No Credit to Perry for Texas Economy, But Lots of Blame for Texas Heal

The New York Times may not give Texas Gov. Rick Perry credit for his state’s booming economy, but it will certainly attack him for his state’s supposedly awful record on providing health care. Emily Ramshaw reported “Few Bright Spots in Perry’s Health Care Record” for Friday’s edition. Ramshaw, a reporter for the Texas Tribune, a left-leaning nonprofit news organization based in Austin that…
Clay Waters
October 1st, 2011 3:03 PM

Mark Shields on Christie's Weight: When You Sit in the Bathtub and Wat

The juvenile bashing of Chris Christie's weight hit a disgraceful low on PBS's "Inside Washington" Friday when a panel absent the guiding sanity of syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer chuckled and guffawed over the size of the New Jersey governor. What posterity will certainly view as one of the more embarrassing episodes on this political talk show stalwart came when PBS's Mark Shields…
Noel Sheppard
October 1st, 2011 12:20 PM

Larry King Would Love South Having to Pick Mormon or Black in 2012, Be

On Tuesday night's Joy Behar Show, Joy invited on Larry King to talk Michael Jackson...and a little politics. Larry endorsed Jon Huntsman as his favorite Republican candidate, and said "the one thing good about it if Romney or Huntsman got it is a Mormon against a black, what does the South do? What do they do? You`re in Alabama, oh, my gosh." Behar joked: "There would be mass suicides in…
Tim Graham
October 1st, 2011 11:11 AM

Bill Maher: Rick Perry 'So Dumb' Republicans Are 'Even Considering Vot

For at least the third time this year, HBO's Bill Maher took a racist swipe at Herman Cain. On Friday's "Real Time," the host said during his New Rule segment that Texas governor Rick Perry "sounded so dumb that now [Republicans are] even considering voting for a black guy" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
Noel Sheppard
October 1st, 2011 10:32 AM

D.L. Hughley Launches Racial Attack on Cain

These kinds of venomous attacks from the Left were to be expected after Cain’s recent surge. Awful people. Thankfully, Cain seems unconcerned and will just keep on keeping on in the department of thinking for himself — which we all know is a hate crime if you look a certain way. From the Daily Caller: I loved Herman Cain when he played Mr. Gaines on a different World,” Hughley tweeted. This…
John Nolte
October 1st, 2011 10:13 AM

Kinsley Claims 'Too Fat' Christie Lacks Self-Control To Be President

Is Michael Kinsley sure he wants to go down this path? In a Bloomberg View column and then in a clip run on "Good Morning America" today, the liberal pundit claims Chris Christie is "just too fat" to be president.  According to Kinsley, Christie's weight is evidence of a lack of the self-control necessary to be an effective president. If self-control is a key requirement for the…
Mark Finkelstein
October 1st, 2011 9:40 AM

Weekend Open Thread

For general discussion and debate about politics, economics, sports, and whatever else tickles your fancy.
NB Staff
October 1st, 2011 9:26 AM

Bozell Column: Unzipping the Male 'X Factor

Back in the 1970s, there was a lot of discussion about the way TV executives were grabbing ratings with female jiggle. “T&A,” it was called. The jiggle continues, but now it’s coming from somewhere else. So far, the hot new trend of the 2011 TV season is...dangling male genitalia. That’s full-frontal male nudity...hidden behind graphic effects. CBS was thrilled the September 19 premiere…
Brent Bozell
October 1st, 2011 8:02 AM

How Can You Connect Nasty Movie and TV Plots to GOP Debates

How can a nasty funeral plot on “Two and a Half Men” and the global-pandemic movie “Contagion” and the ugly tone of the Charlie Sheen roast be compared to the Republican debates? Brent Lang of the entertainment-media blog The Wrap somehow accomplishes it.  “The overwhelming pessimism that gripped America throughout the end of summer and the dawn of fall has cast a shadow across the cultural…
Tim Graham
October 1st, 2011 7:43 AM

AP Touts 'Enormous Asset' Mrs. Obama Bringing Women to Tears, Firing U

Nancy Benac of the Associated Press is thoroughly in the tank for Michelle Obama. Her latest article was headlined "First lady a not-so-secret campaign weapon." She began: "She's mingled barefoot among Aspen's elite, stirred a Vermont utility executive to tears and bucked up disenchanted New Yorkers." At the same time, the media can tout her for shopping at Target and for mingling with the…
Tim Graham
October 1st, 2011 7:26 AM

Comcast, NBCU Fund Gay-Left Dinner With Obama

Penny Starr at CNSNews.com reports President Obama will be speaking Saturday night at the annual fundraising gala of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay-left advocacy group. She added they’re pushing for grade schools to be “inclusive” about the LGBT gospel: "Curriculum must be LGBT inclusive starting in elementary school for the following reasons,” including “Students learn…
Tim Graham
September 30th, 2011 10:45 PM

Treat Herman Cain as a 'Racist, Bigoted Person,' Says Dem Strategist

Democratic strategist Cornell Belcher was up-in-arms Thursday over Herman Cain's remarks that African-Americans have been "brainwashed" to vote Democratic. Belcher, an African-American, called the remarks "racist" and "bigoted" and added that Cain "should be treated like a racist and bigoted person." Belcher, who was furious for the entirety of the segment and repeatedly interrupted fellow…
Matt Hadro
September 30th, 2011 5:52 PM

NPR Contributor Bemoans 'Enormous Unease' Toward Chaz Bono

Barbara J. King of the College of William and Mary bizarrely asserted that a "person's sex can be socially constructed" in a Thursday item for NPR.org's "13.7" blog. King used the rare phenomenon of hermaphroditism to justify Chastity Bono's "transformation" to become "Chaz" Bono, and lamented that the "the case of Chaz Bono tells us that enormous unease still exists in our society when…
Matthew Balan
September 30th, 2011 5:31 PM

Biden Fundraising Email: 'This Has Never Been About Barack And Me

President Moment-The-Planet-Began-To-Heal: just a regular guy! Let's get the weekend off to a smiling start with this rib-tickler, courtesy Joe Biden.  In a fundraising email I just received from the Obama campaign website [of whose email list of course I'm a proud member], good old Joe claimed, with a straight cyber-face: "This has never been about Barack and me. We're just two guys." More…
Mark Finkelstein
September 30th, 2011 5:07 PM