Free Republic

With CBS chief executive wife Julie Chen safely ensconced in CBS's new daytime gabfest "The Talk," CBS News got the all-clear to announce, just in time for the holiday season, that it was giving other members of "The Early Show" on-air team the old heave ho-ho-ho. Gone, as of Jan. 3, will be anchors Harry Smith and Maggie Rodriguez and weatherman Dave Price. The network wants you to know, however, that they will continue to be employed on air by CBS News - just elsewhere.

Rush Limbaugh is striking back at President Barack Obama. On Friday, the nation's top-rated radio host hit back at Obama, saying the president isn’t telling the truth and doesn't have the support of the American people. The controversy started Thursday, when Obama used an interview with CBS' Harry Smith to level a broadside at Limbaugh and Fox News host Glenn Beck. Smith asked Obama if he is “aware of the level of enmity that crosses the airwaves and that people have made part of their daily conversation" about him, including being called a Nazi and socialist. Obama shot back, "Well,...

Here is a brief video clip of President Obama shooting hoops with reporter Harry Smith. Obama was asked if he can "go to his right," and Obama said he can, "but I prefer my Left." No doubt about that! Obama is about as "Left" as they come.

Here is video of CBS News anchor Harry Smith interrupting Sen. Jim DeMint during an interview the other day to defend Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. DeMint had started to point out Napolitano's statement following the attempted terrorist attack on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 that "the system worked," when Smith interrupted to clarify what she said. Smith told DeMint, "I don't want to defend what she said" - and then went on to defend what she said! Smith then dismissed it all by telling DeMint, "That's ancient history - let's move on." No, Harry. It is not "Ancient History." The...

In an interview to be aired on the CBS "Early Show" Wednesday, Nobel Laureate Al Gore read his global warming poem to Harry Smith. Even worse, the 23-year CBS veteran journalist, almost like a teenybopper swooning as she approaches a rock star for an autograph, actually asked the former Vice President to read it to him. When the Global Warmingist-in-Chief was done, Smith said breathlessly, "Wow. I'm so glad you read that...I'm happy to hear it in your voice." Readers are cautioned to stow liquids and flammables at a safe distance before proceeding HARRY SMITH, HOST: You've written plenty of...

On Monday’s CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith promoted a new book and documentary about a New York City couple that spent a year without modern amenities, such as toilet paper and electricity, to limit their impact on the environment: “This is an amazing saga....when the lights were switched back on, Colin and Michelle clearly saw a year that meant so much more than living without toilet paper.” Smith asked Colin and Michelle Beavan what their “inspiration” was, to which Colin replied: “Concern for the planet. I mean, we were reading so much about global warming happening and we were...

While arguing with Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele about health care reform on Wednesday’s CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith proclaimed: "...if the public option is socialism, then what is Medicare?....That people overwhelmingly think works pretty well for them." Steele pointed out Medicare’s obvious flaw: "Medicare’s a government-run program that is not – that is not doing that well....Harry, come on. How often do we have to do another reset on Medicare because it’s in default or running out of money?" Steele went on to challenge President Obama’s drastic approach to reform: "My only point is why do we...

When Harry Smith interviewed Pres. Obama earlier this week, I noted that his idea of "speaking truth to power" was to suggest Bo the dog was out of control. But when Smith had a Republican in his sights this morning, the mild-mannered Early Show host suddenly went Rambo. Smith, raising his finger, scolded Mitt Romney for pointing out that Pres. Obama's response to the Iranian situation was far weaker than Ronald Reagan's vis a vis the Soviets. View video here.

Pres. Obama told Harry Smith that "I would not want just a calm, passive dog. I want a dog with a little bit of spirit." Maybe so when picking a family pet. But when it comes to the media, PBO apparently prefers a lapdog. Witness Smith's tail-between-the-legs performance that won him a huge smile from the prez. Over the course of two days, the Early Show aired clips of Smith's recent interview of the PBO. Toward the end of today's segment, Smith says: "People in the mainstream media have been accused of being afraid to speak truth to power. I've...

Was Harry Smith trying to cover for Pres. Obama? Or was he simply expressing astonishment at the bone-headedness of the contemplated move? In any case, the Early Show anchor left no doubt that the notion of appointing Caroline Kennedy as US ambassador to the Vatican was a non-starter non-pareil. Chatting this morning with Bill O’Reilly, a semi-regular Early Show guest, Smith called the floating of Kennedy’s name “too stupid” to be true. HARRY SMITH: Let me ask you about this. Caroline Kennedy: there’s this story . . . BILL O’REILLY: It’s unbelievable! SMITH: Wait, wait, wait. Here’s my question: do...

