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NBC's Today Continues Blackout on Fast and Furious Controversy
News Boster.org ^ | June 20, 2012 | Matthew Balan

Posted on 06/20/2012 7:40:21 PM PDT by Kaslin

NBC's Today kept up its complete omission of the Fast and Furious gun-running controversy on Wednesday, even as a House committee prepared to vote later in the day on whether to find Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress. CBS This Morning stood among the Big Three morning newscasts in devoting a full report to the issue. ABC's Good Morning America gave only a 20-second news brief on the controversy.

Overall, NBC has punted on the story since December 2010, when the scandal first emerged. NBC Nightly News had its own blackout on Fast and Furious until June 12, 2012, when correspondent Kelly O'Donnell finally mentioned "Congress's investigation of a failed operation that sent U.S. guns into Mexico" during a 30-second news brief. The issue hasn't been mentioned since on the evening newscast.

NBC's Today kept up its complete omission of the Fast and Furious gun-running controversy on Wednesday, even as a House committee prepared to vote later in the day on whether to find Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress. CBS This Morning stood among the Big Three morning newscasts in devoting a full report to the issue. ABC's Good Morning America gave only a 20-second news brief on the controversy.

Overall, NBC has punted on the story since December 2010, when the scandal first emerged. NBC Nightly News had its own blackout on Fast and Furious until June 12, 2012, when correspondent Kelly O'Donnell finally mentioned "Congress's investigation of a failed operation that sent U.S. guns into Mexico" during a 30-second news brief. The issue hasn't been mentioned since on the evening newscast.

CBS This Morning anchor Erica Hill introduced correspondent Nancy Cordes's report by noting how "a House committee is due to vote today on finding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress. Holder has refused the Oversight and Government Reform Committee's demand for documents from the controversial 'Fast and Furious' gun-running operation." Cordes highlighted during the segment that "Holder says there's no evidence of a cover-up; that he's already provided 7,600 pages worth of documents; that this is, essentially, a Republican fishing expedition."

On Good Morning America, news anchor Josh Elliott gave his sole news brief on Fast and Furious six minutes into the 7 am Eastern hour:

JOSH ELLIOTT: Meanwhile here at home, Attorney General Eric Holder could be charged with contempt of Congress today. A House committee is demanding more documents about the government's Fast and Furious program, a failed sting operation that allowed weapons to get into the hands of Mexican gangs. Holder calls the committee's threat to hold him in contempt pure politics.

The ABC morning actually hasn't been much better than its NBC counterpart, as they've have only given one other news brief on the controversy over the past 18 months.

The full transcript of Nancy Cordes's report from Wednesday's CBS This Morning, which aired 15 minutes into the 7 am Eastern hour:

ERICA HILL: On Capitol Hill, a House committee is due to vote today on finding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress. Holder has refused the Oversight and Government Reform Committee's demand for documents from the controversial 'Fast and Furious' gun-running operation, which was first exposed by CBS News. Committee chairman Darrell Issa says a last-minute meeting on Tuesday went nowhere.

[CBS News Graphic: "Holder On The Hot Seat: Attorney General May Face Contempt Vote"]

REP. DARRELL ISSA, (R), CALIFORNIA: It's, ultimately, the attorney general who is the custodian of the documents we wish to receive, and that's why the contempt cites him. We would hope that the President would ask his attorney general to be more cooperative.

CHARLIE ROSE: Nancy Cordes is on Capitol Hill this morning. Nancy, what is happening here?

NANCY CORDES: Well, Charlie, what's happening is the Republicans say that Holder is not giving them the documents they need to investigate whether the Department of Justice covered up its involvement in 'Fast and Furious', or tried to silence whistleblowers, after a U.S. Border agent, Brian Terry, was killed in Arizona, and two guns that had been walked as part of the program were found at the scene.

Attorney General Holder says there's no evidence of a cover-up; that he's already provided 7,600 pages worth of documents; that this is, essentially, a Republican fishing expedition. And so, he had an ultimatum of his own for Issa: I'll give you more documents if you agree to drop the subpoenas against me.

ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL: I have to say, given the extraordinary nature of the offer that we made, and given the extraordinary way in which we have shared materials to date, that I think we are actually involved more in political gamesmanship, as opposed to trying to get the information they say they want.

CORDES: So unless someone blinks this morning, this contempt vote is going to go ahead in the committee. If it passes, then it would go to the House floor. If it passes in the House, it would come to the Senate. But the Senate, Charlie and Erica, is controlled by Democrats, so it's likely that the move would die there.

ROSE: Nancy Cordes, thank you so much.



TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: 2deadfeds; 300deadmexicans; atf; banglist; brianterry; contempthearing; dea; dhs; doj; ericholder; fastandfurious; fbi; gunrunner; gunwalker; holder; holdercontempt; ice; jaimezapata; lamestreammedia; murdergate; nbc; obama; terry; zapata
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1 posted on 06/20/2012 7:40:34 PM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

Will NBC go down with Obozo’s Titanic?

May it be so.


2 posted on 06/20/2012 7:43:50 PM PDT by Texas Fossil (Government, even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one)
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To: Kaslin

Brian Williams led with the F&F contempt charge. He managed to get in the talking point “witch hunt” quote from some Libtard but actually did a better job than ABC and SeeBS.


3 posted on 06/20/2012 7:47:38 PM PDT by Clint N. Suhks
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To: Kaslin

Jake Tapper did a fair piece on ABC News tonight.


4 posted on 06/20/2012 7:58:03 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer (The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.)
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To: Kaslin

Broadcast licenses are for “public convenience” The licensee must show that they serve the public. These Alphabet networks are not doing that because of their bias. Their license to broadcast should be rescinded.


