Former Newsweek editor Howard Fineman appeared on Wednesday's Hardball and warned that the Republican Party has become a "faith-based," "Bible-based" political organization. Fineman also derided Paul Ryan as untrustworthy when it comes to considering science: " [Ryan] starts every consideration of public policy, not from the standpoint of science, but from the standpoint of faith ." The journalist, who is now the editorial director for the Huffington Post, darkly intoned, "But the Republican Party has become a faith-based party. Starting with Ronald Reagan, there was a marriage between the Bible Belt of the south, fundamentalist Bible Belt of the south."... continue reading
John Dickerson hinted on Wednesday's CBS This Morning that the only radicals in the abortion debate were on the pro-life side. During a discussion about the furor over Rep. Todd Akin's recent "legitimate rape" remark, Dickerson stated that "Congressman Akin... put a highlight on the extreme end of the abortion debate ." The political director's liberal slant came in the midst of his network's 37 minutes of coverage of the Akin controversy since Monday. By contrast, CBS devoted just under 10 minutes of coverage to Vice President Joe Biden's "put y'all back in chains" smear of Republicans over a similar... continue reading
A week after giving relatively light coverage to Joe Biden's "chains" smear, the broadcast networks eagerly dove into the Todd Akin controversy, giving over four times more coverage to an uproar involving a statewide (conservative) politician than a controversy involving a national (liberal) politician. NBC, CBS and ABC's evening and morning shows have devoted an astonishing 88 minutes (or 40 segments) of coverage to Congressman Akin's "legitimate rape" remark. Over a similar three day period, the networks allowed a scant 19 minutes (or ten segments) to a racially charged gaffe by the Vice President of the United States. CBS This... continue reading
In what co-host Matt Lauer billed as a campaign ad "reality check" on Tuesday's NBC Today , a Romney ad criticizing the Obama administration for gutting Welfare reform was dismissed as ineffective, "too complicated" and "Pants on Fire" false. Meanwhile, an Obama ad slamming Romney over taxes was praised for making Romney look like a cross between wealthy Simpson's villain "Mr. Burns" and an "evil" version of Mad Men's Don Draper. [ Listen to the audio ] Much of the commentary came from ad critic and MediaPost.com editor-at-large Barbara Lippert. She quickly rejected the Romney ad: "I don't think it's... continue reading
MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Tuesday continued the effort to tie the entire Republican Party to the gaffe-prone Todd Akin, smearing the GOP as a party that doesn't believe in the concept of rape. Matthews interrogated former Republican National Chairman Michael Steele: " Is it true or not true that you've got people in your party so far to the right that they have a problem with a woman saying she was raped? " Matthews piled on, hyping, "Your political party has some real troglodytes in it... Guys right out of the Caveman television ads." The Hardball anchor ended the segment... continue reading
CNN's Piers Morgan played right into the hand of the Obama campaign's co-chair on Monday night, casting the fallout from Rep. Todd Akin's (R-Mo.) rape remarks as "Romney's worst nightmare." "Yeah, I think you've hit the nail on the head," Morgan told Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) after she delivered her liberal spin tying Akin to Paul Ryan and the GOP. "Now it [the debate] has become Romney's worst nightmare. It's gone right back to the social conservative issues he was so desperate to move off on." Instead of challenging Schakowsky's liberal spin bewailing some Republicans' opposition to contraception and abortion... continue reading
For CNN's Ashleigh Banfield, complete opposition to abortion equals a "very far right" position, as she insisted on Tuesday about the new Republican Party platform. For context, CNN used the same " far right " label to describe Sikh shooter Wade Michael Page's racist skinhead band. "[T]he platform, for the most part, was crafted by the very far-right wing of the party and then if you combine that with the timing of all this ugliness that's going on with Mr. Akin...does that besmirch this platform that so many people agree with?" she asked, framing the completely pro-life stance as extreme... continue reading
On Tuesday's CBS This Morning , Norah O'Donnell and Gayle King applauded colleague Nancy Cordes for her " great question " to President Obama on Monday about a dishonest ad from a supporting super PAC that blamed Mitt Romney for a woman's cancer death. However, they failed to mention Cordes's earlier question on how Obama's campaign has "suggested that Mr. Romney might be a felon for the way that he handed over power of Bain Capital." The President falsely claimed that "nobody accused Mr. Romney of being a felon " in his answer to Cordes , an additional detail that... continue reading
The network morning shows on Tuesday devoted an enormous 20 minutes and 53 seconds to obsessing over a gaffe by a Republican congressman, hyping Todd Akin's comments for nine separate segments. NBC, CBS and ABC touted Democratic efforts to link the gaffe-prone representative to the GOP presidential ticket. Former Democratic operative turned Good Morning America host George Stephanopoulos zeroed in on Akin's comments what constitutes a "legitimate rape." He breathlessly wondered, " We saw the President pounce in the White House briefing room yesterday. How are the Democrats going to try to capitalize on this today? " After Jake Tapper... continue reading
During the Today's Professionals panel segment on Tuesday's NBC Today , attorney Star Jones predicted that if Todd Akin continues his Senate run in Missouri, the entire Republican Party will be branded with his controversial remarks: "If he doesn't [get out], the Romney/Ryan ticket is going to be tarred with this feather for the entire campaign. They sponsored bills together that pretty much echo this sentiment." [ Listen to the audio ] Moments later, advertising executive Donny Deutsch struck the same tone, warning: "As far as the GOP, this is going to be devastating if he stays in. Because they... continue reading