In an interview with Tim Pawlenty on Sunday's NBC Meet the Press, host David Gregory cited New York Times columnist David Brooks slamming Republican opposition to tax increases in debt ceiling negotiations as "fanaticism" and proclaimed: "There is this purity test which is no tax increases, no revenue increases at all." Pawlenty responded by pointing out Brooks's liberal leanings: "Well, with all due respect to, to David Brooks, this is not the time for Rockefeller Republicanism." Gregory continued to push for the GOP to accept tax hikes as part of a deal: "Is that good governing for Republicans who control... continue reading
World News host Diane Sawyer swears she simply "brings the facts" and makes sure people "know what the truth is." The anchor appeared on Thursday's O'Reilly Factor to promote her new special on kidnapping victim Jaycee Dugard. O'Reilly pointed out that such stories of brutality infuriate him and are the reason he's a commentator and not a straight journalist. Asked if she ever shows anger as a reporter, Sawyer professed, " No, I get purposeful, which is different. I always think that my job is to marshal facts and bring the facts out and let the facts deliver whatever information... continue reading
Two times in less than 24 hours, MSNBC's Chris Matthews smeared Republicans who oppose raising the debt limit as "terrorists." On Tuesday, after liberal guest Joan Walsh compared the GOP position to "hostage taking," the Hardball anchor derided, " I agree. It's terrorism." On Wednesday, while talking with left-wing blogger Ezra Klein, Matthews engaged in extreme hyperbole again, excoriating, "I was talking about the old days. I've never seen either political party play terrorist with disregard." It's perhaps worth remembering that MSNBC analyst Mark Halperin was suspended last week for calling the Democratic President a slang term for a penis... continue reading
On Thursday night MSNBC's cast and crew gathered in Washington D.C. to celebrate their network being on the air for 15 long years. In that time its hosts, reporters and guests have attacked conservatives and Republicans on everything from impeaching Bill Clinton and conducting a war on terrorism, up to the fight over public unions. All the while some of its reporters and hosts have been thrilled by the likes of Mikhail Gorbachev and Barack Obama. For that entire 15 years MRC analysts have been dutifully watching and noting these often outrageous outbursts of leftism from NBC News' cable outlet... continue reading
As the broadcast network evening newscasts filed reports this week on the teacher cheating scandal in Atlanta, Georgia, ABC's World News went furthest in seeming to sympathize with the teachers who cheated as correspondent Steve Osunami highlighted complaints about No Child Left Behind's emphasis on standardized tests to judge teacher performance. After recounting details of the cheating scandal, in which as many as 178 teachers in Atlanta erased and changed some of the answers on student tests to improve test scare statistics for their schools, as he neared his report's conclusion, Osunsami asserted that "everyone here is pointing the finger... continue reading
CBS's Bob Schieffer took on the role of a left-wing activist on Sunday's Face the Nation, as he pressed all four of his guests from both parties about cuts in state and local spending. Schieffer bewailed how both Republican Governors John Kasich and Scott Walker " cut deeply into education " and asked Democratic Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa if he felt good about making " draconian cuts " [audio clips available here ] The anchor brought on the governors of Ohio and Wisconsin, as well as the mayor of Los Angeles and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, a Democrat, for his half-hour... continue reading
CNN American Morning co-host Christine Romans used David Brooks' words to press Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) Wednesday on the stubbornness of conservative Republicans in the debt ceiling debate. Brooks, the supposedly "conservative" writer for the New York Times, wrote a scathing column Monday hitting Republicans for their refusal to accept Democratic "compromises" in the debt ceiling debate. Romans twice referenced critics of the Republicans, first saying that critics fear the "new awakening" of the Tea Party and the 2010 elections as "dangerous for America." Later she read DeMint a quote from Brooks's piece in the Times. [Video below.] The quote... continue reading
CNN foreign affairs analyst Fareed Zakaria – who has recently had off-the-record conversations with President Obama on foreign issues – noted the president's "restraint" in his dealing with the "Arab Spring" and the conflict in Libya Wednesday. Zakaria previously gave a thumbs-up for Obama's Mideast speech in May and later defended the president's plan for removing American troops from Afghanistan. The point-of-note is that this is the same analyst whom, according to the New York Times, President Obama "sounded out" while shaping his foreign policy. The two simply had "off-the-record" conversations on foreign issues, according to Zakaria, and the CNN... continue reading
In a segment on the religiosity of Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry, MSNBC's Richard Lui on Wednesday looked to an author who has smeared conservative Christians as "radical," weird individuals who "hate" America. The guest host for Martin Bashir interviewed Frank Schaeffer, a blogger on the liberal Huffington Post website and also a constant critic of the religious right. Schaeffer, the son of a conservative theologian, excoriated conservatives: " But, I came to understand that these people actually hate the United States as it is ." Lui never pointed out Schaeffer's liberal leanings or his endorsement of Barack Obama in... continue reading
MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Tuesday escalated his attack on the Republican Party, comparing them to a violent sect of Islam. The Hardball host frothed, " Well, the GOP has become the Wahhabis of American government, willing to risk bringing down the whole country in the service of their anti-tax ideology. " Discussing the debt ceiling vote, Matthews placed all of the blame on the right. In a tease for the segment, he fumed, "The Tea Party Republicans who are ready to bring down this country's economy in the name of ideology. This is really getting serious, and I believe scary,... continue reading