryptic stupid comment based upon so tiny sliver of some aspect of the blog post presented.
2. Get called on it.
3. Go directly to a crypto-dummy ad hominem style post.
You go Cop Killer Lover, you are some kind of special.
Brian Williams
Submitted by John21 on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 1:36pm.
Brian Williams has been an Obamabot from the word go. He and Christy have been and continue to be dedicated to proving their stupidity and bias. They also compete with each other to show the most love for their incompetent hero.
Why are you surprised that he would make propaganda statements on his (supposed) news cast? I think the neutering of any options but the far left is a clause in the NBC contract. Either that or NBC actively hunts eunuch membership (part of diversity?) and the clueless.
I've considered Williams to
Submitted by killa37 on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 1:45pm.
I've considered Williams to be a pansy-ass knee-pad wearing mouthpiece for the Democrat agenda - with an ambiguous sexual identity - from Day One..................and ever since Boy Barry entered the political picture (and especially since he's been coronated), Williams has unabashadly proven that my opinion was correct..............hell, this little milquetoast has even BOWED to King Barry!!!! So anything that comes out of his one-sided mouth doesn't surprise me. No wonder his eyebrows are in an unhappy position - look at where his brain is coming from!!!
I remember Williams first interview with Barry
Submitted by Tugboat Phil on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 3:24pm.
He spent a whole day walking around with Obama. One of his hard hitting questions to the President was, "So, did you get yourself a hearty breakfast?"
Really? You get a whole day to ask questions of the (alleged) leader of the free world and you ask about his breakfast?
So which is it, Brian? . . .
Submitted by Galvanic on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 1:50pm.
In defending the MSM (print media; major network news organizations), people like Williams are always telling us that the MSM provides the in-depth analysis lacking in online news sources.
But then they're constantly citing blogs as sources of analysis. Gawker.com?! What the hell is that?
Of course, this is their not-so-clever way of injecting biased opinion into a broadcast while denying that it is their biased opinion. It's from the same playbook as "Some say . . ."
It's further evidence that the MSM is intellectually lazy and politically biased, and Brian Williams is one of the prime offenders.
Did Williams run face first into a brick wall or something?
Submitted by OxyCon on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 1:56pm.
Maybe one day he was in a bit of a hurry to get to the tanning salon and didn't see that the door was closed and that's why his face looks strangely distorted.
*this is the kind of comment you usually see at Gawker, isn't it? Hope Brian likes it as much as he liked to anti-Langone ones.
Hey why don't we ask Brian Williams ?
Submitted by NeoKong on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 2:08pm.
Who has created more jobs....?
President Stimulus or Ken Langone ?
There was a time when Home Depot was growing that so many stores were opening that they could not even visit them all if they saw a new one every day.
There isn't a contractor in America who hasn't done tens of thousands of dollars in business with The Home Depot.
They changed the industry.
On one of the forums I visit
Submitted by Dan The Man 2 on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 2:30pm.
On one of the forums I visit the people there continually point out 2.5 million jobs created or saved. Uses the cbo reports
Creator vs. Deflator
Submitted by Herbster on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 2:09pm.
Ken Langone: Founded Home Depot. Created hundreds of thousands of jobs. A patriot.
Brian Williams: Leftist obamapimp. Never created anything in his life. Never held a "Real" job - except bowing to the present occupant of the White House. Propagandist.
Brian Williams - crusading reporter
Submitted by reddog339 on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 7:21pm.
Brian Williams is going to turn over a new leaf and become a Real newsman: following the lead of the Enquirer investigating skank John Edwards-- Williams will search for the truth about Obama membership in Chicago gay club "Man's Country", the dead(2executed) gay choir friends of Obama in Rev. Wright's church and accusations that Rev. Wright runs a gay dating service code named DLC- no not the Democrat Leadership Committee --but the Down Low Club. Rev. Wright lives in a$ 1.6 million home in a gated community- nice payoff. ...... News at 11pm- Brian will report the truff.
Poor
Submitted by grammajane on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 2:10pm.
williams, Whining again about his "hero" Does he ever quit being such a cry baby about negative remarks about his "buddy" Grow up williams and act, if possible, like a man and so-called news anchor
Those that don't bow to Dear
Submitted by d1carter on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 2:28pm.
Those that don't bow to Dear Leader must be punished...
Yes, any criticism of Herr Dear Führer is strictly verboten
Submitted by Dave. on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 2:33pm.
I can envision comrade Williams to soon be suggesting dissenters be rounded up and carted off to the camps.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
Good evening Dave
Submitted by cocodrie on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 3:21pm.
Tatyana Limanova has the best opinion of Obabble waiting for you.
Jesus Loves You so much He died for you
Yeah, that was pretty
Submitted by killa37 on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 6:23pm.
Yeah, that was pretty good................apparantly that 'bird' - to paraphrase that low-down conservative, Billy F. Gibbons of ZZ Topp - 'it's bad, it's international'!!!
But Rush is under severe attack for saying 'uppity'....................
Ken Langone is a self-righteous jerk
Submitted by Bumr50 on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 2:33pm.
My opinion of Ken Langone after hearing him ridiculing other presidential candidates to bolster Mittens chances with Neal Cavuto puts him in the same league as Williams.
With friends like Langone, the GOP needs to seriously assess it's current state of being.
The Sanctimoneuos Williams....
Submitted by Aubrey on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 2:39pm.
....begins by saying "Well, here is something you don't hear everyday". Certainly not on NBC or other leftist arms of the re-elect Barry campaign. But you certainly do around the Nation. Barry is a leaderless hack who resents America and during his miserable time staining the White House has divided the Nation with his Class Envy Bilge Demagoguery. Williams nightly dry humps Barry. What an embarrassment.
The Palace Guard
Submitted by HardRightTurn on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 3:41pm.
Doubling as the news source of record.
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
How much...?
Submitted by helomech on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 3:50pm.
As someone already asked: exactly how much did Blowhard Williams make last year, spewing vile trash as one of the mouthpieces/talking heads for The Oppresive One?
Funny how someone says something relevant and it just sends the Libs into a tailspin
The toad makes $13 million a
Submitted by Scuba Dude on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 4:07pm.
The toad makes $13 million a year and supposedly has a net worth of around $30 million. I say that he should be in the 99% bracket along with a lot of the other media libturds.
What smirk? What lashing out?
Submitted by Jer on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 4:15pm.
I watched the segment. Perhaps the smirking and the lashing had been surgically removed.
Williams showed a clip of Langone issuing a forceful--some might say incendiary--critique of Obama followed by a hard-hitting rebuttal penned by John Cook.
Point...counterpoint.
End of story.
Jer
Well, Jer..........I'm all
Submitted by killa37 on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 6:35pm.
Well, Jer..........I'm all for the 'point/counterpoint'..........or the 'statement/counter statement'.........that type of thing - but what really rankles my okole, and might be coming into play here, is that the supposed 'newsman' is quite often the one stating his OWN opinion (or the opinion of the agenda of his employers), and not having some other third-party guest on the show to give the opposing view. To me, that's when things start to get a little slanted. Now, I'm not sure if Williams is a 'newsman' or some kind of 'opinion guy' - since I don't watch him much, unless I stumble across him while I'm have the TV on - but it's apparant to me where he's coming from - so it would be hard to call him an unbiased 'news reporter'.
I've got the afternoon off, and the surf is good..................so you KNOW where I'm going!!!!
Hard hitting rebuttal? More like fictional rebuttal
Submitted by ckc1227 on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 8:12pm.
Being a liberal, I guess you would consider make believe liberal talking points to be hard hitting.
""The writer John Cook on the Web site Gawker said, "Why should you make fat cats feel badly about getting fat, while the middle class taxpayers who financed that bailout slide into poverty? They need to be made to feel good about earning record profits!"
Nah, ckc---
Submitted by matthewdean on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 8:24pm.
Jeringo just feels obligated, as a left leaner, to chime in so as to point out that any conservative comments are automatically suspect.
Which, to any lib, of course, they are.
Obama is king, dontcha know?
MD
ckc...
Submitted by Jer on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 11:57pm.
I wasn't judging the veracity of the charge or the counter charge. If you disagree that the latter was hard-hitting, that's fine with me.
Jer
End Of Rational Thought On Your Part Jer
Submitted by txradioguy on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 6:45pm.
Brian Williams hypocritically sniping at someone for being rich by lip synching someone else's words is hardly rational thought and doesn't pass the smell test for what is even considered basic journalism.
And using some cyber tabloid cite like Gawker.com as his source is pathetic...just like you actually trying to justify it.
He may as well have used PerezHilton.
Who penned the transcript?
Submitted by seabecker on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 7:04pm.
"LANGONE: ... and not that their criminals."
they're
Many of them
Submitted by HockeyKid on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 9:29pm.
these days are computer-transcribed. That's why you see so many homonym errors popping up. It would be nice if a human proofed them before posting, though.
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
Keep it up libs, too many
Submitted by amyshulk on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 9:22pm.
Keep it up libs, too many feel it for your "Who ya gonna believe, me or your lyin' eyes" shtick to work!!!
Ronald Reagan
Here's a washcloth,
Submitted by HockeyKid on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 9:31pm.
BriWi. You got something brown on your nose there...
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
Lashes out?
Submitted by mukome on Fri, 11/25/2011 - 9:10am.
Are you freaking kidding me? Lashes out?