Lauer to Steele: Will President's Stocking Be 'Empty On Christmas Day
NBC's Matt Lauer, on Monday's Today show, in his first question to RNC Chair Michael Steele, asked if opponents to Barack Obama's health care reform bill, were going to deprive the President of politically joyous holiday season, as the Today co-anchor pressed: "So is the President's stocking going to be empty on Christmas Day?" Lauer then went on to question if the Republican's entire strategy…
New GMA Host Stephanopoulos Lobbies for More Taxes; Axelrod Points Out
On his first day as the new co-anchor of Good Morning America, former Clinton aide turned journalist George Stephanopoulos lobbied for a windfall profits tax on the bonuses of bankers. Also on Monday’s program, senior White House advisor David Axelrod reminded viewers of Stephanopoulos’ liberal background. [Audio available here.] After the rookie GMA host asserted that Axelrod "has an office…
WaPo’s Klein: Lieberman Willing to Cause 'Deaths of Hundreds of Thou
Whatever happened to just opposing policy for the sake of it being bad policy, as is the case of many people's view of the current health care reform proposals making their way through Congress? That reason is just not good enough for some, particularly Washington Post blogger and food critic Ezra Klein. In a post on The Washington Post's Web site dated Dec. 14, Klein viciously attacked Sen. Joe…
Joan Walsh: Olbermann Needs More Diverse Guests, Michelle Malkin Need
Salon editor Joan Walsh, a frequent contributor on MSNBC, finds the network's "Countdown" host to be lacking in the diversity department when it comes to his guests. Of course, her complaint isn't with Olbermann's refusal to feature guests with whom he could have ideological clashes -- something his nemesis Bill O'Reilly has never been afraid to do -- but the fact that his guests are infrequently…
Morning Joe's Barnicle to Michael Steele: What Are 'You People' For
“Morning Joe” was a little tense this morning.Fresh off Donny Deutsch’s defense of Sen. Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) slavery analogy, Mike Barnicle asked GOP Chairman Michael Steele about what proposals the GOP favored for health-care reform. Along the way, however, he used an unfortunate choice of words:MIKE BARNICLE: [...] What are you people for?MICHAEL STEELE: You people? [starts laughing] Who are…
CBS’s Rodriguez Challenges Howard Dean On Medicare Expansion
While interviewing former Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean on Wedneday’s CBS Early Show, co-host Maggie Rodriguez questioned his support for a plan by Senate Democrats to expand Medicare coverage: “...the criticism is that Medicare as it stands doesn’t work because the payments don’t cover the plan. Are we just not creating a bigger problem if we have to insure more people under Medicare?”…
CBS’s Smith: Harry Reid ‘Very Soberly’ Compared GOP to Slavery S
While interviewing Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele on Tuesday’s CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith referred to recent comments by Senator Harry Reid: “[He] said Republicans are on the wrong side of history when it comes to this health care bill and very soberly...compared those who opposed health care to those who opposed civil rights legislation....How would you respond to that?”Steele…
Time's Sullivan Slams 'Flyover Country' Nebraska Dem for Pro-life Amen
Time's Amy Sullivan has little use for moderate Senate Democrats throwing up any semblance of a road block, nay, even a speed bump, to ObamaCare, especially if it entails pro-life measures which would keep abortion from being covered by the taxpayer-subsidized government option. "What is it about those Nebraska governors-turned-senators?" Sullivan huffed in the beginning of her December 8…
As Poll Numbers Decline, White House Won't Ditch Permanent Campaign
The Obama presidency is, for better or worse, the most media saturated administration in the nation's history. Due at least in part to revolutionary changes in the sharing of information, but equally abetted by the president's media-hungry personality and style of governing, Obama's face is just about everywhere these days.And Americans have noticed. In an attempt to land a spot on a DC-based…
ABC's Stephanopoulos Tries to Spin Reid Comparison on GOP and Slavery
ABC’s George Stephanopoulos appeared on Tuesday’s Good Morning America to spin and minimize Senator Harry Reid’s contention that opponents of health care reform are similar to supporters of slavery. After ABC played a truncated version of Reid’s quote, Stephanopoulos, hopefully observed, "My guess is this is going to blow over." [Audio available here.] He did concede to co-host Robin Roberts…
Uncle Sam's Collections Crunch and Record Deficits Continue; Press Cov
Blogger Doug Ross got to the news of the Congressional Budget Office's Monthly Budget Report (PDF) over the weekend, quite accurately observing that the establishment news coverage of its content barely existed. The results of searches at the Associated Press's raw feed page on "Congressional Budget Office" (not in quotes) and "CBO" confirm Doug's observation, as no result returned relates to…
CBS Host Grills GOP Senator On ObamaCare Opposition; Softballs to Demo
On Monday’s CBS Early Show, co-host Maggie Rodriguez pressed Republican Senator Lamar Alexander on the GOP’s opposition to ObamaCare: “...there’s been a lot of criticism that Republicans have done nothing but oppose this bill, nothing to help pass it, just try to kill it....have you done more than say ‘no, no, no, no, no’?”At the top of the show, Rodriguez described a weekend visit by President…
ABC’s Roberts: Health Care Bill Would be ‘Historic Moment’; Bill
A defensive Robin Roberts on Monday lauded the potential passage of any kind of health care bill as a "historic moment," seeming to bristle at Bill O’Reilly’s grade of a D for the President’s performance on this issue. The Fox News host appeared on Good Morning America to award Barack Obama a D, C and B, overall. O’Reilly bluntly assessed, "Health care, I'd say D as in dog...But, you can't be…
Obama: We Want To Make Sure People Buying Health Care Don't Get 'Gyppe
gyp Slangvb gyps, gypping, gypped, gips gipping, gipped(tr) to swindle, cheat, or defraud[back formation from Gypsy]Someone call the PC police. At a town hall in Allentown, PA today, Pres. Obama said he is seeking to regulate health insurance companies to make sure that people don't get "gypped."Perhaps PBO thought the term would appeal to the crowd. This was Pennsylvania, after all, the state…
