On Thursday's Good
Morning America [1], it was announced that news anchor Chris Cuomo would be
leaving the program and taking over as co-host of 20/20. Since joining ABC in
1999, the journalist has frequently spun for liberals and slammed conservatives.
This has included worrying about American "racism" and wondering if it would be
better to "nationalize the whole economy?"
While interviewing then-presidential candidate Barack Obama on December 20,
2007, he fretted, "What do you think the bigger obstacle is for you in
becoming President, the Clinton campaign machine or America's inherent racists-
racism?"
On April 1, 2009, during a conversation with liberal New York Times columnist
Paul Krugman, Cuomo offered this rather astonishing question: "We've seen
government intervene in the banking industry, mortgage industry, insurance,
automobiles, chasing down problems after they happen. Wouldn't it be better
to try and get ahead of the next crisis by just, right now, nationalize the
whole economy and let government experts take over for failing CEOs?"
Continuing to lobby for a socialistic economy, he pressed, "According to our
polls, the public has a lot more confidence in President Obama than these
executives we in the media have demonized for the past year, so why wouldn't it
be better for the Obama administration to take everything over?"
Cuomo is the son of the ex-Democratic governor of New York,
Mario Cuomo. He's also the brother of the state's current Democratic attorney
general, Andrew Cuomo. The move to 20/20 came after the ABC journalist was
passed over for the job of co-host on GMA. (Current anchor Diane Sawyer is
leaving on Friday to take over World News.)
On the issue of immigration, the GMA host predictably touted the liberal
tone, including this rough interview with Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo:
"You have the President and Ted Kennedy on the same side trying to compromise on this bill. You have the polls showing early on that people were behind what it was fundamentally about. Why did you feel the need to rip a bill like this down?"
"A majority of Americans want a humane solution. The numbers are in favor of giving some type of amnesty to these people. Isn't that the humane solution? Why are you so adamantly opposed to it?"
- ABC's Chris Cuomo to GOP Congressman Tom Tancredo, an illegal immigration opponent, on the June 8, 2007 Good Morning America.
Six months later, while in Iowa for the presidential primary, Cuomo again
derided the anti-illegal immigration position, asserting conservatives want to
throw people "over that wall":
ABC's Chris Cuomo: "Now, Gianna, for you, immigration. You've been naturalized. You're now here a naturalized citizen three years. But it's a big issue. Everybody wants to put up a big wall and then find who's not supposed to be here and throw them over that wall. But what is your perspective on that?"
Gianna, an Iowa voter supporting Hillary Clinton: "Okay. I think that, one, it's not going to work...."
Cuomo: "But for a politician, you want that red meat. You want to be able to be strong and we want them out!"
- Interviewing various Iowa voters on ABC's Good Morning America, January 3, 2008.
A compilation of some of Cuomo's more egregious examples of liberal bias can
be found below:
TV Anchors Awed that Obama Can Swat a Fly
"He's looking. He raises his hand....He stares at the fly. How many times have each of us tried to do this? Look at the hand coming up. The poise. The cupping. And the quick slap....He's very quick....The President has cat-like quickness."
- ABC's Chris Cuomo on the June 17, 2009 Good Morning America, using a Telestrator to show how Obama swatted the fly.
Thrilled by France's $6 Gas
"You're also looking at a [global warming] solution here in Europe: smaller vehicles, more energy efficient, many which use diesel fuel which is more efficient. And the price of gas here is $6 a gallon to discourage guzzling. A lot of big ideas and innovations coming out of Europe."
- ABC's Chris Cuomo reporting from Paris for Earth Day, April 20, 2007, Good Morning America.
Republicans "Reckless" to Oppose ObamaCare?
"You're always honest about both political parties. Governor, do you believe that the Republicans are playing politics here, at the risk of people's health care?...Is it upstaging the need to help people right now? Is this getting to be a little bit of a reckless situation?"
- ABC's Chris Cuomo to Arnold Schwarzenegger on Good Morning America, July 22, 2009.
Leftists Are Ahead of the Curve
"Across the country, citizens have been coming out to voice their opposition, all calling for the same things. They want government accountability, they want environmental justice, and most of all, they're calling for peace....While protesters like today are a statistical minority, in American history protests like this have been prescient indicators of the national mood. So the government may do well to listen to what's said today."
- ABC correspondent Chris Cuomo on a special Saturday edition of Good Morning America, March 22, 2003.
Chance to Expand Welfare State
"Hurricane Katrina is perhaps the most economically destructive event in American history since the Great Depression, the last time the country responded with unprecedented sweeping changes to help the least fortunate. Today may demand an equal effort."
- Reporter Chris Cuomo during an August 31, 2005 ABC News special, "In the Path of Katrina."
-Scott Whitlock is a news analyst for the Media Research Center.