5 posted on 06/20/2012 8:00:46 PM PDT by Don Corleone ("Oil the gun..eat the cannoli. Take it to the Mattress.")
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To: Kaslin
Hey, we're just doing our job!

What's the problem?

6 posted on 06/20/2012 8:03:07 PM PDT by Art in Idaho (Conservatism is the only hope for Western Civilization.)
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To: Texas Fossil

Bump


7 posted on 06/20/2012 8:03:16 PM PDT by Kaslin (Acronym for OBAMA: One Big Ass Mistake America)
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To: Don Corleone

That is the BS liberals try. The MSM are dying of their own accord. No need to try using government to silence them.


8 posted on 06/20/2012 8:18:38 PM PDT by allmendream (Tea Party did not send GOP to D.C. to negotiate the terms of our surrender to socialism)
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To: Kaslin

We get it all on BBC down here. What a riot.


9 posted on 06/20/2012 8:21:06 PM PDT by SkyDancer
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To: Clint N. Suhks
Hannity had Michelle Malking and that left wing lunatic Tamara Holder on his show, Listen to the spin she is trying to do about the scandal. It starts at the 0:4:04 timeline

Eric Holder obstructing Justice

10 posted on 06/20/2012 8:35:25 PM PDT by Kaslin (Acronym for OBAMA: One Big Ass Mistake America)
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To: SkyDancer

We get it all on BBC down here. What a riot.
________________________________________________________

Gawd! Bless you’re heart. I’m Yank who lived in the UK for almost a decade and noticed ‘Auntie Beeb’ oooooozed anti-Americanism on a daily basis.


11 posted on 06/20/2012 8:39:29 PM PDT by RushIsMyTeddyBear (Wings cannot be redistributed, they can only be broken. ~ Oleg Atbashian (People's Cube))
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To: RushIsMyTeddyBear

Ya, well I can see through all that with them. We also have ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corp). which does a lot of world news. It’s nice to be able to watch TV news without so much editorial filtering like in the US.


12 posted on 06/20/2012 8:45:08 PM PDT by SkyDancer ("Ambition Without Talent Is Sad - Talent Without Ambition Is Worse")
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To: Texas Fossil

NBC: Nothing But Crap
ABC: Always Broadcasting Crap
CBS: Crap Broadcastion System
CNN: Crap Not News


13 posted on 06/20/2012 8:57:50 PM PDT by Newtoidaho (Fight organized crime. Vote out all incumbent Democrats!)
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To: Kaslin

What is fast and furious?

P.S. The only TV news I get is NBC Nightly News.


14 posted on 06/20/2012 9:01:18 PM PDT by gunsequalfreedom (Conservative is not a label of convenience. It is a guide to your actions.)
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To: Kaslin
Barack Obama is proving that his radical ideology and distaste for the constitution is a detriment to the nation and the future of our society.

One has to ask why journalists as a whole support him and want him to have four more years to implement his destructive ideals.

15 posted on 06/20/2012 9:08:55 PM PDT by Baynative (REMEMBER: Without America there is no free world!)
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To: gunsequalfreedom
Fast & Furious was a program under Obama which allowed 1700 - 2000 guns to walk across the border. They did not track these guns and did not collaborate with the Mexican Gov't unlike a similar program under Bush.

The Bush program (Wide Receiver) tracked the guns carefully along with Mexican officials to see where the guns would end up to try to snag the drug cartels.

Obama & his people, however, did their program under the radar while suspiciously talking about a "river of iron" flowing from the US to Mexico. The suspicion is that they were eager to see their guns cause damage so they could prosecute the gun lobby here in the US for causing violence down in Mexico through gun sales. Problem is, Obama's guns got caught killing hundreds down in Mexico along with an American border official so now Obama & Co. are trying to keep Fast & Furious operation under wraps.

They did it to frame the gun lobby, but got caught causing violence themselves. Obama's executive privilege claim today shows that he was definitely involved.

16 posted on 06/20/2012 9:13:23 PM PDT by what's up
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To: what's up
Fast & Furious was a program under Obama which allowed 1700 - 2000 guns to walk across the border. They did not track these guns and did not collaborate with the Mexican Gov't unlike a similar program under Bush. The Bush program (Wide Receiver) tracked the guns carefully along with Mexican officials to see where the guns would end up to try to snag the drug cartels.

The idea sounds like a stupid idea under both presidents. They should have just brought all the troops home from Afghanistan and placed them on our border with Mexico. What would be wrong with that?

What is all this nonsense of using guns as bait? Don't these presidents just have the guts to solve the problem? Why the pussy footing around? You mean to tell me we don't have the ability to protect our own borders? If we can't even do that, what the heck are we doing with our troops in Afghanistan?

17 posted on 06/20/2012 9:31:41 PM PDT by gunsequalfreedom (Conservative is not a label of convenience. It is a guide to your actions.)
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To: Kaslin

Tamara “Im sleeping with jessie jackson” Holder lies every time she speaks.


18 posted on 06/20/2012 9:48:38 PM PDT by samadams2000 (Someone important make......The Call!)
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To: Kaslin

This is really the best evidence that there is something very rotten in Denmark with this scandal: the media doesn’t want to talk about it. They get all their talking points direct from Organizing For America, so if they knew there was nothing there, and it would blow up in Republicans’ faces, they would have been covering it and criticizing us all along.


19 posted on 06/20/2012 9:50:18 PM PDT by Boogieman
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To: Kaslin

“The ABC morning actually hasn’t been much better than its NBC counterpart.”
Listened to the Fox radio report. Indistinguishable from the other alphabets.
Fair and balanced my a$$.


20 posted on 06/20/2012 10:49:56 PM PDT by Eagles6
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