On Thursday's CBS Evening News, as Nancy Cordes filed a report with the latest on the aftermath of the Steve Scalise shooting, the CBS correspondent made a point of highlighting Democratic criticisms of Republicans New Gingrich and New York Rep. Chris Collins for complaining about "hostility" and "rhetoric" coming from the far left.
Cordes notably did not mention that Rep. Collins had already decided to retract his comments as he feared they were not appropriate in the aftermath of the violence.
The CBS correspondent recounted gunman James Hodgkinson's anti-Trump views and then brought up Gingrich's comments as the report recalled:
NANCY CORDES: Hodgkinson's Facebook page was filled with anti-Trump, anti-GOP messages, leading a few conservatives to blame --
FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER NEW GINGRICH (on FNC's Fox and Friends): -- an increasing intensity of hostility on the left --
After omitting Gingrich's comments on the sometimes physical hostility toward conservatives on college campuses, the report then got to Rep. Collins as it continued:
CORDES: New York Republican Chris Collins told a local radio host --
REP. CHRIS COLLINS (R-NY) (audio from radio show): I can only hope that the Democrats do tone down the rhetoric. Some people react to things like that.
Cordes then showed some of House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi's criticism of Gingrich and Collins as she continued:
NANCY PELOSI, HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: How dare they say such a thing.
CORDES: Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi argued she's endured hostile right-wing rhetoric for years.
PELOSI: This sick individual did something despicable, and it was horrible what he did -- hateful. But for them to, all of a sudden, be sanctimonious as if they don't -- have never seen such a thing before.
The same day's NBC Nightly News, by contrast, showed a clip of Rep. Collins from an appearance on MSNBC earlier in the day in which he expressed a belief that he needs to tone down his own rhetoric.
ZACK BARTH, SHOOTING VICTIM: It doesn't matter if you're a Republican or a Democrat. We're all Americans.
TOM COSTELLO, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: A sentiment echoing across the city with some lawmakers conceding they need to tone down the rhetoric.
REP. CHRIS COLLINS (R-NY) (on MSNBC): I'm actually somebody that needs to also measure my language in response and not necessarily punch right back.
And earlier in the day on Thursday, in an appearance on CNN's New Day, not mentined on CBS, Rep. Collins expressed a wish that he had not spoken out so quickly in the aftermath of the shooting.
