On the January 23 World News Sunday, ABC News Senior Washington Editor Rick Klein used President Obama's euphemism for spending as "investments" as he and anchor Dan Harris discussed how Republicans will likely respond to Tuesday's State of the Union Address. Although the setup piece by correspondent David Kerley did allude to Obama's word choice to call his plan "cut and invest" as having significance, noting that it "worries Republicans," after the piece had ended, Klein twice used the term "investments" as if it were straight, nonpartisan terminology. Klein: But when you get down to the policy, the President talking... continue reading
On Friday's Political Capital, during a discussion of Democratic-turned independent Senator Joe Lieberman's retirement, Bloomberg's Margaret Carlson took a shot at him as she charged that, "Since he broke Iraq, let him go fix it," before suggesting that he be appointed ambassador to Iraq. After asserting that Lieberman "got a little bitter in his later years," she accused him of "violating every democratic principle" in running as an independent after losing the Democratic primary in 2006. Kate O'Beirne of the National Review argued that the Democratic Party's inability to accept the liberal Lieberman as being liberal enough for them solely... continue reading
Two signs Sunday morning of how the Washington press corps are dismissive, disdainful and befuddled by the Tea Party. On This Week , Christiane Amanpour fretted that though the New York Times has discredited the Tea Party's rationale ("a new report today in the New York Times , they say that in fact TARP will cost maybe $28 billion to the taxpayer, instead of the $700 billion"), she told Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas "you yourself have been facing, even though you're a reliable conservative, Tea Party competition in Texas. Are they outflanking you?" Amanpour empathized that Tea... continue reading
On Friday's Countdown show on MSNBC, host Keith Olbermann announced that tonight's episode would be his last, and spent a few minutes near the end of the show saying goodbye. He mentioned a number of infamous and pivotal points in his show's history when he went after the Bush administration: The show gradually established its position as anti-establishment with the stagecraft of Mission Accomplished, to the exaggerated rescue of Jessica Lynch in Iraq, to the death of Pat Tillman to Hurricane Katrina, to the "Nexus of Politics and Terror," to the first "Special Comment." As he listed a number of... continue reading
On Thursday's Parker-Spitzer, CNN's Kathleen Parker acted as an apologist for Rep. Steve Cohen's uncivil comparison between Republicans and Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels: "He was talking about the saying that if you repeat a lie over and over and over again, it becomes the truth. I don't think he was necessarily saying Republicans are Nazis- come on! " (audio available here ) Parker and co-host Eliot Spitzer devoted the first full segment of their 8 pm Eastern hour program to "zeroing in on a couple of examples of where it's [political rhetoric] gone wrong," and brought on Tea Party critic... continue reading
On MSNBC's Ed Show on Thursday, despite initially regretting his comparison of Republicans to Nazis, Democratic Congressman Steve Cohen later doubled down: "[Indiana Congressman] Mike Pence talked about government takeover of health care....he wants to be concise, careful, and consistent. Well, that's somebody...who lived in a previous century who worked for bad people, that's what he did." [ Audio available here ] Host Ed Schultz offered no challenge to that statement as he wrapped up the segment, simply replying, "sure." In the question that preceded Cohen's attack on Pence, Schultz even tried to defend the Tennessee Congressman's Tuesday outburst on... continue reading
According to ABC's Christiane Amanpour, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy is "eerily relevant" to the attempted killing of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords less than two weeks ago. Talking to President Kennedy's sister on Thursday's Nightline, she wondered if the "political atmosphere" between the two acts of violence was the same. Amanpour, the host of This Week, was highlighting the 50th anniversary of JFK's inaugural address and offered the standard liberal praise for Kennedy, asserting that his "face still has a powerful grip on the American psyche." Interviewing Jean Kennedy Smith, the journalist connected, " It's an episode eerily relevant... continue reading
In the guise of a status report on ObamaCare, Katie Couric on Thursday night derided Republican efforts to repeal it just as it's "starting to kick in." She pleaded for viewers to give it a chance as she rationalized "the law is vulnerable because of the complex way it tries to fold 30 million uninsured people into the system," fretting " damage could be inflicted by choking off funding for programs that support the law, but a greater threat is the legal storm that's brewing." Her only expert, Dr. Atul Gawande , touted ObamaCare as "a toolbox." Couric disingenuously described... continue reading
NBC's failure to cover the Democratic congressman who compared Republicans to Nazis on the House floor trickled down to MSNBC yesterday, as anchor Lawrence O'Donnell neglected the story in favor of smearing House Speaker John Boehner and syndicated radio host Rush Limbaugh. After spending more than six minutes railing against House Republicans for repealing Obama's health care overhaul in a segment dubbed "Repeal & Misplaced," O'Donnell, a self-described socialist , omitted Rep. Steve Cohen's (D-Tenn.) remarks likening Republicans to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels. At the top of his prime time program, O'Donnell took a partisan pot shot at Boehner (R-Ohio)... continue reading
Tamron Hall was joined by her MSNBC colleague Dylan Ratigan on the January 19 edition of News Nation in condemning some members of corporate America for the way they have "demonized" the Obama administration. That slight of American businesses came during a discussion of President Hu Jintao's U.S visit, in which Ratigan remarked that President Obama's greatest challenge will not be dealing with China, but American businesses who have invested heavily in China. "There's a huge profit engine" in companies doing much of their manufacturing in China, Ratigan opined. To re-balance America's trade relationship with China, he added, would induce... continue reading