Imagine you’re a member of the MSM wanting to minimize the, uh, fallout for Pres. Obama from the North Korean missile launch made in defiance of his explicit warnings. What better way than to trivialize the event’s significance? That’s exactly what happened on today’s Early Show, as Harry Smith suggested the launch was nothing but a “goofy stunt.” Smith made his risible suggestion while speaking with UN Ambassador and Obama confidante Susan Rice. View video here.

# “I don’t know if his grasp of the bill is what it should be.” # “He’s not living in the real world.” # “I want President Obama to be a leader. A leader. And right now, I think he’s confused.” # “I’m worried about Barack Obama losing control of the process.” — Bill O’Reilly, The Early Show, 02-05-09 Appearing on the Early Show this morning, Bill O’Reilly painted a portrait, as seen from the quotes above, of a confused Pres. Obama who is losing control of the economic recovery process. What made the Factor host’s portrayal all the more...

The Early Show exiled Ann Coulter to its second half-hour today in favor of a peanut-butter update. And once there, Ann was tripled-team by the Early Show anchors. But that didn’t stop her from making the point that, now more than ever, Republicans need to stick by their principles. Coulter did so in the face of the suggestion from Maggie Rodriguez that what Republicans should really be doing is, of course, moving to the middle. MAGGIE RODRIGUEZ: Don’t you think that right now, it is, it behooves the Republicans to be a little bit more in the middle. Their voices...

I might have expected Harry Smith to cheerlead Pres. Obama’s stimulus plan. But interviewing an economist this morning, the Early Show anchor was surprisingly skeptical. Smith’s guest was Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com, who appeared before the House Budget Committee yesterday in support of the stimulus proposal. Zandi testified that the plan “will ensure that [the downturn] remains a recession and not a depression.” Smith began by surprising Zandi with a full-page ad in today’s New York Times [sponsored by the libertarian Cato Institute], signed 200 economists saying the stimulus package is unnecessary. Zandi retorted that there are...

We all know that for months, Harry Smith has been demanding that the international community force Hamas to stop shooting thousands of rockets into civilian areas of Israel. So Smith speaks with unique moral authority now in calling for Israel to be stopped. Oh, wait. As far as I know, Smith never uttered a peep of protest over the Hamas bombardment of Israel. But that didn't prevent the Early Show host from demanding this morning that someone in the US stand up to stop Israel from doing what no one else could or would. Smith served up some heaping hyperbole...

Wait a minute.When NBC’s Today Show – or any of a number of left-leaning main-stream media morning excrement-fests – had on author after author demonizing President Bush during his eight years in the White House, that was perfectly acceptable.When these masters of journalism interviewed endless lefty whinycrat pundits who couldn’t race to the guest chair fast enough to blast the President that was more than reasonable.The fact that we were (and still are) a nation at war would never keep the morning TV video rags from booking as many Bush-slammers as possible.Hey, they're entitled. Free country.(That they call themselves "objective"...

Is Harry Smith sad that the Mumbai terrorists missed their intended American and British targets and hit Indians? Strange as it sounds, it's hard to interpret his remark of this morning otherwise. Smith was discussing the attacks on the Early Show with CBS terrorism expert Jere Van Dyk when he made his bizarre observation. View video here.

In an interview with Barack Obama aired on Thursday’s CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith lobbed softballs at the Democratic candidate, spending half the interview on Obama visiting his ailing grandmother: "Lincoln said, 'all I ever hope to be, I owe to her,' in speaking about his mother. Your grandmother was very much like a mother to you. How important is this trip?" Smith later observed: "Some people say there's risk involved in this, with so little time left." Obama replied: "Yeah, well, the -- I think most people understand that if you're not caring for your family, then you're...

Good thing Nancy Pfotenhauer wasn't in the same studio with Harry Smith this morning. The Early Show anchor might have broken out his hickory stick. Like a hectoring school marm, Smith scolded McCain adviser Pfotenhauer for what he deemed her insufficient citation of a New York Times article tracing Barack Obama's affiliation with unrepentant terrorist William Ayers. Wagging a stern finger at Pfotenhauer across the airwaves, Smith repeatedly interrupted her, demanding "what was the conclusion, what was the conclusion?" View video here.

It was the kind of liberal media bias that is perhaps the most telling of all. The unconscious sort, revealing an MSMer's world view. On today's Early Show, introducing the portion of her interview with Sarah Palin dealing with abortion, Katie Couric states: "Palin says she makes no apologies for her pro-life views." Can you ever imagine Couric introducing an interview with a Dem and saying "so-and-so makes no apologies for his pro-choice views"? Neither can I. In Couric's circles, support for abortion rights in this default position, the view that all right-thinking people hold. No apologies necessary. But being...

