NPR Legal Reporter Lamely Tries to Spread Bush Into the AP Phone-tapping Scandal
NPR legal correspondent Carrie Johnson reported on the IRS scandal on Tuesday’s Morning Edition displaying an urgent need to spread some Bush administration into the story. First she mentioned a 2004 FBI probe that improperly acquired phone records from New York Times and Washington Post reporters without going through proper channels.
Then she concluded with how the last secret subpoena for a reporter’s phone records came in 2001. But it involved Clinton-appointed U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White – who just became Obama’s appointee to head the Securities and Exchange Commission:
Bozell Column: Obama’s Legacy? Scandal
The Obama scandals started piling up on top of each other in the last few days. The civil servants who testified on Benghazi were heart-breaking. Then the IRS admitted a punitive agenda against tax exemptions for groups with “Tea Party” in the name, or groups which “educate about the Constitution.”
Then Eric Holder’s Justice Department was revealed to be wiretapping the Associated Press in April and May of 2012 to nail a leaker. President Obama is not a “victim” of a “second-term curse.” This is the corrupt first term beginning to smell, it is his administration, and even the media cannot deny the odor of malfeasance.
NPR Anchor Tries to Describe First Obama Term as ‘Remarkably Scandal-free’
On Monday, NPR Morning Edition anchor Steve Inskeep expressed -- in the face of all the evidence of Fast and Furious, Solyndra, MF Global, and so on -- that the first term of Obama's presidency was "remarkably scandal-free." When I challenged him on the factual inaccuracy of this, he tweeted in reply , "Hm, did I say it was scandal-free or that it 'has been described' as such?"
However passively Inskeep expressed it, he certainly agreed with it. Inskeep asked Cokie Roberts, "This administration has been described -- I don't even know how many times- - as remarkably scandal-free. But when you get into the second term of an administration, there's often some dirty laundry that comes out. Is that what's happening now?" Roberts agreed:
NPR Anchor Tries to Describe First Obama Term as ‘Remarkably Scandal-free’
On Monday, NPR Morning Edition anchor Steve Inskeep expressed -- in the face of all the evidence of Fast and Furious, Solyndra, MF Global, and so on -- that the first term of Obama's presidency was "remarkably scandal-free." When I challenged him on the factual inaccuracy of this, he tweeted in reply , "Hm, did I say it was scandal-free or that it 'has been described' as such?"
However passively Inskeep expressed it, he certainly agreed with it. Inskeep asked Cokie Roberts, "This administration has been described -- I don't even know how many times- - as remarkably scandal-free. But when you get into the second term of an administration, there's often some dirty laundry that comes out. Is that what's happening now?" Roberts agreed:
NPR Anchor Tries to Describe First Obama Term as ‘Remarkably Scandal-free’
On Monday, NPR Morning Edition anchor Steve Inskeep expressed -- in the face of all the evidence of Fast and Furious, Solyndra, MF Global, and so on -- that the first term of Obama's presidency was "remarkably scandal-free." When I challenged him on the factual inaccuracy of this, he tweeted in reply , "Hm, did I say it was scandal-free or that it 'has been described' as such?"
However passively Inskeep expressed it, he certainly agreed with it. Inskeep asked Cokie Roberts, "This administration has been described -- I don't even know how many times- - as remarkably scandal-free. But when you get into the second term of an administration, there's often some dirty laundry that comes out. Is that what's happening now?" Roberts agreed:
NPR’s Weekend News Shows Skipped Any Journalism on Obama Scandals — But Found Six Minutes for Rhino Horns
How enthusiastic can NPR be in avoiding the emerging Obama scandals? Try this: So-called “All Things Considered” aired no features on Benghazi or the IRS on Saturday or Sunday. (This excludes on-the-hour news updates.) But they found time for six minutes on the trade in rhino horns.
