Dana Milbank of The Washington Post was one of the many liberals in the media who were elated that House Republicans caved in to President Obama’s demand to increase the debt limit with no offsetting spending cuts or concessions on ObamaCare. Milbank was so gleeful, in fact, that he brought a blueberry pie onto the set of Tuesday’s PoliticsNation on MSNBC to celebrate with host Al Sharpton.
But Milbank warned the reverend not to get too excited, explaining:
National Debt
By Paul Bremmer | February 12, 2014 | 5:47 PM EST
By Kyle Drennen | February 12, 2014 | 2:57 PM EST
At the top of MSNBC's Daily Rundown on Wednesday, host and NBC political director Chuck Todd triumphantly declared: "What a difference a shutdown makes. Picking their poison, Republican leaders retreat on the debt limit, handing President Obama a victory....Are we done with the days of the debt ceiling being wielded as a political weapon?" [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]
Minutes later, Todd rhetorically wondered: "Does this mean the budget wars are over, or are we in at least a cease-fire, and who won?" He concluded: "...the President stuck to his guns on this. He stood firm and forced this scenario, making it much more difficult for Republicans to use the debt ceiling as a political weapon."
Networks Applaud GOP Caving on Debt Ceiling: 'America One Step Closer to Being Able to Pay Its Bills'
By Kyle Drennen | February 12, 2014 | 10:45 AM EST
All three network morning shows on Wednesday cheered House Republicans giving up on trying to attach conditions to raising the nation's borrowing limit. On NBC's Today, news reader Natalie Morales proclaimed: "America is one step closer to being able to pay its bills next month." None of the coverage acknowledged that the move actually meant adding to the nation's massive $17 trillion debt without making any effort to reduce government spending. [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]
On ABC's Good Morning America, co-host George Stephanopoulos touted "some good news coming out of Washington" as the "debt limit finally passed without real controversy." White House correspondent Jon Karl gushed: "Yeah, this was a really big deal. Republicans completely backed down on this. No strings attached, did exactly what President Obama asked them to do..." Stephanopoulos added: "First time in three years."
By Tom Blumer | December 31, 2013 | 9:36 AM EST
One thing the establishment press will not be celebrating this evening as we head into 2014 is the fact that they have been unable to convince the American people that the economy has been and will continue to be on the rebound.
A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll released on Friday, which "oddly enough" (no, not really) is not being touted at ORC's related press release web page, shows that 68 percent of Americans believe the economy is in poor shape. Over half expect the economy to be in that condition a year from now. This came as somewhat of a surprise to Lucy McCalmont at the Politico and Gregory Wallace at CNNMoney.com.
By Matthew Balan | December 13, 2013 | 1:03 PM EST
Norah O'Donnell and Charlie Rose predictably conducted a hostile interview of Senator Marco Rubio on Friday's CBS This Morning, badgering the Republican for his opposition to a budget proposal from Republican Rep. Paul Ryan and Democratic Senator Patty Murray. O'Donnell hinted that he was in the pocket of conservative special interest: "I want to ask you about the criticism that you may be more beholden to these conservative groups than to your own party."
The anchor later wondered if "these groups have too much power". Rose himself carried water for the supporters of the proposal: "Speaker Boehner has said, and others have said, is that it's going – it's the first step in the right direction, and you've got to find common ground and you've got to find compromise – otherwise, you'll have government shutdowns, which everybody loses." [MP3 audio available here; video below the jump]
By Noel Sheppard | December 8, 2013 | 11:42 AM EST
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan made some rather ominous economic observations Sunday.
Appearing on CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS, Greenspan said, “[T]he level of uncertainty about the very long-term future is far greater than at any time I particularly remember.” He blamed it on “government intervention [that] has been so horrendous that businesses cannot basically decide what to do about the future” (video follows with transcript and commentary):
By Matthew Balan | November 25, 2013 | 4:56 PM EST
On Sunday's 60 Minutes, CBS's Steve Kroft boosted the agenda of Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-identified socialist, by granting him 30 seconds of air time to attack billionaire Pete Peterson, who was featured on the November 17, 2013 edition of the news program. However, this half-minute block was 2.5 times the amount that Peterson got during Charlie Rose's report [MP3 audio available here; video below the jump]
Rose merely played a 12-second soundbite of Peterson during the segment, and mentioned the former Nixon Cabinet official's involvement with a group of philanthropists, who are donating at least 50 percent of their wealth to charity:
By Brad Wilmouth | November 13, 2013 | 1:16 PM EST
On MSNBC's PoliticsNation show, host Al Sharpton criticized Sarah Palin for rhetorically comparing being in debt to another country to "slavery," as he and his panel suggested that it sounds "racist."
But last year, Sharpton was far more tolerant of Vice President Joe Biden telling black audience members that Mitt Romney would put them "back in chains" as he complained about Romney wanting to "unchain Wall Street."
Sharpton and syndicated columnist Cynthia Tucker also incorrectly claimed that the national debt has been reduced when it is merely the amount of borrowing per year that has started decreasing.
Sharpton griped as he began the show:
By Matthew Balan | October 17, 2013 | 12:21 PM EDT
Norah "we shouldn't editorialize" O'Donnell boosted President Obama mere seconds after the liberal politician finished his Thursday presser about the end of the partial government shutdown. The CBS anchor claimed that Obama was trying to "be, sort of, the grown-up in the room, and to look forward and say, here are the three ways we can now work together. "
O'Donnell later asserted that the President had gone back to his semblance of a bipartisanism in his lecture-like address: [MP3 audio available here; video below the jump]
By Noel Sheppard | October 17, 2013 | 11:22 AM EDT
The hatred on the left is just despicable.
After a debt ceiling deal was struck Wednesday in Washington, famed sitcom producer Norman Lear published an article at the Huffington Post wherein he expressed faux concern that conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh had exploded as a result.
By Paul Bremmer | October 17, 2013 | 11:01 AM EDT
Fox News host Stuart Varney embarrassed Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday’s Your World with Neil Cavuto, using archived video to expose the congressman’s hypocrisy on the debt limit. Rangel supported raising the debt limit before today’s deadline, of course, but back in 2004, with Republican George W. Bush in the White House, he sang a different tune.
Varney, filling in for Cavuto, set Rangel up by asking him why he wanted to borrow so much money now. Rangel ignored the question, instead expressing his glee at the deal the Senate had reached. He exclaimed, “[W]e have kicked the can down the road and I'm happy.” Varney then made his play: [Watch the video below the break.]
By Paul Bremmer | October 16, 2013 | 4:50 PM EDT
It’s no secret that the liberal media sympathize with the Democrats’ position on the current government shutdown (and on most policy matters, really). Politico’s Carrie Budoff Brown underscored that point on Tuesday’s PBS NewsHour when she spun the failure of a House bill as a net positive because it was what Democrats were hoping for.
Brown was making a guest appearance on the NewsHour to report on the latest developments in negotiations to end the shutdown. She announced that the latest House GOP bill was collapsing due to a lack of support in that chamber. Brown then gave her two cents on the matter: [See video below the break.]