Chris Matthews, once again , abandoned any notion he was serious about establishing a new tone of political civility in the wake of the Tucson shooting, as on Wednesday's Hardball he compared former Speaker of the House and possible GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich to a terrorist as he screeched "He looks like a car bomber" and even described him in demonic terms, adding: "He's got that crazy Mephistophelian grin of his. He looks like he loves torturing." The following Matthews rants came during a discussion about possible GOP presidential contenders with the Chicago Tribune's Clarence Page and The Huffington... continue reading
During a report on the latest developments in Wisconsin for Wednesday's CBS Early Show, correspondent Cynthia Bowers proclaimed that the 14 Democratic state senators who fled to Illinois to block Governor Walker's budget proposal from passing have "become heroes to protesters." She lamented: "Now comes word, albeit from a Republican, some may be ready to come home and concede." Bowers used the "hero" label following a sound bite from one of the fugitive state senators, Jon Erpenbach: "For him [Walker] to use dedicated public servants who clear our roads, take care of our sick, teach our kids, as poker chips... continue reading
CNN's Ed Hornick apparently couldn't find anyone who disagreed with the notion that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker " overreached " in his push to eliminate collective bargaining for public sector unions. Hornick's Tuesday article quoted from two political science professors, a "progressive" writer, and a former United States comptroller general, who helped forward this hypothesis. The writer all but gave the answer to the question proposed in the title of his CNN.com article (" Did Wisconsin governor overreach in union battle? ") in his lead sentence: " Some political experts have said that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, in a battle... continue reading
Chris Matthews has yet to condemn Democratic Wisconsin State Representative Gordon Hintz for yelling "You're f-ing dead!" at Republican State Representative Michelle Litjens during a legislative session on Friday, but the Hardball host did find the time, on Tuesday's show, to slam Speaker of the House John Boehner for engaging in "Glenn Beck talk" about guns. Matthews, initially teasing a guest for using the word "lethal" in a discussion about recent poll numbers on the Wisconsin budget battle, chided: "In the media world, I think we all agreed...after the horror in Arizona that we weren't gonna...use ballistic terms." The MSNBC... continue reading
After 12 years and 614 columns (by his count), Randy Cohen has penned his last "Ethicist" column for the New York Times Magazine , signing off last Sunday. Cohen's columns, in which he gave letter-writers advice on the right thing to do in ethically sticky situations, often glanced over cultural and ideological topics, which Cohen consistently addressed from a pungent left-wing perspective. Below are some liberal low-lights from Cohen from his column, his blog, and various television appearances. In an October 24, 2010 column, Cohen wrote that no one could honorably work for a tobacco company. The gravity of the... continue reading
Actress Meredith Baxter , best known for her role as Elyse Keaton on the '80s NBC hit Family Ties, returned to the Today show set where, back in 2009, she announced she was gay and told Matt Lauer, on Tuesday morning, that her self-revelation could've been something, in her view, much more shocking - she may have realized she was "a Republican." On to promote Untied, Baxter was asked by Lauer if she had "come to terms with everything" after having written the book, to which she responded: "I realized I was so un-self-examined I could have been a Republican,... continue reading
NBC's chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd, on Tuesday's Today show, had no problem labeling Republican governors like Scott Walker, "conservative," but for some reason just couldn't get his lips to utter the word "liberal" when referring to the President. In a piece about Barack Obama meeting with the nation's governors, Todd observed that in his first two years in office "when the President was desperate for bipartisan support" he turned "to some Republican governors but a lot of the moderates are gone among that group" adding that now there was " a conservative force in the states." Todd then... continue reading
On Tuesday's CBS Early Show, co-host Chris Wragge touted a new poll claiming people support unions over Republican plans to cut state deficits: "A new CBS News/New York Times poll shows that a majority of Americans, 56%, are opposed to cutting the pay and benefits of state workers to balance budgets while just 37% are in favor of it." While Wragge called them "state workers," the actual poll consistently used the phrase "public employees," never state workers or government workers. On NBC's Today on Tuesday, pollster Frank Luntz explained how one phrase invokes a positive response while the other does... continue reading
Last May when a CBS News poll first asked about Arizona's immigration enforcement law and found majority support for it (52 percent), the CBS Evening News didn't report the finding. Two months later, when backing jumped five points higher, the newscast gave it a sentence. And a month after that, when those favoring the Arizona law had risen to 59 percent in August, the evening newscast ignored that number and instead focused on how "Americans oppose building a mosque two blocks from Ground Zero," a story the network used to castigate Americans, pivoting to how that opposition and "controversies over... continue reading
On his first day at MSNBC, new host Martin Bashir immediately adopted the network's liberal line, attacking a conservative Congressman for advocating severe spending cuts, deriding it as " the most disingenuous play on the American people ." Previewing the interview with Representative Joe Walsh of Illinois, Bashir noted that he has refused congressional health care. The anchor solemnly wondered, "Is that his idea of health care for every American?" Bashir, who previously co-anchored ABC's Nightline, offered this loaded question to the Republican: "You're a freshman in this Congress. Are you satisfied that your first significant act in Washington will... continue reading