CBS and NBC took time Wednesday night to showcase Democratic Senator Al Franken’s artistry — not to scold Franken’s frivolity, but to luxuriate in it. As CBS displayed Franken’s drawing of Republican Senator Jeff  Sessions next to a picture of the Alabamian, fill-in anchor Scott Pelley admired what Franken had created during the hearing for Supreme Court nominee Elana Kagan:

A look over Franken’s shoulder reveals his talent. On his pad is a sketch of Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee. Not bad. Suitable for framing.

Over on the NBC Nightly News, Brian Williams relayed, sans Pelley’s “suitable for framing” puffery:

Well, if you have ever wondered what Senators do during committee hearings when they’re not talking? Here’s what one of them does. Senator Al Franken drew this depiction of fellow committee member Jeff Sessions of Alabama, a pencil drawing on United States Senate stationery. Franken said he would give the signed original to Sessions.

Pelley’s entire item, which followed a story from Jan Crawford on the hearing, aired on the June 30 CBS Evening News:

What is a Senator to do at one of these hearings when other Senators are talking? Well, it can be an art just staying engaged and for Minnesota’s Al Franken at the Kagan hearing the art is quite real. A look over Franken’s shoulder reveals his talent. On his pad is a sketch of Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee. Not bad. Suitable for framing.

Maybe it’s the sheer joy of celebrating recovery summer along with The Anointed One and Plugs Biden.  Perhaps they’re just Blagoed out. Whatever the reason, most of the mainstream media failed to report something intriguing said by the usually most quotable former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.  From an FBI tape recorded last November and appearing on Fox Chicago News’s Web site, Blagojevich spoke of president-elect Barack Obama:

BLAGOJEVICH I thin-, you know, it’s really, I get that I’m a big boy and I can handle that, but it’s really f***ing galling, this guy is more Tony’d up than I am. And it’s almost like they f***ing conspi-, made a concerted effort and they got the Chicago media to f***ing make me wear Rezko more. To f***ing dilute it from him.

Blago’s disillusionment with Obama stemmed from a rebuff conveyed by a Service Employees International Union (SEIU) official used by the president-elect to let the Gov know of Obama’s interest in Valerie Jarrett filling his Senate seat.

Blago makes for good copy and the mainstream media have rarely missed a chance to quote him.  Yet in this instance, they took a powder.  It’s not as though they’re unaware of the Obama-Rezko connection.

In 2006, Obama told the Chicago Sun-Times he’d known Tony Rezko for years, having lunch with him probably once or twice a year. When Obama decided to buy a $1.65 million mansion in Chicago, he approached Rezko who "developed an interest" and purchased adjoining land.

The closing on the properties took place the same day. The Obamas paid $300,000 less than the asking price; the Rezkos paid the full price. A few months later, Obama, wanting to increase the size of his backyard, bought a strip of Rezko’s property for $104,500.

As the Sun-Times story noted: "The transaction occurred at a time when it was widely known Tony Rezko was under investigation by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald and as other Illinois politicians befriended by Rezko distanced themselves from him."

Possibly Obama was indeed "more Tony’d up" than Blagojevich.  Yet almost no news outlets found Blagojevich’s description, made when he was unaware of being recorded, newsworthy.  Just a coincidence no doubt.    

It’s a curious phenomenon to see what the minds at The Huffington Post deem funny, and at least this one wasn’t filed under the category "HuffPo Religion," but a series of images depicting Jesus Christ making unhinged statements wins the HuffPo’s "Comedy" classification.

In a June 30 post, Katla McGlynn wrote that mocking Tea Party protestors by "juxtaposing" "hateful, ignorant, or otherwise nonsensical rants" but at the same time mocking a religious figure many hold very is sacred isn’t only funny but it is also instructive about what she described as "people who claim to be Christians."

"The concept behind the site Tea Party Jesus is simple: Put the words of conservative Christian social and political figures in the mouth of Christ," McGlynn wrote. "The juxtaposition of hateful, ignorant, or otherwise nonsensical rants with serene photos of JC himself isn’t only funny, but says a lot about the people who claim to be Christians."

According to the Huffington Post story, the creator of Tea Party Jesus impose actual quotes from various conservative figures on someone who according to Scripture led the perfect life, but it is done in a comic book form – which somehow makes this funny.

Some of quotes used by the creator were originally meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but somehow it’s hard to imagine one could catch that context when it is used in such a way. Nonetheless, McGlynn included remarks about Guantanamo Bay, the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the earthquake in Haiti and same-sex marriage – all from individuals deemed to be "tea partiers."

In covering Elena Kagan’s confirmation hearings, CNN and MSNBC have repeatedly lauded the Supreme Court nominee for her "flashes of humor" and "disarming ease."

In tune with the reverberations of the network morning shows’ echo chamber, correspondents like CNN’s Dana Bash and anchors like MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Tuesday praised Kagan for her ability to inject humor into otherwise "hollow and vapid" hearings and charm hostile Republican senators into docility.

"But just on a color note, what struck me, Candy, has been the way Elena Kagan has tried to use a sense of humor to really disarm the senators, particularly Republicans," noted Bash.

Maddow’s guest, Dahlia Lithwick of the liberal Slate magazine, gushed over Kagan’s "gut-wrenching" sense of humor, her masterful ability to balance "seriousness and levity and humor," and her "disarming and charming and kind of likeable" personality.

"A likeable liberal. Dear me, I know," quipped Maddow.

Anchoring the live coverage of the hearings, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews turned to Susan Page, USA Today Washington bureau chief, who applauded Kagan’s performance:

You know, it’s interesting since Kagan argued this case she feels pretty comfortable with it and you see, I think, a more free-flowing exchange between the senator and the nominee there then we’ve seen on some others. Kagan famously called these hearings "vapid and hollow" in the past but we’ve seen some flashes of humor here this morning. And interestingly, Kagan said that she thought it would be a terrific idea to have TV cameras in the Supreme Court.

On her eponymous program, CNN’s Campbell Brown aired Kagan’s playful banter with Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) before querying CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin: "So, apart from the fact that she has got a sense of humor, what did we really learn today about Elena Kagan?"

Over on MSNBC’s "The Ed Show," substitute host Christopher Hayes, editor of the left-wing magazine The Nation and husband of a White House counselor, reckoned that the most newsworthy part of the hearings so far has been Kagan’s charm:

Perhaps the most notable thing to report from today’s hearing is that Kagan is, as advertised, really a charmer. The nominee who once derided this process as, quote, "vapid and hollow" was no doubt probably and possibly justifiably in for a cold reception. But today, Kagan displayed the disarming ease, wit and knack for a well-timed joke that have made her so uniformly well-liked by her colleagues in other endeavors.

On Wednesday’s "American Morning," Bash continued to push the humor narrative, noting, "Throughout the day, Kagan tried to disarm senators by interjecting with humor…and Kagan really made a point early on, on setting that light-hearted tone, interjecting all the time with quick whips and — quips, I should say, and then witty comments."

MSNBC "The Daily Rundown" co-hosts Savannah Guthrie and Chuck Todd wrapped up the Wednesday program with a recap of the hearing’s most "humorous" moments, including Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) discussing the latest installment of the Twilight saga. (h/t MRC intern Matt Hadro)

There’s nothing wrong with color commentary, but the media’s emphasis on humanizing Kagan is coming at the expense of critical reporting on her nomination hearings and what little light she’s willing to shed in the hearings about how she’ll approach constitutional issues on the bench.

Transcripts of the relevant portions of the cited programs can be found below:

MSNBC
NewsLive
6/29/10

10:54 a.m.

CHRIS MATTHEWS: And this came out in the president’s State of the Union where he took a swipe at the Supreme Court with Samuel Alito and other justices there and they didn’t like it.

SUSAN PAGE, USA Today Washington bureau chief: They didn’t. You know, it’s interesting since Kagan argued this case she feels pretty comfortable with it and you see, I think, a more free-flowing exchange between the Senator and the nominee there then we’ve seen on some others. Kagan famously called these hearings "vapid and hollow" in the past but we’ve seen some flashes of humor here this morning. And interestingly, Kagan said that she thought it would be a terrific idea to have TV cameras in the Supreme Court. If she gets confirmed that’s an issue where she’ll have some real issues with her colleagues.

CNN
Newsroom
6/29/10

12:24 p.m.

