NBC truly showed what its priorities are on Sunday's Meet the Press.
The outing of NBA player Jason Collins and the topic of same-sex marriage got a full 8 1/2 minutes while the murder trial of abortionist Dr. Kermit Gosnell received a whopping 2 1/2 minutes (video follows with transcript and commentary):
DAVID GREGORY, HOST: I've just got about a minute and a half left. But I want to inject something that, Rich, you wrote about on this social issue topic about abortion this week. The Gosnell trial getting a lot of attention. I'm going to put it up on the screen. We're not going to have a lot of time to react to it. But I want to put it on the record here.
So with only a minute and a half left, Gregory decided to FINALLY give some time to Gosnell which up till now had only been mentioned on his program by Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan.
In all, NBC had done only three "reports" on the Gosnell trial until Sunday.
I guess Gregory wanted to finally "put it on the record here":
GREGORY: You write this: "The unwritten rule is that, when the left discusses abortion, it's never called abortion but always referred to as "health," and more specifically, "reproductive health," although abortion is the opposite of reproduction. And for one party involved, the opposite of health. The trial of Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell has been an exercise in stripping away euphemism. He's accused of murdering babies because he allegedly didn't manage to kill them in the womb and had to finish the job outside the womb. His case is so discomforting for liberals, not only because it is a stark picture of the seeming money-grubbing side of abortion, but because it illustrates how slight the difference is between late-term abortion or late-term health, and what nearly everyone recognizes a crime." The Left, Planned Parenthood, says he's a complete outlier, but yours is a broader point.
RICH LOWRY, NATIONAL REVIEW: Yeah. Well, first of all, I'm there is just a matter of logic. If doing it outside the womb, if collapsing the skull, snipping the spine, and all the rest of it is wrong, why is it okay inside the womb? And I think that's a very difficult question for pro-choice people to grapple with. And I just was struck by President Obama goes to Planned Parenthood, the first sitting president to address Planned Parenthood, and doesn't mention the word "abortion." Why doesn't he hail them for their clinics and their affiliates performing more than 300,000 abortions a year if it's such a wonderful thing?
DAVID GREGORY: Yeah.
RICH LOWRY: They're ashamed to say frankly what they do.
DAVID GREGORY: Joy, 30 seconds.
JOY-ANN REID, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: Planned Parenthood does a lot more than abortion. I mean before I had a job that paid me health insurance, Planned Parenthood is where I got my health care, everything from just general health care. And I wasn't going there to get abortions, I was going there to get health care. So Planned Parenthood is not simply an abortion--
(OVERTALK)
RICH LOWRY: Right, but it does do abortions.
(OVERTALK)
JOY-ANN REID: Right.
RICH LOWRY: And the president never acknowledged--
(OVERTALK)
JOY-ANN REID: There are doctors in clinics that do it, too. So that is not the only thing they do. And the second thing is, look, Gosnell is not something that should outrage liberals. This is something that should outrage anyone. You know, general abortion services are not performed. He is performing this in late, late term.
And I don't think that any rational or thinking human being of feeling human being thinks that that's okay, whether it's in the womb or out. This was also a case of impoverished women who were going to a place for supposed health care that shouldn't have even been open, that wasn't being inspected, where the laws in that state were not being followed. Where were the inspections to make sure that these services were even being provided in a sanitary facility? Just because these women had no money doesn't mean they didn't deserve to be protected.
DAVID GREGORY: All right, I'm out of time for this segment. We've got to take a break, come right back after this.
And that was Meet the Press's coverage of Gosnell.
By contrast, in the preceding 8 1/2 minutes, Gregory had a thorough discussion about Collins and same-sex marriage starting with an interview with gay rights activist and NFL player Brendon Ayanbadejo followed by a panel discussion on the subject.
Clearly in the minds of Gregory et al, same-sex marriage is far more important than the murder of innocent babies.
On the other hand, I guess we should be thankful they gave Gosnell any coverage at all.
