MSNBC Goes Into Astroturf Mode: Organizes Grassroots Effort of Free Cl
Remember back just a few short months ago - when thousands, if not millions, of Americans were protesting out-of-control government spending and other policies favored by President Barack Obama's administration? Surprised by the resounding turnout, the usual lefty talking heads on MSNBC, specifically on "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" and "The Rachel Maddow Show," explained the protests away…
Veteran Political Handicapper Charlie Cook Bursts Chris Matthews's Bub
Today on "Hardball," host Chris Matthews sought to portray President Barack Obama as being on the rebound from a beating in his approval rating during "all the crazy stuff of the summer" such as "the tea parties, the birthers, the nutbags out there" who drove up Obama's disapproval numbers. But the single poll he cited was dismissed as an outlier by guests Charlie Cook of Cook Political Report…
Daily Beast's Blumenthal Catches Ratigan Flu, Shouts Down Scarborough
It isn't often that one can see two decades of history re-written in under ten minutes. But such was the occasion on this morning's episode of Morning Joe. Max Blumenthal, author of "Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party," spent his time on the show demonstrating the combined power of cognitive dissonance, wanton ignorance, and a willingness to re-write historical…
Influential NY Times Editor Calls Anti-Tax Protesters 'Tea-Baggers
New York Times Week in Review and Book Review editor Sam Tanenhaus is discussing his recent book "The Death of Conservatism" with Reihan Salam on Slate's Book Club feature. The tone of these Slate debates is usually civilly contentious, but in his Thursday afternoon posting, Tanenhaus leaves his lofty chambers of rhetoric to insult the conservatives he purports to be an expert on with a well-…
Roger Ebert: Proof Positive Some People Should Never Quit Their Day J
In his latest opinion piece, Roger Ebert proved that he is very skilled at one thing and one thing only - movie reviews. Ebert penned a piece in his Journal for the Chicago Sun-Times today; a scathing critique which detests the overt melodrama, the wretched dialogue, and the lack of a plot line. What was he reviewing? The Republican base.Ebert hammers the party's base with such…
CNN Again Neglects Left-Wing Affiliation of Former Health Care 'Player
CNN’s Rick Sanchez joined two of his colleagues in omitting the left-wing affiliation of Wendell Potter, a senior fellow at the Center for Media and Democracy. In fact, Sanchez went so far as to deny Potter’s alignment with liberals: “Is he [Potter] some crazy lefty? Is he Ralph Nader? Is he Dennis Kucinich? No. In fact, he’s a former player in the health insurance world.”Before the CNN anchor…
Jimmy Carter Tries to Deny He Said Obama Critics 'Driven' By Race
CNN’s Candy Crowley tried to prompt former President Jimmy Carter to explain his charge of racism against opponents of President Obama on Thursday’s American Morning, but the Democrat tried to worm his way out of what he said. Crowley paraphrased, “You said, overall, you thought the protesters were upset that there was a black president,” to which Carter replied, “That’s not what I said” [audio…
CNN Endorses Thomas Friedman’s Scaremongering About Conservatives
CNN’s Jack Cafferty and Wolf Blitzer endorsed Thomas Friedman’s “scary and sobering column” in the New York Times on Wednesday’s Situation Room, where the liberal writer compared the current American political climate to that of Israel in 1995 prior to Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination. After Cafferty remarked that “Friedman’s right,” Blitzer labeled the column “powerful.”The CNN commentator began…
Thomas Friedman's Hypocrisy on 'Far Right' Dangerously Delegitimizing
Making a truly odious comparison, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman claimed parallels between the behavior of anti-Obama protestors (who have been quite peaceful) to that of "extreme right-wing settlers" in Israel before the 1995 assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Friedman warned that "criticism from the far right has begun tipping over into delegitimation and creating the same…
Bette Midler Warns Glenn Beck Could Set Off a Rwanda-Like Civil War in
Update at bottom (2:03 p.m.): Beck fires backIt's just what the primetime cable news lineup needed - another hour-long program tilted toward left-of-center politics with character assassination on conservatives. CNN Headline News debuted its "The Joy Behar Show" on Sept. 29, which included appearances by lefty comedian Jeanane Garofalo, CNN's Jack Cafferty and actress Bette Midler. Garofalo…
NYT: Modest Lefty Pittsburgh Protest Comparable to Huge Conservative P
Ian Urbina's Saturday New York Times story from the Group of 20 economic meeting in Pittsburgh last weeked, about left-wing and anarchist protesters who took to the streets, came under a headline that misleadingly implied peace abided: "In Pittsburgh, Thousands Stage a Peaceful March for Multiple Causes." Yet in paragraph four we learned there were 66 arrests in downtown Pittsburgh, and "about…
CNN's Brian Todd Interviews Anarchists, Omits They're Anarchists
CNN correspondent Brian Todd featured anarchist protesters at the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh during a report on Friday’s Situation Room, but despite their clear political affiliation, didn’t mention their extreme background.Todd devoted the first half of his report from the western Pennsylvania city to the protesters’ march. As the correspondent noted the “audible frustration on the streets by…
