Scott Whitlock
Latest from Scott Whitlock
The journalists at CBS resorted to the “critics” say line of attack to link Donald Trump the mass slaughter seen this past weekend. It became clear that the segment, which included new contributor Maria Elena Salinas, included “critics at CBS. Co-host Anthony Mason introduced, “Since the shooting, President Trump has come under scrutiny for his use of the word invasion to describe migrants. His critics have linked his language to the manifesto.”
Leave no tragedy unexploited. That’s been the response by many in the liberal media after this weekend’s mass shootings. This ugly idea escalated on Wednesday as the official Twitter account of Trevor Noah’s Daily Show smeared Fox News, calling it the “audiobook” of the Texas murderer: As noted by the Daily Caller, the Comedy Central video montage then took examples of Fox News personalities sounding the alarm on illegal immigration and linked it to the manifesto of a man who murdered 22 people and injured 24.
CBS This Morning on Tuesday scored an exclusive interview with the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. So, of course, co-host Anthony Mason used the opportunity to push Kevin McAleenan on Donald Trump’s culpability for this weekend’s mass killings. Mason demanded, “Some of the Hispanic members of the community in El Paso have suggested that the President's rhetoric has contributed to the situation.
MSNBC on Monday scored an exclusive interview with presidential candidate Kamala Harris. But instead of offering any tough questions to the 2020 Democrat, such as wondering why she is fund-raising off this weekend’s mass killings, host Ali Velshi tossed softballs. Assuming gun control is the main solution, Velshi wondered, “What's the issue? Ninety percent. More than 90 percent of Americans support some strengthening of gun laws in this country, and yet we can't get Republicans to take this to the floor of the United States Senate, Mitch McConnell.”
CBS on Monday connected Donald Trump to the mass slaughter in Texas, insisting that the President has used “almost identical” rhetoric to that of the apparent shooter. Then, when Trump called out “racism, bigotry and white supremacy” in his speech, the journalists speculated that it wasn’t enough.
CBS This Morning hosts jumped on the Democratic effort to blame this weekend’s horrific mass slaughters on Donald Trump. Network journalists on Monday uncritically parroted talking points from the 2020 contenders on how the President should is responsible. CBS’s Chip Reid hyped, “Sunday, several Democratic presidential candidates said the President should be held accountable.”
This week, we go into the NewsBusters archive and find that journalists weren’t just content to fawn over Barack Obama, they needed to top each other with superlatives. So the Democratic president wasn’t just great, he was the best since Lincoln, a “national poet.” It was just three years ago this week, on July 27, 2016, that Andrea Mitchell gushed over Obama’s speech to the Democratic National Convention.
Never change, New York Times. The so-called “paper of record” on Friday used the death of Robert Kennedy’s granddaughter as a way to bring up Chappaquiddick and call it “another Kennedy family tragedy.” And while the death of young Saoirse Kennedy Hill, as well as the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy are, indeed, family tragidies, Chappaquiddick was a calamity for Mary Jo Kopechne, the woman Ted Kennedy abandoned and left to drown.
After repeatedly offering a blase attitude about the idea of eliminating private health insurance and adopting a Medicare for all plan, CBS on Thursday actually managed some tough questions to Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. Actually pushing the socialist on the desire for eliminating private health care, co-host Anthony Mason demanded, “A CBS News poll found that nearly two-thirds of Democrats think a national health care plan will work better if it competes with private insurance. Doesn't that suggest you're trying to sell something that Democratic voters do not want?”
In a post debate segment, ABC’s Nightline on Wednesday night profiled Marianne Williamson, avoiding her weird and wacky beliefs on vaccines and AIDS virus being represented by Darth Vader. Instead, reporter Marci Gonzalez enthused, “She's taking her passionate case far beyond her fan base.” Hinting at her unusual beliefs, the reporter noted, “she is also focused on this spiritual climate of America.”
