NBC Offers Scant Coverage of Big Dem Loss in NY Special Election

The Today show, which is a four hour program, on Wednesday devoted a scant 43 seconds of air time to a surprising loss by Democrats in a New York special congressional election. Both CBS and ABC offered more expansive coverage. ABC's Good Morning America saw the election of Republican Bob Turner as a "stunning upset." Referencing another GOP win in Nevada, host George Stephanopoulos…

NBC Interrupts 9-11 Commemoration to Scold Iraq War

Just as they did right after the killing of Osama bin Laden back in May, NBC's Brian Williams and Richard Engel interrupted Sunday morning's ceremonies marking the tenth annivesary of the 9/11 attacks to pontificate against the war in Iraq. At about 9:30am on Sunday, during live coverage of the events at Ground Zero, Williams instructed the audience: "Iraq had nothing do with this."…

Matt Lauer Urges Bachmann to Bash Perry; NBC Debate Coverage Promotes

In an interview with Michele Bachmann on Tuesday's NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer actually delayed discussion of job creation as he pushed her to attack Texas Governor Rick Perry: "We'll talk about jobs in a second, but I do want to stick on this controversy over...Perry mandating vaccinations for HPV." Bachmann had attempted to begin on the subject of President Obama's jobs plan, but Lauer…

Michael Moore Claims Fox News and 'AM Hate Radio' Encouraged Violence

Appearing on Tuesday's NBC Today to promote his autobiography, left-wing filmmaker Michael Moore decried "the amount of hatred that was generated on a certain news channel and on AM hate radio" against him, insisting: "They daily encouraged people to essentially commit acts of violence against me." [Audio available here] Moore leveled the charges in response to a question from fill-in co-…

Flashback 2007: Tim Russert and Chris Matthews Agree Social Security I

Whether or not Social Security is a Ponzi scheme was again a source of great discussion during Monday's Republican presidential debate, and it appears this is likely going to be a hot issue throughout this election cycle. What should be interesting to participants and pundits alike is that during the last presidential campaign, on November 5, 2007, the late Tim Russert, and Chris Matthews,…

NBC's Curry to Ahmadinejad: 'Why Do You Work So Hard

Monday's NBC Today featured co-host Ann Curry live in Tehran doing a fawning "day in the life" profile of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. At one point, Curry noted the dictator's "grueling schedule" and wondered: "What is your primary motivation, as president? Why do you work so hard?" [Audio available here] From beginning to end, Curry's report sounded more like propaganda on Iranian…

Brian Williams Wonders When Obama Will 'Channel His Inner Harry Truman

Appearing on Monday's NBC Today to preview his exclusive interview with President Obama, Nightly News anchor Brian Williams revealed some of his softball questions: "I went on to ask him when he's going to channel his inner Harry Truman, as members of his base have been asking....I also asked him about all the people who voted for the man on the poster that said, 'Hope.' That answer was…

NBC's Brian Williams About 9/11: 'People Forget the Crazy Pressure to

There have been some idiotic things said by liberal media members surrounding the tenth anniversary of 9/11, and "NBC Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams added to the list Monday. Appearing on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Williams said, "People forget the crazy pressure to put a flag on your lapel and without it you couldn’t be a patriot. You certainly couldn’t love your country" (video follows…

Maher Tells Leno That Bush, Palin, Perry and Bachmann Are Idiots - But

Within seconds of his introduction on Friday's "Tonight Show," Bill Maher attacked leading Republicans. In a truly delicious example of instant karma, moments after calling Dan Quayle, George W. Bush, Sarah Palin, Rick Perry, and Michele Bachmann idiots, the pompous, more arrogant than most Maher spoke of how important the "Iowa primary" is (video follows with commentary):

NBC: Celebrations After Bin Laden's Death 'Confusing' to Children

In a report on Friday's NBC Today, news anchor Natalie Morales profiled children who were born after the September 11th attacks and noted how celebrations following the death of Osama Bin Laden in May were "thrilling and confusing" for those children. One girl worried: "I just don't think it's right to celebrate that somebody died, because they were all like, 'Oh, yay, he died, hooray!' But…

CBS and NBC Cheer Obama's 'Extraordinarily Bold' Speech, 'Robust Defen

Throughout coverage of President Obama's address to Congress Thursday night, anchors and correspondents on both CBS and NBC gave fawning reviews of the new jobs plan, in some cases, even before the speech began. In contrast, ABC took a much more skeptical tone, with a focus on the President's falling poll numbers.   Evening News anchor Scott Pelley opened CBS's coverage by proclaiming the…

After GOP Debate, Networks Turn to a Democrat; After Obama's Speech? A

On Thursday, the day after the Republican presidential debate, the network morning shows turned to a high profile Democrat for a response. On Friday, the day after Barack Obama's jobs speech to Congress, the same programs turned to Democratic Vice President Joe Biden.     On Friday's Good Morning America, George Stephanopoulos offered this softball to Biden: "Mark Zandi, the economist says…

Ingraham to NBC's Todd: 'I Don’t Remember You Saying Pollsters Were

As first reported by NewsBusters, NBC's Chuck Todd told Brian Williams Tuesday that their network's pollsters were "concerned" about President Obama's recent poll numbers. When this came up on radio's "Laura Ingraham Show" Thursday, the host said to Todd, "I don’t remember you saying that pollsters were concerned about Bush’s poll numbers dropping" (video follows with transcript and…

NBC's Curry Chides 'Disrespectful' Republicans Not Attending Obama's S

Talking to MSNBC host Joe Scarborough on Thursday's NBC Today, co-host Ann Curry fretted over a handful of congressional Republicans declining to attend President Obama's upcoming jobs speech to a joint session of Congress: "At least three Republicans are not going to be in the audience....is this disrespectful to the office of the president, Joe?" Scarborough responded: "I don't know if it'…