It was more ridiculous on “Weekend Edition” Saturday and Sunday – they also skipped both. NPR correspondent Michele Kelemen reported on Secretary of State John Kerry for 4 minutes and 22 seconds without a single word about Libya. Somehow the State Department’s Benghazi fiasco wasn’t listed as a “thorny issue” in the Middle East:
NPR Promotes Liberals’ Push to Turn Texas Purple in Future Elections
NPR's Scott Horsley filed an unashamedly slanted report on Thursday's Morning Edition about the former national field director for Obama's reelection campaign trying to boost voter turnout among Hispanics in Texas as a means of helping Democratic candidates. The only talking heads that Horsley featured during the segment were the former Obama campaign official, Jeremy Bird, and a fellow of the left-wing Center for American Progress.
The correspondent mentioned only in passing that "some Texas Republicans are skeptical that Democrats will be competitive in their state anytime soon."
NPR Lines Up Liberal Boosters of ‘Path to Citizenship’ For Illegal Immigrants
NPR's David Welna stacked his Thursday report on Morning Edition full of liberal politicians and activists who support granting citizenship to illegal immigrants. Welna aired sound bites from a representative of the left-wing SEIU, three Democratic politicians, and a woman who has illegal immigrant family members. He only included one clip from a Republican – Senator John McCain, who has long been a supporter of "comprehensive" immigration reform.
The correspondent also spent much of the segment spotlighting a recent Capitol Hill demonstration in favor of a so-called path to citizenship, where many of his liberal talking heads spoke.
NPR Touts Tax Savings For Same-Sex Couples If DOMA is Struck Down
On Tuesday's Morning Edition, NPR's Carrie Johnson played up the positive financial impact for same-sex couples if the Supreme Court strikes down the Defense of Marriage Act. All of Johnson's talking heads came from the left side of the political spectrum – the plaintiff challenging the 1996 law at the Supreme Court; an accountant who caters to same-sex couples; a fellow for the liberal Tax Policy Center; and an openly homosexual law professor.
The correspondent touted how the litigant before the Supreme Court "inherited a huge estate tax bill – a bill she would have avoided if her marriage had been recognized under federal law."
NPR Touts Tax Savings For Same-Sex Couples If DOMA is Struck Down
On Tuesday's Morning Edition, NPR's Carrie Johnson played up the positive financial impact for same-sex couples if the Supreme Court strikes down the Defense of Marriage Act. All of Johnson's talking heads came from the left side of the political spectrum – the plaintiff challenging the 1996 law at the Supreme Court; an accountant who caters to same-sex couples; a fellow for the liberal Tax Policy Center; and an openly homosexual law professor.
The correspondent touted how the litigant before the Supreme Court "inherited a huge estate tax bill – a bill she would have avoided if her marriage had been recognized under federal law."
NPR Ignores Republican Opponents of Leftward ‘Shift’ on Immigration, Same-Sex ‘Marriage’
On Friday's Morning Edition, Mara Liasson lined up talking heads who support RNC Chairman Reince Priebus' Monday report that advises Republicans to "embrace...comprehensive immigration reform" and "change our tone" on issues championed by homosexual activists. Liasson failed to include soundbites from traditional marriage supporters and anti-illegal immigration activists.
The correspondent hyped, "What's happening inside the Republican Party on immigration is as sudden as a tsunami." She later spotlighted how "potential Republican presidential candidates...are beating a tactical retreat in the gay marriage war."
NPR Ignores Republican Opponents of Leftward ‘Shift’ on Immigration, Same-Sex ‘Marriage’
On Friday's Morning Edition, Mara Liasson lined up talking heads who support RNC Chairman Reince Priebus' Monday report that advises Republicans to "embrace...comprehensive immigration reform" and "change our tone" on issues championed by homosexual activists. Liasson failed to include soundbites from traditional marriage supporters and anti-illegal immigration activists.
The correspondent hyped, "What's happening inside the Republican Party on immigration is as sudden as a tsunami." She later spotlighted how "potential Republican presidential candidates...are beating a tactical retreat in the gay marriage war."
NPR Ignores Republican Opponents of Leftward ‘Shift’ on Immigration, Same-Sex ‘Marriage’
On Friday's Morning Edition, Mara Liasson lined up talking heads who support RNC Chairman Reince Priebus' Monday report that advises Republicans to "embrace...comprehensive immigration reform" and "change our tone" on issues championed by homosexual activists. Liasson failed to include soundbites from traditional marriage supporters and anti-illegal immigration activists.
The correspondent hyped, "What's happening inside the Republican Party on immigration is as sudden as a tsunami." She later spotlighted how "potential Republican presidential candidates...are beating a tactical retreat in the gay marriage war."
NPR Omits Leftist Politics of ‘Social Activist’ Fr. Pfleger; Glosses Over Chicago’s Strict Gun Control
On Friday's Morning Edition, NPR's Cheryl Corley stacked her report on President Obama's gun control push full of left-of-center talking heads. But the one who stood out was Father Michael Pfleger, whom she merely identified as a "social activist". Corley ignored his controversial background, which includes a 2008 defense of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's former radical pastor, and threatening to "snuff out" a Chicago gun store owner in 2007.
The correspondent also failed to point out the liberal affiliations of two other "activists" who are on the faculty at University of Chicago: a political science professor with an interest in "lesbian and gay politics" and a law professor who is also a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
NPR Spotlights ‘Barely Controversial’ Pentagon Directive to Extend Benefits to Same-Sex Couples
NPR's Ari Shapiro did little to conceal his slant towards same-sex "marriage" on Thursday's Morning Edition, as he reported on the Defense Department granting limited benefits to the same-sex partners of members of the military. Shapiro hyped that supposedly, "as a political move, the Pentagon's action is barely controversial."
The openly-homosexual correspondent later asserted that "it's hard to tell whether President Obama's pro-gay positions are helping to create this wave [of support for homosexuals in the military], or just letting him surf it." He also lined up three left-leaning talking heads during his report, versus only one social conservative pundit.
NPR Touts Leftist Groups’ Protest of Israeli Company SodaStream
On Monday's Morning Edition, NPR's Larry Abramson boosted an "international boycott movement" against Israeli company SodaStream without mentioning the left-wing ideology of the organizations behind the protest. Abramson merely described the boycott organizers as "supporters of Palestinian rights."
The correspondent featured a soundbite of a December 2012 anti-SodaStream protest in Boston, but failed to mention that the demonstration was organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, whose advisory board includes far-left notables such as Noam Chomsky, Eve Ensler, and Tony Kushner.
NPR Boosts ‘Fireproof’ Hillary’s Possible 2016 Run; Two Clinton Associates the Only Talking Heads
Mara Liasson hyped Hillary Clinton as "the most popular politician in the country" on Friday's Morning Edition on NPR. Liasson asserted that "there's no question that being out of politics for four years has enhanced her political reputation," and devoted her report to touting how the supposedly "fireproof" Mrs. Clinton's experience as secretary of state would make her a "field-clearing frontrunner" in the 2016 presidential race.
The NPR journalist played soundbites from just two pundits during the segment, both of them close political associates of the Clintons: former White House Press Secretary Dee Myers, and Geoff Garin, who was the chief strategist for the former First Lady's 2008 presidential bid. Liasson merely identified Garin as some one who "has worked for Clinton in the past."
NPR Brings On Anti-Romney Boston Globe Reporters to Trash ‘Disaster’ of Mitt’s Rightward Tilt
NPR's idea of Republican convention coverage is to expose Mitt Romney as a flip-flopping fraud flirting with the "extremist camp within the Republican Party." On the very liberal show Fresh Air on Tuesday, host Terry Gross brought on two Boston Globe reporters who've penned an expose called The Real Romney. They talked for 43 and a half minutes.
Veteran Globe editor Michael Kranish found “disaster” in the GOP platform “which takes a very hard line on abortion, and he's picked Paul Ryan, who in the past has voiced a very hard line on abortion....And it's a disaster on the left and certainly in the center because Mitt Romney wants to talk about the economy.” Gross also wanted the Boston authors to trash Romney for his birth-certificate joke, and expose Romney's polygamous Mexico-based ancestors:
NPR Ignores Obama Super PAC’s Cancer Death Ad; ‘Truth Squadding’ Romney Welfare Ad
On Wednesday's Morning Edition, NPR followed the example of its Big Three counterparts in failing to cover a new ad from a pro-Obama super PAC that points the finger at Mitt Romney for a woman's cancer death. Instead, the liberal radio network sent correspondent Ari Shapiro to "do some truth squadding" about the Romney campaign's latest ad slamming the Obama administration on welfare reform.
Shapiro slanted towards the Democratic campaign's spin of the Romney ad, and concluded that the White House's move on welfare work requirements was "poor form by the Democrats, perhaps, but not the same at gutting welfare reform."
In Appreciation of Gore Vidal, NPR Broadcasts Historic Lie About William F. Buckley
NPR is the network that sought out Christopher Hitchens to trash Mother Teresa upon her death as a horrible fraud, and then when Hitchens died, they warmly remembered how he hated God and Mother Teresa. So it's not surprising that radical leftist and gay activist Gore Vidal was going to be honored without a second of dissent or disapproval of critics.
None of the glowing obituaries and appreciations carried an ideological label, and one -- on Wednesday night's All Things Considered -- contained a glaring falsehood -- that William F. Buckley called Vidal a "queer" on national TV in 1968 without being provoked. Vidal called him a "crypto-Nazi" first. NPR turned to the gay novelist Christopher Bram to do the honors, and he brazenly lied:
NPR Touts Virginia ‘Shifting in the Democrats’ Direction’; Slants Towards Obama Supporters
On Friday's Morning Edition, NPR's Scott Horsley favored Obama supporters in his report on the battle for Virginia's electoral votes, playing three soundbites from them, versus only one from a Republican official in the commonwealth. Horsley also played up how "the demographics are shifting in the Democrats' direction."
The correspondent led the segment by noting the Democratic incumbent's planned stop at a high School in Virginia Beach. He wasted little time before playing clips of a recent graduate and his mother, who are both supporters of the President:
HORSLEY: The President's first scheduled stop today is at Green Run High School in Virginia Beach. Caine Basey is a recent graduate of the school. He couldn't get a ticket for today's event, but says he will cast his first presidential vote for Mr. Obama.
CAINE BASEY: I think he's the best choice - not just 'cause he's black either, but, you know, ObamaCare and all that. I like what he's for.
HORSLEY: Basey's eating at the Amazing African Restaurant across the street from the school. It specializes in dishes from Nigeria and neighboring countries. Basey's mother, Rhoda, is also an Obama backer, and a career sailor in the Navy.
RHODA BASEY: Not only do I serve him as the commander-in-chief, but I serve him as my president, and I believe he deserves the opportunity to make a change, make some differences, and do some good in office.
Horsley then emphasized Obama's apparent support in the Virginia Beach region by playing a third soundbite from a local barbershop owner, who claimed that many of his customers will end up voting for the chief executive.
After turning to University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato, the NPR correspondent made his claim about the Democratic advantage in the demographic change in Virginia, while acknowledging that Obama had a "weakness with blue-collar whites." He followed this, however, with a third supporter of the President, who was working at a Democratic phone bank in Norfolk.
The sole clip from a Republican didn't come until near the end of the report:
HORSLEY: Of course, Virginia Republicans are not sitting still. Pete Snyder, who chairs the state Republican Party's victory effort, admits his side was caught napping four years ago. He vows that won't happen again.
PETE SNYDER, REPUBLICAN PARTY OF VIRGINIA: There is a huge swath of the electorate that bought one thing in 2008 and decided they didn't like what they got. So, we're doing the calls here to mine into that, to make sure that we get them in our rolls and out come November.
More than two weeks earlier, on the June 26, 2012 edition of Morning Edition, Horsley singled out a supporter of the President who all but deified him: "See what his voice does? It clears up the weather, too. It clears up the economy, creates jobs, helps education, and straightens out the weather."
Obama Worship on NPR: President’s Voice ‘Clears Up The Weather; Creates Jobs’
NPR's Scott Horsley amped up a campaign rally for President Obama to biblical proportions on Tuesday's Morning Edition, as he singled out an Obama supporter who clearly was in awe of the incumbent Democrat, to the point of practically deifying him.
Horsley set the scene, pointing out how "the rain had stopped, and a little sunshine was peeking through the clouds," and how the supporter attributed this change in the weather to the President: "See what his voice does? It clears up the weather, too. It clears up the economy, creates jobs, helps education, and straightens out the weather." [audio clip available here]
The correspondent led his report by playing up the hardcore Obama supporters who apparently braved the elements to attend the rally: "Fans of Mr. Obama stood for hours in a steady downpour, waiting to catch a glimpse of the President. Some had umbrellas or makeshift tarps; others just got soaked."
Horsley acted as if he was a campaign stenographer during the segment, forwarding the talking points of the President and his reelection effort:
HORSLEY: Romney has proposed more tax cuts, especially for the wealthy, and more spending on the military. Mr. Obama says the only way he can do that without exploding the deficit is to cut government programs and tax deductions that benefit the middle class.
OBAMA: So, think about this: to pay for another $250,000 tax cut for the average millionaire, they're going to ask you to foot the bill. It's -- I figured you can't afford it. (audience cheers and applauds)
HORSLEY: Mr. Obama also won applause for his efforts to make birth control more widely available; to allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military; and to give temporary legal status to illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children.
The NPR correspondent also filled his report with soundbites from the President and his "fans." The lone exception was a clip from Romney campaign spokesman Rick Gorka.
The full transcript of Scott Horsley's report from Tuesday's Morning Edition:
RENEE MONTAGNE: Let's go now to the presidential campaign trail. On the day the Supreme Court struck down portions of a controversial Arizona immigration law, President Obama and his rival, Mitt Romney, tangled over immigration policy. Still, at a political rally yesterday in New Hampshire, Mr. Obama mostly focused on other issues, like the economy. New Hampshire has just four electoral votes, but it's expected to be hotly contested in November.
NPR's Scott Horsley has this report from New Hampshire.
SCOTT HORSLEY: Fans of Mr. Obama stood for hours in a steady downpour, waiting to catch a glimpse of the President. Some had umbrellas or makeshift tarps; others just got soaked. Either way, Steve Cunningham of Nashua, New Hampshire said it was worth it.
STEVE CUNNINGHAM: We no longer have time for sunshine patriots. We have to stand up, be recognized, be counted. It's America, man.
HORSLEY: Four years ago, Mr. Obama won New Hampshire by nearly 10 points. But while the state's economy is doing better than most, with an unemployment rate of just 5 percent, it's considered a true toss-up this year. Dennett Page is an Obama supporter from Portsmouth.
DENNETT PAGE: Clearly, we can't take anything for granted, not only here in New Hampshire, but nationwide. So it's really, really important that everybody rolls up their sleeves. We may not get the momentum that we had in 2008 and the magic and the whirlwind campaign. But clearly, if everybody does their part and votes, we'll be in good shape.
HORSLEY: Inside a steamy high school gym, Mr. Obama told supporters it's up to them to break the stalemate between two very different governing philosophies. He said the big tax cuts and deregulation championed by Mitt Romney and congressional Republicans are simply a retread of the approach George W. Bush took in the years before the economic downturn.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA (from campaign event): I believe they're wrong. I believe their policies were tested, and they failed.
HORSLEY: Romney has proposed more tax cuts, especially for the wealthy, and more spending on the military. Mr. Obama says the only way he can do that without exploding the deficit is to cut government programs and tax deductions that benefit the middle class.
OBAMA: So, think about this: to pay for another $250,000 tax cut for the average millionaire, they're going to ask you to foot the bill. It's -- I figured you can't afford it. (audience cheers and applauds)
HORSLEY: Mr. Obama also won applause for his efforts to make birth control more widely available; to allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military; and to give temporary legal status to illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children.
OBAMA: It's time to stop denying citizenship to responsible young people, just because they're the children of undocumented workers who've been growing up with our kids. (audience cheers and applauds)
HORSLEY: Mr. Obama didn't dwell on immigration in New Hampshire, where less than 3 percent of the population is Latino, but he did issue a statement praising the Supreme Court's decision to strike down most of an Arizona law targeting illegal immigrants. The President said a patchwork of state laws is not a solution, adding it's clear that Congress needs to act on more comprehensive reform.
Romney, who's taken a tough line on illegal immigration, was in Arizona yesterday. He told campaign donors there he would have preferred the Supreme Court give more latitude to the states. Romney's spokesman, Rick Gorka, repeatedly ducked questions about the specifics of the Arizona law, while blaming Mr. Obama for what he said was a lack of leadership.
RICK GORKA, ROMNEY CAMPAIGN SPOKESMAN: Arizona, like many other states in this nation, have taken upon themselves to craft policies for their own specific states. The governor has said repeatedly that the states are a laboratory of democracy. What one state drafts may not work in others. But ultimately, this, again, goes back to the President's failure to deliver on his campaign promises.
HORSLEY: Back at the high school in New Hampshire, Mr. Obama told the crowd he expects a close contest in November.
OBAMA: I'm going to need you to stand with me, as I run for a second term for as president. (audience cheers and applauds)
HORSLEY: By the time the President finished speaking, the rain had stopped, and a little sunshine was peeking through the clouds. That gave David O'Donnell of Portsmouth one more reason to be impressed with Mr. Obama.
DAVID O'DONNELL: See what his voice does? It clears up the weather, too. It clears up the economy, creates jobs, helps education, and straightens out the weather.
HORSLEY: Not every Granite Stater was so sanguine about the break in the rain, though. As Brian Bresnahan of Coos County warned, this is New Hampshire: give it a minute. Scott Horsley, NPR News.
NPR Promotes Rapper Who’s Glad Reagan’s Dead, Since He Introduced Cocaine to Blacks
On Tuesday’s Morning Edition, National Public Radio promoted an Atlanta rapper named “Killer Mike” and his “politically charged” song called “Reagan.”
Somehow, they left out that Atlanta-based "artist" Michael Render ends the song with “I’m glad Reagan dead” and regurgitates the old conspiracy theory that Reagan and Ollie North imported cocaine into the inner cities:
We tell them dope stories, introduce them to the game
Just like Oliver North introduced us to cocaine
In the 80s when the bricks came on military planes
After the story ended, NPR listeners could hear a bit of how Killer Mike ripped all the presidents (including Obama) as tools of the corporations:
Ronald Reagan was an actor, not at all a factor
Just an employee of the country's real masters
Just like the Bushes, Clinton and Obama
Just another talking head telling lies on Teleprompters
If you don't believe the theory, then argue with this logic
Why did Reagan and Obama both go after Qaddafi
We invaded sovereign soil, going after oil
Taking countries is a hobby paid for by the oil lobby
Anchor Linda Wertheimer -- at 69 not exactly your ideal hip-hop impresario -- negotiated around Killer Mike's stranger conspiracy theories:
WERTHEIMER: Atlanta holds a special place in Killer Mike's heart. He runs a barbershop there and is something of a community leader.
MIKE: I want to chance to have my finger on the pulse of the community, and at the same time provide jobs that make profit. You know, it's sexy to sell vodka. It's sexy to own a record label. It's sexy to own a clothing company. But sexy is not what's paying for the communities that are north of Atlanta.
WERTHEIMER: Killer Mike addresses this issue in a politically charged song called "Reagan."
MIKE: (Rapping) We brag on having bread, but none of us are bakers. We all talk having greens, but none of us own acres. If none of us own acres and none of us grow wheat, then who will feed our people when our people need to eat?
On the NPR website, Killer Mike had a longer answer on Reagan:
"Ronald Reagan was an actor. He was a pitchman at first, and so people naturally trust him. He understood how to weave magic when he was speaking, and that's what we as entertainers do. So when Jay-Z tells you to buy some Reeboks, it means more. Ronald Reagan at one point was the biggest pitchman in the world. I think that Reagan was used by a political party, by people who had vested means, to push their own agendas. He had his own agendas, and I think that no rapper had ever said, 'I've been guilty of this. I have hurt my community as a rapper.'
"I'm not saying it hypothetically. I have hurt my community. I have to look myself in the mirror and know that, and I have to own that in order to grow past that.
"It's social. Much of my music gets interpreted as political, but it's social. I don't absolve myself from any responsibility, I don't take myself outside the problem. I just say it as a part of it. But, you know, Reagan is an ideology; it isn't just a human. I don't know if any of us know the real human being, besides Nancy, who Reagan really was.
"I think that in a lot of ways we are like that as rappers — no one really knows us. I just wanted to give people my most sincere and honest thoughts, so I hope that the ideology that's Reagan somehow diminishes."
Even this rapper knows he’s talking to liberals at NPR:
If I tell someone, 'I was listening to NPR,' they're going to naturally assume, 'He's a black liberal, he supports ... ' If I tell someone, 'I was just listening to Fox Radio,' they're going to assume, 'He's a black neo-conservative.' I just listen 'cause I'm curious. I don't want to be married to any ideology, because life is a lot more fluid than that, and I think that we're trained and conditioned in this country to think in teams.
NPR’s Shameless Plug for Michelle Obama’s ‘Workout Mix’
Don’t think National Public Radio isn’t on the bandwagon of “state-run media” that run oozy profiles that make the Obamas more “friendly and personable” than the Republicans. On Thursday’s Morning Edition, NPR anchor Renee Montagne shared with the country the First Lady’s “Workout Mix” – since she’s the national fitness nanny.
The three songs recommended weren’t the story – some Beyonce, some Stevie Wonder, and for some reason Willow Smith’s “Whip My Hair.” The story, based on an NPR interview in the White House garden, was all about promoting her “Let’s Move” publicity campaign and how it’s amazing the First Lady finds time for fitness in her fabulous life:
MONTAGNE: The First Lady is the mover and shaker behind Let's Move, a campaign designed to get young people, especially, to eat better and exercise more. And when she took us on a tour recently of the White House Vegetable Garden, Michelle Obama shared with us the key to her workout routine.
MICHELLE OBAMA: I really mix it up - some weights, some kick boxing, lots of cardio. You know, I try to make it fun - do a little yoga. I really try to mix it up so that I don't get bored.
Then after some snippets of her "workout jams" came the puffery promoting the bubbly FLOTUS personality:
MONTAGNE: Okay, so variety [on the song list] is key. But when you are first lady and really moving from country to country, squeezing in a workout can be tricky. Background briefings on world leaders, getting your gowns fitted and hair done, plus representing your nation at State Dinners that can really put a dent in an exercise routine.
MICHELLE OBAMA: You know, sometimes I'm not successful, which is why I try to work out as much as possible when I do have the time, so that that week or those few days when I miss something, it's not the end of the world. And I would encourage people: don't beat yourself up, because sometimes life happens and you just can't get it done. But when I'm on the road, I bring a jump rope. But, you know, you could do jumping jacks. You could, you know, do some sit-ups. Or just get out of your hotel room and do a walk - go down to the gym.
But for me, you know, I can't walk out of my hotel room and into the street as first lady, looking like I look when I first get up in the morning. (Laughs) So, sometimes I just like to jump in my room, all by myself.
This story was the last in a "Workout Mix" series on Morning Edition, which in April included IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman.
This isn't the first time NPR's done this favor. NPR's evening newscast All Things Considered promoted a Beyonce appearance for Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" campaign last May.