2012 Presidential

At the top of Monday's NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer eagerly touted an Obama campaign photo-op: "One pizza shop owner in Florida got a little excited when he met President Obama, gave him a bear hug and then lifted him up....By the way, he's a Republican." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump] In the report that followed, chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd announced…

Monday's Washington Post has a front-page Style section piece on an Obama fundraiser at a New York city gay bar called Eastern Bloc that you frequent if you like "commie decor" and think "early-80s porn playing non-stop over the bar added to the ambiance." (UPDATE: The gay mag The Advocate reports CNN anchor Anderson Cooper's "boyfriend Ben Maisani co-owns Eastern Bloc.") Post reporter…

On Sunday's CNN Reliable Sources, host Howard Kurtz spoke of President Barack Obama's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention: Bob Cusack, Obama gave a pretty good speech overall. The media acted like it was terrible. And it seems to me that perhaps we have set a standard for him that (if) he doesn't he doesn't hit the stratosphere, he has somehow failed. The media acted…

Steven Van Zandt, the man you likely know as one of the guitarists in Bruce Springsteen's band or Tony Soprano's consigliere Silvio, is very disappointed with Barack Obama. In a lengthy piece published at the Huffington Post Saturday evening, Little Steven went so far as calling the President a "eunuch."

Originally syndicated September 6 | At this Democratic National Convention, I am going to be particularly interested in the crowds on the floor. Who cares about what Bill Clinton says? He does not mean it anyway. In the 1990s, he governed like a Republican after saying that "the age of Big Government is over." Incidentally, he governed pretty well. He would have made a good moderate Republican…

On Saturday's CBS This Morning, CBS assembled a panel of undecided voters and tried to take their questions about the campaign. All three of the CBS folks talking -- host Anthony Mason, political analyst John Dickerson, and CBS MoneyWatch expert Jack Otter -- agreed that the economists say that "tax increases are inevitable." Dickerson reported Mitt Romney says no to tax increases, but…

Including BoxOfficeMojo.com's weekend estimates, "2016: Obama's America," which grossed over $3.2 million during that time, has now reached Number 2 on the all-time list in the Political Documentary category, a genre which apparently didn't arise until the early 1980s. The only movie with a higher gross than "2016's" $26.1 million is the unreachable (and virtually unwatchable) "Fahrenheit 9/…

We really have entered an alternate reality. On CBS's Face the Nation Sunday, substitute host Norah O'Donnell not only asked Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan about how he could have gotten his marathon time wrong from 22 years ago, she actually equated the error to Al Gore saying he invented the internet (video follows with transcript and commentary):

David Gregory teased Sunday's Meet the Press by highlighting a clip of himself pushing Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney to upset conservatives in getting a budget deal, presumably by agreeing to raise taxes. “We go behind the scenes and on the record with Governor Romney less than two months before the election to press him on how he will turn around the economy and solve the nation’…

"I think this Democratic Convention was really over the top in terms of abortion. Every single speaker talked about abortion. And you know at some point you start to alienate people." So astonishingly said ABC's Cokie Roberts on Sunday's This Week (video follows with transcript and commentary):

The media are gushing and fawning over new poll numbers showing Barack Obama getting a bounce from the just ended Democratic National Convention putting him four points ahead of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. Before they get too cocky, they might want to recall that after his convention ended in 1988, Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis led George H.W. Bush by…

"The Romney campaign slogan should be the title of Paul Krugman’s book which is 'End This Depression Now' because these are depression level [employment] numbers. And, if the Republican Party cannot win in this environment, it has to get out of politics and find another business." So said George Will on ABC's This Week Sunday (video follows with transcript and commentary):

"The bounce Obama’s getting coming out of the convention is 80 percent Bill Clinton." So said former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrch on CNN's State of the Union Sunday.

The Huffington Post is happy: "MSNBC's Joe Scarborough offered some harsh words for Mitt Romney via Twitter on Saturday night." "Romney will lose if he doesn't dramatically change his strategy," he said. "Negative ads won't substitute for conservative ideas."