Morning Joe Hails Haley's Attack on 'Angriest Voices'

Here at NewsBusters, one of our classification categories under Media Bias is "Sudden Respect." The notion is that all a Republican has to do to win praise from the MSM is to bash fellow Republicans or conservatives. There was a perfect illustration of the phenomenon on today's Morning Joe.  In her Republican response to the SOTU, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley counseled Republicans to…
Mark Finkelstein

Surprise: Raddatz Slams Obama for Mocking ISIS as Guys in Pickups

ABC’s post-State of the Union coverage featured a number of predictably liberal takes on Tuesday, but some opposing viewpoints were able to break through with one criticism being chief global affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz slamming the President’s characterization of many ISIS fighters as “guys in pickup trucks” because those same men “still are in charge of Mosul in Iraq” and “huge swaths…
Curtis Houck

Tavis Smiley's Reprise: Blacks Have Lost Ground Under Obama

In October 2013, late-night PBS talk-show host and author Tavis Smiley told Sean Hannity at Fox News that "The data is going to indicate sadly that when the Obama administration is over, black people will have lost ground in every single leading economic indicator category." On Monday, on the eve of what has been said to be President Barack Obama's final State of the Union address, Smiley was…
Tom Blumer

ABC, CNN Hail ‘Exclamation Point’ SOTU; ‘Didn’t Rub Salt' on GOPers

Amid the deluge of post-State of the Union coverage Tuesday night, there was a similar litany of praise for President Obama’s final such speech with notable highlights coming from ABC as contributor Donna Brazile touted it as “a good exclamation point” for his presidency and correspondent David Wright spinning it as the President “pleading for unity” instead of “rub[bing] salt in the Republican…
Curtis Houck

Liberal Historian: ‘So Poignant’ Obama Said He Couldn’t End Gridlock

Moments after President Obama’s final State of the Union on Tuesday night, liberal historian Michael Beschloss was a panelist on PBS and fawned over how the President was “so poignant” in lamenting during his speech that he hasn’t “been able to bridge the divide” while in office.
Curtis Houck

MSNBC's O'Donnell: Obama Has Had to Teach 'Governing' to Congress

"The lessons that he has had to teach, the elementary lessons of governing that he has struggled to teach this Congress is something that no one else has had to go through," harumphed Lawrence O'Donnell during post-State of the Union coverage on MSNBC.
Ken Shepherd

Bozell & Graham Column: David Brooks Loses It On Ted Cruz

New York Times columnist David Brooks poses as a moderate who never stoops to being crabbily doctrinaire. He is the very model of a PBS/NPR “conservative” – defining conservatism in a very 1950s way, as wearing dreary gray suits and liking Ike and Dick Nixon. Go along, get along with the liberal elites. But as conservatives know all too well, people who pose as “moderates” – politically and…
Brent Bozell and Tim Graham

Chuck Todd: ‘Timing’ of Iran Situation ‘Couldn’t Be Worse’ for Obama

NBC News political director and Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd lamented in the final moments before President Obama’s final State of the Union Tuesday night that the “timing” of Iran’s seizure of 10 Sailors from the U.S. Navy “couldn't be worse for the President” as he went onto tout the Iran nuclear deal in his address.
Curtis Houck

CBS: Obama Taking ‘Valedictory Lap’ Offering ‘Message of Hope’

Prior to President Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley gushed that the President “will be taking what you might call a valedictory lap” as he starts his final year in office while Face the Nation host John Dickerson ruled that the President offers “a message of hope” compared to one that’s “fearful of change” made by conservatives and Republicans.
Curtis Houck

Matthews: Iran's Capture of Sailors a 'Party Favor' to Donald Trump

Moments after playing a fresh soundbite from a political rally in which Donald Trump blasted President Obama over Iran, Chris Matthews characterized the Islamic Republic's capture of 10 U.S. Navy sailors – one of whom is female – as a "party favor" or "door prize" for the Republican presidential candidate.
Ken Shepherd

Slate Writer: Ted Cruz Is a ‘Passionate, Indefatigable Liar’

William Saletan has done a deep dive into Ted Cruz’s statements regarding the Senate’s 2013 debate on immigration reform. Saletan’s conclusion, to adapt a line from Seinfeld, is that Cruz’s shadiness is real, and it’s “spectacular.” He calls Cruz “a passionate, indefatigable liar” and alleges, “For him, truth isn’t a matter of plain meaning. It’s a matter of technicalities.” In a 3,600-word…
Tom Johnson

ABC, NBC Skip Bad Obama Polls Before SOTU; Need to 'Recapture' Magic

In the Tuesday evening newscasts before President Obama’s final State of the Union address, ABC’s World News Tonight and NBC Nightly News failed to mention any of the poor polling numbers for President Obama on a variety of issues but instead hailed the President’s “big themes” in a speech “trying to recapture the hope and change of when he first took office, despite the setbacks and gridlock…
Curtis Houck

Matthews: Obama Not 'In the Position' to Give Iran Ultimatum

On special pre-State of the Union coverage on MSNBC moments ago, Hardball host Chris Matthews unwittingly admitted President Obama's weakness vis-a-vis Iran as regards the Islamic Republic's capture of 10 U.S. sailors.
Ken Shepherd

Open Thread: Obama's 'Walking Dead' State of the Union

Consider this your special Open Thread for State of the Union night. To kick things off, here's a funny tweet by @GayPatriot.
NB Staff