Staffing shifts continue at the New York Times. The paper's chief economics writer David Leonhardt will be the paper's next Washington bureau chief as of Labor Day, a move confirmed by Times' media reporter Jeremy Peters Friday morning . Leonhardt will replace Dean Baquet, who is moving to New York to be managing editor under Executive Editor-in-waiting Jill Abramson. Leonhardt's columns in defense of Obama's 'stimulus' package and Obama-care health 'reform' made him a very popular man at the White House and among congressional Democrats , who passed around his pieces via email and Twitter. In 2009 he demonstrated '... continue reading
CNN's John King on Thursday recycled the now debunked claim that, in a similar situation to the current debt ceiling debate, Ronald Reagan lobbied for a tax increase compromise to avoid an economic default. This was the fifth time in less than a week that the cable network peddled the distorted quote provided by congressional Democrats. Discussing the national debt, King spun, " Believe it or not, the country's been here before. Even though the President back then was a staunch conservative and a Tea Party hero today, listen to how he handled it. " To justify tax increases today,... continue reading
Following the media's relentless coverage of the Bachmann clinic and their semi-humorous insinuations that Marcus Bachmann might be gay, MSNBC's Thomas Roberts, who is himself openly gay , told viewers today the Republican presidential contender would try to wipe out gays and lesbians. " But you will replace [Obama] with a person who would extinguish you ," Roberts protested Friday morning to Jimmy LaSalvia, executive director of GOProud, a gay conservative organization opposing Obama's reelection. [ MP3 audio here .] Roberts' outburst came in response to LaSalvia's statement that GOProud was trying to arrange a meeting with the Minnesota congresswoman... continue reading
CNN touted results from its newly-released poll Thursday showing 64 percent of Americans favor a balance of spending cuts and tax increases in the debt ceiling debate, as well as raising the debt ceiling. What the network failed to mention in its on-air reports was that their poll also demonstrated how Americans strongly favor two conservative positions - passage of a balanced budget amendment (74 percent), along with spending cuts and future spending caps ("Cut, Cap and Balance"). CNN's pollsters summarized the House GOP's "Cut, Cap and Balance" proposal: In another proposal, Congress would raise the debt ceiling only if... continue reading
Although President Obama and the Democrats have stridently insisted that increased tax revenues be part of a debt ceiling deal, CNN is content to choose sides and paint only the conservative Republicans as stubborn extremists for opposing the revenue increases. Anchor Kyra Phillips asked Thursday morning if Republicans would listen to the warning of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to the House GOP not to shut down the government over spending cuts and taxes. The network has previously resorted to using moderate Republicans and conservatives like David Brooks to frame the Tea Party congressmen as fringe. Their latest source is McCain,... continue reading
On Wednesday's Hardball , Chris Matthews took a clip from a 24 year-old Ronald Reagan press conference and disingenuously passed it off as the Republican's take on "raising taxes to deal with the ballooning deficit." Matthew's version was out of context and video from October 22, 1987 proves it. [MP3 audio here .] After playing a snippet of Reagan that had nothing to do with taxes, Matthews touted, "That was, of course, the great Ronald Reagan in his own words back in October of 1987 about raising taxes to deal with the ballooning deficit." The host continued, "Well today, many... continue reading
Appearing on Thursday's NBC Today, chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd lamented no deal being reached on the debt ceiling and solely blamed House Republicans: "Nobody has a plan that can get through the Republican-controlled House of Representatives....that's the issue. House Republicans don't like any of these ideas that are coming out of the Senate." Co-host Matt Lauer wondered if a plan being worked out between Senators Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid was "now dead" because of House GOP opposition. Todd floated a theory on how conservative members of Congress might fall in line: "...some sort of TARP-like moment...where the... continue reading
On Thursday's NBC Today, congressional correspondent Kelly O'Donnell reported on a war of words between Republican Congressman Allen West and Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz: "...West, a freshman Republican who hit 'send' on a nasty e-mail to Wasserman-Schultz.... Democratic congresswomen accuse West of sexual harassment." While O'Donnell quoted from West's email – in which he referred to Wasserman-Schultz as "vile, unprofessional, and despicable" and "not a lady" – O'Donnell failed to bring up past offensive comments Wasserman-Shultz directed toward West. In the fall of 2010, Wasserman-Schultz personally led a protest outside West's campaign office, calling him an "extremist" who "wears... continue reading
House Republicans have a budget-cutting proposal that stands no chance of getting by President Obama while some Senators have a big tax-hiking plan which stands no chance of passage in the House, but CBS, in illustrating the larger media take, framed the conservative plan as a distracting waste of time while cheerleading the Senate's 'Gang of 33' plan in the name of 'bi-partisanship.' On Tuesday night, CBS Evening News anchor Bob Schieffer dismissed the relevance of the 'Cut, Cap and Balance' proposal, fretting the 'House of Representatives spent most of the day debating a Republican plan to cut trillions of... continue reading
At least five MSNBC anchors since Tuesday have promoted a cherry-picked House Democratic Caucus video that distorts President Ronald Reagan's position on the debt ceiling, inaccurately asserting that President Barack Obama is more in line with Reagan than the Republicans. If any of the anchors had played the entirety of Reagan's 1987 radio address, instead of giving free air time to the Democratic Party's deceptively edited spot, they would have heard Reagan articulate a position on the debt ceiling almost identical to House Republicans' and nearly opposite Obama's: " You don't need more taxes to balance the budget. Congress needs... continue reading