New York Times international affairs columnist Roger Cohen, notorious for his obsessive insistence on negotiating with Iran ( where Jews apparently have it pretty well ), had an epiphany while on jury duty and is now a fully-fledged human being in touch with the common man, according to his Tuesday column for the paper's International edition, " The Narcissus Society ." And, oh yeah, you're a selfish narcissist if you don't favor federal health care: Community - a stable job, shared national experience, extended family, labor unions - has vanished or eroded. In its place have come a frenzied individualism,... continue reading
Good Morning America's Claire Shipman on Wednesday highlighted "enraged" and "livid" health care protesters, but mostly offered examples of angry liberals lobbying for a bill. After video of demonstrators chanting "Stop Blue Cross!" played, Shipman touted, "California demonstrators, livid over a huge increase in insurance rates." The ABC reporter described the preparations for the upcoming health care summit between Republicans and Democrats and then trumpeted, "And an increasingly engaged and enraged public will be watching it all. Look at Anthem insurance after raising premiums 39 percent, they got those protests and a grilling from California lawmakers." Regarding Thursday's health care... continue reading
On CBS's Sunday Morning, movie reviewer David Edelstein heaped praised upon The Ghost Writer , the latest film by director, and indicted child rapist, Roman Polanski: "Whatever you say about this man, a victim and a victimizer, he's an artist to the end. He can conjure up on screen his inner world. However, malignant." Edelstein began the review by proclaiming that Polanski's new film: "shows its maker at the height of his powers." That despite the admission that the director is "likely en route to the slammer for a rape he committed in the '70s." Edelstein later gushed: "Polanski's The... continue reading
Advancing the Obama administration's efforts to impugn private insurance companies, ABC anchor Diane Sawyer set up a Tuesday night story on who will "keep insurance companies from jacking up premiums while making huge profits?" Reporter Jonathan Karl explained "the idea from the White House is to keep premiums down by simply limiting how much insurance companies can raise them," before he relayed the White House spin: "The Obama administration is putting the heat on insurance companies, accusing them of placing profits ahead of health care." Karl reported "the top five insurance companies took in $12 billion in profit last year,"... continue reading
On the Monday, February 22, World News on ABC, host Diane Sawyer seemed to rejoice in the "bipartisanship" of newly elected Republican Senator Scott Brown's willingness to vote with Democrats on a "job creation bill," as she passed on the "fresh sign" of bipartisanship, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's expression of hope that it is the "beginning of a new day" in the Senate. After correspondent Jake Tapper concluded a report on the ongoing debate over health care reform by noting the unlikelihood that President Obama and Republicans will reach an agreement, Sawyer read a short item on Senator... continue reading
Chris Matthews gave his old Philly talk radio show host friend Michael Smerconish a platform, on Tuesday's Hardball, to boldy proclaim what anybody who's paid attention to Smerconish for the past few years has already known, that he is no longer a Republican. In explaining his decision to register as an independent Smerconish insisted he couldn't "play wind-up talk radio" and "read the GOP talking points" like the much more successful Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Glossing over the fact that the aformentioned hosts have repeatedly criticized the GOP when they betrayed conservative principles, Matthews pondered: "Do you think they... continue reading
CNN's Kiran Chetry's two guests - Time magazine's Karen Tumulty and Wendell Potter of the liberal Center for Media and Democracy - promoted the latest health care "reform" proposal by President Obama on Tuesday's American Morning. Chetry also omitted the left-of-center political affiliation of Potter's organization. The CNN anchor began the segment, which aired just after the bottom of the 7 am Eastern hour, by focusing on the cost of President Obama's latest health care plan: "[Obama] laid out his own vision online yesterday. It would cost an estimated $950 billion over 10 years, and it would extend coverage to... continue reading
MSNBC and CNBC contributor - and professed Charlie Crist admirer - Donny Deutsch used racially charged language on Monday night, smearing Republican senatorial candidate Marco Rubio as a "coconut." Deutsch appeared on HLN's Joy Behar Show and used the word, which both the New York Times and Urban Dictionary define as a "person who is tan on the outside" and "white on the inside." Rubio is the son of Cuban exiles. [Audio available here .] Deutsch employed the derogatory term while hitting politicians with no experience. He noted the success of such candidates and derided, "...You almost need that blank... continue reading
A familiar trope about horror movies is that the characters can only survive them by abstaining from drinking, drugs, and sex, leading some movie critics to half-facetiously moan about the genre's secret social conservatism. But what about horror movies with a thuddingly obvious left-wing message of environmental alarmism inserted into the script, as part of the studio's ideological vision? In a Sunday Arts & Leisure article on the new movie "The Crazies," a remake of a low-budget George Romero zombie movie from the '70s, movie critic John Anderson equated left-wing environmentalist fearmongering with serving the "public good." Turns out "The... continue reading
In part two of her exclusive interview with First Lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday's CBS Early Show, co-host Maggie Rodriguez worried about the toll the presidency takes on Barack Obama: "Your husband is the target of so many of these partisan attacks....He must get frustrated?" Rodriguez later wondered: "Amid all these frustrations, how does he unwind, how does he let that all go?" Rodriguez asked about Mrs. Obama's reaction to criticism of her husband: "How often do you have to bite your tongue?" The First Lady explained: "You can't go into this if you're thin-skinned or you're worrying about your... continue reading