MSNBC analyst Toure, who is a 9/11 truther, appeared Friday on the News Nation show to denounce Rick Perry as a birther. Speaking of the Republican presidential candidate, he slammed, " ...I see Trump and the other birthers, Perry, virtually going to the White House and knocking on the door saying can we see your documentation to make sure you are actually an American? " It's odd that MSNBC would bring on Toure, who believes in a fringe conspiracy theory, to assert that Perry believes in a fringe conspiracy theory. Talking to host Tamron Hall, the analyst wondered why people... continue reading
On Thursday's NBC Nightly News, anchor Brian Williams proclaimed: "Protesters across the country and a lot of Americans who are sympathetic to this Occupy Wall Street protest movement are tonight rallying around a 24-year-old Iraq war veteran who was seriously injured during a violent confrontation with police in Oakland, California on Tuesday." On ABC's World News, fill-in anchor George Stephanopoulos echoed that sentiment: " ...one young man has become a symbol of their resolve." Correspondent Abbie Boudreau followed by declaring: "With tensions mounting daily, the name Scott Olsen has become a national rallying cry for Occupy Wall Street ....injured Tuesday... continue reading
Thursday's Early Show on CBS provided free air time to Rep. Steve Israel of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and three of his top candidates for the 2012 election. Correspondent Nancy Cordes trumpeted how the Democratic Party is " determined to bounce back from their big losses " to Republicans during the 2010 cycle and highlighted that the three were " running against Tea Party members ." Anchor Chris Wragge teased Cordes's report by touting how Democrats were " finding their own outsiders to run against the Washington status quo. We're going to talk to some of those new recruits,... continue reading
Is the New York Times a liberal rag? A better question: is anyone who reads the Times - with reverence or irreverence - in doubt about who it favors and who it opposes? In an interview on The Diane Rehm Show on NPR on October 19 , Times executive editor Jill Abramson denied the liberal-rag charges. Critics, she said, "don't understand the separation between our opinion side...and the news report." Times reporters, Abramson insisted without a laugh track, "go into their stories with an open mind.'" She wasn't going to get any challenge on that from NPR. The question came... continue reading
CNN's Carol Costello, on Thursday's American Morning, scolded the editor of conservative publication Human Events for not providing the same critical coverage of both Republicans and Democrats. Costello – who has her own history of liberal bias – interviewed Jason Mattera of Human Events over his confrontation with Vice President Joe Biden, and asked him why he wasn't tougher on Republican candidates. "So you're tough with Joe Biden. So why not be a bit tougher with Republican candidates, even though you work for a conservative web site?" Costello posed, apparently unaware that since Human Events is a conservative publication it... continue reading
In an interview with former White House press secretary and Obama campaign advisor Robert Gibbs on Thursday's NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer fretted over a report showing "the rich are getting richer" and pleaded: "So what responsibility does President Obama have in terms of dealing with income distribution in this country?" [ Audio available here ] Lauer began his push from the left by explaining: "Some of these young people are the same young people who are occupying parks across the country and they're out there protesting Wall Street. They're also protesting the White House." Gibbs used the opportunity to... continue reading
Thursday was Bash Republicans Day on Good Morning America. Reporter Jon Karl highlighted past Mitt Romney statements to spin the candidate as a flip flopper. In a follow up segment, Democrat James Carville appeared to dismiss Herman Cain as a "national distraction" and urge Rick Perry to drop out of the race. Stephanopoulos, a former Democratic operative and longtime friend of Carville, offered his colleague free rein. Carville excoriated an ad featuring Cain's campaign manager smoking. He berated, "I saw him smoking a cigarette. If that guy wasn't drunk, I haven't taken a drink in my life. He was as... continue reading
On Wednesday's Early Show, CBS's Erica Hill downplayed the instances of violence and bigotry found at Occupy Wall Street protests as simply " the actions of a few ," after GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich denounced the " frightening level of anti-Semitism in some of these gatherings ." Hill questioned Gingrich over his supposedly " pretty outspoken words " about the left-leaning movement [audio clip available here ]. The anchor raised the demonstrations towards the end of her interview of the former House speaker, after Gingrich claimed that "people are pretty sick of the lack of civility...they watch Washington, they... continue reading
CNN tried to tie Jesus to a liberal movement on Wednesday as correspondent Carol Costello labeled various religious authorities as supporters of the "Occupy Wall Street" protests – even as she reported that protests became violent at "Occupy Oakland." "'Occupy Oakland' protesters hurled paint at riot police, and riot police hurled tear gas. Jesus, here?" Costello asked during the 11 a.m. hour. "Yes. And the Vatican seems to be backing them up," she added. What was Costello's evidence for this strong religious support? A Vatican cardinal who justified "the basic sentiment" behind the Wall Street protests, and Pope Benedict's call... continue reading
Leftist filmmaker Michael Moore dismissed the accusation that some Wall Street protests have grown violent, telling CNN's Piers Morgan on Tuesday that the "Occupy" protesters are, in fact, "a nonviolent peaceful group" and the real rioters are the police. "There's no violence coming from the 'Occupy' protesters," Moore insisted. "What we've – what we've seen across the country are a series of police riots, where the police are rioting, where the police have gotten violent." Moore, who earlier in the interview claimed that he is not, in fact, worth millions , defended the widespread Wall Street protests against bankers who,... continue reading