Leave it to Chris Matthews to look at a typical, by the book, recitation of talking points appearance by Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and describe it as a sign of conspiracy or lunacy. On Monday's Hardball, after Matthews played clips of Bachmann on NBC's Meet the Press, he wondered if she was trained by "a group in Virginia that teaches right wing people" to "use the most wild language" and repeat it or was she simply "behaving like a zombie?" Matthews, who is prone to make cinematic comparisons, went on to say the conservative congresswoman's appearance reminded him of The... continue reading
Newsweek and Daily Beast editor Tina Brown flattered This Week host Christiane Amanpour by placing her on a list of 150 women who "shake the world." The ABC anchor responded to this praise by featuring Brown on her Sunday show, touting the females on the list (which described the host as "one of the world's most renowned journalists"). She enthused, "Who could fail to be optimistic?" On the show, Amanpour never mentioned her inclusion in this profile. Those not featured? Amanpour's ABC News colleagues, World News anchor Diane Sawyer and Good Morning America co-host Robin Roberts, despite the fact that... continue reading
Mark Potok of the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center claimed on Monday's Newsroom on CNN that radical Islam wasn't " our biggest domestic terror threat ," that instead, " that pretty clearly comes from the radical right in this country ." Anchor Suzanne Malveaux touted Potok as " expert on extremism " from " one of the most highly regarded non-governmental operations that are monitoring hate groups ." Malveaux brought on the SPLC spokesman at the bottom of the 12 noon Eastern hour to discuss the upcoming hearings by the House Homeland Security Committee on the radicalization of American Muslims... continue reading
In an interview with former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich on Monday's CBS Early Show, co-host Erica Hill wondered if higher gas prices in the wake of Mideast unrest were the result of some sort of fraud: "We've seen prices skyrocket....Is the public right to feel taken advantage of in some ways here, or even scammed?" Even the liberal Reich didn't accept the premise: "Well look, a lot of this is supply and demand. The country can feel a certain sense of taken advantage of. But some of this is the demand that's coming from China. I mean, you have... continue reading
MSNBC's Joe Scarborough appeared on Monday's Today show to deliver a forecast of doom for Republicans on the budget fight and their 2012 presidential prospects. On their skirmish with Democrats in Congress the host of Morning Joe told NBC's Matt Lauer he thinks Republicans "have the most to lose" and in explaining the late start for GOP entrants into the 2012 race proclaimed,"they are afraid of Barack Obama," as seen in the following exchange: MATT LAUER: Let's go to the GOP side. If you and I had been talking four years ago, at this time, there would have been nine... continue reading
Even though there's still a year and eight months to go until the 2012 presidential election, Good Morning America's John Berman on Monday derided the GOP field for not joining the race yet. As a mocking trombone sound played, Berman joked that Newt Gingrich "had us on the edge of our seats" last week by establishing only an exploratory website. Highlighting Mitt Romney's failure to officially enter the race, Berman offered this insulting aside: " But will it be him? What other possible explanation could there be for the fact that Romney, who was trying to shake the reputation that... continue reading
On Sunday's Face the Nation, New York Times columnist Tom Friedman denounced the proposed White House plan to use the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to curb rising gas prices: "That would rank in my top five worst ideas of 2011 so far.... one thing we should finally be doing is using this opportunity to have a credible energy policy that begins to reduce our addiction to oil." Friedman's idea of "credible energy policy" was to force Americans to continue to pay higher gas prices: "Gasoline is almost $4 a gallon. We know that's a red line where people really start to... continue reading
Picking up on an argument made by economist Mark Zandi - whom the Washington Post described as "an architect of the 2009 stimulus package" and who last year pushed for a second stimulus bill - ABC's Christiane Amanpour on Sunday morning, presuming there is an ongoing "recovery," plugged a This Week roundtable topic: Up next, Washington's answer to the job crisis. Will the deep budget cuts on the table stick a fork in the recovery? In the subsequent segment, Amanpour forwarded: "$61 billion in budget cuts. Mark Zandi says 700,000 jobs will be lost." Panelist Chrystia Freeland, global editor-at-large for... continue reading
On the Sunday, March 6, Good Morning America on ABC, as the Daily Beast's John Avlon appeared as a guest to make predictions about which Republicans will ultimately choose to run for President, he ended up complaining that "Obama Derangement Syndrome" has recently "gotten worse" and "deserves to be called out" because it is "divisive" and "unnecessary." Host Dan Harris asked Avlon about his recent criticisms of Republicans: "I know you're no stranger to the Republican Party. You used to be the chief speech writer for Rudy Giuliani when he was the mayor of New York City. You've been pretty... continue reading
Appearing as a panel member on the syndicated Chris Matthews Show on Sunday, as host Matthews led the group in discussing potential Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee's recent gaffe about President Obama growing up in Kenya, Time magazine managing editor Richard Stengel predicted that the eventual Republican nominee would have a "Sister Souljah moment with the Tea Party." Stengel: Right, what we've seen in presidential politics always, always, always is that pragmatism trumps purity. These guys are now trying to be too pure. What we're going to have somewhere... I mean, Huckabee, all of these folks are trying to be... continue reading