MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews escalated his rage over Benjamin Netanyahu's address to Congress, Tuesday, hinting that the Israeli prime minister delivered what amounts to a coup. Appearing on his cable network for analysis, Matthews darkly warned, "This man from a foreign government walked into the United States legislative chamber and tried to take over U.S. foreign policy."
Israel/Palestine
By Mark Finkelstein | March 3, 2015 | 12:53 PM EST
In today's speech, Benjamin Netanyahu took a not-so-subtle shot at John Kerry: will the MSM notice? The Israeli PM otherwise went out of his way to be bi-partisan, finding ways to praise President Obama and even Harry Reid.
But Kerry came in for a stinging swipe when Netanyahu said "last year, the same [Iranian foreign minister] Zarif, who charms Western diplomats, laid a wreath at the grave of Imad Mughniyeh. Imad Mughniyeh is the terrorist mastermind who spilled more American blood [at the Beirut Marine barracks bombing] than any other terrorist besides Osama bin Laden. I'd like to see someone ask him a question about that." Wonder just which Western diplomat Bibi had in mind, John? And Netanyahu threw down the gauntlet: do you dare raise the issue with Zarif next time you go for a stroll with him?
By Matthew Balan | March 3, 2015 | 12:49 PM EST
Moments after Benjamin Netanyahu finished his speech to Congress on Tuesday, liberal CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour asserted that Israeli prime minister was hyping the threat of a nuclear Iran, and likened him to a famous movie character: "It was a very dark, Strangelovian speech painting a picture of a really dystopian world, raising the specter...of a genocidal regime spraying nuclear weapons to annihilate the whole world and the whole region."
By Ken Shepherd | March 2, 2015 | 8:27 PM EST
Informing Hardball viewers of something host Chris Matthews would never tell them, moderately-conservative columnist Kathleen Parker on Monday gave some much-needed context to why Speaker John Boehner did not extensively consult with the White House prior to inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address the Congress.
By Randy Hall | March 2, 2015 | 7:17 PM EST
Ever since House Speaker John Boehner in mid-January invited Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's current prime minister, to speak before both chambers of Congress on Tuesday, March 3, the White House and most members of the press have slammed the fact that the Ohio Republican didn't consult the president before extending the offer, which many Democrats and White House officials have interpreted as an effort to undermine Obama's diplomatic negotiations with Iran.
However, the months of relentless attacks have instead boosted Netanyahu's favorability rating in America, where nearly twice as many people view Israel's leader positively (45 percent) as negatively (24 percent).
By David Limbaugh | March 2, 2015 | 7:05 PM EST
The Obama White House is in full war mode against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of our best ally in the Middle East, for accepting House Speaker John Boehner's invitation to speak before Congress, while it mollycoddles that region's most dangerous nation, Iran.
No one crosses Obama without facing his wrath. No one dares. He is the president.
By Kyle Drennen | March 2, 2015 | 12:00 PM EST
Introducing a one-sided report on Monday's NBC Today that featured no criticism of President Obama, co-host Savannah Guthrie proclaimed: "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has arrived ahead of a controversial speech to Congress tomorrow. And that visit at the invitation of Republicans is threatening to further strain the Obama administration's relations with Israel."
Greta Van Susteren Roasts Rice and the Obama Administration Over Describing Netanyahu's Upcoming Speech as 'Destructive'
By Tom Blumer | February 26, 2015 | 11:20 AM EST Wednesday night, Fox News's Greta Van Susteren sharply criticized Susan Rice for her Tuesday comment about Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's impending March 3 speech to Congress, namely that "On both sides, there has now been injected a degree of partisanship, which is not only unfortunate, but I think it's destructive of the fabric of the relationship." To be clear, Rice is not freelancing. Wednesday afternoon, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters that "what she said was entirely consistent with what the President said publicly before."
This was too much for Van Susteren, who needed only 45 seconds of the 90-second clip which follows to rattle off a half-dozen examples of how the Obama administration's conduct has been "destructive" to the U.S.-Israel relationship.
By Ken Shepherd | February 25, 2015 | 8:29 PM EST
Hardball host Chris Matthews devoted the first 11 minutes of his February 25 program to rehashing tired, discredited talking points about the upcoming March 3 speech to a joint session of Congress by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
By Ken Shepherd | February 18, 2015 | 8:21 PM EST
Railing against Speaker Boehner's decision to invite Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress on his concerns about Iran, Hardball host Chris Matthews sneered that the Ohio Republican essentially attempted to "sneak" the Israeli Prime Minister into the country with the president completely unawares, and that all to curry favor with "crazy right-wing" evangelical Christians.
But of course the facts conflict with Matthews's simplistic narrative.
By Kyle Drennen | February 12, 2015 | 12:05 PM EST
As CBS mourned the loss of veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Bob Simon after he was killed in a car accident on Wednesday, Thursday's CBS This Morning invited CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley to share his thoughts on the late journalist. While eulogizing his longtime friend and colleague, Pelley took an odd turn when he praised Simon's advocacy, not objectivity: "Bob had a sharp intolerance for injustice and he had equal-opportunity rage for every injustice committed in every corner of this Earth."
By Kyle Drennen | February 9, 2015 | 4:52 PM EST
Minutes after President Obama took a jab at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a Monday press conference, MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell cheered the put-down: "...he was asked about this very controversial visit by Benjamin Netanyahu two weeks before an Israeli election....And the President very pointedly said, 'We have this protocol. We don't invite leaders. If Angela Merkel had an election in two weeks she wouldn't be here right now and my bet is that she wouldn't have asked to come.' Take that, Bibi."