On Friday afternoon, Joe Biden lived up to his reputation for committing gaffes, not even a day after Paul Ryan zinged the Vice President [1]
over how "sometimes the words don't come out of your mouth the right
way" during Thursday's debate. At a rally in La Crosse, Wisconsin, Biden claimed [2] Planned Parenthood "under law cannot perform any abortions." In reality, the organization is the largest abortion racket [3] in the country.
Hours later, none of the Big Three's Friday evening newscasts had
covered Biden's patently false claim. But just two days earlier, these
programs devoted a combined five minutes and 1 second on Wednesday to Mitt Romney's statement to The Des Moines Register that "there's no legislation with regard to abortion that I'm familiar with that would become part of my agenda." NBC's Brian Williams mouthed the Obama campaign's spin [4] - that "what Mitt Romney said about abortion that sure sounds like a change."
The same evening, on CBS Evening News, Scott Pelley gave a slanted introduction to John Dickerson's report on the Romney remark: "In the primaries, Governor Romney took a hard line against abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, or the health of the mother." Pelley asked Dickerson, "Can you help us untangle all of this?"
The CBS political director outlined that "he's [Romney] had a number of positions on abortion," but also pointed out that "when people heard these comments to The Des Moines Register, they thought he was moderating his position. But
if you looked at them closely, it didn't contradict anything he said in
this campaign, and, indeed, his subsequent remarks back that up."
On ABC's World News on Wednesday, Diane Sawyer raised the
issue during an interview of President Obama [5], and bluntly asked the
incumbent if his opponent lied about his position on abortion:
DIANE SAWYER (voice-over) And he [Obama] says taking him on, on
issues where he shifted, like legal abortion. During the primaries, the
governor made it clear he would like to see a repeal of Roe versus
Wade. But yesterday, in an interview, he said this: 'There's no
legislation with regards to abortion that I'm familiar with that would
become part of my agenda.'
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Well, look, Diane, this is - this is another
example of Governor Romney hiding positions he's been campaigning on for
a year and a half. He's – his-
SAWYER (on-camera): Is it a lie?
OBAMA: Governor Romney has made very clear, that if a bill comes to his
desk that overturns Roe versus Wade, that he will be fully supportive
of that; and he said, I will appoint justices that will overturn Roe
versus Wade. And now, four weeks before an election, he is trying to
cloud the question, when it comes to women's rights to control their own
health care decisions.
The one thing that I think people - Republicans, as well as
Democrats - can say, is that there has been consistency with me - from
the time that I started running for President to today - and there will
be consistency all the way through the next four years of my presidency.
People will know where I stand, what I believe, what I'm fighting for,
and that's part of leadership.
All three evening news programs on Friday aired full reports on the
presidential race, but they all focused on the vice presidential debate
from the previous night. During his report, ABC's Jonathan Karl noted
Biden's rally in "Paul Ryan's home state" of Wisconsin and played a clip
from it, but failed to mention his gaffe. CBS and NBC didn't mention
the Vice President's campaign event.
However,
all three newscasts covered Space Shuttle Endeavour's slow journey down
the streets of Los Angeles that day. NBC Nightly News even devoted 40
seconds to Barbara Streisand's concerts in Brooklyn, and 18 seconds to
modified images of the presidential and vice presidential candidates [see image at right]. The Peacock Network certainly has its priorities straight
Even worse, NBCNews.com's First Read blog quoted [6] the Vice President's erroneous statement on Friday, but continued by simply correcting the slip-up: "Biden
also knocked Republicans for attempting to block federal funding for
Planned Parenthood, 'which under law can not perform any abortions.'
While Planned Parenthood is prohibited from allocating federal funding
for abortion, the organization does offer abortion services in addition
to contraceptive and preventative health care for women."
It should be no surprise that the Big Three networks ignored this
latest Biden gaffe. In a September 2012 report, the MRC's Geoff Dickens documented their record [7] of minimal to no coverage of past verbal stumbles from the former senator from Delaware.
The full transcript of John Dickerson's report from Wednesday's CBS Evening News:
SCOTT PELLEY: John [Dickerson], in the primaries, Governor Romney took a
hard line against abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, or the
health of the mother. But today, he said this in The Des Moines Register
newspaper – quote, 'There's no legislation with regard to abortion that
I'm familiar with that would become part of my agenda.' Then, Governor
Romney followed that with this today.
MITT ROMNEY, (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I think I've said that, time
and again, I'm a pro-life candidate. I'll be a pro-life president. The
actions I'll take immediately are to remove funding for Planned
Parenthood.
PELLEY: So, John, I wonder, can you help us untangle all of this?
JOHN DICKERSON: Well, this is a very tricky issue for Governor Romney,
who's about to arrive here in western Ohio. He's had a number of
positions on abortion. In these comments – when he was – when he was
running for governor in 19 – in the 1990s, he said he would protect
abortion rights. But now, he has the opposite view. When people heard
these comments to The Des Moines Register, they thought he was
moderating his position. But if you looked at them closely, it didn't
contradict anything he said in this campaign, and, indeed, his
subsequent remarks back that up.
But Governor Romney has been moderating his position - or emphasizing
the more moderate parts recently - and downplaying the conservative
parts. He has pledged, once in office, that he'll do everything to
restrict abortion rights. So, this could be – this moderation could be
the good marketing that all candidates do once they get into a general
election - have to appeal to a general election audience.
But what the Obama campaign says is it's a bigger, broader strategy -
that on issues from Medicare to taxes to now abortion, Governor Romney,
who referred to himself as a severe conservative, is now trying to hide
that.
PELLEY: John, thank you.