'Today' Hosts Thrilled By Joe Biden's Birthday Wishes to Al Roker

After a long-running "bromance" between weatherman Al Roker and Vice President Joe Biden, the hosts of Wednesday's NBC Today arranged a surprise live appearance from Biden to wish Roker a happy 60th birthday. After Natalie Morales introduced the veep, sitting in a studio in Washington D.C., Roker gushed: "Oh, my gosh. Mr. Vice President!...Oh my gosh, this is such an honor." [Listen to the…

Bob Beckel: Fellow Dems Defending Perry Are 'Wusses

Liberals and even far-leftists who would normally be inclined to cheer political attacks on Republicans and conservatives have been distancing themselves from last Friday's indictment of Texas Governor Rick Perry. Former Clinton special counsel Lanny Davis, lawyer Alan Dershowitz (this "what happens in totalitarian societies"), and former Obama White House advisor David Axelrod are just a few…

Rush Limbaugh on Outrage Over Ferguson Video: 'It Destroyed the Myth

Ever since police in Ferguson, Mo., released surveillance footage that appears to show Michael Brown stealing cigars from a convenience store minutes before he was shot to death after a confrontation with a local cop, we've heard an endless chorus of perceived wisdom that releasing the video was certain to cause more chaos. The fact that civil disorder grew far worse in the wake of the video…

CNN's Pereira Bemoans Chicago Violence 'Taking A Back Seat in the Head

On Tuesday's This Hour, Michaela Pereira endorsed guest L. Z. Granderson's take on the media's extensive coverage of the ongoing turmoil in Ferguson, Missouri in the wake of the shooting death of Michael Brown. The liberal commentator pointed out that "this past weekend, we had over 30 people shot – seven of them died – in the neighborhoods in Chicago – many of them black and brown. None of…

Prominent Progressive's Email Suggests Defacing Cover of Paul Ryan's N

Imagine that a prominent Republican activist proposed a campaign of malicious destruction against Hillary Clinton's latest book. Does anyone doubt that the press would be all over it as proof that conservatives and Republicans are disrespectful and mean-spirited? Well, Erica Payne is a prominent, aggressively self-promoting progressive. The advanced nature of her activist bona fides might…

Ezra Klein: ‘The White House No Longer Believes Obama Can Bridge Div

The major left-right disagreement regarding President Obama as a speechmaker hasn’t been over whether he’s talented (most conservatives concede he’s got a flair) but over whether he’s effective. Now, however, Ezra Klein thinks that a certain key group of liberals has lost confidence that Obama speeches in general, and specifically one about the situation in Ferguson, Missouri, would bring about…

Despite Vicious Swipes Against Perry, Even NYT Sides With Him Against

One of the editorials in Tuesday’s New York Times took on the subject of Texas Governor Rick Perry’s indictment by a Travis County, Texas grand jury on charges for threatening to veto funding for a public integrity unit led by the Travis County district attorney who had been convicted of drunk driving. While the ultra-liberal newspaper used the opportunity to excoriate Perry (R) for being “one…

Maddow Gets it Backward, Claims That Ferguson Police Have Been 'Riotin

Presumption of innocence -- A hallowed principle of criminal law to the effect that the government has the burden of proving every element of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt and that the defendant has no burden to prove his innocence. (As defined by Black's Law Dictionary, Sixth Edition). Presumption of guilt -- The strongly held and default opinion of MSNBC political analysts toward a white…

Not National News: Mass. Obamacare Exchange Requires Everyone to Re-en

Recent news about Obamacare hasn't exactly been good, but the press has been pretty effective in keeping it quiet. To name just a few items, Enrollment is shrinking, because perhaps as many as 20 percent of enrollees aren't keeping up with their premiums. Rising costs have moved insurers to beg for bailouts, which appear to be forthcoming.  Then there's this: Just last week in Massachusetts,…

CNN Guest Who Blasted 'Bully' Limbaugh in 2009 Claims She Avoids 'Opin

On Sunday's Reliable Sources on CNN, Dr. Gail Saltz blasted Fox News contributor Dr. Keith Ablow for his jab at Michelle Obama's weight: "To be criticizing people, kind of, willy-nilly is – I don't think meets the Hippocratic Oath." She played up how Dr. Ablow previously hinted that Vice President Biden might have dementia, and claimed that the psychiatrist violated "American psychiatric…

MSNBC’s Halperin on Perry Indictment: ‘This Is the Stupidest Thing

On Monday’s Morning Joe on MSNBC, MSNBC contributor and managing editor of Bloomberg Politics Mark Halperin slammed the indictment of Texas Governor Rick Perry (R) by an Austin, Texas-area grand jury for threatening to veto funding for a Democratic District Attorney’s public integrity unit after she was convicted of a DUI as “the stupidest thing I’ve seen, I think, in my entire career.”…

Networks Continue to Hype Perry Indictment, Ignore Prominent Liberals

All three network morning shows on Monday continued to hype the Friday indictment of Texas Governor Rick Perry but none of the broadcasts mentioned prominent liberals like Obama adviser David Axelrod or Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz coming to Perry's defense and dismissing the charges as politically motivated. On NBC's Today, correspondent Peter Alexander proclaimed Perry to be "the…

Lefty Blogger: In 2016, Will the GOP Be Caught Between a Rock and the

The Washington Monthly’s Martin Longman sees the Republican party on the horns of a dilemma regarding its 2016 presidential nomination. In a Sunday post, Longman asserted that any candidate who strongly appeals to the GOP base couldn’t win the general election, but acknowledged that it’s understandable that the rank and file would point to several recent losses by center-right nominees and ask…

Freudian Slip: Rick Perry Opponent Says 'Nothing Could Be Closer to th

Craig McDonald, the director of Texans for Public Justice, was on CNN today. He tried to "respond" to something Lone Star State Governor Rick Perry's didn't say yesterday in his reaction to his indictment, and followed that up with a comical gaffe. McDonald opened as follows: "The Governor again in his defense yesterday said this is merely a partisan political witch hunt." The trouble is that…