Nancy Cordes
Republican hopes of repealing and replacing ObamaCare hit yet another brick wall in the Senate on Tuesday, effectively killing current efforts. While the other networks in the Big Three (ABC and NBC) remarked on the failure of action after seven years of promises, the reporting on CBS Evening News took on a mocking tone filled with glee. “They control the White House and the Congress, but Republicans could not deliver on the promise they've been making since the day ObamaCare became law: to repeal and replace it,” quipped Anchor Anthony Mason at the top of the program.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell unveiled the revised version of the GOP health care bill on Thursday, which added provisions meant to entice both the conservative and left-leaning members of the Republican Party. And despite the fact that the Congressional Budget Office had yet to release their report on the revisions, the Big Three Networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) wasted no time in tearing it down with the usual fake news of massive cuts to Medicaid.
In the wake of the Democrats' humiliating defeat in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District Tuesday night, members of the party were in a rush to cast blame on someone. And for many Democrats that blame fell on House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Even with the loud calls for new leadership, CBS News decided to omit them from their reporting Wednesday evening. Meanwhile, ABC’s coverage simply brushed over them in a 40-second-long news brief. NBC was the only network to give the blaming serious consideration.
On Tuesday, the network morning shows celebrated Democrats engaging in a partisan stunt on Senate floor late into Monday night as they accused Republicans of supposedly crafting health care reform legislation “shrouded in secrecy.” None of the broadcasts bothered to point out the blatant hypocrisy of Democrats whining about the process after they themselves used secretive tactics to shove through ObamaCare in 2010.
On Thursday's CBS Evening News, as Nancy Cordes filed a report with the latest on the aftermath of the Steve Scalise shooting, the CBS correspondent made a point of highlighting Democratic criticisms of Republicans New Gingrich and New York Rep. Chris Collins for complaining about "hostility" and "rhetoric" coming from the far left. Cordes notably did not mention that Rep. Collins had already decided to retract his comments as he feared they were not appropriate in the aftermath of the violence.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee Tuesday, where he was grilled in regards to the Russia investigation. Sessions drew criticism from many by appearing to be evasive on some questions in regards to his communications with President Trump. This did not sit well with CBS Evening News, where Anchor Scott Pelley chided that “today, the attorney general was more measured [than Trump], even though he declined to answer some of the most revealing questions.”
Former FBI Director James Comey is set to speak before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday after recently getting permission from Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is now in charge of the FBI’s Russian meddling investigation. Comey is expected to field questions about a series of memos he allegedly wrote that unnamed sources claim to show that President Trump attempted to interfere with the said investigation. During their Monday evening broadcasts, ABC and CBS were eagerly awaiting the day of the hearing.
In covering the President’s proposed budget this week, network reporters unanimously claimed it “cut” or even “slashed” federal spending. An MRC analysis of ABC, CBS and NBC morning and evening news coverage since Monday (May 22) finds that not a single reporter ever told viewers that overall federal spending would actually RISE under President Trump’s planned budget — just not as much as forecast under the budget baseline Trump inherited from President Obama back in January.
On Monday and Tuesday, the broadcast networks all read from the same liberal script as anchors and correspondents blasted the Trump administration’s proposed budget for making “deep cuts” to “social safety nets” that would be “especially cruel” to the poor. Not once was the nation’s nearly $20 trillion debt mentioned in any of the one-sided coverage.
It appears that 5 p.m. has become the new witching hour, since for over a week that’s been when most of the major news stories regarding President Trump have been broken. It was no different Wednesday evening when D.C. was rocked by the announcement that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller to be the special counsel to oversee the Russia investigation. The Big Three Networks led with the development on their evening programs, during which they celebrated it and slammed the right.
On Friday, the network morning shows reveled in Democrats childishly “taunting” Republicans on the House floor after the GOP health care plan passed. Reporters pushed claims from the liberal lawmakers that Republicans would be “punished at the ballot box” over the legislation and parroted fearmongering that voters would be hurt by the policy. For all the attention paid to liberal protests and complaints, no attention was given to conservative concerns.
Seconds after the Republican House of Representatives finally passed the American Health Care Act (AHCA), CBS News did their best on Thursday to tout Democratic concerns, pro-ObamaCare protesters, and hypocritically chide Republican supporters for not being “modest” in their massive legislative achievement.