MRC’s Notable Quotables: Scolding ‘Harsh Rhetoric’ of Tea Party

February 22nd, 2010 10:42 AM
I don’t usually post the MRC’s bi-weekly Notable Quotables here on NewsBusters, but there seemed to be more than the usual number of obnoxious liberal quotes over the past two weeks — disparaging the Tea Party as “harsh” or racist; denigrating Sarah Palin as “preposterous” and “anti-intellectual,” and insisting that the voter revolt against Democrats’ big government policies is fiction: “a…

Is There NB Commenter-Inspired Journalistic Improvement in Latest AP I

February 21st, 2010 11:11 AM
Between its January 31 and February 20 reports on developments in the "interrogation memos" saga, the Associated Press may have learned a lesson in basic journalism from a NewsBusters commenter. I'll describe; readers can decide. The wire service's unbylined report three weeks ago opened with this paragraph: NB commenter "TE" took justifiable umbrage at that opening:

MacFarlane on HBO: ‘If Reagan Were President, He Would Try Dick Chen

February 20th, 2010 1:07 AM
Former President Ronald Reagan would have prosecuted Dick Cheney for war crimes, Seth MacFarlane (IMDb page), creator, writer and executive producer of the Family Guy, American Dad! and The Cleveland Show animated sit-coms which air Sunday nights on Fox, declared Friday night on the season premiere of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher. But President Barack Obama, he rued, is too “chicken s**t” do…

Newsweek Asserts 'Terror Begins At Home' -- With the Republicans

February 17th, 2010 1:07 PM
Newsweek’s latest issue features an article by managing editor Daniel Klaidman that blatantly associates Republican criticism of the Obama administration with terrorism. Its title in the table of contents is "Terror Begins at Home: The GOP’s Scare Tactics." Inside the magazine, the headline is "Terror Begins at Home: Fearmongering Politicians Are Scoring Cheap Political Points at the Expense of…

Oh Well, It's Only Terrorism She's Talking About. Maddow Gets it Wrong

February 17th, 2010 12:38 PM
In fairness to Rachel Maddow, at least she sounds convincing, even though her earnest assertions invariably collapse under scrutiny. Maddow embodies the smarmy belief that sincerity is all that matters -- fake it well and you've got it made.Here's Maddow, for example, appearing as a panelist on Sunday's "Meet the Press" and on her MSNBC cable show Monday night (first and second parts of embedded…

Maher Strikes Again: Americans 'Not Bright Enough to Really Understand

February 17th, 2010 9:53 AM
Either Bill Maher was doing his best effort to impersonate Mel Brooks as King Louis XVI in "History in the World, Part I" or he has a complete and utter disregard for the intellectual competency of the American people. Maher, a perennial bomb thrower with a hard left ideology appeared on CNN's Feb. 16 "Larry King Live," facing the king of softball interviews, Larry King, and let it be known he…

Not Just Anti-Incumbency, Jonathan: Anti-Liberalism

February 17th, 2010 7:34 AM
Poor Barack Obama.  Hasn't put a foot wrong.  Policies just fine.  It's just that he's been dealt the cruel fate of . . . being President of the United States.That was the essence of what Jonathan Capehart, WaPo editorialist, whistled past the liberal graveyard on Morning Joe today.  Confronted with the prez's crumbling poll numbers [by 52-44 margin people don't think PBO deserves to be re-…

With Bush Gone, NYT More Concerned With National Security Than Freedom

February 16th, 2010 8:00 PM
The New York Times has apparently discovered its inner patriot. The paper decided after a request from the White House to hold off publishing key information about the war effort in Afghanistan for fear of alerting the enemy to key U.S. intelligence.The Times and its executive editor Bill Keller, who defended the decision, have left the nation collectively uttering, "It's about time." Now that's…

CBS's Smith: Is Cheney Criticism of Obama 'Theater' or 'Real

February 15th, 2010 12:29 PM
On Monday's CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith wondered if there was any credibility to Dick Cheney's criticism of the Obama administration's handling of the Christmas Day bomber: "...the point that he seems to be trying to make...that this administration, the Obama administration, is not taking terrorism seriously enough. Is this theater or is there a real point to be made?"Smith directed that…

Brooks: 'What Biden Said on [MTP] Today Will be Laughed at Around the

February 14th, 2010 2:42 PM
New York Times columnist David Brooks says that what Vice President Joe Biden told NBC's David Gregory Sunday concerning the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in New York City doesn't pass the laugh test."What Joe Biden said on ['Meet the Press'] today will be laughed at around the Arab world."Maybe even more shocking, speaking during the panel discussion segment that followed Biden's interview,…

Politico Glosses Over Murtha's Haditha Smear

February 9th, 2010 10:14 AM
David Rogers glossed over the late Rep. Jack Murtha's (D-Pa.) Haditha Marines smear in an obituary published yesterday and updated this morning at Politico:Rather than lie low, Murtha further made himself a target with public comments in the spring of 2006 pressuring the Marine command to investigate allegations of civilian casualties at Haditha, Iraq. This infuriated many Marines, and critics…

Slate's Kaplan: Tea Parties Don't Amount to Much; Blasts GOP, Palin

February 8th, 2010 8:45 PM
On Monday’s Rick’s List program on CNN, Slate’s Fred Kaplan attacked Republicans for politicizing national security, accused the GOP of being in an alternate reality, and blasted Sarah Palin for “talking...complete and utter nonsense.” Kaplan also wrote off the tea parties as not a “mass movement,” and, along with anchor Rick Sanchez, accused Palin of forwarding “anti-intellectualism.”The Slate…

UPDATED: Post Acknowledges Oversight, Adds Graf | WaPo Publishes Obit

February 8th, 2010 4:29 PM
Updated: Washington Post adds mention about Murtha's Haditha comments, thanks me for me pointing out omission (see bottom of post). Rep. Jack Murtha (D-Pa.) passed away earlier today, and the Washington Post has already published a 26-paragraph obituary. Post staffers Martin Weil and Carol Leonnig don't gloss over some of Murtha's political controversies, such as his penchant as a pork barrel…

Fox News Watch 'Hats Off' To NewsBusters On Obama Admin Leak Of Mutall

February 6th, 2010 3:36 PM
On February 2nd, NBC correspondent Pete Williams announced Breaking News during the 5 PM ET edition of Hardball: the Christmas Day Bomber, Umar Abdul Mutallab, was giving fresh, actionable information to the FBI which the United States was in turn "aggressively chasing down."Less than an hour later, this NewsBuster blogged on the matter, wondering whether by leaking the news, "the Obama…