NBC's Curry to Michele Bachmann: Has Boehner 'Lost All Control' of Hou
December 21st, 2011 10:53 AM
On Wednesday's NBC Today, co-host Ann Curry led off an interview with Congresswoman Michele Bachmann by wondering if House Speaker John Boehner was a liar or just incompetent: "Did House Speaker John Boehner mislead the Senate into thinking this payroll tax extension was a done deal? Or has he lost all control of Republican Tea Party members of the House?" [Audio available here]
Bachmann…
CBS Let 'Biggest Lie of the Year' in Politics Go Unanswered For Months
December 20th, 2011 3:52 PM
Tuesday's Early Show on CBS brought on PolitiFact's Bill Adair to reveal what he labeled as the "biggest lie of the year" inside politics, which was "the claim by many Democrats that the Republicans voted to end Medicare." But CBS let Democratic operatives spout that falsehood several times without scrutiny earlier in 2011.
The network did stand out in bringing on the PolitiFact editor,…
NBC's Curry to Bill Clinton: Does Gingrich Have 'Temperament' and 'Lea
December 20th, 2011 10:28 AM
During a fawning interview with Bill Clinton on Tuesday's NBC Today, co-host Ann Curry asked for the former President's thoughts on Newt Gingrich running for president: "You also, having worked with him, I'm wanting to know, putting aside politics, do you see Newt Gingrich as a man who has the temperament, the leadership qualities, to be President of the United States?"
Clinton took the…
Schieffer: Romney 'Has Taken Such a Hard Line' on Illegal Immigration
December 19th, 2011 5:31 PM
CBS's Bob Schieffer displayed his liberal leanings on Sunday's Face the Nation when he raised the issue of illegal immigration. Schieffer claimed during an interview of Newt Gingrich that "Mitt Romney has taken such a hard line, it seems to me, on immigration that some within the Republican Party are saying he is simply running off Hispanic voters."
The journalist asked Gingrich for his take…
NBC's Gregory: GOP Just Using Oil Pipeline as 'Political Issue' to Pre
December 19th, 2011 4:15 PM
In an interview with House Speaker John Boehner on Sunday's Meet the Press, host David Gregory blamed Republicans for blocking an extension of payroll tax cuts by supporting a new oil pipeline: "You want to say, 'Look, we'll extend it for a year if the President makes a quicker decision on this pipeline.' White House officials I've talked to say you are guaranteeing that he'll say no..."…
Media Mash: NB Publisher Bozell Takes On Liberal Media Pumping Up Obam
December 19th, 2011 12:45 PM
Appearing on Friday's Hannity on Fox News, during the weekly "Media Mash" segment, NewsBusters publisher and Media Research Center president Brent Bozell detailed ABC's attempt to paint a rosy economic picture to help President Obama and the liberal media's across-the-board effort to slam Newt Gingrich as a "frightening" "political killer." [View video after the jump]
On NBC's Meet the Press, Bachmann Schools Gregory on National Debt
December 19th, 2011 10:35 AM
As Congresswoman Michele Bachmann made the point on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday that the national debt has increased dramatically under President Obama compared to under President Bush, host David Gregory interrupted and attempted to dismiss that fact: "Congresswoman, that just misstates the record....For accuracy, the debt exploded under the Bush administration." [Audio available here]…
ABC and NBC Play Up Liberal Endorsement as Boost for Mitt Romney
December 19th, 2011 8:25 AM
On Sunday, both morning and evening newscasts on ABC and NBC touted the Des Moines Register's endorsement of Mitt Romney as a boost for his campaign for President, in spite of the paper's left-wing tilt in a state where the Republican Party is predominantly conservative. While they did at least note the paper's liberal slant, both networks still played up the liberal endorsement.
Such a Double Standard: Tea Party Was 'Extremist' But OWS 'Protester
December 16th, 2011 11:31 AM
Americans need only to open the daily newspaper or turn on the nightly news in order to see the media’s double standard. Each day we continue to hear the Occupy Wall Street movement’s hijacked the slogan of "the 99 percent" which has been forced it into our lexicon and the media’s daily lingo. And almost comically, Time magazine has decided that "The Protester" is 2011's Person of the Year.…
Surprising Morning Joe: Bachmann Praised, Sachs To Right Of Ron Paul
December 16th, 2011 8:38 AM
Christopher Hitchens, RIP, would likely have loved the rough-and-tumble of today's Morning Joe. The first half-hour was a jolting fix for political junkies.
If the goring of Newt Gingrich was predictable, there was much that was not. Michelle Bachmann's debate performance was roundly praised. Lefty Jeff Sachs put himself to Ron Paul's right on the Iranian threat. Joe Scarborough and…
Ten Months Later, AP's Scott Bauer Still Contradicting Himself, Missta
December 15th, 2011 11:32 PM
In February, yours truly sensed a misstatement of reality on the part of Associated Press reporter Scott Bauer in his description of the budget repair law the Wisconsin Legislature was then considering. At the beginning of his report, Bauer wrote that the law would "end a half-century of collectively bargaining," but later wrote that "unions could still represent workers" (That doesn't exactly…
CBS Plays Up ObamaCare 'Success', Omits Group's Liberal Leanings
December 15th, 2011 5:03 PM
CBS Evening News on Wednesday hyped the "early success" of a provision of ObamaCare which allows young adults under the age of 26 to stay on their parents' health care. Correspondent Wyatt Andrews spotlighted a young woman afflicted with Crohn's disease as an example of this apparent success, all the while failing to mention the liberal agenda of a "patient rights advocate" featured in his…
AP Buries Lede In Reporting on Latest Poll: Voters Favor Budget Cuts O
December 15th, 2011 12:21 PM
A new Associated Press poll finds movement by crucial swing voters towards Republican-friendly economic priorities: budget cuts over Democrat-preferred tax hikes.
But in reporting on the news wire's poll, the AP's Laurie Kellman opened her story with a focus on numbers that show the popularity of extending the Social Security payroll tax holiday, a priority of the Obama administration and…
CBS Spotlights Democratic Attack on Romney as 'Too French
December 14th, 2011 4:44 PM
On Wednesday's Early Show, CBS somehow thought a Democratic super PAC's cynical ad aimed at discouraging Republican primary voters from voting for Mitt Romney was newsworthy. Correspondent Chip Reid outlined that Romney's French-speaking ability might be "political poison," and cited how French fries were renamed "freedom fries" in 2003 and how John Kerry was accused of looking French in 2004 […