Political Scandals

Blogger Kevin Drum: Krauthammer’s Too Smart to Believe All That Right-Wing Nonsense About Obama Scandals
By Tom Johnson | October 31, 2015 | 6:34 PM EDT

Even though Mother Jones blogger Kevin Drum describes Charles Krauthammer as a “hardcore conservative,” he suggested in a Friday post that Krauthammer is too enlightened to be on the same page as most right-wingers regarding Obama White House scandals.

When Krauthammer argued recently against the effort to impeach IRS commissioner John Koskinen, he commented that on matters including the IRS/Tea Party flap and the Benghazi attack, Republicans, despite not persuading the majority of the public of Obama-administration “malfeasance,” had had “the facts and the argument” on their side. Drum wrote, “Does [Krauthammer] really believe this? Or does he know it's baloney but figures he needs some kind of acceptable cover to get Republicans off their Ahab-like zeal for investigating nothingburgers?” According to Drum, Dr. K does indeed understand that it’s baloney.

CNN's Cuomo Claims GOPers 'Pandering' on Media Bias, Rubio Cites Benghazi
By Brad Wilmouth | October 29, 2015 | 3:14 PM EDT

On Thursday's New Day on CNN, after host Chris Cuomo charged that GOP presidential candidates had gone "a little bit too far into pandering" in attacking the media during the CNBC presidential debate, Florida Senator and GOP presidential candidate Marco Rubio shot back by recalling the dominant liberal media heaping praise on Hillary Clinton after her Benghazi testimony, in spite of evidence she changed her story on whether the attack was an organized terrorist attack or the result of a spontaneous protest.

CNN's Cuomo Hits Begala from Right on Hillary Changing Benghazi Story
By Brad Wilmouth | October 28, 2015 | 1:09 AM EDT

On Tuesday's New Day on CNN, during a discussion of how the latest poll numbers might affect the upcoming Republican presidential debate, co-anchor Chris Cuomo predicted that the debate would include discussion of the revelation that Hillary Clinton initially told people close to her that Benghazi was a terrorist attack before switching to the discredited story of a video merely inciting a violent protest.

Cuomo first brought up the issue of Clinton changing stories as he turned to right-leaning commentator Kevin Madden and posed:

Networks Yawn at House Starting Impeachment Process for IRS Commissioner Koskinen
By Curtis Houck | October 27, 2015 | 9:07 PM EDT

On Tuesday, the “big three” networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC censored from their evening newscasts any mention of the House of Representative beginning the procedures to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen on the heels of Republican Congressman and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s expected ascension to Speaker of the House.

Coverage of UAW-GM Tentative Agreement Perpetuates 'Concessions' Myth
By Tom Blumer | October 26, 2015 | 11:28 AM EDT

Late Sunday evening, the United Auto Workers and General Motors reached a tentative four-year agreement shortly before the union's 11:59 p.m. strike deadline.

The agreement was expected, simply because the financial and political blowback of a strike at a company bailed out by taxpayers at a cost running into tens of billion of dollars back in 2009 would have been severe. Also expected: the press buying into and perpetuating the myth that the union made significant concessions to GM and Chrysler during the course of those two companies' respective corrupt bankruptcies.

On PBS, NYT's Brooks Sees 'Psychosis' in GOPers 'Obsessed' With 'Nothingburger' Benghazi
By Brad Wilmouth | October 23, 2015 | 9:51 PM EDT

Appearing in the regular "Shields and Brooks" segment of the PBS NewsHour on Friday, New York Times columnist David Brooks asserted that the Benghazi hearing this week yielded a "big nothingburger," and theorized that there is a "psychosis" around Republicans being "obsessed" with pursuing Clinton scandals.

Networks Censor Justice Department Ending Probe Into IRS Scandal
By Matthew Balan | October 23, 2015 | 8:56 PM EDT

ABC, CBS, and NBC's evening newscasts on Friday all failed to cover the Justice Department announcing that it would be ending its investigation into the IRS's targeting of conservative groups. The Big Three networks' news program did find time to air reporting on the top Google searches for Halloween costumes, the fewer number of turkeys available for upcoming Thanksgiving dinners, and the controversy over the first bear hunt in Florida in 20 years.

Bloggers On Hillary Benghazi Hearing: Republicans ‘Stuck in Their Own Bubble’ Produce ‘Soft Porn For Conservative Activists’
By Tom Johnson | October 23, 2015 | 2:50 PM EDT

Since even some conservatives thought that Hillary Clinton won Thursday’s Benghazi hearing, it stands to reason that lefty bloggers would be happy with the way things turned out.

In fact, not all of them waited until the hearing was over. Early in the afternoon, when Clinton still had several hours of testimony before her, Talking Points Memo editor and publisher Josh Marshall observed that “Hillary…looks poised; [Republicans are] radiating spittle.” As the hearings rounded third and headed for home, Esquire’s Charles Pierce sniped, “This was a performance piece for the people residing within the conservative media bubble…who already are too smart to be fooled by the Hildebeast and her alleged facts because Mark Levin has told them that they are too smart to be so fooled."

NBC: After Hearing, ‘Has Hillary Clinton Put the Controversy Behind Her?’
By Kyle Drennen | October 23, 2015 | 10:37 AM EDT

On Friday’s NBC Today, hosts and correspondents hoped Hillary Clinton had brushed aside her scandals after testimony before the House Benghazi Committee on Thursday. At the top of the show, co-host Savannah Guthrie proclaimed: “Marathon on the Hill....an 11-hour day on Benghazi....Has Hillary Clinton put the controversy behind her?”

Carl Bernstein Accuses Benghazi Committee of McCarthyism; ‘Reckless’ ‘Group of Demagogues’
By Curtis Houck | October 23, 2015 | 1:40 AM EDT

Roughly a minute after the 11-hour Benghazi Committee hearing with Hillary Clinton concluded on Thursday night, CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 turned to political commentator Carl Bernstein, who drooled over Clinton’s performance while comparing Republicans to Joseph McCarthy and his House Un-American Committee for concocting an “abusive” hearing.In the next hour on CNN Tonight, Bernstein trotted out the same comparison against “a group of demagogues” while Hillary “did great” in using “the facts at her command.”

ABC Bemoans Money Spent on Benghazi Committee; GOP Unable ‘to Draw Blood’ from Hillary
By Curtis Houck | October 22, 2015 | 11:13 PM EDT

Suddenly worried about government spending, the Thursday edition of ABC’s World News Tonight featured anchor David Muir complaining on three separate occasions about the cost of the House Select Committee on Benghazi while chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl observed that Republicans “really didn’t succeed” in “draw[ing] blood” from Hillary Clinton.

CBS’s Dickerson Chides Benghazi Committee for ‘Fighting Like Cats and Dogs’
By Curtis Houck | October 22, 2015 | 9:31 PM EDT

Analyzing Hillary Clinton’s performance before the House Benghazi Committee, CBS News political director John Dickerson stated on Thursday’s CBS Evening News that Clinton “avoid[ed]” falling into any “pitfalls” as those questioning her fought “like cats and dogs.”