ABC News’s senior national correspondent Cecilia Vega continued her cheerleading for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Tuesday’s World News Tonight as she gushed that Clinton is working to win over voters “one handshake, one chai at a time” (in reference to her order of a chai tea at an Iowa coffee shop).
Iowa
By Melissa Mullins | March 28, 2015 | 7:39 AM EDT
While Beltway insiders think Hillary Clinton has the Democratic presidential nomination all squared away, some have tried to build a buzz arond former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley as a challenger.
In Iowa, a college newspaper tried to sell O'Malley as a "new JFK." Don't they do that a lot with Democrats?
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).
By Ken Shepherd | February 9, 2015 | 4:47 PM EST
In his February 9 story on MSNBC's The Reid Report headlined "Counted Out," network correspondent Zachary Roth offered viewers a misleading look at the plight of an Iowa woman who "had been charged with illegal voting." In point of fact, the woman in question, an ex-felon named Kelli Jo Griffin, was prosecuted for committing perjury by lying about her disqualification on a voter registration form.
By Ken Shepherd | February 3, 2015 | 5:11 PM EST
"Voting Under Attack" blares the teaser headline for a new Zachary Roth piece at MSNBC.com looking at efforts in five states to pass new voter ID laws.
By Tim Graham | January 28, 2015 | 2:11 PM EST
The liberals at NPR weren't sugar-coating their view of how conservative Republicans will lead their party into a "disastrous" end if they do well in Iowa. On Monday's Morning Edition, NPR analyst Cokie Roberts insisted Iowa Republicans seem to favor social conservatives who push the GOP too far to the right in a general election. They oppose gay marriage and "turn off young voters in droves" and oppose amnesty for immigrants, which has made Rep. Steve King's name "toxic" among Hispanics.
By Ken Shepherd | November 3, 2014 | 8:54 PM EST
On his final Hardball before polls open for the 2014 midterm elections, MSNBC Chris Matthews groused about how an anti-Bruce Braley ad by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was "dangerous."
Matthews Suggests GOP Senate Candidate Joni Ernst ‘Has Talked About Killing Politicians She Doesn't Agree With’
By Curtis Houck | October 24, 2014 | 6:13 PM EDT During his MSNBC show on Thursday night, Chris Matthews discussed a soundbite of Iowa Republican Senate candidate Joni Ernst stating her stance on the Second Amendment from two years ago and interpreted it as “pretty radical” to the point that “[s]he has talked about killing politicians she doesn't agree with.”
First, here is what Ernst actually said (which was uncovered in a Huffington Post story from Wednesday): “I have a beautiful little Smith & Wesson, nine millimeter, and it goes with me virtually everywhere, but I do believe in the right to carry, and I believe in the right to defend myself and my family, whether it's from an intruder, or whether it's from a government should they decide that my rights are no longer important.”
By Curtis Houck | October 14, 2014 | 10:55 PM EDT
Following a segment that aired on Sunday night’s NBC Nightly News on President Obama’s unpopularity ahead of the midterm elections, the evening news program with two more midterm election segments on Tuesday. Both segments, however, were not without liberal bias, as one segment promoted the “close” Kentucky Senate race and the other discussed three Senate races to watch that present “big hurdles” for a Republican Senate majority.
By Ken Shepherd | October 6, 2014 | 10:20 PM EDT
Managing Editor's Note (Jan. 15, 2015; 5:15 p.m. Eastern): I've republished this to the front page today given the news that Sen. Ernst will be give the official Republican response to President Obama's State of the Union Address next Wednesday. If Chris Matthews doesn't make repeated sneering references to hog castration on MSNBC next Wednesday night, look out your window. You'll probably see a pig flying by.
By Kyle Drennen | September 15, 2014 | 11:44 AM EDT
After fretting on Sunday's Meet the Press that Hillary Clinton may not be liberal enough for 2016 Democratic caucus-goers in Iowa, on Monday's NBC Today, correspondent Andrea Mitchell eagerly touted the Clinton campaign machine: "This time, Clinton organizers say they've learned their lesson, busing in volunteers from all over the country."
A clip played of Mitchell shouting a question to the former secretary of state: "Does it feel great to be back out here?" Clinton replied: "It's great. It was a great day. Couldn't have been better." To former President Bill Clinton, Mitchell enthused: "If she wants to, can she do it this time?" He dodged the question, remarking: "I have nothing to say. It's not my decision." Mitchell concluded: "I think I know which way you would vote." [Listen to the audio]
By Ken Shepherd | July 29, 2014 | 8:55 PM EDT
Her ears ringing with the "code words" of "nullification" and "states rights," Salon's Joan Walsh strongly suggested on Tuesday's Hardball that Iowa Republican U.S. Senate candidate Joni Ernst was cynically reaching out to nefarious elements of the GOP when she answered a question about nullification of federal laws in a September 2013 forum. [See my related story about the Daily Beast's biased reporting here]
Naturally host Chris Matthews agreed, tag-teaming with the left-wing scribe against Republican strategist John Brabender who insisted that the Iowa state senator was being taken out of context by Democrats eager to define her in a negative light ahead of November's election. [listen to MP3 audio here; video follows page break]