NBC's Lauer to Cheney: You're the 'Most Divisive Political Figure in This Country in a Century'

Tracking Liberal Media Bias Since 1996
Wednesday August 31, 2011 @ 09:29 AM ET

1. NBC's Lauer to Cheney: You're the 'Most Divisive Political Figure in This Country in a Century'
On Tuesday's NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer began a hostile interview with Dick Cheney by running through various derisive labels for the former Vice President: "You've been called 'controversial' and 'divisive.' Some people have called you the most divisive political figure in this country in a century." Cheney quipped: "You left out Darth Vader." Then, as the interview ended 13 minutes later, NBC's camera perfectly framed a protest sign (from Amnesty International) held up in the crowd outside of the Today show studio: "Torture is a Crime: Investigate Cheney."

2. Newsweek Reporter's Weird Complaint: Cheney Memoir Doesn't 'Look Forward'
Newsweek journalist Dan Stone appeared on MSNBC's News Live, Monday, to offer a bizarre complaint about Dick Cheney's new memoir. He lamented, "This book is very focused on rehashing. It's very based on the past, from what I can tell." Responding to a question about whether the book could cause problems for Obama, the White House correspondent added, "Not many people are taking it to look forward." Of course, it would be hard to write a memoir on one's life and not look backward.

3. NY Times Exploits Irene to Promote 'Climate Change'
Of course: "The scale of Hurricane Irene, which could cause more extensive damage along the Eastern Seaboard than any storm in decades, is reviving an old question: are hurricanes getting worse because of human-induced climate change? The short answer from scientists is that they are still trying to figure it out. But many of them do believe that hurricanes will get more intense as the planet warms, and they see large hurricanes like Irene as a harbinger."

4. MSNBC Features 9/11 Truther to Blame Hurricane on Global Warming
On Friday's Dylan Ratigan Show, MSNBC contributor Touré, who is also a 9/11 truther, wondered if Hurricane Irene is an example of global warming. He speculated, "When you talk about an unusual weather event happening in New York and this sort of thing, is this really evidence of global warming to see this sort of a massive storm happening here?" Touré is routinely featured on MSNBC, despite his tendency to tweet in support of 9/11 conspiracy theories

5. Irene and Climate Change: Liberal Media Won't Let a Good Crisis Go to Waste
In the days leading up to Hurricane Irene's march through the Northeast, journalists repeatedly suggested that the storm was yet more evidence of climate change. "The scale of Hurricane Irene, which could cause more extensive damage along the Eastern Seaboard than any storm in decades, is reviving an old question: are hurricanes getting worse because of human-induced climate change?" asked the New York Times' Justin Gillis in his August 28 piece.