Roland Martin

Van Jones Tells Roland Martin He's Called 'The Green Jack Kemp'
By Tim Graham | March 1, 2010 | 8:30 AM EST

The whitewash-the-green-czar tour continued, as Van Jones found another comfortable powder-puff interview with another black leftist, this time with CNN analyst Roland Martin. On Martin's Sunday show Washington Watch on the black entertainment channel TV One, Jones declared "I'm called the green Jack Kemp, because I'm so passionate about the entrepreneurial agenda here."

He means green jobs, which he said would flow once Team Obama imposed a "carbon cap." He also claimed these policies were not liberal.

Roland Martin wasn't as gooey as PBS's Tavis Smiley, but he was more a friend than a journalist, completely avoiding any specifics on what Jones said about 9/11 being a government conspiracy and other radical views. Martin began the show by touting Jones, "forced out as White House green jobs czar by a right-wing campaign, looks forward to what we need to do to build a green economy."

Media Cast Liberal Republican Meghan McCain as ‘Voice of Young Conservatives’
By Colleen Raezler | February 17, 2010 | 10:27 AM EST
CPAC, the annual Conservative Political Action Conference begins Feb. 18. Conservative leaders will rally the troops before the mid-term elections in November and discuss the future role of conservatives in politics.

One person who will not be in attendance is Meghan McCain, despite the year-long media attempt to make citizens believe she is somehow representative of conservatives. She tweeted on Feb. 11, "I have no idea where this weird rumor I am speaking at CPAC came from, it isn't true and I will not be attending or speaking."

McCain, the 25-year-old daughter of former Republican presidential nominee John McCain and a writer for The Daily Beast, has taken it upon herself to tell the GOP what needs to be fixed within the party. Because she calls herself a Republican, media outlets have perpetuated the notion that she is also conservative. By doing that, they've pushed a liberal social agenda that directly conflicts with conservative values.

Writer Kathleen Parker, herself no stranger to conservative bashing, praised McCain last spring as "one smart cookie" who "in a matter weeks ... has created a brand, presenting herself as a fresh face of her daddy's party and voice of young conservatives."

Jonathan Capehart of The Washington Post and a contributor to MSNBC, suggested last summer that "maybe what the Republican Party is going to have to do is skip a generation and wait for the Meghan McCains to come of age so they can run for office and take over the mantle of the party."

Roland Martin: Palin Should ‘Cut the Crap’ and Stick to Making Money
By Candance Moore | February 16, 2010 | 5:34 PM EST

Last Thursday, Roland Martin went nuclear on former Governor Sarah Palin in a rant clearly inspired by the "retard" dustup that devolved into a general screed against everything the CNN contributor could think of.

Among the lowlights of the piece, Martin: mocked those in "real America" for being Palin fans; accused her of giving speeches "full of falsehoods," and; claimed she was an empty-headed celebrity who wanted nothing more than money.

Perhaps this was what Martin had in mind when he encouraged President Obama to go gangsta on Republicans standing in the way. For someone supposedly concerned about partisan bickering, it was rich of Martin to suddenly drop all pretense of being a nonpartisan commentator.

"Palin Should Cut the Hypocrisy" jumped right in with the first paragraph to set a hostile tone:

CNN's Roland Martin: It's Time for Obama to 'Go Gangsta on GOP'
By Tim Graham | February 11, 2010 | 10:47 PM EST

CNN political analyst Roland Martin stirred things up on CNN.com with his editorial "Time to go gangsta on GOP." Martin is sick and tired of Republicans holding up Obama nominees, so he’s suggesting that the president act like Al Capone or maybe the movie version, Robert DeNiro in The Untouchables:

Obama's critics keep blasting him for Chicago-style politics. So, fine. Channel your inner Al Capone and go gangsta against your foes. Let 'em know that if they aren't with you, they are against you, and will pay the price.

