Libya

Mika Mocks Rubio: 'That's a Little Boy' Compared to Hillary
By Mark Finkelstein | April 14, 2015 | 9:21 AM EDT

Can you imagine if in 2008 a prominent conservative media member had said that Barack Obama looked like a "little boy" compared to John McCain?  The echoes of liberal outrage would still be resounding today.

But there was Mika Brzezinski on today's Morning Joe saying of Marco Rubio "that's a little boy." Mika made the invidious comparison to Hillary's service as senator, First Lady and Secretary of State.  Scoffed Joe Scarborough: "hearing this from two people [Mika and Donny Deutsch] that worshipped Barack Obama in 2008 is laughable."

ABC, CBS Fail to Cover Benghazi Committee’s Request for Meeting with Hillary Clinton Over E-Mails
By Curtis Houck | March 31, 2015 | 9:01 PM EDT

On Tuesday night, ABC and CBS declined to cover the latest in the Hillary Clinton e-mail scandal as the House Select Committee on Benghazi requested a private meeting with the former Secretary of State while a separate deadline concerning her e-mail server approaches. Days after the committee requested Clinton turn her private e-mail server over to an independent party for review, the panel looking into the deadly 2012 terrorist attack in Libya wants Clinton to sit for a private interview in addition to a public hearing by May 1 at the latest.

Thanks, Hillary! Morning Joe's Middle East a Smoking Ruin
By Mark Finkelstein | March 23, 2015 | 11:22 AM EDT

Warning: readers are advised to hide the sharp objects before viewing the clip of Morning Joe's review of the Middle East today.  The picture painted is one of the utter failure of US foreign policy, leaving a devastated, deadly region in its woeful wake.

We open with President Obama's "mission accomplished" moment from last year in which he called US policy in Yemen "successful." Cut to Jim Miklaszewski saying that the White House had to order US special forces out of the country, leaving us with absolutely no leverage. Then to Iraq, where two experts say Iraq as a country is finished and falling under the hand of Iran's radical Quds forces.  On to Israel, where even Richard Engel chides President Obama for the churlish way he has perpetuated his public spat with Bibi. Donny Deutsch sounds a political note, observing that many Dem-leaning Jews—including big donors—side with Bibi, thus presenting Hillary with a big challenge for 2016. 

MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' Invites Conservative from NR To Proclaim Libya a 'Bipartisan Scandal'
By Bryan Ballas | March 10, 2015 | 6:17 AM EDT

MSNBC is not known for its showcasing conservative voices. When conservatives are invited, they are ruthlessly grilled and struggle to get a word in edgewise. With this in mind, it was surprising to see Andrew McCarthy of National Review on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. Even more surprising was his comments on Benghazi and Hillary Clinton’s email scandal.

Willie Geist got to the heart of the discussion by asking McCarthy what his stake was in Clinton email controversy, “Is this about security? Is it about accountability and transparency?”

Andrea Mitchell Says Clinton 'Partisans' Dismissed Benghazi 'Witch Hunt' – So Did She
By Kyle Drennen | March 6, 2015 | 5:23 PM EST

On Friday, MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell observed that the Republican-led Benghazi investigation gained credibility in the wake of the Hillary Clinton email scandal that it uncovered: "Well, the Benghazi investigation by the Select Committee was viewed by many as overkill. That it had all been cleared up back two years ago. And the fact is that some people, certainly the partisans for Hillary Clinton, thought it was a witch hunt. Now they [Republicans] can say, with some legitimacy, 'We didn't have all the emails.'"

AP's Dilanian Fails to Report 'Worst in 45 Years' Statement in Clapper's Threat Testimony
By Tom Blumer | February 26, 2015 | 11:12 PM EST

At the Associated Press late Thursday morning, Ken Dilanian, the wire service's intelligence writer, did a marvelous job of covering up the essence of Director of National Intelligence James Clapper's Worldwide Threat Assessment testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The trouble is that if he were doing his job as our Founders anticipated he would when they gave the nation's press extraordinary and then unheard-of freedoms, he would have covered the story instead of covering it up.

