Double Standard: CNN Airs GOP Dirty Laundry But Cleans Up After Democrats
CNN's Early Start should have been re-named "DNC TV" on
Tuesday. Anchors omitted almost every controversial detail about
Democrats, showing no such love for Republicans.
While CNN reported charges against a former staffer for Rep. Michele
Bachmann (R-Minn.), the network spun scandals into positives for New
York Democrats Anthony Weiner and Eliot Spitzer with the headline "Scandals Help, Not Hurt."
Then in its report on embattled San Diego Mayor Bob Filner, CNN omitted
his Democratic affiliation. Filner is also a former Democratic
congressman, who currently faces accusations of sexual harassment.
[Video below. Audio here.]
"You know, it looks like high name recognition despite some
scandals that's helping Anthony Weiner and Eliot Spitzer in their
comeback bids," co-host Don Lemon chirped of the two Democrats
who fell from office amidst scandal. Spitzer was also a CNN prime-time
host just two years ago, but Early Start didn't disclose that.
And reporting on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's threat to do away
with the filibuster, CNN ignored that Reid howled against such proposals
by Republicans when Senate Democrats were in the minority in 2005.
When the network noted that "Republicans have been stalling the
confirmation process for months now" for President Obama's appointments
to agency posts, CNN failed to note why.
President Obama made three appointments to the National Labor Relations
Board while the Senate was technically still in session, "pro forma"
session. Since the appointments were made without Senate confirmation
while they were in session, a federal court ruled them unconstitutional.
CNN made no mention of this.
And the network also highlighted liberal "Moral Monday" protests in
North Carolina against the state's majority Republican state
legislature. "So far, there have been more than 700 arrests. They say
Republicans have cut unemployment benefits, health care for the poor,
and just last week, approved strict new rules limiting abortions,"
reported co-host Pamela Brown.
CNN quoted a protester and a Democratic state senator bashing
"backwards" Republicans, but got no quote from the GOP side. For a
network that claims to be non-partisan, Tuesday's 5 a.m. ET news hour
was anything but.
Below is a transcript of the segment, which aired on July 16 on Early Start at 5:10 a.m. EDT:
[5:10]
PAMELA BROWN: Don, so far, no deal in the Senate to avoid the, quote,
"nuclear option." That's a Democratic plan to end Republican filibusters
of presidential nominees. Nearly all 100 senators attended a rare,
private meeting late last night, but failed to come up with a deal. They
will keep talking until the deadline later this morning. And then,
after that, Democrats plan to change the rules to make appointing nominees a lot simpler.
(Video Clip)
Sen. HARRY REID (D-Nev), Majority Leader: The Constitution is very, very specific.
The Founding Fathers talked about supermajority. They mention
presidential nominations. Majority. Majority. The Founding Fathers
wanted an up or down vote. And that's basically what we've been crying
for now for years.
(End Video Clip)
BROWN: Two cabinet member nominees and five appointees to agency posts
come up for votes this is morning. Republicans have been stalling the
confirmation process for months now.
LEMON: Charges this morning for a former staffer for Minnesota
Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. Javier Sanchez is accused of stealing
from a congressional office building. Police aren't saying what was
taken, but the congresswoman's office says he no longer works there. At
one point, Sanchez was Bachmann's legislative director.
(...)
[5:38]
LEMON: You know, it looks like high name recognition despite some
scandals that's helping Anthony Weiner and Eliot Spitzer in their
comeback bids. In a Quinnipiac poll, Weiner, who resigned from Congress
after exchanging sexually explicit messages with women online, leads the
Democratic pack in the race to be New York's next mayor. And former New
York Governor Spitzer, who resigned after soliciting prostitutes, leads
the field to become the top financial officer in the city.
BROWN: Well, it was another "Moral Monday," North Carolina and
thousands of protesters gathered in Raleigh upset with Republican
lawmakers. Every week for the last three months, outraged demonstrators
have rallied right outside North Carolina's Republican-dominated state
house.
So far, there have been more than 700 arrests. They say Republicans
have cut unemployment benefits, health care for the poor, and just last
week, approved strict new rules limiting abortions.
(Video Clip)
GAYLE RUEDI, protester: It's just wrong. What they did with
unemployment is wrong. What they did with Medicaid is wrong. What
they're doing with abortion.
BEN CLARK, (D-N.C.) STATE SENATOR: There's tends to be a movement as we would call it, backwards.
(End Video Clip)
BROWN: Republicans in North Carolina control the governor's office and
the state legislature for the first time in more than a century.
LEMON: San Diego's mayor is again insisting he won't resign despite
growing calls for him to step down. Bob Filner faces accusations he
sexually harassed women. And now, some of those women's stories are
being told.
(Video Clip)
MARCO GONZALEZ, attorney for one of Filner's accusers: He puts his arm
around their shoulder, pulls it in tighter around her neck. The woman
believes that the mayor just wants to talk to her.
And he says things, "come on, you know you love me, just give me a kiss." Let's go up to my office, no one will know."
(End Video Clip)
LEMON: Attorneys for the women say it's become unsafe for any woman to
be around the mayor. His former fiancee says she caught him texting
other women sexually explicit messages. But Filner says he believes he
will be vindicated once all the facts are known.
-- Matt Hadro is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center
