Joe Klein

Puh-leeze: Jay Carney Claims 'Joe Klein Said He Thought I Was a Republican' When He Joined Obama-Biden
By Tim Graham | September 26, 2013 | 8:36 AM EDT

Washington Post reporters Paul Farhi and Billy Kenber caused a morning cereal spew inside the Beltway. In a story about the revolving door between reporters and Team Obama, there was this unintentional laugh line from Jay Carney: “But I think any reading of my coverage as a reporter would show that I was not an ideologue. [Time columnist] Joe Klein said he thought I was a Republican” when Carney joined Biden’s staff.

See my dossier on how Carney found Hillary was “strangely mesmerizing" as “the polite but passionate American citizen,” or how Bill Clinton was “probably the best white politician out there speaking on race issues.” (That sounds exactly like Joe Klein.) The Posties quoted Rush Limbaugh decrying the obvious media-Obama mindmeld, then lamely tried to argue their way out of that reality:

In Writing 'Obama Loses the Media,' Politico's Byers Admits Establishment Press Pro-Obama Bias Until Now
By Tom Blumer | September 16, 2013 | 11:14 AM EDT

Thanks, Dylan Byers. You've done those who recognize liberal establishment press bias as an irrefutable reality a big favor.

The Politico media reporter's lengthy excerpt from a longer column — I'd call it a "tease," but it's 14 paragraphs — is entitled "Obama Loses the Media." That means Obama has had 'em in his pocket until now. The rumors of permanent loss are likely exaggerated. Several paragraphs from from the lengthy excerpt and the column itself follow the jump.

Joe Klein on Syria: 'The Consequences of Obama’s Amateur Display Ripple Out Across the World'
By Noel Sheppard | September 12, 2013 | 12:32 PM EDT

While many in the media are actually crediting Barack Obama for Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposed Syrian chemical weapons "solution," TIME magazine's Joe Klein isn't one of them.

Far from it, Klein penned a scathing rebuke of Obama's handling of Syria Wednesday calling it "one of the more stunning and inexplicable displays of presidential incompetence that I’ve ever witnessed...The consequences of Obama’s amateur display ripple out across the world."

Petulant MSNBC Crew Sneers at 'Shameless,' Mindless,' 'Stunning' Sean Hannity
By Scott Whitlock | June 20, 2013 | 4:21 PM EDT

A sneering group of MSNBC hosts and analysts on Thursday berated Sean Hannity for his "mindless" anti-government attitude, mocking him as "pathetic." The Fox News host gave an interview to Playboy magazine in which he dismissed much of the federal government as "dysfunctional." Ex-Newsweek editor Howard Fineman, who has bragged about "steering clear of partisanship," slammed Hannity for having a "deliberate lack of self-awareness [that] is just stunning."

Speaking of the federal government, Fineman continued, "One of the reasons why the system is so dysfunctional is because of the mindlessly accusatory nature of what he...what they [conservatives] do." The journalist, who has prided himself on "keeping an even keel ideologically," accused Hannity of being "an enthusiastically, vigorous user of that style of rhetoric and politics and it's one of the main reasons why things aren't working." Fineman exhorted viewers, "Wake up! Wake up!" [MP3 audio here. See video below.]

Time's Joe Klein Whines Benghazi, IRS Scandals Are Excuse for GOP to 'Paralyze Our Government'
By Ken Shepherd | May 13, 2013 | 4:13 PM EDT

Liberal Time magazine writer Joe Klein is doubling down on his earlier complaint that the Benghazi cover-up is a "venial, not a mortal, sin" with a May 13 piece entitled, "Not Nixon, Exactly."

"I may have swung a bit too hard, putting Barack Obama’s Administration in the same league as Franklin Roosevelt’s and Richard Nixon’s when it comes to the Internal Revenue Service," Klein wrote this morning, backpedaling a bit from a strongly-worded May 11 piece reacting to the IRS-targeting-Tea Party scandal. Klein conceded that "The situation remains a major embarrassment, though," and then went on to wage an attack against the Republican Party for seeking to take advantage of the scandals to bash the Obama administration (emphasis mine):

Joe Klein: Hillary's 'One of the Most Experienced Candidates We've Ever Had Running for President'
By Noel Sheppard | May 12, 2013 | 11:25 AM EDT

"Everybody knows that she's one of the most experienced candidates we've ever had running for president. She practically doesn't have to say it."

So said Time magazine's Joe Klein about Hillary Clinton on Sunday's syndicated Chris Matthews Show (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Time's Joe Klein Still Bitterly Clinging to Discredited Obama Script on Benghazi
By Ken Shepherd | May 8, 2013 | 5:04 PM EDT

Trying desperately to defend the Obama State Department's Benghazi failure on the day when House hearings in the fiasco commence, TIME's Joe Klein took to his keyboard on May 8 to hack out a 9-paragraph post about how "Republicans Are Still Chasing Their Tails on Benghazi."

Back in November, you may recall, my colleague Mark Finkelstein noted how Klein was gobbling up Obama talking points on the fiasco "like Thanksgiving turkey." Well, Klein's still at it, right down to his suggestion that the Benghazi consulate compound was under siege on September 11 because of a YouTube video (emphasis mine):

Joe Klein: Gun Advocates Feed People ‘Anti-American’ ‘Crap’
By Noel Sheppard | April 7, 2013 | 11:29 AM EDT

TIME's Joe Klein went on another anti-gun rant this weekend.

On the syndicated Chris Matthews Show, he said the desire to own a semi-automatic weapon "because the government in Washington is about to oppress us...is paranoia that these groups like the NRA, the Gun Owners of America, they feed this crap and it really is anti-American" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Joe Klein ‘Mystified Anyone Would Oppose Same-sex Marriage’
By Howard Portnoy | March 26, 2013 | 12:59 PM EDT

It’s nice to see that members of the mainstream media are keeping an open mind as the Supreme Court begins hearing arguments today in the first of two cases that could reshape how America defines marriage.

Exhibit A is TIME magazine’s Joe Klein, who appeared on this morning’s “Morning Joe” to share his utter disbelief that there was any need for the high court to entertain arguments against the obvious constitutional right of homosexuals to marry.

Joe Klein: Obama Thinks State of the Union Is Stronger Because 'He's Been Winning'
By Noel Sheppard | February 10, 2013 | 12:00 PM EST

In today's "Gag Me With A Spoon" segment, Time's Joe Klein on Sunday uttered some sychophantic words about the current White House resident that will send many Americans to their medicine chests for relief.

Appearing on the syndicated Chris Matthews Show, Klein said with a huge smile on his face, "I think that the President really feels that the state of the union is stronger for several reasons. One is that he's been winning ever since the election" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Joe Klein: NRA 'Acting Like a Bunch of Crazies These Days'
By Noel Sheppard | January 20, 2013 | 1:39 PM EST

There clearly is no limit to what liberal media members are allowed to say about the National Rifle Association in the wake of the massacre in Newtown, Connecticut.

Appearing on the syndicated Chris Matthews Show Sunday, Time's Joe Klein said the NRA "are acting like a bunch of crazies these days" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Time’s Klein: Last Time Conservatives Were Rational, ‘Norquist Was in Diapers and Limbaugh Was a Disc Jockey’
By Brent Baker | December 30, 2012 | 7:42 PM EST

Time magazine’s Joe Klein can’t get his basic biographic facts straight, but he’s sure the “fiscal cliff” impasse should be blamed on Grover Norquist on Rush Limbaugh for leading a conservative culture “removed from reality” and “extreme in the most egregious way.”

On CBS’s Face the Nation, after Peggy Noonan regretted how President Barack Obama allows “dreadful enervating dramas” while Ronald Reagan was big enough to make deals with Speaker Tip O’Neill, Klein sputtered: “When Ronald Reagan was President, Grover Norquist was in diapers and Rush Limbaugh was a disc jockey, I think, in St. Louis.”