Reporting Congressman Patrick Kennedy's decision to not run for re-election this fall for his House seat representing Rhode Island, CBS and ABC on Friday night bemoaned the impending lack of a Kennedy in the House or Senate - presuming no other Kennedy runs and wins this November - as the "end of an era." CBS even created a chart to display the timeline for Kennedys in office, as fill-in CBS Evening News anchor Maggie Rodriguez announced: It is the end of an era, the Kennedy era. Rhode Island Congressman Patrick Kennedy has decided not to seek re-election in November. So... continue reading
CNN refreshingly called out President Obama on Friday's Newsroom concerning his false claim that "for the first time...you saw more people getting health care from government than you did from the private sector." CNN's Suzanne Simons and anchor Tony Harris both used the "pants on fire" expression to describe the President's statement. The AP, on the other hand, merely labeled it "hyperbole." President Obama delivered this line at his February 9, 2010 White House press conference. Harris played the sound bite of this statement 20 minutes into the 12 pm Eastern hour, and asked Simons, who is an executive producer... continue reading
Give the New York Times points for nerve, anyway. Chief political reporter Adam Nagourney managed to take the paper's new poll, full of bad news for President Obama and Democrats, and to change the subject, twisting its findings to suggest that Republicans were the party in trouble, in Friday's front page story: " Obama Fares Better in Poll Than G.O.P." The online headline is similar: "Obama Has Edge Over G.O.P. With Public." (Thursday night's CBS Evening News: " Obama's Disapproval Jumps, Couric Instead Stresses: 'Most Think His Priority is Serving the People '") Nagourney, with co-writer Megan Thee-Brenan, entirely passed... continue reading
Conservative talk radio and political blogs all jumped on Vice President Joe Biden's claim on CNN's Larry King Live Wednesday night that the successful resolution of the Iraq war "could be one of the great achievements of this administration." Biden and President Obama, then both Senators, strongly opposed President Bush's 2007 troop surge that marked the turning point in the war. On his Thursday show , Rush Limbaugh scoffed that "I was all set to say that I think maybe Obama is dumber than Biden, until I heard that....This is worse than chutzpah, folks. This is insulting everybody's intelligence." But... continue reading
Two years after fawning over the romance of John and Elizabeth Edwards, Good Morning America found another Democratic couple to tout. As the song Everlasting Love played in the background, news anchor Juju Chang profiled Joe and Jill Biden and their "famous Washington love story." [Audio available here .] An ABC graphic touted the Vice President and his wife as "true Valentines" in honor of the holiday and Chang declared, " But, the Bidens have a genuine love and respect for each other that's easy to see ." In case viewers didn't get the point of the interview, Chang reiterated,... continue reading
People around the world view Canada as "very hip" because of its "progressive" health care and environmental policies, actor/impersonator Martin Short contended in a soundbite featured in a Thursday NBC Nightly News story looking at how, on the eve of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canadians perceive themselves. In his story, NBC reporter Kevin Tibbles, a native of Canada, also aired a clip from Morton Weinfeld, of Montreal's McGill University, who asserted: "Canada is this peaceable kingdom. It's this decent place. Decency is not that exciting." Short ( IMDb page ), a Saturday Night Live veteran now starring on FX's... continue reading
Touting the latest CBS News/New York Times poll on Friday's CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith and Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer concluded that Americans were upset with President Obama and Congress simply over the influence of "special interest groups," without mentioning massive government spending or ObamaCare as other possible reasons. After reporting that 70% of Americans were "dissatisfied or angry about the way things are going in Washington," Smith focused on the poll question about special interests: "8 in 10 say Congress is more interested in serving the needs of special interest groups rather than the people they... continue reading
In a new CBS News/New York Times poll, President Barack Obama's disapproval level jumped five points , to 45 percent since the last survey in mid-January, with approval now at just 46 percent, but Thursday's CBS Evening News skipped that bad news for Obama and instead highlighted some better news for the President. Though 80 percent said "members of Congress [are] more interested in serving special interest groups" than the American people, "the President gets better marks on that score," Katie Couric touted, as "most think his priority is serving the people." Reporter Nancy Cordes relayed how "only 29 percent... continue reading
New York Times reporter John Broder used the East Coast snowstorms as a hook to discuss political prospects for "climate change" legislation - and made clear where he stood on the issue - in Thursday's front page story, " Climate Fight Is Heating Up In Deep Freeze ." As millions of people along the East Coast hole up in their snowbound homes, the two sides in the climate-change debate are seizing on the mounting drifts to bolster their arguments. Skeptics of global warming are using the record-setting snows to mock those who warn of dangerous human-driven climate change - this... continue reading
On Monday's 'The Dylan Ratigan Show' on MSNBC, host Dylan Ratigan began the program by ranting: "The tea party has a bit of an integrity problem, as everybody from birthers, to open racists, to outright Nazis are actually on the team. And no one involved, including its leadership, seems to mind that fact." To justify his outrageous smear of the political movement, Ratigan cited one woman who attended the weekend tea party convention in Nashville, Tennessee: "I just couldn't sit down anymore and not do anything. Because it reminded me of what happened during the rein of Hitler." Ratigan then... continue reading