Open Thread

For general discussion and debate on all issues involving politics, the economy, sports, or whatever tickles your fancy.
NB Staff
October 16th, 2010 8:42 AM

Olbermann Slams FNC’s Kilmeade as ‘Un-American Bastard

 On Friday’s Countdown show, MSNBC host Keith Olbermann called FNC host Brian Kilmeade an "un-American bastard" during his show’s regular "Worst Person" segment because Kilmeade recently complained about the political correctness of the left's desire to avoid identifying Muslim terrorists as Muslims. Picking up on comments Kilmeade made on Fox News Radio in which he overstated the reality…
Brad Wilmouth
October 15th, 2010 9:41 PM

NBC's Todd Asserts 'Weaker' Tea Party Nominees Give Democrats 'Fightin

NBC's Chuck Todd conceded “the Tea Party has been helpful to the GOP in both re-branding the party away from Bush and giving it a real grassroots component,” but he insisted, “this Tea Party influence in Republican primaries has put a number of Senate seats in play for Democrats that at this point should be out of reach.” “The bottom line,” Todd declared on Friday's NBC Nightly News in a…
Brent Baker
October 15th, 2010 8:49 PM

CNN: 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' an 'Unjust' Policy; Gays Have 'Right to F

On Friday's Newsroom, CNN's Ali Velshi channeled the homosexual lobby's disappointment with the Obama administration's defense of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy: "This unjust policy has gone on far too long in America." Velshi also stated that homosexuals "have a right to serve. They have a right to fight." The anchor criticized the Justice Department's appeal of a federal…
Matthew Balan
October 15th, 2010 8:01 PM

Scientific American Proposes Global Warming Solution: Birth Control th

Popular science periodical suggests reducing peak population to roughly 8 billion is the key reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Jeff Poor
October 15th, 2010 7:57 PM

Schultz Uses MSNBC 'Lean Forward' Line As Explicit Dem Campaign Slogan

Not that there was any doubt, but we now have confirmation that the new MSNBC "Lean Forward" series of promos is all about . . .  promoting the election of Democrats. On his MSNBC show this evening, Ed Schultz used the "lean forward" phrase in urging "base Democrats" to go to the polls to defeat Republicans and support President Obama's agenda.
Mark Finkelstein
October 15th, 2010 7:19 PM

MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan Brands Bill O'Reilly 'Liar' and 'Jackass Fool' O

  Smearing Bill O'Reilly as an "extremist" and a "jackass fool," MSNBC anchor Dylan Ratigan fired back at the Fox News Channel host for saying Muslims "killed us on 9/11." On his Friday afternoon MSNBC show, the liberal host launched a blistering attack on O'Reilly and accused him of lying and being a "fearmonger." O'Reilly made his remarks in a heated debate on ABC's "The View" Thursday…
Matt Hadro
October 15th, 2010 6:47 PM

CBSNews.com's Bizarre Headline: 'John Boehner: A Pelosi Ally

An article on CBSNews.com, Thursday, included a rather bizarre headline: "John Boehner: A Pelosi Ally?" Reporter Stephanie Condon trumpeted, "Boehner sided with Pelosi and Democrats 52 percent of the time, according to a review of this year's votes that Democrats provided to The Hill." To show some sort of contradiction, she highlighted examples of Republicans pointing out "how closely…
Scott Whitlock
October 15th, 2010 6:43 PM

CBS Finds 'Independent' Voters Who All Bash the Tea Party

On Thursday's CBS Evening News, anchor Katie Couric talked to a group of supposedly independent voters in Pennsylvania, but touted how none of them were undecided about one thing: "...there was unanimous agreement in this group, the Tea Party isn't their cup of tea." [Audio available here] Following that declaration by Couric, each voter took their turn denouncing the conservative…
Kyle Drennen
October 15th, 2010 6:07 PM

NBC's Norah O'Donnell: Maybe Behar and Goldberg Were Right in Storming

Against the opinion of the "Morning Joe" panel (and Barbara Walters herself), NBC's Norah O'Donnell half-defended Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg for brazenly walking off the set of ABC's "The View" when guest Bill O'Reilly got too controversial for them. Without saying that she personally was okay with Goldberg's and Behar's stunt, O'Donnell hinted that they had a legitimate reason for…
Matt Hadro
October 15th, 2010 6:03 PM

Norah O'Donnell's Faulty Memory: Falsely Asserts Michelle Obama 'Never

According to MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell, Michelle Obama "never said that she had not been proud of her country." The cable host on Friday spun for the First Lady while reporting on a speech Sarah Palin gave in California. In fact, on February 18, 2008, Mrs. Obama addressed a crowd in Wisconsin and announced, "For the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country, and not…
Scott Whitlock
October 15th, 2010 5:43 PM

Tell the Truth! Action Alert: Protest in NYC on Sunday with Brent Boze

At 2 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, October 17, the Manhattan Tea Party will join forces with NewsBusters publisher and Media Research Center (MRC) founder Brent Bozell to lead a protest at the New York Times and NBC outside their Manhattan headquarters. Bozell, MRC grassroots activists, and Tea Party protesters will be joined by four massive billboard trucks which are circling Manhattan as part of…
NB Staff
October 15th, 2010 5:15 PM

WaPo Buries Former Obama Car Czar's Troubles with SEC, NY Attorney Gen

Steven Rattner, the first Obama car czar who allegedly "bribed a political consultant to win business from New York's pension fund for his former investment firm," was extremely close this week to cutting a deal with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), only to see that agreement held up this week to the intervention of New York Attorney General and Democratic gubernatorial candidate…
Ken Shepherd
October 15th, 2010 4:50 PM

WaPo Hails Obama's 'Zest for Inquiry,' This 'Probing, Cerebral' Presid

It’s not every day that a front-page Washington Post report has copy that can be mocked as “Auditioning to Be the Next Obama Girl.” (That is, unless you count Eli “Obama's Chiseled Pectorals” Saslow.) James Taranto of The Wall Street Journal designated this florid passage for that title, from a sprawling 5,355-word Wednesday front-page article by reporters Michael Leahy and Juliet Eilperin.…
Tim Graham
October 15th, 2010 4:38 PM