"Donald Trump says he wants to simplify the U.S. tax code. He wants it to be so simple that even Joe Biden can understand it." -- NewsBusted's Jodi Miller.
Joe Biden
By Curtis Houck | August 26, 2015 | 9:41 PM EDT
The “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC again promoted on Wednesday night the three-round bout between 2016 GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump and liberal Fusion/Univision anchor Jorge Ramos from the night before as ABC and CBS failed to note Hillary Clinton addressing her e-mail scandal Wednesday afternoon in Iowa.
By Mark Finkelstein | August 25, 2015 | 8:23 AM EDT
If you're Hillary Clinton or one of her supporters, this should make your blood run cold. On today's Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough said that the unequivocally pro-Biden statement from Obama spox Josh Earnest yesterday not only sent "a strong, strong message to Hillary" but, echoing the Wall Street Journal, "you wonder whether they're sending a message to the Justice Department as well."
Has there ever been anything quite like this in the history of American politics? It's one thing for a president to encourage his veep's presidential ambitions. It's entirely another for a president to put his 800-lb. thumb on the political scales by suggesting to his Justice Department that he'd like it to launch an investigation of the veep's main rival.
By Curtis Houck | August 25, 2015 | 7:04 AM EDT
Amid the growing rumors on Monday night surrounding a possible presidential run by Vice President Joe Biden, CNN’s AC360 couldn’t help but still mention Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton with chief national correspondent John King ruling that some criticism of Clinton “isn’t quite probably not fair” while David Gergen touted her as “a calm, steadying force.”
NBC Oozes That Biden Rumors Have ‘Electrified the Political World’; ABC Skips Hillary’s E-Mail Scandal
By Curtis Houck | August 24, 2015 | 9:38 PM EDT NBC Nightly News continued on Monday to sing the accolades of Vice President Joe Biden amid rumors of a possible 2016 presidential run, declaring that he’s “electrified the political world” as he met with “liberal icon Elizabeth Warren,” while ABC’s World News Tonight ignored declared candidate Hillary Clinton’s e-mail scandal. NBC's Peter Alexander began his report by gushing: “Talk about a full plate. Two not so secret lunches in three days for Joe Biden. First with liberal icon Elizabeth Warren.”
By Kyle Drennen | August 24, 2015 | 11:40 AM EDT
On Monday, all three network morning shows gushed over Vice President Joe Biden meeting with left-wing Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren over the weekend, with hosts and correspondents excited by the prospect of a Biden-Warren ticket in 2016. On NBC’s Today, correspondent Peter Alexander proclaimed: “This is the story electrifying the political world, especially for Democrats...”
By Mark Finkelstein | August 17, 2015 | 8:46 AM EDT
You know those super-fast-talking disclaimers run at the end of some ads? The kind of CYA things the lawyers force the advertisers to say? That's what Mark Halperin's pro forma praise of Hillary on today's Morning Joe brought to mind.
Halperin first ripped Hillary's campaign as the most "unresponsive to basic questions" he's ever dealt with, and reported that "elite Democrats" are worried about being stuck with scandal-ridden Hillary as their candidate. But Halperin apparently felt obliged to include this bit of posterior-protecting pablum: "she's still an extraordinarily strong candidate, she's a great public servant. She's, I think, right now, the most likely person to be elected president."
By Brad Wilmouth | August 15, 2015 | 4:00 PM EDT
On Friday's New Day, CNN regulars talked up the possibility of Vice President Joe Biden jumping into the presidential race, with co-host Chris Cuomo declaring that "We have no secret here that we have been pushing Joe Biden to get into the race because we want as many voices as possible to help voters make their decision."
Additionally, as the group discussed Donald Trump's recent jab at the Vice President's history of plagiarism, Cuomo misleadingly referred to the crack as "taking it back to law school," and CNN political reporter Sara Murray dismissed the issue as "some old accusations from law school." But, while he was running for President in 1988, Biden was found to have lifted extensively from the speech of a British politician, and from other speakers as well.
By Mark Finkelstein | August 14, 2015 | 6:26 PM EDT
This blog brought to you by Orville Redenbacher . . . One short segment on today's With All Due Respect packed plenty of explosive commentary. There was John Heilemann saying that Al Gore "hates" Hillary and that if he gets in the race would be a "huge" problem for her. Lending credence to Heilemann's "hates" claim is the fact that he mentioned having "spent a lot of time" with Gore in 2006. Translation: I was with him on those long nights when Al let his beard down and spoke straight from his globally-warmed heart.
A second noteworthy comment came from Mark Halperin, who opined that "everyone" in the Dem party doesn't "trust" going into the race with Hillary as the only establishment choice and that the vacuum "is going to be" be filled by someone. Hmm.
CNN’s Zeleny: Biden Is a ‘Generally Excellent’ Campaigner; ‘Authenticity That Is Really Being Craved’
By Curtis Houck | August 14, 2015 | 11:22 AM EDT CNN senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny had some fawning words during Thursday’s Anderson Cooper 360 for Vice President Joe Biden as he continues to mull a 2016 presidential campaign, referring to him as a “generally excellent” campaigner with an “authenticity that is really being craved in this election cycle.” As part of a segment on the possible run by Biden, host Anderson Cooper asked Zeleny to explain “what do we know about him as a campaigner” and “how much of his calculus right now is based on what he perceives Hillary Clinton's abilities as a campaigner or lack of abilities as a campaigner are.”
By Jeffrey Meyer | August 2, 2015 | 9:52 AM EDT
On Sunday’s Good Morning America, ABC reporter Mary Bruce went to bat for Vice President Joe Biden as he contemplates a potential White House run in 2016. The ABC reporter heavily spun for Biden regarding is numerous gaffes as she proclaimed “[h]e's also had his fair share of stumbles. From back rubs to BFD’s. Biden is a gaffemaking machine. But those oh that Joe moments are part of his political charm.”
By Mark Finkelstein | July 27, 2015 | 8:51 PM EDT
Is Hillary hearing donkey hoofbeats? On his Weekly Standard podcast today, Bill Kristol put the odds at "better than 50/50" that one or more of Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden or John Kerry would jump into the race against a Hillary Clinton whom he described as "extraordinarily weak."
Kristol made an undeniable point, to wit, that "if someone came down and gave you the poll numbers on Hillary Clinton, from the last two, three, four public polls, you would look at that and say, whoah: this is a very weak and very vulnerable frontrunner."