While all three network morning shows covered the ongoing terrorist invasion of Iraq on Tuesday, only CBS This Morning made the connection between President Obama's foreign policy and the chaos in the country. In an interview with former U.S. ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, This Morning co-host Charlie Rose wondered: "Has the United States and the Obama administration failed to pay sufficient attention to Iraq since American troops left?" [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]
Later on the broadcast, correspondent Jan Crawford talked to Iraq war veterans upset by seeing their hard-fought accomplishments being lost. Crawford explained: "When he campaigned for president in 2008, then-Senator Obama made bringing the troops home a priority.... But the U.S. withdrawal came at a cost, leaving an opening for radical terror groups."
Charlie Rose
On Friday, CBS This Morning was the only one of the Big Three network morning shows to cover Hillary Clinton's testy Thursday exchange with NPR host Terry Gross over Clinton's shifting position on gay marriage. Neither NBC's Today nor ABC's Good Morning America bothered to mention the unflattering incident for the potential 2016 presidential candidate. [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]
This Morning co-host Charlie Rose informed viewers: "Politico says Hillary Clinton rejects the idea that politics affected her views on same-sex marriage....In an interview Thursday, NPR host Terry Gross repeatedly asked Clinton about the issue." A clip followed of the contentious back and forth in which Clinton ranted to the liberal host: "I think you are being very persistent, but you are playing with my words and playing with what is such an important issue."
UPDATE: On the June 10 Evening News, CBS’s Vicente Arenas reported: “The influx of children is being blamed on poverty and drug-related violence in Central America. It’s also thought some parents wrongly believe policy changes made by President Obama prohibit young, illegal immigrants from being deported.”
Late last week, detention centers along the U.S.-Mexican border were crushed with a new surge of unaccompanied illegal immigrant children, yet two of the Big Three networks have barely touched this new headache for the Obama administration.
And not a single reporter or anchor on ABC, CBS or NBC have cited Barack Obama’s extension of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) as cause for a humanitarian crisis that has led to children as young as 9-years-old illegally crossing the border without their parents. (video after the jump)
Charlie Rose and Norah O'Donnell questioned Republican Senator Marco Rubio on Tuesday's CBS This Morning over the increase in the number of children illegally entering the U.S., and whether immigration reform is going to be revived in Congress. Rose spotlighted that Rubio received "some political pushback" on the immigration issue, and wondered, "When will we see thorough immigration reform?"
The PBS veteran also noted that the Florida politician is a "leading critic of the V.A. health system," but oddly didn't ask a question about the ongoing scandal. Instead, he ran to Hillary Clinton's defense on the extent of her responsibility for the security lapses leading up the September 11, 2012 Islamist attack on the U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya: [MP3 audio available here; video below the jump]
The journalists on CBS This Morning devoted nine minutes to excitedly reviewing Hillary Clinton's new book. Despite the fact that the publisher, Simon & Schuster, is a division of CBS, co-host Charlie Rose insisted that they scored an advance edition the old-fashioned way: "But we were able to buy a copy at a bookstore." Sounding more like an excited fan, Rose blurbed: "It is a portrait of doggedness." CBS political director John Dickerson praised Hard Choices as a portrayal of "a hard working person who flew all around the world grinding it out." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]
Asked whether opponents will seize on the content of the book, Dickerson enthused, "...The volume of this book is meant in a political context to suggest that the voters can put the world in her hands. She sees the complexity and understands it." CBS offered two segments to the new book totaling nine minutes and seven seconds. Of that, only 13 seconds were devoted to discussing Clinton's role in the terrorist attack at Benghazi that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.
In a brief on Tuesday's NBC Today, news anchor Natalie Morales portrayed a minimum wage hike in Seattle as the first step toward a nationwide increase: "Well, with talks across the country ongoing about boosting the minimum wage, workers in Seattle are soon going to be seeing a big boost....The Seattle city council passed an ordinance Monday that bumps the minimum wage up to $15 an hour. That's the highest in the nation." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]
The headline on screen declared: "Landmark Minimum Wage Hike; Seattle's $15 an Hour Could Set New Standard." In a later news brief, Morales proclaimed the policy to be "A historic victory for workers in Seattle that could have a big impact nationwide."
It’s funny how hard-earned success can change even a liberal’s view about the greatness of this country. That’s exactly what happened to rapper Nas as he revealed on Friday's Charlie Rose show: “Where I was once a rebel to America...I love America!”
On to promote the new documentary Time is Illmatic the hip-hop star was asked by Rose “Why do you like America a lot more? Because it accepted you?” Nas responded: “No! I don’t want to feel accepted...I want to earn it.” He then continued to express pride in his country: (video after the jump)
On Thursday, Charlie Rose spent the entire commercial-free hour of his PBS show interviewing Obama National Security Advisor Susan Rice, yet never asked her a single question about the 2012 Benghazi attacks or her role in disseminating faulty talking points afterward. In fact, the B-word never escaped Rose’s nor Rice’s lips during the entire show.
There were, however, a few moments when a question about Benghazi would have seemed appropriate. Early in the interview, Rose asked where in the world America’s core interests were under attack at the moment. Rice pointed to the ongoing terrorist threat:
The major news, announced on Thursday, that the IRS is going back to the drawing board on proposed rules that would’ve regulated political activity for groups like the Tea Party was ignored by two of the Big Three (ABC, CBS, NBC) networks. Only CBS, on Friday’s CBS This Morning, covered the agency’s backtracking in a 19-second Charlie Rose brief.
According to Friday’s New York Times the delay, coming in the wake of the IRS/Tea Party scandal, was made “after receiving 150,000 comments — both positive and negative — about the proposal, the biggest public response to any proposed rule in its history.”
CBS This Morning co-host Charlie Rose scored an exclusive interview with Chuck Hagel on Friday. But rather than grill the Secretary of Defense on the latest details of the Veterans Affairs scandal, the journalist repeated talking points and wondered about whether it was "premature" for a top Obama official to resign.
Rose began by noting that there is "quite a concern" over the growing controversy and that some "argue that we need to know the facts." Talking to Hagel, the host then wondered, "Some in your party are calling for the head of the Veterans Affairs department to resign, General Shinseki. Is it 'Premature' to ask for his resignation?" [See video below. MP3 audio here.]
It seems even the president’s most steadfast supporters in the liberal media are unsure how to react to Mr. Obama’s May 21 remarks on the Department of Veterans Affairs secret waiting-list scandal. The three major liberal news networks, ABC, NBC, and CBS, interrupted their normal programming to broadcast Obama’s first remarks on the VA controversy since the story broke almost a month ago.
ABC’s George Stephanopoulos – a former Clinton White House operative – attempted to spin the speech in a more positive light as Obama’s “most forceful sayings [sic] yet,” when, in reality, it was the president’s first and only statement on the four week old scandal. The anchors of NBC and CBS were less impressed. [See video below. Click here for audio]
Earlier this week,, The New York Post reported that Karl Rove recently made comments questioning Hillary Clinton’s health in the event she runs for president in 2016, and the Wednesday, May 14 ABC and CBS morning shows predictably rushed to defend Secretary Clinton from Rove’s criticism.
CBS This Morning’s Charlie Rose promoted the “backlash following Karl Rove’s comments about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton” while ABC’s George Stephanopoulos played up the “hard-edged dustup over Hillary Clinton's health.” [See video below.]