Russia

Purged! Morning Joe Drops Ted Cruz from Vegas Debate Image
By Mark Finkelstein | December 15, 2015 | 7:18 AM EST

UPDATE: Scarborough just discussed blooper on air, mentioning NB and this NewsBusters. Video clip below!
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Ted Cruz: MSNBC's modern-day version of Nikolai Yezhov! Yezhov was the head of Stalin's secret police who fell into disfavor and was executed during a purge. A photo of him standing next to Stalin was famously airbrushed to remove his image.

And so we come to today's Morning Joe, which displayed an image of tonight's Vegas debate stage. Photos of all the candidates appear at their assigned slots. With one exception. Ted Cruz is nowhere to be found! Simple mistake . . . or diabolical left-wing media plot to purge the #2 Republican contender?  The truth is out there!

Morning Joe Sees the President Disengaged Against ISIS
By Michael McKinney | November 16, 2015 | 12:17 PM EST

Monday’s Morning Joe began with an evaluation of the actions of the White House prior to and after the attack on Paris Friday night. Joe Scarborough began by demanding to know if the roundtable thought the President actually looked involved and engaged in understanding “the level of threat.” When Mike Barnicle tried to claim the President “looks fully engaged,” Scarborough felt it necessary to confront him on it.

Former CIA Director Hayden Stuns Mika With Praise of Carson's Foreign Policy Approach
By Mark Finkelstein | November 13, 2015 | 7:57 AM EST

"Wow . . . I'm absolutely surprised by that answer . . .  Are you sure? . . . Are we talking about the same person?" That was Mika Brzezinski's stunned response after her attempt to recruit retired General and former CIA Director Michael Hayden into her campaign against Ben Carson blew up in her face on today's Morning Joe. 

Referring to Carson, Mika asked Hayden "are you concerned that there's a front runner whose foreign policy sensibilities seem to lack, to say the least?" But instead of playing along with Mika's leading question, Hayden replied that, based on a long conversation he had had with Carson, all of his foreign policy instincts are "right." He said Carson asked "good questions" and is a "well-meaning, serious, bright man."

Back to the Cold War in the Sunday NYT Book Review: Hailing Gorbachev, Bashing Jack Kemp and Reaganomics
By Clay Waters | November 9, 2015 | 11:33 AM EST

It was an '80s flashback in the New York Times Sunday book review. Serge Schmemann attacked a new book about Russian dictator Vladimir Putin by Garry Kasparov. Schmemann seemed to take personally Kasparov's criticism of Barack Obama and his celebration of Ronald Reagan. Schmemann gave all the credit to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev: "...ultimately it was Gorbachev, more than any American or other Western leader, who played the greatest role in bringing down the Soviet system." Deeper inside, the Times gave space for veteran liberal journalist Timothy Noah to review a Jack Kemp biography: "If space aliens were to land a flying saucer on the Capitol’s South Lawn, one question they might ask is: Wherever did you get the idea that cutting taxes would increase revenue?"

CBS Hosts Baffled by Putin Beating Obama for Top Spot on Forbes ‘Most Powerful’ List
By Kyle Drennen | November 4, 2015 | 1:03 PM EST

On Wednesday, while discussing Forbes magazine releasing its 2015 Most Powerful list, the hosts of CBS This Morning were perplexed by Russian president Vladimir Putin beating out President Obama for the top spot, with Obama only being number three on the list. Charlie Rose pressed Forbes assistant managing editor Luisa Kroll: “Make the case as to why Vladimir Putin is more powerful than President Obama.”

Irony Alert: Russia Today Slams Media Outlets Too Close To Power
By Scott Whitlock | November 2, 2015 | 4:40 PM EST

Notorious propaganda outfit Russia Today is running commercials bashing the media for being too cozy with power? No, really. In an ad airing on RT’s Policking With Larry King, journalist Erin Ade promoted the network: “When politicians and the mainstream media work side-by-side, the joke is actually on you. At RT News, we have a different approach.” 

CBS' 'Madam Secretary' Hits the Russian Reset, Badly
By Dylan Gwinn | October 19, 2015 | 1:21 AM EDT

Madam Secretary normally spends its one hour of air time insulating Hillary Clinton from any potential attack. This week however, they may have set her up for one.

CBS This Morning Gushes Over ‘Feisty’ Obama Finding Final Years as ‘Liberating’
By Curtis Houck | October 9, 2015 | 3:26 PM EDT

Previewing President Obama’s latest interview on CBS’s 60 Minutes with Steve Kroft, the 60 Minutes correspondent and the co-hosts of Friday’s CBS This Morning fawned over the President’s performance as “feisty” and proof that he finds his final years in office “liberating” as he does not have to go before voters again. 

Will Press Cover State Dept. Envoy Declaring Russia's Bombing Shows Obama's Syria Policy Is Working?
By Tom Blumer | October 8, 2015 | 5:15 PM EDT

It seems more than fair to say that establishment press coverage of the deteriorating situation in Syria has been much lighter than what we'd see if a Republican or conservatives was in the Oval Office. Additionally, what has been reported in the admittedly complicated situation has been confusing at best and misleading at worst.

There was a moment of disconcerting clarity today which, if reported, should disturb even those Americans who only have a vague understanding of what's going on in that country. As reported by Tim Mak and Nancy A. Youssef at The Daily Beast:

Surprise: Judy Woodruff Pushes Hillary on E-Mails, Russia, Allies Attacking Biden, Sanders
By Curtis Houck | October 8, 2015 | 3:11 AM EDT

Embattled 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton sat down for her latest interview on Wednesday and surprisingly, the liberal media’s questioner in Judy Woodruff of the PBS NewsHour (and Clinton Foundation donor) came prepared and hit Clinton on issues ranging from her e-mail scandal to the administration’s misjudgment of Russia’s global threat to allied super PACs attacking socialist Bernie Sanders and possible candidate Joe Biden.

Wilmore Slams Obama's 'Near-Sighted Snobbery' for Mocking Romney on Russia Threat
By Brad Wilmouth | October 2, 2015 | 1:21 AM EDT

On Thursday's The Nightly Show on Comedy Central, host Larry Wilmore skewered President Barack Obama in the aftermath of Russia undermining the President's Syria policy by bombing the Syrian rebels Obama has been supporting.

The Comedy Central host reminded viewers that Obama had mocked Mitt Romney in 2012 when the GOP presidential candidate warned that Russia would be one of America's greatest foreign policy problems, as Wilmore referred to Obama's cocky dismissal of Romney as "near-sighted snobbery," and played a clip of the exchange with Romney.

CNN's Sciutto Sees Obama Policy as 'Utter Failure' in Middle East and Afghanistan
By Brad Wilmouth | September 29, 2015 | 7:14 PM EDT

On Tuesday's New Day, CNN Chief National Security Correspondent Jim Sciutto tagged the Obama administration efforts to train Syrian rebels as an "utter failure" and he as CNN substitute co-anchor John Berman recalled the scant results of trying to build up Syrian rebels as opposed to the more substantial troops and weapons Russia has supplied to Syrian President Bashar Assad. The CNN correspondent saw a similar "indictment" of the Obama administration in the aftermath of the Taliban's recent seizure of Kunduz in Afghanistan.