On Monday, hosts and reporters on the NBC, ABC, and CBS morning shows could hardly contain their excitement as they cheered an “historic new era” in relations between the United States and Cuba. On NBC’s Today, co-host Matt Lauer touted: “Overnight, for the first time in five decades, full diplomatic ties were officially restored. That paves the way for the reopening of embassies in Washington and Havana.”
Andrea Mitchell
By Jeffrey Meyer | July 19, 2015 | 12:47 PM EDT
Building on comments he made on NBC’s Today, Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd wondered if Donald Trump’s attack on John McCain were a “reap what you sow issue here for the Republican Party?” Todd brought up the “reap what you sow” argument during an interview with Rick Perry as he played up how the “party embraced Donald Trump four years ago...during his whole birther craze at the time and you actively reached out for him. In hindsight was that a mistake for the party in general to embrace Trump four years ago?”
By Matthew Balan | July 17, 2015 | 6:06 PM EDT
Andrea Mitchell wondered if Chattanooga terrorist Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez's "small-town Tennessee" upbringing had anything to do with his slaughtering of four Marines. Mitchell interviewed a high school classmate of Abdulazeez on the Friday edition of her MSNBC program and asked, "Were guns a big part of activity – social or other activity?...Did he hunt? Did he shoot? I mean, was that just part of small-town Tennessee activity?" She later inquired if "there [was] prejudice against him because of his ethnicity" after 9/11.
By Mark Finkelstein | July 17, 2015 | 8:29 AM EDT
Andrea Mitchell had the chance to ask John Kerry, on live national TV, any question she wanted about the Iran deal. She could, for example, have confronted him over the lifting of the conventional arms and ballistic missile embargoes that were included as a nice little parting gift to Iran.
Instead, in a moment of media malpractice, Mitchell lobbed up the mushiest of softballs on today's Morning Joe, asking Kerry "what that moment meant to you" when at the final negotiation meeting, he reminisced about going to Vietnam as a 22-year old "and that you never wanted to go to war without having exhausted the diplomacy." A shame Andrea and John weren't in the same room so they could have exchanged a heartfelt hug.
By Jeffrey Meyer | July 15, 2015 | 2:04 PM EDT
The “Big Three” (ABC, CBS, and NBC) networks have hailed the “historic” deal with Iran which was a described as a “major victory” for President Obama. The media, however, have a poor record when it comes to U.S. negotiations with rogue nations seeking nuclear weapons. In 1994, President Bill Clinton agreed to a deal with North Korea, an agreement which the networks at the time hailed as a sign that “the Cold War is really over.”
By Tom Blumer | July 15, 2015 | 1:20 PM EDT
In an extraordinarily and inappropriately indulgent interview with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif yesterday, MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell rolled her eyes as she mentioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's position that the "deal" between Iran and an alliance led by the U.S. is a "mistake of historic proportions."
Immediately after doing so, she refocused her attention on Zarif, smiled and batted her eyelashes as she finished her question. The video which immediately follows the jump was posted at Digitas Daily (HT PJ Tatler via Ed Driscoll at Instapundit):
By Curtis Houck | July 14, 2015 | 11:38 PM EDT
On Tuesday night, the “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC continued heaping praise on the “historic” nuclear arms deal between the United States, its allies, and Iran with the negotiators being labeled “jubilant” as President Obama “chart[s] a new course” with Secretary of State John Kerry creating “a moment of history.” CBS's Scott Pelley wrapped up three reports and a brief on the deal by gushing over a picture from July 11 of Kerry “writing his closing argument to the Iranians” that he deemed “a moment of history”:
Nets Tout ‘Encouraging Progress’ in Iran Nuclear Talks; Predict ‘Celebration in the Streets’ of Tehran
By Kyle Drennen | July 13, 2015 | 3:01 PM EDT On Monday, all three network morning shows eagerly touted the Obama administration’s long-delayed effort to reach a deal with Iran over its nuclear program. On NBC’s Today, news anchor Natalie Morales announced: “Negotiators from six world powers are finally making some encouraging progress with Iran on a deal over its nuclear program.”
By Randy Hall | July 8, 2015 | 8:25 PM EDT
During a panel discussion after NBC News reporter Katy Tur's contentious interview of 2016 GOP presidential contender Donald Trump, Chris Matthews -- the long-time host of MSNBC's Hardball weeknight program -- surprised his fellow commentators by asserting that the billionaire can be as deadly as a former dictator in the Middle East.
“He has a lot of information on everybody,” Matthews told moderator and Meet the Press host Chuck Todd. “He’s ready to go after a guy like Charles Krauthammer,” a popular commentator on the Fox News Channel. Trump “has already done the oppo (opposition research) on every journalist around. He’s ready with the worst stuff to throw at you.”
By Connor Williams | June 16, 2015 | 11:54 AM EDT
Yet again, MSNBC has revived the narrative that Hillary Clinton is good at dealing with the press and answering questions. Making an appearance on Monday's Rachel Maddow Show, Andrea Mitchell talked up Hillary as being “so good and adept” at handling the press. At least Mitchell added that Clinton had struggled to respond to questions “about the emails and at some points during her book tour.”
By Matthew Balan | June 12, 2015 | 8:23 PM EDT
On Friday's NBC Nightly News, Andrea Mitchell touted how Hillary Clinton "will get personal" at her upcoming NYC campaign rally, and that she will be will be "focusing on her late mother, Dorothy Rodham – twice abandoned as a child by her parents; forced to make her way across country and work as a maid." Mitchell played two clips from a campaign video where Mrs. Clinton spoke highly of her mom, and underlined that "Clinton credits her mother for her passion and values – especially fighting for women and children – one reason she wants to be president."
By Scott Whitlock | June 12, 2015 | 5:23 PM EDT
Andrea Mitchell scored an interview with Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Friday, but spent the entire interview peppering the senator with questions about Hillary Clinton. This included pushing Sanders on whether Bill Clinton's claim of innocence would be enough to drop any investigation into the family's foundation.