John Boehner

NYT Editorial Page Editor Calls Boehner Racist for Asking Obama to Delay Speech to Congress
By Clay Waters | January 4, 2012 | 3:34 PM EST

Is House Speaker John Boehner an anti-Obama racist? Editorial Page editor Andrew Rosenthal all but accuses him in his Tuesday blog from Des Moines, “Nobody Likes to Talk About It, but It’s There.” (The web headline is blunter: “Republican Attacks Have Racist Undertones.”)

Actually, Rosenthal is all too happy to talk about racist Republicans if it helps Democrats politically, as he did on November 1, in one of his first blog posts: “...it was the Republicans who perfected the art of injecting racial fears into modern-day politics (remember Willie Horton in 1988?) and have conducted an unrelenting personal attack on President Obama that sometimes has not-so-subtle racial overtones.”

NPR Offers Tea Party a 'D-Minus' on Christmas Morning
By Tim Graham | December 28, 2011 | 11:38 AM EST

NPR marked Christmas morning by whacking at the Tea Party. NPR anchor Audie Cornish handed over her Weekend Edition Sunday microphone to American Enterprise Institute scholar Norman Ornstein, who gave the Tea Party a B if the goal was to “try and keep government from functioning,” but in “actually trying to make things happen in a constructive fashion, we’re down in the D-minus level, and that’s being generous in the Christmas season.”

Ornstein was much happier a year ago. On the morning of December 23, 2010, he told NPR’s David Welna the country had the “most productive lame-duck session” since the 1940s and Welna added “Ornstein says this lame-duck session was a fitting climax for an amazingly productive 111th Congress.”

NBC: 'Obama Scores a Win for Some 160 Million Workers'
By Brad Wilmouth | December 24, 2011 | 12:29 PM EST

As NBC co-anchor Amy Robach teased Saturday's Today show, she described the Republican House's passage of the Senate version of a temporary payroll tax cut extension as President Obama scoring "a win for some 160 million workers." (Video below)

Politico's Evan Thomas: 'When Mitch McConnell Is the Good Guy, You Know How Bad Things Have Gotten'
By Brad Wilmouth | December 24, 2011 | 2:14 AM EST

Appearing as a panel member on Friday's Inside Washington on PBS, Politico's Evan Thomas - formerly of Newsweek - took a jab at Senate Republican Leader Mitch Mcconnell, suggesting that he is normally not a "good guy," during a discussion of the Kentucky Republican's role in reaching a deal with Democrats to extend the payroll tax cut by two months. (Video below)

CBS Forwards Harry Reid's 'Lecture' of GOP and His Hope They 'Learned a Lesson'
By Brad Wilmouth | December 23, 2011 | 11:49 PM EST

On Friday's CBS Evening News, as correspondent Sharyl Attkisson filed a report to inform viewers that the House of Representatives had approved the Senate plan for a two-month payroll tax cut extension, Attkisson included a clip of Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid directing a "lecture" at and blaming House Republican freshmen for the delay, as she recounted his hope that they had "learned a lesson."

While the report included two soundbites from Democrats that allowed them to put forth some of their message - in the form of one clip each from Reid and President Obama - the CBS correspondent only included a couple of brief non-political clips of House Speaker John Boehner as the only Republican afforded a soundbite. (Video below)

 

NBC's Curry to Michele Bachmann: Has Boehner 'Lost All Control' of House GOP?
By Kyle Drennen | December 21, 2011 | 10:53 AM EST

On Wednesday's NBC Today, co-host Ann Curry led off an interview with Congresswoman Michele Bachmann by wondering if House Speaker John Boehner was a liar or just incompetent: "Did House Speaker John Boehner mislead the Senate into thinking this payroll tax extension was a done deal? Or has he lost all control of Republican Tea Party members of the House?" [Audio available here]

