On Friday, the “big three” broadcast networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC each led off their morning newscasts with laudatory praise for President Biden’s latest remarks calling for mass gun control, trumpeting it as “an impassioned” and “urgent plea” for Republicans to capitulate to the demands of this “emotional” President.
ABC’s Good Morning America was the most insufferable. Co-host and former Clinton official George Stephanopoulos boasted: “President Biden's address to the nation on gun violence. Emotional and urgent. The President called on Congress to act, saying we cannot fail the American people again.”
Loyal Biden supporter and White House correspondent Mary Bruce replied that “Biden knows the fight” for gun control “well...and he’s trying to use the power of the presidency to keep up the pressure on Republicans in Congress” and “emotionally pleading with Washington to do something and asking the question that so many Americans ask themselves after every one of these shootings: will this finally be enough?”
Bruce continued to lament as she did nothing to offer even a scintilla of a Republican response: “After three decades of congressional inaction, Biden is painfully familiar with the difficulties of gun reform, blaming Republicans who have been standing in the way.”
As ABC has done over the last few weeks, Bruce also made sure to claim that Biden’s gun grab is popular: “[T]he majority of Americans do want to see some change here.”
Congressional correspondent and fellow liberal Rachel Scott said in her own segment that Biden’s “sweeping and broad” ideas weren’t being supported by Republicans, kvetching that House “Democrats...push[ed] through a measure that includes nearly every single thing that the President is asking for, but every single Republican on [the House Judiciary] Committee voted against it.”
In the second hour, Stephanopoulos and Bruce returned to restate most of their earlier comments, including the former’s “emotional and urgent” salivation.
CBS Mornings was also happy to help the administration. Co-host Nate Burleson said Biden’s push was in light of the notable shootings in Buffalo, NY, Tulsa, OK, and Uvalde, TX as “the imagery of crisis, violence, and grief has become all too familiar in American life.”
Chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes observed that it “may have been the most emphatic speech this President has delivered when it comes to guns” that “pleaded with Republicans” to back “[h]is ambitious wish list.”
In Cordes’s case, she did run two soundbites from House Republicans, but were outnumbered by three congressional Democrats and four from Biden.
NBC’s Today opened with co-host Hoda Kotb saying in a tease that Biden had an “impassioned plea” to reverse a supposedly reality of how cities are “killing fields.”
Chief White House correspondent Kristen Welker said one “could see the anger in the President's voice as he called on Congress to pass new gun laws” backed by “cited data from the CDC which shows guns are now the number one killer of children nationwide.”
Like the others, Welker mentioned Thursday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing to clear massive gun control proposals to the full House (click “expand”):
WELKER: The House is expected to vote on a package of new gun laws next week, but many Republican lawmakers still objecting to the reforms.
SENATOR TED CRUZ (R-TX) [on FNC’s Hannity, 06/02/22]: These leftists want to take those firearms away so that people are defenseless to defend their families.
WELKER: And a House hearing earlier in the day highlighted the deep divides that remain when Florida Republican Greg Steube, appearing remotely, displayed his own gun collection.
CONGRESSMAN GREG STEUBE (R-FL): Here’s a seven-round magazine which would less than what would be lawful under this bill if this bill were to become law. It doesn't fit. So this gun would be banned.
CONGRESSMAN SHEILA JACKSON LEE (D-TX): I hope that gun is not loaded.
STEUBE: I'm at my house, I can do whatever I want with my guns.
WELKER: Really heated moment there.
Friday’s fluffing of the White House pillows was made possible thanks to advertisers such as Dick’s Sporting Goods (on ABC and NBC) and Ensure (on CBS). Follow the links to see their contact information at the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant transcripts from June 3, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).
