The irony must have been lost on Bill Plante when he reported on Monday's CBS This Morning
that President Obama "did golf with Tiger [Woods], but we didn't see a
picture of it. They [the Obama administration] don't like to show a
picture of the President at leisure doing anything. They see this as propaganda for the Republicans."
However, exactly two weeks earlier, on February 4, 2013, Plante acted
as an Obama administration stenographer as he pointed out a photo
released by the White House of the President "at leisure" –
specifically, firing a shotgun. He also spotlighted menu choices for the
chief executive's Super Bowl festivities:
BILL PLANTE: The
White House released this photo over the weekend of the President skeet
shooting at Camp David, to back up his recent statement that he's
familiar with firearms and not an enemy of the Second Amendment....
Now, the President did take a break from politics on Sunday. He
hosted his own Super Bowl party here at the White House. He had some
friends over, and the menu was carefully balanced between Baltimore and
San Francisco – Chesapeake Bay crab cakes, San Francisco cioppino stew
with sourdough toast, and a couple of craft beers from each city.
This isn't the first time that the CBS correspondent has glowingly reported on the President's culinary picks. On the March 15, 2012 edition [1] of CBS This Morning, anchor Charlie Rose brought on Plante to discuss the wines that the White House served at the state dinner for British Prime Minister David Cameron:
PLANTE: Well, I did. You know, they call themselves the most
transparent administration in history, and they're hiding the wines they
serve at the state dinner. (Rose laughs) Hello? Look, the wines are always some of the best in America, and until last year, they were always listed. But now, the White House has kind of wimped out-
CHARLIE ROSE: Yeah-
PLANTE: Last night's wines were some very good wines, and one
of California's great Chardonnays, Pete Michael; a Cabernet from
Washington State. The retail prices are relatively high. Then, the
sparkling wine at the end from Iron Horse- not so high. But look, all of
those wines are wines that California and America- and Washington
State- can be proud of. But the White House is worried about the optics.
They're afraid that they'll be accused of being extravagant, and, of
course, it's an election year. And it's too bad because the winemakers
get no credit, except that we just gave them one.
Co-anchor Norah O'Donnell set up the veteran journalist reporting on
Obama's celebrity golf outing near the end of a report on immigration
reform: "So Bill, the President is spending this holiday weekend in
Florida. I understand he golfed with Tiger Woods, but the White House press corps is being denied access." Plante then gave a 15-second brief on the story, which included his "propaganda" line.
Back in May 2012, the CBS journalist helped boost the Obama administration's spin [2]
on Vice President Biden's support for same-sex "marriage". Plante
failed to include any soundbites for conservatives or even moderate
Democrats during his report, and mentioned social conservatives'
opposition only in passing.
The transcript of the relevant portion of the Bill Plante report on Monday's CBS This Morning:
NORAH
O'DONNELL: So Bill, the President is spending this holiday weekend in
Florida. I understand he golfed with Tiger Woods, but the White House
press corps is being denied access.
PLANTE: Well, he did golf with Tiger, but we didn't see a picture of
it. They don't like to show a picture of the President at leisure doing
anything. They see this as propaganda for the Republicans. We, of
course, like to say that we ought to see the President do whatever he's
doing. (O'Donnell laughs) They have a different opinion.
O'DONNELL: That's right. All right. Thanks, Bill.
— Matthew Balan is a news analyst at the Media Research Center. You can follow him on Twitter here [3].