MSNBC on Tuesday night donated 12 minutes of air time to far-left filmmaker Michael Moore as the director demanded that Democrats nominate a very liberal nominee or risk losing. Of that time, six and a half minutes came totally uninterrupted as host Brian Williams just let Moore go on and on. As for a strategy, he declared, “Let's get out the Democratic base of young people, women, and people of color.” He warned Democrats: “The worst thing to do is to moderate, to go to the center, and to think that's how we're going to win. This is how we're going to lose.”
Chris Matthews isn’t happy with CNN. The Hardball host fumed over the fact that there was no impeachment talk during night one of the Democratic debate. Matthews asked the same question over and over, demanding to know why Democrats didn’t talk about removing the President. Talking to Congresswoman Dina Titus of Nevada, he complained, “Congresswoman, last night nobody brought up impeachment. They're running against Trump and they never bring it up. What do you think that's about?”
After an embarrassing leadership shake-up at Planned Parenthood, CBS is welcoming the organization’s new President and giving her a platform to push a radical pro-abortion-agenda. CBS This Morning on Tuesday previewed an interview with Alexis McGill Johnson. In a CBSNews.com version of the interview, reporter Katie Smith offered this softball: “What is at stake here with women’s reproductive health care decisions?”
Some of the coverage of the 2020 Democratic presidential field, even in the liberal media, has noted just how progressive the candidates are. Yet, CBS This Morning on Tuesday highlighted unnamed mystery “moderates” amongst the liberals. Reporter Ed O’Keefe began by describing the ideology of Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren: “Two like-minded liberals who we know spent time together in Washington when they're there.”
The journalists at CBS This Morning on Monday again seemed rather unconcerned by 2020 Democratic plans to end private health insurance. Reporter Ed O’Keefe offered little in the way of alarm over 150 million being thrown off their health plans, should Senator Bernie Sanders or Kamala Harris get their way.
The attack dog tone of journalists in the Trump era might make you forget a time when they gushed over another president, the previous one. Chris Matthews famously had a “thrill” up his leg over Barack Obama, but that wasn’t the only example of hailing the Democrat. Four years ago this week, on July 22, 2015, Matthews defended the “immaculate” Obama and his “perfect” family.
All three networks on Tuesday night offered up mocking, derisive reports on Brexit-supporting Boris Johnson winning his party's support and becoming the new British Prime Minister. ABC, CBS and NBC also highlighted comparisons of the conservative leader to Donald Trump. On World News Tonight, Ian Pannell derided, “To his opponents, he's an ambitious philanderer, unfaithful in marriage, accused of racism and of having no fixed principles. Many have compared him to Donald Trump.”
Disappointment. Anger. Sadness. The journalists and hosts at MSNBC on Wednesday alternated between these emotions as it became clear that Robert Mueller’s testimony wasn’t going the way they thought it might. Various network personalities raged at how the hearings were turning into a “boring” “disaster.” MSNBC analyst Jeremy Bash bluntly concluded, “I thought he was boring, I thought in some cases he was sort of evasive. He didn't want to explain or expand on his rationale. He seemed lost at times.” Bash worried, “I fear that this hearing set back efforts to hold the President accountable for what the President did.”
If it’s a weekday, then it’s time for a Nazi reference on Morning Joe. Previewing Robert Mueller’s testimony in front of Congress, Joe Scarborough compared Donald Trump to the evil of Hitler and the Nazis: Citing the Financial Times, he blasted, “... The Nazis in the early 1930s would rail against quote, 'the system,' constantly railing quote ‘against the system’ because the, quote ‘system’ was actually still stopping them in the early 1930s from doing what they wanted to do.”
All three networks on Wednesday previewed Robert Mueller’s “historic” testimony before Congress with an excited and nervous tone, wondering if this “movie” version of his report could save the impeachment hype. Good Morning America co-host George Stephanopoulos wistfully hoped that Mueller might turn out to be like famous cowboy star Gary Cooper.