DANA BASH, CNN correspondent: Well, first, just on substance, I want to point out what John did just at the beginning of this conversation, that what Elena Kagan revealed or maybe more to the point, clarified, was in the memo that she had scribbled notes, "KKK, NRA," as a bad organization. That has been flying around conservative circles as an ah-ha moment. And when they saw these documents I think about a week or two weeks ago when they were released by the Clinton library as proof that she is just a liberal, what she told us just now, what she told Senator Kyl, is that she was taking notes on somebody else’s conversation. So if that’s the case, that certainly appears to deflate that particular argument that conservatives have been making. But just on a color note, what struck me, Candy, has been the way Elena Kagan has tried to use a sense of humor to really disarm the senators, particularly Republicans. And Jeff knows her, so this may not seem a surprise to him.

But just for example, when John Kyl came out after the break, there nobody was in the room and he said "I guess nobody wants to hear my questions" and without missing a beat, she said "maybe nobody wants to hear my answers." And another time, Senator Hatch was talking about the fact that he and Senator Leahy were having a little disagreement. They’re kind of like an old married couple, and I say this respectfully and they would probably agree, and Elena Kagan again without missing a beat saying, "don’t worry go ahead, it takes the spotlight off of me." I don’t remember seeing that certainly from recent confirmation hearings at this level, not from Sonia Sotomayor, and at least at the beginning, you know, as these nominees are getting comfortable. But it just seems to me the kind of charm she has.

MSNBC
The Ed Show
6/29/10

6:17 p.m.
    
HAYES: Perhaps the most notable thing to report from today’s hearing is that Kagan is, as advertised, really a charmer. The nominee who once derided this process as, quote, "vapid and hollow" was no doubt probably and possibly justifiably in for a cold reception. But today, Kagan displayed the disarming ease, wit and knack for a well-timed joke that have made her so uniformly well-liked by her colleagues in other endeavors. Of course, beyond that, we still didn’t get that much of an indication of what kind of justice she’d make, although she does support letting cameras into the Supreme Court.

CNN
Campbell Brown
6/29/10

8:24 p.m.

BROWN: It was a long day on Capitol Hill for Elena Kagan. It was day two of her confirmation hearing. It just wrapped up a little while ago. She faced some tough questions on everything from the War on Terror to her politics. Listen to this exchange with Arizona Senator Jon Kyl.

Sen. JON KYL (R-Ariz.): Do you agree with the characterization by some of my colleagues that the current Court is too activist in supporting the position of corporations and Big Business?

ELENA KAGAN, Supreme Court nominee: Senator Kyl, I would not want to characterize the current court in any way. I hope one day to join it.

KYL: And they said you are not political, right?
                    
BROWN: So, apart from the fact that she has got a sense of humor, what did we really learn today about Elena Kagan?

MSNBC
Rachel Maddow
6/29/10

9:30 p.m.

RACHEL MADDOW: And how do you think that Kagan is doing, thus far, as a nominee? Obviously, today was the first day she took questions. It’s clear that just from what I saw of the hearings today, that she seems very relaxed.

DAHLIA LITHWICK, Slate senior editor: Relaxed, funny. You know, she brought the room to a standstill, just gut-wrenching laughter. At some point, Lindsey Graham asked her, what were you doing when the Christmas Day bomber was caught on Christmas Day? And she said, like pretty much all Jews, I was probably at a Chinese restaurant. I mean, you know, people were applauding. She`s very funny, Rachel. She`s very disarming. But at the same time, I think she does a good job of saying, look, I take the law very seriously. At one point, she was questioned about her passions and she couldn’t get passionate about anything but the law. So, she’s doing a good job of balancing seriousness and levity and humor, and I think real charm.

The thing I really am enjoying this time around is it sometimes feels like these hearings shrink the nominee down to a smaller version of who they are. This is actually letting someone who looks good on paper but is hard to love in paper become quite human and warm and big luminous smile. And so I don’t know if that’s working for everyone, but it’s quite clear that the senators are finding her disarming and charming and kind of likeable.

MADDOW: A likeable liberal. Dear me, I know. She won`t call herself liberal but the press is going to have a hard time understanding how to report on this. Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor and legal correspondent for Slate magazine, I always really appreciate your insight on days like this. Thanks a lot, Dahlia.

CNN
American Morning
6/30/10

7:17 a.m.

BASH: Throughout the day, Kagan tried to disarm senators by interjecting with humor.

Sen. TOM COBURN (R-Okla.): This is softball.

KAGAN: You promise?

COBURN: I promise.

