As Scott Whitlock writes at Newsbusters, “Imagine If Bachmann Had Said It: Networks Skip Obama Confusing Kansas and Texas:”
Good Morning America’s Josh Elliott couldn’t find time for the “oops” moment, but did make sure to highlight that Obama had traveled to “conservative Kansas.” GMA has repeatedly hit Bachmann for her “historical flubs” and Herman Cain’s “awkward” moments.
On Tuesday’s Nightly News, Chuck Todd similarly skipped the moment, but parroted the President’s talking points: “Mr. Obama again cast himself and the Democratic Party as the protectors of a middle class under Republican assault.”
On the Evening News, anchor Scott Pelley touted, “President Obama took his campaign for reelection today to the American heartland where he portrayed himself as a champion of the middle-class in the mold of one of his Republican predecessors.”
The networks really had no excuse for ignoring the gaffe. In previewing the speech Tuesday, the morning shows all announced that Obama would be in Kansas. GMA’s Elliott explained, “And President Obama travels to Kansas today to pressure Republicans to extend the payroll tax cut that expires at year’s end.
This isn’t anything new; we all remember how they covered for FDR’s gaffes when he went on television in October of 1929 after the stock market crash.
And besides, no one is scrutinizing Hu Jintao’s words in Tahrir Square, so there’s that too.
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