War on Terrorism

Morning Joe Gushes Over Graham for Ripping Republicans on Muslim Rhetoric
By Mark Finkelstein | December 16, 2015 | 8:42 AM EST

When tagging items at NewsBusters, one of our Media Bias sub-categories is "Sudden Respect." The notion is that to win the affection of the MSM, all a Republican or conservative needs to do is turn against members or positions of his party. A great illustration of the phenomenon comes from today's Morning Joe. During last night's undercard debate, Lindsey Graham repeatedly ripped fellow Republicans for their rhetoric on Muslims, at one point even apologizing to Muslims for Donald Trump's comments.

And that of course caused what Rush might call a GrahamGasm by the Morning Joe crew. Mike Barnicle called Graham "fantastic," Nicolle Wallace said "I adore Lindsey Graham." Most amazing was Mika Brzezinski, who beyond praising him as "incredible" actually declared, sounding like she was choking up, "I feel a connection with Lindsey Graham," causing Joe Scarborough to claim [we presume facetiously] that Mika said "where has he been all my life?" Not to be outdone, Joe called on President Obama to award Graham the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Barnicle summed up the panel's sentiment by saying "thank God for Lindsey Graham."

Begala Whines GOP’s ‘Dominant Emotion’ of ‘Fear’ Post-Terror Attacks Has Hurt Americans
By Curtis Houck | December 16, 2015 | 12:08 AM EST

Offering his initial thoughts on Tuesday’s GOP presidential debate on the 11:00 p.m. Eastern edition of CNN’s AC360, CNN political commentator and Hillary Clinton super PAC head Paul Begala complained that Republicans possess “dominant emotion” of “fear” that they’ve somehow used to instill fear in Americans following recent terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. 

Networks Cheer Hillary as ‘Grown Up’ on ISIS Compared to GOP, Chelsea Joining Campaign Trail
By Curtis Houck | December 15, 2015 | 8:04 PM EST

Just after the undercard Republican presidential debate began on Tuesday night, the “big three” networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC offered previews of the impending “freewheeling and fiery slugfest” debate and contrasted that with plenty of laudatory rhetoric for “grown up” Hillary Clinton as she spoke in Minnesota about ISIS and “slamm[ed] Republicans for fearmongering.”

Krauthammer: Obama's Wrong When He Claims We're Winning Against ISIS
By Randy Hall | December 15, 2015 | 6:06 PM EST

While a panelist on Monday night's edition of the Special Report program, syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer criticized President Barack Obama for “trying to convince us that we are actually prevailing, winning, pushing in on ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria).”

The regular contributor to the Fox News Channel program said that the Democratic occupant of the White House is wrong because the terrorist organization -- which is also known as ISIL, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant -- is actually “expanding” its territory.

NBC Ignores Own Poll Showing ‘Plummet’ in Obama Approval; CBS Covers
By Kyle Drennen | December 15, 2015 | 3:37 PM EST

On Tuesday, NBC left it to CBS to report its own poll showing a significant drop in President Obama’s overall approval rating and specifically regarding his handling of terrorism. CBS This Morning co-host Gayle King covered the numbers from the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll: “43% approve of Americans approve of the job that he's doing, and that’s the lowest number in more than a year. But 60% disapprove of the way that he’s handling the current situation with ISIS.”

CNN's Costello Compares Muslim Shariah to 'My Own Faith Within Catholicism'
By Brad Wilmouth | December 15, 2015 | 2:12 PM EST

As the Reverend Franklin Graham appeared on Tuesday's CNN Newsroom to promote a national call to prayer, host Carol Costello raised charges that "heated rhetoric about Muslims" is "causing mosques to come under attack," and, after asking her guest if he thought Islam was "compatible with American values," fretted over his answer when he responded, "I don't think so." The CNN host followed up: "See, some people say that rhetoric like that is hurting them."

After the Reverend Graham took issue with the treatment of women and others within the Muslim faith, Costello suggested that Catholicism might be just as culpable as she responded: "I could say that about my own faith within Catholicism, right? I could."

NY Times Reporter Kirk Semple Strikes Again With Anecdotal 'Islamophobia' on Front Page
By Clay Waters | December 15, 2015 | 1:09 PM EST

The latest from New York Times reporter Kirk Semple on the front page of Tuesday’s Times, “Muslim Youth in U.S. Feel Strain of Suspicion,” demonstrates that the paper’s strongest impulse after Islamic terror attacks is not to investigate what went wrong but to fret over perceived, anecdotal “Islamophobia” among their fellow citizens. It’s much like his previous, anecdote-heavy, statistic-free “CAIR” package (as in Council on American-Islamic Relations) that Semple delivered in late November, an article completely dominated by CAIR sources in which Semple quite comfortably accused his fellow Americans of Islamophobia on the basis of anecdotes.

NBC Touts Hillary’s ‘Preemptive Strike’ Against GOP Before Debate
By Kyle Drennen | December 15, 2015 | 11:50 AM EST

After covering the upcoming Republican presidential debate on Tuesday, NBC Today co-host Matt Lauer promoted Hillary Clinton preparing to attack her GOP rivals: “Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton is planning a preemptive strike against the barrage of criticism that she's expecting from her Republican rivals on that stage tonight. So today she’ll make her case on how she’d take on the ISIS threat.”

‘Nightly Show’ Smears ‘Creepy’ Cruz; Will ‘Do Everything the KKK Does,’ Has Mental Problems
By Curtis Houck | December 15, 2015 | 2:50 AM EST

In what may be the worst series of attacks by the liberal media on Ted Cruz, Monday’s Nightly Show on Comedy Central featured host Larry Wilmore declaring that the “creepy” Cruz may be mentally disturbed with guest Aida Rodriguez firmly asserting that, if elected, Cruz’s agenda would be to “do everything the KKK does.” 

Networks Omit Obama Criticism on ISIS, Tout Pentagon Visit; Forced to ‘Reassure an Anxious Nation’
By Curtis Houck | December 14, 2015 | 9:20 PM EST

The “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC all prominently touted on Monday night President Barack Obama’s visit to the Pentagon to discuss the fight against ISIS, but skimped on reporting any criticism of the administration’s strategy but instead lamenting that he’s had to try once “again to reassure an anxious nation” despite polls showing Americans are concerned about the growing threat of terrorism.

Amanpour Blames Tony Blair for Paris, San Bernardino; ‘Do You Feel Responsibility’ Because of Iraq?
By Curtis Houck | December 14, 2015 | 7:47 PM EST

On her eponymous CNN show on Thursday night, Christiane Amanpour verbally harassed former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair over his involvement in the Iraq War and specifically whether he and former U.S. President George W. Bush “feel pain” and “a sense of responsibility” for the war having supposedly caused recent Islamic terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino.

Is this a Joke? ABC's Quantico: Democrats are the Party of Family Values, U.S. Creates Terrorists
By Alexa Moutevelis Coombs | December 14, 2015 | 5:03 AM EST

Last night’s winter finale of the new ABC drama Quantico and was chockfull of unrealistic politics – and unintentional comedy! The present day storyline of the episode “Inside” had the Democratic National Convention starting in New York City the day after Grand Central Station was bombed and over 100 people were killed. Right, the DNC would TOTALLY take place as scheduled the day after a terrorist bombing in the same city!