Sen. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.) I just ask you where you’re at on Christmas.

KAGAN: You know, like all Jews, I was probably at a Chinese restaurant.

BASH: And Kagan really made a point early on, on setting that light-hearted tone, interjecting all the time with quick whips and — quips, I should say, and then witty comments. And you know, it really did change the tenor of things, for example, when one of her starkest opponents, Senator Tom Coburn, who sits here was trying to ask her some questions she wouldn’t answer it. Instead of really going after her, he made a joke. He followed her lead and said "maybe you’re dancing so much, maybe you should be on ‘Dancing with the Stars.’" John and Kiran.

–Alex Fitzsimmons is a News Analysis intern at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.

Appearing with Good Morning America’s George Stephanopoulos on Wednesday, liberal journalist Maureen Dowd derided Barack Obama as "think-skinned" and not happy with media coverage. This prompted Stephanopoulos to admit, "And his press hasn’t been nearly as bad as he thinks."

Dowd prefaced her critique by analyzing Obama’s self image: "…I cut him a lot of slack here, because many presidents like JFK and W have rich daddies. And so, they have a lot of confidence. But he’s had to develop a lot of shields."

The New York Times columnist continued, "So, he’s thin-skinned. And when you’re thin-skinned, you like to control the image. And he doesn’t often like the image that the media has of him." [Audio available here.]

In regards to other problems the President has run into, she theorized, "Well, he can’t connect at moments. He wants to ride to the rescue. So, he holds back too much. And he doesn’t connect when he could."

As for journalists not being  tough on Obama, Stephanopoulos would know. During the 2008 campaign, for instance, he declared the Democratic presidential ticket the winner in all four debates.

A partial transcript of the June 30 segment, which aired at 8:33am, follows:

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Before I let you go, speaking of President Obama, your Pulitzer Prize-winning colleague at the New York Post, Kathleen Parker, has a pretty provocative column out calling him our first female president. And I was wondering your take on it. Because, you have columns that go into a similar vein to that.

DOWD: I love Kathleen. And I would agree with her that President Obama has female management traits. Consensus, compromise, and listening to everyone. Whereas people like Hillary and Sarah Palin have traditional male traits, which is alpha, "my way or the highway." But, I don’t think his main problem is a gender one. It’s more of a humanoid one.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Humanoid?

DOWD: Well, he can’t connect at moments. He wants to ride to the rescue. So, he holds back too much. And he doesn’t connect when he could. He waits. It’s more like his mother is an anthropologist. He has that anthropologist side of just waiting and looking. That’s not really a male or female trait. It’s a problem.

STEPHANOPOULOS: That’s fascinating. And I’m sure you know that this kind of analysis drives him nuts.

DOWD: I know. He’s told me many times I’m irritating. I’m so proud.

STEPHANOPOULOS: What’s irritated him most about your columns?

DOWD: Oh, he doesn’t- He’s- he’s very unlike- You know, it’s funny and I cut him a lot of slack here, because many presidents like JFK and W have rich daddies. And so, they have a lot of confidence. But he’s had to develop a lot of shields. He’s come up, you know, basically, as Michelle says, he was raised by wolves. So, you know, he has a lot of shields. So, he’s thin-skinned. And when you’re thin-skinned, you like to control the image. And he doesn’t often like the image that the media has of him.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And his press hasn’t been nearly as bad as he thinks.

DOWD: No. But, he thinks it’s been bad.

STEPHANOPOULOS: All presidents do. It comes with the territory. Maureen Dowd, thank you very much.

The morning programs of the Big Three networks all sang the praises of CNN host Larry King after he announced on Tuesday his upcoming retirement from his program, while overlooking his liberal bent at times. Both Willie Geist on NBC’s Today show and CBS’s Harry Smith labeled King "legendary," while ABC’s George Stephanopoulos heralded how he was "on top of his game" for most of his career.

NBC correspondent Peter Alexander reused Geist’s "legendary" label, and chronicled the CNN personality’s "perch in prime time" during his 25 years on his Larry King Live program, spotlighting how he "has interviewed nearly 50,000 people over more than 50 years in broadcasting." Alexander underlined this with clips from King’s interviews of Frank Sinatra, Ross Perot, and Paris Hilton, noting that "if you wanted the country to listen, you sat down with Larry King."  The correspondent also included a clip from Ken Baker of E! News, who stated that "whoever is going to replace Larry King has obviously very big shoes to fill."

