Ari Melber

Sneering MSNBCers: Tea Party Wants to Go Back to '1860' and Hates Those Who 'Don't Look Like Them'
By Jackie Seal | June 17, 2014 | 11:19 AM EDT

In a desperate effort to tout the collapse of the Republican Party, guest host of The Last Word, Ari Melber was joined by Howard Dean and David Frum on Monday evening to discuss the lack of serious ideas coming from the right. According to the MSNBC liberals, the fearful Tea Party wants to go back to a pre-Civil War America.

The guests swapped theories on the relationship between the GOP and the Tea Party. Howard Dean used the textbook MSNBC talking point that the Tea Party is just frustrated that the people leading the country “don’t look like them anymore.”

MSNBC, Whining About Dems' Loss of State Senate Control in Virginia, Shows a Map of North Carolina
By Tom Blumer | June 10, 2014 | 12:53 AM EDT

In a video segment (HT Twitchy) entitled "How Low Can You Go?" on MSNBC's "Last Word," which the network's web site corrected as this post was being drafted, substitute host Ari Melber, filling in for Lawrence O'Donnell, is seen bemoaning the resignation of a Democratic legislator in Virginia. An accompanying visual originally showed a map of North Carolina. Apparent the answer to the map's captioned question — "How Low Can You Go?" — is, "further south than Virginia actually is."

The far-left network and Democrats in general are apopleptic over the sudden resignation of Demcorat Phillip P. Puckett from the State Senate, giving the GOP a 20-19 majority in that body. As a result, the Washington Post reported on Monday that Puckett's resignation caused "Democratic negotiators ... (to agree) in a closed-door meeting Monday to pass a budget without expanding health coverage to 400,000 low-income Virginians." 

MRC's Notable Quotables: Slamming GOP for 'Swiftboating' Sgt. Bergdahl
By Rich Noyes | June 9, 2014 | 9:27 AM EDT

Now online: the June 9 edition of Notable Quotables, MRC's bi-weekly compilation of the latest outrageous quotes in the liberal media. This week, left-wing journalists rally to Obama's defense on the prisoner swap, blasting Republicans for "swiftboating" Sgt. Bowe Berghdahl and claiming that the five newly-freed Taliban leaders would have a "negligible" effect on the war.

Also, NBC's Brian Williams calls Obama's foreign policy "muscular, if not militaristic," ABC is pleased Hillary Clinton has "come out swinging" against Benghazi critics, while a CNN "news" anchor thinks Michelle Obama can sign laws into effect. Highlights after the jump; the entire issue is posted online, with 22 quotes at www.MRC.org.

Chris Matthews Breaks Ranks, Criticizes Network’s Claim That Sergeant Bergdahl Is Being ‘Swiftboated’
By Jeffrey Meyer | June 5, 2014 | 12:39 PM EDT

When it comes to being a good liberal soldier, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews doesn’t seem to have gotten the network’s message that the GOP is "swiftboating" Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl. Over the past week, MSNBC hosts have maintained that Bergdahl had been swiftboated on five different broadcasts and it seems as though Matthews is sick of the comparison. 

Speaking with Chuck Todd, NBC’s Chief White House Correspondent, Political Director, and host of The Daily Rundown on MSNBC, on the Wednesday June 4, Hardball,  Matthews slapped down the MSNBC “swiftboat” narrative: “Swift-boating is totally misused here. Swift-boating is when you make up stories...” [See video below.] 

MSNBC Blames Republicans for 'Swiftboating' Bergdahl
By Laura Flint | June 4, 2014 | 2:30 PM EDT

It did not take long for MSNBC to begin blaming the right-wing “anti-Obama machine” for the backlash against the Bergdahl prisoner swap. Intent on ignoring their own poll in which 65%  of respondents didn’t support Obama’s decision to make the exchange, the June 3 edition of The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell went above and beyond in criticizing Republicans for “swiftboating” Bergdahl.         

After airing multiple clips from Fox News, host Ari Melber, filling in for O’Donnell, went so far as to claim that “many of the loudest voices here on the Right today remain utterly uninterested in any of the questions, and are instead obsessed with hurling any accusation that might, just might, stick to this particular president.” He accused Republican strategists of manipulating Bergdahl’s platoon members for testimony discrediting Bergdahl, an outrageous claim considering these veterans came forward of their own accord and even created a Facebook group labeling the Bergdahl as a deserter. [See video below. Click here for audio]

MSNBC's Wolffe: Sen. Lindsey Graham 'Auditioning for... House of Cards' by Pressing Clinton on Benghazi
By Jackie Seal | May 20, 2014 | 2:39 PM EDT

MSNBC guest host Ari Melber devoted significant attention on Monday night's The Last Word to shielding potential 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton from scrutiny, both on questions about her health and on her record as President's Obama's first-term secretary of state.

