On Monday night, CBS News national correspondent Chip Reid continued to promote a false ad by a liberal organization that claims Republicans in Congress are responsible for cutting funding for research hoping to find an Ebola vaccine.
Reid stated at the conclusion of his report on the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley how: “One independent liberal group released an ad criticizing Republicans for cutting spending that they say could have led to an Ebola vaccination. Scott, that ad is titled “Republican Cuts Kill," which shows just how tough the political battle over Ebola has come.” [MP3 audio here; Video below]
That ad, which was made by the liberal group The Agenda Project, was proven to be false and “absurd” by The Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler as he rated it at four Pinocchios (out of four) back on October 15.
Kessler said this after looking funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH):
The absurd claim that only Republicans are to blame for cuts to Ebola research....Whose idea was sequestration? It was originally a White House proposal....For fiscal year 2015, the documents show, it was the Obama White House that proposed to cut the NIH's budget from the previous year.
This was not the first time Reid promoted this talking point without mentioning how it's simply not true as he parroted it in a report on CBS This Morning on October 21, as my colleague Kyle Drennen chronicled.
The remainder of the CBS Evening News segment, entitled “Quarantine Politics,” included more liberal bias. Anchor Scott Pelley introduced Reid’s report by remarking that “[o]fficials keep telling us their decisions about Ebola are based on science, but there is also a dose of politics.”
Reid observed how with “[o]ne week before Election Day, candidates across the country are trying to use Ebola to their political advantage in ads and debates” and pointed to New Hampshire Senate Republican candidate Scott Brown as one such supposed violator with his “calling for a ban on travel from West Africa and even for securing the Mexican border.”
Following a soundbite from Brown, in which he said “[t]he clearest pathway to bring anything, whether it's criminals, terrorists or disease, is through that southern border,” Reid gushed that “Democrats, including his opponent, Jeanne Shaheen, are firing back.”
He then aired a clip of Shaheen saying: “What we don't need is people fearmongerring about this issue.”
The complete transcript of the segment that aired on the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley on October 27 is transcribed below.
CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley
October 27, 2014
6:34 p.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Quarantine Politics]
SCOTT PELLEY: Officials keep telling us their decisions about Ebola are based on science, but there is also a dose of politics. Here's Chip Reid.
CHIP REID: Campaigning for Republican candidates today, Chris Christie defended his quarantine policy for medical workers returning from West Africa.
NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR CHRIS CHRISTIE (R): The fact is I'm not going to step away for a minute from protecting the people of our state and our region.
REID: Christie, a likely presidential candidate, shares a similar position with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat up for reelection next week who also may have his eye on the White House.
NEW YORK GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO (D): At the end of the day, I'm the Governor of the state of New York and my number-one job is to protect the people of the state of New York and do what I think is prudent.
REID: The White House says those mandatory quarantines are more about politics than good medical sense. Spokesman Josh Earnest:
WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY JOSH EARNEST: These kinds of policies should be driven by science.
REID: But Republicans say, if that's true, why did the President name political lawyer Ron Klain as his Ebola czar instead of a scientist?
AD FEATURING VOICE OF ERIN BURNETT: The Ebola outbreak is worse.
REID: One week before Election Day, candidates across the country are trying to use Ebola to their political advantage in ads and debates. Many Republicans, including Scott Brown of New Hampshire, are calling for a ban on travel from West Africa and even for securing the Mexican border.
NEW HAMPSHIRE REPUBLICAN SENATE CANDIDATE SCOTT BROWN: The clearest pathway to bring anything, whether it's criminals, terrorists or disease, is through that southern border.
REID: Democrats, including his opponent, Jeanne Shaheen, are firing back.
NEW HAMPSHIRE DEMOCRATIC SENATOR JEANNE SHAHEEN: What we don't need is people fearmongerring about this issue.
REID: One independent liberal group released an ad criticizing Republicans for cutting spending that they say could have led to an Ebola vaccination. Scott, that ad is titled “Republican Cuts Kill,” which shows just how tough the political battle over Ebola has come.
PELLEY: Chip, thank you very much.
