CBS Tags Pro-Life Moderate GOPer 'Conservative,' No Label for Dem

February 2nd, 2012 8:33 AM

The absurd media double standard in labeling Republicans - even moderate Republicans - as conservative while omitting the liberal label for Democrats was on display again Wednesday as CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes filed a report for the CBS Evening News recounting the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation's decision to cease funding for Planned Parenthood.

 

Cordes blamed "social conservatives" in Congress who have battled Planned Parenthood, and included a soundbite of New Jersey Republican Congressman Chris Smith, who, according to the centrist publication National Journal, was only the 135th most conservative member of the House in 2010.

But when Cordes forwarded the complaints of California Democratic Congresswoman Jackie Speier, she receved no liberal label in spite of being ranked by National Journal as the 40th most liberal member of the House in 2010.

Similarly, National Journal found Speier to be more liberal than 87 percent of her peers specifically on social issues in the same year, while Smith scored as more conservative than just 65 percent of his fellow Congressmen on social issues.

Cordes also provided pro-choice advocates two soundbites, with only one for the pro-life side. Near the beginning of the piece, the CBS correspondent included a clip of Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richard complaining about the "extreme agenda" of the pro-life movement:

Unfortunately, I think this was a political decision and there are groups that have an extreme agenda who have been bullying the Komen foundation and trying to get them to end their relationship with Planned Parenthood.

For further analysis and a complete transcript, see MRC's BiasAlert on the subject.