There is no interview President Obama will do with any network, excluding Fox News, that Noel Sheppard won’t complain about… particularly before it even airs.
In an October 27 piece, the NewsBusters’ associate editor whines in his typically petulant tone about how the President will be sitting down for an interview with MSNBC’s “Morning Joe“, hosted by Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough. Mind you, this is the first interview in years, since being elected, that Obama is doing with any host from MSNBC. That fact doesn’t matter to Sheppard, however, as he’s already touting the interview as softball, before even watching it:
Having not done a press conference since June, Barack Obama has instead appeared on ABC’s The View, CBS’s Late Show with David Letterman, and NBC’s Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
Apparently feeling MSNBC’s Morning Joe will present him with similar softballs and friendly confines, the President is doing an interview with Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski Saturday to be aired Monday just eight days before Americans go to the polls.
Friendly confines? Granted, Mika Brzezinski is a supporter of Obama (which is no mystery), but Joe Scarborough is a former Republican congressman who has never voted for a Democrat in his life, nor supported one. Just because he doesn’t fawn over Mitt Romney as the second coming doesn’t mean he loves Obama. Does Sheppard manage to, at least, give examples of Scarborough praising Obama? No, but he still goes on to complain some more:
What do Scarborough and Brzezinski have in common with late night talk show hosts and the ladies of The View?
Could it be their unabashed disdain for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney?
You have to love how Sheppard just says these things without a shred of proof. He doesn’t give any examples, he doesn’t offer any video footage, he doesn’t link to any past screeds him or his colleagues have posted whining about Scarborough. He just says it, and knows the right-wing faithful reading his postings will fall for it… hook, line and sinker.
You also have to wonder… Would Sheppard have wanted President Obama to go on with Rachel Maddow or Ed Schultz instead? What about Martin Bashir or Al Sharpton? He would have an aneurysm just considering the possibility of any of those hosts. He does, surprisingly point out that the President refused an interview with another well-known MSNBC host (emphasis mine):
Consider that according to the Huffington Post, Obama refused an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews last month.
That’s right – Obama would rather be questioned by Scarborough than one of his avowed fans who gets a thrill up the leg whenever he speaks.
Says a lot about what the Obama campaign must think of Morning Joe doesn’t it?
So, even when Obama is clearly taking the tougher interview, with someone he knows is conservative in Scarborough over the obviously more liberal Matthews, Sheppard still spins it as a negative.
Incredible.
Sheppard concludes his piece with this whopper:
Sure is going to be a hoot watching Joe and Mika likely agree with everything bad the President has to say about his opponent.
Yes, Noel, it’s going to be “a hoot” watching that. Of course, let’s ignore all the times Scarborough has criticized President Obama, right? You want examples? Here are some I managed to dig up quite easily, and the amount of love for Obama was just amazing… I couldn’t believe it:
- President Obama “laid out no plan for the next four years” during 2nd Presidential debate
- I thought Obama “was not presidential” during 3rd Presidential debate
- President Obama is a “horrible” debater
- “It makes absolutely no sense” for President Obama to say that “he is not going to run on his record“
- President Obama’s first debate performance was the “Emperor has no clothes moment“
- “I just wonder how excited people around [President Obama]… are for him running again” due to of low poll numbers
There’s also the time Scarborough claimed that the President “really didn’t” call the attack on the Libya embassy a terrorist attack (a lie NewsBusters has parroted), that the President “apologized repeatedly“ after the embassy attack, repeated the debunked “you didn’t build that” attacks from conservatives on President Obama (also, pushed by NewsBusters), followed the narrative of other conservatives about how the October job numbers “don’t add up“, touted the efficiency of the Keystone pipeline creating more jobs than the payroll tax cut, and on and on from there.
Wow, what a pro-Obama record Scarborough has!
As usual, since Sheppard didn’t feel the need to actually bother offering any links of Scarborough loathing Romney and fawning over Obama, we managed to come pretty equipped debunking his lies with relative ease… and it’s all material that’s searchable on the internet for everyone to find.
Next time, he should probably be better prepared… or just be patient until the interview airs, and watch it first, then send out his little bias alerts.
