Since taking over the evening-news baton from Diane Sawyer, ABC anchorman David Muir has become known for a newscast that's tighter, brighter, and lighter -- or, just dumber. Washington Post media reporter Paul Farhi noted Muir's newscast has a severe aversion to leading with international news when it can lead with, oh, thunderstorms.
His interviews have been the same. His interview a couple of months ago with Hillary Clinton was another classic of the "what would your mommy say to you" variety.
ABC’s Muir Serves Up Hardballs for Hillary
“I want to know, in your most private of moments, is there ever an instance when you ask yourself, ‘why am I doing this again?’... Is your mother’s voice in your ear and give me one line that you repeat to yourself?”
— World News Tonight anchor David Muir to Hillary Clinton, September 8, 2015.
Muir Cheers Iran Getting Nukes as Obama “Victory”
“A big victory for President Obama.”
— World News Tonight anchor David Muir, September 2, 2015.
Muir Excited for “Firebrand” Elizabeth Warren
Anchor Diane Sawyer: “Back here at home, a firebrand is back in the news with a big alert for middle class Americans, the bedrock of the nation....”
Correspondent David Muir: “It’s long been part of the American dream. Families hoping to secure their spot in America’s cherished middle class. And she is the firebrand who’s made a name fighting for them.”
Clip of Senator Elizabeth Warren: “There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own.”...
Muir: “She says she’s not running for president, Diane, but she’s clearly campaigning for the middle class tonight.”
— ABC’s World News, April 21, 2014.
Even When Romney’s Right, the Muir Insists He’s Wrong
ABC’s David Muir: “While the President was pushing that Buffett Rule, it was Mitt Romney pushing something else: This number, aimed squarely at women.”
Mitt Romney: “92.3 percent of the people who have lost jobs have been women. His failures have hurt women.”
Muir: “Now the non-partisan group PolitiFact saying that number right there is ‘mostly false,’ arguing the President can’t be held responsible for the job picture the day he took office.”
— ABC’s World News, April 11, 2012.
Heckling Romney: “Are You Going to Fire the Baby?”
ABC's David Muir: "They were at a polling place in Manchester, the governor and his wife, holding a baby. Very much an image you'd expect from the front-runner. But if you rewind the tape and play up the sound:"
Man's voice: "Are you going to fire the baby? Are you going to fire the baby?"
Muir: "Those shouts there, 'Are you going to fire the baby?' These are words that are going to follow Mitt Romney beyond New Hampshire right into South Carolina."
— ABC's World News, January 10, 2012.
Muir also described Romney's running mate Paul Ryan in Democratic press-release terms: "Ryan is known in the political world for his controversial budget plan that would call for steep cuts and the Obama campaign said it would change Medicare as we know it."
Hyping Occupy Wall Street
“This Occupy Wall Street movement is multiplying not only in cities across this country, but now around the world. Look at the images coming in tonight, spelling out the anger. This sign in New York, ‘The rich get bailed out, the poor get sold out.’”
— ABC anchor David Muir on World News, October 9, 2011.
[Hat tip to Geoffrey Dickens for the archive dive.]
