A Week with No US Troop Deaths In Iraq

July 26th, 2008 10:54 AM
On July 16, Andrew Malcolm at the Los Angeles Times's Top of the Ticket Blog wrote the following (bold is mine): When President Bush ordered the surge in January 2007, (Barack) Obama said: "I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there. In fact, I think it will do the reverse," a position he maintained throughout 2007. This year he…

ABC: Effusing 'Bordered on Endorsement,' CBS: No Endorsement

July 25th, 2008 8:52 PM
A minor item for a Friday night. File under: Which way is it? ABC anchor Charles Gibson contended that French President Nicolas Sarkozy's “effusively kind words” about Barack Obama, who joined Sarkozy at a press conference in Paris, “bordered on an endorsement.” On CBS, however, anchor Katie Couric reported that Sarkozy said the French people have been following Obama “with passion” but, she…

Can't Contain Exhilaration Over 'World Stage' for 'Messiah' Obama

July 24th, 2008 10:48 PM
Barack Obama's Magical Media Tour hit its high point Thursday night as the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts all led with Obama's speech in Berlin, with NBC's Brian Williams and Andrea Mitchell the most giddy, though ABC featured a German man who hailed Obama as “my new messiah.” ABC and NBC saw Obama on a “world stage.” Charles Gibson teased ABC's newscast: “In a city steeped in history, before…

CBS Approves of $25-Billion 'Lifeline' for Fannie, Freddie

July 24th, 2008 12:29 PM
What's another $25 billion between taxpayers? Not much, according to the July 23 "CBS Evening News." The massive housing bailout bill, meant to prop up beleaguered government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) and help homeowners refinance adjustable rate mortgages, was praised in a segment on the CBS broadcast. It passed in the House July 23 and won't face…

CBS Frets Obama Can't Escape 'Hussein' Middle Name in Israel

July 24th, 2008 1:43 AM
The Wednesday CBS Evening News story on Barack Obama's day in Israel presumed Jewish concerns about his commitment to Israel are unreasonable as reporter Sheila MacVicar empathized with Obama's plight while she fretted about how an Israeli newspaper columnist “referred to him by his full name: Barack Hussein Obama.” After noting that Obama “did spend an hour with the Palestinian President,…

Surge: Mika Makes Like Barack

July 23rd, 2008 8:32 AM
Me and Mrs. Jones,we've got a thing going on.We both know that it's wrong,but it's much too strongto let it go now. -- Billy Paul, "Me and Mrs. Jones"Don't get me wrong.   I'm not suggesting there's anything untoward between Mika Brzezinski and the Dem presidential candidate.  But like the star-crossed couple of the song, the two do share a tragic bond, trapped as they are in an inability to…

Couric Showcases Obama Over McCain, Admits Media 'Obamathon

July 22nd, 2008 9:21 PM
CBS tried to bring some balance Tuesday night to Barack Obama's Magical Media Tour by having Katie Couric interview both Barack Obama and John McCain, and though she pressed Obama repeatedly on the success of the surge, Obama still came out ahead since CBS devoted more than seven minutes (over two excerpts) to Couric's questions and Obama's answers as the two sat together in a foreign setting…

CBS’s Couric: Maliki ‘Endorsement’ of Troop Pullout ‘Embarrass

July 22nd, 2008 12:20 PM
On Tuesday’s CBS "Early Show," co-host Harry Smith talked to "Evening News" anchor Katie Couric about Barack Obama’s trip to Iraq and asked: "He's had a very full plate here the last three or four days. Is it -- is there a way to sort of gauge what the Senator has been able to accomplish thus far?" Couric, who along with the other network anchors is following Obama on the trip, responded: "Well,…

Katie Couric at NOW Gathering: ‘I Am a Feminist

July 21st, 2008 12:15 PM
The Washington Examiner’s Jeff Dufour and Patrick Gavin reported Monday in their regular "Yeas & Nays" feature that Katie Couric had announced with pride, "I am a feminist." The ultra-liberal National Organization for Women honored Couric at their annual Intrepid Awards Gala last week in Washington, DC, and the CBS Evening News anchor received a warm welcome from her feminist compatriots.…

Day 2 of Obama's Magical Media Tour: He Speaks of How Bush Makes World

July 20th, 2008 9:44 PM
For the second night in a row, on Sunday night the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts all led with Barack Obama's overseas trip as CBS Evening News anchor Forrest Sawyer trumpeted: “Tonight, Barack Obama on the U.S. challenge in Afghanistan, laying out the stakes in an exclusive CBS News interview.” Reporter Lara Logan set up a condensed version of her interview which had consumed the first ten…

Day 1 of Obama's Magical Media Tour: All Air from Outside the Paint

July 20th, 2008 1:20 AM
A great first day on national television news for Barack Obama as he began his much-hyped overseas trip with a stop in Kuwait before moving on to Afghanistan. CNN anchor Rick Sanchez, seemingly channeling the media's own excitement, on Saturday night hailed it as “a trip that seems to be captivating the rest of the world as much, if not more so, than many in the United States.”ABC, CBS and CNN…

Anchors w/ Obama 'Not Like North Korean TV Covering Kim Jong Il' Reall

July 19th, 2008 9:52 PM
Will Katie Couric be as tough with Barack Obama as North Korean television is with Kim Jong Il? The last time Couric (and the other anchors to, for that matter) interviewed Obama the liberal Democrat had no more to fear from her and them than the communist dictator ever has from his state media.Pressed at the TV critics session with the networks in Beverly Hills on Friday as to whether ABC, CBS…

While Hyping Obama's Trip, CBS Notes 'Blistering Critiques' of 'Libera

July 18th, 2008 9:18 PM
Toward the end of the lead story on Friday's CBS Evening News about Barack Obama embarking on a trip to the Middle East and Europe, Jeff Greenfield acknowledged: “This saturation coverage has already led the conservative blogosphere to offer blistering critiques of a liberal media slavishly treating Obama as a pop star.” But, Greenfield assured anchor Katie Couric, who, along with Brian Williams…

CBS and NBC Champion Gore's 'Green Gauntlet' to End Fossil Fuels

July 17th, 2008 11:08 PM
The media love affair with Al Gore continues. Thursday night, after Gore delivered a speech calling for the end of “carbon-based fuels” within ten years, CBS anchor Katie Couric asserted that “as many as 10 million families could have their electricity shut off this year because they simply can't pay their bills,” but, she assured viewers, “Al Gore says there is a green answer.” Reporter Nancy…