Picking up on a nugget ( my tweet ) surprisingly included in a Wednesday Boston Globe article, on Thursday night FNC's Bret Baier reported in his "Grapevine" segment: "President Bush is apparently more popular than President Obama on Martha's Vineyard - at least when it comes to clothing." Baier relayed the day the First Family arrived on the Massachusetts island: When the First Family vacationed there last year, Obama-themed trinkets were flying off the shelves. Now, the owner of a store called the Locker Room says this summer's best-selling shirt features Mr. Bush. And even Democrats are buying it. It... continue reading
CNN's T. J. Holmes brought back Time's Bobby Ghosh on Friday's Newsroom for more promotion of his "Islamophobia" cover story , and added two Muslim guests who largely agreed with his thesis that anti-Islamic sentiment was "coming into the mainstream," and how this was apparently a "reason for alarm." Holmes asked softball questions, and no one with an opposing viewpoint appeared during the segment. The anchor had the three on for a panel discussion at the bottom of the 10 am Eastern hour about Ghosh's "Is America Islamophobic?" article, as well the controversy over the planned mosque near Ground Zero... continue reading
The co-host of MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Joe Scarborough, strongly believes certain networks would play the race card big time against southern Republican Haley Barbour, if he runs for President in 2012. [see related post with video here ] Scarborough predicted on Thursday that if the Mississippi governor is the Republican Presidential nominee in 2012, the media would smear him as a racist white man from the South running against the first black president. He particularly stated that "certain networks" would "maul" Barbour if he runs, resulting in an awkward moment on the set. Could Scarborough possibly have meant MSNBC in... continue reading
On Friday's edition of MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports, Mitchell brought on the Boston Globe's Peter Canellos to pine for the widow of Ted Kennedy, Vicki, to challenge Republican Scott Brown for the Massachusetts Senate seat, as well as imagine how effective the liberal "lion" would be in championing health care and unemployment extension legislation if he were still around today. A wistful Mitchell remarked of the the late Senator: "It seems as though his legacy only grows in contrast to how low, what low regard the Senate is now held because of the gridlock and the, the sort of petty... continue reading
NBC's Kelly O'Donnell, in a story aired on Friday's Today show, traveled to Arizona to profile Republican Ben Quayle's run for Congress and in the process gave Dan Quayle's son the same sort of treatment the former Vice President received from the media , as the NBC correspondent treated him like a joke. While O'Donnell briefly mentioned that Ben Quayle is a small business owner, the thrust of her piece was making light of foibles of the son and even father. In her story O'Donnell aired a joke from her NBC colleague Jay Leno to make fun of a Quayle... continue reading
George Stephanopoulos on Friday showed that it is possible to force a Democratic politician to answer tough questions. The Good Morning America host grilled Representative Maxine Waters over allegations that she misused her office for personal gain. Every single one of Stephanopoulos' questions was hard hitting, including this query: " The ethics committee is bipartisan. Five Democrats and five Republicans. If these charges are so groundless, how did this happen to you?" Waters is charged with assisting in obtaining TARP money for a bank that her husband had investments worth $175,000. Stephanopoulos never bullied Waters, but methodically laid out the... continue reading
Andrew Breslau, who for eight years ending in 2006 toiled at CNN "as a senior manager and producer," has been named President of New York City-based The Nation Institute , affiliated with the far-left The Nation magazine run by frequent MSNBC guest Katrina vanden Heuvel , and home to Christopher Hayes, Rachel Maddow's fill-in host. The institute's August 18 press release described Breslau's CNN duties: "Tasked with managing a team of journalists covering the U.S economy, he also helped cover events overseas that ranged from the 50th anniversary of the People's Republic of China to the World Economic Forum in... continue reading
NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams cited a "stunning number" from "a reputable pollster" (Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life and the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press) - which discovered "just under 20 percent of the American people believe the President is a Muslim" when "he is not" - to justify a full explanation from Chuck Todd on the mischaracterization of Barack Obama. "Look, let's be clear," NBC's chief White House correspondent declared, "President Barack Obama was born in the United States and he is a Christian." Without pointing out how confusion and ignorance about... continue reading
CNN's American Morning and Newsroom programs on Thursday brought on Time magazine's Bobby Ghosh to highlight his "Is America Islamophobic?" article and help promote his accusation that " hate speech " and " bigotry " have " come out into the mainstream " during the course of the debate over the proposed New York City mosque near Ground Zero. During his American Morning appearance, anchor Kiran Chetry hailed Ghosh's article, which is the cover story of the upcoming August 30th issue of Time, as " a very thoughtful piece ." Anchor Ali Velshi, who conducted the second interview of the... continue reading
Speaking to conservative commentator Ann Coulter on Thursday's CBS Early Show, fill-in co-host Erica Hill seemed to hope the Ground Zero mosque controversy had run its course: "Does it go away or does this continue through November?" Hill's question to Coulter followed fellow guest, Democratic strategist Tanya Acker, ranting: "...the notion that in the United States of America we would deny people the right to have a religious edifice is simply - like, that's just not - it's unconscionable....I think that smart Republicans, fair Republicans, fair people of all political persuasions need to look - are looking at this really... continue reading