American Morning

CNN to Perry: Convince Us Your Campaign Isn't Finished
By Matt Hadro | November 10, 2011 | 1:00 PM EST

The same network that treated then-candidate Obama with kid gloves about Reverend Wright demanded Rick Perry to explain how his campaign wasn't finished, in his interview on CNN's American Morning on Thursday.

Co-host Christine Romans scrutinized Perry over his forgetting one of the federal agencies he had promised to get rid of. However, she seemed to believe that his campaign was over because of the gaffe. "So my question to you is how is this not the end? Convince us that this is not the end of your – of your candidacy," she demanded of Perry during the 7 a.m. hour of CNN.

NBC's Curry Tries to Bury Perry: 'Have You Thought About Ending Your Campaign?'
By Kyle Drennen | November 10, 2011 | 10:38 AM EST

Updated [11:41 ET]: More analysis and transcripts added.

Interviewing Texas Governor Rick Perry on Thursday's NBC Today, co-host Ann Curry asked the Republican presidential candidate about a flub in Wednesday's CNBC debate and wondered: "One of your fundraisers told The Wall Street Journal, simply, 'He just ended his campaign.' Have you thought about ending your campaign? Are you staying in this race, sir?" [Audio available here]

On CNN's American Morning, Christine Romans struck a similar tone with Perry: "How is this not the end? Convince us that this is not the end of your – of your candidacy....across the board you're hearing folks say that this was one of the worst, if not the worst, debate moment, those 54 seconds, you know, in modern primary history." [View video after the jump]

CNN Spins Elections as Republican Setback
By Matt Hadro | November 9, 2011 | 11:59 PM EST

During Wednesday’s post-election coverage, CNN largely ignored conservative ballot victories in Mississippi and Ohio and Republican gains in Virginia, rather focusing on two conservative ballot measures which were defeated at the polls. They followed the three major networks in doing so.

The network relentlessly touted the defeat of Mississippi’s “Personhood” initiative – which would define life as beginning at conception – as they reported it 14 times in 9 hours. CNN also highlighted the failure of a measure pushed by Ohio’s Republican Governor John Kasich that limited the rights of unions to collectively bargain, as that story appeared 11 times in 9 hours of coverage.

ABC, CBS, CNN, and NBC Bring On Cain Accuser; CNN Targets Limbaugh
By Matthew Balan | November 8, 2011 | 2:31 PM EST

The same networks that ignored sexual allegations against Democrats for months all leaped on Tuesday to interview Sharon Bialek and her liberal advocate Gloria Allred on the morning after she came forward. Between them, ABC, CBS, CNN, and NBC devoted over 21 minutes to Bialek, who accused GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain of groping her over a decade ago. CNN had Bialek on for eight and a half minutes, and played up how Rush Limbaugh apparently said "not so nice things" about her [audio clips available here; video below the jump].

CBS's The Early Show gave the softest interview, failing to mention the accuser's past bankruptcies or Allred's liberal political leanings, something the other three at least mentioned. Anchor Jeff Glor asked Bialek if she would still vote for Cain if he became the GOP presidential nominee, only after her attorney, Gloria Allred, mentioned that her client was a registered Republican. None of the interviewers raised why Bialek had been fired by the National Restaurant Association before her meeting with Cain (correspondent Jan Crawford noted the firing in a setup piece on CBS).

CNN Guest Compares Wall St. Protests to NBA Lockout
By Matt Hadro | October 31, 2011 | 4:53 PM EDT

Liberal Columbia University professor Dorian Warren compared the Occupy Wall Street protests to the NBA lockout on CNN Monday, saying that the players are using their "voice" and "bargaining power" to air their grievances with the owners like the protesters are doing with the banks.

"Record profits last year in the NBA, yet the owners are saying they don't have enough money to share with the players," Warren said of the lockout. "And so, the players are, unlike most American workers, staying strong in their union to say, no, we actually have a voice here and we have bargaining power and we're not going to let you get away with that."

Liberal CNN Host Accuses Conservative Editor of Bias
By Matt Hadro | October 27, 2011 | 7:30 PM EDT

CNN's Carol Costello, on Thursday's American Morning, scolded the editor of conservative publication Human Events for not providing the same critical coverage of both Republicans and Democrats. Costello – who has her own history of liberal bias – interviewed Jason Mattera of Human Events over his confrontation with Vice President Joe Biden, and asked him why he wasn't tougher on Republican candidates.

