Now that Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo tried to backtrack Friday on remarks from Wednesday that America “was never that great,” the CBS Evening News broke the silence by the network’s news operation with a 26-second news brief.
The move followed CBS’s The Late Show from Thursday when even liberal host Stephen Colbert and former Obama staffers-turned-Pod Save America hosts blasted Cuomo’s gaffe.
“New York Governor Andrew Cuomo today addressed a controversial remark he made earlier this week. Here is what the Democratic Governor, running for re-election, said on Wednesday,” anchor Jeff Glor stated in teeing up the infamous Cuomo clip.
“We're not going to make America great again. It was never that great,” Cuomo argued. The entire news brief was accompanied by this chyron: “Governor Apologizes; Cuomo Under Fire for Saying U.S. ‘Never That Great.’”
After the clip, Glor concluded that “after being widely criticized, Cuomo called his remarks ‘inartful’ and said America is and always has been great.”
NBC was the first broadcast network to break through as Thursday’s Today had a 37-second news brief on Cuomo’s anti-American rhetoric. With the addition of CBS’s news brief, the total network coverage for Cuomo’s troubling condemnation bumps up to a still-paltry one minute and 3 seconds.
With CBS joining the fray, that leaves ABC as the lone broadcast network to still be covering for Cuomo as he faces reelection and a primary battle against actress Cynthia Nixon.
Below is the relevant transcript from August 17's CBS Evening News with Jeff Glor.
CBS Evening News with Jeff Glor
August 17, 2018
6:40 p.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: “Inartful”]
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Governor Apologizes; Cuomo Under Fire for Saying U.S. ‘Never That Great’]
JEFF GLOR: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo today addressed a controversial remark he made earlier this week. Here is what the Democratic Governor, running for re-election, said on Wednesday:
NEW YORK DEMOCRATIC GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO: We're not going to make America great again. It was never that great.
GLOR: Today, after being widely criticized, Cuomo called his remarks “inartful” and said America is and always has been great.
