Chris Cillizza

Smug WashPost TV Reviewer: Raddatz Favored Biden, Ryan Was Juvenile And an 'SVU' Pervert?
By Tim Graham | October 12, 2012 | 7:42 AM EDT

Washington Post writer Dan Zak penned a "TV Review" of the debates in the A section which bragged "only Vice President Biden acted as though he could sit at the desk in the Oval Office and have his feet touch the ground." In the paper, he began " A pro debated a novice," but on Twitter, Zak previewed he would write "A man debated a boy Thursday night." He also insulted Ryan on Twitter as a pervert/criminal on Law & Order SVU. (See below.)

Zak admired the "firm control" and needling "vigor" of ABC's Martha Raddatz as moderator, but admitted "Fairly or not, she reserved most of her skepticism for Ryan." Even liberals found it obvious:

WaPo Shocker: 'Is Obama Overrated As a Candidate?'
By Noel Sheppard | October 9, 2012 | 5:11 PM EDT

Readers are advised to have smelling salts handy and to take all necessary medical precautions before proceeding further as this headline recently featured at the Washington Post could result in unexpected health complications.

"Is Obama Overrated As a Candidate?"

Bozell Column: The Media Built That For Obama
By Brent Bozell | August 7, 2012 | 11:11 PM EDT

On August 5, Chris Cillizza at The Washington Post announced he was playing with a “somewhat controversial idea” that Mitt Romney should be the favorite to win the presidential election. Debatable, maybe. But controversial? Well, yes. It violates the pro-Obama mandate of our national press corps.

The usual political measures look terrible for Obama, he noted. “The unemployment rate has been over 8 percent for 42 straight months, a streak unparalleled in American history.” Obama must win despite the crippled economy – the most important issue for the voters.

Wimp or Bully? Press, Even 'Bully'-Originating WaPo, Fails to Note Contradictory Takes on Romney
By Tom Blumer | July 31, 2012 | 10:19 AM EDT

Sunday on ABC, as Rush Limbaugh noted on his show yesterday, Obama campaign senior adviser and former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs called GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney a "schoolyard bully."

Just a couple of hours later (the time stamp is noon on Sunday), what little is left of Newsweek published "Mitt Romney's Wimp Factor." Zheesh -- So which is it?

Romney Olympic Truth-telling Draws WashPost's 'Worst Week in Washington' Dishonor
By Tim Graham | July 29, 2012 | 4:32 PM EDT

"Someone should have told Mitt Romney that they still speak English in England," snarked Washington Post political reporter Chris Cillizza as he awarded Romney the "Worst Week In Washington" on Sunday for calmly laying out security concerns to NBC before the London Olympics -- concerns the networks themselves reported beforehand.

That matches the attitude that political reporter Philip Rucker brought to his Romney story's lede on Saturday: "Mitt Romney’s Friday was better than his Thursday. He did very little." Cillizza said Romney "seemed to be talking in a foreign language, politically speaking," and once again, the Post cited the "Mitt the Twit" headline:

WaPo's Chris Cillizza Predicts 'Death by a Thousand Political Cuts' for Romney
By Kyle Drennen | July 18, 2012 | 5:58 PM EDT

Appearing on Wednesday's Andrea Mitchell Reports on MSNBC, The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza warned Mitt Romney that he would suffer "a death by a thousand political cuts" if he does not release more tax returns. Cillizza further proclaimed: "...every day we talk about tax returns. Why hasn't he released them? What's in them?...the current position he has is untenable politically."

Continuing to push for Romney to release more, Cillizza predicted: "...what we don't know is how much tax he did pay. And until he releases more...the Obama team, at least, is not going to let this go away." He then concluded: "...all this stuff gets them [Republicans] away from talking about what they want to talk about, which is why I think he [Romney] needs to lance the boil, politically, sooner rather than later."

Wash Post: Is It Even 'Possible' for Obama or any President 'to Succeed in the Modern World?'
By Jeffrey Meyer | June 20, 2012 | 3:57 PM EDT

If you’re the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza, the answer to this ridiculous question is yes. In a June 17 article, Cillizza groaned, "Is it possible for a president — any president — to succeed in the modern world of politics?"

Rather than admit to the possibility that President Obama has been a lackluster president, Cillizza maintained, “...Pessimism about our nation’s future, partisanship and a splintered media makes it clear that any president elected or (reelected) has slim hopes-or at the most a very narrow window-for political success.”

WashPost's Chris Cillizza Takes It Upon Himself to Defend Obama's 160 Fundraisers Thus Far This Election Cycle
By Ken Shepherd | June 13, 2012 | 5:19 PM EDT

Sure President Obama has been on a huge fundraising kick lately. And yes, he's clocked 160 fundraisers thus far in the reelection season, "more than double the 79 events that President George W. Bush had held by this time in the 2004 presidential race," the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza confessed today in his 11-paragraph page A6 article. [The print article was a condensed and updated version of a June 12 The Fix blog post that you can find here.]

To make a big deal out of this would just be silly, Cillizza insisted, taking it upon himself to spin for the Obama White House against Republican charges that the president is more interested in beefing up his campaign war chest than he is in governing.

Chris Matthews Compares Mitt Romney to 'Wall Street' Villain Gordon Gekko
By Noel Sheppard | May 7, 2012 | 7:30 PM EDT

Last August, Politico revealed that the Obama campaign intended to make Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney "a sort of political Gordon Gekko" if he won the nomination.

Right out of that playbook, MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Monday compared Romney to the financial villain of the '80s movie classic "Wall Street" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

'Data Doesn't Lie' Proclaims WashPost's Cillizza As He Peddles Faulty Study Saying Obama Getting Unfavorable Media Treatment
By Ken Shepherd | April 25, 2012 | 12:05 PM EDT

In his "The Fix" blog yesterday, Washington Post political reporter Chris Cillizza uncritically furthered a faulty Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) that argues that President Obama has actually received more negative news coverage this political season than the Republican presidential primary contenders. This morning, Post print edition editors excerpted Cillizza's item on page A4, the "Campaign 2012" news page.

While Cillizza noted in his blog post that there are "mitigating factors" in the survey data -- that langauge was cut from the print edition excerpt -- he confidently asserted that "for all the chatter about Obama’s preferential treatment by the media, the data tells a very different story. And the data doesn’t lie." But as my colleague Rich Noyes explained on Monday, the data examined by the study are fundamentally flawed and hence worthless to arrive at a conclusion about the media's judgments of the candidates (emphases mine):

Wash Post's Chris Cillizza Definitively Declares: Obama Is 'Cool'; Romney Is 'Not Cool'
By Scott Whitlock | April 24, 2012 | 6:30 PM EDT

Washington Post political writer Chris Cillizza definitively declared on Tuesday's Hardball that for the 2012 race, Barack Obama is "cool" and Mitt Romney is "not cool." Host Chris Matthews, trying to prove his hipness, wondered aloud, "Can you dig it?"

Fellow Post writer Nia-Malika Henderson then attempted to explain what the "kids" these days are saying. After a clip of Obama on the Jimmy Fallon show, Cillizza proclaimed, "The one thing that I would point out that I think is fascinating about this race...[Obama] is cool. Mitt Romney is not cool."

Chris Matthews and Hardball Guests Laugh at Mitt Romney's Sons
By Noel Sheppard | January 11, 2012 | 5:44 PM EST

On MSNBC, the disrespect one is allowed to show to a conservative and/or his family knows no bounds.

On Wednesday's Hardball, host Chris Matthews and his guests Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post and John Harwood of the New York Times actually laughed at Mitt Romney's sons (video follows with transcript and commentary):