Ann Curry

After grilling Romney campaign adviser Eric Fehrnstrom on a variety of topics on Tuesday's NBC Today, co-host Ann Curry wrapped up the interview by portraying Mitt Romney's support of traditional marriage as behind the times: "...there's a Gallup poll now that shows an increasing support by Americans for relationships between same-sexes. I'm wondering, do you believe that on this issue Mitt Romney is on the wrong side of history?" [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

Curry prefaced her left-wing question by noting how President Obama "is painting gay marriages as an expansion of human rights." In a prior report, chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd touted how during a New York campaign fudraising swing, the President experienced "an embrace of enthusiastic donors happy with his new gay marriage stance....firing up his liberal base as he basked in the glow of a friendly audience..."

At the end of a full report on Friday's NBC Today, based on a Washington Post hit piece that accused Mitt Romney of bullying of a gay high school classmate, correspondent Peter Alexander admitted the story may be false: "NBC News isn't naming the student who was allegedly bullied....Late last night, his sister told NBC News that his portrayal in the Washington Post story is 'factually incorrect'..."

Despite that important detail, the network morning show still decided to promote the accusations. At the top of the show, co-host Ann Curry teased: "Prep school bully? Mitt Romney responds to a report that as a teenager he led a bullying incident of a classmate who later came out as gay....Could an incident that happened nearly 50 years ago impact the presidential race?"

To get reaction to President Obama's flip-flop on gay marriage, Thursday's NBC Today brought on openly gay left-wing MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, who quickly attacked Republicans on the issue: "It's a very, very conservative Republican Party on this issue....Mitt Romney, who wants to roll back gay rights nationwide."

Co-host Ann Curry helped Maddow along by asking series of questions from the left:  "...[Obama's] leaving it to the states, there's no movement to do something federally, in terms of making a change, I mean, what actually changes?....Is it clear, though, that this will not satisfy gay marriage activists?...that there's going to be an increase in their demands to push this further forward? Have it be on the platforms for the Democratic Party?"

Following Vice President Biden praising the NBC sitcom Will & Grace for changing attitudes toward homosexuality on Sunday's Meet the Press, on Monday's Today, co-host Ann Curry made a similar declaration: "...there weren't a lot of gay role models on television....Now, there – this is, we're in the wake of Will and Grace, you know, we've seen Glee on television..." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

Curry made the observation while talking to openly gay Bravo network executive and talk show host Andy Cohen detailing his coming-out story in a new memoir. Noting gay characters on television, Curry wondered: "Is it any easier for people?" Cohen declared: "I think with more visibility of gay people on TV you feel like you know them. And you feel wow, maybe it's okay. So I hope so, yes."

Talking to Meet the Press host David Gregory on Monday's NBC Today, co-host Ann Curry pushed for Mitt Romney to move away from conservatives: "...does he have to work really hard now to backtrack off of some of his positions in the past, as he was trying to win the primary...?" [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

In a stunning double standard, in her very next question, Curry fretted about President Obama distancing himself from Vice President Biden's support of gay marriage: "There's been some backtracking, it seems, by the White House. Is it possible that the White House could cause itself some damage in backtracking too much off of this?"

Talking to NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams about President Obama's surprise trip to Afghanistan on Wednesday's Today, co-host Ann Curry hoped the move would quiet Republicans: "Meantime, by using the commander-in-chief mantel to make this visit, to extend an arm and hand to our troops, does he blunt any of the Republican criticism that he is...politicizing, essentially, a military victory?"

Curry was of course referring to the Obama campaign team using the anniversary of the killing of Osama Bin Laden to attack Mitt Romney. In response to Curry's DNC-approved framing of the trip, Williams proclaimed: "Presidents do get to use the machinery of the presidency to make their points. Nine years ago last night we saw the carrier landing and 'Mission Accomplished'...that's something George W. Bush got to do. And the White House is framing this...the way they want it framed."

In a fawning interview with Barack Obama's half-sister Auma Obama on Monday's NBC Today, co-host Ann Curry lobbed softballs about the President: "...you describe an almost instantaneous connection when you met your brother Barack Obama. Can you describe why, how, you made this instantaneous connection?...What void do you think you filled in his life?"

