While reporting on the sexual assault case against International Monetary Fund Chairman Dominique Strauss-Kahn on Tuesday's Today, NBC correspondent Jeff Rossen noted how the would-be Socialist Party candidate for the French presidency had "worried his political opponent, current French President Nicolas Sarkozy, would try to frame him with a fake rape..." Rossen further added that Strauss-Kahn once told a French newspaper that the rape victim would be "promised 500,000 or a million euros to invent this story" by Sarkozy. Following Rossen's report, correspondent Michelle Kosinski highlighted French outrage over Strauss-Kahn's arrest: "I would say that the reaction ranges from disbelief... continue reading
With a supreme lack of irony or self-awareness, former Clinton operatives George Stephanopoulos and James Carville on Tuesday chided the "amazing" revelation that Arnold Schwarzenegger had an affair and a love child. Appearing on Good Morning America, Carville said of the former California governor: "... He put himself out here, knowing there was all this scrutiny on his personal life. That was a really risky thing he did in even getting into politics, knowing this ." Stephanopoulos agreed with his War Room pal, enthusing, " It is pretty amazing. That's a good point ." Carville, of course, repeatedly defended Bill... continue reading
Feigning interest in Republican presidential prospects, on Monday night NBC Political Director Chuck Todd contended the decisions by Donald Trump and Mike Huckabee to forgo presidential runs leaves "an opening now for the economic populous, a sort of confrontational fire-breather , if you will, in the Republican Party." Todd soon repeated his disparaging "fire-breather" formulation: "There is a vast opening now for the social conservative, sort of what Pat Buchanan was in 1992, this fire-breathing, pitch-fork carrying , I'm mad and heck and not going to take it anymore Republican." Just the kind NBC News staff would be sure to... continue reading
MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Monday excoriated the Tea Party as full of "hate," using the term ten times in less than two minutes. Comparing the alliance between Republicans and the Tea Party to a union, he mocked, "Why would anyone marry for hate rather than love?" The Hardball host derided, " ...The marriage between the Republicans and the Tea Party is based on hatred, hatred of government, hatred of the Democrats, hatred of Barack Obama. " In one minute and 57 seconds, Matthews used the word "hate or "hatred" ten times. [MP3 audio here .] He summarized the lack of... continue reading
CBS's Cynthia Bowers trumpeted the inauguration of incoming Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Monday's Early Show, highlighting how the former Obama chief of staff went "weeding in a community garden. He called it... weeding out corruption ." Bowers also acclaimed the legacy of former mayor and " family man " Richard M. Daley, despite referencing the poor high school graduation in the city. Anchor Erica Hill played up the changeover in her introduction for the correspondent's report: " It's a big day in Chicago this morning . It's actually the end of a dynasty there. Former White House chief of... continue reading
On this weekend's McLaughlin Group Newsweek's Eleanor Clift used the occasion of Barack Obama's immigration speech to opine that Hispanics "know which side, which party is on their side" and implied it's not the GOP as she declared Republican Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona has "negative attitudes" towards them. During a discussion about Obama's immigration speech last week Clift even bragged: "This president has done far more in terms of security crackdown than George W. Bush did." This was all too much for the Washington Examiner's Tim Carney to bear as he wittily retorted that instead of having an open... continue reading
The 2012 GOP field is filled with an unimpressive bunch, according to ABC's Jon Karl. Reporting on the race for Monday's Good Morning America, the correspondent said of Mike Huckabee's announcement not to run: " His decision leaves a Republican field crowded with candidates and problems. " Karl condescendingly summarized, "Newt Gingrich with loads of political and personal baggage and Tim Pawlenty, struggling to convince people he's not too borin g." (It's worth remembering that the Democrats' 2008 choices included Dennis Kucinich and John Edwards. Yet, journalists weren't so quick to dismiss them.) Karl has a habit of inserting his... continue reading
In the 10AM ET hour on NBC's Today on Monday, co-host Kathie Lee Gifford applauded the new HBO movie on the 2008 financial crisis, 'Too Big to Fail,' as "not a partisan film at all." However, after asserting that "It didn't take one side or the other," she touted the liberal moral of the story: "that greed is what got us there and lack of regulation." Left-wing actor Ed Asner, who plays the role of billionaire Warren Buffet, came on to promote the film: "...this movie is practically a study course. You go back and learn each time that you... continue reading
After accusing presidential candidate Newt Gingrich of racism during an interview on Sunday's Meet the Press, NBC host David Gregory later posed this question to the show's political panel: "Do you think he [Gingrich] dialed back the reputation as...a flamethrower? ...I mean, talking about Obama and anti-colonial views, about anti-Americanism." The mostly liberal panelists used the opportunity to bash Gingrich and the Republican 2012 field in general. Time magazine political analyst Mark Halperin remarked that "the animating force in the Republican Party today is be in Barack Obama's face, be aggressive, be out to destroy his presidency." In his interview... continue reading
Good Morning America on Saturday looked to political columnist John Avlon of the liberal Daily Beast to bash the "fairly weak" Republican field and chide the primary process for creating "extreme" candidates. Co-host Bianna Golodryga never mentioned the ideology of the website or of Avlon's frequent attacks on conservatives. Avlon briefly departed from his negative outlook to praise Mitt Romney's defense of his liberal health care legislation in Massachusetts: " Criticized by many conservatives, I thought he bravely supported his decision to enact health care reform in Massachusetts ." The journalist has previously championed the No Labels movement and authored... continue reading