NBC Re-Runs Obama's Retort on Religion and Citizenship, Williams Touts It 'Has Already Ricocheted Around the World'

Monday's NBC Nightly News re-ran the very same exchange between Brian Williams and President Barack Obama as had aired on Sunday's Nightly News (as well as Monday's Today show) in which Williams despaired over how "you're an American-born Christian. And yet, increasing and now significant numbers of Americans in polls, upwards of a fifth of respondents are claiming you are neither....This has to be troubling to you." Obama responded: "I can't spend all my time with my birth certificate plastered on my forehead."

Picking up on that line, Williams teased his Monday newscast: "Keeping the faith. In his interview with us, President Obama makes a comment about his own background that has already ricocheted around the world."

The subsequent interview excerpt began with a discussion of Obama's comments about the mosque near Ground Zero, an exchange which had not aired Sunday night or Monday morning, followed by a re-run of the Muslim/citizen misconceptions. For details, check my Sunday night NB post: "Brian Williams Treats Obama as Oracle of Wisdom... [1]"

NBC has yet to air a particularly sycophantic "question" Williams posed in the interview, conducted Sunday afternoon in New Orleans, which can be seen in the full 22-minute session posted on MSNBC.com [2]:

And finally, I'm hoping to find you in a reflective mood on a cloudy day. We're the first to speak to you coming off your summer vacation. How does it re-charge you, what do you think about, what do you see, what do you read about, how are you thinking about your job these days?

- Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center. Click here [3] to follow him on Twitter.