What Would You Do?, an ABC News hidden camera program that often engineers scenarios to expose the supposed bigotry of Americans, was asked on Wednesday to stop filming by the town of Greenwich, Connecticut. The ABC program uses a hidden camera to see how people react. On February 4, 2011 , host John Quinones explained how the show hired an actor to play a security guard and pretend to harass Mexicans. The piece, billed as an investigation of Arizona's immigration law, featured the faux-security guard spewing, " ...If they're not legal citizens, they shouldn't be here. They should be deported... continue reading
CNN's Jack Cafferty slammed the "intellectual lightweights" leading the Republican presidential field on Wednesday, wondering why their supporters "seem to be allergic to brains." The CNN contributor labeled the candidates "Curly, Moe, and Larry" and sarcastically dubbed Palin a "MENSA candidate," a term reserved for smart people. Recently he also bemoaned a possible Palin run and gave credence to the conspiratorial theory that Bachmann and Perry are serious members of a theocratic fringe sect of Christianity. [Video below.] However, he reserved Wednesday for attacking the intelligence level of the three, providing no more evidence than some loopy soundbites. He hit... continue reading
Jon Huntsman may be the liberal media's favorite Republican candidate, and CNN's Piers Morgan did nothing to dispel that notion in a two-part puff-piece interview Monday and Tuesday. The CNN host provided plenty of softball questions and positive commentary in what seemed at times to be a campaign promotion. Morgan described the moderate candidate as "pragmatic" and "sensible," took pleasure in Huntsman's past as a young rock star, and pointed out his "impressive" resume as former governor of Utah. In contrast, he painted Huntsman's GOP opponents as taking the low road, telling the former governor they want to "tear your... continue reading
Jon Huntsman may be the liberal media's favorite Republican candidate, and CNN's Piers Morgan did nothing to dispel that notion in a two-part puff-piece interview Monday and Tuesday. The CNN host provided plenty of softball questions and positive commentary in what seemed at times to be a campaign promotion. Morgan described the moderate candidate as "pragmatic" and "sensible," took pleasure in Huntsman's past as a young rock star, and pointed out his "impressive" resume as former governor of Utah. In contrast, he painted Huntsman's GOP opponents as taking the low road, telling the former governor they want to "tear your... continue reading
CNN's Carol Costello on Tuesday morning related how actor Morgan Freeman "ran into him [Obama] on the golf course and he said, he said he wanted to tell the President to quote, 'Get pissed off, get fighting mad.'" After reporting that New York Times columnist Charles Blow has written about how Obama needs to be tougher, she asked Blow what he thought about Freeman's comment. Then Costello followed that up with another gem, as she clumsily described the vicious words of Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) toward the Tea Party as straight talk about a political enemy. "Somebody who is trying... continue reading
Hardball guest host Ron Reagan on Wednesday assailed Rick Santroum as a " lonely, homophobic voice shrieking in the wilderness. " The liberal MSNBC anchor attacked the Republican presidential candidate for his opposition to gay rights, wondering if Santorum wanted to return to the days when husbands could beat their wives. Reagan mocked Santorum for defending "traditional" marriage, scolding, "Marriage has, in various times and places throughout history, been treated as a property arrangement with husbands, in effect, owning their wives as they would cattle. Is that the tradition Santorum seeks to revive?" The son of former President Ronald Reagan... continue reading
On Wednesday's Last Word on MSNBC, substitute host Chris Hayes of the left-wing Nation magazine used conservative talk radio host Glenn Beck's rally in Israel as an occasion to blame conservative Israelis like Prime Minister Netanyahu for the absence of a peace agreement with the Palestinians and asserted that it was "dangerous" for such Israelis to ally with America's Christian Zionist movement. Hayes - who will soon be host of his own MSNBC show - brought aboard Jeremy Ben-Ami, founder of the left-wing J Street organization which is infamous for criticizing Israel and promoting a liberal approach for the Jewish... continue reading
Substitute hosting on HLN's The Joy Behar Show, on Tuesday, CNN's Don Lemon prodded Jay Bakker, the son of televangelist Jim Bakker, to accuse Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann of exploiting fears of Christians as he claimed that the GOP presidential hopefuls were: "playing to a group of people who deal a lot with fear and using fear to control folks." The dismissive Bakker then asserted: "I feel like they've kind of hijacked Christianity," and added that he thinks the Perrys and Bachmanns were advancing "fairy tales" that global warming doesn't exist and claimed they wanted to "ignore" science. Lemon... continue reading
A fake quote from New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, allegedly from the columnist's account at Google Plus, made the rounds Tuesday: "People on Twitter might be joking, but in all seriousness, we would see a bigger boost in spending and hence economic growth if the earthquake had done more damage." Carlos Graterol, a Florida State University graduate, later admitted to impersonating Krugman at Google Plus to mock the economist-turned-columnist's Keynesian embrace of the 'broken-window' fallacy – the idea that acts of destruction actually stimulate the economy by forcing spending on things like rebuilding. Of course, money that is spent... continue reading
Guest hosting for Chris Matthews on Tuesday, MSNBC's Chris Jansing derided Rick Perry, wondering if the Republican presidential candidate is " too far off even for the GOP ?" Jansing, who normally hosts supposedly straight news coverage for the cable network, attempted to generate controversy over statements Perry made on civil rights. A MSNBC graphic for the segment, mocked, " I have a scheme ." [MP3 audio here .] According to Jansing, Perry's problem came in "comparing" the civil rights struggle to cutting corporate tax rates. Here's Perry's full answer: RICK PERRY: America's gone a long way from the standpoint... continue reading