Probably in response to a firestorm of criticism over their cover photo of Rep. Michele Bachmann, Newsweek today released a slideshow of "outtakes" that they say show that, in essence, the Minnesota Republican is unphotogenic and didn't give them much to work with in terms of a flattering photo.
For his part, left-leaning Mediaite.com reporter Tommy Christopher isn't buying it, calling "bulls**t" on the Tina Brown-edited publication (emphasis mine):
MSNBC's Joe Scarborough on Tuesday mourned the "absolutely dreadful" behavior of journalists and politicians who have compared Tea Party Republicans to "terrorists," among other things. But as NewsBusters previously reported, the "Morning Joe" co-host repeatedly ignored such transgressions when they occurred on his own show.
The political prognosticator Charlie Cook appeared on National Public Radio on July 11 and summarized perfectly the media narrative on the debt-limit battle. Boehner, Cook said, “is not a burn-the-barn-down, break-the-china kind of guy [and] he does not necessarily reflect the views of a majority...of the House Republican Conference, who are of the burn-the-barn-down, break-the-china mold.”
Hold on here. Why is it destructive to insist on a limited government? Why is fiscal sanity equated with pyromania? Cook was brought on as a “nonpartisan” analyst, but there’s nothing either civil or accurate in casting conservatives as barn-burners.
Newsweek editor Tina Brown, who last week smeared the Republican Party as "suicide bombers," was featured as a guest on Tuesday's Good Morning America to slam the "amorality" of Rupert Murdoch. Brown appeared to discuss the News of the World scandal and the ethics of the media mogul.
Talking to host Robin Roberts, the editor attacked, "But at the same [Murdoch] has no, you know, ethics in the company." Brown, who in addition to running Newsweek, also oversees the Daily Beast, showed up on MSNBC's Morning Joe last week to trash Republicans who oppose raising the debt limit: "I think they’re the suicide bombers in all of this."
Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh doesn't like to comment about MSNBC because he fears it will help their dismal ratings.
However, he made an exception on Thursday's program saying amongst other things, "That whole network is a loony bin filled with people who are overflowing with uncontrollable rage, anger, unhappiness, and misery, by design" (video courtesy Right Scoop follows with transcript and commentary):
Newsweek's Tina Brown compared congressional Republicans to suicide bombers on Wednesday's Morning Joe after lamenting their refusal to agree to the tax hikes demanded by Democrats. "I think they’re the suicide bombers in all of this," said Brown. Will Tina Brown be banned indefinitely from Morning Joe? Sounds harsher than a crotch reference.
For an MSMer attacking a Republican, there's nothing quite like a wild-animal metaphor.
Witness Newsweek/Daily Beast's Tina Brown, claiming on Morning Joe today that the Obama administration is loath to speak of "regime change" in Libya. Why? Because that phrase "has been tainted by the big, greasy paws of Dick Cheney."
View video after the jump.
Bill Maher on Friday night got nicely zinged by New York Times columnist David Brooks.
After the host bragged about all the over-confident kids that have told him they're going to one day be on HBO's "Real Time," Brooks marvelously said, "That's not necessarily a sign of high self-esteem though to want to be on this show" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
All you need to know about why people on the right were dissatisfied with Kathleen Parker as the supposedly conservative counterweight to Eliot Spitzer on the pair's recently-canned CNN show was crystallized on Morning Joe today. The panel unleashed an absolute gush-a-thon over Parker, Mika Brzezinski declaring her "one of my favorite people" and Willie Geist describing her as "a great writer."
For good measure, the MSNBC folks delighted in dumping on rival CNN. Mike Barnicle took top trash-talking honors, claiming Parker had been "brutalized" at the network.
View video after the jump.
Comedienne Sandra Bernhard called Bristol Palin a hooker on Wednesday's "The Joy Behar Show."
This was just a part of a televised hatefest reminiscent of the Lindsay Lohan film "Mean Girls" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
On her website, The Daily Beast, on Thursday, editor-in-chief Tina Brown joyously announced the "wedding" of the left-leaning blog with the equally liberal Newsweek magazine: "Some weddings take longer to plan than others. The union of The Daily Beast and Newsweek magazine finally took place with a coffee-mug toast between all parties."
Brown touted how she would now serve as editor-in-chief for both publications. She expressed her desire to oversee the "great magazine's revival" and praised it for being "lively" and "well-informed." Brown should fit in well as head of the liberal magazine given her own history of left-wing advocacy.
One day before Election Day, the MRC has a fresh new edition of Notable Quotables posted over at MRC.org. Topics this week include: the liberal media’s pre-election meltdown, with MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann frothing that the election of “unqualified, unstable” Tea Party Republicans “would destroy America from within,” and Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter engaging in open electioneering: “The GOP’s agenda has to be stopped.”
To read it online, posted with five videos with matching MP3 audio, plus a sixth quote with a matching audio clip, go to www.MRC.org.
For NewsBuster’s readers, here are some of the choicer quotes from the last couple of weeks, reflecting liberals’ increasing desperation as the election clock ticks down: