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While Chris Matthews was waxing so rhapsodic about Barack Obama over on MSNBC this morning that he made Mika Brzezinksi ask if the Hardball host had endorsed him, Matt Lauer was doing his bit on NBC, wondering whether Hillary would be seen as having stolen the nomination if she managed to get it. The Today co-anchor interviewed Bill Richardson, who's been getting maximum media mileage out of his Obama endorsement. Lauer's suggestion came toward the end of the segment. MATT LAUER: Let's talk about political reality. Right now as we stand, with the delegate count, the popular vote count, the...

If Hillary Clinton's latest gambit--floating Obama as her VP--had been a play rather than a ploy, and the Today crew the theater critics, they would have left at intermission to begin penning a blistering pan. Interviewing Tim Russert, Matt Lauer kicked off the kicking around of Hillary's idea. MATT LAUER: Let's talk about this idea. Is it being floated seriously? Is this light-hearted, and who's behind it? TIM RUSSERT: Well the Clintons are behind it, and New York Daily News columnist Michael Goodwin said today that he talked to a Clintonista who said it's an attempt to belittle Barack Obama,...

In MSM circles, "swiftboating" is shorthand for false attacks on Democrats, even though John O'Neill and other members of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth stand adamantly behind their allegations about John Kerry's war record. In an interview of Barack Obama conducted yesterday and aired on this morning's Today, Matt Lauer employed the "swiftboating" code to ask whether the candidate is prepared for the Republican onslaught. For good measure the NBC anchor wondered if Obama is ready for Republican racism. Lauer, introducing the issue, stated that "Senator Clinton has questioned whether he can withstand negative attacks from Republicans in the fall."...

You don't suppose NewsBusters has become Matt Lauer's guilty pleasure; one having a salubrious effect on his thinking? The Today co-anchor this morning suggested an MSM double-standard on the Dem and GOP races and acknowledged the success of the surge. Matt's guest on Today was Tim Russert, impressively fresh after red-eyeing to NYC after moderating last night's Nevada debate. Lauer, after playing clips of the candidates' take on Iraq, suggested that the war is no longer the winning issue the Dems once thought it was. MATT LAUER: How much of a tightrope are they walking with the apparent success of...

To know what's on a morning-show anchor's mind, it's often easy to read between the lines. Katie Couric famously employed the "some say" technique to put her own views in the mouths of unidentified others. But it's relatively uncommon to hear an anchor flatly express an opinion in the way Matt Lauer did this morning. The topic was whether there were racial overtones to Bill Clinton's "fairy tale" tirade directed at Barack Obama in the closing days of the New Hampshire campaign. Matt's guests were radio talk show host Michael Smerconish and former Clinton advisor Paul Begala. View video here.

Talk about damned-if-you-do . . . On this morning's Today show, Matt Lauer discussed with Tim Russert the Middle East peace conference that began today. After years of MSM criticism of President Bush for not getting more involved in the Israeli-Palestinian situation, how does Lauer react when the president undertakes an historic initiative bringing together leaders of all the area's countries for the first time? You guessed it. View video here.

Talk about talking down the economy! No fewer than three times today, Matt Lauer invited Barack Obama to declare that the U.S. economy is headed into recession. At the end of a "Today" interview that focused largely on Hillary-related issues and Iran, Lauer turned to the economy and pressed Obama to predict the worst. View video here.

Tyler Savage: he is fed through a tube in his stomach A boy of 12 suffers from so many allergies that he is able to eat only five foods. Tyler Savage is violently ill every time he is given dishes containing dairy products or wheat, gluten, eggs, lactose and soya. The sole foods he is allowed are chicken, carrots, grapes, potatoes and apples. To help him survive, minerals and vitamins are pumped directly into his stomach through a tube. Tyler started to fall ill at the age of six when even a morsel of food would leave him writhing...

