During a discussion on MSNBC’s The Cycle about the disparaging comments ObamaCare architect Jonathan Gruber made about the law’s passage and the “stupidity” of voters, New York Times writer and substitute Cycle co-host Josh Barro sought to defend him by blasting the expectations that Americans have about health care as “completely incoherent” and lying was the only solution to make them happy. Barro told fellow panelists and guest Lauren Fox of National Journal that “what drives me crazy about this story” was that: “Jonathan Gruber was right. Public opinion on health care policy is just completely incoherent.”
The Cycle
By Mark Finkelstein | October 17, 2014 | 6:12 PM EDT
The web page for MSNBC's The Cycle has the chutzpah to describe co-host Abby Huntsman as a "conservative." Whatever happened to truth in advertising?
On today's episode, Huntsman again demonstrated why the conservative tag doesn't fit. As a guest offered up a laughably lame analogy in arguing against a travel ban on people from Ebola-affected countries, Huntsman was quick to weigh in with an approving comment.
By Geoffrey Dickens | October 10, 2014 | 5:04 PM EDT
On Friday, the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank implied something truly dastardly and unpatriotic about Republicans - that they wouldn’t mind if the President of the United States was violently removed from office due to inadequate Secret Service protection.
By Mark Finkelstein | September 15, 2014 | 6:12 PM EDT
Can Touré Neblett not see the incandescent irony of his statement? His show-ending rant on The Cycle today condemned the censorship of the shocking images of war. Railed Touré: "we're blocked from seeing so much of the cost of war, of the evil of war as if we are too sensitive or squeamish or unable to handle the graphic truth."
Touré focused on one particular photo, taken by photo-journalist Kenneth Jarecke during the first Gulf War, deploring the fact that AP refused to publish it. Incredibly, Touré then proceeded to . . . censor the photo himself, declaring that it's "so graphic I can't show it to you now." Hello?
By Randy Hall | August 25, 2014 | 10:32 PM EDT
Conservative icon Rush Limbaugh declared during his radio show on Friday that the “mainstream media” was unable to transform “gentle giant” black teenager Michael Brown, who was shot and killed by white police officer Darren Wilson on August 9, into Rodney King -- the black man who became famous for a high-speed pursuit by the police and later asking “Can't we all get along?” 22 years ago -- because “alternative media,” including talk radio, has destroyed “the monopoly of the Drive-By Media.”
That claim was contradicted by Touré Neblett, a co-host of MSNBC's weekday The Cycle program, who charged in Sunday's edition of the Washington Post that black victims of crime become “thuggified” as negative incidents in their pasts are revealed to the public that diminish their standing in America’s “empathy gap.”
By Scott Whitlock | August 7, 2014 | 4:53 PM EDT
MSNBC's Cycle hosts on Thursday brought on liberal author Rick Perlstein to pine for the greatness that was the 1970s. Perlstein appeared to promote his new book on the '70s and the transition from Richard Nixon to Ronald Reagan. Allowing that the decade was a "dark time," the writer enthused, "But to me, there's some nostalgia to that period. Because Americans proved they could look our problems in the eye like grownups and face them." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]
Remember, this was the decade of Vietnam, gas shortages, American hostages in Iran and inflation, to name a few problems. Perlstein attacked Reagan's sunny optimism during the period, complaining, "One of the problems with Reagan, one of the things we need to reckon with, is he gave us absolution from doing that hard work as citizens."
By Scott Whitlock | August 6, 2014 | 5:20 PM EDT
The author of a harsh expose on "nasty" Hillary Clinton appeared on MSNBC, Wednesday, and made his charges against the Democrat. The Cycle hosts grilled Ronald Kessler about his claim that Secret Service agents think Mrs. Clinton is "the worst." They also ignored his allegation that Bill Clinton is having an affair with a mistress known as "the energizer."
Promoting his book The First Family Detail, Kessler proclaimed, "Behind the scenes, [Hillary Clinton is] so nasty to her own Secret Service agents, who are there to protect her and even lay down their lives for her, that, she – being assigned to her detail is considered the worst assignment detail in the Secret Service." [See video below. MP3 audio here.] He added an assertion not often heard on liberal MSNBC: "That's something people should consider as well as track record when they elect a president."
By Ken Shepherd | July 30, 2014 | 6:08 PM EDT
This afternoon on MSNBC's The Cycle co-host Ari Melber conducted a live interview with liberal Democratic Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.) and libertarian-conservative Republican Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) about their bipartisan Redeem Act proposal -- Redeem standing for Record Expungement Designed to ENhance EMployment.
Unfortunately for viewers, Melber insisted on playing the Lean Forward's favorite hand, flopping out the race card twice: by suggesting Sen. Paul once opposed the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the second by pressing Sen. Booker to accept the left-wing premise that the nation's drug laws were intentionally racist by design [LISTEN to MP3 audio here; video follows page break].
By Connor Williams | July 17, 2014 | 4:10 PM EDT
Even after all these years, some people still fall for Howard Stern’s tricks. Reacting to the plane crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, MSNBC’s The Cycle supposedly brought on U.S. Staff Sergeant Michael Boyd. He claimed to have seen the missile in the air hit the plane. Suffice it to say, Krystal Ball’s interview did not go as planned.
Ball led off by asking “Boyd” what he saw on the ground in Ukraine. He responded: " Well, I was looking out the window and I saw a projectile flying through the sky and it would appear that the plane was shot down by a blast of wind from Howard Stern’s ass." [MP3 audio here; video below]
By Connor Williams | July 9, 2014 | 6:45 PM EDT
The folks on MSNBC's The Cycle have gone on the offensive regarding immigration, moving from defending President Obama to bashing the supposed bigotry that exists on the right, naturally. On the July 9 edition of program, the panel and guest Eric Schneiderman of Salon were virtually unanimous in their criticism of the Republican Party on immigration.
Toure pointed to what he believed is a contradiction within the Republican Party: that the business community which generally supports Republicans tends to be pro-immigration reform, while the base largely opposes such reform. He them attempted to explain this dilemma by accusing the right of bigotry: [MP3 audio here; video below]
By Jackie Seal | June 20, 2014 | 9:03 AM EDT
Thursday afternoon’s The Cycle plugged the recently released “abortion rom-com” Obvious Child by interviewing the film's screenwriter and director Gillian Robespierre and lead actress Jenny Slate.
After the hosts spent a couple minutes praising the way in which the film portrayed a "positive, safe, shame-free abortion," co-host Krystal Ball took the liberty of asking the director if there was ever a point where she felt nervous for her “physical safety” citing the sometimes “violent” nature of anti-abortion activists.
By Connor Williams | June 19, 2014 | 5:35 PM EDT
Reacting to the announcement from President Obama that the United States will be sending approximately 300 special forces to Iraq in non-combat “advisor” roles, the panel on MSNBC’s The Cycle was skeptical that the move would accomplish anything significant. It’s fair to say that the panel was not exactly erring on the side of more intervention, however.
After reading a quote from Time magazine which pointed out that many dictators in the Middle East have argued that only their oppressive measures could quell the tension between Sunnis and Shiites, guest host Luke Russert asked, “After what's happened in Iraq, Libya, Egypt, Syria, is it fair to say the West was better off with dictators?” [MP3 audio here; video below]