NY Times Attacks Cops and Indulges Protesters — Just Like de Blasio

Earlier this evening, Clay Waters at NewsBusters noted the New York Times Editorial Board's blistering attack on Gotham's finest. The Times editorial insisted that the NYPD has "squandered" its presumptive respect in its treatment of Mayor Bill de Blasio since a bi-racial grand jury's December 3 decision not to indict officers on the scene in July when Eric Garner died on Staten Island. This is…

Lefty Blogger: ‘Neo-Confederate Ideas’ Integral to Conservatism

The Esquire blogger opines that the GOP is “the Political Party Of Dorian Grey. Steve Scalise is the public face. But, up in the corner of the attic, there's a portrait of the rotting, decomposing corpse of Strom Thurmond.”
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Nets Have Fun with Obama Golf Game That Forced Couple to Move Wedding

Between Monday night and Tuesday morning, the “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC covered the news that a golf outing by President Obama at a course in Hawaii forced a Army to move their wedding location after planning to have it on the 16th tee.  While they covered the news, each network made sure their were plenty of laughs and golf-related puns throughout their 12 minutes and 4 seconds of…

Lefty Blogger: Tax Cuts Fail, But Right Backs Them For ‘Moral’ Reasons

The American Prospect’s Paul Waldman claims that right-wingers’ “belief in tax cuts doesn't rest on the practical effects. That's an argument that's meant to appeal to everyone, since it concerns something (growth) that just about everyone thinks is good. But the real source of the conservative support for tax cuts is moral, not practical. They believe that taxes are inherently immoral.”

Lefty Pundit Foresees Religious Right ‘Frenzy of Fear’ Over 2016

In a Talking Points Memo piece, Ed Kilgore opines, “Even if the supply side of theocratic impulses in America is abating a bit, the demand side will boom” because of “a large and noisy Republican presidential nominating fight in which Christian Right resources will be a fiercely contested prize.”
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Rangel Denies NYC Marchers' 'Dead Cops' Chants, Then Brushes Them Off

As I noted almost two weeks ago, hundreds of protesters in Manhattan repeatedly shouted "What do we want? Dead Cops! When do we want it? Now!" during that city's version of the so-called "Justice For All" marches which took place in several locations around the nation on December 13. The New York Times failed to report the protesters' rants in its original coverage of the marches. The fact that…

New Republic: Conservatives, Unlike Liberals, ‘Lionize’ Extremists

Brian Beutler defends President Obama and Mayor de Blasio against attacks from the likes of Rudy Giuliani and contends that while “liberal political leaders in America don’t lionize fringe figures,” their conservative counterparts certainly do.

Daily Kos: Will ‘Frothing Crazy People’ Ruin GOP’s 2016 Chances?

Republicans, remarks blogger Hunter, are “now fairly certain that having frothing crazy people running for president is what doomed them the last time around. But they won't stop…The Republican base—and I mean the frothy ones, the ones that show up in tricorner hats and demand the government get out of their Medicare—lives for these primaries.”

Daily Kos: Conservatism = ‘War on the Whole Idea of Governing’

Mark Sumner contends that since the Reagan years, “conservatism has been more than just an argument about tax rates and regulat[ions]. It's become an open and honest war on the whole idea of governing.”

NY Official Bans Fracking to Protect 'Child,' 'Family' He Doesn't Have

In discussing a statewide ban on hydraulic fracturing announced Wednesday, the New York Daily News carried comments made by Howard Zucker, the state's Health Commissioner, about fracking's impact on public health. Zucker asked two rhetorical questions: "Would I live in a community with (fracking) based on the facts I have now?" and “Would I let my child play in a school field nearby or my family…

Nation Writer: Colbert Showed 'How Right-Wing Psychology Works'

Leslie Savan writes that “as a character, and not merely a critic, of the right, [Stephen] Colbert held a unique key to the riddle of modern conservatism: How do they keep getting away with it? Why have so many conservatives turned into such small-minded haters and deniers of science, of reality?”
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On CNN, Rangel Brushes Off Cuba Harboring Cop-Killing Terrorist

On Friday's CNN Newsroom, liberal Rep. Charlie Rangel completely downplayed how the communist regime in Cuba has harbored a fugitive cop-killer for decades. Anchor Carol Costello raised how Joanne Chesimard, who was named to the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorist List in 2013, was "granted asylum by Fidel Castro." Rangel replied, "I haven't heard her name come up in decades," and asserted that on the "…

Kos: Mostly ‘Crusty Old F*cks’ Back U.S. Embargo Against Cuba

Daily Kos founder and publisher Markos Moulitsas is exultant that we are “finally moving on” from the embargo “despite the wailing and teeth gnashing of the [Marco] Rubios and [Bob] Menendezes of the world, and the new generation of Cuban Americans is leading the way.”
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Gergen: Obama's 'Most Significant' Achievement is Climate Change

On Wednesday, David Gergen ranked a supposed foreign policy accomplishment of President Obama higher than the killing of Osama bin Laden during CNN's special coverage of the Democrat's "historic..decision to restore full diplomatic relations with Cuba." Gergen contended that "ultimately, he's going to be judged very favorably by history...on climate change. It probably is the most significant…