State of the Union

"The lessons that he has had to teach, the elementary lessons of governing that he has struggled to teach this Congress is something that no one else has had to go through," harumphed Lawrence O'Donnell during post-State of the Union coverage on MSNBC.

NBC News political director and Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd lamented in the final moments before President Obama’s final State of the Union Tuesday night that the “timing” of Iran’s seizure of 10 Sailors from the U.S. Navy “couldn't be worse for the President” as he went onto tout the Iran nuclear deal in his address.

Prior to President Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley gushed that the President “will be taking what you might call a valedictory lap” as he starts his final year in office while Face the Nation host John Dickerson ruled that the President offers “a message of hope” compared to one that’s “fearful of change” made by conservatives and Republicans.

In the Tuesday evening newscasts before President Obama’s final State of the Union address, ABC’s World News Tonight and NBC Nightly News failed to mention any of the poor polling numbers for President Obama on a variety of issues but instead hailed the President’s “big themes” in a speech “trying to recapture the hope and change of when he first took office, despite the setbacks and gridlock…

On special pre-State of the Union coverage on MSNBC moments ago, Hardball host Chris Matthews unwittingly admitted President Obama's weakness vis-a-vis Iran as regards the Islamic Republic's capture of 10 U.S. sailors.

Hours before President Obama’s final State of the Union address, NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent and MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell took to the airwaves of Tuesday’s NBC Nightly News to complain that Iran seizing 10 U.S. Sailors had created a “frantic” situation for the President that “could not have happened at the worst time.”

During Tuesday’s fawning Today show special at the White House, President Obama’s chief digital officer Jason Goldman appeared on the broadcast and congratulated the hosts for serving as a propaganda tool for the administration: “I think you guys do this really well with the Today show. You know, the stuff you've been doing this morning, showing stuff behind the scenes is really great...and I…

During a lengthy interview with President Obama conducted on Monday and aired on Tuesday’s NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer worried about Republican presidential candidates playing on the “fear” of the American people: “That fear, though, is still incredibly real....And in some ways, it's driving the current presidential campaign. You've got a guy like Donald Trump and others who have recognized and…

On Tuesday’s NBC Today – aired live from the White House to promote President Obama’s final State of the Union – the morning shows hosts could not contain their glee at being there. At the top of the show, co-host Savannah Guthrie proclaimed: “And a morning show first....an unprecedented morning live at the White House....a moment of history for us, for this show, and where so much history has…

On Monday, CNN Politics's Chris Moody and Alexander Rosen promoted/paid tribute to President Obama's final State of the Union address by producing an online video in the style of movie director Wes Anderson. Moody narrated the video, which spotlighted a pro-ObamaCare moment from the President's 2015 speech to Congress, where Senator Marco Rubio and other Republicans refused to stand and applaud.

White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough appeared on four of the five major Sunday morning talk shows in advance of President Obama’s final State of the Union on Tuesday night and, when comparing those he sat for with ABC’s This Week host George Stephanopoulos and Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace, the contrast couldn’t be any more stark with the former lobbing softballs as the latter…

As Rush Limbaugh would say, they're not refugees or illegal immigrants: they're undocumented Democrats . . . On this morning's New Day, CNN political analyst Josh Rogin [formerly of the Daily Beast], repeatedly claimed that President Obama's push to admit refugees from Syria and elsewhere is a "principled" position, not a "political" one.  Does Rogin or anyone else seriously believe that the…

In a reversal of a key proposal from his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama moved on Tuesday to drop the plan to tax 529 college-savings accounts after outcry from members of both parties and a direct appeal on Air Force One from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). When it came to the networks covering this backtracking by the President on this deeply unpopular idea…

This week, as President Obama gives his State of the Union address, NBC's Brian Williams touts the "generosity" of his plan for "free college for millions," even as NBC morning host Matt Lauer slaps Republicans for their "pettiness" and "disrespect" for applauding Obama's statement that he cannot run for President again. Also, Bryant Gumbel growls about the "pigs" in the National Rifle…