Appearing in the 11AM ET hour on MSNBC Friday, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams gushed over the legacy of retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens: "He was famously called a 'lawyer's lawyer'...He leaves the court approaching his 90th birthday here, with one of the great quality minds, 90 or not, on the Supreme Court. Always had a kind of finely tuned intellect and nuanced opinions." Apparently, consistently handing down left-wing rulings is what Williams considers "nuanced. " Williams went on to conclude: "It's just been so interesting to see his ideology change over the years. You never know... continue reading
MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell on Friday went too far for even her colleagues at the liberal cable channel, receiving mockery for her assertion that Newt Gingrich made racially charged remarks about Barack Obama. At the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, Thursday, the former House Speaker commented that "shooting three-point shots may be clever, but it doesn't put anybody to work." Speaking of the President's basketball skills, Gingrich continued: "What we need is a President, not an athlete. We need somebody who actually focuses on getting people back to work." After the clip was played, Morning Joe guest host O'Donnell lobbed her accusation... continue reading
Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos on Friday interviewed Barack Obama from Russia and prompted the President to tout his legacy. The former Democratic operative also pressed Obama to weigh in on Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell's decision to make April Confederate History Month. On the subject of foreign policy, Stephanopoulos did conduct a tougher interview than many might have expected, highlighting Sarah Palin's attack on his nuclear policy. But on domestic issues, he first read an earlier quote of the then-candidate, asserting that he wanted to avoid being an inconsequential President. The ABC journalist gushed, " You're pretty confident, now, you're... continue reading
Linda Douglass, the former ABC News and CBS News Washington correspondent who signed aboard the Obama campaign in May of 2008, is resigning next week from her post as Communications Director for the White House's Health Reform Office, the Washington Post's Howard Kurtz reported Thursday afternoon on the paper's "44" blog (which I saw plugged on DCRTV.com ). Kurtz described her as "a top pitchwoman for President Obama's health care plan." Is another media gig in the offing? No word yet. Kurtz quoted her statement, which only said she wants "to step off the treadmill for awhile and rediscover the... continue reading
At the conclusion of a program that included Chris Matthews inviting on Democratic Congressman Steve Cohen to compare the Tea Party to the KKK, the Hardball host finished his Thursday episode with a "Let Me Finish" rant where he questioned if Abraham Lincoln would even be a Republican today and wondered if the GOP would even "like him?" Matthews even went as far to ask his audience "who do you think represents the spirit of Lincoln in today's politics," Obama or the GOP? The following teaser and final commentary were aired on the April 8 edition of Hardball: CHRIS MATTHEWS:... continue reading
The network morning shows on Thursday trumpeted Barack Obama's nuclear weapons treaty with Russia as "historic" and "landmark," with only Good Morning America allowing that the reduction plan could be "controversial." However, ABC's George Stephanopoulos also enthused, " But, [Obama and Russia's President] are here first and foremost to make history.. ." Reporting live from Prague, Stephanopoulos was mostly light on details. He did explain that the treaty's goal is to cut "nuclear arsenals by about 30 percent over the next seven years." And while the ex-Democratic aide allowed that "critics call [the treaty] utopian and dangerous," he didn't explain... continue reading
Commenting on the new health care law, on Wednesday's Late Show with David Letterman , comedian/actor Chris Rock cracked: "I feel sorry for the people that were against it" since "that's going to be a tough one to explain to your grand kids." Rock, on to promote his new movie, Death at a Funeral , barbed that ObamaCare opponents remind him of those against civil rights in the 1960s who years later had to answer, "grand daddy, is this your 'I Hate Martin Luther King' hat?" Audio: MP3 clip . A couple of the lines from Rock on the April... continue reading
Words, just words. But which ones excite journalists and which ones don't? A test case Wednesday night as ABC and NBC, matching the focus of CNN and MSNBC throughout the day, aired segments on controversy over Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell leaving condemnation of slavery out of a proclamation issued last week calling April "Confederate History Month," but neither had any time for an AP report about how the Obama administration plans to eliminate from the National Security Strategy terms such as "militant Islamic radicalism." FNC's Special Report with Bret Baier managed to cover outrage generated against both actions. Shannon Bream... continue reading
Thanks to James Cameron's Avatar, environmentalists have a whole new way to preach to audiences about their over consumption. Invited on Wednesday's Today show to showcase endangered species, Sea World and Busch Garden's animal ambassador Julie Scardina played on the guilt of viewers as she asked the Today cast if they had seen Avatar and warned them: "You know our world is as amazing and incredible and unique as Pandora and yet a lot of people don't realize it's being destroyed in the same way." As Scardina played with a gibbon NBC's Ann Curry prompted Scardina: "Why is this gibbon's... continue reading
Former ABC reporter Kenneth Walker found the strangest connection to alleged Tea Party violence yet: the left-wing African National Congress in South Africa. On The Root , a black-commentary website owned by The Washington Post Company, Walker wrote an article with the headline "South Africa's version of virulent Tea Party rhetoric is set to music and had both whites and blacks worried." From reading Keith Olbermann commentaries, it would be easy to assume that the virulent songs listed here would be the white Afrikaner conservatives, not the ANC, which had a long-time alliance with the South African Communist Party." Walker... continue reading