In Tuesday's contentious runoff contest, senator Thad Cochran, a Republican who has represented Mississippi since his first election in 1978, defeated Tea Party challenger Chris McDaniel in part because the “open primary” allowed African-American Democrats to cast ballots in the GOP contest.
As a result, John King -- host of CNN's Inside Politics program -- wondered during Wednesday's edition whether Cochran will simply say “Thank you” and forget the votes he received or use the victory as a “turning point” for a larger conversation within the Republican Party about issues like voting rights.
Peter Hamby
By Randy Hall | June 25, 2014 | 10:52 PM EDT
By Matthew Balan | May 20, 2014 | 4:30 PM EDT
CNN's Chris Cuomo forwarded a liberal talking point about the infighting inside the Republican Party on Tuesday's New Day, as he covered the primary elections in several states that day. Cuomo asked Republican strategist Kevin Madden, "Are you worried that these challenges are pushing your mainstream or establishment or traditional candidates farther to the right than they might be may like?"
The anchor could very well have gotten his talking point from colleague Van Jones, as the left-wing Crossfire host made the same argument just over two hours later during a panel discussion with Republican Ana Navarro: [MP3 audio available here; video below the jump]
By Randy Hall | December 11, 2013 | 7:30 PM EST
Still stinging from the large number of primary debates that often changed the momentum from one Republican candidate to another during the 2012 presidential contest and liberal moderators who all asked questions that favored Democratic incumbent Barack Obama over GOP candidate Mitt Romney, Republican officials are “quietly advancing a new batch of rules aimed at streamlining” what they call a chaotic nominating process.
Those claims are taken from an article written by CNN's Peter Hamby, who stated he received information from “multiple GOP sources” that “handpicked members of the Republican National Committee” have been working with party chairman Reince Priebus in Washington, D.C., since August to sanction “a small handful of debates” in which party officials will have “a heavy appetite” for a much stronger say over who will moderate any encounters of presidential candidates.
By Tom Blumer | November 3, 2013 | 7:39 PM EST
I think we have the winner in the "If a Republican or conservative had said it" media bias category this year, if not this decade.
In the book "Double Down" by liberal journalists Mark Halperin and John Heilemann (reviewed by Peter Hamby at the Washington Post on Friday), President Barack Obama, while discussing drone strikes in 2012, reportedly told aides that he's "really good at killing people." This would have been headline news three seconds after Hamby's review, and Hamby would have headlined it himself instead of casually mentioning it in Paragraph 11. A Google News search on an obvious search string ("really good at Killing people" obama; sorted by date) at 6:45 p.m. returns only 11 items, none of which are establishment press outlets. Michael Kelley at Business Insider, which did not show up among the search items returned, had some interesting thoughts on Obama's alleged remark Saturday evening (bolds are mine throughout this post; Update: important links relating to CIA practices which can only be considered barbaric are in the original):
CNN: 'Anti-Obama' Mailer 'Cherry-picks' Obama Speech; Yet CNN Article Itself Misrepresents General Thrust of Mailer
By Ken Shepherd | October 31, 2012 | 12:30 PM EDT Updated below | An election season mailer linked to Focus on the Family and sent out to evangelical Christian voters in Iowa unfairly quoted President Obama out of context, CNN's Political Tracker blog complained this morning.
Yet in Peter Hamby's blog post -- Anti-Obama mail piece: ‘We are no longer a Christian nation’ -- the CNN.com staffer glossed over the fact that the other charges waged in the mailer are spot-on about areas in which the president is sharply to the left of religious conservatives on abortion, same-sex marriage, and a religious exemption for the contraception mandate (emphasis mine; see mailer photo below page break):
By Matt Hadro | September 26, 2012 | 5:18 PM EDT
The media are digging deep to rain on Mitt Romney's Ohio campaign. On Wednesday, CNN's Brooke Baldwin stupidly wondered how golfer and Ohio-native Jack Nicklaus' endorsement of the candidate would help him with Ohio middle class voters.
"But here you have – you have Romney needing middle class votes in Ohio. How is he helped by a man who has been the face of professional golf, doesn't even live in Ohio anymore?" Baldwin said in her pathetic attempt to play devil's advocate.
By Noel Sheppard | September 16, 2012 | 9:15 AM EDT
This appears to be the height of journalistic malpractice.
On September 13, CNN political reporter Peter Hamby sent an Obama campaign donation request form to his Twitter followers:
By Brent Baker | February 9, 2012 | 1:50 PM EST
Shortly before noon Thursday, live from the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), CNN political reporter Peter Hamby described the gathering as a “conservative petri dish” to measure “how Mitt Romney is received and how his challengers are received too.” Anchor Suzanne Malveaux chimed in: “I love that, conservative petri dish. That’s a great way to describe it.”
A petri dish is defined as “a shallow circular dish with a loose-fitting cover, used to culture bacteria or other microorganisms.” As if conservatives are some kind of organism in a contained space to be studied from above by the “scientists” at CNN for our harmful effects. We’re not the Ebola virus, but that seems as if it’s how CNN sees conservatives. Video below.
By Warner Todd Huston | May 12, 2009 | 8:02 AM EDT
Ever wonder how political "facts" become facts? How does a story go from a mere unsubstantiated report to universal truth? Often, it happens with a catchy headline in a report that states as "fact" a claim made by one person even though no one else has been seen backing up the claim. Such may be the case with a recent story on actor Gary Sinise becoming "the savior of the GOP."
Peter Hamby of CNN has decided to make Gary Sinise the new golden boy of the Republican Party. It has all the elements of a good tale: A handsome actor, politically astute and well known for being active is suddenly the "new" face of the party to which he belongs, a man about to save the whole darn shootin' match with his star power. It's a political success story sure to gain big headlines... except for the fact that it basically isn't true.
By Warner Todd Huston | December 6, 2007 | 4:39 AM EST
CNN has posted a Political Ticker entry trying to create a "gotcha" on 2nd Amendment supporter, Fred Thompson. CNN's South Carolina Producer Peter Hamby has breathlessly announced that "Thompson does not have hunting license," but the question is... so what?