2012 Republican Convention

Colby King: GOP Only Has Blacks at Conventions to Sing 'God Bless America' or Lead Prayers
By Noel Sheppard | September 1, 2012 | 12:19 AM EDT

After Yahoo's Washington bureau chief was fired Wednesday for saying the Romneys are "happy to have a party with black people drowning," you would think media members would be more careful accusing Republicans of racism.

Apparently not, for on PBS's Inside Washington Friday, Colby King, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post columnist, actually said Republicans "always have African-Americans on the [convention] podium. Either it’s somebody singing 'God Bless America,' or praying, you know, before or after" (video follows with transcript and commentary, file photo):

MSNBC's Touré Neblett Reacts to Ryan's Speech: For Women and Minorities, 'Our Rights Do Not Come From God or Nature'
By Tom Blumer | August 31, 2012 | 9:32 PM EDT

Near the end of his Wednesday night speech at the Republican National Convention, vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan told his audience and the nation that "sometimes, even presidents need reminding, that our rights come from nature and God, not from government."

John Hayward at Human Events noted that MSNBC's Touré Neblett did not handle Ryan's self-evident assertion very well. In fact, Thursday morning, Toure went into a bit of a tirade:

Chris Matthews Admits to Verbally Accosting GOP Delegates at Restaurant
By Matthew Sheffield | August 31, 2012 | 8:54 PM EDT

Just hours after a producer for deranged MSNBC host Chris Matthews was accused of physically assaulting Republicans outside the party’s national convention last night, Matthews himself has admitted to verbally confronting several GOP delegates at a restaurant in Tampa, Florida calling them a “douchebag convention.”

According to The Hill newspaper, the perpetually angry liberal television host confronted the delegates early Friday morning following taunting questions they asked about whether he felt “thrilled” following GOP nominee Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech.

To the 'Fact-Checkers': This Is What Lies About Auto Plant Closings Look Like
By Tom Blumer | August 31, 2012 | 6:39 PM EDT

This afternoon, NB's Kyle Drennen did a great job of runnng down the pathetic contention by establishment press "fact-checkers" that vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan somehow lied or misled viewers during his speech Wednesday night concerning the closure of the General Motors plant in Janesville, Wisconsin and what presidential candidate Barack Obama said at the plant in 2008.

No, WaPo, New York Times, and the Associated Press (called out by Ed Morrissey at Hot Air), the plant didn't close before Obama was elected; it closed in April 2009. But since we're on the topic of lies about auto plant shutdowns, let's look at one from late April and early May 2009 told by President Barack Obama himself with the assistance of his car czars and other apparatchiks. I blogged about this in mid-May 2009. My full post, which also appeared at NewsBusters, includes noting non-existent national press coverage (only the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Stephen Koff and other local reporters in the towns affected raised their voices). 

NYT's Calmes Elevates Liberal 'Fact-Checking': GOP 'Falsehoods' Have 'Reached a Level Not Typically Seen'
By Clay Waters | August 31, 2012 | 4:16 PM EDT

White House reporter Jackie Calmes talked to Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod for a strong hit of Republican Convention bashing in her Friday New York Times story "Obama Team Sharpens Attacks on Rivals' Character." Calmes cited liberal media analysis to bolster her contention that even "independent fact-checkers" think the Republicans are lying.

As the Obama campaign heads into its convention next week, Democrats see openings both to fill in unpopular details of Mitt Romney’s agenda left unsaid by Republicans in Tampa this week and to raise new questions about Mr. Romney’s character after widespread criticism of misstatements by him and his running mate, Paul D. Ryan.

Desperate Media Scramble to Call Paul Ryan a Liar Ignores the Facts
By Kyle Drennen | August 31, 2012 | 4:00 PM EDT

Immediately after Paul Ryan concluded his acceptance speech for the Republican Party's vice presidential nomination on Wednesday, the media sought ways to tear down the Wisconsin Congressman's indictment of the failures of the Obama administration. In particular, networks and newspapers attempted to knock down Ryan's accurate claim that President Obama promised to keep open a GM plant that closed in 2009.    

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and PolitiFact quickly labeled Ryan's criticism as "false," claiming Obama made no such promise and that the plant closed before he took office. But as The Examiner's Conn Carroll detailed on Thursday, that supposed "fact check" was false:

New York Times News Headline: 'Ryan's Speech Contained a Litany of Falsehoods'
By Clay Waters | August 31, 2012 | 2:47 PM EDT

The latest entry in the media's obsession with picayune and partisan "fact-checking" of the Republican National Convention: New York Times reporter Michael Cooper's Friday "Check Point," "Facts Take a Beating In Acceptance Speeches." The original web headline was ridiculously partisan for a news story: "Ryan's Speech Contained a Litany of Falsehoods."

