Ron Paul

CBS's Nancy Giles Decries 'Bloodlust' of GOP Debate Crowd
By Brad Wilmouth | September 19, 2011 | 3:38 AM EDT

During a prerecorded commentary on CBS Sunday Morning, left-wing CBS commentator Nancy Giles complained about the "bloodlust" of GOP audience members who applauded Texas's use of capital punishment at the recent MSNBC debate and a small number of audience members who applauded at Monday's CNN debate after moderator Wolf Blitzer asked if someone who chose not to purchase insurance should be allowed to die.

CBS played a clip of the exchanges but notably left out Rep. Ron Paul's answer to Blitzer's question as he argued that organizations like churches used to help provide health care before Medicaid existed, leaving Giles to give the impression that Rep. Paul had been unconcerned about the uninsured dying. Giles:

Maher: 'In Today's Republican Party There's a Term for People Who Hate Charity and Love Killing - Christian'
By Noel Sheppard | September 17, 2011 | 11:47 AM EDT

It sure didn't take HBO's Bill Maher long to make his first hateful remark about the religious right.

Roughly one minute into his opening monologue on Friday's "Real Time" the host said, "In today's Republican Party there's a term for people who hate charity and love killing - Christian" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Scarborough Accuses GOP Debate Audience of 'Applauding the Death of a Young Man Without Health Insurance'
By Noel Sheppard | September 16, 2011 | 2:00 PM EDT

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough on Friday said the people in the audience at Monday's Republican presidential debate were "applauding the death of a young man without health insurance" and therefore were like the John Birchers "that Bill Buckley kicked out of the conservative movement in the mid-1960s."

Unfortunately, the host of "Morning Joe" has, like so many others in the media, badly misinterpreted what occurred when Texas Congressman Ron Paul was asked what should happen to a voluntarily uninsured man who falls into a coma (video follows with transcript and commentary):

NYT's Krugman Hears Non-Existent Eruption of Crowd Cheering Death
By Clay Waters | September 16, 2011 | 1:55 PM EDT

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman just can't stop offending of late. Krugman confounded even liberals with his ill-timed blog post on the morning of September 11 decrying President George W. Bush and New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani as “fake heroes” in the aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks. In his Friday column “Free To Die,” he suggested Republicans would prefer people die for lack of health insurance, using as evidence the dubious claim that the audience watching CNN’s Republican debate “erupted with cheers” at the prospect of a (hypothetical) man dying for being unable to afford intensive care. Has Krugman actually watched the clip?

Back in 1980, just as America was making its political turn to the right, Milton Friedman lent his voice to the change with the famous TV series “Free to Choose.” In episode after episode, the genial economist identified laissez-faire economics with personal choice and empowerment, an upbeat vision that would be echoed and amplified by Ronald Reagan.

But that was then. Today, “free to choose” has become “free to die.”

Ron Paul Was Right
By Cal Thomas | September 16, 2011 | 11:01 AM EDT

In the Republican presidential candidates debate Monday night in Tampa, CNN's Wolf Blitzer posed a hypothetical question. Normally, a hypothetical question should not be answered, but in this case it revealed something about the questioner and sparked a controversial, but necessary answer from Rep. Ron Paul.

For those watching the two Monday Night Football games, the question was: "A healthy 30-year-old young man has a good job, makes a good living, but decides, you know what? I'm not going to spend $200 or $300 a month for health insurance because I'm healthy, I don't need it. But something terrible happens, all of a sudden he needs it. Who's going to pay if he goes into a coma, for example? Who pays for that?"

Bozell Column: Brian Williams, Shameless Partisan
By Brent Bozell | September 13, 2011 | 10:06 PM EDT

“NBC Nightly News” is the highest-rated daily news show in the morning or evening. In mid-August, this show had been ranked number one for 100 straight weeks, pulling an average of 7.7 million viewers. This makes Brian Williams the king of the TV-news hill. To be sure, it’s obviously a smaller hill than the Walter Cronkite era, but in political terms, Williams, like Cronkite, is E.F. Hutton. His newscast can set the tone across the rest of the  “news” media.

