Hardball guest host Ron Reagan on Wednesday assailed Rick Santroum as a "lonely, homophobic voice shrieking in the wilderness." The liberal MSNBC anchor attacked the Republican presidential candidate for his opposition to gay rights, wondering if Santorum wanted to return to the days when husbands could beat their wives.
Reagan mocked Santorum for defending "traditional" marriage, scolding, "Marriage has, in various times and places throughout history, been treated as a property arrangement with husbands, in effect, owning their wives as they would cattle. Is that the tradition Santorum seeks to revive?"
Ron Reagan
By Scott Whitlock | August 24, 2011 | 6:38 PM EDT
Liberal Celebrities, Radio Hosts Make Baseless Jokes and Accusations That Marcus Bachmann Is Gayer Than Richard Simmons
By Tim Graham | July 19, 2011 | 7:30 AM EDT The gay blog On Top reported that “comedian” Janeane Garofalo is the latest in a string of celebrities and activists suggesting Michele Bachmann’s therapist husband Marcus must be gay, including Cher, Jon Stewart, Jerry Seinfeld, and sex columnist/”It Gets Better” bully Dan Savage. Cher even said she wanted to strangle him.
This Marcus-is-gay line has also been a regular trope of liberal talk radio, from openly gay Stephanie Miller to Randi Rhodes to even Ron “Junior” Reagan, who knows something on this subject of aspersions from his ballet-dancing days.
By Noel Sheppard | May 17, 2011 | 6:41 PM EDT
When MSNBC's Chris Matthews isn't calling a potential Republican presidential candidate racist, he's calling them idiots.
On Tuesday's "Hardball," after one of his guests said, "We shouldn’t forget Sarah Palin" as a possible candidate, the host arrogantly shot back, "I think she’s proven herself to be profoundly stupid" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
By Noel Sheppard | May 12, 2011 | 1:19 AM EDT
Chris Matthews Wednesday actually asked Ron Reagan, "Did [your father] really believe if you lowered the tax rates the government made more money?"
Frankly, I'm not sure which was more absurd - the question or the answer (video follows with transcript and commentary):
By Brad Wilmouth | February 6, 2011 | 6:20 PM EST
On World News Saturday and on Sunday’s Good Morning America, ABC continued to quote liberal commentator Ron Reagan’s recent criticisms of Sarah Palin without reminding viewers of his liberal political views and history of attacking conservatives as both shows recounted Palin’s speech in commemoration of former President Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday.
On World News Saturday, after playing a clip of Palin’s speech, anchor Sharyn Alfonsi continued: "Reagan's outspoken youngest son Ron told the Associated Press that Palin, quote, 'is a soap opera who has nothing in common' with his father."
And on Sunday’s GMA, a piece by correspondent David Kerley used a clip of Ron Reagan from one of his recent appearances on GMA promoting his book, My Father at 100, when he had negative words to say about Palin. After relating that Palin had charged that America is "on a road to ruin because it has strayed from Reagan’s values," and after a clip of the former Alaska governor comparing her own political views to those of President Reagan, Kerley continued:
By Brad Wilmouth | February 6, 2011 | 1:56 AM EST
On Saturday’s Good Morning America on ABC, as he anchored the show’s regular series of news briefs during the 7:00 a.m. hour, Ron Claiborne relayed liberal commentator Ron Reagan’s criticism of Sarah Palin as having "nothing in common with his father," former President Ronald Reagan, in response to her words at a celebration of the former President’s 100th birthday. Claiborne did not inform ABC viewers that Ron Reagan is a liberal who has a history of criticizing his father’s political policies as well as attacking other conservatives. Claiborne:
By Scott Whitlock | January 25, 2011 | 12:52 PM EST
Good Morning America on Sunday continued to hype the very liberal Ron Reagan and the claims in his new book that his father showed early signs of Alzheimer's while in the White House. The network has now devoted 28 minutes to interviews and segments on the allegations. Host Bianna Golodryga even laughed at Reagan's Sarah Palin joke.
