In Friday’s edition of liberal media double standards, the CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News saw no reason to cover new audio out of Nebraska in which a state Democratic Party official used an expletive to proclaim he’s “glad” Republican Congressman Steve Scalise (La.) “got shot” on June 14.
While CBS and NBC were caught up covering viral video of a dancing gorilla, ABC’s World News Tonight snuck in Montag’s ludicrous rhetoric in senior national correspondent Matt Gutman’s story about actor Johnny Depp’s jokes about presidential assassinations.
Gutman explained that Depp’s inexcusable jests came “just a week after that shooting at a Virginia baseball field” with “Representative Steve Scalise nearly killed, prompting calls from politicians on both sides of the aisle for more civility.”
Concerning Montag, Gutman observed that “calls apparently ignored by a Nebraska Democratic state party official, Phil Montag, caught on tape” obtained by Omaha’s Fox42.
“I'm [bleeping] glad he got shot,” Montag exclaimed in an excerpt before Gutman added that “Montag claims he was taken out of context, but was fired anyway by the state's party chair.”
To keep alive the notion that the right is equally violent, Gutman dug up a 2016 soundbite from Trump supporter and New Hampshire GOP Rep. Al Baldasaro, who argued that “Hillary Clinton should be put on the firing line and shot” for what happened in Benghazi.
Now, why did Gutman resurrect an old soundbite? Well, Baldasaro was “welcomed” at the White House Friday for an event.
Here’s the thing: Gutman didn’t say what event it was. Turns out, it was the signing ceremony for the new Veterans Affairs bill to become law. Funny how ABC didn’t mention that at all in the newscast.
Going back to this attempt at supposedly being fair and balanced, our friend Alex Griswold at the Washington Free Beacon found that, maybe it’s the left that should be worried about policing their own. Since May, Griswold reported in a Thursday piece that 30 Republican members of Congress have either been threatened or shot at.
Here’s the relevant transcript from ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir on June 23:
ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir
June 23, 2017
6:42 p.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Breaking News; Heated Political Rhetoric; Growing Fears Harsh Talk Is Inciting Violence]
MATT GUTMAN [ON JOHNNY DEEP APOLOGY]: In a statement tonight, he admits it wasn't funny. This comes just a week after that shooting at a Virginia baseball field. Representative Steve Scalise nearly killed, prompting calls from politicians on both sides of the aisle for more civility, calls apparently ignored by a Nebraska Democratic state party official, Phil Montag, caught on tape as saying this about Scalise.
PHIL MONTAG: I'm [bleeping] glad he got shot.
GUTMAN: Montag claims he was taken out of context, but was fired anyway by the state's party chair. The White House facing its own criticism today after the President welcomed a former Trump delegate who last year suggested that Hillary Clinton be executed.
REPUBLICAN NEW HAMPSHIRE REPRESENTATIVE AL BALDASARO: Hillary Clinton should be put on the firing line and shot.
GUTMAN: The White house tonight, David, is condemning both Depp’s comments and all calls to violence.