But all that royalty evaporates in the presence of Barack Obama. The contrast was jaw-dropping between Williams roaring like a lion against Obama’s Republican challengers at the Reagan Library on September 7, and then bowing gently like a lamb at the White House three days later.

Yahoo's Headline Implies GOP Debate Audience Wanted Uninsured to Die
By Matthew Balan | September 13, 2011 | 9:18 PM EDT

Rachel Rose Hartman's Tuesday item for Yahoo! News's "The Ticket" blog carried a misleading headline ("Audience at tea party debate cheers leaving uninsured to die") implying that the majority, if not all, of the audience at Monday's GOP presidential debate thought that the critically injured who are uninsured should be left to die. In reality, only a handful cheered and/or laughed in response to Wolf Blitzer's question.

Despite this headline, Hartman did acknowledge in her lede that "if you're uninsured and on the brink of death, that's apparently a laughing matter to some audience members at last night's tea party [sic] Republican presidential debate." She then recounted how Blitzer, who moderated the joint debate with the Tea Party Express organization, turned to Rep. Ron Paul and "asked a hypothetical question...about how society should respond if a healthy 30-year-old man who decided against buying health insurance suddenly goes into a coma and requires intensive care for six months."

Chris Matthews Falsely Accuses Ron Paul of Saying He’d Let Someone Without Health Insurance Die
By Noel Sheppard | September 13, 2011 | 7:27 PM EDT

Exactly how do anchors on MSNBC get away with routinely stating complete falsehoods without any repercussions?

On Tuesday, Chris Matthews wrongly accused Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul of saying during the previous evening's debate he would let a critically ill person die if the patient didn't have health insurance (video follows with transcript and commentary, file photo):

CNN Questions Whether Paul and Bachmann Are Even Ready for Presidency
By Matt Hadro | August 29, 2011 | 6:32 PM EDT

CNN anchor Kyra Phillips asked her "Political Buzz" panel Monday if GOP candidates Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann are "ready for the big office" given their unusual views.

"Ron Paul saying that we should get rid of FEMA. Michele Bachmann says the storm and earthquake are signs from God," stated Phillips. "Okay guys, are these candidates ready for the big office?"

A Tale of Two Interviews: CNN's Morgan Shows Contempt for Tea Party
By Matt Hadro | August 23, 2011 | 1:35 PM EDT

In two separate interviews of Republican presidential candidates, CNN's Piers Morgan exhibited an obvious contempt of Tea Party politics as well as a double standard toward moderate and conservative presidential candidates.

In Monday's interview with Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman, CNN's Piers Morgan baited the moderate candidate to criticize the Tea Party for its unwavering defense of its principles. In contrast, Morgan used the same rhetoric the week before to put Tea Party champion Ron Paul on the defensive.

Open Thread: Romney, Perry, Bachmann, and Paul All in Close Race With Obama
By NB Staff | August 23, 2011 | 10:34 AM EDT

Contrary to the media myth that none of the Republican presidential candidates can beat President Obama next fall, a new Gallup poll suggests that the top four GOP candidates would actually all have close races with Obama if the election were held today.

Mitt Romney polled 2% above Obama, 48% to 46%, Rick Perry was tied with Obama, at 47%, Ron Paul lagged polled 2% below Obama, 45% to 47%, and Michele Bachmann polled 4% below Obama, 44% to 48%. What do you think of the latest poll results? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

On PBS, Former Bush Aide Laments Perry's Importing Ann Coulter Lingo Into the Campaign
By Tim Graham | August 21, 2011 | 8:09 AM EDT

It might not be surprising to see someone sit in the rarefied liberal air of a PBS set and dismiss the undignified palaver of talk radio and Ann Coulter, but on Friday's PBS NewsHour, this line was coming from former Bush speechwriting chief Michael Gerson, and the target was Gov. Rick Perry.

Gerson and liberal Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus were sitting in for David Brooks and Mark Shields. (In other words, Gerson was in the "I agree with Mark" chair.) Both agreed that Perry really gaffed in suggesting Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke was "treasonous" if he shoveled more dollars into the economy before the election: