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Good thing Nancy Pfotenhauer wasn't in the same studio with Harry Smith this morning. The Early Show anchor might have broken out his hickory stick. Like a hectoring school marm, Smith scolded McCain adviser Pfotenhauer for what he deemed her insufficient citation of a New York Times article tracing Barack Obama's affiliation with unrepentant terrorist William Ayers. Wagging a stern finger at Pfotenhauer across the airwaves, Smith repeatedly interrupted her, demanding "what was the conclusion, what was the conclusion?" View video here.

It was the kind of liberal media bias that is perhaps the most telling of all. The unconscious sort, revealing an MSMer's world view. On today's Early Show, introducing the portion of her interview with Sarah Palin dealing with abortion, Katie Couric states: "Palin says she makes no apologies for her pro-life views." Can you ever imagine Couric introducing an interview with a Dem and saying "so-and-so makes no apologies for his pro-choice views"? Neither can I. In Couric's circles, support for abortion rights in this default position, the view that all right-thinking people hold. No apologies necessary. But being...

How soft were Harry Smith's lobs to Barack Obama? If this had been a slow-pitch league, Smith might still have been booted for insufficient MPH. CBS aired Smith's interview of the Dem candidate, conducted yesterday, on this morning's Early Show. After a clip of McCain saying he questioned Obama's judgment, not his patriotism, Smith teed it up for his guest. HARRY SMITH: Many of the attacks that have come from John McCain's campaign have been, quite frankly, condescending. Were you surprised by that? Does it anger you? Tough stuff! Smith didn't explain what is condescending about a candidate questioning his...

Here at NB, we're not normally in the business of feeling sorry for MSMers like Harry Smith. But I can't help but express some sympathy for the Early Show anchor at the prospect of the feminist, Clintonite wrath that is likely to descend on his head after a comment he made this morning Among the metaphors most likely to drive feminists up the wall is that of the angry woman yielding that symbol of domestic serfdom, the frying pan. But in discussing the prospect of Hillary's anger at Bill for his responsibility for her possibly impending defeat, Smith invoked ....

Advice to Camp Clinton: if it's not too late, remove all sharp objects before viewing the tape of this morning's Early Show. The CBS program served up a thorough trashing of Hillary's debate performance, capped by the unkindest cut of all from a Dem/MSM perspective: analogizing Hillary to Bill Cunningham, whose tough talk about Barack Obama in introducing John McCain yesterday prompted the Arizona senator to disassociate himself from the conservative radio talk show host. View video.

I'm measuring my words carefully. Harry Smith has raised the possibility that Barack Obama's life could be in danger. The Early Show anchor was interviewing Ted Kennedy in the wake of his endorsement of Obama yesterday. Smith initially broached the subject of danger to Obama in very cryptic fashion. View video here.

Harry Smith won't be up on the platform with Ted Kennedy today endorsing Barack Obama. But he might be there in spirit, after having absolutely unloaded on Bill Clinton's on this morning's Early Show. The CBS anchor made the stunning suggestion that when it comes to matters racial, Bill Clinton may have perpetrated a fraud on African-Americans. Smith's guest was "diversity expert" Joe Watson and you might have expected Watson [who FWIW impressed me favorably] to carry the anti-Bill ball. But ultimately it was Smith who offered the single most damning suggestion. The CBS host began by playing the clip...

Of all the ways Harry Smith could have opened this morning's historic Early Show, he chose to do so by waving a copy today's Boston Herald with its one-word front page "Shazam!" above a photo of Mike Huckabee. Smith described Barack Obama simply as the "big winner" on the Democratic side. View video here [with apologies for low audio level]. [Recommend story on Digg.com]

While previewing an upcoming interview with extreme left-wing presidential candidate, Dennis Kucinich, on Friday’s CBS "Early Show," co-host Harry Smith remarked, "I've actually admired Dennis Kucinich for a long -- since he was mayor of Cleveland." In addition to Smith admitting that he admired someone as liberal as Kucinich, who wants to establish a Department of Peace and claims to have seen UFOs, Smith specifically mentioned Kucinich’s disastrous tenure as Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio. Even The New York Times could not ignore Kucinich’s failures as mayor in a 2003 candidate profile: " But it all came crashing quickly down when...

Tony Snow Reprimands CBS's Harry Smith: 'You Can't Have Your Own Facts' Posted by Justin McCarthy on June 12, 2007 - 11:00. On the June 12 "Early Show," anchor Harry Smith again pounded Tony Snow, and Tony Snow again responded with a reprimand. Smith, who recently offered a puffy interview of Al Gore, continued his harsh interrogation of the White House press secretary. When discussing the G-8 summit, Snow asserted that Bush has "taken the lead" on initiatives such as climate change. Smith interrupted Snow like wise. SMITH: I think that's following on climate change. He's following on climate change....