Several conservative bloggers wondered if "gangsta" sounded less like Al Capone and more like gangsta rappers. Could that sound racially insensitive? Martin attacked a former editor of his at Creators Syndicate for objecting to the analogy:

Media Let Duncan Off the Hook for Katrina Comment, Blasted GOP Rep for the Same
By Lachlan Markay | February 1, 2010 | 1:22 PM EST
On Saturday, NB's Noel Sheppard reported on this statement made by Education Secretary Arne Duncan: "I think the best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans was hurricane Katrina. That education system was a disaster. It took hurricane Katrina to wake up the community and say we have to do better."

CNN host T.J. Holmes read that quote aloud during a broadcast. "Of course I agree" with Duncan's statement, said one guest, CNN contributor Steve Perry. The host and correspondents went back and forth about how the hurricane may or may not have helped public schools, never once impugning Duncan's motives.

Contrast this media response with the response to former Republican Congressman from Louisiana Richard Baker's statement regarding Katrina: "We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did." It sparked outrage among the liberal media (h/t NRO's John Miller).
CNN Shocker: Hurricane Katrina Good For New Orleans Schools
By Noel Sheppard | January 30, 2010 | 8:49 PM EST

Here's something you never would have heard from a mainstream media outlet when George W. Bush was President: Hurricane Katrina was a good thing for New Orleans.

When it comes to the school system in the Louisiana city, that's exactly what CNN reported during Saturday's "Newsroom." 

After anchor T.J. Holmes read a statement from Education Secretary Arne Duncan -- "I think the best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans was Hurricane Katrina" -- he was joined by fellow CNNer's Roland Martin and Steve Perry who largely agreed.

As you watch the following video, try to imagine this discussion happening on CNN if Bush was still in the White House (video embedded below the fold with full transcript, h/t Story Balloon):

CNN's Liberal Panelists Run to Obama's Defense on Supreme Court Rebuke
By Matthew Balan | January 28, 2010 | 5:02 PM EST
During CNN’s post-State of Union coverage on Wednesday night, three  liberal commentators- Paul Begala, James Carville, and Roland Martin- put up an energetic defense of President Obama’s rebuke of the Supreme Court during the address. Begala and Carville took issue with Republican panelist Alex Castellanos’s reproof of the President, while Martin rebuked Justice Samuel Alito’s reaction.

Anchor Wolf Blitzer played a clip of the relevant portion of the President’s speech, where Mr. Obama condemned the Court for its recent decision on campaign finance regulations, and highlighted how Justice Alito shook his head and mouthed “not true” in response. Blitzer then turned to the panel for its take on the moment. His fellow anchor Campbell Brown, who was moderating the panel, first questioned Castellanos on Alito’s reaction: “Was that appropriate, Alex Castellanos, to have that kind of reaction from Alito when he said that?”
CNN's Martin Warns Obama: Blaming Bush Won't Work Forever
By Candance Moore | December 6, 2009 | 7:09 PM EST

CNN political contributor Roland Martin opined on Friday that since President Obama has been in the White House for almost a year, his default line of blaming George Bush for an inherited mess will soon stop working.

In a strange bout of liberal acknowledgement, Martin conceded that Barack Obama "rode into office on the 'blame Bush' tidal wave" that had become "the Democrats' most famous fallback position."

How convenient Martin waited more than a year to say this in public. If he'd done his job and called out Democrats for using excuses right from the start, he wouldn't have to spend a whole column admitting it now.

The impetus for this revealing piece was Martin being displeased with Obama's new policy in Afghanistan. After spending much of his recent career being an Obama apologist, Martin found himself unable to support the troop surge. The result was a warning that Obama's allies would not be able to blame everything on Bush:

Roland Martin Politicizes Beck Appendectomy: 'Blew Gasket After NY23'
By Matthew Balan | November 5, 2009 | 11:06 AM EST

Roland Martin, CNN Contributor | NewsBusters.orgCNN contributor Roland Martin made light of Glenn Beck’s emergency appendectomy in a post on his Twitter account late Wednesday night/early Thursday Morning: “Glenn Beck had an appendectomy today. He must have blown a gasket after Hoffman lost the NY-23. Keep crying, Glenn!”

