Today Show Skips Any Mention of Bob McDonnell’s GOP Response to State of the Union

Of the three morning shows on Thursday, only NBC’s Today show skipped any mention of Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell’s Republican response to the President’s State of the Union address. Both ABC’s Good Morning America and CBS’s Early Show gave McDonnell’s rebuttal at least minor attention.

On the Early Show, Chip Reid explained, "Virginia's newly inaugurated governor Bob McDonnell gave the Republican response. He echoed the sentiment of many in his party who believe big government is not the solution." Reid then featured a clip of McDonnell calling for limited government.

ABC co-host George Stephanopoulos only referenced McDonnell as an intro to a question for former Governor Mitt Romney: "Jobs. That's the President's number one priority. In the Republican response last night, Governor McDonnell said the same thing."

Today co-host Meredith Vieira did talk to Jeb Bush, but ignored McDonnell. In a 8am news brief, Ann Curry vaguely offered, "In rebuttal, Republicans said the nation cannot afford the President’s agenda."

Speaking of the President, NBC’s Chuck Todd did offer this spin about Obama reaching out: "The President did his best to offer Republicans something to stand up and cheer about, talking about all the tax cuts he implemented." After a clip of the President saying, "We cut taxes," Todd announced, "That didn’t do it."