How soft were Harry Smith's lobs to Barack Obama? If this had been a slow-pitch league, Smith might still have been booted for insufficient MPH. CBS aired Smith's interview of the Dem candidate, conducted yesterday, on this morning's Early Show. After a clip of McCain saying he questioned Obama's judgment, not his patriotism, Smith teed it up for his guest. HARRY SMITH: Many of the attacks that have come from John McCain's campaign have been, quite frankly, condescending. Were you surprised by that? Does it anger you? Tough stuff! Smith didn't explain what is condescending about a candidate questioning his...

Here at NB, we're not normally in the business of feeling sorry for MSMers like Harry Smith. But I can't help but express some sympathy for the Early Show anchor at the prospect of the feminist, Clintonite wrath that is likely to descend on his head after a comment he made this morning Among the metaphors most likely to drive feminists up the wall is that of the angry woman yielding that symbol of domestic serfdom, the frying pan. But in discussing the prospect of Hillary's anger at Bill for his responsibility for her possibly impending defeat, Smith invoked ....

Advice to Camp Clinton: if it's not too late, remove all sharp objects before viewing the tape of this morning's Early Show. The CBS program served up a thorough trashing of Hillary's debate performance, capped by the unkindest cut of all from a Dem/MSM perspective: analogizing Hillary to Bill Cunningham, whose tough talk about Barack Obama in introducing John McCain yesterday prompted the Arizona senator to disassociate himself from the conservative radio talk show host. View video.

I'm measuring my words carefully. Harry Smith has raised the possibility that Barack Obama's life could be in danger. The Early Show anchor was interviewing Ted Kennedy in the wake of his endorsement of Obama yesterday. Smith initially broached the subject of danger to Obama in very cryptic fashion. View video here.

Harry Smith won't be up on the platform with Ted Kennedy today endorsing Barack Obama. But he might be there in spirit, after having absolutely unloaded on Bill Clinton's on this morning's Early Show. The CBS anchor made the stunning suggestion that when it comes to matters racial, Bill Clinton may have perpetrated a fraud on African-Americans. Smith's guest was "diversity expert" Joe Watson and you might have expected Watson [who FWIW impressed me favorably] to carry the anti-Bill ball. But ultimately it was Smith who offered the single most damning suggestion. The CBS host began by playing the clip...

Of all the ways Harry Smith could have opened this morning's historic Early Show, he chose to do so by waving a copy today's Boston Herald with its one-word front page "Shazam!" above a photo of Mike Huckabee. Smith described Barack Obama simply as the "big winner" on the Democratic side. View video here [with apologies for low audio level]. [Recommend story on Digg.com]

While previewing an upcoming interview with extreme left-wing presidential candidate, Dennis Kucinich, on Friday’s CBS "Early Show," co-host Harry Smith remarked, "I've actually admired Dennis Kucinich for a long -- since he was mayor of Cleveland." In addition to Smith admitting that he admired someone as liberal as Kucinich, who wants to establish a Department of Peace and claims to have seen UFOs, Smith specifically mentioned Kucinich’s disastrous tenure as Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio. Even The New York Times could not ignore Kucinich’s failures as mayor in a 2003 candidate profile: " But it all came crashing quickly down when...

Tony Snow Reprimands CBS's Harry Smith: 'You Can't Have Your Own Facts' Posted by Justin McCarthy on June 12, 2007 - 11:00. On the June 12 "Early Show," anchor Harry Smith again pounded Tony Snow, and Tony Snow again responded with a reprimand. Smith, who recently offered a puffy interview of Al Gore, continued his harsh interrogation of the White House press secretary. When discussing the G-8 summit, Snow asserted that Bush has "taken the lead" on initiatives such as climate change. Smith interrupted Snow like wise. SMITH: I think that's following on climate change. He's following on climate change....

Who needs Chuck Schumer, so long as you have Harry Smith [file photo]? Dems might well be asking themselves that this morning, after the Early Show host went after Tony Snow on the attorney firings in a manner that might have made the senior senator from New York look statesmanlike in comparison. Things got so bad that at one point, the eminently affable Snow accused Smith of badgering him, and later suggested the CBS anchor was acting like a partisan, not a reporter. Things ended on the worst possible note, as Smith effectively accused Snow of hiding the truth...

