Campaigns & Elections

Nothing says raw, real and unfiltered like a Hillary moment manufactured by a horde of hacks, handlers and hangers-on.  On today's Morning Joe, Kasie Hunt observed that in this election cycle, "the demand seems to be for raw, unfiltered, real type of moments. I think that they're trying very hard to create that with her." Jon Meacham—seizing the oxymoronic irony—jumped in: "they're manufacturing…

CNN’s Jake Tapper kicked off his new hosting gig on the Sunday news show “State of the Union” featuring an interview with Bill Clinton, arranged through his Clinton Global Initiative. It’s a big name, but a tough start for a serious journalist. With the exception of his infamous snorting, knee-jabbing performance with Chris Wallace in 2006, the former president has negotiated a succession of…

ABC’s World News Tonight aired a preview clip on Tuesday of Good Morning America co-host George Stephanopoulos’s interview with 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in which Trump battled the former Clinton official over remarks he made during his announcement speech about illegal immigration and his plans to build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico.

The top English and Spanish networks refused on Tuesday evening to cover the findings of a federal audit report from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) that concluded that just under $3 billion in ObamaCare subsidies have been unable to be properly verified that, according to the audit, puts taxpayer funding “at risk.” While the broadcast networks…

How can Judd Apatow, once ranked the smartest guy in Hollywood be so . . . ? On today's With All Due Respect, big comedy macher [credits include Lena Dunham's Girls] Apatow said it was "ridiculous that anyone thinks that rich people care about other people.  When the Koch brothers give a billion dollars, it is not out of a great concern for the masses." To his credit, Mark Halperin twice pressed…

To lefty pundit Paul Waldman, journalists are like detectives, not activists. They relish discovering and exposing the secrets of politicians, but they don’t much care whether the pols are liberal or conservative, given that “ideological bias is among the[ir] least important” motives. For example, regarding recent New York Times stories about Marco Rubio’s driving record and personal finances,…

The revolving door between Democratic administrations, campaigns, and the news media swung once again on Tuesday. A producer on MSNBC’s The Ed Show is leaving the program at the end of the week to join the 2016 Democratic presidential campaign of self-described socialist Bernie Sanders. According to TVNewser, Arianna Jones will “be deputy communications manager for the campaign.”

View co-host Whoopi Goldberg on Tuesday demanded to know if Carly Fiorina will base a presidential bid on her "Christian beliefs." The Republican contender appeared on the show and rebutted such attacks on her conservative stances. Goldberg bluntly quizzed, "I assume you're a person who is very, sort of, pro-life. Are you going to run as a person going to govern for everyone or are you running on…

On Monday night, Fox News’ Megyn Kelly blasted the Hillary Clinton campaign for denying Daily Mail reporter David Martosko access to her campaign appearance in New Hampshire.

At a time when the conventional liberal-media wisdom insists that social conservatism is a loser for the Republican Party, it’s worth remembering that on abortion, the electoral momentum has been on the pro-life side.  Sunday’s Washington Post put feminist Cosmopolitan writer Jill Filipovic on the front of the Outlook section under the headline "Reclaiming Abortion: A new generation of activists…

According to CBS on Tuesday, Republicans such as Rick Santorum and Ben Carson are "long shot" candidates running for president to make money or score a television deal on Fox. Reporter Julianna Goldman included clips of six GOP contenders, but not a single "long shot" Democratic candidate. Instead, she ripped 'Don Quixote' conservatives. 

On Tuesday, Sidney Blumenthal, longtime friend and confidant to Bill and Hillary Clinton, is scheduled to testify before the House committee investigating the 2012 Benghazi attacks but ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Today ignored it altogether. CBS This Morning devoted a mere 20 second news brief to the story during its Tuesday broadcast. 

Think of Hillary Clinton.  I know, I know, but work with me. Now think of the first 100 things that come to mind.  Is "change" one of them?  It is for Howard Dean, and Bill Kristol found that hilarious. On today's Morning Joe, explaining his early endorsement of Hillary, Dean claimed that "Hillary Clinton is change." That was enough to provoke hearty laughter in the normally-composed Kristol.  …

The “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC largely greeted Jeb Bush’s entry into the 2016 Republican presidential field on Monday night with full reports that highlighted his announcement speech and jabs he leveled at Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and his fellow GOP candidates. Across the three network evening newscasts, Bush was described as “fiery,” “a doer” who wants “19 million new jobs” and…