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After Robert Gates criticized the White House in his new book "Duty," members of CNN's liberal panel spent most of their time defending Hillary Clinton and President Obama against the charges, on Tuesday's AC 360 Later.

"I'm a little gobsmacked by it. It's not what I would expect from Bob Gates," lefty blogger Andrew Sullivan lamented. Regarding Gates' criticism of Biden, he asked "why the gratuitous insults? It's just not in his character or personality."

At the top of Wednesday's NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer portrayed former Defense Secretary Robert Gates as an ungrateful and disgruntled ex-employee: "Blindsided. President Obama's former Defense Secretary Robert Gates takes on his old boss – the man who awarded him the Medal of Freedom – in a blistering new memoir. This morning, what may have made him turn?" [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

In the report that followed later, correspondent Andrea Mitchell fretted: "President Obama's decision to keep George Bush's defense secretary, a Republican, has now blown back on the White House." Like Lauer, she made sure to note how Obama had honored Gates: "Gates gave no hint of his resentment when he left the cabinet two years ago and President Obama awarded him the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor."

CNN's Chris Cuomo pounded Republicans on Tuesday's New Day for demanding offsetting spending cuts in exchange for extending jobless benefits.

"Are they holding these people hostage? I mean, shouldn't these be extended and then have a legitimate jobs policy discussion?" Cuomo asked in disbelief of Republicans holding out for a deal on jobless benefits. Cuomo is the brother of New York's Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo, and once again sounded like a Democratic strategist going after Republicans. [Video below the break. Audio here.]

MSNBC's Ed Schultz on Tuesday compared thanking postal employees for working in the cold to praising military veterans for serving their country in war. The Ed Show anchor was talking to postal union President Frederic Rolando and railing against Republican Congressman Darrell Issa's criticisms of the money-losing agency. This led Schultz to compare, "Oftentimes, we see citizens in this country go up to veterans and say, you know, 'I want to thank you for what you do.' I've seen people on airplanes give up their seats in first class to that guy or woman that has the uniform."

He added, "It might be good right now if you were to say to your postal worker, very good chance that that is a veteran, 'Thanks for everything you do. I know it's kind of chilly out.'" [See video below. MP3 audio here.] Schultz has a history of making extreme comparisons in relation to the American military. Back in October, the host took a call on his radio show from a veteran who insisted that he would lose coverage because of ObamaCare. Schultz snarled, "I'm a veteran. I'm a veteran taxpayer of over 40 years, okay?"

Healthcare.gov may be riddled with security flaws, but MSNBC’s Karen Finney doesn’t want to let that tarnish the liberal dream that is ObamaCare.

On Sunday’s Disrupt with Karen Finney, the host mocked House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s recently revealed memo detailing the House GOP’s goals for the beginning of this year. Noting that ObamaCare website security was Cantor’s top priority, the former DNC communications chief sneered: [Video below. MP3 audio here.]

In a fawning report on Tuesday's NBC Today, national investigative correspondent Michael Isikoff touted the exploits of two left-wing activists who stole a thousand FBI documents in 1971 and just confessed to the crime: "In an exclusive NBC News interview, the burglars, anti-Vietnam War activists, admit they committed the crime to expose what they believed were illegal activities by the FBI." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

Isikoff dramatically described the heist: "Bonnie Raines cased the office posing as a college student, leaving no fingerprints....Her husband, John Raines, a retired religion professor, drove the getaway car." He then proclaimed: "The documents exposed FBI efforts to spread paranoia among left-wing groups and COINTELPRO, a surveillance program started years earlier by then-director J. Edgar Hoover."

Both ABC's Good Morning America and CBS This Morning on Tuesday covered a big win for the Second Amendment in the courts. But NBC's Today couldn't make time for the ruling by a federal judge that struck down Chicago's ban on retail gun sales. Instead, the morning show devoted almost five minutes to a new reality show about the mythological Bigfoot monster.

Good Morning America's Josh Elliott explained, "A federal judge has struck down Chicago's ban on gun sales, calling it unconstitutional...Chicago's murder rate was the highest in the nation last year." [See video below. MP3 audio here.] Over on This Morning, Charlie Rose informed viewers that "[U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang] says banning the sale of firearms in Chicago is unconstitutional. He's not convinced it helps with gun violence."