After asking the author what President Reagan would have thought of the former governor of Alaska, Ron Reagan replied, "He would say that, well, she seems like a nice young woman and perhaps, in years to come, with a little more seasoning, she might want to consider running for high office." This prompted Golodryga to giggle and repeat, "A little more seasoning." She then laughed again when he retorted, "Yeah. Or maybe even a lot more."
By Scott Whitlock | January 24, 2011 | 12:36 PM EST
Although the Washington Post had no mention on Monday of the annual March for Life rally in Washington D.C., the paper still found time to devote 48 paragraphs and 2850 words to profiling Ron Reagan and his controversial claim in a new book that his father had symptoms of Alzheimer's while in the White House.
Staff writer Manuel Roig-Franzia made sure to highlight in the fifth paragraph, "The son, now 52, can't muster enthusiasm for present-day Reagan worship, either. He disdains the communal gushing and deifying, 'the fetishistic veneration,' while nurturing a private, though complicated, affection." [Emphasis added.]
The journalist added, "Ron's mother, Nancy Reagan, is always after him to attend this or that commemoration or unveiling. He always has the same reaction: 'Oh, no. Not another aircraft carrier. Not another bridge. Not another highway!'"
Special 'Mega Edition' of 'Media Mash' Tackles Bill Maher, ObamaCare, Ron Reagan Claiming Father Had Alzheimer's in Office
By NB Staff | January 21, 2011 | 11:10 AM EST The attempted assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords could have been averted if America had government-run health care, according to left-wing comedian Bill Maher.
That's just the first instance of liberal media advocacy that NewsBusters publisher and Media Research Center president Brent Bozell touched in the January 20 "Media Mash" segment on FNC's "Hannity" program.
"This is the desperation that they're in to sell ObamaCare, that they know the American people don't want," Bozell argued.
Video embedded after page break or click here for MP3 audio.
By Kyle Drennen | January 17, 2011 | 12:23 PM EST
On Monday's CBS Early Show, after reporting claims from Ron Reagan Jr. that President Ronald Reagan may have had Alzheimer's Disease while in office, co-host Erica Hill asked other son Michael Reagan about those accusations: "And your brother has said this is just his own feeling....Could it be possible there may have been something else? Could he [President Reagan] have had dementia?"
Michael rejected the notion: "No, he didn't have dementia. Look what he accomplished in the last four years of his presidency. Reykjavik, START agreements, all the things he accomplished. The speech at the Berlin Wall in 1987 on June 12th. Look what he accomplished in those last four years. Someone with dementia does not accomplish all of those things." He went on to say of his brother: "...we don't even know in the family if Ron voted for his father back in 1981 or in 1984 when he ran for President."
By Scott Whitlock | January 17, 2011 | 11:57 AM EST
For the second time in less than 24 hours, ABC identified Michael Reagan as a "conservative," but failed to identify the left-wing ideology of Ron Reagan Jr. Monday's Good Morning America played up the "clash" between the adopted son Michael and Ron, author of a new book that claims his father, the 40th president, had Alzheimer's during his time in the White House.
Correspondent Claire Shipman explained, "It's another feud in an often fractious family. In a series of tweets over the weekend, Michael Reagan, the former President's son and a conservative commentator, accused his stepbrother Ron of trying to sell out his father to sell books."
As the MRC's Brent Baker pointed out, Ron Reagan Jr. previously hosted a show on the left-wing MSNBC and now appears on the network to provide liberal commentary. On Sunday's World News, reporter David Muir also identified the politics of Michael, but not Ron Reagan.
By Brent Baker | January 17, 2011 | 9:04 AM EST
Picking up on “a family feud” fueled by a decision by ABC News to promote Ron Reagan Jr’s new book in which he insists his father displayed symptoms of Alzheimer’s while in his first presidential term, ABC anchor David Muir, who failed to identify Ron Jr. as a liberal, reported “Ron's conservative half-brother Michael Reagan is blasting him.”
Muir highlighted Michael’s devastating tweet: “My brother was an embarrassment to his father when he was alive and today he became an embarrassment to his mother.” After citing another tweet in which Michael charged “my brother seems to want to sell out his father to sell books,” Muir tried to attribute Michael’s disgust to a rivalry: “Michael Reagan, now angry with his brother, also has a book out this week.”