ABC: 'Potentially Groundbreaking' Syria Deal' 'Taking Heat' From 'Pres

September 16th, 2013 12:43 PM
 According to the reporters on Monday's Good Morning America, Barack Obama's "potentially groundbreaking" plan for Syria faces "heat" from critics who think it's a "bad deal." In a shift from last week, ABC allowed more skepticism for the President's handling of the ongoing situation. Yet, Jon Karl still touted, "John Kerry accomplished a big first step. Getting [Russia] to agree that Syria…

Jon Karl Dares to Grill Obama on Syria: 'It's a Pretty Basic Question

September 6th, 2013 12:25 PM
In a break from the usual softballs that Barack Obama receives at news conferences, the President on Friday endured some tough questions, including a testy exchange with ABC's Jon Karl. The White House correspondent pressed Obama, looking for a "direct response" to a previous question: Will the U.S. launch strikes against Syria, regardless of whether Congress approves it? Obama lectured, "And…

CBS Points Out Obama's Odd 'Red Line' Denial; NBC Spins It As 'Redefin

September 5th, 2013 1:39 PM
Wednesday's CBS Evening News twice underlined President Obama's 2012 "red line" remark before playing a soundbite of the Democrat's "I didn't set a red line" reversal earlier in the day. Scott Pelley noted that "a year ago, he [Obama] warned the Syrian dictator that a red line would be crossed if the dictator used chemical weapons against his rebellious citizens." Major Garrett soon added that…

Donald Trump: ABC's Jonathan Karl 'Very Dishonest' About Birther Issue

August 14th, 2013 11:28 AM
Donald Trump on Monday called ABC chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl's behavior the previous day "very dishonest." Appearing on NewsMax TV's Steve Malzberg Show, Trump took issue with Karl claiming on ABC World News that he's "still raising questions about President Obama's birth certificate" (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

ABC Ponders 'Madame President' Hillary, Hypes Trump at Expense of Sant

August 12th, 2013 3:34 PM
ABC's Jonathan Karl admitted "it's hard to take Trump seriously," yet he spent almost a minute of his report on Monday's Good Morning America playing up Donald Trump's possible 2016 candidacy amidst Trump's birther questions. He also hyped Hillary Clinton's potential candiacy. In contrast Karl gave just 7 seconds to 2012 GOP candidate Rick Santorum, who appeared at the Iowa State Fair over…

Live Blog: President Obama's August 9 Press Conference

August 9th, 2013 3:09 PM
President Obama is taking questions from the news media. In the comments section, tell us what you would ask if you were a White House reporter. I'll be covering the questions journalists ask of the president below the page break. As always, I'm doing this on the fly, so transcriptions of questions may be imperfect:

ABC, NBC Continue to Play Obama's KGB Gaffe Without Noticing It's a Ga

August 8th, 2013 12:41 PM
ABC and NBC on Wednesday continued to pretend that one of Barack Obama's gaffes on the Tonight Show wasn't a mistake. World News's Jon Karl and Nightly News's Chuck Todd uncritically repeated the President's claim that Vladimir Putin "headed up the KGB." [See video below. MP3 audio here.] In fact, he did not. The highest rank the now-Russian President obtained was Lieutenant Colonel in 1991.…

George Will: 'What ObamaCare Requires For it to Work - Mass Irrational

July 7th, 2013 1:50 PM
George Will made a marvelous observation Sunday about the so-called Affordable Care Act. Appearing on ABC's This Week, Will said, "What Obamacare requires for it to work - mass irrationality, both on the part of employers to ignore that incentive and on the part of young people who are supposed to pay 3, 4, 5 times more for health insurance than it would cost them to just pay the fine and…

Bush on What He and Obama Discussed in Africa: 'What a Big Pain the Pr

July 7th, 2013 12:54 PM
Former President George W. Bush had a marvelous line during his interview aired on ABC's This Week Sunday. Asked by Jonathan Karl what he and President Obama discussed in Africa last week when the cameras weren't rolling, Bush replied, "What a big pain the press is" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Networks See 'Surprising' 'Setback' With ObamaCare Delay, But Journali

July 3rd, 2013 11:49 AM

CBS, NBC and ABC on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning highlighted the delay of the ObamaCare employer mandate as a "surprising," "significant setback" for the President. [See video below. MP3 audio here.] Nightly News anchor Brian Williams even went so far as to cynically note, "A development this big with the President on an airplane heading into a holiday weekend is going to make a lot of…

ABC’s Jonathan Karl Twists RNC Chairman Priebus’s Arm to Play Up G

June 14th, 2013 1:57 PM
Jonathan Karl interviewed RNC chairman Reince Priebus last week for the ABC News online series Politics Confidential, and the veteran reporter tried his very best to create a juicy headline for his video and accompanying article. It took a little stretching and some selective editing, but Karl managed to do it. The headline for the entry, posted to ABC News’ Power Players blog, reads “…

GMA Gives 5 Times the Coverage to Paris Jackson Than Obama Admin Colle

June 6th, 2013 1:21 PM
Both NBC and CBS led their Thursday morning shows with news that the Obama administration has secretly obtained the phone records of millions of Americans, but ABC's Good Morning America started its show reporting on Tropical Storm Andrea in Florida instead. Overall, Thursday's two hour-long GMA spent less than three minutes total on the phone tracking story, giving over five times more…

ABC Lauds 'Hard-Nosed,' 'No-Nonsense' Susan Rice, Obama's New Nat'l Se

June 5th, 2013 11:49 AM
After President Obama appointed U.N. ambassador Susan Rice to be his national security adviser, ABC's Good Morning America lauded Rice on Wednesday as "hard-nosed" and "no-nonsense." Rice's biggest knock against her nomination for Secretary of State was giving false information on the Benghazi attacks to no less than five different Sunday talk shows just days after the attacks. ABC, though,…

MSNBC’s Joy-Ann Reid: Benghazi Is Not a Scandal

May 29th, 2013 4:27 PM
MSNBC continues to do its best to protect the Obama administration from any accusations of wrongdoing in the Benghazi fiasco. On Sunday’s Weekends with Alex Witt, the host went so far as to ask whether it is even legitimate to call Benghazi a scandal. Witt was setting up her pre-taped “Office Politics” interview with Joy-Ann Reid, managing editor of The Grio and frequent MSNBC contributor,…