As reported by Politico , recently dumped Meet the Press moderator David Gregory moderated a panel for the No Labels Strategic Agenda conference in Washington on Wednesday and lectured his media colleagues: "[I]n Washington political journalism the narrative gets set, and it gets set early and built on. And things that fight the narrative get harder to report out, I think, often because of laziness in media." Given that Meet the Press on his watch was routinely a place to promote the conventional wisdom of Washington , Gregory is hardly one to accuse other journalists of lazily accepting inside-the-beltway spin... continue reading
Time magazine's Joe Klein used the September 22 issue to knock Barack Obama from the left, decrying the "cynical" Democrat for giving in to the "ugly," nativist opposition to immigration. Denying any legitimate, philosophical opposition, Klein sneered, "For the first 190 years of U.S. history, opposition to immigration was mostly about religion–Catholicism and Judaism. For the past 50 or so, it’s been mostly about race–Mexicans and other Latinos." He also made almost no distinction between legal immigration and illegal immigration, instead offering this label for opponents to the President's plan: "Nativists have always existed in both parties, and they’ve gotten... continue reading
Appearing on Wednesday's CBS This Morning , Barak Barfi, spokesman for the family of beheaded journalist Steven Sotloff, ripped the Obama administration over it's handling of the kidnapping of Sotloff and fellow journalist James Foley by ISIS terrorists: "We never really believed that the administration was doing anything to help us. We had very, very limited contact with senior officials..." Moments later, Barfi accused the White House of intimidating the families of the hostages: "The families sat with this National Security Council official and basically he bullied and hectored them and they were scared ....I sat in other meetings with... continue reading
All three network morning shows on Wednesday ignored Joe Biden using a word many consider to be anti-Semitic. Giving a speech on Tuesday about legal issues facing veterans, the Vice President decried " these Shylocks who took advantage of these women and men while overseas ." [MP3 audio here .] ABC's Good Morning America , NBC's Today and CBS This Morning all skipped Biden's latest gaffe. This is despite the fact that Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League criticized Biden, saying, "Shylock represents the medieval stereotype about Jews and remains an offensive characterization to this day." He added, "The vice... continue reading
On Wednesday, September 17, the House is scheduled to hold a hearing on the latest surrounding the scandal plagued Veterans Administration, specifically questions about the inspector general’s recent report on patient deaths at V.A. facilities. Despite the new revelations from a whistleblower that the V.A. changed its final report to downplay any connection between patient deaths and long wait times, CBS This Morning was the only network morning show to cover the story on its Wednesday morning broadcast. ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Today ignored the story altogether. CBS reporter Wyatt Andrews began by noting: Later today Congress will... continue reading
On Tuesday night, the major broadcast networks worked to quickly remind viewers that President Barack Obama has promised that no United States combat troops will be on the ground in the Middle East to fight the Islamic terrorist group ISIS despite congressional testimony by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, on Tuesday that U.S. troops returning to Iraq could still be a possibility. ABC, CBS, and NBC each offered reports on Dempsey’s statements and included ABC World News Tonight anchor David Muir asking ABC News chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl to “keep us honest”... continue reading
On Tuesday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a new report documenting how abortions are being funded by taxpayers under ObamaCare despite a provision in the law stating that abortions will not be covered under ObamaCare insurance plans. When the Tuesday evening newscasts for the major broadcast networks had passed, however, none of them devoted even a second to the story. According to the report, 28 states (plus D.C.) did not restrict ObamaCare insurance plans that included abortions as a benefit while 23 states did have that restriction in place. In addition, the GAO found that 17 out of 18... continue reading
Areva Martin brought in the specter of Jim Crow on Monday's Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN, as she commented on the child abuse case against NFL player Adrian Peterson. Martin contended that " corporal punishment, in any form, is abusive ," and emphasized, "We used to not wear helmets when we rode bikes. Women used to smoke when they were pregnant. We used to send our kids to segregated schools. So, there are a lot of things we did twenty and thirty years ago that we now know are hurtful and harmful ." [MP3 audio available here ; video below... continue reading
During the first installment of PBS's The Roosevelts: An Intimate History on Sunday, historian Clay Jenkinson and former Newsweek editor turned historian Evan Thomas slammed Theodore Roosevelt as a bloodthirsty "imperialist" who promoted the "glorification of war" and built up a "cult" of personality. [ Listen to the audio ] Speaking on Roosevelt's command of the Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War, Jenkinson proclaimed: "There's no question that Roosevelt is an imperialist. Apologists like to try to play this down. But the fact is he's probably the most significant imperialist in American history." Jenkinson seemed troubled by Roosevelt's call for... continue reading
Rosie O'Donnell appeared shocked by the suggestion that Barack Obama "doesn't love people." The View co-host on Tuesday sparred with Republican Nicolle Wallace over the President and demonstrated that she's still obsessed with George W. Bush. After Wallace asserted that Joe Biden has an easier time because "Joe Biden genuinely loves people," the 9/11 truther sputtered: "So, are you implying that Obama doesn't?...He doesn't love people? Oh, wow." [MP3 audio here .] Liberal co-host Rosie Perez shrieked, "Oh, that's bull crap!" O'Donnell, who famously doubted that fire can melt steel, also needed help identifying a prominent national journalist. The segment... continue reading