Our weekly look at the loudest screech from the mainstream media features CBS chief Washington correspondent and Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer in addressing the confrontation on a tarmac between President Obama and Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer last week.
Reporting last Thursday for the Evening News, he said, “This is just another sign of the growing incivility and really vulgarity of our modern American politics in campaigns…I can never recall a president stepping off Air Force One, which is itself a symbol of the presidency in American democracy, and being subjected to such public rudeness. I think really we’re a better people than this little incident illustrates.”
Media Research Center Vice President of Research Brent Baker explains our pick: “While those not in the tank for Obama recognized the incident as hardly worth any such angst – Fox’s Brit Hume properly dismissed it by saying ‘the whole thing is much ado about not very much’ – Schieffer, the chief Washington correspondent for CBS News, was outraged anyone would dare point their finger at the media’s idol. Apparently, the Washington press corps reserves to itself the right to be rude to elected officials.”
Baker’s grade: Three out of five screams.
Reach Paul Bedard at @whispersbedard, [email protected].
