ABC’s World News Tonight, NBC Nightly News Remain Silent on Gruber

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ABC’s World News Tonight, NBC Nightly News Remain Silent on Gruber

By Curtis Houck | November 17, 2014 | 10:06 PM EST
 
 

On Monday, ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir and NBC Nightly News continued to ignore the news surrounding videos unearthed of ObamaCare architect Jonathan Gruber praising “lack of transparency” as a “political advantage” and insulting voters as stupid regarding the law’s passage and contents. With tonight’s omissions, the blackout of coverage on Gruber from these two programs now stands at ten days.

Thus far, ABC has only mentioned Gruber once since the first video surfaced on November 7 and it was saved for its Sunday morning political talk show This Week with George Stephanopoulos. When it comes to NBC’s total number of mentions, they have only been able to muster two total mentions of Gruber with one on its Sunday morning talk show Meet the Press and another on Monday morning’s Today. [MP3 audio here; Video below]



After discussing Gruber four times in the past ten days, CBS returned to its old pattern of offering no coverage on him during the Monday edition of the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley.

Meanwhile, the Fox News Channel’s (FNC) Special Report with Bret Baier had two reports that led off its show on Monday night with the latest developments from FNC correspondent Doug McKelway and more on Gruber’s compensation history by FNC’s James Rosen.

McKelway’s report included soundbites of the President responding to the Gruber controversy and of Gruber himself telling, in the words of McKelway, “a very different story” in which he met with the President multiple times when he was both a Senator and then as President.

Instead of even giving Gruber a brief mention on its program, World News Tonight with David Muir informed viewers that a ten-second kiss can lead to the transfer of up to 80 million particles of bacteria between the two parties. Over on NBC Nightly News, it spent 37 seconds mentioning the fact that Giancarlo Stanton of Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Miami Marlins signed the largest contract in North American sports history at $325 million over 13 years.
 

The complete transcript of the opening report on FNC’s Special Report with Bret Baier on November 17 can be found below.


FNC’s Special Report with Bret Baier
 November 17, 2014
 6:00 p.m. Eastern

[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: The Gruber Effect; Pres Obama Tries to Minimize Gruber Role in ACA]

BRET BAIER: After a week of featuring one arrogant insult after another from self-styled ObamaCare architect Jonathan Gruber, President Obama is trying to minimize the influence the MIT professor had on him and the Affordable Care Act on it’s way to becoming law.

[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: 2nd Enrollment Period; HHS: 1 Mil + Visited Website Over Weekend; HHS: 200k Contacted Call Center]

The second ObamaCare enrollment period is now under way. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Burwell says more than a million people visited the website over the weekend and 200,000, she says, contacted the call center. On the other hand, Gallup says the health care law has hit its lowest point yet, with just 37 percent of Americans approving and 56 percent disapproving. This comes ahead of anticipated repeal efforts from next year's Republican-controlled Congress. Correspondent Doug McKelway begins our coverage tonight.

RADIO TALK SHOW HOST DAVID WEBB [TO JONATHAN GRUBER]:  Professor, do you really think the American voters are stupid? What about the ObamaCare, is that just a hoax on the American people?

DOUG MCKELWAY: Embattled ObamaCare architect Jonathan Gruber uttered a no comment when confronted by Fox News today at MIT, but President Obama did comment in Australia when asked by Fox News's Ed Henry whether he misled the American people to get ObamaCare passed.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: No, I did not. I just heard about this – the fact that some advisor who never worked on our staff expressed an opinion that I completely disagree with, in terms of the voters, is no reflection on the actual process that was rung.

MCKELWAY: In multiple interviews, Gruber has told a very different story, he says he first briefed then-Senator Obama on his health care model

JONATHAN GRUBER: And he was really interested in learning. He clearly was not interested in little incremental things, he wanted to be bold.

MCKELWAY: Once Senator Obama was elected President, Gruber was summoned again by the transition team and later by the President himself.

GRUBER: We had a meeting in the Oval Office with several experts.

MCKELWAY: Gruber tells of a fully engaged President, gun-ho to pass the bill with the mandates or taxes that would help pay for it.

GRUBER: To his credit, he gets a lot of people, including myself, telling him, look, you cannot make this work without the mandate. He says okay, let's do the mandate, and his advisors say this might not be the right thing to do and he says let's make this happen.

MCKELWAY: Shortly after, an array of administration staff and Democratic groups touted the Gruber model. In 2012, BarackObama.com produced an ad featuring Gruber to attack Mitt Romeny’s opposition to ObamaCare

GRUBER: And I helped Governor Romney develop his health care reform, or RomneyCare, before going down to Washington to help President Obama develop his national version of that law .

