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MSNBC on Tuesday continued its attempt to dismiss Republican candidates as extremist, hitting Sharron Angle, Christine O'Donnell and others as "mean girls" who are unqualified for office. Jansing appeared shocked that the Delaware candidate pointed out the phrase "separation of church and state" isn't in the Constitution. She then read from the First Amendment, but failed to find the words…

"[D]espite their professed desire for compromise, voters hardly have rewarded President Obama for attempting to achieve it."  That's Yahoo! News writer Jane Sasseen's lament in her October 18 article, "Compromise on Capitol Hill: Is it really what Americans want?" Sasseen answered in the negative, saying that although polling data shows, as it often does, that Americans want bipartisan…

Sarah Palin at Monday's Tea Party rally in Reno, Nevada, told attendees, "Don't be thinking that we've got victory for America in the bag yet...We can't party like it's 1773." Clearly not understanding that was the year of the famed Boston Tea Party, history challenged media members, including PBS's Gwen Ifill and Daily Kos's Markos Moulitsas, mocked Palin via their twitter accounts (…

  Kentucky Democratic Senate candidate Jack Conway's recent ad questioning the faith of his opponent Republican Rand Paul was so beyond the pale that even NBC's Matt Lauer, on Tuesday's Today show, repeatedly hit Conway with questions about its appropriateness as he pressed, "Did it cross a line? Is it fair, even in the increasingly dirty world of politics?" The ad, which brought up allegations…

Steroids are back in the news with the arrest of a Canadian doctor charged with providing performance-enhancing drugs to top athletes. It’s a major issue in the sports world, raising the question whether some of today’s most-well-known sports stars violated rules to boost their performance. At the same time, the ethics of how The New York Times handled the investigation also raises serious…

When word hit that Zack Snyder would be directing a Christopher Nolan produced, David Goyer written version of “Superman,” many a geek heart rejoiced. Images of super slo-mo action, desaturated color palettes, and snappy and powerful one-liners filled our heads. All was good in the Geekosphere. Then, alas, came word that the script for the film was “a mess.” The oddly named “Vulture” dropped…

Here's the headline at the Associated Press's 12:49 p.m. report today on Steven Slater's plea bargain: "Attendant who slid on chute to fame pleads guilty." Earlier headlines had used the word "famous" (example here: "JetBlue attendant in famous meltdown pleads guilty"). For those who still care about what words mean, the primary meaning of "famous" is "having a widespread reputation, usually…

On Sunday, I examined the causes of the nation's toxic political atmosphere and amongst other things accused the press of fanning the fires of discontent. Two days later, an ABC News/Yahoo News poll reported by Michael Calderone found 63 percent of Americans believe the mainstream media are more interested in encouraging political division than cooperation between the Parties:

On Sunday's 60 Minutes, CBS correspondent Lesley Stahl fretted over the possible expansion of Israeli settlements near an important archeological site in Jerusalem: "So archeology is being used as a political tool....indoctrination, almost." She claimed that "organizations that move Jewish settlers into Arab areas have infiltrated" the surrounding Arab neighborhood. Stahl described the dig…

Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos on Tuesday conceded that big Republican gains are on the way for November 2 and pushed guest John McCain on how the newly elected Tea Party candidates will "cooperate" with Barack Obama. The ABC co-host allowed, "...[Republicans] are going to pick up Senate seats. Likely could take control of the House. Definitely going to pick up seats. What…

Exploring the question, "Why Are Democrats Down in Pennsylvania?" Newsweek's Ben Adler determined the answer was fairly simple: not enough stimulus spending to benefit the rural areas of the Keystone State, which he says is "sometimes called 'Pennsyltucky'" by virtue of its being largely "white, rural, blue-collar, and poor":

Paper happy to name names of those who might be involved, but relies on anonymous leaks in 40 percent of stories.

Howard Kurtz on Tuesday did something rather noteworthy two weeks before Election Day: he scolded the media's coverage of the Tea Party while at the same time bashed press members for excessively praising Barack Obama during the run-up to the previous elections. This rare appearance of honesty about journalism's pathetic performance in the past three years makes "How the Media Blew the…

As NewsBusters reported Thursday, a UCLA graduate student has published a study debunking the myth that the Tea Party is racist. On Monday, Gretchen Carlson invited the study's author on "Fox & Friends" to do what every news outlet ought to, namely, tell the truth about what the movement that is radically changing the political landscape is really all about (video follows with transcript…