Campaigns & Elections

While MSNBC host Chris Matthews may be over the moon about John Kasich, seeing him as the most "moderate" and ergo acceptable choice of the Republican presidential primary field, The Rachel Maddow Show host and msnbc.com contributor Steve Benen took to the Lean Forward network's website today to denounce Kasich as a hard-core rightie.

An angry Chris Matthews on Friday fumed over comedian Rosie O'Donnell becoming a laugh line at last Thursday's debate. Rather than allow that conservatives might object to the liberal comedian's trashing of conservatives, Matthews saw Republican voters as full of hate. Speaking of Donald Trump and the debate crowd in Cleveland, Ohio, Matthews derided, "...[Trump] threw Rosie O'Donnell under the…

Appearing on MSNBC’s The Rundown with Jose Diaz-Balart on Monday, political reporter Alex Seitz-Wald speculated on whether Hillary Clinton would comment on Donald Trump during an upcoming speech in New Hampshire: “...it might be hard for her to resist, right? Donald Trump was the biggest news of the weekend....And he’s been most useful to her as a cudgel against the rest of the GOP field.”

During a discussion Friday about the GOP debate, PBS NewsHour anchor Judy Woodruff strongly rejected the premise that she was “part of the liberal media.” When Mark Shields suggested Donald Trump had th wrong target in Megyn Kelly, arguing "it is not like you're attacking Chuck Todd or Judy Woodruff or some of the liberal elite establishment. You're attacking the mother church when you go after…

On Monday, CBS This Morning devoted more than 10 minuted to the fallout surrounding Donald Trump’s repeated attacks on Fox News’ Megyn Kelly and what supposed damage it could have on the entire Republican Party. 

Joe Scarborough began with a telling admission: that if he were running the Republican party, he wouldn't let MSNBC host a GOP debate.   But the Morning Joe host went on to make an interesting point today: that if an MSM network had hit Donald Trump with the same sort of gotcha questions that Fox News did during this past Thursday night's debate, the reaction from conservatives would be "…

On Sunday’s Meet the Press, NBC’s Andrea Mitchell eagerly declared Hillary Clinton one of the big winners of last week’s Republican presidential debate. The MSNBC host/NBC News correspondent insisted that because “the e-mail controversy was not really explored very adequately by the questioners, and also because of this focus on gender, [Hillary Clinton] is one of the beneficiaries of what …

For close to a hundred and fifty years, the elephant has represented the Republican party, but The American Prospect’s Meyerson suggests that these days, a more fitting choice for the GOP’s symbol would be an extended middle finger. In his analysis of Thursday’s prime-time presidential debate, Meyerson, who also writes a weekly column for The Washington Post, identified several of the candidates…

Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, Republican strategist and CNN contributor Ana Navarro complained that members of the press continue to ignore Democratic infighting, especially with the “Black Lives Matter” movement: "I’m just sorry that Donald Trump is sucking up all the oxygen and we're not seeing all the division and strife and craziness that's going on on their side."

Appearing on Sunday’s Today, Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd did his best to play up supposed fears among those within the Republican Party that Trump’s controversial comments will “bleed” into the GOP and hurt them in 2016.

CNN has hired a conservative commentator.  Me.

If a woman announced on live national TV that she had shoplifted an iPhone, there'd presumably be a cop at the studio door to greet her.  So why is it that someone can blithely announce on national TV that she's in the country illegally, and far from fearing any repercussions, have her views on the American presidential election respectfully solicited? It happened this morning, when MSNBC…

On Friday, in his desire to help his employer outdo Politifact as the last place to go for accurate fact-checking, the Associated Press's Josh Lederman "fact-checked" Jeb Bush's belief that the U.S. economy can grow annually at an average rate of 4 percent. As seen in my Friday NewsBusters post, when the AP reporter "fact-checked" assertions that really are facts, specifically Bush's claim that…

If you watched Thursday night’s Republican debate and wished that a onetime Green Party presidential nominee had been asking the questions, then you agree with Washington correspondent John Nichols, who thinks Ralph Nader would be the “ideal prospect” to moderate presidential debates for both major parties. Spoilsports might argue that Nader’s fifty-year record of lefty activism would make him a…