MRC’s Brent Baker reports: Virtually all of the broadcast and cable network coverage, in the hours after the late Saturday afternoon EDT announcement of President Ronald Reagan’s passing, forwarded praise and admiration. There were, however, several exceptions where journalists incorporated liberal, anti-conservative spin to denounce Reagan’s policies.

CNN on-screen text: “BY-PRODUCT OF ‘REAGANOMICS’: HUGE BUDGET DEFICITS.” ABC’s Sam Donaldson blamed the big deficit on Reagan for “stubbornly” refusing to raise taxes; CBS’s Jerry Bowen highlighted “the nagging perception” that in their post-White House years “the Reagans were cashing in on

their Washington years;” MSNBC.com’s obituary raised the Bitburg cemetery incident and blamed Reagan for the S&L scandal.

The New York Times obituary ran through a litany of liberal spin points against Reagan: Ketchup as a vegetable, how cutting Social Security disability benefits “furthered the perception that the administration was heartless,” how the October of 1987 stock market plunge meant “economists’ warnings that the administration was mortgaging the country’s future were finally heeded.” Plus, thanks to Reagan, “more people were living below the poverty line, and homelessness became a national concern.”