On Monday's CNN Tonight, during a discussion of Islamophobia with liberal CNN commentator Charles Blow and right-leaning CNN commentator Buck Sexton, host Don Lemon played a clip of a Saturday Night Live parody exaggerating the views of right-leaning Americans toward Syrian refugees, and then asserted that "it's not far from what some of the candidates are saying."
Ben Carson
By Brad Wilmouth | November 22, 2015 | 11:52 PM EST
On Sunday's This Week, host George Stephanopoulos repeatedly brought up the debate over whether to bar guns from people on the federal terror watch list or the no-fly list without delving into any of the arguments against doing so.
The ABC host brought up the issue with both guests Donald Trump and Dr. Ben Carson, and raised the issue again during the Roundtable segment, but never noted either the specific criticisms that the list gets from both the left and the right, or the argument against tipping off suspects under secret investigation which barring them from purchasing guns would cause.
By Brad Wilmouth | November 21, 2015 | 10:47 PM EST
On Friday's New Day on CNN, during a discussion of how to survive a terrorist attack from a mass shooter, CNN National Security Analyst Juliette Kayyem not only omitted any recommendation to prepare by learning to use a gun and keeping one handy, but she actually advised against fighting unless "you have no other option" after attempting to run or hide.
By Brad Wilmouth | November 21, 2015 | 2:57 PM EST
On Friday's Real Time with Bill Maher, host Maher closed the last show of the season mocking Dr. Ben Carson and other "Jesus freaks" as he used a quote from Dr. Carson about "God's fingers" pushing him to the presidency, with the HBO host charging that God has been to blame for "every war in human history," including the Paris terrorist attacks.
Before giving his anti-religion commentary, Maher raised the issue of religion at the end of the show's regular "New Rules" segment as he took aim at Dr. Carson, calling him "Dr. Giggles," and a "dingdong." Maher:
By Mark Finkelstein | November 21, 2015 | 12:17 PM EST
I turned on MSNBC this morning in the admittedly masochistic hope of seeing Melissa Harris-Perry, only to find Harry Smith--of all people--hosting continuing coverage of the Paris attacks and related issues.
After running clips of Ted Cruz, Ben Carson and Mike Huckabee questioning the admittance into the US of Syrian refugees, Smith immediately displayed on screen and read the passage of Matthew 25 that begins "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat . . . I was a stranger and you invited me in," etc. Smith then turned to the Rev. Jacqui Lewis, pastor of the hyper-liberal Middle Collegiate Church in NYC's East Village, and asked this hyper-leading question: "is this as important a piece of the New Testament as exists?" Surprise! Lewis agreed that it "absolutely" is.
By Matthew Balan | November 20, 2015 | 5:30 PM EST
On Friday's CNN Newsroom, Carol Costello badgered Democratic Rep. Kurt Schrader over his vote in favor of additional scrutiny for Syrian refugees applying to enter the U.S. Costello spotlighted how "some on Twitter have not been kind — calling you a traitor to Oregon and...xenophobic," and how "some say the intent of this bill is to really create so many checks that it will be impossible for any Syrian refugee to come into this country any time soon." She later touted how "some say that's just one part of what some call what's becoming a disturbing climate in America."
By Curtis Houck | November 19, 2015 | 9:13 PM EST
NBC Nightly News lashed out at conservatives and Republicans on Thursday for creating an “ugly” and “angry debate” with President Obama over whether to accept Syrian refugees while gushing how Hillary Clinton was “[g]oing against the tide” of a bipartisan majority of voters and members of the House in backing the President.
By Michael McKinney | November 19, 2015 | 3:41 PM EST
On Tuesday, The Atlantic featured an article that lamented decades of Republican race-baiting in presidential campaigns. The piece by [authors] allow that race-baiting “does not mean that those who employ them are racists,” but it does “show a willingness to exploit societal ills for political gain.” The authors don’t think Republicans are racists, just that Republicans have a tendency to exploit racist attitudes across America.
By Jeffrey Meyer | November 15, 2015 | 1:01 PM EST
During a pre-recorded interview with Fox News’ Howard Kurtz that aired on Sunday's MediaBuzz, Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson sharply criticized the press for trying to damage his candidacy with erroneous stories about his personal biography. When pressed by Kurtz to explain why the media would want to damage his campaign, Carson explained “when you deliberately lie and you put that out as a story, or you do shabby investigations, and you say we've investigated and we can't find anything, I mean, is that an acceptable standard?”
By Jeffrey Meyer | November 15, 2015 | 9:05 AM EST
On Saturday Night Live, Weekend Update co-anchor Michael Che shamelessly mocked Jeb Bush after the Republican told the Huffington Post he would happily travel back in time to kill baby Hitler. Che claimed this would have “left Germany in the weak bumbling hands of Adolph’s brother Jeb Hitler." The SNL cast member also mocked Ben Carson, who said he would not kill baby Hitler because of his pro-life values. Che joked “this election is down to which candidate would make the best time traveling baby murderer?”
Chad Henderson Walls Off Twitter Account After NewsBusters Criticizes His Tweet on GOP Candidates' Readiness
By Tom Blumer | November 14, 2015 | 10:56 PM EST We'll have to live without Chad Henderson's tweets for the time being. Once again, Henderson, as he did in 2013, has taken his Twitter account private, limiting it to "confirmed followers." This time he likely did so in reaction to a NewsBusters post earlier this afternoon by P.J. Gladnick.
Henderson first gained notoriety during the initial Obamacare sign-up process in late 2013 when he claimed to have "enrolled" himself and his father when virtually no one else could even access the HealthCare.gov web site. The press unskeptically lapped up the Organizing for Action volunteer's story until Reason.com's Peter Suderman shredded it. It turned out that Henderson had only set up a profile for himself and had not purchased any health care plan. Henderson resurfaced on Twitter after the Paris terrorist attacks yesterday, asking: "Do Trump, Rubio, and Carson have the experience and knowledge to prevent and react to a similar Paris attack? Not at all, folks."
By Brad Wilmouth | November 14, 2015 | 11:37 AM EST
Appearing as a panel member on Friday's Real Time with Bill Maher, comedian Jay Leno compared GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump to Adolf HItler as the group discussed Trump's talk of requiring all illegal immigrants to leave the country before being considered for reentry.