The Daily Beast’s Eleanor Clift might have set a record for quickest breaking of a New Year’s resolution. During a January 3 McLaughlin Group segment, in which the panelists offered their 2015 resolutions, Clift promised to “treat the 24 Republicans considering running for president respectfully.” Clift then immediately broke the resolution when she added: “Even though I think most of them probably belong on the clown car.” The following excerpt is from the January 3 edition of the syndicated McLaughlin Group : ELEANOR CLIFT: Treat the 24 Republicans considering running for president respectfully - even though I think most of... continue reading
On Monday, both ABC's Good Morning America and NBC's Today hyped a supposed "controversy" between Sarah Palin and radical animal rights group PETA, after Palin shared a touching photo of her Down Syndrome son using his service dog as a step stool to reach the kitchen sink. During a news brief on GMA , anchor Amy Robach announced: "Sarah Palin sparking new controversy, this time among animal lovers. Reaction has erupted on social media when Palin posted this photo of her 6-year-old son standing on top of their dog." Today featured a full two and half minute report on the... continue reading
On Sunday morning, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich appeared on CBS’s Face the Nation to discuss a variety of topics including the ongoing controversy involving Congressman Steve Scalise (R-La.). During the conversation, moderator Bob Schieffer did his best to tie Scalise’s 2002 speech to the entire Republican brand. The CBS host suggested that "aren’t Republicans going to have to find some way to appeal to Hispanics and African Americans and what is that way because I think you would agree right now if you just look at it, it doesn't look like they're doing very much.” The segment... continue reading
President Obama’s annual Christmas vacation wrapped up this past weekend and on Saturday CBS Evening News did its best to promote the president’s 2015 agenda. CBS reporter Chip Reid filed a report from Hawaii that offered no soundbites from Republicans opposing Obama and instead found time to quote liberal presidential historian Douglas Brinkley who argued that Obama’s “starting to learn that he could be like FDR and Theodore Roosevelt -- don't worry about Congress, just lay down these executive orders.” Reid began his report by playing up Obama’s upcoming 2015 agenda: After a two-week vacation that included nine rounds of... continue reading
On Thursday’s CBS Evening News , correspondent Jan Crawford reported on former Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s resignation from a number of corporate and nonprofit boards ahead of a possible campaign for president in 2016 but also found time to lament about the challenge the GOP primary could present for Bush. “Now, the challenge of Bush is going to be running a center right campaign for the Republican nomination,” Crawford stated. She then added that the reason for possible troubles in the Republican primary is because “this is a time when the party is enthusiastically embracing more conservative candidates.” [MP3 audio... continue reading
Thirty years ago, journalists’ enthusiasm for Mario Cuomo reached national proportions after the then-New York Governor offered a full-throated liberal attack on Ronald Reagan’s conservative policies in his keynote address to the 1984 Democratic national convention. “Governor Cuomo’s speech showed it was possible for a Democrat to combat President Reagan on television with philosophy and metaphor, that passion could be the party’s engine and oratory its modern weapon,” the New York Times declared in a July 21, 1984 “news analysis” following the convention. In the years that followed, reporters openly hoped that Cuomo’s rhetoric could be deployed as a presidential... continue reading
All three networks on Friday offered glowing tributes to the "spellbinding," "liberal lion," Mario Cuomo, the Democratic politician who passed away on Thursday. Using phrases like "liberal beacon" and "political giant," Today, Good Morning America and CBS This Morning showcased just how much journalists have championed Cuomo's left-wing career. GMA journalist David Wright made no effort to hide admiration for Cuomo's politics, enthusing, "I grew up here in New York State at a time when Mario Cuomo was governor and would have loved to have seen him run for president. He could be spellbinding." Wright cheered the Democrat as a... continue reading
In the 1980s and ’90s, journalists passed along expert predictions of the world as it would be by the year 2015. Now that the New Year has finally arrived, it might be fun to recall some of those forecasts. Keep these in mind as you hear sages confidently predict what we’ll find 20 or 30 years from now: ■ Huge surpluses for the U.S. government: In a front-page story for the April 2, 1988 New York Times , correspondent Peter Kilborn relayed fears that by 2015 the government would be taking in far more money than it could spend: It... continue reading
The liberal New York Times and the Washington Post went into hyperdrive, Wednesday, devoting a combined 3800 words and three front page stories to a scandal involving Republican Congressman Steve Scalise. Both newspapers worked from the same talking points, insisting that Scalise's 12-year-old speech to a racist organization could derail the GOP's attempts to take back the White House. The front page of the Times warned , "Republicans Try to Fix Damage Scalise’s 2002 Speech Could Do in 2016." The Post, in a story by Ed O'Keefe and Robert Costa , echoed, "But others worried about the potential political fallout... continue reading
Each of the network morning shows devoted some time on Wednesday to looking back at the biggest news stories of year and, while they certainly could not have included every story in the allotted time, they all failed to spend even a few seconds on topics such as Jonathan Gruber , pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, President Obama’s unpopularity, and the Hobby Lobby case to name a few. In addition, the “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC each mentioned the midterm elections and how Republicans were able to win control of the Senate (in addition to the House), they... continue reading