Ben Tracy boosted former Minnesota Vikings player Chris Kluwe on Tuesday's CBS This Morning for his activism in favor of same-sex "marriage." Tracy hyped that "Kluwe was one of the best punters the Minnesota Vikings ever had", and that despite being let go from the football team, "Kluwe continues his advocacy, wearing an anti-bigotry hat."

The correspondent slanted towards Kluwe by featuring soundbites from the athlete-turned-activist exclusively, and did little to question his allegation that his former coaches are anti-homosexual "bigots." However, Tracy also hinted that Kluwe could have done more for his left-wing cause by speaking up while he was still with the Vikings: [MP3 audio available here; video below the jump]

Introducing a report on Monday's NBC Nightly News about Al-Qaeda forces seizing control of the Iraqi city of Fallujah, anchor Brian Williams went out of his way to blame the President George W. Bush for the deteriorating security situation: "U.S. fighting forces are gone from Iraq. But as so many predicted when President Bush chose to go to war there after 9/11, the fighting has started up again." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

However, in the report that followed, correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin featured a sound bite of President Obama – not President Bush – celebrating the "historic moment" of an abrupt U.S. troop withdrawal from the country after failing to negotiate a status of forces agreement with the Iraqi government. Mohyeldin noted: "Some warned the U.S. withdrawal left a security vacuum."

The journalists at Good Morning America on Tuesday offered a gushing, excited look at Michelle Obama's "extended vacation" in Hawaii, offering no questions or skepticism about what the trip will cost taxpayers. Entertainment reporter Lara Spencer enthused, "This morning, there are reports that Mrs. Obama is spending the rest of her stay with her good friend Oprah Winfrey at her estate on the island of Maui. Winfrey will also be celebrating a milestone birthday." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

Spencer hyped the First Lady's impending birthday, touting, "Word is there won't be a formal dinner but there will be plenty of dancing. She does love to dance and we wish her a very happy birthday." On Monday, Fox News reporter Ed Henry quizzed White House Press Secretary Jay Carney: "The First Lady stayed behind and the White House said that was an early birthday present from the President. Does that mean he's paying for the flight back or taxpayers?"

Liberal MSNBC anchor Ed Schultz on Monday used the cold snap hitting much of the country to push two left-wing agendas. He lectured "heartless and cruel" Republicans to extend unemployment because of the chill and, at the same time, blamed the low temperatures on global warming. [See video of both clips below. MP3 audio here.]

The Ed Show host blasted, "Not only can we [sic] stop the wind from blowing, we can't stop the Republicans from being heartless and cruel!" Schultz concluded that since it's very cold out, "we need to be taking...some special measurements to help people who have been unemployed for a long time." Later, the anchor wondered if climate change was the culprit for the deep freeze.

On Monday's CBS This Morning, Charlie Rose predictably placed the blame for the unusually cold weather in North America on climate change. Rose wondered, "Is it definitely connected to global warming?"

Rose and co-anchor Norah O'Donnell turned to climate change alarmist Bryan Walsh of Time magazine, who only cited vague "theories...that some of the warming...you're seeing up in the Arctic might be changing the atmospheric circulation in that part of the world...and maybe, makes these cold spells a little more likely than they otherwise be." [MP3 audio available here; video below the jump]

In a report for Sunday's NBC Nightly News, White House correspondent Kristen Welker eagerly promoted efforts by President Obama to use class warfare against Republicans leading up to the 2014 midterm elections: "President Obama will aim to reboot his presidency this year after a rocky 2013. The first item on the agenda will be extending unemployment insurance benefits....In his weekly media message, Mr. Obama blamed Republicans for leaving those benefits out of last month's budget deal." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

A clip played of Obama ranting: "And denying families that security is just plain cruel. We're a better country than that." Moments later, Welker proclaimed: "The President will also renew his call for an increase in the minimum wage in his State of the Union address. Another piece of a Democratic strategy designed to paint Republicans as the party of the rich ahead of the fall elections."

