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NBC’s Matt Lauer, broadcasting live from the Great Wall of China on Monday’s "Today" show, referred to the "double-edged sword" of the world’s attention being on China for the Summer Olympic Games and asked a Chinese professor about how that "spotlight" might be "co-opted by party crashers who have a bone to pick with this country. He then asked the professor, "How worried are the people here about that?" Lauer, who will be in China during the next weeks for the Olympics, interviewed Professor Teng Dimeng of the Beijing Foreign Studies University 20 minutes into 7 am Eastern hour of...

Chalk up another mis-speak - Obama/Osama...

Friday’s edition of Today on NBC had several conservative-denigrating moments over the ideological direction of presumptive GOP nominee John McCain. Matt Lauer interviewed columnist Ann Coulter. He threw a spitball about conservatives being babies: "Critics of conservative voices right now are saying for the first time in a very long time, the conservatives have lost. They haven't been able to choose their nominee and it's the political version now of a 3-year-old saying, ‘if you can't play the game the way I want to play, I'm taking my football and I'm going home.’ How do you respond to that?" Tim...

On Tuesday's "Today" show Matt Lauer discovered the solution to all the environmental crises Al Gore and his ilk have warned about, there's just one hitch, it involves the extinction of all mankind. Promoting a book that examined how long it would take for the Earth to clean up "the mess we've made" Lauer and his co-host Meredith Vieira pondered how pristine the planet would be without us: Matt Lauer: "Then we're gonna talk to the author of a book and this is, really asks an interesting question. The book is called The World Without Us and it asks the...

Looks like the MSM just can't wait to declare President Bush a lame duck. Matt Lauer tried to grease the skids on this morning's "Today." Interviewing White House press secretary Tony Snow at 7:05 am EDT, Lauer first suggested that it would be very difficult for the president to get an immigration bill through Congress. Then, this. TODAY CO-HOST MATT LAUER: If he can't convince the skeptics, if he can't accomplish this, if he can't get immigration reform passed, you know what they're saying: is it time for him to concentrate full-time on his presidential library? View video here.Tony vigorously...

Give Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira credit. On this morning's "Today," Lauer suggested to his boss's face that in firing Don Imus he had caved to pressure from advertisers and people like Al Sharpton. And Vieira held Al Sharpton's feet to the fire, now that he had Imus' scalp, about going after rappers and others who use similar language every day. Here's part of the exchange, which came at 7:05 AM EDT, between Lauer and NBC News President Steve Capus:View video of Lauer-Capus interview here.CAPUS: This one went so far over the line, Matt, that it was time. LAUER:...

I suppose you could chalk it up to his concern for the Dems' long-term best interests, but there's no denying that on this morning's "Today," Matt Lauer absolutely unloaded on Nancy Pelosi and her ill-conceived venture into foreign policy. The segment was entitled "Democratic Diplomacy: Has Pelosi Gone Too Far?", virtually answering the question by its very asking. In the set-up piece, David Gregory rolled two telling clips. The first was of VP Cheney's comments on the Rush Limbaugh show yesterday to the effect that Pelosi's statement regarding her trip was"nonsensical." The second was of former congressman Lee Hamilton, warning...

Matt Lauer said the right thing. Was it for the right reason? Discussing on this morning's "Today" with Tim Russert the current wrangling between the Bush administration and the Dem congress over a bill to fund the Iraq war and the Dems' attempt to include a "date certain" for troop withdrawal, Matt Lauer said: "Robert Gates, the Defense Secretary, has said that sometime next month that the funding for troops on the ground will run out. So now we've got a very high stakes game of political chicken. And can you imagine the Democrats getting to a point where they...

Message to Nancy Pelosi: when Matt Lauer and David Gregory agree that your quest for a big plane is turning into a PR mess, it's time to fold your wings. Lauer raised the matter with David Gregory on this morning's "Today": "Let's talk about the size of the plane that Nancy Pelosi has requested from the Pentagon. Depending on the spin you want to believe here, either the Speaker says it's to travel efficiently back to her home district; Republicans are saying it's an abuse of power. Either way, does it just look bad from a PR standpoint?" View video...