Particularly when you consider the ramifications for millions of children growing up without a two-parent family, the news that 51% of women in America now live without a spouse is serious indeed. But the decline of our culture was nothing but a laughing matter for the boys of the Early Show. Rather than seeing any cause for concern, CBS displayed the graphic seen here blithely informing viewers: "No Husband Needed." As Russ Mitchell threw the story to Harry Smith, he mirthfully proclaimed: "So Harry, now there's now statistical data for what we always knew: they really don't need us,...

by Mark Finkelstein September 27, 2006 - 08:05 "Good morning, this is Harry Smith reporting from London today, June 10th, 1940. With Luftwaffe pilots now brazenly carrying out daylight bombing raids on London, it's clear that Britain's war against Nazism is a failure." Judging by his take on Iraq, that's presumably how Harry would have reported matters had he been around during the dark days of WWII. Fortunately, Churchill was there: "Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and...

Harry Smith Taken Aback as CBS Analyst Blames Clinton for bin Laden Failures Despite Bill Clinton's angry protestations, the bulk of the blame for America's failure to catch or kill Osama bin Laden lies squarely on the Clinton administration, at least according to terrorism analyst Michael Scheuer.Scheuer's words, delivered on today's edition of CBS's "Early Show," must have come as a shock for co-host Harry Smith since the liberal media's usual refrain on bin Laden is to blame Bush for the failure to kill him back in the early days of the Afghanistan campaign.That just isn't the case, Scheuer argued,...

by Mark Finkelstein September 5, 2006 - 08:39 Looks like CBS got itself a two-fer. Katie's not just an anchor - she's a comedian, too! The highlight of her extended interview with Harry Smith on this morning's Early Show, touting her debut on tonight's CBS Evening News, was her claim that what the "old media" has to offer in contrast with the new media is . . . "integrity and standards." Couric is apparently a jokester of the deadpan school, managing to get off the line without dissolving into guffaws. This from the woman about to take over the illustrious...

by Mark Finkelstein August 9, 2006 - 09:39 Q. How can you tell when the MSM's liberal slip is showing? A. When a host argues from the left with his own non-partisan expert! That's just what happened on this morning's Early Show. Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report was brought on to analyze yesterday's CT senate primary results. Cook presents itself as non-partisan, and certainly no one can accuse Walter of being a closet conservative. As per her bio, "prior to joining The Cook Political Report, she served as Political Director of the Women's Campaign Fund and worked for...

by Mark Finkelstein July 19, 2006 - 08:08 It's been a tough week for the MSM. You just know they'd like to find a way spin events in Lebanon and Israel for purposes of criticizing the Bush administration. But one senses they have had a tough time getting traction. Even for our liberal media heroes, making common cause with Hezbollah might be a bridge too far. When the MSM is reduced to fixating on a mild four-letter word that Pres. Bush let fly, and to second-guessing tactics - as opposed to goals - you know the media's Bush-bashing cupboard is...

<p>Is Harry Smith's goal at every stage of every war to stop it? If he had been around on June 6, 1941, would he have been asking what could be done to stop D-Day? The question arises in light of Smith's questions on this morning's Early Show to Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution.</p>

by Mark Finkelstein June 27, 2006 Given NewsBusters' goal of exposing outrageous liberal media bias, perhaps I should switch focus from the Katie-less Today to Harry Smith & Co. at the Early Show. I rarely check in on the show, which has languished seemingly forever in last place. But, happening upon it this morning, Smith's bald-faced bias left me breathless. Smith's guest was Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report. Talk was first of the proposed flag-burning amendment. Disdain dripping, Smith observed "I'm just curious about this. Because somewhere I read in the last couple of days in the entire...

On CBS’s "The Early Show" this morning, co-host Harry Smith reported from Baghdad. However, unlike Dave Price, the "Early Show weatherman who reported on high morale and security progress in Iraq-- Smith focused on the negative, and even complained that the security situation is so bad that he couldn’t go out and get ice cream. Harry Smith: "Now the one other example I can give you of what the security situation is like here, just around our hotel, it's very, very secure. But when I asked our folks if I could go down to the corner and out of the...

by Mark Finkelstein February 14, 2006 - 07:33 Imagine you're a member of the media, and in your heart you believe that a major official wouldn't mind seeing you burn to death. Think that might affect the way you cover him? A comment this morning by veteran CBS reporter Bill Plante, while perhaps intended to be light-hearted, pulled back the curtain on just how antagonistic the White House press corps believes VP Cheney to be toward them. But more importantly, it suggests how antagonistic they likely feel in return. The topic was the Veep's accidental shooting of hunting partner Harry...