The New York Times issued an editorial on New Year’s Day demanding that massive leaker Edward Snowden “deserved better” than exile in Moscow. He deserved clemency or a plea bargain so he could come home. On Friday night’s “Cavuto” on Fox Business, guest anchor Melissa Francis interviewed MRC director of media analysis Tim Graham, who didn’t like the paper’s choices for hero worship.

Graham declared: “If the New York Times had a Man of the Year, like Time magazine has a Person of the Year, it’s clearly Snowden. Snowden is their hero!”

All three networks on Monday morning hyped the news that Liz Cheney is dropping her bid for a U.S. Senate seat in Wyoming. ABC, CBS and NBC used the opportunity to replay the "divisive" "family feud" Mrs. Cheney had with her gay sister, Mary, as she defended traditional marriage. On CBS This Morning, Jan Crawford again quoted Mary Cheney publicly lecturing, "You're just wrong, and on the wrong side of history."

On the Today show, Kelly O'Donnell opined, "Her campaign was brief and divisive." [See video below. MP3 audio here.] She added, "But then her campaign exposed a stunningly public family feud over same-sex marriage, when sister Mary Cheney, and Mary's wife Heather Poe, criticized Liz's opposition to gay marriage." In addition to focusing on gay marriage, NBC highlighted this as a failure for the Cheney brand. O'Donnell concluded that a "famous name and fierce ambition wasn't enough."

Sometimes I think people at MSNBC have Sarah Palin on the brain.

In a Morning Joe segment about Melissa Harris-Perry’s apology to the Romney family for mocking their adopted black grandson, and former Governor Mitt Romney’s classy acceptance of said apology, host Joe Scarborough for some reason decided to take a totally unprovoked and unnecessary cheap shot at Sarah Palin (video follows with transcript and commentary):

It really is wonderful having George Will at Fox News where we can see him more frequently than a few minutes a week.

On Fox News Sunday, in a segment about incoming New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D), Will said, "[T]here's nothing better for American conservatism than periodic examples of untrammeled liberalism...I give him three years and people will be begging for a return to something else" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

As NewsBusters previous reported, MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry issued a heartfelt apology to the Romneys at the beginning of her show Saturday for mocking their adopted black grandson last weekend.

On Fox News Sunday, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney – showing the class we’ve all grown accustomed to from him – said, “I think it's a heartfelt apology, and I think for that reason, we hold no ill will whatsoever” (video follows with transcript and commentary):

On CNN’s State of the Union Sunday, host Candy Crowley asked a question of Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wisc.) that should offend people on both sides of the aisle.

“If I am an unemployed American…or if I am a minimum wage worker…why would I become a Republican?” (video follows with transcript and commentary):

On Thursday, the New York Times called for the Obama administration to enter into a plea bargain or offer clemency to National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden in order to bring him back to the United States.

On PBS’s McLaughlin Group Friday, syndicated columnist Pat Buchanan observed during a discussion about this issue, “There is an inherent conflict of interest between journalists and so-called whistleblowers” (video follows with transcript and commentary):

As NewsBusters previously reported, MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry and a panel of comedians last weekend senselessly mocked a picture of former Governor Mitt Romney’s family because it included his adopted black grandson.

Although she’s already apologized on Twitter, Harris-Perry began her show Saturday with a heartfelt apology much of the time fighting through a lump in her throat and tears (video follows with transcript and commentary):

On Thursday night’s edition, the PBS NewsHour held a discussion about President Obama’s prospects for making 2014 more successful than 2013. Of course, the panelists defined success as the president enacting more of his left-of-center agenda.

Gerald Seib of The Wall Street Journal posed a “really interesting strategic choice” that he thought the White House had to make: [Video below. MP3 audio here.]

MSNBC anchor Ed Schultz, who has previously frothed over "bastard," "slut," "dirt hole" conservatives, on Thursday attacked Jake Tapper for offering a mild critique of liberal New York Mayor Bill de Blasio's inauguration. During the ceremony, speaker after speaker slammed the outgoing Michael Bloomberg, comparing the city under his tenure to a "plantation."

