Appearing on Sunday's Meet the Press, NBC's chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel worried about the cost of combating terrorism and took the opportunity to bash the effort: "You talk about money the U.S. spent fighting this global war on terrorism. I think, which is a terrible misnomer, it's like a war on fear or something like that. And I think in many ways it has been a war of fear." [ Audio available here ] Engel made the comments on the heels of a panel discussion about efforts to reduce government spending, in which host David Gregory feared the U.S... continue reading
On NBC's Sunday Meet the Press, host David Gregory took on an alarmist tone as he worried that any significant attempts to address the nation's enormous debt could lead to violence: "Look at the images that came out of Greece this week as you've got...big cuts in public spending. And this is the result, rioting in the streets....Could we have that kind of reaction here?" Gregory posed that question to Senators Dick Durbin and Lindsey Graham early in the program, further fretting: "Are we headed in this direction with the kind of actions we're talking about in terms of cutting... continue reading
Add ABC's World News and the NBC Nightly News to James Taranto's list of news outlets (' Losing His Religion: A Pentagon terror scare and a media taboo ') which refuse to identify Yonathan Melaku, who was caught in Arlington Cemetery with suspicious material and a notebook praising the Taliban, as a Muslim. Instead, on Friday night ABC offered a bunch of ways to describe Melaku , who caused a major incident when his car was found hidden in bushes near the Pentagon - starting with anchor Diane Sawyer who identified him simply as a 'Marine Lance Corporal.' Reporter Pierre... continue reading
CNN host Fareed Zakaria, also the editor-at-large for Time magazine, derides today's conservative movement as out-of-touch and too abstract in a scathing Time article "How Today's Conservatism Lost Touch With Reality." He argues, "Conservatives now espouse ideas drawn from abstract principles with little regard to the realities of America's present or past." Of course, if Zakaria is to paint with broad strokes and dismiss the modern conservative movement as entirely lost and ineffective, the reader would expect him to expound upon his point in detail and provide plenty of facts and evidence to support his thesis. His argument is largely... continue reading
Both President Obama and leading Republican candidate Mitt Romney got into hot water for supposedly making insensitive comments about the economy this week. But CNN's response offers a textbook case of media bias, as the supposedly-objective news network virtually ignored Obama's gaffe while trumpeting Romney's comment. President Obama poked fun at the ineffectiveness of his own stimulus bill in creating certain "shovel-ready jobs" on Monday and Republicans pounced on the joke, claiming it was not funny when unemployment remains high. However, CNN barely reported the president's joke and the ensuing Republican outrage. Flash-forward to later in the week, when wealthy... continue reading
Tamron Hall was so taken aback by Chris Christie's "none of your business" response to a voter's question about why he puts his kids in private school that she blurted the New Jersey Republican Governor reminded her of HBO's fictionalized mobster Tony Soprano. Right after playing a brief clip of Christie's "gruff" answer to the voter, Hall stooped to take a stereotypical cheap shot at New Jersey and its governor by exclaiming: "I thought that was Tony Soprano!" The following excerpt was aired on the June 17 edition of MSNBC's News Nation with Tamron Hall: TAMRON HALL: New Jersey Republican... continue reading
Just seconds after donating a fawning interview to Barack Obama about the meaning of being a father, the journalists at Good Morning America on Friday provided White House spin with a look at the "foot-in-mouth" "gaffes" of the Republican presidential candidates. Reporter Jake Tapper insisted, "This looks as though it's going to be a tight race, so everyone is jumping on any possible gaffe ." Tapper oddly included the fact that "at a San Francisco book signing, Republican Tim Pawlenty [was] attacked by Code Pink with glitter." Having glitter dumped on you is a gaffe? It's not as though Obama... continue reading
As news broke Thursday morning of Congressman Anthony Weiner's upcoming resignation, congressional correspondent Luke Russert appeared on NBC's Today and sympathetically declared: "...this is really a sad ending, a lot would say, to what was once a bright, promising political career." Moments later, NBC political director and chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd similarly touted Weiner's role in Democratic politics: "...he was serving as sort of the bombastic angry progressive, you know, trying to almost be the anti-Tea Party liberal in Congress taking on these folks. He'd become sort of a hero to the more progressive left, who were always... continue reading
Good Morning America's Robin Roberts on Friday conducted a softball, light-hearted interview with Barack Obama, devoting 15 minutes to the President. She even included questions from sports celebrities such as Drew Brees. During the two part segment, which was billed as a look at Obama on Father's Day, Roberts only bothered with four policy questions, instead choosing to highlight the queries from NFL quarterback Brees and NBA star Dwyane Wade. Relaying audience questions, she investigated, "...Many of you wanted to know how the President would handle a big birthday next month, his daughter Malia is turning 13. You are about... continue reading
Chris Matthews came up with a bizarre analogy on Thursday, suggesting that Anthony Weiner's resignation press conference was " sort of like the hanging of Saddam Hussein ." While offering criticism of Weiner, the Hardball anchor also praised the event: "At his best, he had dignity today. He had a measure of class, which has been missing in all of this." Matthews made the weird comparison to the execution of a dictator while talking to Ben Smith of Politico. The host complained of hecklers at the press conference, opining, " Ben, it reminded me of the Saddam Hussein hanging today... continue reading