President Barack Obama's decision to include, in his Tuesday night address from the Oval Office on the end to the "combat mission" in Iraq, a sentence respectful toward former President George W. Bush, appalled MSNBC host Rachel Maddow. Anchor Keith Olbermann recited Obama's graciousness toward Bush ("It's well known that he and I disagreed about the war from its outset, yet no one could doubt President Bush's support for our troops or his love of country and commitment to our security") and then, obviously speaking for himself and the entire MSNBC team, proposed: "There are people who would support President... continue reading
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs made the rounds of the six broadcast and cable morning news shows on Tuesday morning to help set the table for the President's speech marking the end of major combat operations in Iraq. Of the six network anchors Gibbs spoke with, only CBS's Harry Smith failed to ask whether President Obama would extend credit to President Bush for the successful surge strategy (a strategy then-Senator Obama denigrated as futile). ABC's George Stephanopoulos recited House GOP Leader John Boehner's dig at politicians who "fought tooth-and-nail to stop the surge strategy," and then rejected Gibbs claim... continue reading
On the day that the U.S. is ending combat operations in Iraq, the Today show, on Tuesday, brought on their chief foreign correspondent to essentially say the Iraq war wasn't worth it. The noted anti-war reporter, when asked by Today co-anchor Ann Curry did, "Anything positive come from this war?" proceeded to dump on the entire mission as he relayed that Iraqis are upset that the United States "has failed to deliver on its promises," claimed that Saddam Hussein, before the war, was "getting more moderate" and concluded that the mission was "a giant distraction of resources" and if not... continue reading
Monday's NBC Nightly News re-ran the very same exchange between Brian Williams and President Barack Obama as had aired on Sunday's Nightly News (as well as Monday's Today show) in which Williams despaired over how "you're an American-born Christian. And yet, increasing and now significant numbers of Americans in polls, upwards of a fifth of respondents are claiming you are neither....This has to be troubling to you." Obama responded: "I can't spend all my time with my birth certificate plastered on my forehead." Picking up on that line, Williams teased his Monday newscast: "Keeping the faith. In his interview with... continue reading
The news that it could be a good year for women electorally did not cheer up the likes of MSNBC's Chris Matthews, Bloomberg's Margaret Carlson and the Politico's Jeanne Cummings, because it turns out it's only going to be a good year for women on the Republican side like Nikki Haley, Meg Whitman, and Carly Fiorina or as Carlson put it: "It's not a compassionate women year." [ audio available here ] Matthews, on Monday's Hardball, invited on Carlson and Cummings to take a look at "gender politics" and found that it could be a good year for women, just... continue reading
CNN's Rick Sanchez quickly apologized on his Rick's List program on Monday after inadvertently labeling Barack Obama the " cotton-picking president of the United States ." Sanchez used the racially-tinged term in response to the President recently addressing the significant percentage of American population who believe he is Muslim or was born outside the U.S. [audio available here ] The anchor raised President Obama's recent comment about his birth certificate with correspondent Jessica Yellin 21 minutes into the 3 pm Eastern hour. Yellin explained that "this is the first time he's talked about it since the polls showing how many... continue reading
On Monday's Good Morning America, ABC's George Stephanopoulos played up how President Obama "blamed many in the media for perpetuating...myths" such as he was born outside the United States, isn't a Christian, and/or is a Muslim. "You can't blame the President for wanting this to go away." Stephanopoulos raised the President's remarks about "these kind of myths," as he put it, near the end of a panel discussion with Democratic strategist James Carville and Charles Schwab chief investment strategist Liz Ann Sonders eight minutes into the 7 am Eastern hour. He noted how "a third of Americans believe- question whether... continue reading
NBC's Matt Lauer, on Monday's Today show, invited on the not-so balanced panel of the Reverend Al Sharpton and the NAACP's Ben Jealous to analyze Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally that took place on the 47th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's "I have a dream speech" with Jealous proclaiming that "if Dr. King stood up there" the conservatives in attendance would not have "responded well" to him. Jealous went on to say Dr. King's "last campaign" was the "poor people's campaign. To make sure that all people...can find a good job, all kids can go to a great school... continue reading
On Sunday's syndicated Chris Matthews show, during a discussion of a poll reporting that a majority of self-described Republicans expressed a negative view of Islam, as Time magazine's Joe Klein recounted incidents of recent violence in America by Muslim extremists, host Matthews asked if "this [anti-Muslim] attitude against them" was to blame for "stirring them up," leading Klein to agree that anti-Muslim attitudes played a role: JOE KLEIN, TIME MAGAZINE: You've had over the last year, two or three major incidents of deranged Muslims, the Army doctor down at Fort Hood, the Times Square bomber, who were Americans, American citizens... continue reading
On Sunday's Good Morning America, during a report which focused on FNC host Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally and the negative reaction from civil rights activists like the Reverend Al Sharpton, ABC correspondent Tahman Bradley declared that "the crowd was almost all white, giving critics an open door." It was after recounting that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s niece - Dr. Alveda King - was a speaker at the rally, Bradley noted the racial makeup of Beck's event: TAHMAN BRADLEY: Dr. King's own niece, Alveda King, spoke. DR. ALVEDA KING, NIECE OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.: We need to... continue reading