Campaigns & Elections

Beginning an interview with MSNBC Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough on Thursday's NBC Today, co-host Ann Curry wondered: "If you were head of the Republican Party trying to defeat Barack Obama in November-" Scarborough promptly interrupted her: "I'd quit." That defeatist attitude set the tone for the rest of the Obama-campaign-approved segment. Giving a supposedly "serious" response to Curry'…

The Department of Labor reported today that initial claims for unemployment benefits increased to 362,000 from an upwardly revised (as usual) 354,000 the previous week. Expectations were for a reading of 351,000 (Business Insider's email) or 352,000 (Bloomberg). Over at the Associated Press, also known as the Administration's Press, the headlined reaction in its 9:17 a.m. report was: "…

NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered newscasts skipped covering tens of thousands protesting abortion in the “March for Life” in January, but on Wednesday night, NPR highlighted a dozen protesters of Sen. Marco Rubio, including illegal aliens. Reporter Greg Allen began: “In Miami, a dozen young Hispanic men and women gathered outside Senator Rubio's office last week to send a…

MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Wednesday actually attacked children at a Mitt Romney campaign event. "Who are these featureless, young people waving those placards?" asked the Hardball host. "Are they androids?...They all are exactly in unison. Is this North Korea?" (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

On the Chicago Tribune's Web site and in its print edition today, columnist Clarence Page asks hopefully "Could this be the end of Limbaugh?"   Seizing on the usual Democratic points regarding Rush Limbaugh's comments about law student Sandra Fluke, Page writes that Limbaugh wasn't suspended, "despite his breathtaking assault against a private citizen whose only crime, after all, was to…

NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams has a long-standing infatuation with the 1995 film, The American President, in which actor Michael Douglas plays Democratic commander in chief Andrew Shepherd. That infatuation was clearly on display on Tuesday, as Williams praised President Obama for taking on Republicans over Iran. On Tuesday's Nightly News, Williams cheered Obama's afternoon press…

In January a controversy exploded when a Wisconsin newspaper reporter and his managing editor signed recall petitions against the incumbent state senator representing the area of the paper’s circulation. Ryan Whisner regularly covers politics and elected officials for the Ft. Atkinson Daily Union, and before it became apparent that he signed a recall petition, he was found on Facebook…

On Wednesday’s edition of MSNBC Live, Thomas Roberts continued the hysteria that fellow MSNBC host Al Sharpton created by claiming there is a concerted assault on minority voters across the country.  In an ‘interview’ with thegrio.com’s Earl Ofari Hutchinson, the two expressed fear that voting rights, particularly racial minorities like African-Americans, aren’t being protected by Congress.…

In an obnoxious question to MSNBC Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough during NBC's Super Tuesday special coverage, Nightly News anchor Brian Williams mocked the GOP as he pondered: "Who woke up in the Republican Party one day recently and said, 'I know what let's go after, let's go after reproductive rights in the United States'? What was that about?"

Who's the best person to give Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney advice? Why, longtime Democratic strategist James Carville, of course. Recapping the Super Tuesday primaries on Wednesday's Good Morning America, former Democratic operative turned Journalist George Stephanopoulos seriously wondered, "James Carville, you usually give advice to Democrats, but take that hat off for a…

Warning: Please make sure there are no fluids in your mouth or sharp objects and combustibles near your computer before proceeding. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman actually began Wednesday's piece entitled "Israel's Best Friend" saying, "The only question I have when it comes to President Obama and Israel is whether he is the most pro-Israel president in history or just one of the…

Tom Brokaw is the man that our Brent Bozell recently described as having "used NBC and [his] anchor chair as a platform to promote Democratic agendas and delight in Republican setbacks for more than 20 years."  But every once in awhile, perhaps out of Greatest Generation nostalgia, Brokaw has something kind to say about a Republican. As was the case on Morning Joe today, when, after reciting…

Chris Matthews on Tuesday said that people he has spoken to in the White House are thinking about attacking Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in the general election the way he's gone after his opponents in the primaries. Appearing on MSNBC's coverage of the Super Tuesday primaries, the Hardball host said, "They can’t wait" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Michele Bachmann complained that although the media are outraged over an insult of Sandra Fluke, "there is no level of vitriol that's beyond the pale" when the victims are conservative women. CNN's Howard Kurtz questioned that assumption since Bachmann ran for president and should have expected "a lot of criticism." Apparently, running for president nowadays subjects you and your family to vile…