Obama's Infrastructure Spending 'Makes All of the Sense in the World, ' Amanpour Enthuses

Tracking Liberal Media Bias Since 1996
Monday October 24, 2011 @ 10:23 AM ET

1. Obama's Infrastructure Spending Wish 'Makes All of the Sense in the World,' Amanpour Enthuses
President Barack Obama's new infrastructure spending plan "makes all of the sense in the world" and is an "eminently sensible idea," ABC's Christiane Amanpour enthused Sunday morning on This Week as if there is no rational reason to oppose the additional federal money and without a look at the impact of the already-spent stimulus spending. Amanpour cued up AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue: "It makes all of the sense in the world, build the crumbling infrastructure, put people back to work, and yet it's such a hard sell. Make the case for why the Senate, why Congress should do this business on infrastructure." If "Republicans don't agree with the tax part, how to pay for this," she despaired, "how is this going to become a reality, this eminently sensible idea of getting people to work in infrastructure?"

2. NBC's 'Today': Occupy Wall Street a 'Civics Lesson'; GOP Debate an 'Anti-Teachable Moment'
During a panel discussion on Friday's NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer asked of the Occupy Wall Street protests: "What's the civics lesson in this for our kids as they're watching this on TV?" News anchor Natalie Morales argued: "...there's a huge civics lesson....the idea of having that civil discourse is important to teach our kids and it's something in history we've seen." In contrast, moments later while discussing the latest Republican presidential debate, Lauer lectured Mitt Romney and Rick Perry on a heated exchange between them: "My parents, in teaching me manners, taught me, one, don't interrupt, bad on Rick Perry's point, keep your hands to yourself, bad on Mitt Romney's point." Weatherman Al Roker chimed in: "...we're seeing our kids are getting, again, this anti-teachable moment. Give somebody a chance to talk. They're just talking all over each other."

3. NYT's Collins Still Haunted by Romney's Crate-Gate - Mentions Dog-on-Roof Tale 23 Times
New York Times columnist Gail Collins is still "haunted by Seamus," the story of Mitt Romney's family dog strapped to the car roof in a crate, mentioning the infamous incident 23 times over four years of columns: "I found this very exciting because it brings us closer to the moment when one of Romney's competitors will point out that he once drove to Canada with the family dog strapped on the roof of the car."

4. NBC's Guthrie to McCain: Do You Retract Foreign Policy Criticism of Obama?
On Friday's NBC Today, fill-in co-host Savannah Guthrie grilled Arizona Senator John McCain on his criticism of Barack Obama's foreign policy positions in the 2008 campaign and urged: "Bin Laden is gone. Anwar al Awlaki, who was the rising star in al Qaeda, is gone. Qadhafi is gone. Drone strikes have intensified greatly....Given the track record now in office, would you change your opinion, sir?" Prior to that, Guthrie pressed McCain on his early criticism of Obama's handling of Libya: "You were an early supporter of U.S. intervention in Libya, and yet, you harshly criticized the President for how he went about it. At this moment, given that Qadhafi is gone, are you willing to give the President credit, unqualified credit, for how he handled this?"

5. ABC Exposes Govt. Loan to Build Cars in Finland, Skips Company's Ties to Dem Fundraisers
ABC's Brian Ross on Friday investigated a $500 million government loan to a car company that is now operating in Finland. Ross highlighted how Vice President Joe Biden in 2009 claimed this would create jobs in America. Yet, the Good Morning America reporter left out a key component for the network version of the story: Fisker, the European car company involved, have ties to big Obama campaign bundlers. Ross began the segment by explaining to viewers: "[Henrik] Fisker got a federal loan two years ago of more than $500 million, with Vice President Joseph Biden saying the company would employ auto workers in his home state, Delaware." Yet, the 500 jobs created are in Finland, not the United States.