NYT Correspondent Knocks Bachmann as 'A Little Bit Combustible and Vol

December 30th, 2011 11:45 AM
Reporting on the campaigns in Iowa on Friday's Early Show, Times political correspondent Jeff Zeleny belittled candidate Michele Bachmann as "a little bit combustible and volatile." Zeleny added that "Anyone knows what she could do," in response to CBS anchor Jeff Glor's question about the potential for a candidate to do something before the Iowa Caucus to change the GOP race. [Video below…

Worst Quotes of 2011: Yesterday’s Media ‘Thrills’ Replaced by Bi

December 30th, 2011 9:32 AM
Back in 2008 and 2009, the Media Research Center’s year-end awards for the Best Notable Quotables were dominated by journalists fawning over the greatness of Barack Obama. In 2008, our winner for “Quote of the Year” was Chris Matthews for his on-air exclamation that upon hearing Obama give a speech, “I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean, I don’t have that too often.”

ABC Joins NBC in Citing Outdated Poll Showing Obama Approval Up

December 29th, 2011 8:53 PM
On Thursday's World News on ABC, substitute anchor David Muir brought up the Gallup Daily Tracking Poll numbers from Monday which at that time showed President Obama with a 47 percent approval rating and a 45 percent disapproval rating, the first time in recent memory that his approval number was higher than his disapproval.  (Video below) But, since Monday, the Gallup tracking poll numbers…

CBS Hypes 'Second Thoughts' About Alabama Law on Illegal Immigration

December 28th, 2011 7:58 PM
Wednesday's CBS Evening News featured a report by correspondent Mark Strassmann playing up the reservations that some are having about the new law to strictly enforce immigration laws in Alabama. After noting that a poll supposedly shows that Latino voters are dissatisfied because the Obama administration has deported record numbers of illegal immigrants, substitute anchor Jeff Glor introduced…

CBS Highlights Increase in Female Gun Enthusiasts

December 28th, 2011 9:33 AM
On Tuesday's The Early Show, CBS's Katrina Zish filed a full report on the trend toward more women becoming gun enthusiasts. Last October, The Early Show notably ran a report documenting public opposition to gun control. Co-anchor Chris Wragge and substitute co-anchor Rebecca Jarvis set up Tuesday's report: (Video below)

CBS's Cordes Suggests No 'Remarkable Pieces of Legislation' Because of

December 25th, 2011 1:56 PM
During a roundtable discussion on CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday, after asserting that in past years divided government had "produced some really remarkable pieces of legislation," correspondent Nancy Cordes blamed the presence of Tea Party Republicans for less congressional success in enacting legislation this year. (Video below) Anchor Bob Schieffer raised the difficulty Congress has had…

CBS Forwards Harry Reid's 'Lecture' of GOP and His Hope They 'Learned

December 23rd, 2011 11:49 PM
On Friday's CBS Evening News, as correspondent Sharyl Attkisson filed a report to inform viewers that the House of Representatives had approved the Senate plan for a two-month payroll tax cut extension, Attkisson included a clip of Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid directing a "lecture" at and blaming House Republican freshmen for the delay, as she recounted his hope that they had "learned a…

CBS Host: Is GOP 'Handing President Obama His Re-Election Bid

December 22nd, 2011 4:12 PM
In Thursday's interview with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Early Show co-host Chris Wragge asked if Republicans in Congress are basically helping President Obama get re-elected with their ongoing opposition to the Senate's two-month payroll tax cut extension plan. "Are you essentially handing President Obama his re-election bid here by handling this the way the Republicans have handled this?"…

CBS's Hill to Bachmann: House GOP 'Risks Looking Like The Grinch

December 21st, 2011 12:44 PM
CBS's Erica Hill invoked an infamous Christmas season villain on Wednesday's Early Show, stating that "[House] Republicans...risk looking like the Grinch here four days before Christmas" for their refusal to sign onto the Senate's proposed two-month extension of the payroll tax holiday. Hill made that claim during an interview of Rep. Michele Bachmann, and pressed her about the payroll tax…

CBS Guest: 'Insanity of the Lack of Gun Control' Leads to Police Death

December 20th, 2011 6:25 PM
Former New York City police commissioner Bill Bratton brought his pro-gun control agenda into a segment about the FBI's latest crime statistics on Tuesday's Early Show on CBS, blaming the "the insanity of the lack of gun control laws in this country" for an increase in police deaths during 2011. Anchor Erica Hill introduced Bratton as the "chairman of Kroll, a worldwide investigative company…

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, ABC Knock GOP for 'Messing Up' Payroll Tax Cut: 'Holiday Cheer Go

December 20th, 2011 1:03 PM
NBC and ABC on Monday and Tuesday knocked House Republicans for potentially "messing up" an extension of the payroll tax cut. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell derided this as "holiday cheer gone sour." Over on ABC, "World News" correspondent Jim Avila spun the fight as one between unpopular Republicans and a resurgent Barack Obama. According to Avila, the country's anger is "reflected in today's ABC…

The Best Notable Quotables of 2011: Battle of Our Readers vs. Media Ex

December 20th, 2011 8:55 AM
It's always interesting to see how the several thousand readers who voted in the MRC's "public ballot" differed from the 48 media experts who selected our Best Notable Quotables of 2011 (a panel which included talk radio hosts Mark Levin and Neal Boortz, Human Events editor-in-chief Tom Winter and Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby). This year, there were six categories where our readers and…

MSNBC's Schultz Derides GOP 'Fearmongering' on Iran As Panetta Hints a

December 20th, 2011 6:11 AM
On Monday's The Ed Show, MSNBC host Ed Schultz accused Republican presidential candidates of "fearmongering" on the issue of the danger posed by a nuclear Iran, but, ironically, on the same day the CBS Evening News led its show with an interview with Obama administration Defense Secretary Leon Panetta who hinted at the possibility of a nuclear strike on Iran within the next year because the…