On Saturday morning, the major broadcast networks were at it again in bashing the “far-right” and “unruly hardliners” in the House Republican caucus for causing Speaker John Boehner’s impending resignation announced Friday that CBS added could hurt the party’s chances in 2016 if the “infighting” continues.
Speaker John Boehner
By Curtis Houck | September 26, 2015 | 11:45 AM EDT
Speaking with fill-in host Alex Wagner on the Friday edition of MSNBC’s All In, Hardball host Chris Matthews and Daily Beast columnist Michael Tomasky continued the liberal media’s narrative of sudden respect for the soon-to-be resigning House Speaker John Boehner, lamenting that the “revolutionary” wing of the Republican Party had carried out a “mutiny” against “a rock-ribbed conservative.”
By Curtis Houck | September 25, 2015 | 3:31 PM EDT
Mere moments into House Speaker John Boehner’s press conference on Friday discussing his resignation on October 30, the “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC were quick to chastise conservative House members on Boehner’s “far right flank” that compose the “no compromise crowd” and “some grassroots conservatives who happened to be elected members of the House.”
By Curtis Houck | September 25, 2015 | 1:14 PM EDT
During MSNBC’s live coverage Friday morning of Pope Francis in New York City and the sudden announcement that House Speaker John Boehner will resign October 30, liberal personality Rachel Maddow couldn’t help but speak in admiration for Boehner, describing him as a “refreshing and lovable” politician as he’s dealt with “a fractious and self-righteously combative caucus.”
By Curtis Houck | September 24, 2015 | 10:39 PM EDT
In the litany of network news coverage Thursday night on Pope Francis’s address to Congress, ABC’s World News Tonight largely stayed away from the Pope’s comments about abortion and traditional marriage by relegating them to vague references while CBS and NBC did their due diligence and mentioned them amidst their continued obsession over the Pope’s liberal positions.
By Curtis Houck | January 28, 2015 | 6:10 PM EST
Filling in for John Heilemann on the Monday edition of Bloomberg’s With All Due Respect, Campbell Brown took a shot at House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for “whining about President Obama” in an interview that aired Sunday on CBS’s 60 Minutes.
Following a clip from the interview, Brown first credited Boehner for “holding a very diverse, you know, House together,” but she then quickly reversed course and made this swipe at Boehner and McConnell: “[I]n terms of being messengers for the party right now, it sounds a lot like whining.”
By Curtis Houck | January 27, 2015 | 9:19 PM EST
In a reversal of a key proposal from his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama moved on Tuesday to drop the plan to tax 529 college-savings accounts after outcry from members of both parties and a direct appeal on Air Force One from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
When it came to the networks covering this backtracking by the President on this deeply unpopular idea that even ultra liberals like Pelosi and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) opposed, the “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC made no mention of it during their Tuesday evening newscasts.
NBC’s Chris Jansing Gushes Over ‘an Energized, Combative President’; Scolds Boehner for Inviting Netanyahu
By Curtis Houck | January 22, 2015 | 7:28 AM EST NBC News senior White House correspondent Chris Jansing did her best to provide some White House spin during Wednesday’s NBC Nightly News, hailing President Obama as “an energized, combative President” whose policies made for a “carefully choreographed, populist message with the details generally panned by Republicans.”
Also within her report, Jansing found time to chide House Speaker John Boehner for “an unprecedented breach in protocol” in inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak before Congress without White House consultation.
MSNBC's Luke Russert Calls House Speaker John Boehner 'One of the Most Conservative Members of the Last 20 Years'
By Randy Hall | January 8, 2015 | 6:52 PM EST During John Boehner's weekly press conference on Thursday, MSNBC's Luke Russert took advantage of the recent raucous speaker election to praise the Ohio Republican as “one of the most conservative members” of the House of Representatives “during the last 20 years.”
“I tell you what pains me the most is when they describe me as ‘the establishment,'” the newly re-elected speaker stated. “Now, I’m the most anti-establishment speaker we have ever had.”
Networks Fret Conservatives Posed ‘a Thorny Obstacle’ to Boehner; Will Force Him to be ‘More Confrontational’
By Curtis Houck | January 6, 2015 | 10:29 PM EST On Tuesday night, each of the major broadcast networks devoted time to covering the swearing in of the 114th Congress and the race for House Speaker that saw John Boehner retain his post, but not without 25 conservatives voting in dissent against the incumbent Republican.
Overall, the networks lamented how the group presented “a thorny obstacle to Boehner's leadership” and, in turn, will force him to be “more confrontational with President Obama” instead of "working with the President on some issues, including tax reform and trade."
By Curtis Houck | November 22, 2014 | 12:29 AM EST
The evening following President Barack Obama’s announcement of his executive action on illegal immigration, major broadcast networks CBS and NBC sought to carry water for the President on Friday night as he made a trip to a Las Vegas high school to promote his move that would allow millions of illegal immigrants to stay in the United States.
Between two reports total from the CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News, the President’s speech was hailed as having “campaign-style fervor” that featured “[a] combative President Obama, chastising congressional Republicans for inaction” on immigration.
By Curtis Houck | November 7, 2014 | 12:47 AM EST
On Thursday night, NBC Nightly News played up the current political state of affairs in Washington as both Republicans and Democrats having “dug in” to their policy preferences, but focused only on how Republicans want to repeal “the President’s signature accomplishment” and are angered that he will go through with an executive order on illegal immigration.
Anchor Brian Williams first teased the upcoming segment by NBC News senior White House correspondent Chris Jansing by wondering “how's that cooperation going that everybody promised after the election results.”