Appointments

Jim Miklaszewski kept it relatively diplomatic, declaring "there's something amiss here."  But Joe Scarborough was blunt: "boy, that's damning," said the Morning Joe host.   They were characterizing Miklaszewski's description of the Obama administration's "micromanagement" of the Department of Defense in which communication flows only in one direction: from the White House to the Pentagon. On…

As is the case with so many executive changes in both the public and the private sector, there is vagueness in the circumstances surrounding the end of Chuck Hagel's stint as Obama administration Secretary of Defense. While it's not unusual for an exec to be asked to resign to avoid being formally fired, which was apparently the case with Hagel, the higher-ups involved are usually smart enough…

The Supreme Court's recent surprise decision to take up King v. Burwell, a challenge to the Affordable Care Act, sent former New York Times Supreme Court reporter Linda Greenhouse on another aggrieved liberal rant against the conservative-dominated Court. Greenhouse failed to mention Obama-care architect Jonathan Gruber's inconvenient gaffes in several clips boasting about the deceitful selling…

Edwin Lyngar argues that right-wingers not only “creat[e] and exploit…irrational fear” but also disdain empathy, whereas “kindness…is the hallmark of liberalism.” The article was headlined I was a conservative coward: How the midterms evoked my past of shame, terror and Fox News”.

How far left is frequent Ed Show guest Mika Papantonio?  The class-action lawyer has criticized AG nominee Loretta Lynch for being too business-friendly.   On Schultz's show today, Papantonio was asked to comment on the possibility that Ted Cruz would block Lynch's confirmation should President Obama issue executive amnesty.  According to the lefty lawyer, once Cruz and other Republicans "get…

Introducing what amounted to a White House press release on Saturday's NBC Nightly News, anchor Lester Holt opened the broadcast by parroting President Obama's praise for attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch: "Historic choice. The woman who's taken down mobsters and terrorists now tapped to be the country's next attorney general."

The New Yorker magazine was a fierce opponent of President Bush (starting with Jane Mayer’s attacks on Bush anti-terrorist policies) and is now a enthusiastic supporter of President Obama. The latest proof comes in an article on Obama’s judicial legacy by New Yorker writer (and CNN legal analyst) Jeffrey Toobin. Like many a liberal journalist, Toobin wants to help the president pretend that…

There was some soul searching on the part of The New Republic editor Jonathan Cohn over whether a political hack like Ron Klain with no medical experience should be appointed as Ebola Czar. However, that period of doubt was quite brief once Cohn was reassured by fellow liberals that being a political hack in that position was perfectly okay even if one was engaged in financial scandal as Klain…

Remember when dissent was patriotic?  When people like Hillary Clinton screeched that "we have a right to disagree with any administration?" Forget about it.  That's so, like, 2003. You know, when George W. Bush was President.   Things are different today.  Now, criticizing a sitting president is wrong. Very wrong.  Just ask Joe Scarborough, who on today's Morning Joe accused Leon Panetta of a "…

In a Thursday column for The Daily Beast, former CNN contributor Roland Martin attacked the supposed "cowardly bullies" at the National Rifle Association for opposing President Obama's surgeon general nominee. Martin's op-ed follows in the footsteps of MSNBC's Krystal Ball and NBC's Anne Thompson, who politicized the Ebola crisis nearly a week earlier when they bemoaned that due to "Senate…

Rush Limbaugh was right in saying that Attorney General Eric Holder's resignation is not in any way a simple bon voyage. Rather, it is a deliberate ploy to maneuver him into an even greater place of influence, possibly even the Supreme Court.

Imus would call it a "tension convention." There was palpable friction among members of the Morning Joe team today on the question of whether Secret Service Director Julia Pierson was an affirmative action hire. By the end, the almost unfailingly affable Willie Geist was smirking in frustration at Mika Brzezinski. When Brzezinski first broached the sensitive-for-liberals subject, she suggested…

After 5 1/2 bumpy years of controversial service, the besieged but bolstered attorney general, Eric Holder, resigned. But is this close friend and confidant of President Barack Obama's really stepping down for some benign reason at a critical time for our country, or is there a sinister and strategic plan behind it all?