"So you're tough with Joe Biden. So why not be a bit tougher with Republican candidates, even though you work for a conservative web site?" Costello posed, apparently unaware that since Human Events is a conservative publication it markets itself to a more conservative Republican audience.

CNN Presses Conservative Blogger: 'Admit' that Wall St. Protests 'Resonating'
By Matt Hadro | October 12, 2011 | 3:22 PM EDT

One day after lauding the persistence of the "Occupy Wall Street" protests, CNN's American Morning pressured conservative contributor Erick Erickson to "admit" that the protests are indeed "resonating," and that his own counter-movement is much smaller.

"You've got to – you've got to admit it. The 'Occupy Wall Street' folks are resonating," Romans insisted to Erickson. "I mean, we just had an ORC poll this week that showed that majority of Americans have heard of the movement. The 'We Are the 53' is much smaller."

CNN Praises Persistence of Wall St. Protests, 'Unignorable'
By Matt Hadro | October 11, 2011 | 5:54 PM EDT

Citing a poll showing that 51 percent of Americans have heard of the Wall Street protests, CNN's American Morning co-hosts lobbed some compliments toward the protesters on Tuesday. Co-host Christine Romans made sure to emphasize that "the movement is really resonating."

This is the same network that has been following the protests for weeks and speculating if they will become the liberal version of the Tea Party. In contrast, CNN featured some controversial coverage of the original Tea Parties back in 2009, and anchor Anderson Cooper even employed an obscene term to describe them.

Rahm's Rip at Romney Reveals Deception -- And a Detroit News Reporter's Ignorance
By Tom Blumer | October 10, 2011 | 10:08 PM EDT

Chicago Mayor and former Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel went after GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney yesterday over the 2008-2009 state of the auto industry. Emanuel, as paraphrased by the Associated Press, believes that "had Republican candidate Mitt Romney been president the nation would no longer have an auto industry" -- though last time I checked, Ford Motor Company, which did not accept federal government bailout money, is still headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, which is still in the USA.

In his coverage of Emanuel's comments, the Detroit News's Dave Shepardson -- who infamously and falsely claimed in February 2010 that Toyota executives "bragged" and "boasted" about saving money on safety recalls when Japanese culture deeply frowns on the practice to the point of shunning people who engage in it -- headlined Emanuel's "no industry" howler, and committed several factual errors. In addition, he missed a quite relevant and critical March 2009 episode of support from Romney -- for better or worse (readers can decide) -- when President Obama engineered the ouster of General Motors' CEO. Here are excerpts from Shepardson's shilling:

CNN Accuses Perry of Using Patriotism as 'Political Tool'
By Matt Hadro | September 22, 2011 | 8:12 PM EDT

On Thursday's American Morning, CNN regarded Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry's newest web-ad as using "patriotism as a political tool." Co-host Carol Costello lumped his ad in with the 2004 Swift Boat campaign, as an unfair accusation to make of his opponent's patriotism.

Perry's newest web-ad attacks Obama's jobs record and his "apology tour" for America, and trumpets Perry's own patriotism. Costello then lumped that in with the Swift Boat campaign of 2004 which questioned the war heroism of candidate John Kerry. Although it was a legitimate story, it has been regarded by the liberal media as a smear.

CNN's AM Hosts '08 Obama Supporter to Discuss Boehner's Jobs Plan -- But Had No Conservative Expert On for Obama's Plan
By Matt Hadro | September 16, 2011 | 7:34 PM EDT

CNN's American Morning brought on liberal academic Jeffrey Sachs to analyze Speaker Boehner's jobs plan Friday. Instead of hosting a conservative critic of President Obama the morning after he unveiled his jobs plan, the network actually interviewed the President's economic policy assistant.

While Sachs went on-air and criticized the Republican plan as inherently flawed, Obama's director of the National Economic Council Gene Sperling received a soft interview last Friday concerning the President's jobs plan. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor did appear on CNN shortly after that, but was pressed repeatedly about whether Republicans would compromise on the Obama's bill and was not asked to critique the President's plan.

CNN's Carol Costello Laughs At Longshoreman Vulgarly Threatening Camera Crew
By Noel Sheppard | September 12, 2011 | 11:41 AM EDT

There's a very serious dispute going on between longshoremen and officials at the Port of Longview, Washington.

CNN's Carol Costello clearly doesn't grasp the gravity of the situation, for in an "American Morning: Wake Up Call" report Monday, she couldn't control her laughter (video follows with transcript and commentary):