Matthews Rubbishes Hillary Ad: I'm The Great Evita -- Worship Me

Chris Matthews shouldn't count on a Christmas card from Hillary after the way he absolutely unloaded on her on Morning Joe today. The topic was her Christmas ad [view YouTube here], which shows her "giving" a variety of government programs to the American people. CHRIS MATTHEWS: I always thought the problem with Hillary was, her notion of government was, "I am Evita, I am the one who gives gifts…
Mark Finkelstein

CNN President Bashes Fox News and Successful Competitors

Isn't it often the case that over-confident braggarts are typically insecure types masking their own short-comings with undeservingly cocky bravado? After all, one would think the president of the cable news network whose ratings in virtually every time slot have plummeted for years would be a little humble when referring to his competition in the industry. Quite the contrary, in an interview…
Noel Sheppard

LA Times Wrongly Smears Swift Boat Vets

With less than a year to go until the November elections, it seems a metaphysical certitude any media outlet addressing the campaign efforts of a Republican candidate is going to figure out a way to reference the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. After all, supposedly impartial press representatives in 2004 did everything within their power to discredit the claims against Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.)…
Noel Sheppard

Heart Attack Survivor: ABC Distorted My Story (Updated: ABC Defends

UPDATED BELOW: ABC RESPONDSSix years ago, Joe Cameron survived more than two months on life support, racking up a bill of more than $1 million. He paid less than $2,000 thanks to the health insurance he had through Medicare Advantage. Needless to say, he's pleased with his outcome, and now speaks highly of the program that paid for his life-saving care.But in a segment December 19, "Good Morning…
Nathan Burchfiel

Open Thread

NB Staff

USA Today Finds Dem-GOP Approval Margin Too Close; Finds 'Better' Data

Monday's USA Today piece by Richard Wolf on congressional and presidential approval ratings had this odd segue:Although just 30% of those polled give Democrats in Congress good marks, they favor the party by a 53%-40% margin in next year’s elections. That represents a silver lining for Democrats, who achieved only a fraction of their ambitious agenda after taking over Congress.It’s odd because…
Tom Blumer

Shuster: 'Republican Establishment Fox News' Going After Huckabee

Biting the hand that used to feed him, David Shuster has accused Fox News of being part of the "Republican establishment" and as such, going after Mike Huckabee. Shuster appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe during the 6:30 AM ET half-hour today.DAVID SHUSTER: What's been so interesting about Huckabee, you're starting to see the Republican establishment, despite him being the "Baby Jesus" candidate […
Mark Finkelstein

White House Forces NYT to Change False Headline

It's a first. The New York Times is admitting that one of their headlines slamming the Bush White House was an outright lie. Such a lie that they had to change it when the White House complained. Of course, the original subhead had trumpeted how White House spokesman Dana Perino lied to the American people, but when Perino pointed out that she never even said what the Times claimed, they had to…
Warner Todd Huston

ABC: TheHillaryIKnow.com Illustrates She's a Double-Standard Victim

Cuing up Hillary Clinton for an “I am Woman” moment, ABC's Cynthia McFadden on Wednesday's Nightline managed to turn the Clinton campaign's “TheHillaryIKnow” Web site, created to demonstrate her likeability, into evidence Hillary Clinton is the victim of a double-standard compared to men. McFadden oozed about how the site is “terribly sweet in so many ways, and yet, it sort of has this Sally…
Brent Baker

What Time of Year Is It, Hillary? No C-Word Present in Her 'Presents

I've noted previously that Old Media has developed a squeamishness towards describing this time of year in business stories as the "Christmas shopping season." In the midst of media criticism of Mike Huckabee's Christmas ad, including the Whoopi Goldberg-Joy Behar exchange on "The View" noted earlier today by NewsBusters' Justin McCarthy, how interesting it is that one of Hillary Clinton's latest…
Tom Blumer

Huckabee Iowa Manager: 'War on Terror a Theological War

Mike Huckabee might want to "revise and extend" the remarks of his Iowa campaign manager. Appearing on this evening's Tucker on MSNBC, Bob Vander Plaats stated that "we're fighting a radical religion in Islam" and that "the war on terror is a theological war."View video here.
Mark Finkelstein

Hillary's 'Harsher' Media? The Quick Critique

Howard Kurtz wrote a whole story Wednesday entertaining as a serious idea -- without any conservative rebuttal or extended break for belly laughs -- that Hillary Clinton suffers from a "harsher microscope" from the national media. It might be arguable that Barack Obama has received even better coverage lately, but it's like arguing that your little brother got a bigger stick of cotton candy than…
Tim Graham

Evening Newscasts Not Sure Energy Bill is Enough

ABC's Gibson wonders if epic energy bill will go far enough in regulating Americans' energy use; NBC relies on one-sided experts to praise it.
Nathan Burchfiel

Satire: Gore Sues Time for ‘Person of the Year’ Recount

In a stunning announcement Wednesday, Time magazine has named Russian President Vladimir Putin its Person of the Year for 2007. Obviously, this must have come as a great shock to Nobel Laureate Al Gore who was the odds on favorite to win another dubious honor for becoming a multi-millionaire selling the gullible on the manmade global warming myth. With that in mind, Pat Sajak penned the…
Noel Sheppard