Scott Whitlock
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Barbara Walters had an affinity for Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. From gushing over his “charisma” to repeating communist talking points, the ABC journalist couldn’t help herself. It was 36 years ago this November that Walters bragged about Christmas cards from Castro. Appearing on the Tonight Show, she told host Johnny Carson: “I get a Christmas card every year from Fidel Castro. It comes in March.It really does. I don't know if it means it has to go by way of, I don't know what, Grenada.”
MSNBC host Chris Matthews on Friday alternated between seeing a call for “violent” acts from the President and linking the whole thing to the McCarthy hearings (with Donald Trump in the role of Joe McCarthy). Regarding Donald Trump’s tweets during the impeachment hearings about former Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, the Hardball host saw “the language of violence.”
White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway on Thursday got into a contentious battle with Wolf Blitzer when the anchor awkwardly insisted that “there are issues” with her marriage to Trump critic George Conway. Blitzer stumbled, “I just have a final question, a sensitive question, and it’s a political question, it’s a substantive question.” He added, “I don’t want to talk about your marriage. I know that there are issues there.” An incredulous Conway responded, “Did you just say there are issues there?... Why would you say that?”
After a day of live impeachment coverage, CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell on Wednesday breathlessly hyped the information as, respectively, “devastating,” “devastating” and potentially a coming “bombshell.” Seconds after the hearing ended, O’Donnell described, “There we have it. Day one of the first public hearing in terms of impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump are now in the history books. Some devastating testimony today from two of America's most respected diplomats who have served north Republican and democratic presidents.”
MSNBC opened the impeachment hearings pretty much with what you would expect from the liberal network. In addition to bringing on truth-challenged Brian Williams (perhaps not the best person to opine on ethics in public life), Chris Matthews compared the proceedings to the O.J. Simpson trial.
The next time you hear liberals in the media talk about undue influence of corporate entities or the dominance of powerful voices, think of Good Morning America on Tuesday. The “news” program devoted almost 17 minutes to shilling for the new Disney+ streaming service. Disney, of course, owns ABC and the journalists on the network sounded more like PR talking points come to life.
The journalists on CBS This Morning, Monday, offered a surprising look at how Watergate differed with the current impeachment push. Major Garrett and analyst Jonathan Turley warned that Democrats could “lose” the impeachment battle with such “limited” evidence.
Next week, televised impeachment hearings begin. Expect much liberal grandstanding and a continued effort by those in the media to remove Donald Trump. The hearings come after this week’s revelation that ABC secretly conspired to suppress a story potentially harmful to harmful to Hillary Clinton in 2016.
CBS This Morning on Friday pushed the fantasy that the 2020 Democratic field somehow contains several “moderate” or “centrist” candidates, rather than far-left liberals. It started in the 7am hour when reporter Ed O’Keefe reflected on Michael Bloomberg potentially joining the race: “But recent polling shows Biden is slipping behind Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders and moderate Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg.”
What’s the first question you would ask Kamala Harris about being a juror in the potential impeachment trial of Donald Trump? If it was, “How can you be impartial since you’ve already made a decision in the case,” you clearly aren’t a journalist on CBS This Morning. Liberal Alex Wagner instead sympathized with the difficulty for the 2020 Democrat to stay quiet.
The apparent cover-up at ABC News is accelerating. The network endured a bombshell revelation this week as investigative journalist James O’Keefe posted a hot mic video of host Amy Robach admitting that she had the Jeffrey Epstein pedophile story in 2016. But those in power stopped her from running it. ABC has refused to cover the startling news, instead focusing on finding and punishing the individual who leaked the story to O’Keefe.
MSNBC on Wednesday offered a mix of gloating and relief as journalists recapped Tuesday’s elections in Kentucky and Virginia. Correspondent Vaughn Hillyard seemed transported as he described the Democratic gubernatorial win in red Kentucky. Meanwhile, anchor Andrea Mitchell breezily explained that Ralph Northam, who got in trouble with a blackface scandal, has “moved past” the controversy.
Hace tres años, durante las elecciones presidenciales de 2016, ABC descartó transmitir un primicia sobre el pedófilo convicto Jeffrey Epstein y su red de alianzas con hombres poderosos, incluyendo a Bill Clinton. Esa es la explosiva noticia del periodista investigativo James O'Keefe. En un video filtrado a O'Keefe, la copresentadora Amy Robach, del programa 20/20, se puede escuchar lamentando airadamente el hecho de que ABC desechó la historia.
Every day, The Washington Post’s editorial page features the claim, “An independent newspaper.” The front page solemnly declares, “Democracy dies in darkness.” But, really, the paper should include this disclaimer: Official paper of the Democratic Party. That fact was reinforced on Tuesday as the paper offered its endorsements in the state of Virginia’s local elections.
Three years ago, during the 2016 presidential election, ABC spiked an expose into convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and his network of connections to powerful men, including Bill Clinton. That’s the bombshell scoop by investigative journalist James O’Keefe. In a hot mic video leaked to O’Keefe, 20/20 co-anchor Amy Robach can be heard angrily lamenting the fact that ABC killed the story.
MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell and climate activist/Today show host Al Roker on Monday connected the California wildfires to “climate denial” and Obama-era regulatory rollbacks by the Trump administration. Roker definitively blamed the fires out west on climate change. But first, Mitchell began by sounding like an activist, singling out changes by Trump as possible reasons for the blaze: “The climate denial from the White House, which is reflected in a series of environmental changes and rollbacks from the Obama regulations has been so profound.”
The journalists at CBS This Morning on Monday fretted that, unlike past impeachments, voters aren’t paying attention to the warnings of the mainstream media. Instead, John Dickerson worried they are “going to their preferred media outlets seeking affirmation rather than information.” This Morning co-host Anthony Mason lamented, “You go back to Nixon. And I think it was all but four Republicans voted forward with impeachment. There were 31 Democrats with Clinton who voted to move to impeach. No Republicans on this recent vote.”
If it seems like journalists have been excited about Beto O’Rourke for years, they have. The 2020 presidential candidate announced on Friday that he is dropping out after cratering, hovering at 2.1 percent nationally. This is despite fawning media coverage. A look back at his last campaign, a run for the U.S. Senate against Ted Cruz in 2018, finds puzzlement at lack of success.
The Daily Show loves to hold politicians to account, speak truth to power, right? Well, maybe if you’re a Republican. On Thursday, host Trevor Noah gushed over Hillary Clinton, wondering if the Democrat ever gets tired of all the “cheering” wherever she goes. Instead of hard-hitting satire, he offered this: “Does this ever get, like, tired, just walking around and people cheering for you when you walk into rooms?”
Well, that’s awkward. Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon are making the media rounds to promote a fictional new series on a network morning show. ABC’s Good Morning America had the stars of The Morning Show. CBS This Morning’s Gayle King talked to the actresses, even noting the “elephant in the room” in relation to disgraced ex-host Charlie Rose. But NBC’s Today? The home of alleged sexual predator Matt Lauer? That show has yet to talk to Witherspoon and Aniston.