By Matt Vespa | September 5, 2012 | 7:44 PM EDT

Shortly after 5 p.m. Eastern today, it took three attempts for Democrats to reinstate the words "God" and "Jerusalem" into their party platform, drawing some reactions of despondency from the more liberal members of the party. Over on MSNBC, for example, Chris Hayes called it a "craven capitulation."  

This shift from the original platform that omitted God and did not explicitly express support of Jerusalem as Israel’s undivided capital wasn’t mentioned once during ABC World News September 5 broadcast. Below is video from C-SPAN of the actual vote on the matter, which, you can tell was unlikely an actual 2/3rd vote for the rule change.

By Ken Shepherd | September 5, 2012 | 6:18 PM EDT

Last week I noted how the NBCNews.com website considered speeches by Gov. Susana Martinez (R-N.M.), Obama co-chair-turned-Republican Artur Davis, and Staples founder Tom Stemberg to not be "notable" enough for inclusion in their "curated" follow-up posts the day after their respective speeches. Well, today, NBC Politics has a post with "highlights from Tuesday night's Democratic National Convention speeches."

Yet while the Democratic Convention has purposefully sought to play up their pro-abortion rights, pro-taxpayer-subsidized contraception stands, the remarks last night by NARAL Pro-Choice America president -- and Democratic Party Platform Committee member -- Nancy Keenan were omitted from the collection. One of the more striking lines invoked the Divine:

By Tim Graham | September 5, 2012 | 5:53 PM EDT

Bill Clinton just turned 66, so perhaps it might seem a bit dated to still find it amusing when feminist TV pundits  stumble into sexual double entendres for the intern-exploiting president.

But that's what happened on Now With Alex Wagner on Wednesday. When Time columnist Joel Stein suggested the Democrats might not be able to offer better speeches than Tuesday's slate, Wagner replied if anyone can "sort of be the tentpole here," it's Slick Willie:

By Clay Waters | September 5, 2012 | 5:07 PM EDT

Gov. Chris Christie's keynote address at the Republican convention didn't warrant a full story last week in the New York Times. Yet when San Antonio mayor Julian Castro delivered the keynote to the Democratic convention, Jeff Zeleny offered a full story in Wednesday's edition, giving the Democrats space from which to blast Republicans: "New Democratic Voice Challenges Republican Vision." Castro was also spared the fact-checking the Times afflicted upon Republicans last week in Tampa.

(Manny Fernandez had previously polished the mayor's resume in a flattering preview of Castro's keynote: "The speculation lately about Mr. Castro’s future has reached fever pitch; there is talk of his running for governor, earning a place in Mr. Obama’s cabinet and even becoming the first Hispanic president. A Fox News Latino headline this summer read: 'Julián Castro: Son of Chicana Activist, Harvard Law Grad, Future U.S. President?'")

By Kyle Drennen | September 5, 2012 | 4:45 PM EDT

During the Today's Professionals panel segment on Wednesday's NBC Today, fill-in co-host Tamron Hall promoted an online petition to get 90-year-old actress Betty White to appear at the Democratic National Convention, noting that the creator of the petition, "is concerned that Clint Eastwood gave elderly people a bad name with what he did" at the Republican convention.

Advertising executive Donny Deutsch declared that "Republicans still have egg on their face from the Clint Eastwood thing" and urged the Democrats not to do it. NBC medical editor Nancy Snyderman added: "I would not counter something that didn't go well." Attorney Star Jones rounded out the discussion by calling on Democrats to "Let the stench stay over there," meaning on the Republican side.

By Noel Sheppard | September 5, 2012 | 4:36 PM EDT

A few months ago, conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh accused NBC News of being "an annex of the Democratic National Committee."

On Wednesday, the New York Times published an article titled "Welcome to the MSNBC, Er, Democratic Convention" that largely made Limbaugh's case:

By Kyle Drennen | September 5, 2012 | 3:45 PM EDT

On Wednesday's NBC Today, chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd cheered Michelle Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention while running down the GOP: "[She] had a hold on the delegates in this hall in a way that no speaker was able to do in Tampa. A stark contrast to the Republicans in the way they structured their convention and with the enthusiasm."

During NBC's live convention coverage Tuesday night, Todd could barely contain his excitement. At one point, he proclaimed that the First Lady "owned this convention...in a way that no speaker owned the floor of the convention in Tampa." Prior to Mrs. Obama's address, Todd applauded "the passion that you see throughout the evening" at the Democratic gathering, and claimed that Republicans "waited for the television cameras to come on" to show similar enthusiasm at their convention.

By Noel Sheppard | September 5, 2012 | 1:10 PM EDT

San Antonio mayor Julian Castro was quite a media hit at the Democratic National Convention Tuesday.

Given all the scrutiny presenters got for their addresses at last week's Republican National Convention, one has to wonder if the press will fact-check the following section of Castro's speech (photo courtesy MTC/Newscom):

By Ken Shepherd | September 5, 2012 | 12:28 PM EDT

While MSNBC is on an all-out effort to tar GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan as a liar for having leveled completely accurate statements in his nomination speech at last week's convention, you can expect the Democrat-friendly network, along with most other media outlets, to overlook Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz's history of a tenuous relationship with the truth.

Hot Air's Ed Morrissey has a story today about how the Florida Democrat was accurately quoted by a journalist for a conservative paper only to then slam the reporter for misquoting her, suggesting it was because he's a conservative journalist. Of course, said reporter, Philip Klein of the Washington Examiner, has the damning audiotape of Wasserman Schultz making the exact same charge he accurately reported her as having made in the first place. Wrote Morrissey (h/t tipster Thomas Stewart):

By Noel Sheppard | September 5, 2012 | 8:25 AM EDT

As NewsBusters has been reporting, the press's gushing and fawning over Michelle Obama's speech Tuesday at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte has been almost sick-making.

So over the top was the praise that Politico's co-founder and executive editor Jim VandeHei said on C-SPAN early Wednesday morning, "The mainstream media tends to be quite smitten with the Obamas" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

By Matt Hadro | September 5, 2012 | 6:02 AM EDT

Instead of Americans asking if their country is better off now than four years ago, CNN's Piers Morgan thinks they should compare the present situation to "three and a half years ago" since President Obama's first half-year was "hell on earth." He aired his liberal points early Wednesday morning at the Democratic National Convention.

 "This whole mixed picture we've been getting about is America better off than it was four years ago, would it have been more honest for everyone to get together and say look, here's the reality: 'We're better off than we were three and a half years ago, but for the first half of that first year it was hell on earth'," he posed to his Democratic guests former governors Bill Richardson (N.M.) and Ed Rendell (Penn.).

By Ken Shepherd | September 5, 2012 | 1:43 AM EDT

Last week, MSNBC steadfastly refused to dip into a speech by newly-minted Republican and former Rep. Artur Davis (Ala.), who just four years ago was not only a Democrat but an Obama campaign co-chair.

But on Tuesday night, MSNBC showed in full the speech of Maria Ciano, whom anchor Rachel Maddow tagged a "former Republican talking about her conversion to Democratic politics, particularly on the issue of choice." Ciano launched into a misleading, error-laden diatribe, which of course was NOT fact-checked by MSNBC panelists afterward. Also left unmentioned was that Ciano has been a Democrat since at least two years prior to Obama's election to the presidency. From the conservative Power Line blog [emphasis mine]