CNN's Martin: Dems are a 'Big Tent,' GOP Risks 'Fringe' Status
By Matthew Balan | November 3, 2009 | 4:32 PM EST
Roland Martin, CNN Political Contributor | NewsBusters.orgCNN’s Roland Martin picked up where Anderson Cooper left off on Monday’s AC360, claiming that there’s “the beginnings of a civil war” in the GOP and that Tea Party protesters “want to radicalize the right” in the party. Martin also claimed that the Democrats are more of a “big tent” than Republicans: “You have a Democratic Party that has no problem having liberal...moderate...and conservative Democrats.”

The liberal political contributor appeared with Tea Party Express’s Mark Williams for two segments starting three minutes into the 10 pm Eastern hour. Cooper first sought Martin’s take on the New York 23rd congressional district race. Unsurprisingly, he forwarded the Chris Matthews/mainstream media spin on the contest: “There is no doubt you are seeing the beginnings of a civil war play out, in terms of folks who are saying that we do not want moderates, in terms of being involved in this party.”

Later in the segment, after Williams highlighted how Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava endorsed Democrat Bill Owens after she withdrew from the New York 23 race, Martin struck back with his “big tent” claim about the Democrats: “You talk about endorsing a Democrat. I’m sure Mark has no problem with former Democrat Joe Lieberman saying he’s going to campaign for Republican candidates....You have a Democratic Party that has no problem having liberal Democrats, moderate Democrats, and conservative Democrats. What Republicans are saying is, we don’t want any liberal or moderate Republicans. We only want conservative Republicans, and you cannot expand a party nationally only having just conservative Republicans. You’re not going to win long-term.”
CNN's Brown Points Out Fox and MSNBC's Bias; Ignores Network's Own
By Matthew Balan | October 29, 2009 | 12:38 PM EDT
Campbell Brown, CNN Anchor | NewsBusters.orgCNN’s Campbell Brown was quick to point out the apparent biases of competitors MSNBC and Fox News during her program on Wednesday, but ignored that of her own network as she tried to portray it as unbiased: “Some of us, like my colleagues here at CNN, are still trying to do journalism....I’m not critical of what my friends at Fox News and MSNBC do, but it is apples and oranges when compared to what we at CNN do.”

Brown concluded the 8 pm Eastern hour with remarks initially directed against the Obama administration for its campaign against Fox News. The CNN anchor thought it was “silly” for the White House to go after the 24-hour news network: “I mean, really, the White House is only just now figuring out Fox in prime-time has a conservative bias? Really? I think our friends at Fox News have been pretty up-front about it, and frankly, pretty unapologetic, for that matter. What confuses me is that if the White House is really so concerned about bias in the media, then why are they only targeting Fox?”
Roland Martin Hits Obama From the Left on Executive Pay: 'It's About Time!'
By Matthew Balan | October 21, 2009 | 6:06 PM EDT
Rick Sanchez, CNN Anchor; & Roland Martin, CNN Political Analyst | NewsBusters.orgCNN political analyst Roland Martin ripped President Obama from the left on Wednesday’s Newsroom, after the White House announced that they were going to cut the pay of top executives at corporations which took taxpayer money from the federal government for bailouts: “It’s about damn time. The White House, frankly, has been slow in actually making this happen.”

Near the end of the 3 pm Eastern hour, anchor Rick Sanchez broke the news about the Obama administration’s decision to “put the kaputs on some of these big-timers with some of these Wall Street firms like AIG, and they are apparently going to ask them to take a cut in annual salaries of their 25 highest paid executives by an average...of 90% from last year.” Sanchez brought on Martin to comment on this breaking news, and the analyst’s reaction was unequivocally critical of the administration’s inaction in going after executive pay.