Media Matters calls out Norah O'Donnell on her Dean interview...

[madfloridian]

and they compare it with the softball way she interviewed Republicans on the same show. I am very impressed with this effort by Media Matters. I was stunned at her argumentative tone with him, it was way overboard. I don't know how he kept his cool. She once even rudely said, "you are not addressing the issue", and he said yes I am and she kept on interrupting.

Glad to see Media Matters do this very thorough presentation of her outrageous style. Contact info is at the site.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200606210001

"Hardball for Dean, softball for Allen: MSNBC's O'Donnell echoed Republican attacks, misleading statements
Summary: During separate one-on-one interviews with Howard Dean and Sen. George Allen, MSNBC's Kelly O'Donnell gave starkly different treatments to each -- asking Dean to respond to Republican attacks on Democrats for most of his interview, while favoring Allen with only two questions that asked him to address criticism of Republicans.
On the June 19 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, guest host and MSNBC chief White House correspondent Norah O'Donnell gave starkly different treatments to Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean and Sen. George Allen (R-VA) in separate one-on-one interviews. Of the 11 questions O'Donnell aired from her videotaped interview with Dean, seven required Dean to respond to Republican attacks on Democrats, misleading Republican statements, or statements questioning Democrats' unity on the Iraq issue. O'Donnell adopted several of these Republican talking points herself and defended Vice President Dick Cheney over his claim that the invasion was "in part responsible" for the fact that the United States has not been attacked again by terrorists since September 11, 2001.

In contrast, only two of O'Donnell's nine questions to Allen required a response from Allen to criticism of Republicans."

Here is the link to the video at MSNBC if you have trouble with the Quicktime at Media Matters. It is under Hardball, Democrats 2006.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/


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[Dinger]

1. K & R madfloridian (nt)

[madfloridian]

2. Oops, just noticed MM called her Kelly O'Donnell instead of Norah.

They should have caught it by now, you would think.

[Avalux]

3. Norah has stars in her eyes.

She enjoys dressing up and being a part of the WH inner circle; yucking it up with her high-falutin' friends. She fancies herself a celebrity of sorts, and will do and say anything to continue living the good life.

She is NOT a journalist.

[Cha]

4. There were two

o'donnells ganging up on Dean and he still won out.

Thankfully, MediaMatters is watching too and documents this kind of fascist media echo chamber of the wh.

Thanks for the links, mad.

Dean really did an excellent job on blitzer, yesterday, too.

[madfloridian]

10. I signed up for their emails to help me remember to keep up with them.

They do good work.

[Old and In the Way]

5. I watched that in disgust, too.

She seems to be letting her political bias ruin her objectivity. It's pretty obvious that she's rooting for the Republican Party. Must be a qualification to be Tweety's back-up.

[spag68]

6. dean interview

I saw the show and I think Mr. Dean came off as a real pro. It looked like she was frustrated that she couldn't him riled. She is creepier then tweety, Do you think he is off helping his pathetic brother?

[gumby]

7. Is Norah O'Donnell really

Karl Rove's blow-up doll?

I saw that amazingly bad performance. Had to turn it off before the Allen interview because I knew she would be totally different and decided against absorbing more abuse.

[madfloridian]

8. One rude part from her....from the transcript at MSNBC

This was truly unprofessional, and not very bright of her.

"O‘DONNELL: What does a redeployment of troops mean?

DEAN: Well, let me first answer your question. What you were talking about is the House agenda for what they were he going to pass, should they come back in power, which is increasing the minimum wage, balancing the budget, which the Republicans haven‘t been able to do. In fact, no Republican has balanced the budget for 40 years.

O‘DONNELL: You‘re still not dealing with the issue of Iraq You have three quarters of the House Democrats who say they want some sort of phased withdrawal, if you will, from Iraq. You have multiple resolutions and amendments being put forward in the Senate, even a new one today by Senators Reid and Senators Levin. So with all this talk out there, why is it the Democrats can‘t put down on paper exactly what their unified plan is. What are you trying to avoid?

DEAN: Well, first of all, let me remind you that it‘s the Republicans that run everything. I think it‘s pretty terrific of the Democrats to put down a plan because the Republicans don‘t seem to have one of any kind, except a permanent commitment to a failed strategy, which we got into because we weren‘t told the truth."

She's unbelievable.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13438754/

[depakid]

29. Part of the culture of lies

that the far right and the coprorate media has created.

[Bozita]

9. Norah the Whorah performing -- She had a point of view ...

... and it was obvious.

[WinkyDink]

11. Moreover, she actually got flirtatious and giggly with Allen and

Tuesday's Mehlman.

Sick.

[suziedemocrat]

20. Yes! She really flirts sometimes! Like she thinks she is a catch!

Makes me sick. Some guy will fall for her flirty ways then get stuck with the bitch that interviewed Dean.

[DemonFighterLives]

28. What a catch!

:rofl:

Medusa comes to mind.

[madfloridian]

12. Norah: "Can‘t you give this administration some credit?"

"O‘DONNELL: And we are back with the Chairman the Democratic National Committee, Howard Dean. Let me ask you, Vice-President been attacked since 9-11, just last week, he said that taking out Saddam Hussein was, in part, the reason we‘ve not been attacked. Your reaction?

DEAN: That‘s complete hooey. Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9-11. That‘s just part of the Republican nonsense that got us in to Iraq in the first place and the Americans now know that‘s complete hooey and the president and vice-president were not telling the truth when they said that.

O‘DONNELL: But he said it‘s in part because we‘ve done a better job protecting Americans overseas, by taking the fight over seas, it‘s in part because of the Patriot Act and in part because of domestic surveillance. Can‘t you give this administration some credit? It is true there‘s not been an attack on American soil in five years.

DEAN: That is true and that‘s terrific but they haven‘t secured our ports. They haven‘t secure our nuclear plants, we‘ve lost 2500 brave American soldiers, because we attacked the wrong country and we‘re not doing the job we should in Afghanistan because we don‘t have enough troops over there. These folks fundamentally don‘t know what they‘re doing."

Whine, Whine, Norah....they don't deserve credit.

[Olney Blue]

21. Asking Dean to give the administration some credit- was obnoxious.

Dean wouldn't yield an ounce- he was incredible.

[Cha]

23. No norah ..No credit

for this adminisration's LIES and Dying of the Soldiers and innocent Iraqis. It's called WAR CRIMIMALS!

[wanpete]

13. Norah the media whorah...don't watch her after seeing her in action

for the rethugs a year or so ago. she's very transparent and cannot hide her rethug bias.

[lavendermist]

14. My 12 year old grandaughter

said she thought N O'D was a republican. We watched the Dean interview and then I asked her to judge for herself when the Allen interview came on. She was very surprised at the different treatment and I was pleasantly surprised that she could tell the difference.

Summer vacations with grandparents are such a good time to plant some Democratic seeds in a young fertile mind, :evilgrin: , especially when she gets so much Republican propaganda at home during the school year. O8)

[DemonFighterLives]

30. Congratulations

She has a good eye and sound mind.
:woohoo:

[oasis]

15. Norah made a weak attempt at "truth in reporting" today when she told

rightwinger Katie O'Bierne that Bush would not pull the troops out of Iraq "tommorrow"--even if asked by Iraqi leadership. Katie strongly objected to the statement, but Norah stood her ground.

Dem strategist,Bob Shrumm was on hand to keep things honest.

[Jim Sagle]

17. He's about as good at keeping things honest as he is at winning.

;)

[WyLoochka]

39. Shrum sounded like a

different person. He totally won that round. He was direct and firm, made many good points and did not back down - at all. I was shocked. He has been taking "framing" lessons, I think. He didn't even cower when McGovern was mentioned - he proudly said "I worked for George McGovern!" (I hadn't known that about him).

The only thing I wish he had "framed" differently was the response to Kerry's coment about the Bushco policy being "lie and die." He said, yes it's "more lying and dying." We need to just flat out adopt the very terse, brief phrase "Lie and Die" - it's very potent and easily understood, remembered, repeated and goes great on signs and bumper stickers.

[oasis]

47. "Lie and Die": awfully close to the older "Bush lied and our troops died".

Maybe Shrum wanted to stay away from the phrase for that reason.

Norah held John McCain's feet to the fire today on a couple of issues. She must've read the Media Matters article accusing her of bias.

[WyLoochka]

49. Yes, but that was framed

in the past tense, implying the invasion/occupation is behind us.

LIE and DIE

allows people who see it and hear it to contemplate the future. This is our future if we don't change course. It matches the number of words in "cut and run" and it would penetrate at least some peoples heads due to the powerful images it evokes.

My two bits to the "framing team"

[texasleo]

16. she's not a repub, she's worse

she's one of those people afraid of being labeled "liberal," so she goes after Democrats in a hard manner.
Plus, she's got some material for her Fox News job interview.
They always seem to snag the lookers.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

18. she's past the age of "looker" for Faux

someone should let her know, before she embarrasses herself any longer.

[suziedemocrat]

19. I couldn't watch it - she was too mean - with those cruel eyes!!

She is really terrible. Doctor Jekyll and Mrs. Hyde! MSNBC needs to get rid of her!!

[Beausoir]

36. Her eyes are filled with anger. I watched her again last evening.

She was talking about the family of one of the latest slain soldiers. The grieving uncle spoke out, mildly, about the war and Norah was livid about it. Her eyes were filled with hatred.

I can see your true colors, Norah.

[bklyncowgirl]

22. Turn off the sound and watch their faces.

Poor Norah looks increasingly frustrated as she interviews Dean. Dean's pretty cool but not letting her get to him but you know he's waiting for a chance to knock her out of the ring.

[Cha]

26. Yeah, he's sharpening his

verbal gloves.

[Joe Bacon]

24. WHORRA loves the BROWN LIPSTICK

Wow, if we lived in the Soviet Union, she'd fit right in with such professional asskissers as Yevetshenko!

[wanpete]

55. ROFLMAO!!!! So true, so true!

[Douglas Carpenter]

25. thanks for posting...the media needs to be called on their nonsense

[The Backlash Cometh]

27. Isn't Nora the same one who interviewed our 15 yr. old prodigy?

I thought she was a bit harsh suggesting the Liberals were using her.

[madfloridian]

31. I saw an interview with Ava, but on CNN, I thought.

Her interviewer was Carol Lin, or something like that. I do think she said something about "liberals" or antiwar folks using her.

It was a very good interview by Ava, and the interviewer showed her colors. Ava seems so mature for a 15 year old.

[The Backlash Cometh]

33. Incredible composure for a 15 year old.

Under pressure, I turn into the Dunwich horror.

[Cha]

35. THey all

look alike.

[The Backlash Cometh]

37. Or more to the point: They all SOUND alike.

trailer trash pie dispensers. CA-HUCK!

[Cha]

40. That's what I meant in

my off handed way..they all sound alike so they all look alike.

[dogday]

32. Don't look now Whorah, your slip is showing...... nt

[Norquist Nemesis]

34. Mehlman was on with her yesterday

I swore off Hardball after watching Matthews doing the same too many times. Of course, I had to break that vow to watch the Dean interview. LOL!

Still, I just watched the interview from the website. If anyone wants to compare...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/ (click on the video link).

One more thing...the Dean interview was taped. The same was true when Wolfie interviewed him on the same day. But they always do the GOP interviews live. It makes me wonder what they leave on the cutting room floor.

[Catherine Vincent]

38. K&R!

[Hamlette]

41. kick

[cybildisobedience]

42. in addition to watching her eyes....

watch her sneer.
What could be a lovely face becomes quite unattractive as she allows her deep contempt for Democrats show. She literally has a sneer as she asks questions - - her mouth pulls to the side with derision, and her eyes blaze with hate.
I actually put the sound down and just concentrated on the facial expressions and they were quite revealing.

[demjuli]

43. She actually referred to Robert Byrd

as "Bobby Byrd" last night, with a sneer.

Piece of republican trash.

[madfloridian]

44. Be sure to go to the Media Matters home page each day.

http://mediamatters.org/

Lots of good stuff there.

[AtomicKitten]

45. She was extremely rude interrupting Dean and

challenging his responses.

But, seriously, do we expect anything different from Hardball? They aren't even interested in the pretense of fairness and accuracy.

Thank you for your meticulous documentation of this, mf, kicked and recommended. We better get used to this 'tude from the MSM in the upcoming elections. It seems as time passes, they become less and less discrete about their bias.

[mitchtv]

46. We have seen her two nights now

I don't know how much longer I can take her venom

[zippy890]

48. kick - good post

:dem:

[KoKo]

50. Tonight "Noron" repeated "Cut and Run" about 15 Times inteviewing

Sen. John McCain asking him if he approved of "Cut and Run" language about Democrats...Cut and Run, Cut and Run...Senator do you approve of Cut and Run that's used to describe Democrats plans...Do YOU Feel the plan is Cut and Run, and if you feel it's Cut and Run how would you describe how the Republicans differ from the Cut and Run that the Democrats are talking about and do you feel the Cut and Run rhetoric is harmful to Democrats or are their policy which has been described by your fellow Republicans as Cut and Run is appropriate.

McCain blatherd on that "he, personally" wouldn't describe it that way but that politicians on both sides used heated rhetoric to describe their positions. (I wonder what Dems have used "heated rhetoric" because KoKo01 hasn't heard any) but McCain blathered on with "Noron's" softball question which was really a targed attack at Dems but softball to McCain...and she went on again mentioning "Cut and Run" over an over again.

I think she actually said "Cut and Run" more than 15 times...now that I think about it.

Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake had a contest to name Nora O'Donnel. And the nickname "Noron" seemed to win the contest. I think it's a good one for her. When she isn't squirming and giggling like a highschooler looking at her teen idol's "hard on" on her third date she's trying to pretend she's serious. WHERE DID SHE COME FROM???

[grasswire]

51. Norah has her eye on the Today Show, I suspect

She wants to be the Grande Dame some day.

[tblue37]

52. I found these 2 pics side by side

on the Media Matters home page:




I think the blonde is Paula Zahn, but I have never seen her, so I can't be sure. The text beneath the pic references Paula Zahn, so I am guessing it's her.

The point I wish to make, though, is that the buble-gum pink they are both wearing seems to be a favored shade for RW barbie-bots. And I can't help but wonder whether Nora O'Donnell will have to go blonde to get that Fox NEws job she is angling for.

[madfloridian]

53. Dana Bash is the skinny blonde.

And that sure is pink, same shade.

[Tigress DEM]

54. How's This?

[e-mail]

SUBJECT: June 19 - MSNBC's Hardball - Norah O'Donnell COMPLETELY Unprofessional.


Doesn't your station have any guidelines for interviewers to keep their personal bias out of the interview?

What is it with Main Stream Media and not allowing Democrats to talk uninterupted for long enough to answer questions put to them?

You guys are usually better than FAUX, but this shows me that SOME of your people can't handle the news in an impartial way that presents facts and viewpoints so that the viewers can decide for themselves.

You would think Norah is on the payroll for the administration the way she tried to sell their point of view. That is inappropriate for a reporter/interviewer.


Concerned Citizen