2016 Presidential

Earlier today, appearing on a segment with Thomas Roberts, a visibly agitated -- more so than usual -- Chris Matthews sputteringly spewed invective against neo-con war "pigs" who he insists are behind an attack ad leveled at Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) in light of his having said previously that we should negotiate with Iran over its nuclear program. Tonight, opening up the Tuesday edition of Hardball…

Let's be clear: on today's With All Due Respect, Mark Halperin and John Heilemann were very complimentary about Kelley Paul's performance today in introducing her husband Rand at his presidential announcement speech.  They described her as a big asset and anticipate seeing a lot more of her on the campaign trail. That said, the duo said something that boggled my mind, claiming that as good as…

When Republicans make campaign announcements, the press usually grab their pitchforks, light their torches, and proceed to run them down. Such was the case with Mika Brzezinski, who typified the Morning Joe crew’s response to Rand Paul’s announcement trailer with the question, "Isn't that kind of setting yourself up to fail?"   Donny Deutsch also lamented the over-the-top rhetoric of the Paul…

In a Tuesday post, The Nation blogger Dave Zirin argued that it’s politically unseemly for Gov. Scott Walker to root publicly for certain Wisconsin sports teams, including the University of Wisconsin basketballers, who came up just short in last night’s men’s national title game against Duke. Zirin claimed that it’s “almost flagrantly irresponsible” for the media to publicize Walker’s support of…

On Tuesday, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul became the second Republican to officially enter the 2016 presidential race, following Senator Ted Cruz’s announcement on March 23. However, on the morning of their respective presidential announcements, the “Big Three” (ABC, CBS, and NBC) networks went out of their way to label Cruz a “conservative” 13 times, compared to zero conservative labels for Senator…

After NBC’s Today touted the latest hire for Hillary Clinton’s expected presidential campaign, Monday’s NBC Nightly News also gushed over the move while blasting Republican Jeb Bush for creating an “embarrassing situation” by identifying as a Hispanic on a voter registration form. Peter Alexander reported Clinton has hired “a former aide to First Lady Michelle Obama” in Kristina Schake, who, he…

According to CNN, MSNBC regular Karen Finney will be joining the yet-to-be-announced Hillary Clinton presidential campaign as a communications adviser and spokesperson. In 2012, the liberal Finney bitterly connected Rush Limbaugh to the death of Trayvon Martin: "Rush Limbaugh calls a presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama, a magic negro...In the case of Trayvon, those festering stereotypes…

Conor P. Williams really enjoys watching the amazing race -- not the CBS program, but the race for the Republican presidential nomination, which Williams called “my favorite TV show” in a Monday column on Talking Points Memo. For Williams, much of the “entertainment value” of the GOP contest lies in its right-wing extremism: “This is a show where the American conservative id fully unravels in…

On Monday, NBC’s Today gave some free publicity to Hillary Clinton by copying a recent New York Times article profiling Kristina Schake, the woman whose “job is to recast Hillary Clinton’s image.” Matt Lauer introduced the network’s promotion of Hillary's rebranding by proclaiming that “[a] lot of people think that Hillary Clinton has hopes of becoming the next host of one of those Easter egg…

This week liberal reporters welcomed Ted Cruz to the 2016 presidential race by blasting him as "hardline," "right-wing," "radical," "dumb," "scary," "dangerous" and "slimy" -- all in the first 24 hours. And: the networks hype the "growing outrage" over Indiana's religous freedom law, with one pundit saying that Republicans who came out in support Mike Pence were having a "premature intolerance…

You know how Hillary Clinton can make a big splash when she announces that she is running for president? Not with some old fashioned message. No, the key to making herself the inevitable nominee according to New Republic senior editor Elspeth Reeve is to use the right apps for the announcement. 

The PBS NewsHour hosted a panel discussion on Thursday night on the controversy over religious freedom in Indiana. To their credit, PBS brought on a Baptist minister, Tim Overton, to speak for Christians who are upset at the current liberal trend. But National Journal correspondent Ron Brownstein pushed hard on the politics -- on how Republicans are going to suffer as “we expand the circle…

If it's Thursday, it must be...yet another front-page New York Times story on the issue that is going to tear the Republican Party apart and doom prospects in 2016 (the actual issue changes every week, of course). On cue with the ginned-up controversy over Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act, came reporter Jennifer Steinhauer's story, under a liberally stacked deck of headlines: "Rights…

Several GOP presidential contenders have insulted The New York Times in recent days, but not with the vigor of Ted Cruz. Politico's Dylan Byers reported that in an interview with a St. Louis talk radio station on Tuesday, Cruz said Republicans shouldn't listen to "The New York Times and other leftist rags" when picking their presidential nominee. Times Beijing bureau chief Edward Wong (Twitter…