He might be a middle-aged white guy from the West, but Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) suddenly understands the travails of people stopped for "DWB": driving while black. In the course of his interview with Matt Lauer, aired last night and excerpted on this morning's "Today," Craig tried to play the profiling card. MATT LAUER: The fact that these motions seemed to replicate a well-established sequence of signals for soliciting anonymous sex, it's a coincidence?View video here. LARRY CRAIG: I now know that this cop, this officer [shades of "that woman, Ms. Lewinsky"?] is a profiler. He said looking into a...

To celebrate Al Gore winning the Nobel Peace Prize a jovial Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira called up Jimmy Carter on this morning's "Today" show. During the interview with the former President, the "Today" co-hosts even prodded Carter to push for a Gore in '08 candidacy: Matt Lauer: "Let me just go over what you said a second ago, and you also said in The Denver Post this morning. You said, 'I have confidence in and I know him well. He,' quote, 'is the best qualified person in America to be president.' And you said you would endorse him. Do...

It's rare to see a leading MSM light directly confronted over the liberal media's bias. But it happened in spades this morning as Tom DeLay (R-Tx.) called out Matt Lauer for the MSM's double-standard in handling Republican, versus Democrat, scandals. The "Today" co-anchor opened his interview of the former Republican congressman and Majority Leader with a laundry-list of GOP scandals. MATT LAUER: By all accounts these are some tough times for the Republican party. Last fall Democrats took control of both houses of congress, largely because of opposition to the war in Iraq. In 2006 the Republican party was also...

Scanning the columns at Townhall.com is part of my early-morning routine, and it was at about 6 A.M. today that I read Charles Krauthammer's "Obama Bombing." I marveled at how perfectly the Pulitzer Prize-winning author had captured the essence of Hugo Chavez, calling the little Venezuelan thug "a malevolent clown." Krauthammer's words obviously impressed Matt Lauer, too. For barely an hour later, I was pleasantly surprised to find the psychiatrist-turned-pundit's phrase turning up on the screen at "Today," with Lauer clearly seeming to advance the conservative commentator's theory. Lauer was interviewing MSNBC's Chris Matthews on this week's Hillary-Obama dust-up. "TODAY"...

Does NBC have some inside dope? Is John McCain, till now one of the staunchest supporters of the Bush administration's Iraq policy, about to turn tail? An unusual question from Matt Lauer to Tony Snow this morning seems to suggest that possibility.Here's the exchange that came on this morning's "Today" at 7:08 A.M. EDT, toward the end of Lauer's interview of White House press secretary Snow: TODAY CO-HOST MATT LAUER: If, and you hate hypotheticals, I know, so hate me later, but if John McCain comes back [from his current Iraq trip] and joins the ranks of those other Republicans...

NEW YORK - Matt Lauer and NBC's "Today" show will broadcast live from Cuba next Tuesday to report on the political and economic climate there. Although Lauer is a frequent round-the-world traveler for "Today," it took 18 months to arrange the visit to a country only 90 miles from the United States, said Jim Bell, the show's executive producer. Bell used his ability to speak Spanish in the negotiations. "It's always timely to go to Cuba," Bell said. "There's always news there. Being there is news in itself." There is no expectation NBC will interview ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro,...

Producer of a MSM morning news show? Got a few minutes to fill at the end of your first half-hour? Why not resort to a tried-and-true winner: a bit of good old class warfare? That was the "Today" formula this morning. Matt Lauer introduced the segment, enviously entitled "Share the Wealth?: The Rich Get Richer," fanning the flames of envy and resentment with this opener: TODAY CO-HOST MATT LAUER: Do you feel like you're working harder and harder nowadays just to stay financially afloat while fat cats get richer and richer? It's not just a feeling, and you're not...

Does it give the Dem leaders of Congress pause to realize that the enemies of the United States in Iraq, the people killing our troops, are banking on their political success? Harry and Nancy shouldn't dismiss this as the raving of a right-wing blogger. It is in fact the considered view of someone they surely see as a respected, nay, an authoritative source: no less than the Baghdad bureau chief of the New York Times, John Burns. Burns was a guest on this morning's "Today." In the set-up piece, NBC White House correspondent Kelly O'Donnell rolled a clip of precisely...

