Appointments

CBS Brings On Anita Hill to Tout New Documentary, Slam Clarence Thomas
By Jeffrey Meyer | March 13, 2014 | 10:54 AM EDT

More than 20 years after Anita Hill tried to wreck the Supreme Court confirmation of Clarence Thomas with unsubstantiated sexual-harassment claims, CBS This Morning brought her on to hype a new documentary simply titled “Anita.”

During the interview on Thursday, all three CBS hosts treated Ms. Hill to a softball interview and allowed her to uncritically slam Justice Thomas throughout the entire segment. Co-host Gayle King hyped how Hill “because of you, Anita Hill that girls today know sexual harassment is not okay and they can do something about it.” [See video below.]

Democrat Governor Cuomo Hires MSNBC Republican Susan Del Percio
By Paul Bremmer | March 12, 2014 | 9:43 AM EDT

The New York Daily News reported Tuesday that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) has hired Republican strategist and MSNBC contributor Susan Del Percio as a “special advisor to the governor, focusing on operations and special projects.”

At first glance, it might seem odd that a Democratic governor would hire a GOP strategist, but given Del Percio’s track record on the Lean Forward network, it’s really not that surprising. Del Percio is a classic MSNBC Republican – moderate, generally in agreement with her more liberal colleagues, and often willing -- at times eagerly -- to attack the more conservative members of her own party.

MSNBC's Carmon Tweets 'Et Tu, Sotomayor' in Reax to Justice's Obamacare Contraception Injunction
By Tom Blumer | January 2, 2014 | 8:21 AM EST

Apparently, "I will think before I tweet" should be on Irin Carmon's New Year's resolution list. Her failure to do so shortly before the ball dropped in Times Square signaling the beginning of 2014 has caused her considerable embarrassment.

On Tuesday, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued an injunction which "temporarily prevented(the government) from enforcing contraceptive coverage requirements (in Obamacare) against the Denver-based Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged." MSNBC Digital National Reporter Carmon then proceeded to compare the "wise Latina" to the man who betrayed Julius Caesar (HT Twitchy):

In NPR Interview, Harry Reid Whacks 'Extreme Right Wing' Black Female Judge
By Tim Graham | November 28, 2013 | 6:47 AM EST

On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid showed up for a phone interview on The Diane Rehm Show on NPR to discuss shredding the filibuster for presidential appointees. A very polite Rehm asked if this might make partisanship worse.

“I'm sorry to smile, as you can't see on radio, but more dysfunction? I mean, gee whiz,” Reid replied. But underneath the Nevada-nice routine came an attack out of nowhere on black libertarian judge Janice Rogers Brown as one of the “extreme right wing people” the Senate confirmed in the Bush years.

ABC, NBC Minimize Senate Democrats Dropping Nuclear Option, Tout 'Bold Move'
By Matthew Balan | November 22, 2013 | 4:16 PM EST

ABC's Good Morning America and NBC's Today on Friday did their best to downplay Senate Democrats' Thursday move to curtail the Republican Party's filibuster power. The two newscasts devoted a combined 39 seconds to the controversial vote, which ABC's Dan Harris labeled a "bold move". GMA apparently thought the potential marriage of serial killer Charles Manson was more important, as it devoted over two minutes of air time to that eyebrow-raising story. [audio of the ABC and NBC coverage available here; video below the jump]

By contrast, Friday's CBS This Morning spent nearly three minutes on the "historic change in the Senate", as Norah O'Donnell put it. O'Donnell also wondered, "Will Democrats regret invoking the nuclear option?"

AP's Sherman Effectively Labels Anthony Kennedy a 'Conservative' As Supremes Allow Texas Law to Stand
By Tom Blumer | November 19, 2013 | 10:18 PM EST

Never one to let facts get in the way of the proabort narrative, Mark Sherman at the Associated Press characterized today's 5-4 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to allow Texas's abortion law to stand while on appeal as one rendered by "the court's conservative majority."

