Paul Ryan

New York's Jonathan Chait: ‘True Contribution’ of Reform Conservatives Is Their Opposition to Far-Right ‘Hysteria’
By Tom Johnson | July 7, 2014 | 10:25 PM EDT

New York magazine political writer Jonathan Chait isn’t a big fan of reform conservatives, but he did comment in a Sunday post that their “worldview,” unlike that of the Republican base, isn’t expressed as “a series of furious scrawlings on mental chalkboards.” (Presumably, Chait figures that the reformicons favor a crisp PowerPoint presentation.)

Chait lauds the reformers for implicitly rejecting the “apocalypticism” of movement conservatives, which holds, in his words, “that Barack Obama’s agenda poses a dire threat to the fabric of American life, that a reversal must be sweeping in its scope and undertaken immediately.”

On Saturday, CBS and NBC Give Attention to IRS Scandal As ABC's GMA Ignores
By Brad Wilmouth | June 23, 2014 | 6:38 AM EDT

After all three broadcast network evening newscasts on Friday highlighted IRS commissioner John Koskinen's testimony before Congress regarding the numerous missing emails of former official Lois Lerner, Saturday morning's Good Morning America on ABC ignored the story completely while CBS This Morning ran a full report and NBC's Today gave viewers a 42-second news brief.

GMA, however, did find time to devote a two-minute full report to the hype surrounding the attractive mugshot of convict Jeremy Meeks.

NBC's Jenna Wolfe informed viewers that the IRS commissioner would make another congressional appearance on Monday as she introduced the brief:

Networks Finally Notice IRS's 'Black Eye' Due to 'Lost' Lois Lerner E-Mails
By Matthew Balan | June 20, 2014 | 11:28 PM EDT

The Big Three networks' Friday evening newscasts finally noticed the latest development in the IRS scandal (they omitted it on Thursday), after Rep. Paul Ryan grilled Commissioner John Koskinen earlier in the day. ABC's David Muir spotlighted "the outrage...involving the IRS claiming to have lost thousands of crucial documents – lawmakers asking, how can the tax man be let off the hook for losing documents, while ordinary taxpayers would never get away with that?"

NBC's Brian Williams noted how Koskinen claimed that the IRS "lost evidence in the investigation into how they handled conservative political groups...and given how long the IRS holds on to things like our tax returns, some members of Congress just aren't buying it." CBS's Nancy Cordes zeroed in on congressional Democrats' attack on their Republican colleagues over the scandal – something that ABC and NBC didn't do: [MP3 audio available here; video below the jump]

CNN Hosts: Paul Ryan ‘Not a Happy Man Today,’ But IRS Scandal Exists Because GOP 'So Mad About It'
By Curtis Houck | June 20, 2014 | 6:26 PM EDT

On Friday’s edition of CNN Newsroom with Don Lemon, host Don Lemon and CNN chief congressional correspondent Dana Bash made some unusual remarks about a Republican, but later retreated to downplaying one of the many scandals facing the Obama administration this midterm election year.

Discussing a hearing being held by the House Ways and Means Committee that featured testimony from IRS commissioner John Koskinen regarding the destroyed -- or as the IRS terms it "recycled" -- hard drive of former IRS official Lois Lerner, Lemon began by referring to Congressman Paul Ryan as “not a happy man today.” [MP3 audio here; Video below]

On Face the Nation Michael Eric Dyson Shamefully Compares Paul Ryan to Cliven Bundy and Donald Sterling
By Jeffrey Meyer | May 4, 2014 | 1:40 PM EDT

Appearing as a guest on CBS’s Sunday program Face the Nation, liberal Georgetown University professor Michael Eric Dyson used the Donald Sterling controversy to make an unnecessary and disgusting swipe at Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI). 

Dyson claimed “I see a relationship between what Paul Ryan says when he talks about inner-city people who are urban with all the code words being articulated and the kind of Cliven Bundy expression to the kind of Donald Sterling.” [See relevant transcript below.]  