MCKELWAY: The administration also sent glowing reports of Gruber's model to Obama-friendly columnists and media. It was only conservatives raising questions, sometimes to their own embarassments:

CONGRESSMAN JOE WILSON [DURING JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS ON 09/09/09]: You lie!

WRITER AND PRODUCER JACK CASHILL: It was a crazy thing to do at the time, you know, the Republicans rushed to the mikes to apologize. The Democrats rushed to their direct mail vendors to exploit it, but Joe Wilson was on target.

MCKELWAY: And nobody has made that point as effectively as the formerly talkative Gruber. A self-identified Democrat, Gruber has suddenly become the unintentional darling of conservatives for openly admitting that “lack of transparency” is a “political advantage” and for saying “if CBO scores the mandate as taxes, the bill dies.” Bret?

BAIER: Doug, thank you.
 

Source URL: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/curtis-houck/2014/11/17/abcs-world-news-tonight-nbc-nightly-news-remain-silent-gruber

[aligncare]

Welcome to 1940s Stalingrad.

During the postwar reconstruction phase, the Soviet Union became the second country in the world to develop a nuclear weapon, after the United States.

That's the last time the Soviet Union would come in second. For it was during that time the Soviet union also launched the Great Plan for the Transformation of Nature. Oh, yes folks, global warming.

So let's see. TARP (collectivization), check. Carbon credits (the Transformation of Nature), check. Obamacare (socialized medicine), check.

What's left? Oh, yes. Pravda and Izvestia, check and check.

Welcome to the world of 2014 and Obama's America.

[DCPatriot]

Welcome to 1940s Stalingrad.

During the postwar reconstruction phase, the Soviet Union became the second country in the world to develop a nuclear weapon, after the United States.

That's the last time the Soviet Union would come in second. For it was during that time the Soviet union also launched the Great Plan for the Transformation of Nature. Oh, yes folks, global warming.

So let's see. TARP (collectivization), check. Carbon credits (the Transformation of Nature), check. Obamacare (socialized medicine), check.

What's left? Oh, yes. Pravda and Izvestia, check and check.

Welcome to the world of 2014 and Obama's America.

So...in real numbers, just how many people are affected by their blatant censorship?

Is it really significant?  Do their loyal news viewers vote?  Obviously not it the mid-terms.

[rangerrebew]

So...in real numbers, just how many people are affected by their blatant censorship?

Is it really significant?  Do their loyal news viewers vote?  Obviously not it the mid-terms.

One is too many.

[rangerrebew]

Obvious Gruber Reference Completely Goes Over Chris Matthews's Head

By Ken Shepherd | November 18, 2014 | 8:58 PM EST
 


Earlier today in a press conference, Speaker of the House John Boehner made a quip about President Obama's veto threat of a bill to authorize the Keystone XL oil pipeline which indirectly referenced Jonathan Gruber's infamous "stupidity of the American voter" line regarding the selling of ObamaCare.

Hardball host Chris Matthews played the clip on his November 18 program, but seemed completely oblivious as to its meaning, instead using the remark as an opportunity to demand Keystone supporter Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) denounce Boehner's supposed ad hominem attack on environmentalists who oppose building the pipeline. 


 

Here's the relevant transcript:


CHRIS MATTHEWS, host: Here is Speaker Boehner today talking about this. He really ripped into your side, Sen. Markey, and the president for his threat to veto the legislation tonight. for the president's threat to veto the legislation if it is passed tonight. It wasn't passed, but he's still going to veto it if it does pass next year. Here he is, John Boehner.

House Speaker JOHN BOEHNER (R-Ohio): A Keystone pipeline veto would send the signal that this president has no interest in listening to the American people. Vetoing an overwhelmingly popular bill would be a clear indication that he doesn't care about the American people's priorities. It would be equivalent of calling the American people stupid.

MATTHEWS: Do you think that's true, Sen. Hoeven? The president's calling the American people stupid for believing in the pipeline. I don't even get this. I mean, it seems to me 60 percent want the pipeline. A much higher percentage want gun control. And yet Congress doesn't support gun control. What's this idea that if you don't agree with somebody, they're stupid?



As if to underscore basic listening comprehension is not his strong suit, shortly thereafter Matthews took Hoeven's insistence that supporting Keystone should be a "no-brainer" of a call to make was an attack on liberals and Democrats for lacking brains (emphasis mine):


HOEVEN: Look, the American public, 60 to 70 percent in poll after poll, says that they want this project approved. And they want it approved because it's a no-brainer. It really is about getting energy that we produce here in our country and working with our closest friend and ally Canada-- remember, the oil in this pipeline is not only from Canada, it's from states like North Dakota, which now produces 1.2 million barrels a day, and we're having to move it in rail cars. This pipeline would replace 1400 rail cars a day that are now clogging up our railroads so that we can't move ag products, and it displaces oil that we're now bringing in from places like Venezuela, which has the same carbon footprint, or higher, than this oil.

Even the heavy crudes in California have the same greenhouse gas emissions. And it makes sure that we don't have to depend on the Middle East for our oil.

That's why the American public supports it and that's why we should pass it.

MATTHEWS: You know, it's more complicated than that. I just think that, both senators there, the Speaker says the president's calling the people stupid and you just called the opponents of the pipeline no-brainers. I mean, it's that the kind of---

HOEVEN: No, no, no, no, no! I said approving it is a no-brainer.

MATTHEWS: Oh, it's so simple!

HOEVEN: I'm not saying anybody's a no-brainer, I'm not calling anybody stupid, I'm being very careful to make sure I don't.

MATTHEWS:OK, it seems so simple. To you guys, it's so simple.

If Matthews wants to behold something simple, he needs merely to look into his dressing-room mirror.
 

Source URL: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/ken-shepherd/2014/11/18/obvious-gruber-reference-completely-goes-over-chris-matthewss-head

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NBC Nightly News Keeps Quiet on Gruber as ABC’s World News Tonight Finally Covers Story

By Curtis Houck | November 18, 2014 | 8:15 PM EST
 

On Tuesday night, NBC Nightly News continued its streak of ignoring comments made by ObamaCare architect Jonathan Gruber into an 11th day while ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir finally brought up Gruber’s comments on the “stupidity of the American voter” and the "advantage" of having a “lack of transparency” in getting ObamaCare passed.

Anchor David Muir discussed the story for one minute and 16 seconds with ABC News chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl and described the situation as a “controversy” and labeled Gruber as “one of the architects of ObamaCare” two days after President Obama brushed off Gruber as merely “some adviser who never worked on our staff.” [MP3 audio here; Video below]



Following a clip from the first Gruber video that the group American Commitment unveiled on November 7, Muir then did something else that was rare for ABC or evening newscast in showing an exchange of Karl asking tough questions during the daily White House press briefing.

During Tuesday’s session, Karl asked White House Press Secretary Earnest whether or not Gruber would ever again be hired by the Obama administration to which Earnest didn’t directly rule it out, but emphasized that “the comments that he has now famously expressed are not views that are shared by anybody at the White House.”

When Muir posed to Karl whether that answer was a yes or no, Karl determined that: "Well, they won't rule out hiring him again somewhere down the line, some part of the federal government. Let me tell you this, David, you won't see Jonathan Gruber around the White House again."

Instead of giving mention to Gruber on this occasion, NBC Nightly News devoted 32 seconds to the results of a study that found fewer Americans will have the need for a two-car garage in their homes as more Americans are expected to use public transit and other forms of transportation in the future and take the percentage of homes with more than two cars down to 43 percent by 2040.

 

The complete transcript of the segment that aired on ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir on November 18 is transcribed below.


ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir
 November 18, 2014
 6:41 p.m. Eastern

DAVID MUIR: We're going to turn to an another controversy. This time over an economist who has talked about the quote “stupidity of the American voters.” That economist? Jonathan Gruber was one of the architects of ObamaCare and has said that the passing of the President's healthcare plan relied on that so-called “stupidity.” Here’s one of those instances

JONATHAN GRUBER: Lack of transparency is a basic advantage and basically, you know, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever but, basically, that was really, really critical to getting the thing to pass.

MUIR: Well, today, Jon pressed the White House. Would Gruber, who has talked about the “stupidity of the American voter,” be hired by the White House again? Listen.

JONATHAN KARL: He's made more than $2 million in the federal government, $400,000 specifically regarding the healthcare law. No more government contracts for Jonathan Gruber?

WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY JOSH EARNEST: Well, I assume that those kinds of decisions are based on merit, but certainly the comments that he has now famously expressed are not views that are shared by anybody at the White House.

MUIR: So, Jon, was that a yes or no? Would they hire him again?
 
KARL: Well, they won't rule out hiring him again somewhere down the line, some part of the federal government. Let me tell you this, David, you won't see Jonathan Gruber around the White House again.

[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: ‘Stupid’ Comments; White House Repudiates Ex-Advisor]

They don't want any part of him after those comments. He is persona non grata now.

MUIR: Alright, Jon Karl, live on both fronts tonight. Jon, thank you.
 
Source URL: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/curtis-houck/2014/11/18/nbc-nightly-news-keeps-quiet-gruber-abcs-world-news-tonight-finally