During his special post-debate Hardball, Chris Matthews's panelists -- with the exception of Republican Michael Steele -- praised moderator Bob Schieffer’s ability to get Romney “to be quiet.” Howard Fineman trumpted: "Let's also give a shout out to Bob Schieffer, who finally in the third debate, got Romney to be quiet." Matthews also liked the format of Monday's debate because it denied Romney from exhibiting "flagrant disrespect" towards President Obama: "I think the fact they were sitting at a table together made it harder for Romney to engage in that flagrant disrespect he showed the second debate." From MSNBC's October... continue reading
Martha Raddatz boosted President Obama on ABC after the final presidential debate on Monday evening, just as she did during the earlier vice presidential debate that she moderated. Raddatz asserted that Obama " humanized what he was talking about . He talked a lot about the troops; he talked about the survivors from 9/11; he talked about the people in Israel. So if, in fact, he was going towards the female vote, he probably got their attention with that sort of approach ." [audio available here ; video below ] ABC's post-debate coverage also spotlighted a Tweet from Nightline 's... continue reading
In the post debate commentary of the third – and last – presidential debate on foreign policy, on Monday, Chris Matthews just could not help himself spewing another diatribe about the racial hatred that he insists is ingrained into the soul of America’s conservatives. In fact, clucked Matthews, they’re so hateful of Obama that they want him out of the White House more than they want al-Qaeda’s complete destruction. Below is the transcript and video of this hyperbolic episode. From MSNBC's October 22 post debate coverage: CHRIS MATTHEWS: I think they're more political than either you or I – I... continue reading
Moments after the final presidential debate ended NBC's Brian Williams, on Monday, declared that Barack Obama came up with the line of the night. During NBC’s live post debate coverage the NBC Nightly News anchor told viewers: "We always try to look for the phrase or expression that will live forever out of these. Tonight has to be 'horses and bayonets.'" Williams went on to call Obama’s snide comment "a very sharp comeback" to Mitt Romney. The following exchange was aired on NBC's live October 22 coverage of the final presidential debate: BRIAN WILLIAMS: David Gregory, we always try to... continue reading
Talking to two fellow liberals on Monday, an unhinged Chris Matthews trashed conservatives and Republicans who opposes Barack Obama's birth control policies as "Nazis." Matthews smeared: " Is it in society's interests for [a young woman's] boss to be able to be the birth control Nazi to decide who gets it and who doesn't? " [MP3 audio here .] Matthews has previously railed against calling one's political opponents Nazis. On April 28, 2010 , the liberal host ranted, "But let's agree, can we, to drop the Nazi stuff?" On Monday, Matthews invented a hypothetical woman: "A young woman who works... continue reading
Appearing as a panelist on Sunday's NBC Meet the Press , Republican strategist Mike Murphy called out journalists for refusing to provide balanced coverage of abortion: "It's always amazed me how the media assumes there's no such thing in the world as a pro-life woman, it's the most under-represented, you know, group in the world, we never talk about them." [ Listen to the audio ] Murphy's observation was prompted by former Clinton press secretary Dee Dee Myers proclaiming that Romney has "been all over the map on every issue that's important to women in this election," meaning contraception and... continue reading
Disgraced ex-CBS anchor Dan Rather delved into conspiracy theories on Monday, speculating that the Ohio Republican Party could steal the election for Mitt Romney. In a Facebook posting for Dan Rather Reports , the journalist hyped, " The whole upper tier of Ohio state government is in the hands of the GOP now; in very close voting they have the power to influence what votes are counted and how." Linking back to other conspiracy theories, Rather reminded, "Remember Ohio, Bush v. Kerry in 2004 and Florida, Bush v. Gore in 2000)." The former CBS Evening News host seemed to be... continue reading
On Sunday's NBC Meet the Press , moderator David Gregory grilled Florida Senator Marco Rubio on Mitt Romney's "binders full of women" comment: "Can you understand why some women have that reaction, that he seems sort of out of touch with what modern women are going through?" Gregory also seized on Romney's support of flexible work schedules for women as more evidence of a supposed disconnect: "He talked about the – the importance of flexibility so that, you know, women could get home early to be with their kids and make dinner. And he's gotten some criticism for that because... continue reading
ABC analyst Matthew Dowd on Sunday cheered the "laudable" Candy Crowley for propping up Barack Obama with wrong information about Libya during last week's debate. Referring to a contentious exchange between the President and Mitt Romney over when the White House called the attack a terrorist indicent, Dowd enthused, "... What Candy Crowley did, I actually thought, was laudable, because what happens in this whole thing is the truth becomes a casualty." [MP3 audio here .] Dowd, appearing on This Week , lamented a media culture where "we're just supposed to make accusations back and forth to each other and... continue reading
New York Times foreign affairs columnist Tom Friedman , who three weeks ago derided Mitt Romney for how he “acts...as if he learned his foreign policy at the International House of Pancakes,” on Sunday’s Meet the Press dismissed concerns over how the Obama administration handled Benghazi before and after the attacks. “To me,” he declared, “this is an utterly contrived story in the sense that ‘this is the end of,’ you know, ‘Obama’s foreign policy.’” Over on ABC’s This Week , host George Stephanopoulos ludicrously argued: “Hasn’t the White House been relatively transparent?” He justified his contention, in the question... continue reading