MSNBC's Fineman Mocks Paul Ryan As 'Introduc[ing] Himself to the Bro,' Slams Budget
By Brad Wilmouth | May 1, 2014 | 3:44 PM EDT

On the Wednesday, April 30, Hardball with Chris Matthews, guest and MSNBC political analyst Howard Fineman -- formerly of Newsweek -- mocked Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan's intent to visit impoverished areas as a plan to "introduce himself to the bro," and went on to complain that Ryan's budget "whacks away at" programs to help the poor.

MSNBC's Joy Reid Cracks 'Paul Ryan Wants to Fire Big Bird'
By Brad Wilmouth | April 30, 2014 | 9:02 PM EDT

On the Wednesday, April 30, The Reid Report, MSNBC host Joy Reid attacked Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan's budget plan, claiming that it "guts" programs to help people in poverty, and ended up cracking that he, like Mitt Romney, "wants to fire Big Bird" because the budget would end federal government funding for PBS. [See video below.]

MSNBC Panel Trashes Paul Ryan, GOPers 'Fuel Racism' and 'Attack Minorities' with 'Economic Apartheid'
By Brad Wilmouth | April 29, 2014 | 1:32 AM EDT

On the Monday, April 28, The Ed Show, MSNBC host Ed Schultz devoted the first segment of nearly 15 minutes of his show to trying to link prominent conservatives like Paul Ryan to the racist views of people like Cliven Bundy and Donald Sterling, whom the MSNBC host failed to label as a Democratic donor. 

Schultz charged that Ryan and other GOPers "support policies that attack minorities" and later reiterated that conservatives "fuel racism by their policies that attack minorities." [See video below.] 

MSNBC's Dyson Attempts to Smear Paul Ryan Via Cliven Bundy Comments
By Brad Wilmouth | April 25, 2014 | 1:21 AM EDT

On the Thursday, April 24, All In with Chris Hayes, during a discussion of racist comments about black Americans by Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, MSNBC political analyst Michael Eric Dyson compared those words to a recent statement by Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan about the work ethic in the inner cities. [See video below.]

MSNBC's Sharpton Slams 'Brutal Republican Budget That Guts From the Poor'
By Brad Wilmouth | April 21, 2014 | 8:51 PM EDT

On the Monday, April 21, PoliticsNation on MSNBC, Al Sharpton began his show by assailing Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan for his budget plan as the MSNBC host saw a "brutal Republican budget that guts from the poor."

Sharpton also seemed to channel DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz's history of misusing the word "literally" as he charged that the budget "literally takes from the poor to give to the rich."

Andrea Mitchell Gushes Over Liberal Nun Simone Campbell: ‘The Honor Is All Mine’
By Jeffrey Meyer | April 16, 2014 | 2:49 PM EDT

MSNBC is not known as a champion of religion, unless it’s someone who is liberal coming on to criticize religious individuals, especially if they are a member of the Catholic Church. Take Sister Simone Campbell, president of the liberal Catholic organization NETWORK, who has been featured on the “Lean Forward” network multiple times for her criticism of Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) and his budget priorities.

Appearing as a guest on Andrea Mitchell Reports on Wednesday April 16, the fawning over Ms. Campbell was evident, with Mitchell proclaiming how “the honor is all mine” to finally meet Campbell in person. [See video below.]

MSNBC’s Sharpton Rips Paul Ryan’s ‘Dangerous,’ ‘Ruthless,’ ‘Heartless’ Budget
By Paul Bremmer | April 3, 2014 | 5:11 PM EDT

MSNBC’s Al Sharpton was incensed by Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) newly-released budget plan on Wednesday’s PoliticsNation. Referencing President Obama’s comment yesterday that “America is a place for everybody,” Sharpton added his own condemnation of Ryan’s budget as he hollered, “America is a place for everybody, not a place for dangerous ideas and a ruthless war on the poor!”

This sort of harsh language permeated the opening few minutes of Sharpton’s show. In fact, right from the very top, the reverend made it abundantly clear how he felt about the Ryan budget: