Newsweek's Howard Fineman, on Monday's Hardball, pushed Barack Obama to "overdo" and "overstep" in his efforts to get BP to plug the leak and stop the oil spill in the Gulf, something Fineman claimed Obama hadn't done yet because "he's usefully and rightfully dangerous about power. I think he thought...George W. Bush overstepped in terms of executive power...he's an observer by nature." This observation from Fineman seems particularly odd, as it comes at the same time the President has pushed for a $50 billion in additional domestic spending. Fineman made the comment after the Politico's Roger Simon insisted there's only... continue reading
In the 2PM ET hour on MSNBC, anchor Tamron Hall did a news brief on Democratic Congressman Bob Etheridge assaulting two students attempting to ask him a question last week, proclaiming: "...there are some Democrats that are blasting the people allegedly behind this video....some would catagorize that as an ambush interview..." [Audio available here ] Hall played a clip of the video showing the assault and afterwards quoted an written apology from Etheridge. She described how the video "first appeared on Andrew Breitbart's conservative blog BigGovernment.org," remarking that he "was partly responsible for that notorious ACORN video featuring conservative James... continue reading
The New York Times' obituary Saturday for Manhattan Project physicist turned Maoist Joan Hinton, by William Grimes, left out her Maoist beliefs in both the headline - " Joan Hinton, 88, Physicist Who Chose China Over Bomb " - and a text box: "A Manhattan Project member whose desire for peace led her to a Chinese farm." And the obituary itself completely omitted the deadly nature of Mao Zedong's totalitarian regime. Joan Hinton, a physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project, which developed the atom bomb, but spent most of her life as a committed Maoist working on dairy farms... continue reading
Have liberals blacked out the sex-and-perjury impeachment of Bill Clinton? MSNBC's Chris Matthews appeared on the Charlie Rose show on PBS Thursday, and Rose asked him about how Sen. Blanche Lincoln had a "secret weapon" in her primary race in Arkansas. Matthews responded by laying it on thick about how great Bill Clinton is. Surely viewers giggled as Matthews talked about Clinton giving Lincoln "the full Bill." Boy, that hug, that goes down in history, he had the French cuffs, looked like a million bucks, he put the full Bill around her. It was really an embrace. And you notice... continue reading
The network morning and evening news shows have all but ignored President Obama's Saturday letter to congressional leaders asking for $50 billion in additional spending to prevent the "massive layoffs of teachers, police, and firefighters." Only Sunday's Good Morning America on ABC has covered the President's request so far. The chief executive's June 12 letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and House Minority Leader John Boehner urged "swift action" on the multi-billion dollar proposal to prevent the public sector layoffs and "give our nation's businesses added impetus to hire and grow."... continue reading
Ad hominem attacks supplanted thoughtful discussion yet again on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." On Monday, co-host Joe Scarborough chastised Republicans as "genuinely stupid" for criticizing President Barack Obama's handling of the BP oil spill, adding that the GOP must think the American people are "dumb as hell." "The Republicans blaming Obama look genuinely stupid because of eight years of deregulation," scolded Scarborough, who is developing a penchant for favoring personal attacks over rational debate. "Is Mitt Romney suggesting he's more hostile to the oil industry than Barack Obama?" Scarborough sardonically asked an amused Mike Allen, Politico's chief political correspondent. "Do we... continue reading
Newsweek's Eleanor Clift, on this weekend's syndicated The McLaughlin Group, slighted conservative pro-life women everywhere when she applied California Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina's "so yesterday" description of Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer's hairstyle to women who hold anti-abortion views in the Republican Party. Clift, in a segment about the primary victories of both Fiorina and GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman began actually crediting Sarah Palin as "Saint Sarah" for the wins as she claimed that the former Alaskan Governor is "emboldening conservative women" and "reshaping the religious right" but then went on to question if pro-life women candidates could win... continue reading
On Monday's Good Morning America on ABC, co-host George Stephanopoulos discussed President Obama's response to the Gulf oil spill with Democratic strategist James Carville: "Probably no one has been tougher than you on this White House on this response. The President now going back for his forth trip. He's ratcheted up the rhetoric over the weekend. Is this what you've been waiting for?" Stephanopoulos was referring to Carville's criticism of Obama on the May 26 broadcast : "And it just looks like he's not involved in this!...We're about to die down here!" During his Monday appearance, the on-screen headline read:... continue reading
Catching up from Friday night, on the last Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO until September, Maher insisted "I'm not trying to be a conspiracy theorist," but then proceeded to assert the Defense Department "uses more oil than anywhere else to kill people in the Middle East to get fuel to fight wars," so "I do think there's something - just the way the pharmaceutical companies sometimes come up with a pill before they come up with the disease - I think maybe we need a war all the time so we can wear out equipment and buy oil."... continue reading
Speaking to New York Magazine columnist John Heilemann on MSNBC Friday, anchor Andrea Mitchell wondered if the Gulf oil spill could be a political opportunity for President Obama: "Is there an opportunity now to do something real on energy?" Heilemann proclaimed the disaster was "a triggering action for us to try and get toward a greener future...break our addiction to oil..." The discussion occurred during the 1PM ET hour on Andrea Mitchell Reports with Mitchell noting how the President was "trying to contain the political damage" from the spill. After she spun the crisis as an "opportunity," Heilemann argued: "I... continue reading