Sharron Angle

CNN's Sanchez: Reid's Racist Gaffe Emblematic of Angle's Incompetence
By Alex Fitzsimmons | August 12, 2010 | 4:48 PM EDT
Discussing Harry Reid's racially-charged comment about Hispanic Republicans, Rick Sanchez miraculously managed to turn the embattled senator's gaffe into an example of his opponent Sharron Angle's incompetence. On the prime time "Rick's List" yesterday, the CNN host actually gave serious consideration to the Nevada Democrat's claim while exploring the extent to which the Angle campaign is "blacking out" Hispanic media outlets.

"Also, do you think a Hispanic-American can be a Republican?" teased Sanchez. "Harry Reid doesn't think so. And I'm going to tell you what Hispanic groups are saying about his opponent as well."

Instead of interviewing a Hispanic Republican who is offended by Reid's insensitive remarks, Sanchez brought on Miguel Barrientos, a liberal talk show host, to "drill down" on why Angle is allegedly ignoring Hispanic journalists.

"These charges against Angle, are they real?" asked a bewildered Sanchez. "Is she really blocking out the Latin media? Or is this just a case of opportunism by her opponent, Harry Reid?"
NBC's Chuck Todd on Hardball Ponders: Is Ken Buck, 'Sharron Angle in Drag?'
By Geoffrey Dickens | August 11, 2010 | 6:29 PM EDT

NBC's chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd, substitute hosting for Chris Matthews, on Wednesday's Hardball, managed to question the political viability of two Republican candidates in one sentence as he asked his guest panelist, Jonathan Martin of the Politico, "Is Ken Buck, you know, Sharron Angle in drag?" [audio available here]

Going over the results of yesterday's primary races with Martin and Newsweek's Howard Fineman, Todd claimed "Democrats were doing a touchdown dance" after Buck won the Republican primary contest for the Senate seat in Colorado and also relayed some rather colorful descriptions of Buck, as seen in the following exchange, aired on the August 11 edition of Hardball:

After MSNBC Mocks Angle for Expecting Fox Info Plugs, Ed Schultz Boasts How He'll Boost Dems
By Tim Graham | August 9, 2010 | 7:03 AM EDT

Last Wednesday, Chris Matthews wildly attacked Fox for acting like "stooges" for Republican candidates like Sharron Angle to come on and promote their candidacies. It turns out that on the very same day on his national radio show, Ed Schultz was talking up how excited he was for "stooge" work for the Democrats on MSNBC:  

I'm excited about the fact that now that I've been at MSNBC for over a year now, year and a half, this is the first election cycle that I get to go through with a TV show. I'll show those son of a guns over at Fox how to promote candidates. I'll do a great job doing that! [Michigan gubernatorial candidate] Virg Bernero will be on the tube tonight, a winner yesterday. Next up will be next Wednesday after the Tuesday primary in Colorado where Andrew Romanoff is going to defeat Mr. Bennet, the appointed senator, who was late to the table on helping Americans on health care reform.

But Schultz attacked Angle in his "Psycho Talk" segment on his MSNBC show for expecting Fox to do what he was boasting he'd do for the Democrats:

Maddow Guest Harris-Lacewell Describes Abortion Providers as 'Termination Services'
By Jack Coleman | August 8, 2010 | 1:50 PM EDT

That's odd, those describing themselves as pro-choice usually aren't this candid when it comes to abortion.

On her MSNBC show Thursday night, Rachel Maddow spoke with Princeton professor Melissa Harris-Lacewell about Republican Senate candidates Rand Paul, Sharron Angle and Ken Buck opposing abortion, including for pregnancies conceived through rape or incest.

Harris-Lacewell said this in response to a question from Maddow --

Sharron Angle’s Media Strategy a Lot Like Democratic Media Strategy
By Melissa Clouthier | August 3, 2010 | 9:01 AM EDT

Carl Cameron thinks Sharron Angle is naive. I think Sharron Angle thinks like a Democrat: Expect good media coverage, tell the media what you want to talk about, and by golly! expect friendly coverage!

Elizabeth Crum, of the National Review Online, reports from Las Vegas the exchange between Carl Cameron and Nevada Senate hopeful Sharron Angle (she’d be replacing Harry Reid):

Angle: “We needed to have the press be our friend.”

Cameron: “Wait a minute. Hold on a second. To be your friend…?”

Angle: “Well, truly–”

Cameron: “That sounds naive.”

Chris Matthews Demonstrates Television's Version of the JournoList
By Noel Sheppard | July 29, 2010 | 12:31 AM EDT

MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Wednesday demonstrated how the dissemination of Democrat talking points and marching orders via the JournoList can be far more effectively employed on television.

In a "Hardball" segment about a new Democratic National Committee ad that looks to connect the GOP with the "more extreme elements" of the Tea Party, Matthews chatted with Republican strategist Todd Harris and the George Soros-funded Center for American Progress's Jennifer Palmieri about whether the strategy will work.

