NBC anchor Brian Williams went deep into the floodwaters of bias at the end of Rock Center on Thursday night, ripping into Michael Brown and Rush Limbaugh about Hurricane Sandy and then bizarrely claiming these men were playing politics – as if he wasn’t.
Williams boiled over: “In a related story, ‘Brownie’ is back. Michael Brown, who helped bring us the largest domestic human rights outrage of the modern era – the Katrina response – said this week the lesson of Hurricane Sandy is that people need to chill [1].”
Then over footage of homes reduced to cinders, Williams lectured, “Something we intend to pass along to these homeowners in Mantaloking, New Jersey, as soon as the embers from their homes have thoroughly cooled.”
That's funny. A conservative might say the largest domestic human-rights outrage of the modern era began with Roe vs. Wade. But you won't hear that inside NBC News. Brian Williams has a not-so-charming way of making Brownie sound like a Grand Wizard of the Klan.
Then came the Rush-bashing. “So after all this loss you might be curious as to why Rush Limbaugh went after Gov. Christie today. It was because he was getting along so well with the president, working together, saying nice things about Barack Obama. Just when we think the storm wiped away everything, we learned politics survived.”
Naturally, Williams thought Christie was “tactile, indefatigable, and getting high marks for managing the crisis.” But would Williams say that if he’d slammed Obama?
If Williams thinks he was utterly nonpartisan and apolitical as he unleashed his old anti-Bush animus over Katrina and his long-standing loathing of Limbaugh, he should be tested by a mental-health professional for delusions.
As he signed off, Williams gushed that NBC's Hurricane Sandy benefit concert wouldn't just star Obama fans Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi, but Jon Stewart as well!
-- Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center. Click here [2] to follow Tim Graham on Twitter.