Juan Williams on Fox: Tea Party Congressmen are 'Extremists' Setting U

Since he was summarily dismissed from National Public Radio for appearing on Fox News, some might forget that Juan Williams is a liberal -- but not if they were watching Fox News Sunday. Host Chris Wallace asked Williams about the House leaders losing track of how their freshmen would vote: "How embarrassing and that was what we saw John Boehner respond to at the beginning of the segment."…
Tim Graham
February 13th, 2011 3:36 PM

Time.com Also Deceived by Palin-Aguilera Anthem Satire, Seems to Claim

On Thursday (at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog), I noted that Us Weekly's web site briefly posted a satirical item as legitimate news. The satire item was about Sarah Palin criticizing Christine Aguilera's infamous National Anthem botch at last week's Super Bowl on Sean Hannity's Monday radio show. Palin didn't even appear on Hannity's show on Monday. Once caught by gossipcop.com, Us Weekly pulled…
Tom Blumer
February 13th, 2011 11:39 AM

USA Today Op-Ed: ‘Obama Is...Wizard of All Things to All People and

Friday’s USA Today featured an op-ed, “Centrist Obama mustn't sacrifice too much,” from Rich Benjamin, a Senior Fellow at something called “Demos,” who admitted he remains “besotted by President Obama” as he gushed: Obama is...rebooting his operation to what he knows best: wizard of all things to all people and master of warm healing. He is acting as a multi-hued, but blank, canvas upon…
Brent Baker
February 13th, 2011 10:44 AM

PBS's Mark Shields on the GOP Presidential Field: 'They Don't Have Any

On the PBS NewsHour Friday night, the show's liberal commentator, Mark Shields suggested the Republicans have no one to challenge Barack Obama: "The reality of the CPAC meeting is that there's 11,000 people there at the hotel registered for this conference. They're a constituency in search of a candidate. There is -- I mean, usually, it is a candidate looking for a constituency. They want to…
Tim Graham
February 13th, 2011 8:18 AM

Kristof Criticizes American 'Paranoia' Over Islamic Fundamentalism

Q. Can a Harvard Phi Beta Kappa and Rhodes Scholar, who has traveled to 150 countries and speaks Arabic, Chinese and Japanese, be hopelessly naive about foreign policy? A.  Ever read one of Nicholas Kristof's columns? For the trendy liberals of the New York Times, most any big event becomes fodder for that favorite progressive parlor game: putting America down.  Take Egypt. Yesterday, we…
Mark Finkelstein
February 13th, 2011 8:17 AM

From CPAC, CBS's Jeff Greenfield Claims It Was 'Rarely Heard' in

On Saturday's Early Show on CBS, reporter Jeff Greenfield offered a story from CPAC, but warned that conservatives shouldn't be questioning Obama's belief in American exceptionalism or his war on terrorism. That's apparently a risky scheme. Greenfield ran clips from several presidential contenders questioning Obama and his anti-terror policies and concluded, "This was a theme that was rarely…
Tim Graham
February 13th, 2011 7:12 AM

ABC Relays Claims Obama & Dems Will ‘Protect’ GOP from ‘Less Tha

 On the February 12 World News Saturday, ABC correspondent David Kerley highlighted claims by Bob Greenstein of the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy that the Democratic-controlled Senate and President Obama would block Tea Party-backed cuts from this year’s federal budget, thus protecting Republicans from their "less than responsible actions." After Kerley began his piece by…
Brad Wilmouth
February 13th, 2011 1:02 AM

Ed Asner on the Tea Party: 'I Don't See What They Have to Complain Ab

Ed Asner has expressed his dissatisfaction with Obama's "corporatist" turn in more than one place. Paul Bond of The Hollywood Reporter found that Asneer diidn't feel well-informed about the Tea Party movement, but he could not understand why they'd complain about Obama: BOND:  What do you think of the Tea Parties? ASNER: Not much. I haven't the foggiest idea what they stand for, and the…
Tim Graham
February 12th, 2011 4:03 PM

MSNBC's Ratings Are Collapsing

Whether it's the departure of Keith Olbermann or the weakness of the new prime time lineup, the ratings at MSNBC are collapsing. Take a look at how this so-called news network fared Thursday:
Noel Sheppard
February 12th, 2011 12:42 PM

NBC’s O’Donnell Insists Obama’s ‘the Same Centrist He's Always

President Barack Obama is “a pragmatic centrist,” Norah O’Donnell, NBC News reporter/MSNBC chief Washington correspondent, insisted Friday night on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, though not even Maher bought the claim Obama is a centrist. O’Donnell noted “they're trying to make inroads” into the business community with outreach to it as evidenced by hiring Bill Daley and speaking to the…
Brent Baker
February 12th, 2011 11:21 AM

Weekend Open Thread

For general discussion and debate about politics, the economy, sports, or whatever else tickles your fancy.
NB Staff
February 12th, 2011 10:30 AM

Krauthammer Tells Inconvenient Truth About Egypt and Muslim Brotherhoo

Most of the media were predictably jubilant and giddy on Friday when it was announced that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was stepping down. Acting as the voice of reason was syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer who on PBS's "Inside Washington" spoke some inconvenient truths about the Muslim Brotherhood and Egypt's similarities to pre-Islamic Revolution Iran that America's press have…
Noel Sheppard
February 12th, 2011 10:15 AM

Bozell Column: More F-Bombs for Your i-Pod

The top of the pop charts has become a low, low, place indeed. Just last summer, the singer Cee-Lo took popular culture one rung lower into the sewer with the release of his song titled “F--- You.” After a few weeks, it was mainstreamed into “Forget You,” but why bother? While both versions sold well, the vulgar one clearly had its intended effect. The pop star Pink now has her own version…
Brent Bozell
February 12th, 2011 8:45 AM

Herbert: Egypt Si! Yanqui No

To the streets, Americans!  We need to make the US more like . . . Egypt! That's the thrust of Bob Herbert's hysterical rant in today's New York Times.  His notion is that while democracy is flourishing in Egypt, it is weakening here to the extent that [emphasis added]: "we’re in serious danger of becoming a democracy in name only." Money in politics is Herbert's predictable culprit, with…
Mark Finkelstein
February 12th, 2011 7:59 AM