After Monday’s debut of the CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell established that it would be an unquestionable home for liberal bias, night two cemented that as O’Donnell and her team provided more liberal bias, whether it be the President’s “racist tweets,” letting a Democratic donor interview “The Squad,” or blaming an upcoming heat wave to climate change.
O’Donnell teased their coverage from the Kennedy Space Center on the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11's launch before stating that “we’re going to begin with that breaking news here on Earth” about the House “resolution to condemn” Trump’s “racist tweets” even though it wasn’t a full-blown censure.
Congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes provided more House Democratic talking points, boasting that even though there was “[t]ension on the House floor today as Democrats tried to convince their GOP colleagues to condemn the President,” there were “immigrant lawmakers” who “[took] the lead.”
She then followed with soundbites from five House Democrats who were born outside America, including cable news darling Ted Lieu (CA).
Like ABC’s Mary Bruce did with Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), Cordes played a back-and-forth she had hitting Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) from the left (click “expand”):
CORDES: The Senate’s top Republican tried to steer the conversation back to safer waters. [TO MCCONNELL] Do you think that the President would be more likely to tone down his rhetoric if Republican leaders like yourself spoke out more forcefully against it?
MCCONNELL: Well, I think I’ve just said, I think everybody ought to tone down their rhetoric.
CORDES [TO MCCONNELL]: But you've stopped short of calling his comments racist.
MCCONNELL: Well, the President is not a racist.
CORDES: But none of it dissuaded President Trump, who lashed out at the four freshmen lawmakers for the third straight day.
Cordes concluded by updating O’Donnell live on Republicans voting for it:
Well, Norah, it's very interesting. Our CBS News count shows a couple dozen House Republicans have come out publicly and criticized the President's comments, but already tonight, several of them have voted against this resolution, and that's partly because GOP leaders urged all of their members to vote no. They are argue, it's time to turn the page.
In the show’s c-block, O’Donnell had a news brief as the vote ended: “We have breaking news from Capitol Hill. The House has just approved largely along party lines a resolution condemning racist tweets by President Trump that targeted four congresswomen of color.”
Showing how not only biased but ethically challenged some at CBS are (thus hurting many there who do great journalism), the newscast then aired an except of CBS This Morning co-host Gayle King’s “exclusive” interview with Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI).
For some reason, the higher-ups thought letting a Democratic donor, Corey Booker friend, and Obama family friend in King would work. Based on the released excerpt, King lived up to her partisan streak by lobbing softballs (click “expand”):
KING [TO TLAIB]: What did you think when you heard the tweet?
(....)
KING [TO OCASIO-CORTEZ]: Do you feel enough Republicans have spoken up against the President?
(....)
KING [TLAIB]: What message does that send?
In her answer to King, Ocasio-Cortez claimed that “not a single Republican could bring themselves...to have the basic human decency to vote against the statement that the President made on the floor.” Unless she was referring to a different vote (such as any motion to proceed on the resolution), that claim doesn’t hold water since four GOPers voted for the final resolution.
On a separate topic in a brief, O’Donnell blamed the impending “dangerous heat wave” affecting “nearly 200 million Americans” on — wait for it — climate change: “Extreme heat, which scientists link to climate change, kills more than 600 Americans a year, making it deadlier than all other severe weather events combined.”
Now, this writer doesn’t have a degree in climatology or meteorology, but climate looks at matters over periods of time while the weather concerns things happening in now or near future. Sure, one can discuss climate change, but a singular weather pattern being emblematic isn’t ideal.
To see the relevant transcript from July 16's CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell, click “expand.”
CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell
July 16, 2019
6:30 p.m. Eastern [TEASE][ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Showdown in Congress]
NORAH O’DONNELL: Also tonight, a showdown vote in the House over the President's tweets aimed at four Democratic congresswomen of color. Gayle King sits down exclusively with the members known as The Squad.
(....)
6:32 p.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Vote to Condemn]
O’DONNELL: But we’re going to begin with that breaking news here on Earth. Tonight as we come on the air, the House of Representatives is voting on a resolution to condemn the words of the President of the United States. Now, while a number of presidents have been censured in the past, this will be a less severe reprimand and rare one.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Breaking News; House Votes on Condemning Trump Tweets]
O’DONNELL: It comes after the President attacked freshmen House Democrats, all women of color, in racist tweets. The Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, wants to put Republicans on the record for or against the President's comments, and Nancy Cordes has the latest from Capitol Hill.
