Brian Williams: "Marriage is under attack"
(updated below - Update II)
On NBC News last night, Brian Williams declared that we're "in an era when marriage is under attack" (h/t Good As You):
That's a bizarre claim to make in a news broadcast like that. What does Williams mean? In what way is "marriage under attack," and who is doing the attacking?
UPDATE: GOP pollster Frank Luntz previously wrote that "Williams has emerged as the 'go-to network anchor' because of his brains and 'lack of detectable ideological bias.'" Williams is also a confessed admirer of Rush Limbaugh, saying: "I do listen to Rush. I listen to it from a radio in my office, or depending on my day, if I'm in the car, I will listen to Rush" and protesting that "I think Rush has actually yet to get the credit he is due." Williams invited Limbaugh on as a guest several times to the show he hosted prior to becoming anchor and royally referred to Limbaugh as "our friend Rush Limbaugh."
Here is what Williams gushed on Mission Accomplished Day as he admired the arousing video of George Bush in his flight suit:
And two immutable truths about the president that the Democrats can't change: He's a youthful guy. He looked terrific and full of energy in a flight suit. He is a former pilot, so it's not a foreign art farm -- art form to him. Not all presidents could have pulled this scene off today.None of this is to say that Williams is concealing some sort of right-wing ideology. But would it ever be possible to compile enough evidence to force an abandonment of that most sacred, petulant and patently false Article of Faith among our right-wing warriors and their media allies -- namely, that our establishment press is a "liberal media" that is hostile to conservatives?
UPDATE II: Brian Williams responds and explains himself. Whatever one's view of his response, it is a positive development that a network news anchor, within less than 24 hours, feels compelled to explain something he said on his news broadcast.
Currently in Glenn Greenwald's Blog
- The significance of McClatchy's act of journalism
- Yet another story reflects the danger of assuming the truth of unproven government claims and the use of anonymity.
- Thursday, Jul 9, 2009 16:10 EDT
- The Obama justice system
- Due process is seen as window dressing to enable the president to detain whomever he wants for as long as he wants
- Wednesday, Jul 8, 2009 15:09 EDT
- Dan Froomkin hired by The Huffington Post
- It is not journalism that is dying -- only the staid, establishment-serving, stenography model of the WashPost.
- Tuesday, Jul 7, 2009 14:08 EDT
- What if the Uighurs were Christian rather than Muslim?
- Violent clashes in China underscore an ugly reality of the War on Terror.
- Monday, Jul 6, 2009 15:07 EDT
