Dan Gross

Daily Beast's Gross Steamed at Starbucks CEO for His Shutdown Shtick
By Ken Shepherd | October 11, 2013 | 4:43 PM EDT

For someone whose job title is global business editor, Daniel Gross seems far more concerned with bashing businessmen for not toeing the liberal line than reporting business news. Then again, perhaps we shouldn't expect that much from The Daily Beast.

Gross, who has slammed Apple's penchant for legal tax avoidance as being "too greedy for its own good" turned his attention today to Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, lambasting him for daring to blame both Republicans and Democrats for the government shutdown, rather than use the work stoppage as an occasion to spout liberal talking points demonizing the Tea Party. The Yahoo! Finance alum seems particularly miffed because of Schultz's push for socially liberal stands in the past:

CBS's Bill Plante Minimizes Pro-Gun Rights Voices; Slants 3 to 1 In Favor of Gun Control
By Matthew Balan | December 19, 2012 | 6:32 PM EST

Bill Plante apparently couldn't be bothered to find more than one conservative/Republican for his report on Wednesday's CBS This Morning. Plante aired one soundbite from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, but followed it with three straight clips from liberals/gun control supporters - White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, the Brady Campaign's Dan Gross, and Kentucky Rep. John Yarmuth, who attacked the NRA's leadership as "bullies".

The correspondent hyped supposed "public outrage over the massacre [that] has also emboldened members of Congress to challenge the power of the gun lobby." Plante also spotlighted the NRA's multi-million dollar lobbying campaign in 2012:

Piers Morgan Pushes Gun Control, Bristles at Notion of Delaying Political Debate
By Brad Wilmouth | July 21, 2012 | 3:47 PM EDT

CNN anchor Piers Morgan devoted a considerable portion of his Friday program to pushing for more gun control, breaking with those who have advised delaying such talk until after a period of mourning for shooting victims in Aurora, Colorado.

Morgan not only began Piers Morgan Tonight with a "Piers' Special Commentary" calling for more gun laws, but, later in the program, he included three guests who argued in favor of more gun control, with only one to argue against, with whom the CNN host ended up becoming agitated as Denver University Professor David Kopel scolded Morgan for not waiting longer before launching into a divisive political debate.

Shortly after beginning the show, Morgan played a clip of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg advising the presidential candidates to talk about the gun control issue, and then began his commentary:

MSNBC's NOW With Alex Wagner Uses Aurora Shootings as Excuse to Slam NRA
By Kelly McGarey | July 20, 2012 | 4:15 PM EDT

Airing hours after the midnight mass murder in Aurora, Colorado, MSNBC's Alex Wagner was bound to devote her program to the tragic breaking news. However, unlike other journalists, Wagner used the event as a platform for extensive commentary on the politics of the gun control debate and America's "culture of violence." Wagner, an alumna of the liberal Center for American Progress, has suggested she would favor repealing the 2nd Amendment. Back in February, after a school shooting, she bemoaned the lack of traction that gun control advocates have in pushing for more gun restrictions.

MSNBC colleague and liberal pundit Chris Hayes was the first to jump on the anti-gun bandwagon, and bizarrely focused on suicide instead of the Aurora tragedy. Hayes argued that, "the availability of a gun makes suicide fatality far more likely" even though, it "doesn't make the impulse to do it more likely," ignoring the fact that suicide has nothing to do with the events of last evening. 

 

MSNBC's 'Now' Panel Pushes Firearm Microstamping, Whines About Power of Gun Rights Lobby
By Ken Shepherd | June 14, 2012 | 3:53 PM EDT

MSNBC host Alex Wagner has made no secret of her disdain for the Second Amendment, telling Bill Maher last November that if it were up to her, she'd repeal the amendment which enshrines the right of Americans to keep and bear arms, saying the right to own firearms is not "in the grand scheme" of things as important as the rights to speech and assembly. Back in February, Wagner seized on a tragic school shooting to complain about the lack of new gun control legislation.

So it's no surprise that, when turning again to the topic of gun control and gun rights today, Wagner would stack the deck in favor of the former and dismiss concerns about the latter. Regarding legislation in New York State that would require "microstamping" of firearms, Wagner brought on Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence president Dan Gross, who insisted the legislation in question was "a simple case of right versus wrong" that should face no legitimate criticism from gun rights advocates.