CONGRESSMAN JIM MCGOVERN (D-MA): There is no grey area here.
NANCY CORDES: Tension on the House floor today as Democrats tried to convince their GOP colleagues to condemn the President, with immigrant lawmakers taking the lead.
CONGRESSMAN ALBIO SIRES (D-NJ): I came to this country from Cuba at the age of 11.
CONGRESSWOMAN DEBBIE MUCARSEL-POWELL (D-FL): I was born in Ecuador.
CONGRESSMAN SALUD CARBAJAL (D-CA): I’m immigrated from Mexico.
CONGRESSMAN RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-IL): I’m proud to be an immigrant and I’m proud to be an American.
CORDES: The resolution takes aim at Mr. Trump's claim that four women of color should go back to where they came from, even though three of them were born here.
CONGRESSMAN TED LIEU (D-CA): If I was white, people would not tell me to go back to China.
CORDES: The four-page resolution “strongly condemns President Donald Trump’s racist comments that have legitimized and increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color.” On Twitter today, the President insisted, “I don't have a Racist bone in my body.”
SENATE MAJORITY LEADER MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): It's about time we lowered the temperature all across the board.
CORDES: The Senate’s top Republican tried to steer the conversation back to safer waters. [TO MCCONNELL] Do you think that the President would be more likely to tone down his rhetoric if Republican leaders like yourself spoke out more forcefully against it?
MCCONNELL: Well, I think I’ve just said, I think everybody ought to tone down their rhetoric.
CORDES [TO MCCONNELL]: But you've stopped short of calling his comments racist.
MCCONNELL: Well, the President is not a racist.
CORDES: But none of it dissuaded President Trump, who lashed out at the four freshmen lawmakers for the third straight day.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It's my opinion they hate our country.
CORDES: He hammered what he called their “filthy,” “vial,” “hateful and disgusting lies,” without going into specifics.
TRUMP: I have a list of things here said by the congresswomen that is so bad, so horrible that I almost don't want to read it.
O’DONNELL: And Nancy Cordes joins us from Capitol Hill where the vote is taking place right now. Nancy, how many Republicans do we expect will vote to condemn the President?
CORDES: Well, Norah, it's very interesting. Our CBS News count shows a couple dozen House Republicans have come out publicly and criticized the President's comments, but already tonight, several of them have voted against this resolution, and that's partly because GOP leaders urged all of their members to vote no. They are argue, it's time to turn the page.
O’DONNELL: Alright, Nancy, thank you.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Exclusive Interview]
O’DONNELL: Late this afternoon, CBS This Morning’s Gayle King sat down with the four congresswomen the President targeted. It's the first time the four known as The Squad have been interviewed together.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Exclusive; ‘The Squad’ Discusses Trump’s Attack]
GAYLE KING: What did you think when you heard the tweet?
CONGRESSWOMAN RASHIDA TLAIB (D-MI): I'm dealing with the biggest bully I've ever had to deal with in my lifetime and trying to push back on that and trying to do the job we've all been sent here to do, which is centered around people at home. This is a distraction.
KING: Do you feel enough Republicans have spoken up against the President?
CONGRESSWOMAN ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): Absolutely not. I mean, we just held a vote today and not a single Republican could bring themselves, no matter what their public statement or what their public gesture or public discomfort, they could not bring themselves to have the basic human decency to vote against the statement that the President made on the floor.
KING: What message does that send?
TLAIB: That the normalization of it, the fact that it's against our core American values, that they're choosing him over country.
O’DONNELL: And there's going to be more of Gayle's exclusive interview with the four Democratic congresswomen tomorrow on CBS This Morning.
(....)
6:51 p.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Tweets Condemned]
O’DONNELL: We have breaking news from Capitol Hill. The House has just approved largely along party lines a resolution condemning racist tweets by President Trump that targeted four congresswomen of color.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Heat Wave]
O’DONNELL: Nearly 200 million Americans will be sweltering in dangerous heat wave [sic] over the next few days. It starts tomorrow in the central U.S. and moves east. In many places, it will feel well over 100 degrees. Extreme heat, which scientists link to climate change, kills more than 600 Americans a year, making it deadlier than all other severe weather events combined.
