John Heilemann

Nicolle Wallace: During 2000 Florida Recount, Cruz Tops for 'Hubris and Egomania'
By Mark Finkelstein | December 29, 2015 | 6:41 PM EST

Judging by Nicolle Wallace's performance on today's With All Due Respect, it looks like establishment Republicans are going full bore against Ted Cruz. Here was Wallace talking about her personal experience with Ted Cruz: "I worked with him on the [2000 Bush/Gore] recount in Florida, and the recount was sort of ground zero for the biggest egos in both parties in the whole country, and he rose to the top in terms of hubris and egomania."

Co-host John Heilemann was flabbergasted: "you're saying that among all of your colleagues in the recount effort, that he was the biggest ego?  Is that really what I heard you say? Wow! That is an incredible thing to say."

Bloomberg Guest: Forces In Trump Fans 'More Animalistic Than Human'
By Mark Finkelstein | December 11, 2015 | 7:00 PM EST

It's one thing to dump on Trump, as author Rick Perlstein did on today's With All Due Respect, calling The Donald a modern-day George Wallace, and floating "fascism" about him. But Perlstein took things a nasty step further, denigrating Trump supporters in the ugliest terms.

Per Perlstein, Trump has unleashed forces in his supporters "that are more animalistic than human." Perlstein added that spectacle of the US losing to ISIS has filled Trump fans with "childlike, impotent rage."

Heilemann: For Trashing Trump, I Like Shep Smith More Than Ever
By Mark Finkelstein | December 10, 2015 | 6:01 AM EST

What does it take to get a member of the MSM to praise a Fox News host?  Simple: trash Donald Trump. On yesterday's With All Due Respect, co-host John Heilemann declared "I have always like Shep Smith, and I like him more today than I've ever liked him before."

So what had Shep done to enhance Heilemann's fondness for him? On his show on Tuesday, during a dialogue with Wall Street Journal editor John Bussey, Smith tore Donald Trump, and his plan for Muslims, to shreds. Smith called the plan unlawful, unconstitutional, fear-mongering, racist and "crazy." He claimed Trump "lied" about Muslims cheering 9/11, and described the Donald as a "carnival huckster" who "represents the worst, darkest part of all that is America." Reading between the lines, you might suspect Shep doesn't like Trump very much.

Heilemann: Some Say Trump Muslim Plan 'Fascist,' I Say 'Reactionary'
By Mark Finkelstein | December 7, 2015 | 6:57 PM EST

For a moment there, it looked like John Heilemann might go Absolut Olbermann and call Donald Trump a "fascist" for his proposal which would for the time being bar the entry of all Muslims into the United States.

But Heilemann backed off that f-word. While noting "some will say fascist" about Trump or his policy, Heilemann declared "I'm not saying that." Instead, he settled for asserting that there are "many voters in the country who are in fact reactionary" and that there is no way to describe Trump's policy "other than reactionary." 

Scarborough Rips GOP on Gun Laws: You Pick the NRA Over Public Safety
By Michael McKinney | November 23, 2015 | 1:55 PM EST

On Monday's Morning Joe, the crew discussed New York Police Commissioner William Bratton's appearance on Sunday's Meet the Press. Joe Scarborough played a clip of Bratton begging Congress to pass a law preventing people on the government's terrorism watch list from buying guns. Scarborough echoed the plea as well.

Heilemann: Governors Refusing Syrian Refugees 'Shameless, Un-American'
By Mark Finkelstein | November 16, 2015 | 6:05 PM EST

Would John Heilemann have called Francois Hollande "shameless" and "un-French" if a few months back he had halted the immigration of Syrian immigrants into France, thus stopping two of the Paris terrorists—who reportedly posed as refugees—from entering the country?

The question arises because on today's With All Due Respect, Heilemann condemned as "shameless" and "un-American" the dozen or so governors, mainly Republicans, who have declared that their states won't accept Syrian refugees. 

CBS Knocks ‘Xenophobic’ Trump, Hypes ‘Roundly Mocked’ Jeb
By Scott Whitlock | November 3, 2015 | 12:58 PM EST

It was Republican bashing all around on CBS This Morning, Tuesday. Bloomberg journalist and author John Heilemann appeared on the show and knocked the “xenophobic” Donald Trump and the “roundly mocked” Jeb Bush. Heilemann allowed that “There are people who really like the way he [Trump] talks about China, the way he talks about immigration, the kind of nationalist, some would say xenophobic” rhetoric.

Media Hand a 'Lifeline' to Hillary on Benghazi
By Geoffrey Dickens | October 20, 2015 | 4:00 PM EDT

Hillary Clinton is set to testify before the Benghazi committee on Thursday but the liberal media have spent weeks laying the groundwork for her. Instead of putting the onus on Clinton, her now-discredited story of the attacks being spurred by an anti-Muslim video, and her shady scheme to bypass the State Department e-mail system, the media have led up to the hearings by touting the supposed partisanship of the investigators.

Heilemann: Wouldn't Believe Biden if He Called to Say He's Getting in at Noon
By Mark Finkelstein | October 20, 2015 | 7:55 AM EDT

Basta: enough already! It's not that John Heilemann thinks Joe Biden is a liar, it's just that he's not convinced that Biden knows his own mind yet.  And so it was that on today's Morning Joe, Heilemann declared "if he called me this morning and said I'm going to get in today at noon, I wouldn't believe him because I think there's a chance that by noon he'd change his mind."

Heilemann used two words with rhyming Middle English endings to describe Biden's charged emotional state: fraught and wrought.

NBC: Benghazi Committee ‘Delegitimized,’ Hillary ‘Teed Up to Have a Great Day’ Testifying
By Kyle Drennen | October 16, 2015 | 11:49 AM EDT

Appearing on Friday’s NBC Today, Bloomberg Politics managing editor John Heilemann saw a rapidly closing window for Joe Biden to enter the presidential race: “...if he's making a calculation on the political landscape, it's more forbidding now than it was a month ago. You've got Hillary Clinton performing well at this debate, the Benghazi Committee now kind of delegitimized. She's teed up to have a great day next week, where it could have been a bad – a moment of peril.”

DWS BS: Schultz Did Not Tell 'About a Dozen' Dem Officials About Number of Debates
By Tom Blumer | October 14, 2015 | 11:07 PM EDT

Democratic National Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz has insisted that she consulted with all of her vice-chairs before deciding on the number of Democratic presidential primary debates would be held.

John Heilemann of Bloomberg Politics, in what Hot Air's Jazz Shaw described as "a rare moment of" someone in the press actually "doing their job" in fact-checking leftists, reported this morning that "I cannot find a vice-chair who was consulted in advance by Debbie Wasserman Schultz." The rest of the press appears to be completely disinterested in reporting on the DNC chair's obvious and blatant falsehood.

Hillary's Claim McCarthy Benghazi Comments 'Deeply Distressing' Makes Morning Joe Laugh
By Mark Finkelstein | October 1, 2015 | 8:03 AM EDT

There was Hillary Clinton, telling Al Sharpton of all people that she found Kevin McCarthy's comments about the Benghazi hearings "deeply distressing."  

That was too much for the Morning Joe panel, which just had to laugh.  As John Heilemann put it, far from being distressed, Hillary surely sees McCarthy's comments—implying a political motive behind the hearings—as a Christmas and birthday gift wrapped into one that sent her "skipping through the park."