Really? Anthony Kennedy is one of the justices in the critical "Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), which reaffirmed in principle (though without many details) the Roe v. Wade decision recognizing the right to abortion under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment." That's hardly "conservative," though Sherman at least applied the "liberal" label to the four dissenters. Excerpts follow the jump (bolds are mine):

Andrea Mitchell Frets Unpopular Obama Can't 'Frighten' GOP Anymore
By Kyle Drennen | October 31, 2013 | 5:50 PM EDT

On her 1 p.m. ET MSNBC show on Thursday, host Andrea Mitchell whined about Senate Republicans blocking some of the President's recent nominees and worried about the impact of Obama's sagging poll numbers: "...in terms of presidential power, polls affect votes....this is diminishing the President's clout, when he can't frighten – you know, have enough political weight to frighten everybody into line to try to peel off some Republican votes." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

Noting that one of the nominees was sitting Congressman Mel Watt, NBC senior political editor Mark Murray warned: "You know, this something where we've often seen filibusters, we've seen nominations being blocked, but this is getting into very rare territory here."

Harvard Historian Niall Ferguson Schools Morning Joe Panel on Obama and Budget Negotiations
By Paul Bremmer | October 10, 2013 | 5:40 PM EDT

British historian Niall Ferguson brought a breath of fresh air to the set of MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Thursday, effortlessly cutting through the show’s typical left-wing spin.

Co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski were engaged in their new favorite pastime – slamming Ted Cruz and other GOP “extremists” – when Ferguson jumped in and suggested that President Obama may also be culpable in the current budget impasse: [See video below.]

The Hill's Baker Hints Conservative Justices Opposed to Thwarting Corruption
By Ken Shepherd | October 8, 2013 | 4:58 PM EDT

Ideologically-driven conservatives on the Supreme Court seem determined to nix a campaign contribution limit in the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, thus dealing a blow to the fight against corruption of American politics.

That's the implication of The Hill's Sam Baker in his report, "Justices clash over campaign finance law," published shortly after the Court heard oral arguments this morning in McCutcheon v. FEC (emphasis mine):

CBS Hypes Obama's Restaurant Tip; Ignores 'Little Progress' With Women in Cabinet
By Matthew Balan | August 26, 2013 | 4:26 PM EDT

Anthony Mason played up President Obama's $89 restaurant tip on Monday's CBS This Morning, underlining that "when it comes to tips, President Obama is tops." However, the network has yet to cover a Monday story from the New York Times that pointed out the "uncomfortable reality for the White House: the administration has named no more women to high-level executive branch posts than the Clinton administration." [audio clip available here; video below the jump]

In fact, none of the Big Three networks have covered writer Annie Lowery's scoop on the air, which cited critics of the President from the left on the issue of the administration's Cabinet gender gap.

Howard Dean in WSJ: IPAB 'Essentially a Health-care Rationing Body'; Will He Share Palin's 2009 'Lie of the Year' Award?
By Tom Blumer | July 30, 2013 | 12:52 AM EDT

Sarah Palin, call your office. PolitiFact, you've been refuted again.

In the later sections of a Wall Street Journal column on Sunday (in Monday's print edition), former Vermont Governor and unsuccessful 2004 Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean wrote in opposition (HT Twitchy) to Obamacare's Independent Payment Advisory Board, calling it "essentially a health-care rationing body." We'll let former Alaska Governor Palin take it from there with her August 7, 2009 Facebook post (bolds are mine throughout this post):

Yet Another Federal Court Rebukes Obama for Unconstitutional Appointments, Nets Fail to Report
By Ken Shepherd | July 18, 2013 | 7:10 PM EDT

Back in May I noted that the Big Three broadcast networks failed to report on the Third Court Court of Appeals issued a ruling invalidating an Obama recess appointment that was made when the Senate was technically in session. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals made a similar ruling in late January.

Well, yesterday, a third federal court, this time the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, rebuked the president for unconstitutional recess appointments, as Tal Kopan of Politico reported here. Yet once again, the liberal broadcast news media showed absolutely no interest in the development, censoring the story from their July 17 evening newscasts and July 18 morning news programs.