In which the MSM abandons all pretense of objective reporting. Again.

They have basically become the proud PR arm of the White House, repeating whatever message the White House tells them to. Consider the following two clips. The first one, below, is from last evening's NBC Nightly News broadcast. This report features mostly straight reporting and even hints that Obama's Townhall meeting may have been pre-packed with mostly supporters. There was very little editorializing by Todd in this segment:

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Now compare and contrast this with Chuck Todd's report on the very same event this morning -- 13 hours later -- on the Today Show:

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Some blatant editorializing by Mr. Todd:

The President was "pushing back against WILD accusations."

Unlike members of congress, Obama faced only "POLITE skepticism" from Republicans.

"Outside the hall, the misrepresentation was on full display."

The President faced mostly supporters not because he stacked the deck with supporters, but because of the Secret Service.

It's the same report essentially, but a totally different tone. The glaring differences in these two reports indicate either that NBC News was told by the White House to shade the report more in favor of "Obamacare" supporters or that NBC News took it upon themselves to slant the report for the Today Show audience--an audience that is probably not as politically savvy as the audience who watches the Nightly News.

Either alternative is very chilling.

Katie Couric's insufferable "Notebook" segment on the radio this evening was more in the same vein. In tonight's installment, Katie was lamenting the loss of the pure Town Hall Meeting of the founders' days, saying that political speech has evolved. "Even though much of that speech is scripted", she sighs, "it's still democracy in action." That was her radio address. Her CBS Evening News "page" was quite a bit more egregious:


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Really, what a scold. Where was all of this tut-tutting when the Dems were carrying swastikas to protest George W. Bush? Where was all of the bitter cynicism when Dems were scripting old ladies in wheelchairs against the Republicans' Contract with America? And even though I believe that this is a legitimate grassroots movement, since when has the great American tradition of "Community Organizing" deserved to be met with such derision from the fourth estate?