Shock: NBC Expert Points Out That Jihadis Aren't Necessarily 'Disaffected' or 'Unemployed'
By Matthew Balan | February 20, 2015 | 8:40 PM EST

Friday's NBC Nightly News surprisingly (and perhaps, unwittingly) contradicted President Obama and his administration's talking point on combating extremism – that providing "job opportunities for these people" will discourage Muslims from joining terrorist groups. Correspondent Katy Tur's report on three British teenagers who may have traveled to Syria to join ISIS featured a counterterrorism expert who underlined that "they're not the disaffected. They're not necessarily unemployed youth. Instead, we're seeing educated young women who are engaged in politics."

The Atlantic's Wood: Obama 'Doesn't...Have the Authority' to Authenticate ISIS
By Matthew Balan | February 19, 2015 | 3:57 PM EST

Anderson Cooper spotlighted The Atlantic's Graeme Wood's thorough article on ISIS on his Wednesday program. Cooper wondered, "President Obama...said we're at war with people who have perverted Islam. The question, though, is: is that really true?" The anchor asked Wood about Mr. Obama's statement, and he gave a blunt reply: "Well, you know, he doesn't really have the authority to say that. I don't think any non-Muslim, really, has the authority to say that, or to convince others that that's the case."

NBC’s Richard Engel Rips Obama’s ISIS Strategy; ‘Not a Problem That Can Be Droned Away’
By Curtis Houck | February 19, 2015 | 3:30 AM EST

While his fellow network news colleagues all but ignored any criticism of President Obama’s speech on Wednesday afternoon and his avoidance of using the term Islamic extremism, NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel ripped the current U.S. strategy for defeating ISIS during NBC Nightly News. “ISIS is spreading like a virus and months of U.S.-led air strikes don't seem to be containing it,” declared Engel at the onset of his report.

Obama Admin Officials to New Yorker Mag: Libyan Chaos Is GOP's Fault
By Tom Blumer | February 17, 2015 | 10:45 PM EST

In a rundown of the deteriorating situation in Libya in its February 23 issue, New Yorker Magazine's Jon Lee Anderson quoted "a senior (Obama) Administration official" (the capital "A" is Anderson's) who, incredibly, claimed that the country's descent into virtual chaos resulted from "the politicization" of the September 11, 2012 terrorist attack which killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three others.

You see, because of that alleged politicization, Team Obama-Hillary claims that it, in the Administration official's words, "reduced our geographic scope and presence in the country," and, in Anderson's words, that it "wound down its diplomatic presence and essentially abandoned its role" there. A "senior Administration official" chimed in with how Benghazi "brought a 'broader chill'" to U.S. efforts.

Only NBC Mentions Criticism of Obama Following ISIS Expansion Into Libya
By Kyle Drennen | February 17, 2015 | 3:42 PM EST

Of all the broadcast network coverage Monday evening and Tuesday morning of ISIS terrorists beheading twenty-one Christians in Libya, only one reference was made on NBC's Today to President Obama's failed policy in Libya providing an opening to the Islamic extremists.

Barnicle: We Can't Call It Radical Islam 'Because We're The Crusaders'
By Mark Finkelstein | February 17, 2015 | 7:23 AM EST

Mike Barnicle: proud member of the Barack Obama "terrible deeds in the name of Christ" school of moral blindness . . . 

Joe Scarborough opened today's Morning Joe with a protracted and impassioned plea for America—and in particular President Obama—to call out radical Islam by name. Mika Brzezinski was dubious, citing unspecified "difficult times" in the past when presidents used the wrong language. But taking Mika's misgivings a giant step further, Mike Barnicle flatly declared that we can't call radical Islam by name because "we're the Crusaders."