By 6-to-1 Margin, Networks Paint Debate As Over 'Tax Cuts,' Not Raisin
Even with Monday’s deal between President Obama and top Republicans, no American’s income tax rates will actually decline on January 1 (although, if the deal passes, workers will notice a modest reduction in their payroll taxes in 2011). Yet throughout this debate, the broadcast networks have insisted on framing the debate as about “tax cuts” and “tax breaks,” not about forestalling a tax…
ABC Knocks Obama for 'Caving' and 'Moving Right' on 'Tax Cuts for the
World News anchors and reporters on Sunday chided Barack Obama from the left, complaining that he was "caving" and "breaking one of his biggest campaign promises" by preventing tax rates from increasing in January. ABC's Washington editor Rick Klein worried, "President Obama has been clear this was a critical position and he is caving on it, in, in allowing all the tax cuts to be extended."…
ABC’s Muir and Klein Fret Tax Agreement Will Make Deficit ‘Even Wo
During a discussion of the agreement to prevent tax rates from increasing in January, on ABC’s World News Sunday, anchor David Muir and ABC’s senior Washington correspondent Rick Klein fretted that the federal budget deficit would increase - against the wishes of the voters - as a result of both the blocking of a tax increase and the extension of unemployment benefits. But neither acknowledged…
ABC, FNC Highlight Dem Senator Menendez Comparing Republicans to Terro
On Saturday morning, FNC’s Fox and Friends Saturday and ABC’s Good Morning America highlighted Democratic Senator Bob Menendez’s assertion that negotiating with Republicans taxes is like negotiating with terrorists. NBC’s Today show included a brief mention, but CBS’s The Early Show and CNN Saturday Morning ignored the New Jersey Democrat’s over-the-top rhetoric.
FNC included a soundbite…
CBS Early Show Ignores Rangel Censure, ABC and NBC Are Sympathetic to
On Friday, the CBS Early Show failed to make any mention of New York Democratic Congressman Charles Rangel being censured by the House of Representatives on Thursday for 11 ethics violations. ABC's Good Morning America and NBC's Today did cover the historic punishment, but adopted a very sympathetic tone toward Rangel.
In a slightly extended news brief on Good Morning America, co-host George…
A Worried George Stephanopoulos Pushes for Republican Compromise, Hits
A worried George Stephanopoulos on Thursday again pushed for Republicans to accept some sort of Democratic compromise on extending unemployment benefits and the Bush tax cuts. The Good Morning America host even hit a Republican Congressman for his "double standard" on the issue.
Stephanopoulos interviewed incoming House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp and Democratic Congressional Campaign…
ABC Disguises Democratic Activist as Victim of Mean-Spirited GOP
Good Morning America's Claire Shipman on Thursday tried to disguise a Democratic activist as just a jobless American who would be hurt by Republican failure to extend unemployment benefits. Shipman sympathetically recounted that Edrie Irvine, who she didn't explain spoke at a Nancy Pelosi press conference on Wednesday, "never thought her very livelihood would depend on a political debate in…
FNC Picks Up Former ABC Anchor Fired After Noting Obama-BP Connections
The Washington Post reported Wednesday that Fox News has given a reporting gig to Doug McKelway, a former ABC anchor for the network's D.C. affiliate.
McKelway took heat from higher-ups after accurately reporting on President Obama's ties to oil giant BP and on the inevitable effects of the president's proposed energy policies (higher electricity rates). McKelway was fired after a…
Barbara Walters' Insightful Question to Michelle Obama: 'You Love' Bar
Asking a wife if she loves her husband isn't exactly the most insightful question, but that's one of the softballs that Barbara Walters tossed to Michelle and Barack Obama during an hour long edition of 20/20 on Friday. She also asked the President if he curses and what Lincoln means to him.
At one point, the journalist lauded Michelle Obama as "comfortable" and "outspoken." Walters then…
NBC's Vieira to Robert Gibbs on Tax Hikes: What Happened to Obama the
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs appeared on all three major morning shows, on Wednesday, and was pressed by ABC, CBS and NBC's anchors about whether or not the President would fold and compromise with the Republicans on keeping the Bush era tax cuts in place - but it was the Today show's Meredith Vieira that hit him the strongest question from the left as she asked Gibbs what kind of "…
Ex-Clinton Aide George Stephanopoulos Touts Call for Hillary to Resign
Former Clinton operative George Stephanopoulos on Wednesday hyped a call for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to resign over the revelations in the WikiLeaks release. While talking to Robert Gibbs, the GMA host quoted Jack Shafer of Slate: "Diplomacy is about face. And the only way for other nations to save face will be to give them Clinton's scalp."
The attack on the wife of his former…
George Stephanopoulos Hypes Christine O'Donnell Tweet on Hillary Clint
A fascinated George Stephanopoulos on Tuesday analyzed a Tweet by Christine O'Donnell as a sign of support for Hillary Clinton. The Good Morning America host played up the approving comment by the Republican regarding the Secretary of State's handling of the Wikileaks scandal.
"Hillary Clinton for president?...You're going to vote for Hillary Clinton," he murmured after O'Donnell urged a 2012…
George Stephanopoulos Lobbies McCain to 'Move the President's Way' on
Playing the role of negotiator for the Democrats, Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos on Tuesday pressed Senator John McCain to "move the President's way" on extending the Bush tax cuts. He also oddly spun such a continuation as a "tax cut" for millionaires.
The ABC anchor lobbied McCain, asserting, "[Obama] moved your way on this freeze of all pay for federal workers. Are you…
George Stephanopoulos Spins Wikileaks Release of Documents as 'Importa
Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos on Monday offered a sympathetic take on the decision of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to release potentially damaging U.S. security documents. The ABC host wondered if it was "important information for the public to have."
Talking to Congressman Peter Hoekstra, Stephanopoulos read a quote to the Republican, repeating the words of Assange: "If…
