Campaigns & Elections

For the third day in a row, Wednesday, an absent George Stephanopoulos prompted ABC's Good Morning America to provide skimpy coverage of the GOP presidential race. While CBS This Morning devoted nine minutes, including an interview, on the Illinois primary, ABC allowed just two minutes and 21 seconds of coverage. In GMA's only full report, Jake Tapper quoted Romney casting the race as law…

Desperately trying to keep the issue alive for the general election, Tuesday's NBC Nightly News continued to decry the supposed Republican war on women, with anchor Brian Williams proclaiming: "One issue that's been percolating through this presidential primary season, a push by some in the GOP to limit women's access to contraceptives and abortion." In the report that followed,…

A seemingly befuddled Chris Matthews on Tuesday interviewed former Senator Arlen Specter, gleefully (and incorrectly) referring to the Democrat as a Republican. Downplaying the fact that Specter switched parties, Matthews bellowed, "Your party has become a right-wing party." After mentioning the plight of Charlie Crist, who was defeated by Marco Rubio in a Republican senatorial primary,…

Today Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and House Republicans unveiled a budget and tax reform plan. But for Center for American Progress alumna Alex Wagner, it was Christmas morning, with the Ryan budget as a handy cudgel with which Democrats and MSNBC could bludgeon politically hapless Republicans. "[S]ome Democrats are calling it Christmas in March," MSNBC anchor Wagner quipped on her March 20 Now…

Charlie Rose surprised Rep. Paul Ryan on Tuesday's CBS This Morning by promoting the latest smear from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Rose displayed their fake horror-movie poster with Ryan's face beside House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Speaker John Boehner. It included the caption, "Just when you thought Medicare was safe, THEY'RE BACK. This time, they want to finish it…

In the 7 a.m. et hour of Tuesday's NBC Today, news anchor Natalie Morales fawned over Michelle Obama's appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman: "She...talked about her late-night chats with the President, and joked that he's always upbeat, especially about the notoriously deadlocked Congress. I guess you got to keep your sense of humor about you." Later, in the 8 a.m. et hour,…

"Where Are the Statesmen?" asked the onscreen graphic as MSNBC's Thomas Roberts interviewed a son of the late Ronald Reagan about the state of the Republican Party in light of the presidential primary season thus far. Of course, MSNBC chose to bring on the Gipper's liberal namesake Ron Reagan rather than Michael Reagan, a solid conservative who has endorsed Newt Gingrich. Roberts opened the…

The video that the late Andrew Breitbart released of Barack Obama during his Harvard days revealed one more link in the president's early chain of associations with radicals. But I watched a video a couple of weeks ago that I believe is far more incriminating for our president because it shows the present fallout from his radical agenda, including the redistribution of wealth. Obama has been…

Is there a clause in George Stephanopoulos's contract stating that politics must be ignored if he's not there? On Tuesday, for the second straight day, the former Democratic operative turned journalist was absent from Good Morning America. Despite March 20th featuring a critical primary in the Republican race for the White House, a Stephanopoulos-less GMA allowed just 19 seconds on the topic. (…

During the March 19 edition of Andrea Mitchell Reports, actress Eva Longoria fielded softball questions about her new role in President Obama’s re-election campaign. During the interview, Mitchell had no problem with reminding MSNBC viewers about the so-called Republican War on Women, chiding, "But the women's issues, women's health issues have become front and center force of what has happened…

On Monday's CBS This Morning, Charlie Rose accused GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum of focusing too much on foreign policy and social issues, instead of the economy: "You talk about President Obama being an appeaser. You talk about [Obama] being soft on pornography and those kinds of things, rather than the bread and butter economic issues that you say are essential to who will win…

Republican senator and 2008 GOP presidential nominee John McCain's passing concession yesterday to Meet the Press host David Gregory that there is in fact a "war on women among Republicans" was the perfect springboard for MSNBC's Richard Lui to conduct a softball interview with former Planned Parenthood president Gloria Feldt.  Lui, substitute hosting the March 19 edition of Chris Jansing…

Appearing on Sunday's NBC Meet the Press, Washington Post associate editor Bob Woodward mounted his high horse in condemning the role of Super-PACs in the 2012 race: "...under the Supreme Court decision all of the new 21st century robber barons, let's call them what they are, can put tens of millions of dollars into the campaign. It's negative, it's poison, it's venom..." Woodward then…

While interviewing Arizona Senator John McCain on Sunday's Meet the Press, host David Gregory took a line from the Democratic script as he wondered: "Are you concerned at all to see a focus with certain elements of the Republican Party on social issues?...Do you think that there is something of a war on women among Republicans?" [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]