MSNBC guests skewed right during first day of Alito confirmation hearing
SUMMARY: In the first four hours of MSNBC's January 9 coverage of the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr., the network featured interviews with Pat Buchanan, former RNC chairman Ed Gillespie, and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) -- but no Democratic or progressive commentators.
A Media Matters for America review of MSNBC's live coverage of the first day of Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr.'s confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 9 showed that in the initial four hours of coverage, from noon to 4 p.m. ET, the network featured interviews with MSNBC political analyst and former Republican presidential candidate Pat Buchanan; former Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie, who has served as a White House adviser for Alito's nomination process; and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN). During that same time span, the network hosted no Democratic or progressive commentators.
In addition to Gillespie, Buchanan, and Frist, the network featured MSNBC chief White House correspondent Norah O'Donnell, who interviewed Buchanan three times; MSNBC Live anchor Chris Jansing, who interviewed Buchanan once; and NBC News chief justice correspondent Pete Williams. Media Matters previously noted instances in which Williams falsely suggested that Alito had followed a precedent set by Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor when he voted to uphold spousal notification requirements for abortion procedures and uncritically repeated an unfounded claim by Alito's supporters that his appellate rulings signal how he would rule on abortion rights if confirmed.
Media Matters has also noted that on November 1, 2005, Buchanan expanded upon a false claim made by MSNBC Hardball host Chris Matthews -- that a Democratic National Committee (DNC) memorandum released upon Alito's nomination accused Alito of being "soft" on the mob -- by claiming that the DNC memo accused Alito of having links to organized crime. In fact, the memo made neither claim.
Most of the day's festivities were hosted by misleader-in-chief Matthews, whose face grew redder by the moment, excited over these predictable proceedings as he always is.
decreed that Scalito be appointed.
Or is that annointed.
Whatever.
It's a done deal.
that because no other network was mentioned in a similar post tonight, the panels were all balanced (or could some of them have been tilted progressive). By the way, how does one get MSNBC on their TV??? And why would they want to watch it (probably doubling viewership) anyway?
Pat Buchanan is the "perfect" person to be commenting on Alito, given his (Pat's) previous history with the Nixon administration (where he famously advised Nixon to simply burn the Whitehouse recordings).
If ever a man believed (as Alito apparently does) that the prez is above the law (unless it's a Dem), it's Pat Buchanan.
Outrageous!!
Tsk, tsk, tsk
I wonder what Bush owes this guy.
So far, I have received no reply - not even an automatic acknowledgement of having received the email. I intend to follow up within a few days.