Media top headlines December 8
In media news today, CNN's Don Lemon avoids mentioning court testimony that he tipped Jussie Smollett off about police, a New York Times reporter scolds airline travelers for faulty mask-wearing, and the White House and CNN tout a Washington Post column claiming Biden gets worse media coverage than Trump.
Critics took aim at The New York Times Tuesday over a piece that claimed Saule Omarova, President Biden's pick to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, was painted by Republicans as a communist for being born in the Soviet Union rather than because of her left-wing views.
The piece, focused on Omarova's decision to withdraw her own nomination, didn't mention a number of her controversial views, including a past suggestion that it would be a good thing for energy industries to go bankrupt in order to combat climate change, as well as her thesis on Karl Marx written while she was attending Moscow State University in the 1980s.
OMAROVA NOMINATION TO BE TOP BANKING REGULATOR BEING WITHDRAWN
"Ms. Omarova faced months of criticism from Republicans and bank lobbyists who cast her as a threat to the American economy. Lobbyists began to oppose her almost as soon as her nomination was announced, saying she wanted to replace the banking industry’s functions with services provided by the Federal Reserve," the piece read.
"They pointed to a 2020 paper that Ms. Omarova had written about ways the Fed could use its own digital currency, which central bankers had already begun to consider creating. (As comptroller, Ms. Omarova would have had to coordinate with bank regulators at the Federal Reserve but would not have had the authority to make changes to the banking system’s structure.)," it added.
Saule Omarova of New York testifies before a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington to examine her nomination to be the Comptroller of the Currency, Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
The piece went on to claim that a Wall Street Journal editorial suggested she "could not be trusted" because of her childhood in the Soviet Union.
"Republicans in Congress mimicked the lobbyists’ criticisms, saying Ms. Omarova’s academic work and her Soviet origins should disqualify her," the piece read, without mentioning specifics. It added that some Democrats also opposed her nomination, but noted more heavily that a supporting Democratic senator lamented her withdrawal while calling Republican criticism "red scare McCarthyism."
BIDEN'S TREASURY PICK OMAROVA WOULD ‘STARVE OUT INDUSTRIES’ THAT DON'T ALIGN WITH DEMOCRAT INTERESTS
Critics slammed the framing, with a number pointing out it was actually her views that led to the lack of support for her nomination and not where she was born.
POLICE REPORT REVEALS STRIKING DETAILS ABOUT BIDEN NOM SAULE OMAROVA'S ‘RETAIL THEFT’ ARREST
"Liars. As you know, it was her publicly held VIEWS, not her place of birth. You are lying propagandists who regularly harm the country," wrote Fox News contributor Mollie Hemingway, while another critic called it "ridiculous" to suggest that Republicans made the issue about where she was born.
"Omarova is accurately painted as a communist because she’s literally a communist, irrespective of where she was born, you pathetic, lying propagandists. Absolute enemy of the people," wrote one critic, while another suggested Saule's ideas wear "more in tune with Comrade Lenin than Goldman Sachs."
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