On his CNN program, Tapper pointed out that political leaders often use inaugurations to "reach out to critics, to reach out to those who maybe didn't vote for him. This was not that." This innocuous statement caused Schultz to mock, "If Jake Tapper thinks a man who was elected with 70 percent of the vote for making income inequality the centerpiece of his campaign was wrong for talking about it, he can keep on pretending." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

Friday's CBS This Morning hyped the California Supreme Court's decision to allow the Golden State to issue law license to illegal immigrants. Substitute anchor Anthony Mason touted the "historic ruling that could give millions of undocumented workers new freedom." Norah O'Donnell trumpeted how "supporters of undocumented immigrants are praising an unprecedented ruling."

O'Donnell later underlined "the decision that could...open new doors for millions." John Blackstone featured two soundbites from the new lawyer – Sergio Garcia – whose parents "brought him here illegally from Mexico when he was 17 months old," but none from opponents of the ruling [MP3 audio available here; video below the jump].

In a taped interview with former Maryland Republican Governor Bob Ehrlich aired on Friday's MSNBC Daily Rundown, host Chuck Todd scolded the GOP for supposedly not making "any progress" in reaching out to minorities and women since the 2012 election, citing the party's  defeat in the 2013 Virginia governor's race: "You lost because the Democrats were able to essentially win social issues – used social issues as a wedge." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

Ehrlich hit back: "But that's a euphemism, let's just call it what it is. It was scaring young women." Todd dismissed the accusation: "What campaigns aren't about scaring some voters?" He then went after Republicans: "Attacking health care is scaring voters, too." Ehlrich replied: "Attacking a dysfunctional health care is not scaring anybody. ObamaCare is scaring enough people."

Of the three major networks, only NBC ignored a major new study with a dire warning about ObamaCare: The President's health care law will likely make things worse in emergency rooms, not better. CBS investigated the story on Thursday's Evening News and Friday's This Morning. ABC allowed a mere 20 seconds on Good Morning America, but still beat NBC's silence.

On Evening News, Sharyl Attkisson revealed, "Despite hopes that expanding Medicaid would decrease expensive and unnecessary hospital visits because the poor would have access to doctors and preventative care, today's study finds the opposite." Attkisson featured MIT professor and co-author Amy Finkelstein. She explained, "What Medicaid does is it makes not only primary care now free for individuals but also the emergency room. And as I teach my undergraduates, when you lower the price of something people tend to buy more of it." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

As Colorado stores began legally selling marijuana to customers on Wednesday, CNN hyped the opening as "history being made" and an "amazing experience to be a part of and to witness."

"[H]istory being made there in Colorado," noted New Day co-host Michaela Pereira on Thursday. Anchor Ashleigh Banfield excitedly reported that "some people have waited a lifetime and others have waited in line for hours in the cold just for a chance to legally buy some weed just to smoke for fun." [Video below the break. Audio here.]

Appearing on Wednesday's NBC Today to provide his New Year political predictions for 2014, chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd assured co-host Savannah Guthrie that despite the ObamaCare disaster, Republicans would be "in just as bad of a place, if not worse than they were." He explained: "It just doesn't look like it right now because of health care." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

Todd's wishful thinking was prompted by Guthrie observing: "[Republicans] were widely blamed for the government shutdown. I think they were, in some ways, rescued by the debacle with the ObamaCare rollout because the heat was off them." Todd pushed back: "...they haven't fixed their structural problems....it's a false sense of security....they threw out this whole, 'Okay, we've got to get better with minorities and get better with technology and get better with various issues, not look like we're so anti-woman.' They've made no – they've made no accomplishments on that front. None of it."

New Years seemed like a good time for ABC to push the marijuana "revolution" taking place in Colorado. World News reporter Clayton Sandell on Wednesday featured an almost entirely positive story, focusing on job growth related to pot and featuring one man (wearing green face paint) who enthused, "This is a historical event." Sandell showcased the grand opening of a new store that legally sells the drug for recreational use. [See video below. MP3 audio here.] Another man gushed, "We drove 17 hours to get here."

The journalist touted, "Other states are now watching to see how this new experiment works out as marijuana moves from the underground to the mainstream." Highlighting the economic angle, he continued, "Anyone over 21 can buy it, helping fuel a Colorado green rush." Sandell featured one businessman who enthused, "We want to be the Costco of marijuana."