In her review Monday of "Rush Limbaugh: An Army of One," Zev Chafets' new biography of the radio giant, New York Times entertainment critic Janet Maslin harshly accused Chafets of suffering from "a case of Stockholm syndrome" for his failure to lambast Limbaugh as much as Maslin apparently wanted him bashed: " Limbaugh, Somewhat Airbrushed ." Maslin discussed the origin of the book (from a profile of Limbaugh that appeared in the New York Times Sunday magazine) before accusing journalist Chafets, without evidence, of "purging...any details that might pique" his subject. In July 2008 The New York Times Magazine published... continue reading
On Sunday's Face the Nation on CBS, host Bob Schieffer interrogated Republican Senator Lamar Alexander on GOP senate nominee Rand Paul: "Can you see yourself supporting a candidate who takes those kinds of positions, Senator?" However, Schieffer lobbed softballs to Democratic senate nominee Joe Sestak minutes later, who claimed the White House offered him a job to quit the primary race. In his interview with Alexander, Schieffer focused almost exclusively on comments made by Paul: "...he has had some rather controversial things to say, like the '64 Civil Rights bill may have been too broad. He's questioned the Disabilities Act... continue reading
CNN did its part to perpetuate the liberal talking point about Arizona's supposedly racist campaign against illegal immigrants by airing a report three times on Monday that spun the state's standards for English teachers as an "accent ban" or "crackdown." Anchor Kyra Phillips even opined that it was "just wrong to judge a teacher by his or her accent as to judge on their hair or skin color." The network's American Morning program first aired correspondent Thelma Gutierrez's report 27 minutes into the 6 am Eastern hour. Three minutes earlier, anchor John Roberts previewed the upcoming segment by noting that... continue reading
In a video celebrating the five-year anniversary of YouTube, CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric listed what she thought were the top five examples of "citizen journalism" on the video sharing website, including "the famous 'Macaca moment'" of Virginia Senator George Allen, which "put politicians from both sides of the aisle on notice....there's always a microphone near by." (h/t TVNewser ) Couric began the three minute video by touting how YouTube has been "Raising awareness of human rights abuses and providing first hand accounts of conflicts and catastrophes moments after they strike." She explained: "I picked five videos that demonstrate... continue reading
NBC's Meredith Vieira, on Monday's Today show, gave Caroline Kennedy her annual spot on the air to honor the latest liberal heroes to win the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, this year given to California legislators who demonstrated the "courage" to raise taxes as a solution to that state's budget crisis. Kennedy spoke to Vieira, along with award winners California State Senators Darrell Steinberg and Dave Codgill, but it was the Republican, Codgill, who was singled out by the Today co-anchor for his willingness to cross party lines as Vieira asked: "You're a Republican. You reached across to... continue reading
Former Democratic operative turned journalist George Stephanopoulos gushed over well known Democrat Caroline Kennedy on Monday as she touted the latest recipients of the Profile in Courage Award . The current winners include two California state Republicans who bucked the vast majority of their party to support tax increases in the 2009 budget. In addition to Kennedy, Stephanopoulos also interviewed Republican Mike Villines and former Democratic Speaker of the Assembly Karen Bass. Against the glowing backdrop of Kennedy memorabilia, he lauded, "Caroline, your Uncle Teddy, I think, exemplified the kind of actions you're trying to reward today." [Audio available here... continue reading
Forwarding moral equivalence, ABC News veteran Sam Donaldson, on This Week, defended Mexican President Felipe Calderon for using a speech before Congress to criticize Arizona, by reminding viewers: "President Bill Clinton went to the Great Hall of the People and when Jiang Zemin was President of China. I heard President Clinton say, 'what you did in Tiananmen Square was wrong.' He lectured. We all said, that's terrific because it was the ox being gored on the other side." After all, Donaldson contended, "he said what a lot of Americans are also saying, that that Arizona law is discriminatory." Host Jake... continue reading
Collating my Friday night tweets on Bill Maher, my nominations for the slimiest, most paranoid and dumbest quotes from Maher on his HBO show, Real Time: ♦ Leaping from Rand Paul to Robert Bork: "Here's another guy, like Rand Paul, who was against the 1964 Civil Rights Act. He was for literacy tests, he was for a poll tax.... Can we look back and just say Robert Bork was a racist who shouldn't have been on the court?" ♦ Great insight into the Gulf of Mexico oil leak: "Do you think BP could end this oil gushing out of the... continue reading
ABC and NBC rushed to get stories onto the air Friday night delivering left-wing talking points against the new social studies curriculum guidelines passed by the Texas State Board of Education, as both portrayed conservative Christians as the enemies of accurate history. Reality wasn't good enough for ABC, which framed its lead story around "Rewriting History?" and saw no liberals in the "big controversy," yet also tried to discredit the conservatives by highlighting "some of the things the conservatives tried and failed to do." ABC's Dan Harris fretted "the new standards require that textbooks mention pillars of the conservative movement,... continue reading
In the "Busted" segment at the end of Friday's The Dylan Ratigan Show on MSNBC, host Dylan Ratigan went after the New York Times for "accusing" Connecticut Attorney General and Democratic Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal of distorting his military record: "We think the Times should investigate some of its investigative reporting." Ratigan dismissed a quote the Times used of Blumenthal referring to "the days that I served in Vietnam," claiming it was "only part of the story." Ratigan argued: "A longer clip from the same speech shows Blumenthal much more accurately describing his record." That longer clip included Blumenthal vaguely... continue reading