Scott Whitlock
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CNN, the network that likes to brag about being all about “facts first,” doesn’t always have a great track record when it comes to reality. Fourteen years ago this week, on September 19, 2005, the network’s founder appeared on his own network to credulously insist that despotic dictator Kim Jong-il “didn't look" evil. Ted Turner proclaimed, “...He didn’t look too much different than most other people.”
No climate protest is too extreme for MSNBC. The network has been pushing global warming activism all week and on Friday featured, without any critical commentary, a simulated hanging. The network also touted the climate protests featuring far-left Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, anti-Semite Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Senator Bernie Sanders.
Another prominent liberal leader has been engulfed in a racism and blackface scandal, this time Canada’s very progressive Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Although all the networks covered it, they made sure to frame the story as conservatives “pouncing” on the politician. CBS This Morning actually managed to ignore an ideological label for Trudeau. On NBC’s Today, Craig Melvin introduced the story this way: “While he has apologized overnight, his rivals have been quick to pounce.”
Journalists simply can’t get enough of Greta Thunberg, the radical 16-year-old Swedish climate activist who wants people to stop flying in order to save the planet. MSNBC hosts on Wednesday bashed their own kids as not living up to the great climate hero.
The “stunning and horrifying” discovery of over 2000 aborted babies in the home of a now-dead abortionist has drawn just scant coverage on the cable channels and nothing on the networks. The New York Times reported on the grisly finding, but relegated Ulrich Klopfer to page A-22 of the paper. The headline blandly explained, “More Than 2,200 Preserved Fetuses Found at Property of Dead Doctor, Officials Say.”
So far, Biden’s 1987 scandals have been a non-factor in media coverage of his current race for the White House. But our review shows that when the multiple plagiarism accusations first appeared 32 years ago, liberal journalists treated them as Joe Biden’s first big test of character on the national stage — and, in their eyes, he flunked.
MSNBC on Monday demonstrated how extreme the left can be on climate change, making comparisons to fighting World War II and the possible need of going vegan at some point in order to save the planet. Host Ali Velshi talked to Jonathan Safran Foer, the author of We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast.
The New York Times’s bias and shoddy journalism played out yet again on Twitter. Over the weekend, the paper was forced to delete tweets after a bizarre series of postings meant to promote the paper’s latest hit job on Brett Kavanaugh. Regarding the book excerpt claiming that a college-aged Kavanaugh exposed himself at a party, The Times's @NYTOpinion weirdly began, “Having a penis thrust in your face at a drunken dorm party may seem like harmless fun...” What?
It was 31 years ago this week that the Michael Dukakis for President campaign made a disastrous campaign appearance. It was so bad that it ended up in an ad for his opponent, George H.W. Bush. But, of course, that didn’t stop some in the media for rushing to the defense of the Democrat, crying foul on behalf of the liberal. Some things never change.
Thursday night and Friday morning saw the emerging of a new spin from the liberal media. The 2020 Democratic presidential field now has “moderates” and “centrists.” This only makes sense if journalists fully explain just how far left the party has lurched. Instead, they simply referred to people like Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg as the center.
Well known liberal celebrity Sean Penn appeared on a live, post-debate episode of Jimmy Kimmel to lecture Americans on their choice for 2020. The actor condescended, “If people truly want to vote against their own interests, [Trump will] be the president of the United States again.”
It’s actually possible to ask 2020 Democratic candidates questions that conservatives want answered. Thursday’s debate was proof that it can be done. To be clear, there were plenty of liberal questions, including wondering how forcible gun confiscation “will work.” Yet, ABC did manage some queries of interest to conservatives, including demanding answers on eliminating private health insurance, not speaking out on socialist dictators and calling Trump voters racist.
ABC Democratic debate co-moderator David Muir on Thursday offered seven questions on guns and skirted around the main one: Will your plans violate the Second Amendment rights of Americans? For the most part, Muir simply wondered how forcible gun confiscation “will work.”
As the Media Research Center has repeatedly proven, journalists and networks are not friendly to gun rights or the idea that the Second Amendment applies to everyone. So, it was a surprise to see CBS This Morning on Wednesday profile the nation’s largest African American pro-gun group. Co-host Anthony Mason introduced, “The country's largest and best known gun rights association, the NRA, is losing board members. But another lesser known gun organization is thriving.”
In an effort to avoid discussing terrorist culpability for 9/11, the New York Times on Wednesday embarrassed itself with a tweet and article commemorating September 11, 2001. Speaking of inanimate objects, the Times Twitter page declared, “Eighteen years have passed since airplanes took aim at the World Trade Center and brought them down.”
CBS This Morning co-hosts on Tuesday promoted the “panic” agenda of a teenage “climate warrior.” The journalists endorsed the Swedish girl’s call to “push” world leaders up “against the wall,” an awkward call given Europe’s history of political violence. For the third time since August, CBS touted Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old who conducted a school strike over global warming and then took a “zero emissions” yacht to the United States.
Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris gleefully laughed on Friday when a voter mocked Donald Trump with what is considered a slur against handicapped people. Yet, NBC has still not covered the incident. ABC and CBS have offered scant coverage and The View hosts defended the intentions of the Democratic senator. On Friday, a man at a Harris rally asked about Trump: “What are you going to do in the next one year diminish the mentally retarded action of this guy?” The 2020 Democrat responded with a big smile and cheered, “Well said. Well said.”
Today show hosts are big fans of the very liberal Sonia Sotomayor. On September 4, 2018, the NBC show gushed over the Supreme Court Justice. On September 4, 2019... the NBC show gushed over the Supreme Court Justice. Last year, co-host Savannah Guthrie scored an exclusive interview with Sotomayor Not specifically mentioning Donald Trump, she hinted, “Do you feel like our legal system, our constitutional system, separation of power, checks and balances, are those things under pressure today like they haven’t been in the past?”
ABC’s Nightline is a famously superficial “news” program. It mostly focuses on not-so deep topics like celebrities and “bootleg butt injections.” Taking a break from the frivolous, host Juju Chang on Wednesday devoted an entire segment to Democratic propaganda. Ady Barkan is suffering from ALS or (Lou Gehrig's disease). He is a young father with one child and another on the way. Barkan’s story is incredibly sad. But, the Democratic Party and ABC are using his condition as an easy way to slime any Republican who doesn’t support Medicare for all. Chang interviewed him and asked this question: “Through the darkness and your despair, what lit your fire again?”
Stephen Colbert’s Late Show has become a required stopping point for 2020 Democrats. Making it clear that he has no interest in bipartisan jokes, Colbert is basically stumping for all the contenders. On Thursday’s show, the host tried to pretend that Mayor Pete Buttigieg isn’t extremely liberal.