ABC and NBC on Wednesday night delighted in showcasing how incoming White House Press Secretary Tony Snow last year wrote that President Bush had become "an embarrassment." But in portraying the quote as a declarative accusation, neither ABC's Elizabeth Vargas or NBC's David Gregory put the remark into the context of how Snow was observing that Virginia Republicans not wishing to appear with Bush during the 2005 campaign suggested "Bush has become something of an embarrassment." And neither bothered to let their viewers in on how they were just funneling quotes from a short list collected by the left-wing Center for American Progress. Vargas teased at the top of World News Tonight, "President Bush chooses a new spokesman: A conservative commentator who once called the President 'an embarrassment.'" NBC's David Gregory at least hinted at some context, though he still implied it was an accusation, as he related how Snow "has criticized his new boss, writing last year that, quote, 'George Bush has become something of an embarrassment.'"
Vargas managed to apply an ideological tag to Snow three times in under two minutes. She also ludicrously asserted that "Tony Snow is the first journalist to get this job." Tell that to Pierre Salinger, Bill Moyers, Ron Nessen or Joe Lockhart -- who was a producer for Vargas' own ABC News.
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