Bachmann pointed to the Democrats: "...there is a real lack of leadership in Washington, D.C. The President, unfortunately, has been awol in this process since early last summer, and now here we are....Harry Reid essentially threw a grenade over into the House and left, and said take it or leave it. So it was very difficult for John Boehner, because this was just a two-month temporary gimmick..." [View video after the jump]

NBC's Gregory: GOP Just Using Oil Pipeline as 'Political Issue' to Prevent Compromise
By Kyle Drennen | December 19, 2011 | 4:15 PM EST

In an interview with House Speaker John Boehner on Sunday's Meet the Press, host David Gregory blamed Republicans for blocking an extension of payroll tax cuts by supporting a new oil pipeline: "You want to say, 'Look, we'll extend it for a year if the President makes a quicker decision on this pipeline.' White House officials I've talked to say you are guaranteeing that he'll say no..."

Boehner shot back: "That's nonsense. David, it's been going on for three years....The only issue here is that the President doesn't want to have to make this decision until after his election." Gregory questioned Boehner's motivation: "If you really wanted this and not just the political issue, wouldn't you make it possible for the President to have as much time as he needs to make the decision?"        

Amanpour's Snooty Brand of Liberalism Comes to an End at ABC
By Geoffrey Dickens | December 14, 2011 | 11:55 AM EST

On December 13 Christiane Amanpour announced she would no longer be host of ABC's This Week. Her run as host of that show was filled with shots at conservatives and their issues as she called Tea Party candidates "bizarre," and scolded that tax cuts would "hurt" the poor.

On the November 6 edition of This Week she lectured House Speaker John Boehner: "Some 75 percent of Americans agree with an increase in tax on millionaires as a way to pay for these jobs provisions. Do you not feel that by opposing it you’re basically out of step with the American people on this issue?...Are you concerned that these budget cuts are going to hurt the people who can least afford it?" (video after jump)

Politico Blames Republicans for 'Step Backwards' Even Though Harry Reid, Obama Threatening Shutdown
By Ken Shepherd | December 14, 2011 | 10:47 AM EST

"Congress took a collective step backward in wrapping up a bitter year of legislating, as President Barack Obama’s top priority over the payroll tax holiday became mired in a battle over unrelated, partisan issues," groused Politico's Jake Sherman and Manu Raju in a December 14 story.

"House Republicans jammed through a version of the payroll tax bill Tuesday evening" Sherman and Raju complained, noting that the bill "calls for construction of the controversial Keystone KL [sic] oil pipeline, scales back an air-pollution rule, cuts Obama’s health reform law and reduces the length of unemployment benefits."

Peter Schweizer on Congressional Insider Trading and Why Media Have Mostly Ignored It
By Noel Sheppard | December 6, 2011 | 12:15 AM EST

Last month, NewsBusters reported 60 Minutes cherry-picking Peter Schweizer's book about Congressional insider trading to make it appear the problem was largely a Republican one.

Schweizer did a phone interview with NewsBusters last week to discuss this matter in greater detail including how with the exception of Fox News, despite this being a bipartisan issue, the media have largely ignored it to protect liberal politicians they revere (video follows with transcript):

Fox's Special Report Cites NB Regarding Biased 60 Minutes Story on Congressional Insider Trading
By Noel Sheppard | November 14, 2011 | 10:48 PM EST

As NewsBusters previously reported, 60 Minutes on Sunday cherry picked Peter Schweizer's book "Throw Them All Out" to give the appearance that Congressional insider trading was mainly a Republican problem.

On Fox News's Special Report Monday, host Bret Baier cited our article on this subject (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Huffington Post So Eager to Support Pelosi They'll Even Defend Boehner
By Noel Sheppard | November 14, 2011 | 11:46 AM EST

To give you an idea of the lengths the Huffington Post will go to defend liberal politicians those involved in the website revere, a front page piece on Monday took the side of House Speaker John Boehner (R-Oh.) in order to give cover to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Inside the front page headline story "60 Misses: CBS Gets It Wrong On Boehner, Pelosi Stock Trading," HuffPo reporter Ryan Grim went where seemingly no HuffPo reporter has gone before: