With All Due Respect

Hillary's NH Chair Fails His Boast, Can't Identify Her Stands on Democrat-Dividing Issues
By Mark Finkelstein | April 21, 2015 | 6:18 PM EDT

This was pretty funny. William Shaheen, Hillary's New Hampshire co-chair and husband of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, appearing on today's With All Due Respect, boasted that he knows where Hillary stands on 10 different issues. 

But when hosts Mark Halperin and John Heilemann put Shaheen to the test, asking him where Hillary stands on the Keystone Pipeline and the Trans Pacific trade deal, Shaheen had to sheepishly admit that he didn't know Hillary's view on either issue, despite his boast and having specifically said that he knows where Hillary stands on trade.

Bloomberg's Henneberger: GOP Candidates 'Can't Possibly' Match Hillary on Foreign Policy
By Mark Finkelstein | April 9, 2015 | 9:04 PM EDT

Are we talking Frequent Flyer Miles, Hillary's record of "success" in such places as Benghazi, Syria and Yemen, or just what?

On today's With All Due Respect, Bloomberg's Melinda Henneberger claimed that when it comes to foreign policy, none of the Republican presidential hopefuls "can possibly come up to the level of the former Secretary of State."  Host John Heilemann had teed up the question by citing Hillary's "huge resume" in the area. Heilemann also indulged in some classic Upper West Side snobbery, saying that when Scott Walker goes abroad, he's either "selling cheese or buying cheese."

Halperin-Heilemann: Rand's Wife Kelley Good, But No Michelle Obama
By Mark Finkelstein | April 7, 2015 | 8:44 PM EDT

Let's be clear: on today's With All Due Respect, Mark Halperin and John Heilemann were very complimentary about Kelley Paul's performance today in introducing her husband Rand at his presidential announcement speech.  They described her as a big asset and anticipate seeing a lot more of her on the campaign trail.

That said, the duo said something that boggled my mind, claiming that as good as she was, Kelley was "not at Michelle Obama's level."  Back in April, 2008, a full year later in that campaign cycle, this NewsBuster wrote about Michelle's shockingly angry performance on the stump [view the item and above all the video here], and asked if the MSM would report it.  Of course they didn't. As I recall, Michelle was "disappeared" from big public appearances for some time after that fiasco. IMHO Kelley is light years ahead of Michelle at this stage.

Bloomberg Columnist: Tina Fey, Jon Stewart More Universal Than the Pope
By Mark Finkelstein | April 6, 2015 | 6:16 PM EDT

I hadn't before seen Will Leitch, the Deadspin creator who now writes on politics for Bloomberg, in action.  But on today's With All Due Respect, I found him funny and affable.

Even so, he made one left-leaning assertion so absurd it was too much even for show host John Heilemann.  Running parallel with the NCAA tourney, Bloomberg has been running a bracket of 64 non-presidential candidates.  In the Final Four, Jon Stewart defeated the Pope and Tina Fey took out Warren Buffett.  Asked to explain the results, Leitch alleged that Fey and Stewart have a "universality that maybe not everybody has, frankly including the Pope."

Halperin: Dems Happy With Hillary Like Cubans With Their 'Choices'
By Mark Finkelstein | March 26, 2015 | 7:50 PM EDT

Mark Halperin just compared the way Hillary has been foisted on Dem voters to the empty "choices" that Cubans have when it comes to their leaders.

On this evening's With All Due Respect, when Dem strategist Steve McMahon claimed that Dems are happy with "the" choice they have in the person of Hillary,  Halperin retorted "like the way Cuban voters are happy with their choices."

Heilemann 'Saddened' That Bibi Team Sees Win as Blow to Obama—But Obama View If Bibi Lost?
By Mark Finkelstein | March 17, 2015 | 7:39 PM EDT

Imagine the secret scene inside the White House if Bibi Netanyahu had lost tonight: President Obama popping the bubbly as Samantha Power and John Kerry danced an Irish jig? There's no denying that the Obama admin ardently davened [prayed] for Bibi's defeat.  Top Obama campaign aides had been dispatched to Israel for that very purpose. Indeed, there are even allegations that the Obama admin had underwritten the effort to defeat Netanyahu.

But in a classic MSM bit of hypocritical hand-wringing, on this evening's With All Due Respect, John Heilemann lamented that he was "saddened" to hear that an adviser to Netanyahu said that his victory would be "a defeat for Barack Obama."  

Halperin Mocks Hillary: Was She 'Out of Server Space' After 'Downloading Every Barry Manilow Song?'
By Mark Finkelstein | March 10, 2015 | 7:21 PM EDT

Which was the bigger insult to Hillary: that she might have committed hanky-panky with the handling of her email, or that she's a huge Barry Manilow fan?

On today's With All Due Respect, Mark Halperin mocked Hillary's decision to delete thousands of supposedly personal emails: "was she running out of server space because she was, like, downloading every Barry Manilow song?" John Heilemann was equally unimpressed, quoting someone who tweeted: "Nixon didn't burn the tapes but Hillary destroyed the emails."  Ouch.

Campbell Brown Nixes Dennis Miller for Daily Show: 'Hasn't He Gone Right Wing?'
By Mark Finkelstein | March 9, 2015 | 6:09 PM EDT

Did Campbell Brown just give away a dirty little secret: that conservatives are blacklisted in the entertainment business?    

On today's With All Due Respect, Brown and John Heilemann were kicking around the results of a poll as to whom Americans prefer to replace Jon Stewart as Daily Show host.   Tina Fey came in first, with Dennis Miller a close second.  Said Brown: "I can't imagine Dennis Miller. Hasn't he gone right wing?" Heilemann agreed: "that's not going to work."

'Godzilla With Mothra Riding His Back': Heilemann on How 'Dumb' of Hillary To Use Personal Email
By Mark Finkelstein | March 3, 2015 | 6:47 PM EST

On the Bloomberg TV show he co-hosts, John Heilemann—asked today to quantify on a scale of "1-to-Godzilla" how "dumb" politically it was of Hillary Clinton to use personal email—answered "Godzilla with Mothra riding on his back dumb."  Heilemann also revealed having reached out to former Hillary aides and that "to a person" they responded that the situation is a political "disaster."

Mark Halperin claimed that, substantively, Hillary might have "a leg to stand on" but that politically her decision to use personal email was "moronic."

Heilemann Hails Hillary: 'Looser, Funnier, More Spontaneous' In Latest Speech
By Mark Finkelstein | February 25, 2015 | 6:10 PM EST

When on his Bloomberg TV show today it came John Heilemann's turn to comment on a clip of Hillary from a speech to a women's conference in Silicon Valley yesterday, I sincerely thought he was going to criticize Clinton's canned delivery.

But to my amazement, Heilemann hailed Hillary as "much looser, much more spontaneous, much funnier" than she's been in the past.  Talk about the soft bigotry of low expectations! Have a look at the video and judge Hillary's delivery for yourself.

Biden Affectionately Refers to Former Iowa Congressman as His ‘Old Butt Buddy’; Networks Ignore
By Curtis Houck | February 12, 2015 | 8:46 PM EST

Speaking at Drake University in Iowa on Thursday, Vice President Joe Biden was running through a list of dignitaries that were there for his remarks and referred to former Iowa Democratic Representative Neal Smith as his “old butt buddy” and told Smith that “I miss you man.” On Thursday night, the major networks ignored the story and didn’t even one of its lighthearted news briefs to it (as the networks often do in the second half of their programs).

Campbell Brown Jabs Boehner and McConnell for ‘Whining’ About Obama in 60 Minutes Interview
By Curtis Houck | January 28, 2015 | 6:10 PM EST

Filling in for John Heilemann on the Monday edition of Bloomberg’s With All Due Respect, Campbell Brown took a shot at House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for “whining about President Obama” in an interview that aired Sunday on CBS’s 60 Minutes.

Following a clip from the interview, Brown first credited Boehner for “holding a very diverse, you know, House together,” but she then quickly reversed course and made this swipe at Boehner and McConnell: “[I]n terms of being messengers for the party right now, it sounds a lot like whining.”