CBS’s Smith used the "legendary" term in the top-of-the-hour tease at 7 am Eastern. Twenty minutes later, during a segment with substitute anchor Erica Hill, he described King’s 1985 premiere on CNN as a "grand experiment" and concluded that "twenty-five years later, it seemed to work out all right." The two labeled him a "very interesting" and "good" guy. At the bottom of the hour, correspondent Jim Axelrod did a similar chronicle of the CNN host’s career to Alexander’s on NBC, choosing instead President Obama, Carrie Prejean, and Lady Gaga as the notables to highlight. His concluding line echoed Ken Baker’s line on NBC: "Whoever gets the job, they won’t be easy suspenders to fill."

Smith then brought on The Washington Post’s  Howard Kurtz to discuss the host’s impending retirement, who, as Tim Graham noted earlier on Wednesday, speculated whether a "variety show" like King’s, where "you talk to a president one day and Lady Gaga the next," could survive in an "increasingly partisan cable television universe."

ABC’s Stephanopoulos proclaimed the host "the undisputed king of late night talk" on Good Morning America and stated that "no one had a longer run and King was on top of his game for most of it." After correspondent Dan Harris’s report on the CNN personality’s career, Harris, Stephanopoulos, and substitute anchor Elizabeth Vargas speculated on who would replace King. The former Clinton operative endorsed a liberal colleague of his at CBS: "Katie Couric’s my pick. But, I guess she doesn’t want it."

The three morning programs did all mention how King’s past few years were "rocky," as Stephanopoulos put it, between a decline in ratings and the reports of a possible divorce with his seventh wife. But they all omitted his occasional shots at conservatives, as MRC’s Notables Quotables chronicled over the years.

The Washington Post and BP may seem like the oddest couple since Felix and Oscar, but they’ve been spending a lot of time – and money – together.

A Business & Media Institute study found that the Washington Post earned up to $455,652 on 17 BP ads during the month of June, or about $15,188.40 per day. All 17 ads were a full page in size, nine appeared on the back page, six ran in color, and three ran on Sundays. In short, that’s a fairly high-end ad campaign. However, companies typically receive discounts off of the open rate for large ad buys or for long-term contracts, so that final total may well be lower.

BMI analyzed all 30 issues of the Post in the month of June and calculated the rates using the Post’s 2010 General Ad Rates Position Premiums. Based on the position premiums, a back page ad costs $28,954 daily ($31,456 on Sundays), ads on pages A2, A3, and A5 cost $208 daily ($216) per column inch, and other specified pages cost $103 daily ($110) per column inch. full page ad is 6 x 21 inches or 126 inches. BP back page ads totaled $260,586 and the Sunday ads, which appeared on pages A5 and A15 respectively, totaled $103,716, with color costs included in premium pricing.

While advertising is the lifeblood for newspapers, it’s ironic that the Post has earned so much money from a company it has criticized over the past month, including their most recent June 30 story about BP’s corporate contributions. While reporter Carol D. Leonnig fretted about BP spending $112,000 on the national election cycle, her employer received over four times as much in one month, and BP nearly spent that much in the Sunday ads alone.

Furthermore, Leonning griped about the $4.8 million BP spent over seven years. There are 84 months in seven years, which means BP spent $57,142.86 per month in corporate contributions, nearly eight times less than what it spent in one month on Washington Post ads.

The media gleefully reported President Obama’s anger at BP’s new ad campaign and if BP spent this much money advertising with a conservative publication, the media may well have played the Republican-big-business-connection card.

While the Post has a history of liberal positions, including being anti-business and advocating everything from Value-Added Taxes (VAT) to gay rights and environmentalism. But when it comes to earning money, the Post is laughing all the way to the bank.

How clueless can a guy who lives in Manhattan possibly be?  

Discussing the Afghanistan war on Morning Joe, Donny Deutsch claimed "people weren’t clear why we were there in the first place."

Uh, Donny . . .

Fortunately, the ever-affable Willie Geist was there to diplomatically offer Deutsch a brief history lesson.

WILLIE GEIST: Well, it was clear in the first months after 9-11.

Remember, Donny?  That little piece of the Manhattan skyline puzzle that’s missing?  The Taliban regime in Afghanistan that harbored al Qaeda members who plotted it?  Hello?