ABC Wakes Up to 'Massive Technical Glitches' on ObamaCare Website: 'It's a Bust'

The journalists at Good Morning America on Monday woke up to the "massive technical glitches" "plaguing millions" of Americans trying to use the ObamaCare website. The morning show, which has largely minimized the troubled debut of HealthCare.gov, featured reporter Rebecca Jarvis to lament, "It was supposed to be an easy way for Americans to sign up for health care online. But this morning, the Department of Health and Human Services, which spent $500 million to build the site, is admitting it's a bust."

Jarvis attempted to navigate the web page, but offered this perplexed assessment: "But even when we tried to access the site,  we encountered this error, a registration page filled with question marks and incoherent data." [See video below. MP3 audio here.] Although the GMA journalists highlighted the problems, they also buried their impact. It wasn't until the very end of the segment that co-host George Stephanopoulos noted that the administration is "racing the clock." Jarvis agreed, pointing out, "They have to get people signed up for health insurance by January 1st, before the fines start kicking in."

Isn't the fact that millions are unable to sign up for health care, but will still be fined, the most important point?

Way back on October 1, World News previewed the new website. Reporter Paula Faris featured Max Dinette, a man trying to sign up. She explained, "He was excited to sign up today but couldn't get online because the website kept crashing, the same for many others inundating the government's health care website."

On the October 2 GMA, Josh Elliott noted that "Americans coast-to-coast are voicing frustration."

After that, however, ABC mostly downplayed problems with the website.

This week, the networks have had the story forced upon them. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is facing calls to testify about the problems. The House is investigating. 

On CBS This Morning, correspondent John Dickerson offered much tougher language than what ABC has managed. He insisted that the White House faces a "credibility death spiral" over the "total fiasco" of HealthCare.gov.

Via: Newsbusters
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Networks blamed shutdown on GOP in 41 stories --- 0 for Dems

Republicans never expected to get a fair shake in the Big Three networks' coverage of the 16-day government shutdown, but the final tally of stories blaming the GOP is stunning: 41 stories blamed Republicans and zero blamed Democrats.

Nightly, 20 million Americans heard “a version of the shutdown story that could easily have emanated from Barack Obama's own White House,” said the new report from the Media Research Center.

The report, provided to Secrets, found that a total of 41 stories blamed Republicans for the shutdown. None blamed the Democrats. Another 17 blamed both sides.

In addition, those interviewed by the night news broadcasts by ABC, CBS and NBC whacked the Republicans by a six-to-one ratio, said the report.

“The broadcast networks invariably blamed Republicans for the impasse; spotlighted dozens of examples of how Americans were being victimized; and ran scores of soundbites from furloughed federal workers and others harmed by the shutdown — even as they ignored examples of how the Obama administration and Senate Democrats were working to make the shutdown as painful as possible,” said the report.

Via: Washington Examiner

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[VIDEO]DAVID GREGORY CALLS ON GOP SEN. TO EXPLAIN BEN CARSON’S SLAVERY/OBAMACARE COMPARISON: HERE’S HOW THE SENATOR HANDLED IT

Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) was challenged Sunday by ABC News’ David Gregory to defend (or at least explain) Dr. Benjamin Carson’s recent claim that “Obamacare is the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery.”

“Is that an overstatement that’s counterproductive?” Gregory asked.

“Well, he’s a doctor who feels passionately about this issue, obviously, he can speak for himself,” Portman replied.

Gregory wanted more out of Sen. Portman.

“Is that something that, as a senior Republican, is helpful to the debate about Obamacare?” he asked.

“I think what would be helpful is if we sat down and figured out how to make this less damaging to American families and the American economy, because it is a huge problem,” the Ohio senator responded.

The senator then turned his attention to the unmitigated disaster that has been the Obamacare rollout.

You can watch Sen. Portman’s Carson remarks at the 07:45 mark:

Via: The Blaze

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Piers Morgan Expected to Lose 9PM Hour on CNN; Bill Weir to Move In?

Earlier this morning, we reported that Nightline anchor Bill Weir was departing ABC News for other pastures.

TVNewser beat us to the punch on the news thathis new role is with CNN. But that is only part of the story. A reliable source connected to CNN tells Mediaite that Weir has been promised a show during the 9 p.m. ET hour — an hour that happens to be currently occupied by Piers Morgan.

