Piers Morgan still can't get basic details about the gun rights debate right, even after his protracted involvement in the controversy, as he revealed on Tuesday's CBS This Morning . Morgan incorrectly claimed that the First Amendment – not the Second Amendment – protected the right to keep and bear arms: "I have no problem...with a family exercising their First Amendment (sic) right to defend their families with a handgun at home ." The CNN host also praised New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg for his prominent vocal and monetary support of gun control, and took President Obama to task... continue reading
Monday's CBS Evening News unsurprisingly ginned up the ideological struggle inside the Republican Party as it covered the ongoing partial government shutdown. Chip Reid spun the face-off inside the House Republican caucus as being between " staunch " Tea Party-aligned representatives inside the House and " mainstream " Republicans. Reid later played up how House Speaker John Boehner could "face a dilemma" if the Senate came up with a compromise to end the shutdown, and that Boehner "can either allow the House to vote, which will likely split the Republican Party in two and create a major backlash from the... continue reading
In his Monday column , Politico’s Roger Simon unleashed an anti-GOP rant where he accused the Republican Party of letting “racism out of the closet,” accused it of waging “a war against babies” and wished death on two of its leaders, Ted Cruz and John Boehner. In his column headlined: “Government shutdown unleashes racism” Simon wasted no time in attacking Republicans by putting his twist on old sick lawyer joke: “Question: If Ted Cruz and John Boehner were both on a sinking ship, who would be saved? Answer: America.” Simon then went on to accuse Cruz of “making a war... continue reading
At the top of her 1 p.m. ET hour MSNBC show on Monday, host Andrea Mitchell wrung her hands over "angry Tea Party protesters" who gathered in Washington over the weekend to denounce the Obama administration's politicization of the government shutdown being "whipped up" Sarah Palin and Texas Senator Ted Cruz. [ Listen to the audio ] Later on the program, she contemptuously remarked to The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza: "I'm really struck by Ted Cruz and Sarah Palin over the weekend at these protests saying that it's, you know, terrible to be taking advantage of veterans....who was it who... continue reading
Appearing as a guest on the Friday, October 11, PoliticsNation on MSNBC, Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank called the Tea Party Republican faction a "very small minority" and accused them of causing "economic destruction." After host Al Sharpton noted polling finding that Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz is substantially more popular with Tea Party Republicans than other groups, Milbank responded: The Tea Party, the conservatives are actually a very small minority. The problem is they're dominant in the Republican Party because they have been so powerful in these Republican primaries. That's how Ted Cruz got his job. That's how he'll... continue reading
In an interview with Republican Senator Bob Corker on Monday's NBC Today – after Democrats sabotaged a bipartisan Senate deal to raise the nation's debt limit over the weekend – co-host Savannah Guthrie was still determined to place all blame for the budget impasse on the GOP: "As you well know, the polls have been absolutely devastating to Republicans. Do you think that Republican Party deserves credit or blame, however you want to put it, for this shutdown and now this looming crisis with the debt ceiling?" [ Listen to the audio ] In part, Corker responded: "...in fairness, the... continue reading
Sarah Varney's report on Friday's Morning Edition is just the latest example of NPR's one-sided coverage of the health care issue in general, and ObamaCare specifically. Varney spotlighted how California's government gave a local chapter of the SEIU – a major supporter of President Obama during his two presidential campaigns – $1 million to enroll people in the state's insurance exchange. The journalist also turned to UCLA's Gerry Kominski, who downplayed the " bumpy roll-out ", as she put it, of ObamaCare enrollment since it began on October 1, 2013. Varney didn't mention, however, that the professor trumpeted the Supreme... continue reading
ABC News on Friday announced that weekend Good Morning America host Dan Harris will replace Bill Weir as co-anchor of Nightline . Harris has a long history of offering harsh attacks on conservatives and providing liberal spin. On September 21, 2009, the journalist smeared Tea Party protests, concluding, " Add it all up, and some prominent Obama supporters are now saying that it paints a picture of an opposition driven, in part, by a refusal to accept a black President." Earlier that year, Harris used the same dodge, insisting that "critics" see the Tea Party as "not a real grassroots... continue reading
After NBC spent weeks painting congressional Republicans as the villains who caused the government shutdown, on Thursday's NBC Nightly News , anchor Brian Williams opened the broadcast by smugly announcing: "Who do the American people blame for the shutdown of their government? Tonight our new NBC News poll is out and the answer is clear." [ Listen to the audio ] On Friday's Today , political director Chuck Todd melodramatically touted the polling data: "Look, the shutdown has been, there's no sugarcoating this, an unmitigated political disaster for the GOP. Here is who's to blame. Nearly 53% blame congressional Republicans... continue reading
According to Chris Matthews, a new NBC poll showing bad poll numbers for the Republican Party is comparable to "Watergate." Finding that Americans blame Republicans over Democrats for the shutdown by a 22 percent margin, Matthews marveled, "I get the sense that this is a historic poll." Talking to Chuck Todd, the Hardball anchor prompted, " Compared to Watergate ." This was too much for Todd. He hedged, "Is it Watergate levels? Well, if this were October 2014, you might be talking about something like this. This is wave-type numbers, if this were a month out from the election. But... continue reading