More ugly details are trickling out from behind the scenes at CBS's Rathergate fiasco, with one of the network's top on-air personalities reportedly telling a senior executive that Dan Rather should have been fired. CBS "Early Show" host Harry Smith is said to have "pointedly confronted" news division chief Andrew Heyward during a staff meeting after three producers were asked to take the fall for Rather's blunder last month. According to the Web site NewsBlues.com, Smith wanted to know why and how Dan Rather was still able to keep his position on "60 Minutes Wednesday." Ratherbiased.com, which picked up the...

Asked on CBS's Early Show to explain "Healing the Divide," actor Richard Gere bafflingly replied that "the world is a symbolic representation." Gere incomprehensibly elaborated about the group he supports: "You and I are not separate. The Iraqis and us are not separate. Even Saddam Hussein and us, we are not separate. We're all in this together. All deeply connected. And when we can start bridging that divide -- the primitive, ignorant divide of that -- then wars go away. All wars go away." No mention of bringing democracies to nations, a proven way to avoid wars. In a graphic,...

President Bush asked former Presidents Bush and Clinton to raise private funds to "take off some of the heat" from the federal government? So Katie Couric suggested on Tuesday's Today, a contention similarly forwarded by CBS's Harry Smith. Couric proceeded to take the opportunity to describe Bill Clinton as "a noted deficit hawk," as she worried about the cost of the war in Iraq. The two ex-Presidents made the rounds of the morning shows this morning from their homes in Houston and New Castle, New York. On the Early Show, CBS's Harry Smith asked: "President Clinton, is this a sign,...

...Dan Rather ...was one of several journalists who spoke of the vice president's speech as "the first appearance of a polarizing figure at the convention." ...Cheney wasn't the only one of last night's speakers targeted for demonization. Democratic Sen. Zell Miller, the first keynote speaker from an opposing party, was widely ridiculed as what Lauer (who first wondered if Miller "is really a Democrat") called "a Democrat in name only" — a sentiment with which Tim Russert agreed. ABC's Peter Jennings last night listened to Miller complain about his own party's leftward drift, then asked him: "If you feel so...

Media Reality Check. "Liberal Media's Reagan-Bashing Record: While Reporters Now Praise Reagan's Humor & Optimism, They Disdained His Conservative Policies" Below is the text of a two-page Media Reality Check distributed by fax today, put together by the MRC's Rich Noyes,based on quotes gathered from the MRC archive by Jessica Anderson.This is only a small portion of the Reagan-bashing quotes we've gathered, so we will be distributing more in the future, but these are the best short ones which enabled us to squeeze as many as possible into a fax. We didn't want to go negative on the media before...

Harry Smith’s consistently hostile agenda spans 15 years. On Wednesday’s Early Show on CBS, Smith rejected any notion of a good economy as he lectured White House Chief-of-Staff Andy Card about how “there's a $500 billion deficit, 43 million Americans without health insurance, 12 million American children living in poverty, record numbers of personal bankruptcies.” Fifteen years ago, a week before President Reagan left office in January of 1989, he told Reagan’s daughter, Maureen, that her father’s real legacy was “one out of five babies born in the United States are born into poverty. There are hundreds of thousands of...

     Houston to Harry Smith. For Monday's Early Show, Smith traveled to Iowa over the weekend where he expressed what seemed to be the genuine belief that John Kerry entered the presidential race a mere couple of weeks ago.      Smith described Kerry's campaign as “barely two weeks old” and asked: “Did Kerry wait too long to get in the hunt?" Smith marveled at how "Howard Dean has got out to an amazing lead in terms of momentum and press,” and pressed Kerry: “Did you wait too long to announce your candidacy?"      Of course, Kerry has been an active...

Did anyone see CBS's "The Early Show" this morning (about 8:15 a.m. CST) when to my horror Harry Smith interviewed Tom Dashcle and asked him: Smith: (words to the effect) "Senator Dashcle, what is your response to people who have criticized you for what you said about President Bush and the war on Iraq?" Dashcle: mumbles something about how his opponents want to squelch his right of free speech and then says: "It's time to put that behind us and MOVE ON." !!!!!Did anyone else see this? Were you as disgusted and outraged as I was? Harry Smith is just...

Like a Bald Jimmy Carter, Smith Berated America for Hurting the Poor, Fouling the Air and Race Hatred On Monday, A&E Biography host Harry Smith will join Julie Chen, Hannah Storm and Rene Syler at the helm of CBS’s ratings-challenged Early Show. For those who dislike having a liberal agenda thrust upon them while still half-asleep, Smith’s return is a bad omen: Odds are he will indulge in the same sort of liberal pontificating as he did until 1996 as host of the Early Show’s predecessor, CBS This Morning. During his This Morning tenure, Smith repeatedly condemned the 1980s as...