Open Thread: Libya

Yesterday was a frantic, occasionally bizarre day in Libya, a week after massive protests - inspired by recent events in Egypt - engulfed the country in turmoil. There were rumors early in the day Monday that Muammar Gaddafi, the country's embattled president, had fled the nation for Venezuela. An influential Muslim cleric had issued a "fatwa" on Gaddafi, calling on all Muslims to shoot him on…
NB Staff
February 22nd, 2011 9:32 AM

Bernie Goldberg Rips 'Supposed Journalist' Fareed Zakaria for Not Chal

As NewsBusters reported Sunday, while George Soros likened Rupert Murdoch and Fox News to Nazis on CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS," the host never once challenged the far-left billionaire on any of his wild accusations. On Monday's "O'Reilly Factor," former CBS Newsman Bernie Goldberg blasted "supposed journalist" Zakaria for sitting there "like a bump on a log when somebody is making crazy…
Noel Sheppard
February 22nd, 2011 9:05 AM

ESPN.com's Reilly Picks On Religious Faith of Teenage Wrestler from Io

Don't 52-year-old sports writers have anything better to do than devote a whole column to deriding a teenage athlete's faith? If you're Rick Reilly, apparently the answer is no. Reilly wrote a February 19 piece at ESPN.com trashing the religious convictions of 16-year-old Iowa wrestler Joel Northrup, who forfeited a state tournament match rather than wrestle 14-year-old Cassy Herkelman,…
Ken Shepherd
February 22nd, 2011 9:05 AM

NYT's Adam Nagourney Recycles Favorite Theme: Republicans Overreach, F

Adam Nagourney, now Los Angeles bureau chief for the New York Times, returned to his old political beat for Monday’s off-lead story co-written with David Herszenhorn. The theme is one of Nagourney’s favorites; Republicans overplaying their hand and risking citizen backlash: “As Republicans See A Mandate, Others See Risk – Echo Of ‘08 Democrats – Backlash Could Loom on Cuts to Budget and Union…
Clay Waters
February 22nd, 2011 8:55 AM

Burying the Bad News: Obama Still Unliked by 'Non-College Whites

A new survey by The Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Harvard School for Public Health found dire news for Democrats: “When asked which party better understands the economic problems that people in the country are having, non-college whites side with the Republicans by a 14-point margin.” That news is so uncomfortable for media liberals that the Post put that sentence in…
Tim Graham
February 22nd, 2011 8:08 AM

Frank Rich Revives Tucson Smear Against Beck, Palin

After a lull, in which the Times' initial assumption the Tucson shooting had something to do with political conservatism was refuted by reality, the paper again tried to use the tragedy to smear conservatives, in Frank Rich’s Sunday column, “The G.O.P.’s Post-Tucson Traumatic Stress Disorder.”  It’s a truly weak effort that will change no  minds. Still, Rich’s absurd and mean-spirited attempt…
Clay Waters
February 22nd, 2011 6:45 AM

From Coolidge to Reagan to Scott Walker

When three-fourths of the Boston police department went on strike in 1919, leading to broken shop windows and looting, then-Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge called out the state militia and broke the strike. Coolidge declared, "There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, any time." His courage propelled him to the vice presidency and eventually to the…
Cal Thomas
February 22nd, 2011 4:00 AM

Feds and Unions: Foes of Educational Reform

"The fate of our country won’t be decided on a battlefield. It will be determined in a classroom." Do you believe that? Last week, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker called on 14 state Senate Democrats, who had fled the state instead of voting on a deficit-cutting anti-teachers-union bill, to return and do their jobs. Senate Republicans hold a 19-14 majority there but can't vote on the bill unless…
Chuck Norris
February 22nd, 2011 2:00 AM

Matthews Visibly Angered By Poll Finding Americans Think Reagan Was Gr

UPDATE AT END OF POST: 'Limited Memory' Matthews gets Washington's birthday wrong! A Gallup poll released Friday found Americans are most likely to say Ronald Reagan was the nation's greatest president. On Monday, MSNBC's Chris Matthews was visibly angered about these results and actually insulted those in Reagan's camp as having a "limited memory" (video follows with transcript and…
Noel Sheppard
February 22nd, 2011 12:04 AM

AP Notes Radical, Bush-Death-Wishing Guitarist Delights Union Crowd in

AP reporter Ryan Foley's update from Madison on Monday night included details about a rock musician causing the crowd to to roar: "At noon, guitarist Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine took to a stage on the Capitol steps to fire up the crowd. He said he flew in from California to lend his voice to the protest." While reporters like Adam Nagourney "worry" out loud that the Wisconsin…
Tim Graham
February 21st, 2011 11:22 PM

Lawrence O'Donnell: Walker Becomes Top GOP Presidential Candidate If H

UPDATE AT END OF POST: Ann Coulter agrees! Lawrence O'Donnell on Monday made a prediction that most who hadn't heard of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker until a week ago might find astonishing. On MSNBC's "The Last Word," the host told his perilously liberal guest Ezra Klein that if Walker's budget repair plan goes through, "He would instantaneously become the greatest hero in the Republican…
Noel Sheppard
February 21st, 2011 10:57 PM

Maddow Mocks Wisconsin GOP for Opposing Public-Sector Unions - Which W

Normally you'd expect a left-winger like MSNBC's Rachel Maddow to do cartwheels if current-day Republicans agree with opinions held by Franklin Roosevelt during the depths of the Great Depression. This is not one of those times, however, as we are learning during the ongoing battle in Wisconsin over public-sector unions.   What's happening in Wisconsin, according to Maddow, is an…
Jack Coleman
February 21st, 2011 10:16 PM

National Weather Agency Refutes Gore's Claim Recent Snowstorms Caused

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration somewhat under the radar a few weeks ago rebutted Nobel Laureate Al Gore's claim that January's heavy snowstorms across the country were caused by global warming. As readers might remember, the man that has been made rich advancing the myth that carbon dioxide is destroying the planet weighed in on the inclement weather at his blog on…
Noel Sheppard
February 21st, 2011 9:57 PM

Wisconsin State Senator Smacks Down Chris Matthews: 'You're Completely

MSNBC's Chris Matthews tried Monday to push the liberal media meme that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker exempted police and firefighters from his budget repair plan because their unions endorsed him in last November's election. "Well one more time you're completely uninformed," replied Republican State Senator Glenn Grothman who then proceeded to tell the facts to the obviously clueless "…
Noel Sheppard
February 21st, 2011 8:16 PM