According to our source, the details and timing have not yet been worked out (and we are told it will likely take “many months“) but that Weir is expected to get either half or all of the 9 p.m. slot, meaning Morgan will either move time slots or, at best, reduce to a half hour of airtime per evening. Another CNN source tells us that Weir’s show will likely launch in “late night” but our original source insists that if that happens, the goal would be to test it out for an eventual move to the 9 p.m. hour.

Either way, the British host, who’s become associated with his anti-gun fights as of late, looks to be losing the full 9 p.m. hour.

Weir was previously the anchor of ABC’s newsmagazine show Nightline, and on Friday morning, ABC News chief Ben Sherwood announced that Weir was leaving “for another opportunity in the news business.”

Earlier this month, FTVLive reported that CNN was preparing to “dump” Piers Morgan, with Katie Couric allegedly being eyed as a replacement. That rumor plus Morgan’s declining ratings furtherfueled speculation that he could be planning an exit strategy from CNN.

We’ll have more here as this story develops.

UPDATE: A spokesperson provides the following comment: “Bill Weir was not brought to CNN to replace Piers Morgan.”

Via: Mediaite

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[VIDEO] CBS Hypes Lefty Feminists Denouncing Pay Gap and 'Pale Males' Who Run Media

CBS and ABC on Wednesday trotted out the same tired warning of a "pay gap" between men and women, deeming it "ridiculous" that anyone could possibly disagree with the talking points put forth by feminists such as Gloria Steinem and Jane Fonda. CBS This Morning featured the two liberal women, as well as another feminist for a one-sided harangue about females in the workplace. Norah O'Donnell hyped, "Last year women earned 76.5 cents to every dollar a man makes. Why does that still exist?" [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

None of the hosts questioned the legitimacy of the pay gap. Instead, they allowed Steinem to play the victim card, complaining that the reason is "because we are the cheap labor source on which the country is running." Fellow guest Robin Morgan (an arch-leftist author) railed against the "pale males" who run the media.

CBS has been touting this story for years. On April 24, 2007, the network featured Catherine Hill of the American Association of University Women. She lectured, "It suggests that discrimination may still be a very important problem for women in the workplace."

No one on CBS mentioned that Morgan is an extreme liberal who has trashed religion and wrote a sympathetic take on on the "core connection between patriarchal societies and the inevitability of terrorism," The Demon Lover: The Roots of Terrorism.

Via: Newsbusters

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[Update: September 11] Censored! IRS Scandal Being Buried by Big Three Networks

The Big Three (ABC, CBS, NBC) networks have colluded with the Obama administration to censor the latest IRS scandal news. The latest: On September 11 the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page, in an article headlined “Lois Lerner’s Own Words,” reported the following: “In a February 2011 email, Ms. Lerner advised her staff—including then Exempt Organizations Technical Manager Michael Seto and then Rulings and Agreements director Holly Paz—that a Tea Party matter is ‘very dangerous,’ and is something ‘Counsel and [Lerner adviser] Judy Kindell need to be in on.’ Ms. Lerner adds, ‘Cincy should probably NOT have these cases.’

That’s a different tune than the IRS sang in May when former IRS Commissioner Steven Miller said the agency’s overzealous enforcement was the work of two ‘rogue’ employees in Cincinnati. When the story broke, Ms. Lerner suggested that her office had been unaware of the pattern of targeting until she read about it in the newspaper. ‘So it was pretty much we started seeing information in the press that raised questions for us, and we went back and took a look,’ she said in May.”

The WSJ Review & Outlook piece went on to note: “Earlier this summer, IRS lawyer Carter Hull, who oversaw the review of many Tea Party cases and questionnaires, testified that his oversight began in April 2010. Tea party cases under review are ‘being supervised by Chip Hull at each step,’ Ms. Paz wrote to Ms. Lerner in a February 2011 email. ‘He reviews info from TPs, correspondence to TPs etc. No decisions are going out of Cincy until we go all the way through the process with the c3 and c4 cases here.’ TP stands for Tea Party, and she means 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups.” So far ABC, CBS and NBC have yet to report this story.
 

Last Time Any Aspect of the IRS Scandals Was Mentioned on Big Three Morning and Evening Shows:

ABC - June 26 (78 days)

CBS - July 24 (49 days)

NBC - June 27 (77 days)

Via: Newsbusters

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[Update: September 10] Censored! IRS Scandal Being Buried by Big Three Networks

The Big Three (ABC, CBS, NBC) networks have colluded with the Obama administration to censor the latest IRS scandal news. The latest: On the September 4 edition of Erin Burnett OutFront, CNN’s Drew Griffin reported the following: “CNN has learned the IRS had been preparing for that bomb to drop for more than a year. E-mails obtained by CNN show IRS lawyers, the commissioner and Lois Lerner herself were meeting to discuss how to respond when Congress found out with increasing sense of panic way back on March 2nd of 2012. Lerner writes, ‘we are going to get creamed.’”

Griffin also interviewed a former colleague of Lerner’s who said she had a built-in bias:

GRIFFIN: One year later, the IRS inspector general report found ineffective management led to the IRS using inappropriate criteria to target conservatives, but was it political or just a series of blunders? Those who know and work with Lerner are divided. Craig Engle says he began to see a bias from Lois Lerner when they worked together at the Federal Election Commission.

CRAIG ENGLE, ATTORNEY: What I saw was a bias against money in politics of the IRS.

GRIFFIN: Engle, a Republican Washington attorney says although he thinks Lerner is an honest woman, her bias had a partisan result.

ENGLE: Lois' opinion and that of her staff was that if you had a lot of money and you were spending it in politics, you needed to be looked into.

Number of days with NO network story: 6

Last Time Any Aspect of the IRS Scandals Was Mentioned on Big Three Morning and Evening Shows:

ABC - June 26 (76 days)

CBS - July 24 (47 days)

NBC - June 27 (75 days)

The following is a list of key developments in the IRS scandal and how many days it has been since they were discussed, if at all, by the Big Three on their morning and evening news shows.

Via: Newsbusters

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ABC Censors Obama-Communist Joke

Michael Schneider reported about campaign plot lines showing up in network sitcoms in the October 15-21 edition of TV Guide. NBC's gay sitcom "The New Normal" had an "Obama Mama" episode,  and ABC's Tim Allen sitcom "Last Man Standing" will debut in November with an Obama-fan-vs-. Romney- fan plot.

In an age in which the networks can't seem to censor anything -- and in which ABC can put on a show like "Good Christian Bitches" (oops, let's abbreviate it) -- the censors will spike some things...like joking Barack Obama is a communist:

On Last Man Standing’s Season 2 premiere, set to air November 2 – four days before the election – Allen’s character, a Romney supporter lobbies his daughter, Mandy, to vote for the Republican candidate. On the other side, Mandy’s older sister makes a push for Obama. “It’ll be something regular people care about, so our characters should care about it,” says exec producer Tim Doyle.

Helping to balance the show is the fact that Doyle leans left, while Allen leans slightly right of center. Allen says the episode goes “back and forth, weighted so it’s like a teeter-totter. But at the end, I wanted it off balance.” He won’t say how it finally tilts.

Doyle and Allen did have to fight the network and studio on some content. Specifically, Allen says the standards department took issue with his character calling Obama a communist. Allen fought to keep that in – noting he finds it funny when conservatives paint the president with that label – but it appears he lost that battle as none of the references made the final cut.

"We all really love Archie Bunker," said Allen of playing a Bunkeresque character. "And that's where we're going. I push every button and love pushing them." ABC won't allow certain buttons to be touched. It's almost funny that the censors would be so lax on sex and violence, but will clamp down like Bonnie Bluehair on Obama jokes. Is this their only Thou Shalt Not?

Update 12:42 | Matthew Sheffield. This isn't the first time that ABC has censored its own programming to please Democratic sensibilities. The famous 2006 mini-series "The Path to 9/11" was gutted by ABC at the behest of former president Bill Clinton. To this day, unlike any other highly rated programming that ABC has paid for, "Path" actually still has not been released on DVD due to pressure from Democrats.

Via: Newsbusters

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FOX NEWS DRAWS RECORD NUMBERS FOR DEBATE, 67.2 MILLION WATCH OVERALL

While the rest of the media seethes of Mitt Romney’s big win last night, Fox News – the most fair and balanced news network -- can bask in the glow of high ratings. During the presidential debate, Fox News drew 10.4 million viewers, with about 3 million in the coveted 25-54 demographic. That was Fox News’ highest-rated debate ever. CNN came in second, at 6 million viewers; MSNBC brought up the rear, with Chris Matthews’ leg-tingling performance drawing a mere 4.7 million. Each of the three broadcast networks garnered approximately 10 million viewers.

Overall, this was by far the most-watched event of the 2012 campaign cycle, with a grand total of approximately 58 million viewers. Barack Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention, by contrast, drew 35.7 million viewers. Mitt Romney’s at the Republican National Convention drew 30.3 million viewers.

Update: Nielsen has released final numbers for last night. 67.2 million people watched the debate. That's an increase of almost 15 million viewers over the first presidential debate in 2008, which scored 52.4 million viewers. And then CNN just replayed the debate today.

Update II: Nielsen has now released full numbers. Here are the network numbers:

ABC: 11.25 million total viewers

NBC: 11.07 million total viewers

CBS: 10.58 million total viewers

Fox: 6.89 million total viewers

Via: Breitbart

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Networks Favor Romney '47%' 13-1 Over Obama 'Redistribution'

In a clear sign of where their heart lies, the Big Three TV networks, by a whopping 13 to 1 margin, devoted much more coverage to Mitt Romney's month's old "47 percent" secret video than to President Obama's 14-year-old but just discovered wealth "redistribution" audio.

Over the three days this week that they hit the media, network morning shows and evening news devoted one hour, 28 minutes, 23 seconds to the Romney tape over 42 stories and just six minutes, 28 seconds over eight stories to the Obama clip.

And even if the timeline is shortened to the Tuesday night release of the Obama audio, the ratio is 10-1, according to an analysis provided to Secrets from conservative media watchdog Media Research Center.

And their analysis doesn't include Thursday night's NBC Saturday Night Live Weekend Update hit on the 47 percent tape or print coverage of the comments that NBC News anchor Brian Williams suggested was a "game changer" in the election still stuck at 47 percent to 47 percent according to Gallup.

"The double-standard within just one week of the news cycle is staggering. A surreptitiously taken video of Mitt Romney published by leftist magazine Mother Jones outpaced coverage of an Obama tape at a public event by a 10 to 1 ratio. It has to be asked if the scenarios were reversed and it was a hidden camera video of Obama published by the conservative National Review would the liberal media have reacted as excitedly?" asked MRC.

MRC collected some of the media's characterization of the Romney video that suggested it would doom his campaign:

"The media's furor over the Romney tape began on Monday night, September 17, when NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams teased viewers about Romney comments that he promised will 'raise eyebrows when heard.' By Tuesday morning the Big Three journalists were in full attack mode against Romney. ABC's Amy Robach, on Good Morning America, exclaimed: 'New bombshell rocking the Mitt Romney campaign.' ABC's George Stephanopoulos wondered where Romney's comments would 'register on the Richter Scale?' Later that evening, on ABC's World News, anchor Diane Sawyer joined her colleague in the tectonic imagery as she told viewers of the 'political earthquake that occurred on a seismic day' for the campaign."

Via: The Washington Examiner

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Beware of the Mainstream Media

A recent outburst by MSNBC’s Chris Matthews was a near classic example of how some members of the media are so over the moon about Obama that it serves as a reminder that their long knives are out for the Romney-Ryan ticket.

Matthews’ man-crush on Obama is blatant, but I do take some heart from a recent Newsweek cover and article that tore Obama to shreds with facts and figures. It was so unusual, given the usual news magazine adoration accorded Obama that I found it odd, though welcome.

Much depends, of course, on the coverage that will be given by the network news channels, ABC, NBC, CBS, and we should include PBS as well. From my observation, only C-SPAN makes a good faith effort to provide balanced coverage of both parties and political viewpoints.

And, of course, there’s Fox News. “Fair, balanced and unafraid” is their motto, but Fox has been afraid to get anywhere close to the issues involving Obama’s blatantly false birth certificate, the fact that his closest advisors in the White House are committed Marxists, along with his long association with friends who fit that description such as Bill Ayers.

Moreover, Fox has liberal commentators such as Juan Williams on staff and invites liberals to share their views on air as well. That said, its conservative tilt makes it about the only TV news channel a conservative can watch without wanting to throw up

.

Matthews became incensed with GOP Chairman Reince Priebus during a recent discussion prior to the convention, riding his hobby horse that any criticism of Obama is racist. This charge is used to inoculate Obama against a reasoned examination of his policies, all of which have brought the nation to the brink of financial collapse, along with massive unemployment and other ills. In the area of foreign affairs, he has thoroughly weakened America’s capacity to influence the world.

Via: Canada Free Press

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