By daring to stand up for herself in recent exchange with President Obama, the media quickly labeled Arizona Governor Jan Brewer a villain. On Thursday's NBC Nightly News, anchor Brian Williams was aghast: "Who have you ever seen talking to the president like this?....The governor of Arizona with her finger in the face of the President of the United States. You don't see that often or maybe ever." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]
In the report that followed, White House correspondent Kristen Welker piled on with nasty sound bites attacking Brewer. A clip of left-wing MSNBC host Martin Bashir echoing Williams: "Is that really how we're supposed to behave towards the President of the United States?" Followed by NBC News presidential historian Michael Beschloss proclaiming: "She may feel this will score some points with Obama-haters in Arizona, but nationally, this is unusual enough that I'm not sure it's going to help her."
Welker countered Brewer with White House statements: "Today the White House described the incident as 'overblown,' but said, 'The president did note that after their last meeting, a cordial discussion in the Oval Office, the Governor inaccurately described the meeting.'"
Concluding her report, Welker added: "President Obama weighed in during an interview with ABC News, saying the whole thing was really not a big deal. He also said, and this is a direct quote, Brian, 'I think it's always good publicity for a Republican if they're in an argument with me.'"
Thursday's CBS Evening News was even worse in its coverage of the incident, as Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer denounced "such public rudeness" by Brewer.
Read the complete transcript of the January 26 report.