My antenna went up when Matt Lauer opened this morning's "Today" with these words: "Good morning. Civil war. A bloody weekend of sectarian clashes in iraq and no sign it's letting up."Civil war? I was certain I hadn't heard Today employ the term before. And sure enough, Lauer shortly thereafter declared: "For months the White House rejected claims that the situation in Iraq has deteriorated into civil war. For the most part news organizations like NBC hesitated to characterize it as such. After careful consideration, NBC News has decided the change in terminology is warranted and what is going on...

Lauer: Shame On Dems For Not Sticking Up For Kerry Posted by Mark Finkelstein on November 3, 2006 - 07:31. Inured as we are to MSM bias, this one was still stunning. A leading MSM member uses the airwaves to scold Democrats for being insufficiently loyal to a leading party light. Former Bush Chief of Staff Andy Card was Matt Lauer's guest on this morning's 'Today.' Matt was intent on wangling from Card an admission that the Kerry comments were a mistake: Lauer first offered his personal analysis: "He made a joke and he said he blew the joke and...

This could be a first. A leading MSM member uses the airwaves to upbraid [fellow?] Democrats for being insufficiently loyal to a leading party light. Former Bush Chief of Staff Andy Card was Matt Lauer's guest on this morning's 'Today.' Matt was intent on wangling from Card an admission that the Kerry comments were a mistake:"He made a joke and he said he blew the joke and it sounded as though he questioned the intelligence of U.S. Troops in Iraq. Look me in the eye and tell me with even a fraction of your heart you think John Kerry meant...

So are they or aren't they? As they await their third child together, Matt Lauer and his wife Annette are trying to keep their marriage from dissolving completely. On Sept. 13, Annette Roque filed a petition in Manhattan Supreme Court seeking a split from her husband, but, according to Rush & Molloy, the former model is withdrawing the petition, and a rep for the couple says today that they're "not getting divorced." Last spring, the Lauers separated, then reconciled. It is unclear when the Lauers will welcome their impending arrival.

by Mark Finkelstein October 4, 2006 - 08:22 Perhaps there should be a new definition of 'RINO': Republican in NBC Only. Went it comes to hiring Republicans, NBC/MSNBC has a pronounced predilection for those with no special love for the party of Lincoln. Guys like Pat Buchanan, who quit the GOP to run against George Bush and loves to lambaste him. Or Joe Scarborough, who this morning predicted Republican doom and suggested hurling Hastert to the wolves. The former Republican representative from the Florida Panhandle, now host of his own MSNBC show, was Matt Lauer's guest on 'Today.' The two...

by Mark Finkelstein October 2, 2006 - 07:54 If Matt Lauer ever decides to leave 'Today,' he has a promising career ahead of him interpreting for the hearing-impaired at meetings of Moveon.org and like-minded groups. Interviewing Bob Woodward on this morning's 'Today' on his Bush-bashing State of Denial, Lauer served as a cheerleader worthy of Katie at her perkiest. At one point, Lauer summarized matters thusly: "You paint a picture of a White House and administration that is not tone deaf in some cases but that literally in some cases puts their hands over their ears and said we don't...

by Mark Finkelstein September 29, 2006 - 08:11 The big political news of the day at the 'Today' show was the Bob Woodward book, State of Denial. Turf battles and rivalries in a White House - who would have thought it? Dems are presumably clinging to it as the Last Best Hope for Liberal-kind. But in terms of revealing the liberal MSM mindset, I found much more interesting a few off-the-cuff comments made by members of the Today cast. At the end of the first half hour, the entire gang was gathered on the studio couch, and talk turned to...

by Mark Finkelstein September 20, 2006 - 08:35 Interviewed by 'Today' host Matt Lauer this morning, former NJ Gov. Jim McGreevey blamed the "immoral and ugly" way he acted out on his homosexuality on the fact that his parents were straight and thus couldn't act as role models. McGreevey was on to promote his new book, "The Confession." Lauer: "Not only as governor but as a state employee, you were living a very risky life-style. Anonymous sex with random men at places like highway rest stops. You write 'I was promiscuous and sexually active in ways I consider immoral and...

In Today's Political Tidbits we've got a video of Matt Lauer's interview with Bush . Dubya creams Lauer. Also, what's with that missing female Air Force Major? How about Huffington and her disdain of Iraq's Kurds? And an inside scoop on those Baltimore pizza parlor Muslims. Much, much more.

by Mark Finkelstein September 15, 2006 - 08:01 Like a baseball player - rescued from the nether reaches of the minor leagues and brought up to the Yankees - who cuts his hair, shaves the shaggy mustache and minds his grammar in his first TV interview, Keith Olbermann was on his better behavior in a 'Today' appearance this morning. In a temporary reprieve from the ratings purgatory that is his own Countdown on MSNBC, Olbermann was awarded an interview on Today for purposes of plumping his new book, 'The Worst Person in the World.' Lauer gave Olbermann respectful treatment, inviting...

Matt Lauer had a chuckle at the expense of his guests - then took Dems to task. Michael Smerconish scolded a Republican. And Meredith Vieira gave further evidence of a style looser than that of her perky predecessor. That's the nutshell wrap on the first half-hour of this morning's Today. Politics first. Lauer opened his interview with the folliclely-challenged duo of James Carville and Philly radio host Michael Smerconish by rubbing his own less-than-hirsute pate and observing with a laugh in the shot captured here: "First time in a long time I feel like I have a luxuriant head of...

<p>Winter, spring, summer or fall, All you've got to do is call. Lord, I'll be there, yes I will. You've got a friend. - James Taylor, 'You've Got a Friend'</p> <p>Was it an interview, or a benefit concert - 'Dem-Aid'? Matt Lauer and Tim Russert got a one-day headstart this morning on the Today show's traditional Friday music-on-the-mall. In the course of their conversation, Matt and Time went karaoke on us, the duo belting out a heartfelt rendition of 'You've Got a Friend' to their buddies in the Democratic party.</p>

by Mark Finkelstein July 12, 2006 - 08:03 Even the translator sounded like a tough guy. To say that Russian President Vladimir Putin was gruff in his interview with Matt Lauer would be an understatement. While Lauer asked some probing questions, he also offered up an unsolicited critique of Bush administration's rhetoric toward Russia, calling it 'very harsh.' And when Putin responded with some very harsh rhetoric of his own, Matt didn't blink, continuing instead to focus on the tough talk of the Bush White House. Lauer was in St. Petersburg for the g-8 summit Russia is hosting, and scored...

by Mark Finkelstein June 23, 2006 When it comes to cutting and running, John Kerry, Jack Murtha and Nancy Pelosi take a back seat to no one. But what if, quel horreur!, the terrorist insurgents in Iraq beat them to the white flag punch? Amidst the news of the day, from plots to bomb the Sears Tower to more Dem disunity, Jim Miklaszewski let slip this little bombshell, coming from a press conference by the top U.S. commander in Iraq, General George Casey: "On the positive front, Casey revealed for the first time the Sunni insurgency has reached out to...

by Mark Finkelstein June 21, 2006 In a chock-filled first half-hour of Today, the family of one the soldiers murdered in Iraq shared their grief and pride, Andrea Mitchell got it all wrong about conservative discontent, and White House spokesman Dan Bartlett declined to rise to Matt Lauer's bait. Although the appropriateness of publicizing the grief of bereaved families is often debated, their dignity is a frequent source of inspiration. Here, the father of PFC Thomas Tucker of Oregon, reportedly tortured and murdered by the new al-Qaeda leader in Iraq in retaliation for the killing of Zarqawi, made this impressive...

by Mark Finkelstein June 20, 2006 For a TV host, there's nothing much more difficult than interviewing a family member of someone who has been killed or seriously harmed. So when the uncle of one of the US soldiers kidnapped and possibly killed in Iraq called for the offering of a massive ransom and a prisoner exchange, give Matt Lauer credit for having had the courage to challenge him. Here's how it went down. Lauer: "A group linked to al-Qaeda on its website has claimed that they actually took Kristian and another soldier. What's your reaction to that?" Replied Ken...

by Mark Finkelstein June 19, 2006 The Bush administration takes terror threats too darn seriously. That's what Ron Suskind says in his recently-released book, 'The One Percent Doctrine'. Suskind, who was on the Today show this morning to discuss the book with Matt Lauer, is a former Wall Street Journal reporter. Those who might think that would indicate a conservative bent should be aware that, perhaps more than at any other paper in America, there is a remarkable contrast in the political leanings of the news and the editorial operations of the WSJ. Yes, the editorial page is keenly free-market...

by Mark Finkelstein June 14, 2006 Has Katie Couric's departure had a salubrious effect on Matt Lauer? Freed his inner moderate? The jury's still out. And to be sure, in his interview of Bill O'Reilly this morning Lauer managed to take shots at Ann Coulter and the Iraq security situation. Still, when an MSM host suggests that releasing prisoners from Guantanamo could result, of all things, in an 'international Willie Horton,' it does make you sit up and take notice. Meanwhile, BOR himself, fresh from his visit to Guantanamo, energetically made the case for the current system of detaining enemy...

by Mark Finkelstein June 12, 2006 Talk about you're damned-if-you do moment . . . What have the Dems and their MSM echo-chamber been clamoring for, nay, demanding, when it comes to Iraq? Why, a troop withdrawal, of course. Yet there was Matt Lauer on this morning's Today, fretting that President Bush might . . . withdraw troops. Lauer's lament came in the course of his interview of former General Barry McAffrey, looking ahead to the Iraq summit that Pres. Bush is holding at Camp David beginning today with his top national security advisers. Said Lauer: " Do you worry...

Lauer Offended By Ann Coulter; Delighted by Al Franken by Geoffrey Dickens Matt Lauer has two different sets of standards for politically provocative authors. If you are on the left he laughs with you, if you are on the right he slams you. On this morning’s Today show Ann Coulter’s statements ( http://newsbusters.org/node/5698 ) drew outrage from Matt but last October when Al Franken suggested ( http://newsbusters.org/node/2468 ) Karl Rove and Lewis Libby be executed for treason Matt and the Today show crew laughed. Lauer’s interview with Coulter got particularly testy when he read excerpts from Coulter’s new book and...

by Mark Finkelstein June 7, 2006 For weeks, the MSM has been billing as a bellwether the congressional by-election in California to replace convicted felon Randy 'Duke' Cunningham. As per the conventional wisdom, if the Democrats managed to take the seat in what is normally a GOP-stronghold, it would be seen as a harbinger of horrible things to come for the Republican congressional majority. Well, the election was held yesterday, and - whoops! - the Republican, Brian Bilbray, won. So how did Today spin it? Why, silence was suddenly golden. At least as far as the crucial first half-hour, not...

by Mark Finkelstein June 6, 2006 While considerable attention focuses on Ann Coulter's more superficial charms, from a conservative perspective Ann's real beauty is her absolute refusal to buy into liberal logic, no matter how pervasive. That independence of mind was on display this morning during her interview with Matt Lauer. Ann was on to tout her new book, Godless: The Church of Liberalism, released today on . . . 6/6/6 - sign of the devil and all that. The first example came in the the context of President Bush's current push for a constitutional amendment that would prohibit gay...

by Mark Finkelstein April 17, 2006 Darn it, when the MSM have a Republican in their sights, shouldn't he have the good grace to sit there and take it until he's hounded from office? That would appear to be the operative principle, judging by Today's coverage of the Rumsfeld flap. Much of the emphasis this morning was not so much on the substance of the controversy but on the fact that the Pentagon is fighting back against the calls for Rumsfeld's ouster. Topping it all was the very first question that Matt Lauer posed to his guest, retired Marine Lt....

by Mark Finkelstein April 11, 2006 Imagine you're a news show host, and a former presidential adviser just claimed that the United States military is near to state of rebellion against civilian authorities. Do you think you might have asked a follow-up question or two? Apparently not, at least if you're Matt Lauer interviewing James Carville, who made just such an inflammatory allegation on this morning's Today show. The topic was the source of the leak of the alleged plans for an attack on Iran to destroy its nuclear capabilities, such plans said to extend to the possible use of...

by Mark Finkelstein April 5, 2006 Is there something in the water at NBC/MSNBC? Laughing gas in the ventilation system, perhaps? Earlier today, I posted the photo below, showing Matt Lauer dissolving in laughter on this morning's Today show. It happened when Katie made her momentous announcement that she was leaving for CBS. Matt pretended to take it totally in stride, making to move right on, intoning "also coming up in this half-hour" in his best canned host-voice before bursting out. This evening, it was Chris Matthews' turn to double over in laughter. Now granted, Matthews had a better excuse....

by Mark Finkelstein April 4, 2006 You could see this one coming a mile away. As soon as Matt Lauer announced that Today was inaugurating a series called "One Nation Under God" on the role religion plays in our country, and that the first episode would focus on President Bush, you knew we were in for a bumpy ride. The series plays off a new book, 'American Gospel', by Newsweek Managing Editor Jon Meacham. In his set-up [and I do mean set-up] piece, David Gregory claimed that "the Bush era has created not just a political but a religious divide."...

by Mark Finkelstein April 3, 2006 Perhaps I was reading into things in light of the rampant speculation about Katie Couric's possibly imminent departure for the CBS Evening News anchor spot. But this veteran Today watcher sensed a distinct mood of nostalgia on the set this morning. Katie Couric was back after a couple weeks vacation, and all the crew members went out of their way to remark on the reunion of the regular cast. Lauer: "Haven't seen you for a couple of weeks. Good to have you back." The pair jokingly shook hands as if they were meeting for...

by Mark Finkelstein March 30, 2006 - 08:05. Some might say it wasn't necessarily my finest moment at NewsBusters when, back in December, I speculated that, reporting from a chilly Rockefeller Plaza, Today's Matt Lauer might have been wearing a Palestinian 'solidarity scarf.' See Keffiyeh-Gate? At the time, I noted that: So-called "Palestinian support scarves" have become items of radical fashion chic. Check out this web-site, which advertises "Palestinian support scarves," explaining: "The traditional Palestinian headdress has become a symbol of support for the Palestinian people against the Israeli occupation. From political rallies to talk shows, supporters of the Palestinian...

by Mark Finkelstein March 29, 2006 A quick take on a morning when I'm headed to Washington, DC. Sometimes, you just can't win with the MSM. For weeks, the MSM has been calling for a White House shake-up. So when it came in spades yesterday with the resignation of chief of staff Andy . . . Card [spades, Card. Come on, tough room here!], naturally the media applauded the bold move. Or not. Veteran NewsBusters readers know better. There is no appeasing the liberal media. They recalibrate their line of attack and move on. But who could have predicted the...

Matt Lauer sets his audience up for ignorance Last week, Matt Lauer interviewed Jay Bennish, the Colorado teacher whose 20-minute socialist diatribe was taped by one of his students. Lauer asked Bennish, "On the tape you can hear Sean Allen asking you questions that seem to be egging you on a little bit. Do you feel you were set up?" Lauer has set himself up for us, once again, to question his journalistic competence and his obvious liberal bias. Apparently, he has listened to the tape. It’s disgusting he has the audacity to say Allen set Bennish up. On tape, the teacher spews...

by Mark Finkelstein March 15, 2006 Was this a news report, or a coming attraction for a new series about inter-generational love? Perhaps there's a third explanation: a not-too-subtle kiss blown in the direction of a soon-to-be new employer. Amidst rampant speculation that Katie Couric might be leaving the Today show to anchor the CBS Evening News, Couric narrated a segment on this morning's Today on the occasion of Mike Wallace's announcement this week that he will be retiring from '60 Minutes'. If you think it's impossible to sustain a gush for five minutes, you obviously weren't watching Katie this...

Mark Finkelstein March 13, 2006 According to Chris Matthews, people putting stock in the actual poll results of the Memphis GOP beauty contest have things . . . Oz backwards. In Dorothy's adventure, the Wizard cautioned us to "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain." But this morning, Chris Matthews told us that the way to understand what was going on at the GOP straw poll in Memphis was to do just that - look behind the curtain at the Republican heavy-hitters lining up behind John McCain. Interviewed by Matt Lauer on this morning's Today show, Matthews claimed:...

by Mark Finkelstein March 9, 2006 Joe Scarborough had some tough stuff for both parties today. He revealed that Republicans believe they will lose the House of Representatives in 2006. But no thanks to the Dems, whose failure to exploit the political opportunity he explained in terms of their being "stupid." Scarborough's appearance with Matt Lauer on this morning's Today show capped a long segment themed "Has Bush Lost His Clout?" The answer was a resounding 'yes' in NBC's mind. Today outlined a litany of presidential woe, including: Being forced to accept changes to the Patriot Act to win its...

