Campaigns & Elections

At the top of Wednesday's CBS Evening News, anchor Katie Couric worried: "Can the President and the new speaker find common ground or are we headed for gridlock?" Moments later, she made it clear who would be to blame: "And while the President spoke of seeking common ground with the new majority, presumptive Speaker John Boehner said the GOP victory is a rejection of the Obama agenda." Later…

New Washington insider wisdom: If you have the courage of your convictions and support those who do likewise, then you’re not to be taken seriously. At an event at the Ronald Reagan Building hosted by Roll Call/CQ in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 4, Roll Call Executive Editor Mort Kondracke, also a Fox News contributor took a few shots at the political leadership of Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and…

MSNBC's "Jansing & Co." ran the headline "Sore Losers?" during the 11 a.m. EDT hour, featuring concession speeches of three GOP candidates in the election. The anchor, Chris Jansing, asked "Where's the civility?" but made no specific mention of Democrat "sore losers." "Whatever happened to the gracious concession speech, and whatever happened to that phone call to your opponent?"…

Bill Press says what most liberals in the media will only shroud in cryptic code: the voters who swept Democrats out of power in the House are stupid. During the first hour of his eponymous radio program today, Press wished more liberal politicians would just say what they really think about the constituents they ostensibly serve: "Just once – probably never get reelected if you ever said it…

As a dog returns to his vomit, so a liberal journalist returns to his talking points. In a November 4 Swampland blog post, Time magazine's Joe Klein laid a fair share of blame for Democrats losing the House of Representatives on "conservative" Blue Dogs and their alleged reticence to spend taxpayer dollars:

On Thursday's CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith saw Republican goals to limit government spending as antithetical to improving the economy: "How do you unleash the economy and not spend any money, oh, by the way, because that's the other mandate, is don't increase the deficit and don't – don't – 'I don't want one more cent of tax on me.'" Smith put the question to Time magazine Washington…

James Carville on Thursday appeared on Good Morning America to discuss Tuesday's Republican landslide, but faced no questions about his erroneous prediction that Democrats would enjoy 40 years of dominance. On May 4, 2009, Carville stopped by GMA to tout 40 More Years: How the Democrats Will Rule the Next Generation, his book on the subject. An ABC Graphic hyped, "Democrats 1932-1968,…

"This is the type of direct democracy people say they want. Sometimes you wonder," MSNBC's Chuck Todd editorialized after a segment about conservative ballot initiatives that passed into law on Tuesday. Towards the bottom of the 9 a.m. EDT hour of "The Daily Rundown," reporter Mara Schiavocampo looked at a handful of state ballot initiatives that voters had considered at the polls on Tuesday…

I'm an official card-carrying member of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy, sitting in every morning on the super-secret nationwide conference call during which we receive our marching orders from the Forces of Evil. But unless I've missed something—and granted, maybe the extra-bold coffee doesn't always kick in—not once have I heard mention of a plan to impeach Pres. Obama. So what does Ed…

Lawrence "Crazy Larry" O'Donnell was back to his former self during MSNBC's Election Night coverage Tuesday. During the 9 p.m. EDT hour the MSNBC anchor claimed that if Rand Paul holds to his "principles" and filibusters an attempt to raise the debt ceiling, it would destroy the United States' credit rating and possibly spark a worldwide depression. O'Donnell also pressed House Minority Whip…

Tea Party members, MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan wants you to know that he’s just like you. Except of course that he’s not a pyromaniacal lunatic hell-bent on destroying America. That’s how the MSNBC anchor leaned forward, no, make that leaped, into insanity during a November 3 segment with Nicolle Wallace. The former George W. Bush staffer told Ratigan that, like him, Tea Partiers who fueled last…

On the eve of a historic midterm election upheaval, President Barack Obama tried to walk back his gratuitous slap at Americans who oppose his radical progressive agenda. "I probably should have used the word 'opponents' instead of 'enemies' to describe political adversaries," Obama admitted Monday. "Probably"? Here is an ironclad certainty: It's too little too late for the antagonist-in-chief…

Nightly News host Brian Williams on Wednesday oddly obsessed over a portrait of Bill Clinton that could barely be seen in the background as Barack Obama finished his first post-election press conference. During live coverage, as Obama walked away from the podium, Williams apparently spotted the Clinton portrait and pontificated, "Interesting bit there at the end, with Bill Clinton literally…

During live MSNBC coverage leading up to President Obama's Wednesday 1PM ET press conference, former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather urged the President to aggressively take on Republicans in the wake of the midterm elections: "[Obama] has to realize that Mitch McConnell has virtually said so that politically he wants to cut out his heart and throw his liver to the dogs." [Audio available…