2012 Presidential

Ron Reagan, the son of late President Ronald Reagan, came down strongly on Tuesday against Barack Obama's unwillingness to definitively support same-sex marriage. Appearing on Hardball, the MSNBC political analyst said, "He’s taking more time evolving on this issue than humans took evolving from apes" (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

President Obama formally kicked off his re-election campaign in Richmond, Va., and Columbus, Ohio, Saturday, and his theme was certainly not, shall we say, "it's morning again in America" — President Ronald Reagan's optimistic re-election slogan in 1984. Obama's central message was more like: "Hey, I realize things look bad, and I'm not going to pretend you want four more years of this. But…

Last week, I showed how the Republican Party likely would lose the presidential election in November if it were to use conventional campaign tactics. However, I also explained an unconventional strategy that could usher in victory for the GOP and our republic — a tactic used by President Abraham Lincoln. This week, I want to elaborate more on Lincoln's concept of a team of rivals — and who…

New York Times political profile reporter Mark Leibovich's front-page Biden profile on Tuesday , "For a Blunt Biden, an Uneasy Supporting Role," was not as uncritical as his previous profiles of Democratic politicians. But he certainly found a novel angle on the garrulous veep:

On his "PoliticsNation" show last night, the Rev. Al Sharpton was indignant -- then again, when is he not? -- that Mitt Romney did not immediately reject a statement by a woman at a rally in Ohio that President Obama should be "tried for treason." Romney answered the woman's question about restoring balance between the three branches of government but ignored her remark about Obama as…

Bill Plante forwarded the Obama administration's spin on Tuesday's CBS This Morning concerning Vice President Joe Biden's support for same-sex "marriage." Plante omitted any clips for conservatives or even moderate Democrats during his report, and mentioned social conservatives' opposition only in passing. While Obama officials expressed support for same-sex "marriage" in the piece, no leftist…

After Vice President Joe Biden voiced his support of same-sex marriage over the weekend, CNN jumped all over the news on Monday and expectantly wondered if President Obama would follow suit. In fact, prime-time host Piers Morgan went so far as to admire the "brave Catholic" Biden for dissenting from Church teaching on the issue. During every hour save one from 5 a.m. all the way through 10 p…

ABC News correspondent Jake Tapper on Monday grilled the White House press secretary over Barack Obama's position on gay marriage and whether he will change his stance after the 2012 election. Tapper dismissed the President's 17 month "evolution" on the topic as "cynical." Yet, the ABC network skipped any coverage of his questions. After suggesting that Obama's "likely future" would be…

"It is inconceivable that had a white mob set upon two black Americans the media would sit it out." So said Fox News's Bill O'Reilly Monday about the media's almost total silence about a white couple that was attacked by a crowd of young African-Americans three weeks ago in Norfolk, Virginia (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

In her Saturday column for the New York Times, Gail Collins, who has made a smug little cottage industry out of her obsession (a few dozen column mentions) with Mitt Romney securing the family dog in a hutch on the roof of his car on a family vacation over 20 years ago, finally, if reluctantly, referenced the fact that Obama ate dog as a boy in Indonesia. Romney's story was much worse, she…

Last August, Politico revealed that the Obama campaign intended to make Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney "a sort of political Gordon Gekko" if he won the nomination. Right out of that playbook, MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Monday compared Romney to the financial villain of the '80s movie classic "Wall Street" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Providing a forum to actor and Obama supporter Robert De Niro on Sunday's NBC Meet the Press, host David Gregory teed up the celebrity to praise the President: "...you talked about your inspiration and your support for President Obama. Are you as inspired? Are you as hopeful? Are you as satisfied with what he's done as president as he stands for re-election?" [Listen to the audio or watch the…

MSNBC's Martin Bashir practically had an on air meltdown Monday over comments Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney made about President Obama and the European economy. "He supports Paul Ryan’s budget. He wants to go cut, cut, cut. It’s not president – it’s him. He’s the European Socialist" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Perhaps inspired by comments made by Vice President Joe Biden on Meet the Press a day earlier, Andrea Mitchell continued MSNBC's drumbeat of activism on gay marriage on her May 7 program. Mitchell seized on Biden's categorical support for same-sex marriage as an opportunity to litigate the issue with Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman Reince Priebus. During her interview with the…