In an interview with Senator John McCain for The Daily Beast's annual Hero Summit on Thursday, the blog's editor-in-chief Tina Brown launched into an unhinged rant blaming conservatives for the government shutdown: "The story of this political crisis is really, you know, the culpability not just of the Republican crazies, but of the Republican non-crazies. I mean, how do we get to the point where Mitch McConnell is Rand Paul's bitch? ...Why aren't the moderate Republicans, you know, fighting back? We're always saying why don't, you know, the moderate Muslims fight jihad, but, you know, this is jihad." [ Listen... continue reading
Appearing as a guest on Wednesday's The Last Word , MSNBC.com executive editor Richard Wolffe joined MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell in tagging Tea Party Republicans as "crazies" as O'Donnell fretted over whether conservative activists Charles and David Koch the Koch would be able to convince Tea Party Republicans to cave on the debt ceiling issue. Wolffe mockingly blamed wealthy conservatives like the Koch brothers for enabling the Tea Party's rise to power and asserting tht Republicans are "killing themselves" for the 2014 and 2016 elections. O'Donnell introduced the word "crazy" as he posed: "Clearly, the Tea Party doesn't care about... continue reading
On Wednesday's The Last Word on MSNBC, host Lawrence O'Donnell opened the show by calling Republicans "frighteningly ignorant" and "childish" because of the battle over the debt ceiling issue. Taking off on the terms 'Holocaust deniers" and the more recently dubbed "global warming deniers," the words "Default Deniers" appeared on screen behind the MSNBC host as he began the show: The reckless and irresponsible standoff over the debt ceiling created by frighteningly ignorant and childish Republicans is already harming the country and causing increased government spending. That's right. During the days of the government shutdown, while the buffoons who shut... continue reading
MSNBC reporter Luke Russert on Thursday found the need to gratuitously connect the anniversary of John Kennedy's assassination with a possible GOP extension of the debt limit. Appearing on Now With Alex Wagner , Russert said of the John Boehner-supported move : " So the idea is the debt limit would be extended until November 22, which is, by the way, the 50th anniversary of the death of the President Kennedy, which is a whole other thing that would probably look bad optically. " [MP3 audio here .] In the 50 years since JFK's murder, many things have happened on... continue reading
Charlie Rose's 18-second news brief on Thursday's CBS This Morning is the sole Big Three network mention so far of the Obama administration's decision to review the cases of dozens of terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay in preparation for the possible release. Both ABC's Good Morning America and NBC's Today ignored this latest development in the ongoing controversy over the Islamist detainees at the U.S. military base. Rose cited a report from the Miami Herald's Carol Rosenberg during the brief, and noted that the Defense Department also recently appointed a new special envoy for the closure of the detention camp:... continue reading
Wrapping up a report on the government shutdown for Thursday's NBC Today , White House correspondent Peter Alexander eagerly promoted negative political fallout for Republicans: "Both parties are taking a hit in their approval ratings as a result these days. But the damage to the Republican brand appears to be proving to be much worse. A new Gallup poll ...shows only 28% of Americans say they have a favorable view of the Republican Party, that's the lowest number since they began asking that question twenty-one years ago." [ Listen to the audio ] What Alexander didn't bother to mention was... continue reading
On October 9 The Blaze reported the following: “Sarah Hall Ingram, the Internal Revenue Service official who used to head the office directly involved in the targeting of conservative groups, may have shared confidential taxpayer information with White House officials, according to 2012 emails uncovered by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Ingram, who now heads the IRS’s Obamacare enforcement division, counseled senior White House officials on how to deal with a lawsuit from religious groups opposed to the Obamacare contraception mandate.” So far ABC, CBS and NBC have yet to report on the latest IRS scandal disclosure. In... continue reading
ABC's Good Morning America on Wednesday rightly highlighted the "outrage" over the delay of death benefits to the families of fallen U.S. soldiers. A day later, the program's hosts barely had time for the story, allowing a mere 28 seconds (within a larger report). Reporter Jon Karl briefly referred to the "disaster on military benefits," but he didn't explain that a private charity had stepped in to solve the problem. On Wednesday, a graphic for a Jim Avila full report insisted that "outrage grows for America's heroes." The journalist featured a clip of Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy trashing, " And... continue reading
Jessica Yellin is leaving CNN after six years at the network. Yellin was CNN's White House correspondent for two years before moving to chief domestic affairs correspondent. Yellin's history of liberal student activism at Harvard certainly seeped through in her CNN reporting as she gushed over " candidate of hope " Obama while whacking Mitt Romney for sounding out of touch with women. Below is Yellin's worst bias during her time at CNN. Can't Obama Force Congress Into a Sequester Deal? JESSICA YELLIN: "To your question 'what could you do?' First of all, couldn't you just have them down here... continue reading
Appearing on the Tuesday, October 8, The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell , MSNBC political analyst Joy Reid, Managing Editor of NBC's TheGrio.com, asserted that Republicans are "taking hostages" and have "shot a hostage" as they "went ahead and shut the government down." She began her over the top metaphor: The Republican party, to Ari (Melber)'s point, they understand they have unpopular positions. They cannot enact their dream sort of Ayn Randian world through a legislative process. They can't win elections to enact the conservative policies. They think, you know, they might think better of the country, whatever, they believe... continue reading