Kelly O'Donnell touted Harry Reid's "reputation for mastering the tactical side of politics" on Friday's NBC Nightly News, after the Nevada Democrat announced that he is not running for a sixth term. O'Donnell quickly added that "that skill includes quickly endorsing a successor." However, the correspondent failed to mention that the politician had a significant role in exacerbating the partisan bickering in Congress in recent years.
Harry Reid
Networks Fret Conservatives Posed ‘a Thorny Obstacle’ to Boehner; Will Force Him to be ‘More Confrontational’
By Curtis Houck | January 6, 2015 | 10:29 PM EST On Tuesday night, each of the major broadcast networks devoted time to covering the swearing in of the 114th Congress and the race for House Speaker that saw John Boehner retain his post, but not without 25 conservatives voting in dissent against the incumbent Republican.
Overall, the networks lamented how the group presented “a thorny obstacle to Boehner's leadership” and, in turn, will force him to be “more confrontational with President Obama” instead of "working with the President on some issues, including tax reform and trade."
By Tom Blumer | December 26, 2014 | 7:23 AM EST
President Barack Obama, soon to be former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, former Congressman Barney Frank, and many other prominent Democrats and leftists have over the past several years declared that their ultimate goal is turn the U.S. healthcare system into a "single-payer," i.e., completely government-controlled, enterprise.
That likely explains why the reaction to Vermont's abandonment of its attempt to set up single-payer has been quite muted in the establishment press, as many of its members have ardently supported the idea for decades.
By Tom Blumer | November 8, 2014 | 10:05 AM EST
Late Friday afternoon, John Boehner, Mitch McConnell and Republicans in Washington got their first taste of what they will likely see from the supposedly "objective" reporters at the Associated Press, aka the Administration's Press, as they cover their relationship with President Obama and his White House apparatachiks during the next two years.
The headline at a story by Nedra Pickler and Erica Wener ("Immigration dispute erupts at White House lunch") and that story's first seven words ("A White House lunch aiming for cooperation") are fundamentally dishonest and untrue, respectively. The article's later text proves both of my contentions.
By Matthew Balan | November 6, 2014 | 12:54 PM EST
On Wednesday's Anderson Cooper 360, CNN's Dana Bash pointed the finger at Senator Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans for the "dysfunction" in the federal government. Bash asserted that "Democrats probably rightly have a complaint that the reason the Senate isn't working is because Mitch McConnell and the opposition made it so."
By Ken Shepherd | September 30, 2014 | 4:02 PM EDT
Bob Cusack and Jessica Taylor of The Hill newspaper have an excellent piece today documenting a feud between current Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and a predecessor of his, former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.). The contentious argument between the two is apparently over how Reid refuses to be a party loyalist and endorse the South Dakota Democratic Party's nominee for U.S. Senate.
By Michelle Malkin | August 26, 2014 | 10:07 PM EDT
Harry Reid is a bigoted Beltway corruptocrat with an interminable case of diarrhea of the mouth. The feeble-minded coot stuck his foot in that mess of a mouth again last week at the Las Vegas Asian Chamber of Commerce. But as mortifying as the Senate Majority Leader is, there's an even worse spectacle: Asian-American liberals who keep giving top Democrats and their partisan operatives blanket passes.
Reid clumsily offered his assessment of the success and intelligence of business leaders of Asian descent at the gathering. "I don't think you're smarter than anybody else, but you've convinced a lot of us you are," he babbled. You put those uppity Asians in their places, Hater Harry!
By Tim Graham | August 25, 2014 | 8:00 PM EDT
Scott Whitlock noted earlier today that CBS and NBC skipped over Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s bad jokes about Asians (you’re not really the smartest, I can’t keep my Wongs straight). Additional Nexis transcript searches for “Harry Reid” and “Asian” show no mention on NPR, the PBS NewsHour, and even CNN and MSNBC (at least the transcripts they send to Nexis).
But what about newspapers? Surely, the “every “ reported this? No. The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and USA Today skipped over it, too. The Washington Post covered it, but Post political reporter Aaron Blake strangely argued that Reid is so gaffe-prone he’s “almost built up a gaffe immunity”:
By Scott Whitlock | August 25, 2014 | 11:55 AM EDT
NBC and CBS have ignored a questionable joke about Asian Americans by Harry Reid on Thursday. Only Friday's World News highlighted the "foot-in-mouth" moment from the Senate Majority Leader. Speaking to the Asian Chamber of Commerce, Reid quipped, "One problem I've had today is keeping my Wongs straight." [See video below. MP3 audio here.] Looking at the comment critically, anchor Diane Sawyer wondered, " So, what did he say, and what's the line between a joke and a racist remark?"
Reporter Jeff Zeleny chided, "'Racist and disgusting' is what some are calling harry Reid's attempt at humor." Instead of covering the story, Nightly News and the Evening News on Friday made time for frivolous topics. NBC covered a blue lobster being caught in Maine. CBS highlighted a pink cookie being dropped from the menu at certain high schools.
By Geoffrey Dickens | August 19, 2014 | 10:12 AM EDT
The indictment case against Republican Governor Rick Perry, that even liberals have described as “weak,” is just the latest GOP controversy that the networks have jumped on to taint Republicans in this midterm election year. In the 2014 campaign season, the Big Three (ABC, CBS, NBC) networks have filled their programs with one GOP scandal after another. Congressman Trey Radel’s drug possession, the “kissing congressman” Vance McAllister’s affair, Oregon GOP Senate candidate Monica Wehby’s alleged stalking of an ex-boyfriend and of course Governor Chris Christie’s Bridgegate were all controversies these networks made sure their viewers heard about.
But curiously, there have been other political scandals the networks have chosen to either bury or outright ignore. It just so happens the politicians in trouble, in those cases, are Democrats.
By Ken Shepherd | August 5, 2014 | 9:35 PM EDT
Monday's "Let Me Finish" tirade was no once-off exercise in spitballing for Chris Matthews. The host of MSNBC's Hardball picked up Tuesday night where he left off, his calling on President Obama to sue Congress for "failure to provide services." And, once again, Matthews made a few factual errors, such as suggesting that the Senate had not confirmed Obama's pick for ambassador to the Russian Federation.
This time around he was joined by liberal scribes Joan Walsh of Salon and Jonathan Capehart of the Washington Post who promptly checked their intellectual honesty at the door and seized on the opportunity as an excuse to bash congressional Republicans for obstructionism. Below the page break you'll find the relevant transcript (emphasis mine; MP3 audio here; video follows page break):
Hypocritical Dems Rail Against 'Redskins', Raise Money at Dinners Honoring 'Indian Killer' Andrew Jackson
By Jeffrey Lord | August 2, 2014 | 11:57 AM EDT The media are furious.
The Poynter Institute, which keeps an eye on all things journalistic, is maintaining a list of media people and institutions who have decided they are so enraged by the idea of calling the Washington Redskins the …well, you know..….that they will no longer participate in this heinous practice.