Bob Schieffer

Flashback to 1995/96: Networks Mourn Victims of Shutdown, Single Out Republicans for Blame
By Brent Baker | October 5, 2013 | 9:17 PM EDT

“After the President vetoed several spending bills, not one story blamed him for the shutdown, but nearly two dozen declared the GOP culpable. Furloughed workers and other ‘victims’ were featured in half the stories.” Sound familiar? That’s from a 1996 Media Research Center study on the battle between Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich. Yes, the current shutdown showdown is deja vu all over again in who gets blamed.

To help illustrate the very familiar media tone and approach, I’ve put three clips together out of the MRC archive, starting with Bob Schieffer anchoring the Saturday, December 16, 1995 CBS Evening News: “Well, they’ve done it again. Nine days from Christmas, Republicans have forced another partial shutdown of the government because they cannot come to an agreement with the White House on how to balance the budget.”

MRC Study: Even Before Shutdown, Networks Dumped Most Blame on Conservatives
By Rich Noyes | October 2, 2013 | 1:47 PM EDT

On Monday morning, Time/MSNBC political analyst Mark Halperin explained an obvious political reality to his fellow Morning Joe panelists: “The White House does not have much incentive” to negotiate on the government shutdown, because Democrats expect the liberal news media to hand them a public relations victory. As Halperin put it: “The press is largely sympathetic to their arguments that it’s the House Republicans’ fault.”

In fact, as a new Media Research Center analysis of broadcast network evening news coverage shows, ABC, CBS and NBC spent the two weeks prior to the shutdown almost universally pinning the blame on congressional Republicans, especially conservative/Tea Party House Republicans. By the time the shutdown actually took place on October 1, news audiences had been repeatedly instructed to think about it as a GOP-generated crisis.

CBS’s Schieffer Frets ‘Ultra-Conservatives’ Blocking Congress from ‘Addressing the Country’s Problems’
By Brent Baker | September 30, 2013 | 9:03 PM EDT

Resurrecting an ideological tag from the 1980s media era, on Monday’s CBS Evening News, the network’s chief Washington correspondent, Bob Schieffer, fretted over how “ultra-conservatives” in the House – a label he used twice – are making a mess of things.

CBS’s Bob Schieffer Falsely Claims ‘Polls Say That Most People Favor’ ObamaCare
By Brent Baker | September 29, 2013 | 4:25 PM EDT

In defiance of reality illustrated in numerous polls, on Sunday’s Face the Nation, host Bob Schieffer scolded Republican Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn when she correctly asserted “there is only partisan support” for ObamaCare. Schieffer cut her off: “Well now Congresswoman, that’s not entirely true. The polls don’t suggest that. Polls say that most people favor it.”

Supposedly Unbiased Carol Costello Complains About Lack of Gun Control: ‘We’ve Seen This Sad Movie Before’
By Randy Hall | September 24, 2013 | 11:15 AM EDT

During Wayne LaPierre's appearance on the Sunday morning edition of NBC's Meet the Press, the executive vice president of the National Rifle Association told host David Gregory that the tragic shooting at the Navy Yards on Monday, September 16, actually reinforced his pro-gun stance. He stated: “When the good guys with guns got there, [the shooting] stopped.”

On Monday morning, Carol Costello -- anchor of the weekday CNN Newsroom program -- referred to the NRA representative's remarks by asserting: “We’ve seen this sad movie before, with Mr. LaPierre;” and grumbled: “At the end of the day, nothing will change.”

Cranky Bob Schieffer: Anti-ObamaCare GOPers Are Like Japanese WWII Vets Who Don't Know Fight Is 'Over'
By Scott Whitlock | September 20, 2013 | 1:02 PM EDT

The network morning shows on Friday derided the move by House Republicans to defund ObamaCare as simply "bowing to demands" from the Tea Party. But it was CBS's Bob Schieffer who made no attempt to restrain his contempt, declaring the ObamaCare fight "over" and linking GOP members to elderly Japanese veterans of World War II who refused to accept that the fight was futile.

After noting that the Wall Street Journal derided the plan as a kamikaze move, the Face the Nation anchor built on the analogy, sneering, "But even more apt...way on into the 1950s when they go into the jungles of the Philippines and they find these Japanese soldiers that thought World War II was still going on?" This prompted This Morning hosts Charlie Rose, Gayle King and Norah O'Donnell to break up in laughter at the mockery of Republicans. [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

Schieffer Asks Democratic Senator To Grade Obama on Syria, Doesn't Ask GOP Guest
By Noel Sheppard | September 15, 2013 | 3:54 PM EDT

Bob Schieffer interviewed Senators Bob Corker (R-Tn.) and Carl Levin (D-Mich.) about recent goings-on in Syria on Sunday's Face the Nation.

For some reason, only Levin was asked to grade the President on how he's handled this foreign policy matter (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Bob Schieffer Announces His Support For Attacking Syria
By Noel Sheppard | September 8, 2013 | 3:11 PM EDT

Polls show the American public overwhelmingly opposed to war in Syria.

Despite this, CBS Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer on Sunday formally announced his support for the President's planned attack (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Flashback: In 2009, Media Cringed That Fort Hood Killer Was Muslim Since It ‘Inflames’ Right Wing, ‘Makes It Much Worse’
By Rich Noyes | August 6, 2013 | 4:25 PM EDT

The military trial of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan began Tuesday, with the government arguing that the onetime Army psychiatrist was motivated by “a jihad duty to kill as many soldiers as possible,” while Hasan —  representing himself —  seemed to agree, arguing: “Evidence will clearly show that I am the shooter and the dead bodies will show the war is an ugly thing.”

But in the hours and days after the November 5, 2009 shooting that killed 13 soldiers and wounded more than two dozen others, liberal journalists resisted the idea that this episode was part of the broader war on terrorism and openly fretted about how everyday Americans would respond to news that a Muslim soldier had committed such a massacre. As NPR’s Nina Totenberg mourned at the time: “It really is tragic that he was a Muslim.”

Here are some of the quotes MRC/NewsBusters gathered at the time:

Peggy Noonan: U.S. Government 'Feeling Resentful' and 'Dissed' By Putin
By Noel Sheppard | August 4, 2013 | 5:25 PM EDT

"I think those in the American government, looking at Vladimir Putin and what he's done, are feeling resentful and they're feeling dissed. They're wondering why he's treating America so roughly."

So said Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan on CBS's Face the Nation Sunday.

Bob Schieffer to Paul Ryan: Can GOP Survive Without Immigration Reform?
By Noel Sheppard | August 4, 2013 | 2:35 PM EDT

As NewsBusters has been reporting, the liberal media have been for months making the case that the Republican Party is doomed if an immigration reform bill isn't enacted.

A fine example is CBS Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer who on Sunday actually asked Congressman Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) - with a little bit of a chuckle no less! - "Can your party survive as a major political party if you don't come up with some sort of immigration reform?" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

CBS Bizarrely Wonders if Pope Francis is 'Breaking With The Vatican'
By Matthew Balan | July 30, 2013 | 5:28 PM EDT

Monday's CBS Evening News offered the usual biased coverage of religion, and specifically, the Catholic Church, as it reported on Pope Francis' widely misrepresented remarks on homosexuals. Dean Reynolds' only talking head was a former priest who apparently "quit the priesthood...after he felt the Church intended to purge gays", and even wondered if the Pope was throwing out Catholic teaching: "Do you think he's breaking with the Vatican?"

Reynolds also hyped that the Roman pontiff offered a "potentially controversial position" with his recent remarks, when in reality, they are consistent with what the Catechism of the Catholic Church outlines. [audio available here; video below the jump]