Networks Skip Liberal Labels For Dem Convention

While NBC's Matt Lauer took pains to label John McCain's vice presidential nominee a "staunch" and "stalwart" conservative on Friday, all three network morning shows almost entirely avoided any ideological descriptors for Senators Obama, Biden and the major liberal speakers during the just completed August 25 to 28 Democratic National Convention.

Some of the individuals at the convention included Al Gore, Senator Ted Kennedy and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, all politicians with an obvious leftward tilt. The only exception to the liberal label blackout included references by NBC's "Today" and CBS's "Early Show" on Tuesday when various reporters affectionately referred to Kennedy as the "liberal lion," of the Senate, a clear term on endearment. (ABC's "Good Morning America" used the word "lion" in regards to Kennedy, but not "liberal.") This foreshadows a Republican National Convention, September 1 to the 4, a period where John McCain and Sarah Palin will very likely be labeled "conservative" many times.  

In contrast, on August 25, reporter David Gregory blandly described Democratic vice presidential nominee Biden as simply "65 years old," and someone who has amassed "deep foreign policy experience as chairman of the Foreign Relations committee." He added, "As a Catholic and a native of Scranton, Pennsylvania, his political appeal extends to the working class voters Obama has struggled to attract." Gregory left out the fact that Biden also has a lifetime American Conservative Union score of 13, a number that most people would agree qualifies him as a liberal.