On Thursday's All In show, MSNBC's Chris Hayes repeatedly used words like "screwing over" to describe Republican policies toward the poor, and claimed that Tea Partiers in Congress believe in "poverty as punishment" as he fretted over a delay in the extension of unemployment benefits and then hyped Georgia Republican Rep. Jack Kingston's suggestion that school children do chores in exchange for subsidized lunches. After characterizing recent statements by congressional Republicans as being like immaturely declaring, "Yeah, and your mother," the MSNBC host a bit later whined: So Republicans leave 2013 impotent and neutered. But even though their bullying and... continue reading
ABC, CBS, and NBC all devoted air time to the Obama administration's latest "fix for the botched health care rollout" on their Friday morning newscasts, but failed to include any conservative or Republican reaction to this development. Good Morning America minimized their coverage, airing just two news briefs on " the White House offering relief now for people who lost their health insurance because it didn't meet standards required by the...health care law." Today and CBS This Morning both spotlighted the insurance industry's worries over this change, but didn't get around to the possible political fallout over the White House... continue reading
On his Thursday show, CNN's Piers Morgan confessed that Christians who believe homosexuality is sinful are "bigoted," and argued that parts of the Bible are "utterly ridiculous" and "offensive." The topic at hand was Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson's words about homosexuality. "I can still understand people say, well, you know, it's my religious belief that homosexuality is a sin. I think it's a load of absolute fooey in the modern age, to be so bigoted , but if that's what people want to do, that's fine," the CNN host admitted. [Video below the break. Audio here .] Morgan sparred... continue reading
On Thursday's PoliticsNation , MSNBC political analyst Goldie Taylor ludicrously saw "hypocrisy" in Republicans speaking out against A&E possibly firing Duck Dynasty 's Phil Robertson while opposing ObamaCare's contraception mandate as she failed to note that ObamaCare, as opposed to the Duck Dynasty controversy, is an issue of forcing employers by law to obey the government in spite of religious objections. Without providing any quotes as evidence, she accused conservatives of making Phil Robertson's employment with A&E into a First Amendment issue, and then failed to note that ObamaCare actually does involve the First Amendment, and went on to make... continue reading
While interviewing openly gay U.S. women's hockey team player Caitlin Cahow on Thursday's NBC Today , co-host Matt Lauer hoped for controversy during the games over Russia's "anti-gay laws": "[Openly gay former tennis player] Billy Jean King said that perhaps it is time for a 'John Carlos moment'.... that moment in 1968 in Mexico City [Olympics] when [U.S. runners] John Carlos and Tommy Smith stood up and they gave the Black Power salute because they wanted to protest racial inequality. Would you be willing to be a part of some kind of a John Carlos moment in Sochi?" [ Listen... continue reading
On the Wednesday, December 18, All In with Chris Hayes show on MSNBC, host Hayes fretted that uninsured Americans are not a "potent constituency" during a discussion of the debate over extending unemployment benefits. He did not mention a CBS News/ New York Times poll which ironically was released earlier in the day finding that ObamaCare is as unpopular among uninsured Americans as with the general population. Speaking with MSNBC analyst Ezra Klein, Hayes posed: The political economy of this is also really interesting. I remember, you know, you've written a lot about the challenge, the political challenge of, for... continue reading
On Wednesday's CBS Evening News , Carter Evans spotlighted Leslie Foster, an apparent ObamaCare " success story ," who gushed about the "amazing things" in his subsidized health plan. But Evans failed to mention that Foster "campaigned for President Barack Obama's election," as the Wall Street Journal reported in an October 7, 2013 article . [MP3 audio available here ; video below ] The correspondent zeroed in on Foster, an "independent filmmaker" in California, in the midst of a segment that underlined the findings of the latest CBS News/ New York Times poll, which found " a lot of skepticism... continue reading
CNN's Carol Costello accused insurance companies of "preying on the most vulnerable people" in dropping doctors from health plans, even after CNN interviewed a doctor and an insurance representative saying that ObamaCare regulations made it harder for companies to keep doctors on insurance plans. After the report by correspondent Chris Frates on an elderly woman who had to choose between higher premiums or the loss of her doctor, Costello lashed out at the insurance companies: "Well you know what's really scary, Mrs. Sabatino is well, right? She has the energy to fix the problem, but not all elderly people do... continue reading
Talking to NBC's David Gregory for the Meet the Press web-based feature Press Pass on Sunday, Israeli journalist Ari Shavit launched into a rant against the strong bond between conservatives in Israel and the United States: "In recent years, we've seen too much of an alliance between Tea Party Israel and Tea Party America. I want to bring back that alliance between progressive America and progressive Israel." [ Listen to the audio ] Shavit's hand-wringing was prompted by Gregory observing: "...my sense of many American Jews is that they are not as firmly rooted – their Jewishness is not as... continue reading
The same networks that totally ignored MSNBC anchor Martin Bashir's vile attacks against Sarah Palin have highlighted the "outrageous," "offensive" comments made by Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson in an interview to GQ . The journalists on ABC's Good Morning America provided the most aggressive coverage, repeatedly wondering if the remarks "will sink the show." The morning program offered almost no consideration of Robertson and the issue of free speech. Instead, PR expert Howard Bragman wondered if the TV star is "willing to go to a deeper level of understanding and see why his remarks offended so many people?" [MP3... continue reading