As part of that effort, Melber and two panelists tackled recent comments by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) regarding Mrs. Clinton's handling of the Benghazi fiasco. Melber lamented that Graham was heretofore a member of the “serious wing” of the Republican Party who is flushing that down the drain in the interest in going down "what Jon Stewart called the Brainghazi rabbit hole to pull at her health in this theory."

MSNBC’s Melber Mocks 'Flat Earth' Rubio on Global Warming
By Paul Bremmer | May 15, 2014 | 4:25 PM EDT

One day after Chris Hayes suggested that global warming skepticism should disqualify a person from holding public office, another MSNBC primetime host attempted to ridicule those who doubt the science. This time, it was Ari Melber, who has been guest-hosting The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell for several weeks now. On Wednesday's show, after playing a clip of President Obama mocking skeptics as members of the “Flat Earth society,” Melber sneered, “It seems like if you want to be a serious contender for the 2016 Republican nomination, you have to be unserious about a lot of things, and potentially a member of that Flat Earth society.”

Melber was referring specifically to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and rolled out a clip of Rubio telling ABC’s Jonathan Karl that he doubts the science of global warming because “our climate is always changing.”

MSNBC Trumpets Pope’s Liberal Side, Downplays Conservative Side
By Paul Bremmer | April 29, 2014 | 6:00 PM EDT

MSNBC seized on Pope Francis’s tweet yesterday that “Inequality is the root of social evil” to once again flog conservatives for their economic views. On Monday’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, fill-in host Ari Melber began a segment on the pontiff by gloating, “[S]ome Republicans are caught between a rock and a hard place. Specifically, between the pope's teachings and Rush Limbaugh's orders.”

First off, it’s a little dramatic to talk about Rush Limbaugh’s “orders.” He’s just one man who gives his opinions on the radio. And second, MSNBC wants to pretend Pope Francis is completely aligned with American liberals and against conservatives, but that’s not true. The pope may emphasize social justice, but he is thoroughly conservative and traditional on key cultural and theological issues.

MSNBC's Melber Seems Unaware of Infamous Clinton Cattle Futures Scandal
By Brad Wilmouth | April 27, 2014 | 9:21 PM EDT

MSNBC's Ari Melber may want to brush up on his Clinton scandal history in preparation for a Hillary Clinton White House run. As he substitute hosted Tuesday's The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, Melber mistook a reference to the infamous cattle futures deal for a criticism of the former First Family making money since leaving office.

On MSNBC, WashPost's Capehart Claims Some GOP Officeholders Have Praised 'Virtues and Beauty of Slavery'
By Brad Wilmouth | April 26, 2014 | 12:57 PM EDT

On the Thursday, April 24, The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, during a discussion of conservatives rejecting Cliven Bundy after the airing of the Nevada rancher's racist comments, Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart claimed that other Republicans, including officeholders, had similarly "extol[led] the wonders and the virtues and the beauty of slavery," without naming any names, as he asserted that Bundy's words were "not an isolated statement."

MSNBC's Melber: Tea Partiers Want to 'Make Sure More People Are Uninsured'
By Brad Wilmouth | April 24, 2014 | 1:03 AM EDT

On the Wednesday, April 23, The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC, guest host Ari Melber ignored concerns expressed for some time by conservatives that ObamaCare regulations would cause Americans to lose private health insurance plans they already had as the MSNBC host suggested that Tea Party Republicans do not care about people being uninsured and claimed that the goal of repealing ObamaCare is to "make sure more people are uninsured."

After MSNBC's Krystal Ball complained about Republican governors who have refused to expand Medicaid, Melber turned to recent claims by Kansas Republican Rep. Tim Huelskamp that fewer people in Kansas are insured now than before ObamaCare. [See video below.]

MSNBC's Ari Melber Shamefully Promotes Democratic Campaign Ad Labeled 'Mostly False'
By Jeffrey Meyer | April 23, 2014 | 1:06 PM EDT

MSNBC's Ari Melber seemed downright gleeful at the news that vulnerable Senate Democrats have started running campaign ads touting their support for ObamaCare. Filling in for host Lawrence O'Donnell on The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell on Monday April 21, Melber hyped how "there are signs that President Obama's new call to run on the Affordable Care Act has gotten through to Democrats."

The regular host of MSNBC's daytime program The Cycle hyped a campaign ad by Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC) that edited comments made by Thom Tillis, her potential opponent in the November general election, making it seem as though the North Carolina Republican supported ObamaCare. The fact-checking website Politifact labeled the ad "mostly false" yet Melber chose to promote the ad anyways. [See video below.]