Before this is over, I predict that Virginia Tech President Charles Steger will apologize for errors that he and his administration made in dealing with yesterday's massacre. But as of this morning, Steger was still seeking to defend the failure to alert students for two hours after the initial murders. As Matt Lauer politely pointed out, his explanation would seem to fail a simple test of logic."Today" host Lauer interviewed Steger during the show's first half-hour.LAUER: As you continue to mourn here at Virginia Tech University, you're also facing some very difficult questions from students and from parents and from...

A Democratic senator has just announced his presidential candidacy. On the next morning's "Fox & Friends," a Fox News reporter who recently denied that Fox has any conservative leanings or that Sean Hannity is a conservative narrates a segment on the announcement. To analyze the news, she plays clips of someone from the National Review and then a writer from Weekly Standard. Host Brian Kilmeade follows, schmoozing over the senator's prospects with a former senior aide to a conservative Republican governor. Total lack of balance! Couldn't Fox News have found at least one Democrat to discuss a Democrat's candidacy?...

When it came time to pass an anti-war resolution, the Democrats were no better than a bunch of timid pre-teens on Halloween. That was the view Matt Lauer expressed in a colloquy with Tim Russert on this morning's "Today." Lauer: "The Democrats in the Senate failed to pass this vote so they could even debate this Iraq strategy and there's even some who are talking about possibly bringing up the idea of revoking the 2002 authorization to go to war. If they can't pass a kind of symbolic vote, how do they ever have the kind of strength to do...

The world could be coming to an end, but not to worry: "the Democrats are now in charge of Congress." That, in a nutshell, was NBC's message on global warming on this morning's "Today." Here's how Matt Lauer, apparently in the throes of a global-warming panic attack, kicked off the segment: "Now to a controversy in Washington over what literally could be the end of the world as we know it."View video here.The segment focused on allegations, made before a hearing chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman [D-CA] by the advocacy group the Union of Concerned Scientists, that the Bush...

There are, to quote Imus, "tension conventions" breaking out all over MSNBC today. Earlier, I noted the shots Andrea Mitchell took at Nancy Pelosi over her "unseemly, imperial" celebrations marking her ascension to the speakership. Now, Chris Matthews locked horns with Matt Lauer over the funding of our troops in Iraq. It was a very rare display of real anger between fellow members of the NBC/MSNBC stable. Alluding to President Bush's speech of yesterday calling for the Democrats to avoid the kind of politics that will lead to stalemates, Lauer asked Matthews: "What kind of stalemate are we going...

Was it just good-natured joshing, or did some MSM elitism creep into Matt Lauer's interview-ending question to Tim Russert on this morning's "Today"? "What's up for the New Year for you? Same thing as usual: keg of Old Milwaukee and a noise-maker?"What's this? Condescension to Russert's blue-collar image leavened with a touch of drunken-Irishman humor? The camera crew burst into guffaws, but check the video - was Russert's laugh a bit more strained? Matt and Dutch-born wife, former-model Annette Roque, might be well be staying in for New Year's, the couple recently having welcomed son Thijs into the world. But...

How do you know the Iraq Study Group's suggestion of reaching out to Iran and Syria is in trouble? When even a leading MSM light like Matt Lauer approvingly cites, of all people, leading neo-con Richard Perle to shoot down the idea.The Baker-Hamilton duo were making the TV rounds this morning, and it wasn't long into their chat with Matt that he hit them with this:"Let's talk about this idea of reaching out to the people in the neighborhood - Syria and Iran. Richard Perle said recently that 'talking to Iran about Iraq will be seen throughout the region as...

In all my years of Today-watching, I'm not sure I've ever seen anything quite like the display Matt Lauer put on this morning. In beseeching Al Gore to run for president, Lauer literally portrayed him as the planet's potential savior. "If you were to run for president, you could take this issue to the next level, even if just during a campaign. And if you were fortunate enough to win the presidency, you would sit in the most powerful office in the free world with a real chance to make . . . " Matt stopped himself at the enormity...

Some leading US media have decided to call the violence raging in Iraq a "civil war," despite White House insistence that the strife has not reached that stage. NBC News became the latest news organization to decide to use the term on Monday, saying the violence between Shiite and Sunni Muslims combined with the government's inability to quell the strife fit the definition of civil war.Matt Lauer, the presenter of NBC's "Today" morning show, said the network had thought carefully whether civil war was an appropriate phrase for the violence plaguing Iraq."We should mention we didn't wake up on a...

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...

While there's a harbinger of winter in the air here in upstate New York, it didn't prepare me for the hell-freezing-over moment on this morning's 'Today' show. Matt Lauer, of all folks, went to bat for Rush Limbaugh.Lauer interviewed conservative commentator Laura Ingraham and USC law prof - and Dukakis presidential campaign manager - Susan Estrich about current campaign tactics. Matt set the tone with this question, which implied that people are blowing the supposedly unusual level of nastiness out of proportion:"A lot of people are running around all flustered right now about these negative ads, these negative comments in...

by Mark Finkelstein October 9, 2006 - 07:33 "A North Korean ICBM hit Hawaii with a 10-kiloton atomic weapon today. Now back to Meredith and Matt for the latest on the burgeoning Mark Foley scandal. Is it doom for Republicans?" Perhaps I exaggerate a tad with that imaginary bit of dialogue, but judging by this morning's 'Today,' you have to wonder. Good Morning America devoted the lion's share of its first-half to the N. Korean test of a nuclear device, with no fewer than four segments focusing on it. But at Today, after a correspondent in S. Korea gave a...

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 3, 2006 - 07:44 When it comes to the Foley scandal, the MSM is definitely keeping its eyes on the prize: the Democratic takeover of Congress. In this NB item, I described how the New York Times editorialized this morning that it doesn't care what else flows from the scandal. So long as the Dems re-take power, the Foley flameout "will have done its job." Over at the Today show this morning, Matt Lauer fretted that the fallout might not come fast enough to swing the election to the Dems. Interviewing Tim Russert, Lauer first laid...

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...

<p>In her Today show debut this morning, Meredith Vieira gave a flash of her ego - but not of her liberal politics. There was the obligatory opening love-in with co-host Matt Lauer in which Vieira claimed "I feel like it's the first day of school and I'm sitting next to the cutest guy." But then there was an interesting exchange that might presage conflicts to come. In what is apparently a Today show tradition, Matt had the crew replay the opening voice-over announcing "Meredith Vieira, live from Studio 1-A in Rockefeller Plaza."</p>

Flipping through channels on Sept. 11 was like rummaging through a box of old photographs. You see things you hadn't noticed before and ordinary images seem suddenly extraordinary. Of all the recaps, memorials and tributes, the one I found most riveting was the real-time replay of NBC's ``Today'' show from five years ago. We often wish we could return to the past with the knowledge and wisdom we've gained in the interim. Monday we got that chance. Minute-by-minute, we were able to re-experience 9/11, this time knowing what we know. It was chilling not only because of the obvious horror,...

by Mark Finkelstein August 31, 2006 - 09:27 If the Today show were ever to air the opinions of a think tank founded, say, by a former Reagan administration official and free-market economist Milton Friedman, and funded by large corporations, it's inconceivable that the show would have failed to identify the organization's conservative leanings. Yet Today didn't feel the need to do the obverse when relying extensively on a liberal think tank founded by a former Clinton official and far-left economists and largely funded by Big Labor. From a New York Times editorial to a Boston Globe political cartoon, the...

by Mark Finkelstein August 31, 2006 - 08:06 To judge by the outraged defense of Democrats and the MSM that Matt Lauer and Tim Russert advanced on this morning's Today show, the Bush administration's arguments on fighting the war on terror are hitting home. NBC reporter Kelly O'Donnell set the tone with this little shot at the president: "While the president has cautioned not to politicize what he is talking about, he was greeted here in Salt Lake by 2,000 invited members of the public who carried signs, there was music playing - a campaign-style event - and we were...

Happy with the falling prices at the pump? Fuhgeddaboudit! That’s what economic wiseguy Matt Lauer suggested to viewers of the August 30 “Today” show, even though oil analysts predict falling gas prices this fall and his own network erroneously predicted $3.50-a-gallon gasoline just a few weeks ago. “You’re probably feeling a little better these days when you fill up your car at the gas station,” Lauer admitted as he teased a story by correspondent Kevin Tibbles. The “Today” host conceded that “analysts say prices could keep falling for months to come,” but sought to shoot it down by pointing to...

by Mark Finkelstein August 30, 2006 - 08:02 Ah, the MSM, where bad news is good, and good news . . . can't be allowed to go unchallenged. So long as a Republican is in office, that is. Take gas prices. Over the last year the MSM has had a field day with a profusion of stories on 'soaring gas prices.' 'Today' reached an absurd apotheosis on August 7th. As reported here, Ann Curry envisioned the absolute worst: a decrease of less than 1/200th in world oil supplies leading to more than a 1/7th jump in crude oil prices -...

by Mark Finkelstein August 29, 2006 - 08:50 Is it news to anyone that Michael Brown thinks he got a bum rap on Katrina? As shopworn as was his concatenation of complaint this morning, Matt Lauer treated it with the enthusiasm of a Live at Five reporter on the scene of a fresh accident out on county route 11. You knew this was coming: Lauer got things off to a Bush-bashing start with the famous "you're doing a heck of a job, Brownie" clip of the president congratulating Brown for his work at the beginning of the relief effort. Matt...

by Mark Finkelstein August 10, 2006 - 07:58 There is a noteworthy MSM tendency to downplay the gravity of various terrorist acts by suggesting that they are local, home-grown incidents rather than forming part of international conspiracies. A recent example was the MSM's treatment of the Seattle Jewish center shootings in which an Muslim-American killed one woman and injured several others. To his credit, NBC terrorism expert Roger Cressey wouldn't let Matt Lauer sing that song when he tried it on this morning's Today show in connection with the plot to blow up in midflight planes originating in the UK....

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on August 9, 2006 - 08:06. Howard Dean's 2004 presidential primary run was largely fueled by internet-driven support orchestrated by campaign manager Joe Trippi. That campaign fell famously short in the echoes of Dean's Iowa caucus-night scream. But with Ned Lamont's win, the left wing blogosphere can this morning claim perhaps its first major victory . . . at least in a Democratic primary if not in a general election. And that, in turn, raises the real question. Does the same left-wing blogosphere that can influence the outcome of Dem primaries foist on the party candidates...

by Mark Finkelstein August 4, 2006 - 09:07 Was Matt Lauer showing balance in criticizing Hillary Clinton along with Donald Rumsfeld this morning - or was his skepticism about Hillary simply voicing the view of the Murtha/Lamont wing of the Dem party? The focus was yesterday's Senate-hearing mano a mano between Hillary and Rumsfeld and her subsequent call for the president to accept the Defense Secretary's resignation. Interviewing all-purpose commentator Howard Fineman, Lauer seemed insistent that it was time for Rumsfeld to go. Lauer: "[Clinton] said the president should accept Rumsfeld's resignation. He lost credibility with Congress and the people....

by Mark Finkelstein August 2, 2006 - 08:17 The uniformed Cuban military officer pictured here barks commands at a smallish crowd in Havana that responds with pro-Fidel chants. Imagine you're an objective journalist. How would you report it? "The Castro regime orchestrates a public show of support," perhaps? Not Andrea Mitchell. Appearing on this morning's Today show, here's how she characterized what you have to imagine was a less-than-spontaneous event: "In Havana, Cubans turn out to show support for their long-time leader." No surprise. I did ask you to imagine how an 'objective' journalist would report it. Andrea managed to...

by Mark Finkelstein July 20, 2006 - 13:57 They laughed when I said, here and here, that wearing a Palestinian scarf has become a leftist fashion statement. It was just a cold day on Rockefeller Center, people explained. Guess the cold of Rock Center has made its way all the way to Madrid, and in high summer, no less! Have a look at this article: Spanish PM in scarf scandal: "Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has come under criticism for posing with a Palestinian scarf on his shoulders after accusing Israel of using force "abusively" to defend itself....

by Mark Finkelstein July 18, 2006 - 09:37 I don't know about you, but whenever I have to choose whose military strategy to rely on - the Israeli IDF's or a member of the MSM - I'm going to go with the American media guy every time - particularly when the fellow in question is NBC Nightly News host Brian Williams. After all, what battles or wars has Israel ever won? In contrast, those fraternity parties back at Catholic University were an absolute minefield, not to mention the internecine battle scars Brian earned while working in Jimmy Carter's White House....

by Mark Finkelstein on July 14, 2006 - 08:26. Israel might be defending itself on two fronts this morning, but that might not be enough. The Today show was attacking on at least three. And in a brief but telling moment, Andrea Mitchell gave away the blame-Israel game with a spontaneous shake of the head. Here's the gist of Today's reporting: * Israel's offensive against Hezbollah is based on a 'pretext.' * The Bush administration has dropped the diplomatic ball. It should have sent higher-level people in to mediate sooner. In the meantime, despite the concerns of America's European allies,...

by Mark Finkelstein June 9, 2006 I'm on a quick strike down to NYC today to attend a talk radio convention. And speaking of quick strikes, Matt Lauer launched one at Karen Hughes on this morning's 'Today.' Hughes, who serves as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, was on to discuss US relations in the Arab world in the, ahem, wake of the killing of Zarqawi. At the end of the interview, Lauer hit Hughes with this 21/2-month old quote from Donald Rumsfeld: "If I were grading, I would say we probably deserve a D or...

Got 8 minutes? Check out this "top ten" from the stupid pile of stuff from this week. Check out the "Daily Kos" as the freshmaker, listen to Alec Baldwin ponder why doesn't have callers to his radio show, find out why DaVinci Code star Ian McKellen has "faith" in his movie - but not in actually inspired texts, see who Hillary Clinton now blames abortion on, and see for yourself how Chris Matthews earns bonus stupid points for encouraging Moonbat Congressman John Murtha to slander our troops as baby killers... all in 8 minutes on the MuscleHead Revolution V-Cast.

by Mark Finkelstein May 17, 2006 If the Da Vinci Code was already feeding the flames of controversy with its challenge to the basic tenets of Christianity, actor Ian McKellen managed to throw a refinery tank's worth of gasoline on the fire on this morning's Today show, asserting that the Bible should carry a disclaimer saying that it is "fiction." Matt Lauer, on his second day "On The Road With The Code," was in Cannes for the film festival, where the Code will have its debut. It has already been screened to some critics, who have given it decidedly mixed...

by Mark Finkelstein May 16, 2006 Let's be clear: the Da Vinci Code portrays Christianity as a fraud and the Roman Catholic Church as a murderous conspiracy. As Archbishop Angelo Amato, the number two official in the Vatican doctrinal office which was headed by Pope Benedict until his election last year recently stated, if "such lies and errors had been directed at the Koran or the Holocaust they would have justly provoked a world uprising." Yet the Today show has decided to offer the movie, scheduled for release this week, untold millions in free advertising by devoting hours of, um,...

by Mark Finkelstein May 12, 2006 One thing is certain: the people within the government leaking the existence of secret anti-terror programs to the press are trying to hurt the president politically. Chris Matthews believes they have been more successful in achieving that goal with the recent leak of the phone data collection program than they were with the terrorist surveillance program leak. On this morning's Today show, Matt Lauer asked Matthews: "Will there be a huge political fallout? Americans are evenly split on the domestic program [i.e., the terrorist surveillance progam]. Do you see this as the same situation?"...