In a report aired on Monday's NBC Today, correspondent Keir Simmons spoke with Islamic extremists in Britain acting as apologists for the ISIS terrorists who brutally murdered journalist James Foley. A soundbite played of one man ranting: "The question to ask is, who's really to blame for the death of James Foley? I believe it is the foreign policy of Obama."

Following the taped story, Simmons added: "It is so sickening, so disturbing to hear a group like that exercise their First Amendment rights...by saying things like that. But I said to them directly, 'You do not even represent a fraction of Muslims around the world.'" [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

NBC and CBS have ignored a questionable joke about Asian Americans by Harry Reid on Thursday. Only Friday's World News highlighted the "foot-in-mouth" moment from the Senate Majority Leader. Speaking to the Asian Chamber of Commerce, Reid quipped, "One problem I've had today is keeping my Wongs straight." [See video below. MP3 audio here.] Looking at the comment critically, anchor Diane Sawyer wondered, " So, what did he say, and what's the line between a joke and a racist remark?" 

Reporter Jeff Zeleny chided, "'Racist and disgusting' is what some are calling harry Reid's attempt at humor." Instead of covering the story, Nightly News and the Evening News on Friday made time for frivolous topics. NBC covered a blue lobster being caught in Maine. CBS highlighted a pink cookie being dropped from the menu at certain high schools.  

On Monday's NBC Today, fill-in co-host Tamron Hall asked incoming Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd if all the criticism of President Obama's vacation in Martha's Vineyard amid numerous crises was "just politics as usual." Todd replied: "Yes, it's politics as usual, but in this case, this is optics, this was stuff they should have seen coming. This is not new to them." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

Todd noted "backtracking" from former Obama adviser David Axelrod: "You know what? Maybe Democrats are too hard on President Bush when they used to beat him up for his vacations in Crawford." Todd concluded that Obama "wanted his downtime" and "guards his downtime," "But, you know what? It's something they should have been more aware of."

Now online: the August 25 edition of Notable Quotables, MRC’s bi-weekly compilation of the latest outrageous quotes in the liberal media. This week, journalists pronounce the blatantly partisan indictment of Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry a “blemish” that could “mar his legacy,” even as an MSNBC regular blasts it “the stupidest thing I’ve seen in my entire career.”

Also: an MSNBC contributor declares the shooting of Michael Brown evidence of America’s “war on black boys” that could metastasize into “genocide;” NBC’s Andrea Mitchell declares Al Sharpton’s foray into Ferguson is really a “peace mission;” and Rolling Stone prints this hilarity: “Barack Obama never had reporters eating out of his hand the way that right-wingers love to allege.” Highlights are posted after the jump; the entire issue is posted online, with 21 quotes (six with video) at www.MRC.org.
 

On Sunday morning’s Weekend Edition Sunday, NPR interviewed Mehdi Hasan, the political director of the Huffington Post’s U.K. edition. Online, the headline was “Journalist: It's Not Islam That Inspires U.K.'s Young Jihadis.” NPR never mentioned that Hasan is also a “presenter” for al-Jazeera with his own program “Head to Head.”     

As it became plain that the murderer of American journalist James Foley was British, NPR guest host Linda Wertheimer asked Hasan about his latest article, titled  "What The Jihadists Who Bought 'Islam For Dummies' On Amazon Tell Us About Radicalization." He insisted ISIS was an outgrowth of U.S. and U.K. foreign policy under George W. Bush and Tony Blair:

In a Friday op-ed which appeared in the paper's international print edition on Saturday and which can reasonably be seen as giving voice to an editorial board which wouldn't dare put their name to it, La Salle University Political Science Professor Michael Boyle strenuously objected to recent characterizations of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

We can't call ISIS "evil." We also shouldn't call them a "cancer," or "savage," or "barbaric." Oh, and the fact that George W. Bush called Al Qaeda "evildoers" is why ISIS came to be, and why our problems with radical Islam are now worse. Excerpts follow the jump:

In two weekend stories, the New York Times did its best to discredit Arizona Republicans fighting illegal immigration both on the border and the ballot box. First up, Fernanda Santos's Saturday report, "As Primary Nears, Governor Candidates Turn Eyes to Border."

Right off Santos suggested Arizona citizens who showed up to a forum to express concerns about border security were misguided because, after all, Mexico was "at least 200 miles away," thus illegal immigration wouldn't affect them (never mind that Massachusetts, 2,000 miles away from Mexico, hosted planeloads of illegals caught at the border, proving the border issue is a national concern).

At the same time that The Washington Post was recognizing the power and reach of Franklin Graham’s global health charity Samaritan’s Purse, they found it essential to revisit Graham’s “offenses” with the secular left dating back to 1990.

Reporter Brady Dennis noted the two Samaritan’s Purse staffers infected with the Ebola virus highlighted the group’s role on the front lines of global health crises. But horrors and controversy, they’ve also tried to spread Christianity:

With MSNBC’s Al Sharpton controversially playing the dual roles of television host and activist surrounding the events in Ferguson, Missouri, NBC’s Meet the Press felt the need to promote the liberal activist even further.

On Sunday, August 24, fill-in moderator Chris Jansing, NBC’s Chief White House Correspondent, concluded her moderating duties by giving Sharpton 4 minutes and 30 seconds of unchallenged air time to promote his involvement in the Ferguson protests following the death of Michael Brown. [See video below.] 

Chris Jansing, NBC News Chief White House Correspondent, filled in as moderator on Meet the Press and did her best to hit Governor Jay Nixon (D-MO) from the left over his handling of the ongoing violence in Ferguson, Missouri. 

Speaking on Sunday, August 24, Jansing promoted liberal talking points surrounding the police tactics used to stop the violent protests in the Missouri town. Furthermore, the NBC reporter ignored Governor Nixon’s recent controversial comments in which he called for a “vigorous prosecution” of the police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown. [See video below.]