What was most interesting was how Matthews, almost like a JournoLister, seemed to be drawing from a discussion he had with his panelists on last weekend's syndicated program bearing his name.

Before we get there, here's the relevant discussion with Harris and Palmieri (videos follow with transcripts and commentary): 

Nevada Newspaper Smears Sharron Angle With Classic Guilt By Association Technique
By Lachlan Markay | July 21, 2010 | 5:24 PM EDT
Here's a slimy journalistic tactic with which most conservatives are all too familiar: note that two people or groups agree on one point, and then suggest that consequently they must agree on all other points. Chris Matthews (among many others) used this tactic to smear Tea Parties as tantamount to militia groups - both share a distaste for big government, therefore they must agree on all other points.

The Las Vegas Sun employed the tactic on Sunday in a front page piece on Nevada GOP Senate candidate Sharron Angle in an attempt to paint her religious views as radical. She believes that "religion has an expansive role to play in government" and that arguments to the contrary misunderstand the First Amendment.

Christian Reconstructionists share this belief (along with millions of Americans), Sun reporter Anjeanette Damon noted. But Damon went on to try to tie Angle to a host of other wacky beliefs that she does not share with the movement.
Kurtz: Conservative Candidates Consider Basic Journalism (Like Maddow?) an 'Affront'
By Tim Graham | July 19, 2010 | 8:27 AM EDT

In his Monday Media Notes column today, Washington Post reporter Howard Kurtz lays out the latest liberal complaint against Tea party candidates, that they don't submit to more drubbing like Rachel Maddow gave Rand Paul, and somehow they have no respect for journalism:

Some of the most conservative and combative Republicans running for Congress are convinced that the media have it in for them.

But these candidates seem to regard it as an affront when reporters challenge them on their past statements and inconsistencies, which is a basic function of journalism. They are avoiding or limiting interviews with all but the friendliest faces as a way of circumventing the press. And some of them delight in skewering the mainstream media, a tactic that plays well with their base.

Undercovered: Angle Says Harry Reid's Green Moves Have Stirred Opposition
By Tim Graham | July 17, 2010 | 3:38 PM EDT

In Saturday's Wall Street Journal, senior economics writer Stephen Moore talked to Nevada Republican Senate contender Sharron Angle in the "Weekend Interview." He liked her answers, like why she thinks she could upset the Senate Majority Leader, she replied: "When Harry Reid got to be majority leader, the unemployment rate was 4.4%. Now it is 14%, higher than even in Michigan....What has Harry Reid's power done for our state?"

Angle said Reid's local actions (a subject the national media cares very little about) have upset the electorate:

Regarding jobs, she points to Mr. Reid's role in killing three clean coal-fired plants in rural Ely, where she and her husband have lived since 1971. After years of opposition by Mr. Reid in league with various environmental groups, NV Energy halted development of a $5 billion plant in February 2009.

That meant the loss of 5,000 jobs, Mrs. Angle says. "That's really when we realized Harry Reid doesn't care about jobs or people losing their homes. And it's also when 'Anybody but Harry Reid' signs first began to sprout up all over the state."

Olbermann Mangles Another Fact, Claims Abe Lincoln Only Lost One Election
By Noel Sheppard | July 9, 2010 | 5:47 PM EDT

In today's "What Fact Did Keith Olbermann Mangle Now" segment, the host of MSNBC's "Countdown" on Tuesday hysterically mocked Nevada senatorial candidate Sharron Angle for claiming Abraham Lincoln lost "quite a few" elections.

"Just for the record, do you know how many elections Abraham Lincoln lost in his lifetime?" Olbermann arrogantly asked.

"Seven of eight he won," answered MSNBC's hottest property.

Just for the record, Olbermann wasn't even close to being right (video follows with transcript and commentary, h/t The Corner):

MSNBC Scarborough Slams Republican Sharron Angle as a 'Jackass'
By Rachel Burnett | July 6, 2010 | 5:15 PM EDT

On Tuesday's edition of "Morning Joe," Joe Scarborough and his panel discussed the 2010 midterm elections and trashed Republican candidate Sharron Angle as a "mental patient" and a "jackass."

The conversation, which included Chris Matthews and Mike Barnicle, began with MSNBC contributor Mike Halperin claiming Angle is "vulnerable" in the race because "she has extreme positions that are out of step with the mainstream."

Krugman: 'Heartless, Clueless and Confused' GOP Block Unemployment Benefits
By Noel Sheppard | July 5, 2010 | 11:59 AM EDT

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman is angry the Senate hasn't once again extended unemployment benefits, and he's blaming "heartless, clueless and confused" Republicans.

"There was a time when everyone took it for granted that unemployment insurance, which normally terminates after 26 weeks, would be extended in times of persistent joblessness. It was, most people agreed, the decent thing to do," the Nobel laureate wrote Monday.

"Yet the Senate went home for the holiday weekend without extending benefits. How was that possible?" asked Krugman.

Unfortunately, his answer will be quite disturbing to most on the right: