In an outrageous rant during his 3 p.m. ET hour show on MSNBC on Friday, host Martin Bashir actually attempted to blame budget cutting by Republican lawmakers for a deadly outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe: "John Boehner and his Republican majority decided to gut the food safety and inspection service....Cut, cut, cut. Now the results are in. 16 people have lost their lives." Bashir went on to blame free market principles in general for the outbreak: "Republicans in Congress talk proudly of their commitment of laissez-faire economics, where government gets out of the way and everything works perfectly. You try... continue reading
Stupid white men for the G.O.P.? New York Times White House reporters Jackie Calmes and Mark Landler teamed up for Friday's front-page campaign preview, ' Obama Charts A New Route to Re-election .' In a change from the paper's standard politically correct approach to race and class, the reporters crudely emphasized that 'less-educated, low-income whites' tend to support Republicans. (What happened to "the party of the rich"?) With his support among blue-collar white voters far weaker than among white-collar independents, President Obama is charting an alternative course to re-election should he be unable to win Ohio and other industrial states... continue reading
The three network morning shows on Friday all highlighted the United States' success in killing terrorist Anwar al Awlaki. However, although these same programs were sensitive to the slightest possible civil rights violation by the Bush administration, they did not seemed interested the fact that Al Awlaki was an American citizen. Good Morning America, Today and the Early Show mentioned this detail, but didn't provide any analysis or question the President's authority to make such a move. GMA's Brian Ross simply offered, " He was considered such a serious threat to the U.S. that the President had authorized the use... continue reading
Friday's NBC Today devoted an entire segment to photos of First Lady Michelle Obama stopping by a Target store in Alexandria, Virginia, as Capitol Hill correspondent Kelly O'Donnell – on location at the shopping center – gushed: "Check this out. Behind those dark glasses, tucked under that Nike cap, one of the world's most famous women. Yes, that is the First Lady of the United States at Target." [ Audio available here ] A sound bite was featured of The Washington Post's Amy Argetsinger touting the "wow factor" of the First Lady going to the department store. Later, O'Donnell declared:... continue reading
Matching the pattern set in coverage of Arizona's immigration enforcement law, the broadcast network evening newscasts on Thursday night all framed their stories on Alabama's 'severe' new law around its victims, with ABC anchor Diane Sawyer and NBC anchor Brian Williams both describing it as 'Arizona on steroids.' They didn't mean it as a compliment. Sawyer mischaracterized it as an 'anti-immigration law.' ABC was the most one-sided, with reporter Steve Osunsami not mentioning a reason for the new law until his very last sentence. Instead, Osunsami intoned, 'Across Alabama today, demonstrators were furious, calling this the Arizona law with an... continue reading
On Thursday's Hardball, Chris Matthews told top McCain '08 aide Steve Schmidt, " We were all rooting for you, by the way. And a lot of us in this business like John McCain a lot. " The cable anchor who famously informed America that Barack Obama gave him a " thrill " up his leg, added, "He didn't think we did and we were tough on him last time. I liked Obama. But I tell you, I've always liked McCain." [MP3 audio here. ] Not pausing in this unprompted admission, Matthews added, "[McCain's] still mad at me. Fine. That's the... continue reading
A well-intentioned President Obama tried to transcend partisanship in Washington, but his efforts were derailed by an "express train of bile" – according to CNN's Piers Morgan, on Wednesday. And Americans need ObamaCare because "Baboons take care of themselves better than we do," ranted Morgan's sharp-spoken guest, comedian Lewis Black. "I mean Obama, to be fair to him, when he came in to power, he said look, I'm going to try to change all of this partisan crap that's going on," sounded Morgan. "What he's found is he can't at the moment. I mean, it's like he's up against this... continue reading
According to ABC analyst Matthew Dowd, the fact that Rick Perry's wife, Anita, has been publicly touting her husband means the candidate is floundering. Making a blanket statement on Thursday's Good Morning America, Dowd declared, "... Any time you have a wife go out on the trail, you know that you- basically, the campaign's in trouble. " He added, "If you start putting your wife out there in a front and center way, you got your campaign in trouble." GMA anchor George Stephanopoulos didn't jump in to contest this assertion. Yet, this same program didn't spin Michelle Obama campaigning for... continue reading
CBS's Erica Hill channeled the overblown worries of liberals about influence of the Tea Party on Thursday's Early Show, asking Newt Gingrich, "T he Tea Party has really made some big inroads ... But there's a feeling by some folks that this very small group of people is starting to control the conversation. Do there need to be more voices at the table, in general, at this point? " Hill brought on Gingrich to discuss his new Contract With America package, due to be released later in the day. Just as in The Early Show's interview of Herman Cain the... continue reading
"Good Morning America's" George Stephanopoulos on Thursday invited retired Supreme Court Judge John Paul Stevens to bash the audience of a GOP presidential debate. The ABC host repeatedly offered up softballs to the liberal Stevens, asking at one point, "I don't know if you saw it, but there was actually a moment in one of the presidential debates where's the number of executions in Texas was cited and the crowd cheered ." After cutting to a clip from the debate, Stephanopoulos prompted the ex-justice of the nation's highest court to offer a critique on a political party: "What did you... continue reading