Citing Auma's new memoir, "And Then Life Happens," Curry pondered: "So I wonder, reading the book, whether you think that filling these gaps, for your brother, about how he knew his father, if you had not been able to do that, if he would be who he is today? If he would have been able to achieve becoming President of the United States?"

On Monday's NBC Today, co-host Ann Curry could barely contain her glee over President Obama's comedic performance at Saturday's White House Correspondents' Dinner: "I mean, he is Shecky, Shecky Obama. I'm telling you, he knows about timing. He's terrific." Curry was referring to famous stand-up comedian Shecky Greene. [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

Fellow co-host Matt Lauer asked Curry and weatherman Al Roker about being guests at the event. Roker declared: "It was a good time, it really was. I thought the President did fantastically. Jimmy Kimmel, I think was a little nervous, but boy, he delivered." Curry replied: "It would be hard not to be nervous following the President." Lauer chimed in: "[Obama's] very good, there's no question."

At the top of Thursday's NBC Nightly News, fill-in anchor Savannah Guthrie proclaimed: "Fired for trying to get pregnant. Tonight, the teacher versus the Catholic school." Guthrie was referring to Indiana Catholic school teacher Emily Herx claiming she was fired after receiving in vitro fertilization treatments and touted the case as "another legal showdown over religious and reproductive rights."

In the report that followed, correspondent Katy Tur declared: "It is one woman's battle against infertility and the restrictions of the Catholic Church." After promoting Herx's allegation that parish Monsignor John Kuzmic called her "a grave immoral sinner" for having the treatment, a sound bite played of Herx lamenting: "My husband was heartbroken, my family was heartbroken. It's been very emotional and traumatic for all of us."

In a supposed discussion of financial ethics with left-wing Harvard professor Michael Sandel on Wednesday's NBC Today, co-host Ann Curry decried people being able to pay more money to get through airport security faster: "...there's an inherent unfairness to it....it's about those with money having an easier life than those who don't. And there's something fundamentally unfair about that." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]     

Sandel was on to hawk his new book, "What Money Can't Buy," which Curry touted as, "a hard look at what's up for grabs in our society and asks, even if we can buy something, should we?" Sandel put different "moral dilemmas" to the morning show hosts, including the airport security line scenario. Curry went on to indict American society: "...not everyone has access to being able to get money, to work for money.... until America becomes fair in terms of how able people are – can be to make money, until the playing field is fair, it is unfair."

Throughout the Wednesday broadcast, NBC's Today repeatedly found time to promote President Obama as funny, hip, and connecting with young voters. Touting the President's appearance on NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, co-host Matt Lauer gushed that Obama, "gave our colleague Brian Williams a run for his money when he helped Jimmy Slow Jam the News."

Highlighting Obama's tour of college campuses, Lauer and fellow co-host Ann Curry conducted a four-minute live interview with a Colorado college student who met the President when her yogurt was accidentally spilled on him. Lauer teased the segment at the top of the show: "And what a mess! A college freshman gets the chance of a lifetime to meet the President. And then spills her food on him....The President laughed it off, saying at least she's got a good story to tell. She does. And she'll tell it to us in a live interview."

In an interview with Congressman Paul Ryan on Tuesday's NBC Today, co-host Ann Curry slammed the Wisconsin Republican's proposed budget: "Where is the empathy in this budget?...Do you acknowledge that poor people will suffer under his budget? That you have shown a lack of empathy to poor people in this budget?" [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

Curry cited a left-wing non-profit group in condemning the plan: "...the Center of Budget and Policy Priorities....says 62% of the savings in your budget would come from cutting programs for the poor. That between 8 and 10 million people would be kicked off of food stamps. That you would cut Medicare by 200 billion, Medicaid and other health programs by something like 770 billion."

On Wednesday's NBC Today, co-host Ann Curry informed viewers that reviews were in for Sarah Palin's Tuesday guest-hosting stint on the broadcast: "...we had a pretty interesting morning around here on Tuesday, as you may remember, with Sarah Palin as our guest host. And there's been some reaction, in fact a lot of it, in fact, has been mixed."

