Chris Matthews mocked Republicans on Friday's Hardball over their hawkish stance towards Boko Haram, the Nigerian Islamist group that recently kidnapped hundreds of girls. Matthews made a thinly-veiled racial attack on the GOP during a panel discussion on the terrorist organization: " By the way, when did the Republican Party take this keen interest in Africa? I may have missed that one ." Guest Michelle Bernard, who is of Jamaican decent, quickly followed the MSNBC host with a more overt racially-based jab at Republicans: [MP3 audio available here ; video below ] MICHELLE BERNARD, BERNARD CTR. FOR WOMEN: I was... continue reading
On Thursday’s edition of The Kelly File , host Megyn Kelly invited on attorney Cleta Mitchell, who represents groups targeted by the IRS, to talk about a new House Republican report that found ten percent of Tea Party donors were audited by the IRS, compared to just one percent for ordinary taxpayers. So far ABC, CBS and NBC have failed to cover the new report. After Kelly played a clip of Republican Congressman Charles Boutsany revealing the findings that “after groups provided the information to the IRS, nearly one in ten donors were subject to audit,” she let Mitchell offer... continue reading
Appearing on Friday's CBS This Morning , Sirius XM radio and CNN host Michael Smerconish hocked his new fictional novel about the talk radio business entitled Talk , and denounced the industry: "I think it's entertainment masked as news and I wanted to expose it because I think it's had a horrific impact on polarization and incivility in the country." [ Listen to the audio ] Smerconish was teed up by co-host Gayle King, who described the book as "the story of an influential conservative radio personality at a crossroad against the backdrop of a presidential race," before proclaiming: "...many... continue reading
The House on Thursday voted to create a select committee to investigate Benghazi, but NBC's Today , a four hour program, on Friday totally ignored the story. In contrast, the show spent two minutes on the topic of how many times a week people should shower. ABC's Good Morning America allowed a mere 12 seconds for the latest details. News reader Amy Robach emphasized, " Republicans on Capitol Hill are opening an eighth investigation into the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. " She added, "Today, Democrats are meeting to decide whether to boycott the new investigation, calling it... continue reading
During an interview with Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Thursday's MSNBC Daily Rundown , NBC political director Chuck Todd challenged Reid's suggestion that Republicans were solely to blame for legislation not getting through Congress: "You don't believe Democrats play any role in this? It feels like a tit-for-tat game....you don't belief there's any tit-for-tat going on here?" [ Listen to the audio ] Reid launched into a rant against supposedly unfair media coverage: "One of the problems that the press has in modern-day journalism is everything you do is a tit for tat. You won't call things the... continue reading
MSNBC's Chris Matthews slammed Republican policies like voter ID laws and a special investigation of the Benghazi attacks as an "insidious plan" that could backfire like "Watergate." "Let me finish tonight with this insidious plan to scare up right-wing voters and scare off the votes the of those who tend to vote Democratic," Matthews ranted at the end of Thursday's Hardball . "The trouble with nasty politics like the kind we're getting from the House leadership is it makes you look nasty," he continued. [Audio here .] He added the Democratic talking point that Republicans are profiting from the Benghazi... continue reading
Soon after the House voted to create a special select committe to investigate the Benghazi attacks, ABC ignored the story on Thursday evening. NBC spent just 27 seconds on the development, and CBS focused its report on Democratic disgust with the "partisan" move. ABC's World News instead spent over two minutes reporting on former teen star Jason Patric's custody battle and another two minutes on how online stores vary their prices for different customers. [Audio here .] CBS's Nancy Cordes began her report highlighting Democratic complaints: "Even before the vote to create it, Democrats were threatening to boycott the new... continue reading
Thursday's New Day on CNN hyped Monica Lewinsky's Vanity Fair article and acknowledged that former President Clinton's sex scandal with the now former White House intern casts doubt on Hillary Clinton's credibility in the realm of women's issues. Chris Cuomo noted that Lewinsky " makes a decent case that women, who are all gathering around Hillary as the obvious choice for them, may want to rethink it, based on how she characterizes her role in her husband's affair." Panelists Amy Chozick of the New York Times and Republican strategist Margaret Hoover agreed with Cuomo's point, but all three, along with... continue reading
After ignoring a massive health care scandal at Barack Obama's Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), NBC finally offered substantial coverage on Wednesday night. But the network failed to make any mention of how this controversy would impact the President or his handling of health care. Nightly News anchor Brian Williams announced that VA Secretary Eric Shinseki is "trying to fix this and hang on to his job." Ongoing revelations have exposed the fact that as many as 40 veterans died after being placed on a secret list to hide delays. Reporter Jim Miklaszewski talked to Shinseki and pressed, "Are you... continue reading
Not even a full vote by the House of Representatives to hold Lois Lerner in contempt can shake the broadcast networks out of their slumber in covering the IRS scandal. On Wednesday the House voted 231-178 (all Republicans voted yes with six Democrats) to hold Lerner in contempt for refusing to testify about the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups. Total coverage by ABC, CBS and NBC? Just a 15 second brief on Thursday’s edition of ABC’s Good Morning America . However the Big Three networks did find the 110x more time this week to tout the “dire” and “alarming” findings... continue reading