Open Thread

NB Staff

NBC, CNN and MSNBC All Assign Communist LaRouche's Obama-Hitler Poster

The media have repeatedly stated how "angry," "hostile" and "ugly" town hall meetings across America are becoming. They are of course largely ascribing the nastiness to conservatives voicing their opposition to (among other things) President Barack Obama and Congress' proposed government takeover of the health care system. The press has been particularly offended by the "extreme" use of…
Seton Motley

Lou Dobbs: Olbermann the 'Resident Moron' at MSNBC

Lou Dobbs - you can love him or hate, but sometimes he makes a point that will get your attention. The CNN host of "Lou Dobbs Tonight" gave his evaluation of MSNBC "Countdown" host Keith Olbermann on his Aug. 11 radio show. According to Dobbs, Olbermann was a neophyte until MSNBC gave him a primetime show in 2003. "First, I want to share with you something that just, I mean shocks me," Dobbs…
Jeff Poor

WaPo Editorial Writer IDs End of Life Problems With ObamaCare; Rest of

What Shawn Tully's column at CNNMoney.com did on July 24 to expose the truth about what ObamaCare does to the coverage of those who have employer-provided health insurance (discussed yesterday at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog), the Washington Post's Charles Lane did on August 8 ("Undue Influence; The House Bill Skews End-of-Life Counsel") to the myth that ObamaCare won't have serious negative…
Tom Blumer

How Will Media Spin Obama's 'It's the Post Office Always Having Proble

Let's make one thing perfectly clear: Barack Obama without his teleprompter is like a trapeze artist without a net.That was likely never more apparent than at the President's healthcare town hall meeting Tuesday when he actually said:I think private insurers should be able to compete. They do it all the time. I mean, if you think about, if you think about it, um, UPS and FedEx are doing just fine…
Noel Sheppard

Matthews Charges Town Hall Protesters 'Upset Because We Have a Black P

Chris Matthews, on Tuesday's "Hardball," painted town hall protesters as racist as he charged, "I think some of the people are upset because we have a black president." Matthews invited on Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell and the Wall Street Journal's Stephen Moore to analyze the uproar at the town hall meetings and after Moore offered that some of the protesters' rage was caused by the "$800…
Geoffrey Dickens

CNBC Analyst Wary of Health Care Stocks; Knocks Obama's 'Hand-Picked A

As the likelihood of President Barack Obama's style of health care/health insurance reform has looked more and more uncertain, health care sector stocks have rallied, nearly 10 percent over the last month. But now as Obama is showing some signs of managing his message and could be trying to make a comeback, even as polls show the odds aren't his favor, CNBC market analyst Steve Grasso is…
Jeff Poor

CNN: Illegal Immigrants, Abortion, Constitution Aren't Related to Heal

During a segment on Tuesday’s Newsroom program, CNN anchor Rick Sanchez and correspondent Ali Velshi bizarrely agreed that the issues of illegal immigration and abortion, as well as the constitutionality of the ObamaCare proposal, had little to do the health care debate, after citizens raised those issues at a health care town hall with Senator Arlen Specter.Sanchez led the 3 pm Eastern hour of…
Matthew Balan

Hypocrisy Flashback: ‘It Is Political Dissent That Created This Coun

With the Obama administration and their friends in the media denouncing the sometimes loud dissent that liberals are facing in town hall meetings on health care, it’s worth recalling how some of those same journalists celebrated the anti-Bush dissenters and denounced what they claimed was the Republican administration’s attempts to stifle dissent.Back in 2006, MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann attacked…
Rich Noyes

Former Majority Leader, now Bloomberg Contributor Daschle Says Health

Not everyone on the left is in denial of the town hall protests and propagating the notion that any opposition to ObamaCare is manufactured "Astroturf" from the right. Former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, now a Bloomberg TV contributor, said that the issue of public sentiment isn't settled. Some prognosticators have concluded that everyone wants President Barack Obama's brand of…
Jeff Poor

Erbe's Attack on Palin Turns into Attack on Life and Religion

Religiosity can “cloud” one’s thinking and human beings on life support are the “living dead,” according to Bonnie Erbe, contributing editor to U.S. News and World Report. Her August 11 blog post, “Sarah Palin's Lies About Obamacare Are Based on Religion,” attempted to rebut former Governor Sarah Palin’s controversial remarks about health care, and ended up insulting  people of faith. It all…
Sarah Knoploh

Former Majority Leader Daschle Says Health Care Backlash Legitimate

Obama's first choice for HHS secretary and Bloomberg contributor says contentious town halls part of democracy, but knocks 'extraordinary hyperbolic predictions.'
Jeff Poor

Stratfor's Friedman: 'Probability of Bernanke Being Reappointed to the

Ben Bernanke's able use of monetary policy to steer the economy during the current financial crisis sometimes makes it easy to forget that Bernanke helped steer the ship into that crisis early in his term as Federal Reserve Chairman and a member of the Fed's Board of Governors. That's a point Strategic Forecasting (Stratfor) founder and CEO George Friedman made when asked the likelihood of…
Jeff Poor

CNN Bans Talk Radio Show Hosts

Has CNN banned talk radio show hosts from its on air programming?Such was reported by TVNewser a few hours ago (h/t Steve Malzberg):
Noel Sheppard