Hardball host Chris Matthews on Wednesday distorted Ronald Reagan's position on taxes in order to justify his bizarre assertion that the late President would consider the current Republican stance on the debt ceiling to be "economic terrorism." Matthews, who did no fact checking, played a clip provided by the Congressional Progressive Caucus from a September 26 1987 Reagan radio address . In the brief snippet, Reagan was heard asserting that the "United States has a special responsibility to itself and the world to meet its obligations." The left-wing anchor disingenuously spun the famous Republican's words as a future warning against... continue reading
Referencing the sweet reason of the New York Times's "conservative" David Brooks, CNN's Brooke Baldwin urged Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) to listen to the voice of compromise in the debt ceiling debate. Baldwin pleaded with Hatch that "there are folks out there – including conservatives – saying President Obama has already offered Republican [sic] the deal of their dreams," although Hatch later responded that President Obama has yet to outline exactly what the cuts are that are featured in his deal. [Video below.] David Brooks is the supposedly "conservative" writer at the New York Times, though some conservatives would strongly... continue reading
Republican Congressman Joe Walsh didn't put up with Chris Matthews' "bullying" on Tuesday, mocking the liberal MSNBC anchor for his effusive praise of Barack Obama. Over the host's frequent interruptions, the Illinois Representative taunted, " Hey, Chris, your President, who sends a tingle up your leg -" Walsh appeared to discuss the debt ceiling debate and what Republicans are willing to cut. The Congressman jokingly referred to Matthews' famous 2008 remark that an Obama speech created a " thrill going up my leg ." A seemingly chagrined Matthews dismissed, "Okay. Here we go. This is where I thought we'd end... continue reading
Reporters have repeatedly portrayed Barack Obama as a deficit hawk committed to "slashing" spending, as MRC Research Director Rich Noyes documented in April ahead of the president's much-anticipated budget speech. While the media touted Obama's budget blueprint, which contained puny cuts, as "deeply painful," CBO Director Doug Elmendorf told Congress the president's framework lacked sufficient detail to be scored as a credible plan. Since then, Obama still hasn't revealed a serious plan to cut spending, yet correspondents continue to paint the president as a budget cutter. Echoing an earlier report in which he asserted that Obama's initial budget blueprint "... continue reading
Chief New York Times 'Caucus' blog writer Michael Shear hosted the latest edition of the paper's 'Caucus' podcast, posted at nytimes.com on Friday, where he, political reporter Jeff Zeleny, and White House reporter Mark Landler agreed that Republican candidate Michele Bachmann was wrong to dismiss concerns about possible financial consequences resulting from a failure to raise the debt ceiling. About four and a half minutes from the end, Landler took sides in the budget-cutting battle, emphasizing how far Obama had come toward the Republican position with 'very significant cuts,' and sympathized with the president's 'frustration' over the 'unreasonable' 'intransigence of... continue reading
MSNBC anchor Contessa Brewer on Tuesday insisted that a pie throwing attack on Rupert Murdoch, which occurred live on air, " encapsulates what the British people are feeling right now about Rupert Murdoch ." As the cable network aired live coverage of Murdoch's testimony to the British Parliament about the phone hacking scandal, a man appeared in the left corner of the screen and attempted to attack the media mogul. MP3 audio here . Brewer described the event as the "attention getter of the day." She highlighted members of Parliament "looking on in horror and then oddly added, "And I... continue reading
On Tuesday's NBC Today, co-host Ann Curry admonished Republicans for trying to pass a balanced budget amendment as part of a debt ceiling agreement: "Tea Party conservatives love this plan. The President has already said that he's going to veto it. Do we really have time for a plan that is really just show?" [ Audio available here ] In response, congressional correspondent Kelly O'Donnell touted White House reaction: "They issued the veto threat, and they also said that this would really force the government to not be able to spend on things like Medicare, Social Security, prevent spending for... continue reading
On his Saturday show Your Money, CNN host Ali Velshi tried to pin the blame for the debt ceiling standoff on one man – the president of Americans for Tax Reform, Grover Norquist. "Are you the reason that we don't have a debt ceiling increase right now?" he boldly asked his guest. Velshi was referring to Norquist's pledge that entails elected officials who sign it promising to oppose increases in taxes. Velshi termed the pledge one of "remarkable inflexibility." He questioned outright the viability of the pledge. "Why is preserving the inability to increase taxes more important than the overall... continue reading
Barf. 'We sometimes forget just how in the tank much of the press is for Obama,' the Wall Street Journal 's James Taranto observed last week in catching an effusive, to put it mildly, love letter to Barack Obama published in the August edition of Hearst's Esquire magazine. '2011 is the summer of Obama,' gushed Stephen Marche, genuflecting ''I am large, I contain multitudes,' Walt Whitman wrote, and Obama lives that lyrical prophecy.' More sophistry: 'Barack Obama is developing into what Hegel called a 'world-historical soul,' an embodiment of the spirit of the times. He is what we hope we... continue reading
James Traub, a contributing writer for the New York Times Sunday magazine, contributed a very positive 5,000-word profile of Obama foreign-affairs maven (and failed liberal Democratic presidential candidate) Sen. John Kerry for the Sunday magazine, under the online headline ' How John Kerry Tries to Put Out Diplomatic Fires .' The table of contents and print edition headlines simply hailed Kerry as 'The All-American,' while deep in the article itself Traub lamented that in 2004, ' Kerry seemed to be the latest in a long line of decent, serious, honorable Democratic presidential candidates cut to ribbons by the Republican attack... continue reading