According to filmmaker George Lucas, Russian directors in the height of the Cold War had more artistic freedom than he enjoyed when he was making movies in Hollywood.
This hasn't gotten a lot of scrutiny because it aired the day after Christmas and because Lucas's "white slaver" remark garnered more controversy, but Star Wars creator George Lucas actually told Charlie Rose this.
So, if you bet good money on the Flintstones being used this weekend in an incredibly lame political analogy involving gays and the NFL…I salute you. For that exact thing happened on the Saturday edition of the “Melissa Harris-Perry Show,” when The Nation’s Dave Zirin discussed the suspension handed down to New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., who received unsportsmanlike conduct penalties and was, allegedly, the target of gay slurs before the game.
Let's you and him fight! That was John Heilemann on today's With All Due Respect, trying to lure Chris Christie into a fight with Republican voters. Heilemann's first foray was to invite Christie to "name an issue where you are out of step with the conservative base of the Republican party." When Christie wouldn't bite, Heilemann tried again, asking Christie to name "an issue where you feel like the conservative base is wrong."
Christie called out Heilemann's ploy, saying "you're kind of looking for some Sistah Souljah moment" which Christie described as "manufactured and political." Even those who are not Christie fans might applaud him for refusing to fall into Heilemann's trap.
For the cover story of its February issue, Vanity Fair profiled FNC’s Kelly File host Megyn Kelly and while they charted her admirable rise to primetime, work ethic, devotion to her family, and fair interviewing skills, the liberal magazine heavily touted examples of her holding the feet of conservatives to the fire and praise from liberal journalists like Chris Matthews and Katie Couric.
A few months ago I brought to your attention a Hardball promo which hailed Ted Kennedy as a "great" "leader" and a "lion" who "keep[s] me going non-stop." Well, Matthews is back at it with another promo which hails as "gutsy" liberal icon Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and as "grownup" the anti-gun rights former mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg.
Almost nothing screams political elitism louder than holding a Clinton campaign fundraiser hosted by Chelsea at the Tribeca Soulcycle in Manhattan almost on the eve of the Iowa caucuses. The funniest thing about the Politico article describing the yoga pants Hillary supporters fundraiser is that author Annie Karni seems to be completely unaware of how politically damaging it appears as she gushes about the upcoming trendie event:
Liberal actress Susan Sarandon appeared on The View, Monday, to lecture “xenophobic” Americans on letting Syrian refugees into the country. The movie star, who has just returned from a trip to Greece where she talked to fleeing Syrians, also incorrectly claimed that terrorists have not come into America disguised as refugees.
On Monday, MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell hosted her 12 p.m. ET hour show live from a Hillary Clinton campaign event, happily announcing: “I'm Andrea Mitchell live on the trail in Nashua, New Hampshire for President Clinton's first official public campaign event for his wife Hillary. Speaking moments ago here in Nashua, New Hampshire, a state that has been very good to the Clintons.”
Sure, a guy modeling women’s clothing is a marketing move guaranteed to win liberal media praise. But when news outlets compare the guy to Jesus, it just looks desperate (and rather confused).
On Saturday, Louis Vuitton Creative Director Nicolas Ghesquière posted pictures online of actor Jaden Smith, the 17-year-old son of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, modeling clothing from the brand’s Spring/Summer 2016 women's collection. The media latched onto the pictures of the new “champion of gender-fluid fashion” and went so far as to call him an “avant-garde Lord and Savior.”
On Monday's CNN Newsroom, Deborah Feyerick touted how anonymous "critics" were likening Ammon Bundy's group that took over a wildlife refuge facility in Oregon to Islamist terrorists: "Everybody remembers Ruby Ridge...and the government certainly does not want something like that. But...critics are arguing that if this was another group...there are different hashtags out there now mocking this group, calling them 'Vanilla ISIS;' calling them 'Yeehadists'....if this were members of ISIS...who had taken over a facility, is it fair to say the response would, in fact, be very, very different?"
At the very end of 2015, The Washington Post dumped a socialist columnist – Harold Meyerson, winner of this year’s “Ku Klux Con Job Award.” The reason? Low readership. It sounds like his audience may have been pretty limited to Bernie Sanders die-hards and conservative media critics looking for wacky quotes.
Hadas Gold at Politico noted Bernie Sanders tweeted out "There are few progressive voices in corporate media. @HaroldMeyerson is one of the best. His insights will be sorely missed by Post readers.” New York Times reporter Jonathan Martin beat his breast: "Hope this is not true. @HaroldMeyerson is a well-sourced, deeply-read liberal voice."
The network morning shows on Monday hyped Hillary Clinton’s dismissal of Donald Trump’s attacks, instead promoting the “popular” Bill Clinton. On Good Morning America, Cecilia Vega enthused, “Bill Clinton has enormously high popularity numbers. But even with all of these attacks coming from Trump, her campaign and Hillary Clinton herself calls him their secret weapon.”
On Monday's New Day, CNN political commentator Errol Louis brought up "this Bill Cosby thing that's kind of hanging out there" as he suggested that the A-list comedian's growing legal problems over his sexual assault history could be a harbinger of the problems the Hillary Clinton campaign could have if Donald Trump provides a "very large megaphone" for women who have accused Bill Clinton of "lurid" behavior and "sexual assault."
Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson purchased the Las Vegas Review Journal newspaper last month, and the New York Times is obsessed. The paper put a conspiratorial Sunday front-page spotlight on Adelson (who is, not coincidentally, a major Republican donor) and his legal clashes with a Nevada judge: “Mogul’s Purchase of Las Vegas Newspaper Is Seen as Power Play." Also suspect: A free paper Adelson distributes in Israel “has been accused of supporting the conservative positions of Benjamin Netanyahu.” Of course, the Times never worries about being accused of supporting the liberal positions of Barack Obama.
On Monday, all three network morning shows touted Barack Obama planning to take unilateral executive action to restrict gun rights and worried that Republicans were already strong critics of the presidential power grab.
