Government shutdown

The October government shutdown was based on Republican opposition to ObamaCare. But ABC, CBS and NBC barely covered that issue during the 15-day shutdown – devoting on average slightly more than 1 minute on all three networks combined each day. However, after the shutdown ended leaving ObamaCare funding uncontested, the evening news shows spent 4 times as much time on the flaws of the failing…

After NBC warned viewers that the partial government shutdown that ended weeks ago may be "the Grinch that stole Christmas," on Tuesday's Today, correspondent Stephanie Gosk fretted that Thanksgiving would be ruined as well: "Macy's, the company that sponsors the Thanksgiving Day Parade, will open its doors on the holiday for the first time in 155 years....But there is a risk, the identity of one…

For almost a month the mainstream media have declared the Tea Party dead - are you listening, E.J. Dionne? - as a result of the government shutdown. However, a new Rasmussen poll finds that an equal number of Americans identify with the Tea Party's views as do Obama's:

At Yahoo News, former ABC and CBS political producer Marc Ambinder picked apart a Time magazine article by Jay Newton-Small triumphantly headlined “In Shutdown, Women are the Only Adults Left.” It was so pro-“chick” that “Several women rights' groups, like EMILY's List, picked up the story for use in fundraising.” (Newton-Small reported only two of the 20 female senators – Kelly Ayotte and Debbie…

In an interview with Tennessee Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn on Wednesday's MSNBC Andrea Mitchell Reports, fill-in host and NBC White House correspondent Kristen Welker desperately attempted to blame Republicans for the disastrous ObamaCare website rollout: "Congress repeatedly refused to authorize requests by the Obama administration for additional funding for the rollout of the health care law…

 According to Chris Matthews, conservatives have gone from wanting to kidnap babies to "killing" them. On October 1, the Hardball anchor insisted that Barack Obama "will not give up his baby" to pro-shutdown conservatives such as Ted Cruz. On Tuesday, still angry over the partial-government closure, the anchor fumed, "Today and in the future, Cruz will be remembered as the one who ignited the…

After consistently blaming Republicans for the government shutdown, on Sunday's NBC Nightly News, fill-in anchor Carl Quintanilla warned that while the budget stalemate ended days earlier, "Many people who were furloughed or otherwise affected are still paying the price, and will do so for some time." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump] In the report that followed, CNBC…

The numbers are in for the evening-news coverage of the shutdown. During the first 15 nights of October, ABC, CBS, and NBC blamed the Republicans 41 times for the shutdown, blamed both sides 17 times, and blamed Obama and the Democrats...never. Let’s just focus on NBC, where Brian Williams obediently pushed White House talking points. Williams described the consequences as nearly criminal on the…

Apparently PBS has decided to make like MSNBC and spend more time dissecting the Republican Party’s problems real, imagined, and/or overblown. On Monday’s PBS NewsHour, anchor Judy Woodruff announced that the program would begin “a series of conversations about where the Republican Party goes from here.” The first installment, a discussion with former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.),…

Obama donor Gayle King and Charlie Rose strongly hinted that conservatives/Republicans needed psychiatric help during a segment with Charles Krauthammer on Tuesday's CBS This Morning. King asked the licensed psychiatrist, "You talk in your book about your medical training in psychiatry and about...how powerful denial can be. Do you think that the GOP – Tea Party Republicans are in denial?"…

Jonathan Karl, ABC's chief White House correspondent, continued his crusade of attacking Ted Cruz during Sunday morning's edition of This Week With George Stephanopoulos, when the reporter asked the GOP senator from Texas a very harsh question. After accusing the freshman Republican of being responsible for the 16-day government “Ted Cruz shutdown,” Karl asked: “How much do your colleagues…

Appearing as a guest on the Friday, October 18, PoliticsNation show, MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry characterized the government shutdown as Republicans "effectively impeaching" President Obama as she fretted that the GOP will create "crisis after crisis" so that Obama "never will have an opportunity to actually enact a second policy agenda." Host Al Sharpton complained about Republicans talking…

As anybody knows, who watched Charles Krauthammer accept the “William F. Buckley Jr. Award for Media Excellence” last month at the MRC’s 2013 DisHonors Awards and Gala, Charles Krauthammer is capable of delivering funny lines and humorous anecdotes. On Friday’s Special Report with Bret Baier on FNC, Krauthammer offered a joke in explaining why the ending of the government shutdown – with the…

Continuing to hammer home the Democratic talking point that the Republican Party is to blame for the government shutdown, on Thursday's NBC Nightly News, anchor Brian Williams gloated: "Politically, it's widely agreed to have been a big loss and self-inflicted wound mostly for the Republican Party." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump] In a later report, Capitol Hill…