CBS ‘Early Show’ Uses Meghan McCain to Bash Ann Coulter

March 10th, 2009 12:23 PM
At the top of the 8 a.m. EST hour of Tuesday's CBS Early Show, co-host Maggie Rodriguez teased an upcoming interview with John McCain’s daughter, Meghan McCain: "And young Mac attack. Senator McCain's daughter, Meghan, takes aim at conservative Ann Coulter and tells us about her post-election dating issues." Later, co-host Harry Smith opened the segment by declaring: "Senator John McCain's…

CBS Claims Obama Overturned Stem Cell ‘Ban’; Makes Correction

March 9th, 2009 12:13 PM
At the top of Monday’s CBS Early Show, co-host Julie Chen incorrectly declared: "Reversing course. President Obama lifts the ban on embryonic stem cell research today...But is the President going far enough?" During the later segment, co-host Maggie Rodriguez had to offer a correction: "And we should say, this under President Bush was not banned or illegal, except now we're getting federal…

Tea Parties? What Tea Parties? Predictably, Established Media Coverage

March 8th, 2009 10:58 AM
Coverage of "tea party" protests in various cities around the country (this March 4 Pajamas Media press release, HT to FreeRepublic, cited 22 locations on February 27 and seven this weekend) has been sparse to non-existent, especially at major establishment media outlets. Most notably, based on a seach on "tea party" (not in quotes) at its ap.org home page at about 10:00 a.m., there has been no…

CBS ‘Evening News’: Obama’s Gray Hair ‘Equals Gravitas

March 6th, 2009 12:35 PM
At the end of Thursday’s CBS Evening News correspondent Chip Reid reported important breaking news about President Obama's graying hair: "...the rate at which President Obama is adding salt to his pepper is what’s surprising, even if his inner circle says ‘no big deal.’" Axelrod observed: "The gray seemed to be on him from the moment he took the oath. There was talk during the campaign that maybe…

Newsweek’s Alter on MSNBC: GOP ‘Party of Jell-O’ For Not Standin

March 5th, 2009 6:16 PM
During the 3:00PM EST hour on MSNBC on Thursday, anchor Norah O’Donnell teased an upcoming segment on Rush Limbaugh and the Republican Party: "Coming up, is the party of Lincoln in danger of becoming the party of jell-o? Why conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh could be a liability for the Grand Old Party." O’Donnell was referring to an Newsweek article by columnist Jonathan Alter and later…

MSNBC: GOP ‘Sinking Fast’ Because of Rush Limbaugh

March 5th, 2009 3:05 PM
At the top of Wednesday’s 3:00PM EST hour on MSNBC, anchor Norah O’Donnell declared: "Well, the back and forth between Rush Limbaugh and RNC Chairman Michael Steele continues. A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows the GOP's approval is sinking fast, only 26% of those polled give the party a positive rating." O’Donnell spoke to Jennifer Skalka, editor of the blog Hotline On Call, and asked…

CBS: Obama Repairing U.S.-Russia Relations Wrecked By Bush

March 4th, 2009 1:03 PM
On Tuesday’s CBS Evening News, correspondent Lara Logan reported on the Obama administration’s effort to improve relations between the United States and Russia by abandoning a missile defense system proposed under the Bush administration: "It's become one of the most contentious issues dividing the U.S. and Russia. American plans to deploy a missile defense system on Russia's doorstep...The Obama…

WaPo Reporter on MSNBC: Next GOP Nominee Must ‘Stand Up To Rush

March 3rd, 2009 4:06 PM
At the top of the 12PM EST hour of MSNBC news coverage on Tuesday, anchor David Shuster spoke with Washington Post reporter Keith Richburg about the recent divide between Rush Limbaugh and RNC Chair Michael Steele: "Following the latest Republican Party civil war. A complete about-face by Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, after calling Rush Limbaugh's show 'ugly' and '…

CBS Discusses Future of GOP With Liberal Journalists

March 3rd, 2009 11:28 AM
During a 6-minute segment on the Saturday Early Show on CBS, co-host Erica Hill spoke with liberal journalists Mort Zuckerman, editor in chief of U.S. News and World Report, and Steven Kornacki of the New York Observer, about the future of the Republican Party. Republican strategist and CNN contributor Leslie Sanchez was also part of the panel discussion, but was only allowed 44 seconds to speak…

Vicki Iseman on CBS: NYT ‘Out of Control’ On False McCain Affair S

March 2nd, 2009 3:02 PM
On Monday’s CBS Early Show, co-host Maggie Rodriguez spoke with lobbyist Vicki Iseman, who a year ago was named in a New York Times article implying she had an affair with then presidential candidate John McCain, an accusation Iseman flatly denied: "No, I did not. And four New York Times reporters, two editors, their entire institution, 200 people that they went out and sought to try and figure…

CBS: School Mentioned in Obama Speech ‘Shares the Audacity of Hope

February 26th, 2009 6:08 PM
At the end of Wednesday’s CBS Evening News, anchor Katie Couric introduced a segment on Tysheoma Bethea, a 14-year-old girl who attended Obama’s address to Congress: "President Obama has said one of the biggest adjustments of his new job is living in a bubble. Now, to combat that problem, he started to read a handful of letters everyday from average Americans. One letter, written by an eighth…

CBS Issues Press Release on Obama Budget, Little Criticism

February 26th, 2009 3:55 PM
At the top of Thursday’s CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith declared: "Tax the rich. New details on how President Obama plans to pay for his $3 trillion budget." Later, correspondent Bill Plante reported on Obama’s proposed budget in a matter-of-fact way with little skepticism: "It spends almost $4 trillion. That's trillion with a 'T.' And the deficit is $1.75 trillion because of spending on the…

The Next Generation of Conservative Leadership

February 25th, 2009 6:12 PM
There is a new group throwing its hat in the "reform the conservative movement" ring. They are called the Young Conservatives Coalition and they want to raise up a new generation of conservative leaders. Here is a snippet of how they describe themselves:The YCC is an advocacy organization dedicated to leading the next generation of the conservative movement by organizing and mobilizing young…

CBS's Rodriguez: Americans ‘Loved’ Obama Speech; Jindal A ‘Debbi

February 25th, 2009 5:27 PM
While discussing President Obama’s Tuesday night address to Congress and the Republican response given by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal on Wednesday’s CBS Early Show, co-host Maggie Rodriguez observed: "And Americans loved it. The polls show that they're very optimistic, and then out comes Bobby Jindal, Debbie Downer, saying ‘hated it, it's not going to work.’" Rodriguez made the remark while…