Later, fellow co-host Matt Lauer highlighted Palin-bashing by Daily Show host Jon Stewart, who mocked: "It's Sarah Palin co-hosting the Today show! And she was there performing a medley of her greatest hits from, 'I don't read newspapers,' to 'I write on my hand.' To that old chestnut, 'I passive aggressively hate Matt Lauer with every ounce of my being.'" After the clip, Lauer joked: "Thank you, Mr. Stewart for the cross promotion there. We really appreciate it."

Stewart went on to further slam Palin's appearance: "It's just another place for you to tout your brand of homespun nonsense unchallenged!"

Sinking to a new low in their disdain for Dick Cheney, the hosts on Monday's NBC Today wondered if the former vice president should have received a recent heart transplant, with Ann Curry declaring at the top of the broadcast: "...even though he has waited longer than most to receive his donor heart, some are questioning whether someone that old should be getting one..." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

Fellow co-host Matt Lauer described Cheney as "somebody who tends to stir controversy," who "can cause all kinds of controversy if he orders a cup of tea."

In the report that followed, NBC's left-wing chief medical editor Dr. Nancy Snyderman sounded like a one-person death panel, as she fretted: "...this has raised a lot of ethical questions, moral questions, about whether the Vice President, in fact, should have received his heart against – ahead of other people. And, raises the question, how old is too old to receive such a precious transplant?"

Eager to seize on an unfortunate Etch-A-Sketch analogy made by a Romney campaign advisor, on Thursday's NBC Today, co-host Ann Curry used all her cleverness to come up with this one-liner: "...a very mixed day for GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney. He picked up a key endorsement on Wednesday, but it's a campaign gaffe from a top aid that Romney's having a hard time shaking."

In the report that followed, correspondent Peter Alexander declared: "Mitt Romney's critics have hounded him as a flip-flopper....[He's] on the defensive once again..." Alexander also joined in the mocking: "Who knew that classic toy could cause a presidential candidate so much trouble....If only those words could magically disappear."

Leading off an interview with conservative Christian actor Kirk Cameron on Tuesday's NBC Today, co-host Ann Curry immediately attacked him for recent comments he made to CNN's Piers Morgan: "I'm going to ask you about this firestorm that you set off...on the topic of gay marriage....Many people are suggesting that this is hate speech. Are you encouraging people to feel hate towards gay people?" [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

Curry plucked out a single sentence from Cameron's CNN interview: "...you said, quote, 'I think that it's unnatural. I think that it's detrimental and ultimately destructive to so many of the foundations of civilization.'" Cameron called out her selective framing of the topic: "I love all people. I hate no one. And, you know, when you take a subject and you reduce it to something like a four-second sound bite, and a check mark on a ballot, I think that that's inappropriate and insensitive."

Beginning an interview with MSNBC Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough on Thursday's NBC Today, co-host Ann Curry wondered: "If you were head of the Republican Party trying to defeat Barack Obama in November-" Scarborough promptly interrupted her: "I'd quit." That defeatist attitude set the tone for the rest of the Obama-campaign-approved segment.

Giving a supposedly "serious" response to Curry's question, Scarborough declared: "I would be asking others to get into the race." Curry teed up Scarborough to make dire predictions of GOP chances in 2012: "But how much longer can this party go without a nominee and still beat Barack Obama?"

It’s terrible that an author got death threats, even if he’s a sleazy hack who invaded the privacy of a prominent conservative politician. It’s equally terrible that prominent conservative donors received death threats for how they choose to use their money. But according to NBC, only one of those two stories is worth telling.

In the first case, the network was warning in 2010 of death threats against Sarah Palin-sliming author Joe McGinniss. As for the second, NBC ignored reports of death threats against the libertarian Koch brothers and members of their foundation. 

At the top of Tuesday's NBC Today, co-host Ann Curry admonished Rick Santorum for accurately describing President Obama's religious history: "Fanning the flames. Rick Santorum takes a new shot at President Obama's faith by mentioning his controversial former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright."

