It may have looked like a Bill Clinton reunion tour, but it sounded like a Jimmy Carter pity party. Former Democratic operative George Stephanopoulos interviewed current Democratic operatives James Carville and Stan Greenberg on Tuesday's Good Morning America . All three did their very best to avoid gloomy predictions for Barack Obama or to blame the President for the reeling economy. In fact, the name of the current Democrat in the White House came up only once. Stephanopoulos generically complained, "...A lot of people [are] losing faith that the politicians can make any difference at all." Pollster Greeberg preposterously insisted,... continue reading
Appearing on Tuesday's NBC Today to promote her new USA series Political Animals , actress Sigourney Weaver admitted that her character, a former First Lady turned Secretary of State, was based in part on Hillary Clinton: "Elaine Barrish Hammond is this very gifted politician with a very strong moral compass.... we are inspired by Mrs. Clinton, who's such a remarkable woman and a great Secretary of State. She was a great Senator for New York state." [ Listen to the audio ] Co-host Savannah Guthries raised the obvious comparison: "Well, a lot of people may recognize some contours of this... continue reading
$150 billion. That’s “the cost to taxpayers” for President Barack Obama’s proposal to not increase the income tax rate for those earning less than $250,000, White House correspondent Norah O’Donnell bizarrely asserted on Monday’s CBS Evening News . As for Republican nominee Mitt Romney’s desire to keep rates the same for all permanently, O’Donnell fretted: “The cost to taxpayers? An additional $850 billion over the next ten years.” So, not increasing the amount a person pays in federal income tax is a “cost” to them? That’s just surreal, but reflects the media’s conflation of taxpayers and the government. Isn’t it... continue reading
CNN's Christine Romans played Obama spokespers on on Monday's Starting Point and accused Republicans of creating "uncertainty" about ObamaCare in trying to repeal it. That fits what has seemingly become a CNN line to Republicans of "stop fighting this law and get in line." "I'm wondering, should Congresspeople be spending more time helping their constituents comply with the law rather than continuing all this uncertainty about it?" Romans challenged Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.). Ironically, CNN's own poll shows a majority in favor of Congress repealing the law. [Video below. Audio here .] CNN has scoffed at Republican attempts the repeal... continue reading
On Saturday's NBC Today , co-host Lester Holt pondered why President Obama's poll numbers were not lower given the poor economy: "...you look at the polls, the latest N BC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows the President still maintaining a three-point lead. Is he defying gravity here, and if so, why?" Holt directed the question to Time's Mark Halperin, who proclaimed: "Well, he is....People like the President. They still think he – they recog nize what he argues, he inherited a lot of problems ....people want the President to have more of a chance..." Halperin added: "Governor Romney is still... continue reading
CNN's Candy Crowley on Sunday actually pressed a senior Barack Obama adviser on the campaign's "false" claim that Mitt Romney was responsible for outsourcing while at Bain Capital. Unlike ABC, which credulously parroted Obama's attacks, Crowley reminded Robert Gibbs that "this particular ad got four Pinocchios from the Washington Post." The Obama operative dodged, huffing, "Factcheck.org ought to read the Washington Post, which is the one that came up with a report that said...Mitt Romney and Bain Capital were pioneers in outsourcing." Crowley wouldn't let go of the point, reminding, "Mitt Romney was not running Bain. He had cut ties... continue reading
CNN's Carol Costello teed up a La Raza chairman on Monday by asking him if some new voter ID laws are tantamount to a "war on minority voters." A CNN headline later blared "Voting Rights on Trial," as if the laws were going after people's rights. After playing a clip of Attorney General Eric Holder promising legal action against any discriminatory voter laws, Costello asked her guest Jorge Plasencia "Is there a war on minority voters in this country?" The two were discussing a new Texas voter ID law being challenged by the Justice Department. [Video below. Audio here .]... continue reading
In a report on Monday's NBC Today that could have been written by the Obama campaign, correspondent Peter Alexander helpfully touted the Democratic line of attack against Mitt Romney: "...pictures of Romney's week-long family vacation in New Hampshire illustrate his wealth. But it's reports of Romney's offshore accounts that the President's team wants to make a central issue. On Sunday, a chorus of Democrats slammed Romney for lack of transparency regarding his finances." Alexander made sure to depict Romney as out of touch for holding fundraisers on Long Island: Greeted by protesters Sunday as he returned to the campaign trail,... continue reading
Erica Greider reviewed on Tuesday the recent conservative-bashing book by New York Times columnist and former editorial page editor Gail Collins, As Texas Goes – How the Lone Star State Hijacked the American Agenda. Greider covers the region for the Economist and knows something about Texas history, which puts Collins at a disadvantage. Greider wrote: ...Her book, 'As Texas Goes... ,' pays particular attention to the state’s staggering inequality, casual embrace of crony capitalism and creaky educational pipeline. These are problems for Texas, of course, but Ms. Collins’s concern is that Texas itself is everyone’s problem. “Personally, I prefer to... continue reading
In a parting shot at Mitt Romney, NBC's Ron Mott pointed to liberal rag Vanity Fair's hit piece on the candidate's wealth at they very end of Mott's report on the presidential campaign. The very mention of the article was out of place in a report mostly about campaign messaging. After mentioning Romney's new web video "The Best of America," Mott added that "The ad was released on the heels of a new Vanity Fair article scrutinizing his [Romney's] wealth estimated as high as a quarter-billion dollars and how much of that fortune may sit in tax shelters overseas." The... continue reading