The Situation Room

CNN Four Days Late to Obama's Infamous 'You Didn't Build That' Remark
July 19th, 2012 6:17 PM
Four days after President Obama insulted job creators by asserting "If you've got a business, you didn't build that; somebody else made that happen," CNN finally reported the controversial remarks, and only once the Romney campaign featured them in a campaign attack.
In contrast, when Romney surrogate John Sununu said on Tuesday morning that he wished "this President would learn how to be an…

CNN Accuses Obama of 'Swiftboating' Romney
July 14th, 2012 10:56 AM
CNN on Friday surprisingly accused President Obama of "swiftboating" presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney with continuously false attacks regarding his service at Bain Capital.
The idea appears to have first been raised by CNN correspondent Jim Acosta during his interview with Romney on The Situation Room (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Howard Kurtz Warns CNN: Liberal Media Double Standard Apparent 'to Man
July 13th, 2012 6:56 PM
Media critic Howard Kurtz warned CNN on Friday that "to many people" it looks like the media has a massive double standard in its campaign coverage of Mitt Romney and Barack Obama.
"[W]hen you combine all the stories, all the airtime, all the column inches, it looks to many people, I'll just say this bluntly, like the press is giving much more aggressive scrutiny to Romney and his background…

CNN: We Don't Call the ACA 'ObamaCare' In Our Reporting...Except That
July 12th, 2012 4:05 PM
CNN's Jim Acosta bragged that his network does not call the Affordable Care Act "ObamaCare," a term he said Republicans prefer. However, CNN has repeatedly referred to the law as "ObamaCare" in its reporting.
"He [Romney] used the term 'ObamaCare,' which by the way, that's fine in Republican circles, but there are a lot of Democrats who sort of bristle at using the term 'ObamaCare'," Acosta…

CNN Batters Joe Walsh, But Dem Opponent Gets Much Softer Treatment
July 6th, 2012 7:09 PM
Is CNN campaigning for Rep. Joe Walsh's Democratic opponent? In a heated exchange with Walsh on Thursday, anchor Ashleigh Banfield rattled off a list of opponent Tammy Duckworth's accomplishments and admitted "she should get elected" if voters are pleased with her resume.
CNN gave much softer treatment to Duckworth on Friday. Host Wolf Blitzer did press her about controversial statements she…

NY Daily News Thumps 'Idiot' O'Reilly for Bad SCOTUS Guess; Never Note
July 5th, 2012 2:35 PM
On Tuesday, New York’s Daily News carried the headline “Bill O’Reilly admits he ‘may be an idiot’ for wrongly predicting Supreme Court’s health care decision.” Meena Hart Duerson began with snark: “Bill O'Reilly and his critics may finally have something to agree on: the talk show host admitted Monday he ‘may be an idiot’ for wrongly predicting the Supreme Court’s decision on Obamacare.”
But…

Anticipating ObamaCare Defeat, Jeffrey Toobin Blames Conservative Judi
June 27th, 2012 5:45 PM
The day before the Supreme Court's decision on ObamaCare, CNN is already giving credibility to the Democrats' spin if they lose the case – conservative judicial activism.
"[W]hen you combine the two biggest decisions of the Roberts court, Citizens United and health care – if they lose health care – that is a pretty clear Democratic, capital 'D,' indictment of the Supreme Court," insisted CNN…

Wolf Blitzer Fawns to Bill Clinton Over Chelsea: 'She Got the Best of
June 8th, 2012 12:33 PM
CNN was called the 'Clinton News Network' during the 90s for a reason. After letting Bill Clinton get away with his ridiculous excuse for supporting a temporary extension of the Bush tax cuts, Wolf Blitzer kissed up to the former president by fawning over his daughter Chelsea in the Thursday interview.
And Blitzer had a sugary introduction ready. "[W]hen we spoke about the President's…

Wolf Blitzer Lets Bill Clinton Absurdly Claim He Thought Bush Tax Cuts
June 7th, 2012 6:57 PM
Back in the '90s, many people called CNN the "Clinton News Network" because it was so obviously partial to the Democratic President from Arkansas.
Wolf Blitzer perfectly exemplified why this was the case Thursday when in an interview with former President Bill Clinton, he shamefully allowed his guest to absurdly claim that prior to Tuesday's controversial interview with CNBC's Maria Bartiromo…

Cable 'News' Network: Dems Whine to CNN About Romney Hogging the State
June 6th, 2012 6:15 PM
With campaign 2012 in full swing, CNN deemed it appropriate to talk about elevators in the Massachusetts Statehouse on Wednesday's The Situation Room.
To catch a glimpse of what current state legislators thought of then-Governor Mitt Romney, CNN correspondent Jim Acosta talked to only one Republican and three Democrats. Out of all the complaints they could have aired, the Democrats whined…

CNN Airs Four Uninterrupted Minutes of Obama Campaign Propaganda
June 5th, 2012 7:51 PM
The media's crush on Bill Clinton has only grown stronger since he left office, and CNN renewed its affection for the former president on Tuesday by airing over four minutes of him introducing President Obama at a Democratic fund raiser.
Fox News caught some flack for producing and airing a four-minute anti-Obama video – not that NBC and MSNBC haven't done the same thing to Romney – but CNN…

CNN Showcases Romney's Connection to Trump, But Had No Initial Inquiry
May 31st, 2012 10:49 AM
CNN jumped all over Donald Trump's "birther" remarks on Tuesday as Trump hosted a fund raiser for Mitt Romney. CNN ran the story almost every single hour on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, hyping Romney's message getting "Trumped" by his supporter's controversial statements.
In contrast, CNN showed no initial scrutiny of foul-mouthed comedian Bill Maher's $1 million donation to a pro-…

CNN Examines Obama's Donations From Bain Employees – But How Much Ha
May 25th, 2012 6:55 PM
CNN's Dana Bash reported Friday on the irony of President Obama hitting Mitt Romney's connections to Bain Capital when he himself has received donations from Bain employees. CNN has highlighted Obama's hypocrisy on this matter before, but this specific story has certainly not received much air-time – if any at all – in the last two weeks.
"But isn't it hypocritical for the Obama campaign to…

Wolf Blitzer Asks the Conservative-Bashing Questions of GOP-Bashing Gu
May 24th, 2012 7:30 PM
Apparently at CNN, the phrase "Republicans are the problem" is not challenged, but encouraged. On Thursday's The Situation Room, lame-duck host Wolf Blitzer simply tossed softballs to GOP-bashing Norm Ornstein, who had hit the party before as "extreme" and "unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence, and science."
Ironically, Blitzer was three weeks behind schedule as Ornstein…