MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell on Thursday attempted to critique Barack Obama's handling of the oil spill, but felt it necessary to point out how "intellectual" and "focused" the administration usually is. She prefaced her gentle disapproval by exclaiming, "...There was a lot of criticism- and we're not analogizing this to Katrina- but there has been a lot of criticism in the past of decisions made on war and peace and on Katrina by the George W. Bush administration." Mitchell gingerly added, " And many people praised Barack Obama's White House because it was so intellectual and so focused on problem solving... continue reading
President Obama didn't call on CNN, but he decided to provide Helen Thomas with the privilege of being one of ten members of the White House press corps allowed to pose a question at this afternoon's presidential news conference. She came through with one of her usual crackpot rants - with the inevitable dose of gratuitous Bush-bashing mixed in: When are you going to get out of Afghanistan? Why are we continuing to kill and die there? What is the real excuse and don't give us this Bushism "if we don't go there they'll all come here." - Brent Baker... continue reading
NBC's Natalie Morales, on Wednesday's Today show, introduced Telemundo's Maria Celeste Arraras to tell the story of a South Florida family that has been separated by immigration laws in a segment that painted the plight of the illegal immigrant in the most sympathetic tones. The tale of a Colombian mother deported back to her home country because she overstayed her visa, was part of, as Morales put it: "an NBC wide look at A Nation Divided." Arraras interviewed the children of Claudia Ramirez who were, as the story seemed to intimate, forced to fend for themselves in the U.S. after,... continue reading
CNN's Anderson Cooper first defended the Obama administration's initial response to the Gulf oil leak and then criticized him from the left on Tuesday's AC360: "A month ago, it seemed like the federal government was on top of this. They were beating back claims...that this was Obama's Katrina." He later continued that "it doesn't seem like there's much pressure being applied to [BP], if it's there at all." Cooper brought on CNN senior political analyst David Gergen and liberal presidential historian Douglas Brinkley for a panel discussion on the environmental disaster 25 minutes into the 10 pm Eastern hour. The... continue reading
ABC political strategist, and prominent Democrat, James Carville appeared on Wednesday's Good Morning America to condemn Barack Obama's response to the oil spill. A very emotional Carville surprised host George Stephanopoulos, a friend and former colleague in the Clinton White House, by shouting, " And it just looks like he's not involved in this! Man, you have got to get down here and take control of this!" [Audio available here .] Carville, a resident of Louisiana, attacked, " Put somebody in charge of this and get this thing moving! We're about to die down here! " Stephanopoulos seemed taken aback... continue reading
The Washington press corps "have only themselves to blame" for President Obama refusing to answer their questions at White House events, exemplified by how he hasn't held a press conference in ten months, Washington Examiner chief political correspondent Byron York contended in his Tuesday column, " Fawning press now gets cold shoulder from Obama ." After all, "Obama treats them with contempt because he knows that when big tests come, they've always been on his side. There's no reason for him to think they won't be there in the future." York recalled: "Most of you covered me," he told the... continue reading
CBS and NBC on Tuesday night reached deep into a Washington Post story - specifically, the 20th paragraph of a 24-paragraph article - to pluck out a quote in order to demonstrate a "frustrated" President Barack Obama has been angry about the gulf oil spill. "A frustrated President Obama says 'plug the damn hole,'" Katie Couric teased at the top of the CBS Evening News. She soon elaborated: Frustration over the spill has been simmering for weeks, even in the Oval Office. We learned today that in the first days of this crisis an angry President Obama snapped at a... continue reading
The Washington Post knows how to signal they aren't fans of Rush Limbaugh. They decided to put a book review of the new Zev Chavets book on Limbaugh on the front page of Tuesday's Style section, reviewed by.... David Frum, the Republican establishment's leading Rush-hater. The Post's sister publication Newsweek published a "Why Rush Is Wrong" cover story last year by Frum, so the Post knew what they were seeking. Frum gnashes his teeth hardest late in the review, jealous that he, the wise and humble Frum, is not acknowledged by all as the country's leading conservative intellectual: Chafets acknowledges... continue reading
MSNBC's Chuck Todd on Tuesday attacked new standards being adopted for history textbooks in Texas as "odd" and mocked that the state would now be teaching " education by Wikipedia ." Evan Smith of the Texas Tribune appeared as a guest and fretted that the school board includes "a conservative, arch conservative bloc." Todd recounted the changes being made to the curriculum, including "the idea that our Founding Fathers may not have intended a separation of church and state...how government taxation and regulation can serve as restrictions to private enterprise." Todd derided the story, saying, "...The more you look into... continue reading
Today show co-anchor and Dateline correspondent Ann Curry delivered a commencement address to students at Wheaton College in Massachusetts over the weekend and attempted to honor that institution's proud alumni as she called out such luminaries like Rev. Billy Graham and 9/11 hero Todd Beamer, but it turns out she got her Wheaton Colleges mixed up. According to the Boston Globe the NBC newsreader mistakenly identified famous graduates from Wheaton College in Illinois, not the one in Massachusetts. The "Today" show anchor gave a shout-out to a few distinguished Wheaton alums, but there was one problem: They were alums of... continue reading