So much for a commitment to the truth. On Thursday’s CBS Evening News, anchor Norah O’Donnell and White House correspondent Nancy Cordes refused fact-check or pushback on President Joe Biden’s insistence that Georgia’s new election law is “Jim Crow on steroids.”
In other words, Cordes and O’Donnell chose to cater to Stacey Abrams as their far-left overlord than even call out Biden’s claim as hyperbole (let alone factually inaccurate).
The segment already started on a stenographer-like note as both touted Biden’s first cabinet meeting and how he had explicitly said five of them would help sell what O’Donnell said was “his $2 trillion infrastructure plan” (even though only five percent of it covers roads and bridges).
Cordes then shifted gears 44 seconds in, touting Biden’s ESPN interview in which he “said he would support moving Major League Baseball's all-star game out of Atlanta after Georgia passed a controversial new voting law.”
Backed by the CBS chyron “Biden Slams Georgia’s Controversial Voting Law,” Cordes ran this Biden soundbite: “This is Jim Crow on steroids what they're doing in — in Georgia.”
Instead of pausing to acknowledge the salaciousness of his claim, note that the Georgia law represents nothing of the sort, or at least say it’s an insult to Americans that actually suffered in generations prior under Jim Crow laws, Cordes plowed ahead.
If Cordes were to have pointed out that it’s not “Jim Crow on steroids” to have a law with measures such requiring ID for an absentee ballot, she could have pointed to examples like those that FNC’s Laura Ingraham cited a few hours later as actual Jim Crow laws in Georgia (such as the barring of interracial marriages).
But alas, she didn’t care about correcting the record.
She shamelessly added: “Two major Georgia' based companies, Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines, are now taking the same stance, arguing the Republican law was ‘based on a lie’ and will ‘restrict voting rights.’ Delta CEO Ed Bastian spoke to CBS This Morning.”
Once again, no fact-checking of those two claims. As we’ve done here at NewsBusters (see here, here, here, and here to name a few), both claims to appease Abrams and her militant woke mob are lies.
After Cordes ran a clip of Bastian’s interview, she offered a measly acknowledgment of the other side:
CORDES: Georgia Governor Brian Kemp accused those companies of caving to public pressure.
KEMP [on FNC’s America’s Newsroom, 04/01/21]: I’ll tell you. I think the people are standing up and realizing the games that are being played here and they're going to be fighting back with us.
Cordes wrapped this nonsensical segment by touting Biden will continue to threaten states that go their own way on voting (i.e. go against the For the People Act):
Major League Baseball officials still haven't decided whether to move the All-Star Game out of Atlanta, but President Biden is keeping the issue front and center as he works, Norah, to discourage other states from passing similar voting legislation.
CBS’s lack of a commitment to the facts was made possible thanks to supportive advertisers such as Allegra and Allstate. Follow the links to see their contact information at the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page. CBS Evening News has also asked people to text their thoughts to O’Donnell to this number: (202) 217-1107.
To see the relevant CBS transcript from April 1, click “expand.”
CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell
April 1, 2021
6:42 p.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Cabinet Convenes]
NORAH O’DONNELL: Well, tonight president Biden has given five cabinet secretaries a big task, boosting support for his $2 trillion infrastructure plan. The full cabinet met for the first time today, 71 days into his presidency. Nancy Cordes reports from the White House.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Breaking News; Biden Holds First Cabinet Meeting Amid Infrastructure Push]
NANCY CORDES: President Biden held his first in-person meeting with his cabinet today, socially distanced due to the pandemic. He appointed five of them, including the secretaries of commerce, energy, and transportation, to sell his new infrastructure plan.
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: These cabinet members will represent me in dealing with Congress, engage the public in selling the plan, and help work out the details as we refine it and move forward.
CORDES: In an interview with ESPN, the President said he would support moving Major League Baseball's all-star game out of Atlanta after Georgia passed a controversial new voting law.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Breaking News; Biden Slams Georgia’s Controversial Voting Law]
BIDEN [on ESPN’s Sportscenter, 03/31/21]: This is Jim Crow on steroids what they're doing in — in Georgia.
CORDES: Two major Georgia' based companies, Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines, are now taking the same stance, arguing the Republican law was “based on a lie” and will “restrict voting rights.” Delta CEO Ed Bastian spoke to CBS This Morning.
ED BASTIAN [on CBS This Morning, 03/31/21]: The right to vote is sacrosanct and we can't do anything to send a message to people that we're going to make it more restrictive and harder to have their voice heard.
CORDES: Georgia Governor Brian Kemp accused those companies of caving to public pressure.
GOVERNOR BRIAN KEMP [on FNC’s America’s Newsroom, 04/01/21]: I’ll tell you. I think the people are standing up and realizing the games that are being played here and they're going to be fighting back with us.
CORDES: Major League Baseball officials still haven't decided whether to move the All-Star Game out of Atlanta, but President Biden is keeping the issue front and center as he works, Norah, to discourage other states from passing similar voting legislation.
O’DONNELL: All right, Nancy Cordes at the White House, thank you.