In a later report, correspondent Peter Alexander announced: "Rick Santorum isn't backing down from what some viewed as a shot this weekend at the President's faith....On Fox News, Santorum may have fanned the flames, when he again insisted he was not questioning the President's Christianity."

In an attempt to frame Republican opposition to the President's 2013 budget proposal as merely political posturing, NBC Today co-host Ann Curry announced to viewers on Tuesday: "President Obama unveiled his new budget plan on Monday and with this being an election year, his Republican rivals were quick to lash out in opposition."

In the report that followed, chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd described the latest budget fight as being a question of, "who's going to bear the greatest burden on reducing the large national debt? The wealthiest Americans or government itself?" He further proclaimed it to be "presidential populism versus a Republican focus on shrinking government." The headline on screen throughout the segment read: "Budget Battle; GOP Candidates Blast President's Spending Plan."

In the only network morning show interview with Rick Santorum in the wake of his three-state victory on Tuesday, NBC Today co-host Ann Curry on Friday pestered the former Pennsylvania senator on whether he would "commit" not to do any negative campaigning and attempted to portray his recent comments on women serving in military combat roles as a gaffe.

Curry put this question to Santorum early in the interview: "...it is clear that negative campaigning generates votes....aren't you going to now have to go negative? Will you commit that your – you and your PACs will not? Or are you going to have to now?"

Discussing the recall of two Pfizer brands of birth control pills on Wednesday's NBC Today, co-host Ann Curry pressed Dr. Keri Peterson on an "option" for women who "may be now vulnerable to being pregnant." Peterson offered this tip: "There are options....You're going to want to use condoms immediately...there are also over-the-counter termination kits available that you can take right away." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

What was in Ann Curry's coffee this morning? In an uncharacteristically challenging interview with Obama advisor David Plouffe on Tuesday, the NBC Today co-host actually defended Mitt Romney's wealth and questioned why Democrats would criticize his success: "Now, what's wrong with that?...is that not the American dream?"

Her question became even more pointed as she pressed: "...isn't making a lot of hay over how much money he's earned and how much money he's paid in taxes, you know, really not just fanning the flames of this sort of idea of politics of envy?"

You know liberals are desperate if they’re playing the race card so early in the 2012 campaign cycle. The latest edition of MRC’s Notable Quotables is now out, and this week’s collection was heavy with media quotes attacking both Republican voters and their presidential candidates as racist.

Among the lowlights: NBC’s Ann Curry accusing Newt Gingrich of “intentionally playing the race card” when he talked about President Obama’s dismal economic record, and ex-CNN correspondent Bob Franken nastily asserting that conservative voters harbor “a real resentment against blacks,” and “would love to see us return to the good old days of Jim Crow.”

The worst quotes are below the jump; the full issue can be read at www.MRC.org. (PDF version)

In an attempt to make the Republican presidential race appear chaotic, on Friday's NBC Today, co-host Ann Curry turned to White House correspondent Chuck Todd and declared: "Even the word 'tumultuous' seems inadequate to describe what has happened to the GOP race in the last 24 hours." The on-screen headline screamed: "Campaign Craziness."

Todd saw only problems for the Republican candidates: "Mitt Romney still has an inability to win over conservatives and what does the party establishment do if Gingrich indeed does win South Carolina.... Do they try to rally around Romney one more time? Or do they try to say, 'You know what? Maybe it's time to look for somebody else again, because we don't think Gingrich is electable but now we're worried that Romney's not nominatable.'"

Having apparently run out of actual news to cover on Friday, the cast of NBC's Today gushed over President Obama singing a line from the song "Let's Stay Together" during a fundraiser at the Apollo Theater. After a clip played of the musical moment, weatherman Al Roker proclaimed: "He could be on The Voice." News anchor Natalie Morales excitedly added: "Sign him up." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

Co-host Matt Lauer agreed, declaring Obama was "really very good." The sycophantic group went even further when fellow co-host Ann Curry touted: "...our editors actually did...a little mash-up between a little Obama, a little [singer] Al Green. Let's take a listen." After the ridiculous video, Curry admitted: "We obviously had too much time on our hands." Yeah, no kidding.