NBCCCP's Today Swoons Over Michelle Obama Shopping at Target

Tracking Liberal Media Bias Since 1996
Monday October 03, 2011 @ 09:58 AM ET

1. NBC's Today Swoons Over Michelle Obama Shopping at Target
Friday's NBC Today devoted an entire segment to photos of First Lady Michelle Obama stopping by a Target store in Alexandria, Virginia, as Capitol Hill correspondent Kelly O'Donnell - on location at the shopping center - gushed: "Check this out. Behind those dark glasses, tucked under that Nike cap, one of the world's most famous women. Yes, that is the First Lady of the United States at Target." A sound bite was featured of The Washington Post's Amy Argetsinger touting the "wow factor" of the First Lady going to the department store. Later, O'Donnell declared: "Doing ordinary things in tough economic times can be good for a public image."

2. Martin Bashir Blames GOP for Cantaloupe Food Poisoning Deaths
In an outrageous rant during his 3 p.m. ET hour show on MSNBC on Friday, host Martin Bashir actually attempted to blame budget cutting by Republican lawmakers for a deadly outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe: "John Boehner and his Republican majority decided to gut the food safety and inspection service....Cut, cut, cut. Now the results are in. 16 people have lost their lives." Bashir went on to blame free market principles in general for the outbreak: "Republicans in Congress talk proudly of their commitment of laissez-faire economics, where government gets out of the way and everything works perfectly. You try telling that to those who ate melon with a side of listeria."

3. Front-Page NYT Sniff: 'Educated' High-Income Voters Alienated by Tea Party, Still Like Obama
The New York Times claims "educated" people are alienated by the Tea Party and break G.O.P. support down by race and education: "With growing cities and suburbs, they are populated by increasing numbers of educated and higher-income independents, young voters, Hispanics and African-Americans, many of them alienated by Republicans' Tea Party agenda....But polls underscore how tough a task he will have with independents in the industrial belt, where income and education levels are below the national average, compared with states like Colorado and Virginia with higher-income, better-educated independents."

4. Media Cast Bush as Rights Abuser, Gloss Over Obama's Killing of U.S. Citizen
The three network morning shows on Friday all highlighted the United States' success in killing terrorist Anwar al Awlaki. However, although these same programs were sensitive to the slightest possible civil rights violation by the Bush administration, they did not seemed interested the fact that Al Awlaki was an American citizen. Good Morning America, Today and the Early Show mentioned this detail, but didn't provide any analysis or question the President's authority to make such a move. GMA's Brian Ross simply offered, "He was considered such a serious threat to the U.S. that the President had authorized the use of lethal force against him, even though he was an American citizen."

5. Andy Rooney Recognized Media's Liberalism and Espoused It Himself
Andy Rooney delivers his final commentary tonight (Sunday) at the end of 60 Minutes and while the now 92-year old curmudgeon's pieces usually dealt with non-serious topics, he should be credited for being able to recognize, unlike many of his prominent peers, that the media are liberal - even conceding his own "liberal bias." He declared Dan Rather "transparently liberal" and quipped people in the news business "were almost evenly divided" in 2004 - "half of them liked Senator Kerry; the other half hated President Bush." Shortly after 9/11 in 2001, he embarrassed himself when he mocked President Bush over a common metaphor. "This is an enemy that thinks its harbors are safe, but they won't be safe forever," Bush asserted in a clip Rooney played and then ridiculed: "Well, not too smart either. Afghanistan is landlocked. It doesn't have a harbor."