Teachers unions are mad at me. The New York State United Teachers demands I apologize for my "gutter level" journalism, "an irresponsible assault on public school students and teachers." This is because I hosted an ABC News TV special titled "Stupid in America," which pointed out: -- American fourth graders do well on international tests, but by high school, Americans have fallen behind kids in most other countries. -- The constant refrain that "public schools need more money" is nonsense. Many countries that spend significantly less on education do better than we do. School spending in America (adjusted for inflation)...

A high school social studies teacher who was put on leave after comparing President Bush's State of the Union address to speeches made by Adolf Hitler defended his lecture on Tuesday, saying he was trying to encourage students to think. "My job as a teacher is to challenge students to think critically about issues that are affecting our world and our society," Jay Bennish said on NBC's "Today Show." Bennish is on paid leave from Overland High School in suburban Aurora, Colo., while Cherry Creek School District investigates whether his Feb. 1 lecture violated a policy requiring that balancing viewpoints...

The Associated Press reached a new level of incompetence, and the "news" industry they serve doesn’t seem to care. If you want political opinion, you’ll find it in Associated Press dispatches. If you want news, you might have to read conservative opinion columns. On February 22nd, Walter Williams, a Townhall.com columnist, scooped the mainstream media. Williams reported that high school teacher Jay Bennish lectured his geography class stating: 1) "[President Bush’s State of the Union Speech] sounds a lot like the things Adolf Hitler used to say." 2) "Bush is threatening the whole planet." 3) "[The] U.S. wants to keep...

COLORADO high-school sophomore Sean Allen couldn't convince his father that his geography teacher was as over-the-top as he contended. So Allen taped one of his teacher's rants on his MP3 player. Too bad for Jay Bennish: His 20 minute lecture ended up on talk radio. As aired on Mike Rosen's show, Bennish said President Bush talks like Hitler: "I'm not saying that Bush and Hitler are exactly the same," but that the two share "eerie similarities." Peruvians and Iranians arguably have "a right to bomb North Carolina" because the state grows tobacco. On Sept. 11, 2001, al Qaeda operatives were...

by Mark Finkelstein March 7, 2006 Turns out the real culprit in the Colorado kerfluffle over the teacher who compared Pres. Bush to Hitler is . . . the student who complained about it. Just ask Matt Lauer. Interviewing teacher Jay Bennish this morning, Lauer laid out this sympathetic scenario: Lauer: "The family here, the student's family, didn't go to the school board with this tape." Bennish: "They never contacted me." Lauer: "They shopped it around to conservative media outlets and finally released it to one and created an uproar. On the tape you can hear Sean Allen [the student...

by Mark Finkelstein February 23, 2006 You know the old line: "find me a one-handed expert. The kind that doesn't say 'on the one hand, but on the other hand.'" The Today show found one. Interviewed this morning by Matt Lauer, terrorism expert and former National Security Council member Roger Cressey was single-handedly unequivocal in his support of the UAE port deal. Lauer: "Take the politics out of it. Will this really damage national security especially at these ports?" Cressey: "The simple answer is that it won't. We've had foreign ownership of the ports . . . for a number...

It would have been so perfect. Rodney King redux! Another chance for the MSM to portray law enforcement as a bastion of white racism using potentially lethal force against an innocent member of a racial minority, with a Good Samaritan exposing the wrongdoing via videotape. But darn it, some of those pesky facts spoiled the script. We're talking of the shooting in Chino, California of Elio Carrion, a U.S. Air Force security officer who had served in Iraq, by a San Bernardino County deputy sheriff after a car chase. The shooting was captured on amateur videotape, which can be seen...

by Mark Finkelstein February 6, 2006 - 07:50 Score one for Today's Matt Lauer. Interviewing New Mexico governor and former UN ambassador Bill Richardson on the subject of the Muslim rioting in response to the Mohammed cartoons, Matt asked a question that was as unexpected as it was perspicacious. Meanwhile, Richardson offered the instinctive Democratic national security response: bring on the UN! Richardson described the very grim situation in the Muslim world: "I've never seen the situation so dire with with the threats from Iran, the victory of Hamas, the escape of Badawi in Yemen. This is a very dangerous...