Appearing exclusively on Sunday’s Meet the Press, Chuck Todd repeatedly pressed Speaker Paul Ryan to denounce conservative radio talk show hosts Laura Ingraham and Mark Levin over their criticism of the recently-passed omnibus bill and Todd demanded to know how he’ll work with President Obama to “lay the groundwork” to end political polarization. Todd asked, of the talk show hosts, whether their “rhetoric is inappropriate” or “[o]ut of line?”
Congress
NYT's New Respect for GOP's Ryan for 'Deftness in Pacifying Rebellious Conservatives'...and for Big Spending Hike
By Clay Waters | December 19, 2015 | 8:02 PM EST The lead story in Saturday's New York Times heaped praise upon the passage of a package of spending increases: “Avoiding Rancor, Congress Passes A Fiscal Package -- $1.8 Trillion Measure – Spending Rise and New Tax Breaks Suggest End of Austerity." This big-spending budget earned Ryan some strange new respect, with reporter David Herszenhorn praising his “deftness in pacifying rebellious conservatives.” A copy editor gave Ryan a pat on the back in a text box: “A successful effort by Republicans to show that they can govern effectively.”
Washington Monthly Blogger: ‘Gun Nuts’ Too ‘Irrational’ to Understand Meaning of Reagan Assassination Attempt
By Tom Johnson | December 18, 2015 | 11:02 AM EST Starting with the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007, several mass shootings have brought about considerable debate regarding restrictions on access to firearms for the mentally ill. D.R. Tucker argued last Sunday that denying guns to “deranged individuals” should have been a special cause for conservatives long before -- specifically, since March 1981, when John Hinckley tried to assassinate President Reagan.
“You’d figure that the folks who worship Reagan like he’s a second Jesus would have been so shocked by the attempted murder of their hero that they would join progressives in calling for comprehensive gun reform, to make sure no deranged person could ever do something like this again,” wrote Tucker. “Of course, you’d figure wrong.”
Bloggers: Global-Warming Deniers Are Traitors to the Planet, Paris Deal ‘One of the Great Triumphs in History’
By Tom Johnson | December 15, 2015 | 4:55 PM EST When it comes to global warming, Esquire’s Charles Pierce implies, it’s now conservative Republicans and a few hidebound Democrats versus pretty much everyone and everything else, including the world’s non-human animals and its plant life. Meanwhile, New York magazine’s Jonathan Chait opined that the Paris climate deal was “probably the [Obama] administration’s most important accomplishment."
By Curtis Houck | December 15, 2015 | 2:50 AM EST
In what may be the worst series of attacks by the liberal media on Ted Cruz, Monday’s Nightly Show on Comedy Central featured host Larry Wilmore declaring that the “creepy” Cruz may be mentally disturbed with guest Aida Rodriguez firmly asserting that, if elected, Cruz’s agenda would be to “do everything the KKK does.”
By Tom Blumer | December 11, 2015 | 5:37 PM EST
For a change, Martin Crutsinger's coverage at the Associated Press of the federal government's November Monthly Treasury Statement wasn't completely full of rose-colored baloney.
Crutsinger managed to note how auto-pilot entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare are bankrupting the country (not in those words, of course). That said, he somehow thought that highlighting a rare and small increase in year-over-year defense spending was worthwhile, while ignoring several other larger percentage increases in other areas. Most importantly, he failed to note that the national debt has increased by far more than Uncle Sam's reported deficits. Excerpts follow the jump (bolds and numbered tags are mine):
By Tom Blumer | December 8, 2015 | 3:53 PM EST
In the debate over whether persons whose names are on the "no-fly list" should be denied their constitutional right to purchase a gun, one quite predictable thing has happened. Now that President Barack Obama has come out in favor of such a move in a nationally televised speech — to the point of wondering "What could possibly be the argument?" for opposing him — The ACLU, which 5 years ago strongly opposed it in official congressional testimony, is now trying to appear noncommittal while paying lip service to due-process rights.
That was to be expected, as the ACLU is largely funded by wealthy leftist donors who strongly support curtailing Second Amendment rights, due process be damned. What has literally come out of far-left field as a pigs-must-be-flying surprise is an editorial in the Los Angeles Times which opposes Obama on this issue.
CNN Split; Political Analysts Praise Obama Speech as Foreign Panelists Pan His ‘Self-Congratulation’
By Curtis Houck | December 7, 2015 | 2:38 AM EST Following President Obama’s Sunday night address, the always large post-event panel on CNN had plenty to say, but it was quite the disconnect as many of their political commentators hailed the “straightforward” speech by the President while two of their foreign policy analysts panned the President’s “self-congratulation” and having “his head...in the clouds if he thinks this current strategy is going to succeed.”
By Curtis Houck | December 6, 2015 | 4:48 PM EST
Center for American Progress (CAP) President Neera Tanden joined CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday morning as part of the panel and encouraged President Obama to use part of his Oval Office speech later in the day to denounce Republicans for their “continual language....to target Muslims” which she argued the GOP’s so-called Islamophobia “is exactly what ISIS wants.”
By Brad Wilmouth | December 5, 2015 | 11:49 PM EST
On Friday's CNN Newsroom, CNN host Carol Costello gave gun control activist Andy Parker his latest forum to aim over the top vitriol at opponents of gun control as he asserted that two Republican congressmen were behaving in a "treasonous" manner and are "aiding and abetting terrorists" by blocking new gun laws.
Costello only mildly pushed back against Parker's incendiary statements, which again highlighted her double standard in being more contentious toward guests with a more conservative view, but soft on those with a liberal view on the issue, as demonstrated previously on Thursday's show.
By Matthew Balan | December 4, 2015 | 7:35 PM EST
On Friday, the CBS This Morning anchors badgered Marco Rubio on his opposition to gun control. Gayle King touted Obama's words on the issue: "The President said...that it's far too easy for people to get weapons, and that we need to figure out a way to make it harder for them. In this particular case...it wouldn't have made a difference. But there are so many other cases it seems...that it would have made a difference." King later wondered, "What about the freedom of Americans to go to the mall; to go to church; to go to school?"
By Curtis Houck | December 4, 2015 | 1:07 AM EST
Moments before Daily Show host Trevor Noah went on a tirade Thursday night calling Ted Cruz “an asshole” and comparing him to a skunk, the liberal late-night comic admitted that the “feel[s] bad” for President Obama because “[h]e has been begging for gun control for six years” to no success supposedly because of Republican Senators.