On Friday's Inside Washington on PBS, regular panel member and liberal Washington Post columnist Colby King charged that Republicans and Fox News have "painted Barack Obama as the devil incarnate," and warned that, during this campaign year, "The nastiness is going to come out. The Limbaughs are just going to let it all hang out." But he predicted that "if there's a feeling that" President Obama "is being treated unfairly, there's a feeling they are trying to get rid of, take Michelle Obama and those nice two cute kids out of the White House and take his job away from... continue reading
Appearing as a panel member on Sunday's Melissa Harris-Perry show, comedienne Margaret Cho wondered why some women are Republicans as she asserted that the GOP is "a party that's so against our rights, our reproductive rights, so many rights in so many ways." Cho also complained that Sarah Palin tries to "beat feminism down," claiming that "Sarah Palin wouldn't exist without feminism." After host Melissa Harris-Perry recounted a GOP drive to appeal to women, Cho wondered: What are women getting out of the GOP? That's, I always question that. I always wonder. This is a party that's so against our... continue reading
Appearing as a panel member on Sunday's Melissa Harris-Perry show on MSNBC, CNN's senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, undermined the judgement of men versus women while analyzing the gender gap in American politics as he ended up joking that "men are stupid, they take stupid risks." He also labeled President George W. Bush as a "great risk taker" whose drive to cut taxes and invade Iraq were "big risks." After recounting that since 1980, women have tended to vote more Democratic than men, Schneider asserted: There's a reason for that, and I think it has to do with the word,... continue reading
Appearing as a guest on Sunday's Reliable Sources on CNN to plug his book, Exit Interview , former ABC News president David Westin recounted his decision to continue barring journalists from wearing American flag lapel pins on air even after the 9/11 attacks, and ended up defending his decision. Westin: And we'd long had a policy at ABC News that we wouldn't let people wear any lapel pins of any sort, the theory being that when you're reporting the news, you should be reporting the news, not taking a position. And I said quickly, "We're going to stick with our... continue reading
On Saturday's Melissa Harris-Perry show on MSNBC, after recounting some of the human rights abuses perpetrated by the Cuban government against its citizens, host Harris-Perry praised the efforts of Fidel Castro's niece, Mariela Castro, in securing sex change surgery as one of the medical services covered by the government-run health care system of the communist country. Playing off a guest last week who compared Harris-Perry to Fidel Castro for supporting more regulations, the MSNBC host declared while holding a cigar: Well, it took a week, but I've decided I am Castro. What, you didn't think I'd say that? Let me... continue reading
CNN Examines Obama's Donations from Bain Employees – But How Much Have They Actually Reported on It?
CNN's Dana Bash reported Friday on the irony of President Obama hitting Mitt Romney's connections to Bain Capital when he himself has received donations from Bain employees. CNN has highlighted Obama's hypocrisy on this matter before, but this specific story has certainly not received much air-time – if any at all – in the last two weeks. "But isn't it hypocritical for the Obama campaign to keep money from employees of a company it goes after as job-killers?" correspondent Dana Bash asked during the segment. Yet this story of Obama's clear hypocrisy has certainly not received the attention it merits... continue reading
CNN failed to correct bogus numbers claiming that the growth rate of spending under President Obama is the lowest since Eisenhower. Instead, host Erin Burnett reported the news as something positive for the White House. While most anyone with common sense would label Obama a big spender, the MarketWatch report – re-circulated by the White House – absurdly claims Obama's "spending binge never happened." And CNN did not discount that argument although they twice reported on it. Host Anderson Cooper, who runs critical "Keeping Them Honest" reports daily, missed the story entirely. Cooper said just the other night that the... continue reading
On Friday's CBS This Morning, Jan Crawford spotlighted that " the economic and political climate today is more similar to years when incumbent presidents lost than when they won ." The correspondent pointed out the similarity between polling numbers today and in 1992, when George H.W. Bush was running for reelection: "Gallup has asked voters whether they're satisfied with the way things in the country are going. Today, only 24 percent say they're satisfied. That's closest to the 20 percent low in May 1992 . " Despite this, anchor Charlie Rose tried to shift the blame away from President Obama:... continue reading
On Thursday's NBC Nightly News , anchor Brian Williams announced: "Los Angeles is about to become the third big city in California to ban plastic grocery bags." He then framed the govern ment overreach as a green crusade: "Environmental activists, as you know, have been pushing for this, to keep thos e b ag s ou t o f th e ocean and out of the natural wo rld." In May of 2007, Williams absurdly claimed that grocery shoppers were forced to answer a “paralyzing question” which “can make otherwise competent adults quake with fear" when faced with the dreaded... continue reading
White House spokesman Jay Carney on Wednesday lectured journalists to not believe the "BS" that Barack Obama is a reckless spender. Rather than investigate Carney's assertions, or the sketchy basis for them, reporters have either embraced the talking points or allowed them to go unchallenged. Chris Matthews on Wednesday repeated the "fact" that federal spending "is rising at the slowest rate" in 60 years. The network evening and morning shows have failed to investigate this highly questionable assertion from MarketWatch's Rex Nutting. The Washington Post , however, gave this claim "three Pinocchios" and chided Carney, "The data in the article... continue reading