Despairing that the current income tax rates will be extended for all income levels, on Sunday's This Week , Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus declared: "I think that the conversation right now is deranged" and "crazy." In measuring the long-term "cost" of keeping the Bush rates for those below $250,000 versus for all, she argued: I think that the conversation right now is deranged. We have in one room the deficit commission folks saying look at this huge hole, look at the tax increases and serious spending cuts that we need to do to fill it. And then outside the... continue reading
On Friday's CBS Evening News, travel editor Peter Greenberg filed a report in which, without challenge, he passed on Mexican President Felipe Calderon's charge that America is "the key part of the problem" of drug cartels in his country. And, even though the overwhelming majority of guns seized from Mexican drug cartels are known to originate from countries outside the U.S., Greenberg seemed to claim that all were bought in the U.S. Greenberg: He (Calderon) claims American drug use is financing the cartels, and smuggled American guns are arming them. This is an example of the more than 90,000 weapons... continue reading
On Friday evening, ABC's World News and the NBC Nightly News both informed viewers that Cindy McCain - wife of Senator John McCain - supports repealing the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy on gays in the military. NBC's Chuck Todd merely mentioned her disagreement with her husband on the issue while noting that Senator McCain "is the guy holding up" any change in the law. But ABC went further in showing a clip from a Web ad of Cindy McCain asserting that homosexuals in America are treated "like second-class citizens." Anchor Diane Sawyer introduced the clip: "And someone we haven't... continue reading
Appearing as a guest on Friday's Larry King Live on CNN, liberal filmmaker Michael Moore claimed that a "silver lining" for the Democratic Party in their election losses is that conservative Democrats were "thrown out of office last week," as he complained that liberal Democrats had to "placate these conservative Democrats and they watered down these bills." Missing the reality that so many centrist Democrats lost because they represented conservative-leaning congressional districts where their popularity was dragged down by their party's liberal leadership, Moore bragged that only three members of the Progressive Caucus in the House lost their seats. Later... continue reading
Roland Martin brought his full-blown Palin Derangement Syndrome to Friday's Anderson Cooper 360, labeling the former Alaska governor " the Kim Kardashian of politics ." Martin continued that Palin is " making a ton of money. We're trying to figure out why. It's the same as Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton .... She quit her job because she wanted to go out and be a celebrity ." The CNN contributor actually first tried out his questionable label of the Tea Party favorite on his Twitter account. At 5:12 pm on November 9 , Martin posted the following Tweet: " Palin... continue reading
MSNBC's Joe Scarborough blamed Sarah Palin for the GOP's failure to capture the Senate because of her efforts in drafting candidates who were defeated in Delaware and Nevada. "But for Sarah Palin, the Republican Party would control the Senate right now," the former Florida congressman stated on ABC's "The View" Thursday. "She's not a national ticket," he added when the conversation turned to her possible 2012 Presidential run. "Who thinks seriously that she can get 51 percent?" Scarborough was frank with his words on the hit daytime show, discussing Sarah Palin, colleague Keith Olbermann's suspension, and why he thinks his... continue reading
Former Nightline host Ted Koppel will use an op-ed appearing in Sunday's Washington Post to compare the current state of cable news to financial swindler Bernie Madoff and to express "nonpartisan sadness" over the success of Fox News and MSNBC. The veteran journalist touted the suspension of Keith Olbermann for donating to Democratic congressional candidates as "a whimsical, arcane holdover from a long-gone era of television journalism when the networks considered the collection and dissemination of substantive and unbiased news to be a public trust . " Attacking Fox and MSNBC for bias, he even compared, " This is to... continue reading
On her Web site, The Daily Beast, on Thursday, editor-in-chief Tina Brown joyously announced the "wedding" of the left-leaning blog with the equally liberal Newsweek magazine: "Some weddings take longer to plan than others. The union of The Daily Beast and Newsweek magazine finally took place with a coffee-mug toast between all parties." Brown touted how she would now serve as editor-in-chief for both publications. She expressed her desire to oversee the "great magazine's revival" and praised it for being "lively" and "well-informed." Brown should fit in well as head of the liberal magazine given her own history of left-wing... continue reading
During his weekly online chat with liberal editorial-page editor turned liberal New York Times columnist Gail Collins, "conservative" Times columnist David Brooks praised Dick Darman, director of the Office of Management and Budget for the first President Bush, who angered conservatives with the 1990 budget deal that raised taxes. For that and other confessions by Brooks of his affection for the good things the federal government does, Collins anointed the Times' putative conservative columnist with high praise indeed: David Brooks: So though I'm skeptical of many of the things government does, I still try to defend the craft of governance... continue reading
According to Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos, a deficit commission suggesting deep cuts will call the "bluff" of voters who want to severely restrict government spending. The ABC host on Thursday dismissed the plausibility of the panel's recommendations. Stephanopoulos condescendingly began, " A week after voters seemed to say that they wanted more aggressive action against the deficit, the chairmen of a presidential commission are calling their bluff. " GMA featured two segments on the topic, but never once actually mentioned the deficit number, $1.3 trillion. Reporter Jake Tapper featured Barack Obama's speech from South Korea in which the President... continue reading