A sneering group of MSNBC hosts and analysts on Thursday berated Sean Hannity for his "mindless" anti-government attitude, mocking him as "pathetic." The Fox News host gave an interview to Pla yboy magazine in which he dismissed much of the federal government as "dysfunctional." Ex- Newsweek editor Howard Fineman, who has bragged about " steering clear of partisanship, " slammed Hannity for having a "deliberate lack of self-awareness [that] is just stunning." Speaking of the federal government, Fineman continued, " One of the reasons why the system is so dysfunctional is because of the mindlessly accusatory nature of what he...what... continue reading
On Wednesday's All In show, MSNBC host Chris Hayes again claimed that House Republicans are waging a "jihad" in trying to cut the food stamp program, asserting that "the GOP's jihad on those in need gets uglier every single day." The MSNBC also fretted again over the possibility that violent felons may lose benefits while MSNBC contributor Joy Reid tried to link racism against minorities to the battle over food stamps. Reid: And remember, too, there's also an ethnic, sort of, tinge to it, too. They're trying to imply that all of these people are black and brown people when... continue reading
The Big Three all punted on covering the Capitol Hill "Audit the IRS" rally on their Wednesday evening and Thursday morning newscasts. CBS This Morning played a four-second soundbite of Senator Ted Cruz addressing the thousands of Tea Party activists in attendance, but CBS, along with ABC and NBC, didn't air a full report or news brief on the protest. The CBS morning show also stood out for spotlighting how the " IRS is under fire again ... it's paying $70 million in employee bonuses , despite a White House order." CBS This Morning devoted 47 seconds of coverage to... continue reading
ABC's Good Morning America on Thursday deemed the admission by the FBI that they have used drones inside America to be a "stunning revelation." Yet, news reader Josh Elliott somehow managed to ignore the fact that his own program already talked about this fact back in February. Elliott breathlessly related, " And another stunning revelation as lawmakers look at the National Security Agency's controversial surveillance programs. " He added, "For the first time, the FBI has acknowledged using drones to spy on Americans here on U.S. soil." However, on February 4, 2013, ABC reporter Gio Benitez covered the story of... continue reading
MSNBC's Chris Matthews and his liberal guest on Wednesday thrilled over the relationship between Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Washington Post writer Eugene Robinson even compared them to Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher: " I think in a way, you know, Barack and Angela are the new Ronnie and Maggie...They can be kind of a dynamic duo." (Of course, Reagan and Thatcher oversaw huge economic recoveries and the end of the Cold War.) [MP3 audio here .] Highlighting Obama's speech in Germany, Matthews saw a secret plan to promote Hillary Clinton. After mentioning Thatcher, plus other famous female... continue reading
Appearing on MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports on Wednesday, NBC's chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd came up with a long list of excuses for President Obama's poor speech performance in Berlin: "I want to give you a little context here....there was an attempt to shrink the crowd size....Maybe they would have gotten 25, 30, 40,000 people....President Obama feeds off a crowd very well." [ Listen to the audio or watch the video below ] Todd then grasped at other reasons for the lackluster event: "...you had that very distracting glass and you could just see that the President himself wasn't... continue reading
Appearing as a guest on Tuesday's All In show on MSNBC, Newsweek senior writer Michelle Goldberg -- also of the The Daily Beast -- observed that the House Republican push for a vote to ban abortion seems "wacky and counterproductive," and later asserted that "most people intuitively know that an embryo is not a human being." When host Chris Hayes raised the issue by asking why House Republicans were pushing for a vote, she responded: I think there are two different things. I mean, first of all, you know, there are a huge number of Republican officeholders who got into... continue reading
On Tuesday's All In show, MSNBC host Chris Hayes complained about an "anti-food stamp jihad" by House Republicans, and attacked the GOP for putting on a "shameful spectacle" in trying to cut the food stamp program. With the words "War on the Poor" and an image of House Speaker John Boehner displayed on screen behind him, Hayes railed: And no one in Washington, particularly on the Republican side, seems to be at all concerned about the continued economic misery of millions of our fellow citizens. So it seems to me that the very least, the absolute least, a decent wealthy... continue reading
On Monday's PoliticsNation show on MSNBC, host Al Sharpton bristled at former Vice President Cheney recently attacking President Obama's "credibility" as the MSNBC host repeated discredited assertions that Cheney had claimed Saddam Hussein was involved in the 9/11 attacks. Sharpton and MSNBC contributor Patrick Murphy, formerly a Democratic Congressman from Pennsylvania, rehashed liberal charges that the former Vice President lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. After a soundbite of Cheney, Sharpton responded: Really, Dick Cheney. He thinks the President is not credible. Oh, the irony. The same Dick Cheney who told us that Iraq had WMDs, who said... continue reading
This is Jeff Zucker's CNN? Monday night's Piers Morgan Live featured Morgan defending the nanny state and calling for federal gun control. Meanwhile his guest, new CNN host Morgan Spurlock, pushed for more gun laws and half agreed with Morgan in his support of the nanny state. "Isn't he right to be a nanny?" Morgan said of New York Mayor Bloomberg's large soda ban. "People need nannying." He also excused Chicago's strict gun laws that fail to stop gun crime, instead blaming neighboring states with lax gun laws. "So until you have a federal gun control that stops that happening,... continue reading