Representative Paul D. Ryan used his convention speech on Wednesday to fault President Obama for failing to act on a deficit-reduction plan that he himself had helped kill. He chided Democrats for seeking $716 billion in Medicare cuts that he too had sought. And he lamented the nation’s credit rating -- which was downgraded after a debt-ceiling standoff that he and other House Republicans helped instigate.

Witnesses: MSNBC Producer Assaulted Chris Matthews Heckler for ‘Tingle’ Taunt
By Matthew Sheffield | August 31, 2012 | 12:50 PM EDT

As the presidential campaign season has moved along, veteran Democratic strategist-turned MSNBC host Chris Matthews has become increasingly vocal in expressing his hatred for Republicans and adoration for President Barack Obama. That tension must be rubbing off on his staff members since one of them, a producer, is now accused of assaulting two men at the Republican National Convention last night over taunts they made to Matthews.

The alleged incident began after two men, presumably supporters of GOP nominee Mitt Romney, began heckling the deranged MSNBC anchor about his now famous remark (first exposed by NewsBusters) that listening to an Obama speech gave him a "thrill going up my leg."

NYT Admits MSNBC's Liberal Bent, But Falsely Claims NBC's Chuck Todd, Brian Williams, Andrea Mitchell Stay Neutral
By Clay Waters | August 31, 2012 | 12:33 PM EDT

New York Times "TV Watch" columnist Alessandra Stanley focused Friday on MSNBC's embarrassingly partisan coverage of the Republican National Convention and tried to contrast it with the struggle of NBC's more objective reporters to remain above the fray: "MSNBC, Arch Counterprogramming to Fox." The online head was more interesting: "How MSNBC Became Fox’s Liberal Evil Twin." Stanley even accused MSNBC host Chris Matthews of "thuggish" behavior in an interview with a female Republican governor.

But do NBC reporters Andrea Mitchell and Chuck Todd (or anchor Brian Williams) really "keep their opinions to themselves" as Stanley claims? Hardly. In fact, they fit in quite well with the liberal partisans at MSNBC.

NBC News Doesn't Consider Thursday Evening Speech by Staples Founder All That 'Notable'
By Ken Shepherd | August 31, 2012 | 11:07 AM EDT

Once again the folks at NBC News have "curated some of the notable speeches" from a night at the GOP convention. As I noted here and here, NBC left out some compelling speeches by minority politicians who started out in life as Democrats. This time, among the speeches that didn't make the cut was that of Tom Stemberg, the founder of Staples. Staples is one of the wildest success stories of Bain Capital, the much-maligned private equity firm that Mitt Romney co-founded.

In his brief speech, Stemberg praised Romney's tenure at Bain and blasted the Obama/Democratic Senate's handling of the economy:

NBC's Todd and Brokaw: Romney Looking 'Backwards' to Less 'Inclusive' Past
By Geoffrey Dickens | August 31, 2012 | 2:15 AM EDT

Just moments after Mitt Romney finished his acceptance speech, NBC’s Tom Brokaw and Chuck Todd painted the GOP nominee as a backwards-looking candidate who was going back to the GOP’s “extreme” and less “inclusive” past.

On NBC’s live coverage of Thursday’s Republican National Convention, Brokaw recalled covering Romney’s father and observed that while George Romney “fought” to make the GOP “more moderate,” “less extreme” and “more inclusive” his son was becoming  “much more conservative.” For his part, Todd thought Romney’s speech was full of “optimistic nostalgia” and “return to” phrases that reminded him of failed ‘96 GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole’s acceptance speech that looked “backwards.” Todd added: “I think the Obama folks are gonna be responsive to that.” (video after the jump)

NBC Does It Again: Runs Commercials Instead of First Three Minutes of Marco Rubio
By Geoffrey Dickens | August 31, 2012 | 12:18 AM EDT

NBC news, during its live Thursday night coverage of the RNC,  skipped the first two-minutes and 50 seconds of Marco Rubio’s speech, as they joined the Florida Senator’s speech in progress after a commercial break. Viewers of NBC missed Rubio’s call for “prayers that soon freedom and liberty” will arrive in Cuba and recalling his grandfather’s inspiring message that: “There was no limit in how far I could go because I was an American.”

This wasn't the first time NBC snubbed a conservative minority during this year's RNC. On Wednesday, its cable channel broadcast the speeches of only one minority Republican speaker, South Carolina governor Nikki Haley. While he was speaking, former House member Artur Davis was derided by MSNBC's Rachel Maddow as "a lower profile speaker" despite the fact that he had switched parties and was President Obama's first major endorser not from Illinois.