Campaigns & Elections

On Monday's NBC Today, chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd described liberal wishful thinking as "conventional wisdom" as he explained how: "The Obama team has been taking comfort in the fact that they believe this Republican race is moving to the Right, that it's a race to the Right. And they take comfort in that and they think that's going to help them long term." At the same time,…

Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos on Monday touted White House plans to tie Texas Governor Rick Perry to George W. Bush. The former Democratic operative turned morning show host seemed to endorse this strategy, spinning that the Bush equals Perry concept is "already in the popular culture." Interviewing Jake Tapper, Stephanopoulos explained, "I was talking to a White House…

It's apparently not enough for Newsweek to slam 2012 presidential hopeful Rep. Michele Bachmann  as the "Queen of Rage." Daily Beast/Newsweek's Michelle Goldberg went a few more steps off the deep end yesterday by exploring how the Minnesota Republican, and, for good measure Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) are Christian theocrats-in-waiting:

On Sunday, for the first time in his presidency, President Obama's approval rating fell to 39% in the latest Gallup poll. In comparison, former President George W. Bush's approval rating didn't fall to 39% until his second term in office in fall 2005. Do you think Obama's approval could fall even lower in the coming months? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

On her Sunday interview show State of the Union, CNN host Candy Crowley pushed Michele Bachmann hard from the left, suggesting her stance on the debt ceiling is "outside the mainstream" of political society. Touting a CBS-New York Times poll which found the Tea Party were losing popularity among Republicans, she added, "we have a poll where the majority of Americans said you all need to…

I can hardly believe that the President of the United States, whose team is apparently deeply concerned about their guy's declining popularity and news stories which kept Republicans in the headlines this weekend, is going on a "Me Too" bus tour of Iowa, Minnesota, and Illinois this week. The only plausible reason for this is to attempt to blunt the generally positive GOP vibe coming out of…

Last month Tucker Carlson said, "Very few people have done more to divide the country than Chris Matthews." Once again proving the point, Matthews on the syndicated program bearing his name this weekend expressed great joy that his regulars almost unanimously agreed that Texas governor Rick Perry will be easier for the Obama campaign to attack than former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney…

On Friday's NBC Today, fill-in co-host Lester Holt interviewed Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and was skeptical of her political relevance: "Can you name an instance where you have moved the needle, where you have significantly altered the outcome of a particular debate?" Bachmann pointed to her stand on the debt ceiling as evidence: "In particular now, on the last two months when…

"More than a dozen trade unions plan to sit out the 2012 Democratic convention because of their anger over the site of the meeting in a right-to-work state and their frustration over Democrats' struggles to create jobs," Sam Hananel of the Associated Press reported this afternoon.

Editor's Note: What follows is NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell's thoughts on who won, who lost, and who should just pack it all in following last night's Republican presidential debate in Ames, Iowa. Gingrich: The winner. Wasn't even close. Showed why Obama would pee in his pants having to debate this man. Santorum: Also a winner. Showed most passion, and took on and beat up other…

Update: NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell has given his observations in a separate blog post accessible here. Last night was the third Republican debate of the year, comprised of eight of the declared GOP candidates. All responded to hard-hitting questions from the Fox News and Washington Examiner moderators, debating foreign policy, the economy, and candidates' political records.

In a classic, table-pounding, tell-us-how-you-really feel rant, Joe Scarborough has ripped into Michele Bachmann, calling the Minnesota congresswoman and her candidacy "a joke." Scarborough's impassioned anti-Bachmann blast came during Morning Joe's opening half-hour post mortem of last night's Republican presidential debate in Iowa.  View video after the jump.

A new Washington Post poll finds, among other things, that a full 70 percent of Americans either believe Barack Obama has "tried but failed" to solve "the major problems facing the country" or has actually "made problems worse." That compares, by the way, with 71 percent of Americans in a December 2008 Pew Center poll who thought the same of outgoing President Bush. Yet in analyzing the…

First, to be fair to Associated Press reporter Christopher Sherman, because there is no equivalent reference in the 3:34 p.m. version of his report on Rick Perry's immigration positions, the headline which will follow the jump does not appear to be of his doing. But whoever at the wire service decided on the headline to use at Sherman's piece definitely has a problem with anyone who questions…