Who needs Chuck Schumer, so long as you have Harry Smith [file photo]? Dems might well be asking themselves that this morning, after the Early Show host went after Tony Snow on the attorney firings in a manner that might have made the senior senator from New York look statesmanlike in comparison. Things got so bad that at one point, the eminently affable Snow accused Smith of badgering him, and later suggested the CBS anchor was acting like a partisan, not a reporter. Things ended on the worst possible note, as Smith effectively accused Snow of hiding the truth...

Particularly when you consider the ramifications for millions of children growing up without a two-parent family, the news that 51% of women in America now live without a spouse is serious indeed. But the decline of our culture was nothing but a laughing matter for the boys of the Early Show. Rather than seeing any cause for concern, CBS displayed the graphic seen here blithely informing viewers: "No Husband Needed." As Russ Mitchell threw the story to Harry Smith, he mirthfully proclaimed: "So Harry, now there's now statistical data for what we always knew: they really don't need us,...

by Mark Finkelstein September 27, 2006 - 08:05 "Good morning, this is Harry Smith reporting from London today, June 10th, 1940. With Luftwaffe pilots now brazenly carrying out daylight bombing raids on London, it's clear that Britain's war against Nazism is a failure." Judging by his take on Iraq, that's presumably how Harry would have reported matters had he been around during the dark days of WWII. Fortunately, Churchill was there: "Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and...

Harry Smith Taken Aback as CBS Analyst Blames Clinton for bin Laden Failures Despite Bill Clinton's angry protestations, the bulk of the blame for America's failure to catch or kill Osama bin Laden lies squarely on the Clinton administration, at least according to terrorism analyst Michael Scheuer.Scheuer's words, delivered on today's edition of CBS's "Early Show," must have come as a shock for co-host Harry Smith since the liberal media's usual refrain on bin Laden is to blame Bush for the failure to kill him back in the early days of the Afghanistan campaign.That just isn't the case, Scheuer argued,...

by Mark Finkelstein September 5, 2006 - 08:39 Looks like CBS got itself a two-fer. Katie's not just an anchor - she's a comedian, too! The highlight of her extended interview with Harry Smith on this morning's Early Show, touting her debut on tonight's CBS Evening News, was her claim that what the "old media" has to offer in contrast with the new media is . . . "integrity and standards." Couric is apparently a jokester of the deadpan school, managing to get off the line without dissolving into guffaws. This from the woman about to take over the illustrious...

by Mark Finkelstein August 9, 2006 - 09:39 Q. How can you tell when the MSM's liberal slip is showing? A. When a host argues from the left with his own non-partisan expert! That's just what happened on this morning's Early Show. Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report was brought on to analyze yesterday's CT senate primary results. Cook presents itself as non-partisan, and certainly no one can accuse Walter of being a closet conservative. As per her bio, "prior to joining The Cook Political Report, she served as Political Director of the Women's Campaign Fund and worked for...

by Mark Finkelstein July 19, 2006 - 08:08 It's been a tough week for the MSM. You just know they'd like to find a way spin events in Lebanon and Israel for purposes of criticizing the Bush administration. But one senses they have had a tough time getting traction. Even for our liberal media heroes, making common cause with Hezbollah might be a bridge too far. When the MSM is reduced to fixating on a mild four-letter word that Pres. Bush let fly, and to second-guessing tactics - as opposed to goals - you know the media's Bush-bashing cupboard is...

<p>Is Harry Smith's goal at every stage of every war to stop it? If he had been around on June 6, 1941, would he have been asking what could be done to stop D-Day? The question arises in light of Smith's questions on this morning's Early Show to Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution.</p>

by Mark Finkelstein June 27, 2006 Given NewsBusters' goal of exposing outrageous liberal media bias, perhaps I should switch focus from the Katie-less Today to Harry Smith & Co. at the Early Show. I rarely check in on the show, which has languished seemingly forever in last place. But, happening upon it this morning, Smith's bald-faced bias left me breathless. Smith's guest was Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report. Talk was first of the proposed flag-burning amendment. Disdain dripping, Smith observed "I'm just curious about this. Because somewhere I read in the last couple of days in the entire...

On CBS’s "The Early Show" this morning, co-host Harry Smith reported from Baghdad. However, unlike Dave Price, the "Early Show weatherman who reported on high morale and security progress in Iraq-- Smith focused on the negative, and even complained that the security situation is so bad that he couldn’t go out and get ice cream. Harry Smith: "Now the one other example I can give you of what the security situation is like here, just around our hotel, it's very, very secure. But when I asked our folks if I could go down to the corner and out of the...