Open Thread: MRC Grassroots on the Scene in North Charleston

Open thread for the January 14 GOP presidential debate.
NB Staff
January 14th, 2016 8:58 PM

Matthews Asks Carson Staffer If Carson ‘Will Talk Faster’ in Debate

Speaking to Ben Carson Press Secretary Deanna Bass on Thursday’s 7:00 p.m. Eastern edition of MSNBC’s Hardball, host Chris Matthews wondered if her candidate “will talk faster” in the upcoming Fox Business debate after being largely known for having a soft-spoken temperament. 
Curtis Houck
January 14th, 2016 8:35 PM

Santelli: Press's Push For Low Rates Forever Will Turn Us Into Japan

On Saturday, after one of the worst year-opening weeks for the stock market in many years, Myles Udland at BusinessInsider.com complained that "The stock market is having a nightmare start to 2016 and it's all the Fed's fault." This sentiment is apparently widely held in the media. At NationalInterest.org on Tuesday, Christopher Whalen wrote that "the Fed created the current unstable market…
Tom Blumer
January 14th, 2016 8:33 PM

Ryan: Obama Degrades the Presidency by Stinging GOP Candidates in SOTU

One day after President Barack Obama made his final State of the Union address, Paul Ryan -- speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives -- criticized the event by stating that “it was a fairly typical speech” for the Democratic occupant of the White House, who “glossed over the economy” as well as his “foreign-policy failures.”
Randy Hall
January 14th, 2016 8:12 PM

Jake Tapper Questions Legality of Gitmo Detainee Transfer to U.S. Soil

With a phone and a pen. That is the answer as to how President Obama can transfer Guantanamo detainees to prisons on the U.S. mainland despite the fact that Congress expressly prohibited this. However, kudos to Jake Tapper on The Lead today for questioning the legality of such a transfer during an interview with an equally skeptical CNN Pentagon Correspondent, Barbara Starr.
P.J. Gladnick
January 14th, 2016 8:12 PM

Mother Jones Editor to Vox Blogger: Put a Gun in Your Mouth and Fire

A sampling of headlines from the venerable left-wing magazine Mother Jones: Here's Obama's New Plan to Tighten Gun Laws How a Loophole in US Law Helps Drug Cartels Sneak Guns Into Mexico
Jack Coleman
January 14th, 2016 6:43 PM

Matthews Lectures Conservatives: It's Either the Constitution or Cruz

After testing out his latest loony Cruz-birtherism talking point on Wednesday night's Hardball, Chris Matthews appeared as a guest on the January 14 edition of MSNBC Live with Kate Snow to repeat it for a different audience. You could paraphrase it as, "Hey conservatives, it's either the Constitution or Ted Cruz, you can't have both!"
Ken Shepherd
January 14th, 2016 6:30 PM

Joe Assails Mika for Not Wanting to Talk About Detained Sailors

Joe Scarborough on Thursday's Morning Joe attempted to express outrage over Iran's hostage video and the Obama administration's handling of it. But co-host Mika Brzezinski didn't want to listen, sarcastically suggesting Scarborough “go on for about 20 minutes with outrage." Scarborough questioned how anyone could be happy and grateful when the circumstance was so dire.
Nicholas Fondacaro
January 14th, 2016 4:24 PM

Matthews Mocks 'Homeschooling' Iowa Conservatives Re: Canadian Cruz

Chris Matthews was, if possible, smugger than usual last night as he gleefully lambasted "Canadian anchor baby" Sen. Ted Cruz and the "homeschooling" Iowa Republicans who plan on voting for him. Matthews essentially latched on to Cruz birtherism – arguing the Texas Republican, born in Alberta, Canada is not constitutionally eligible for the presidency – to challenge constitutional conservatives…
Ken Shepherd
January 14th, 2016 4:15 PM

CNN's Lemon Touts Twitter Attack on Paul Ryan; Labels Him 'Attack Dog'

Don Lemon offered a strange critique of Paul Ryan on Wednesday's CNN Tonight, as he noted the House Speaker's "poker face" during Tuesday's State of the Union address. Lemon spotlighted a Twitter post from Shonda Rhimes, where the Hollywood writer/producer attacked Speaker Ryan for his lack of applause: "She [Rhimes] said, 'Seriously? You cannot clap for curing cancer? You are that much of a…
Matthew Balan
January 14th, 2016 3:58 PM

Economist Steve Moore: GOP Will Win Presidency If Bad Economy Persists

Economist Steve Moore told Fox Business Network correspondent Charlie Gasparino on Jan. 14, that Republicans would win the presidency if the current economic malaise persists in nine months. “If we’re in this kind of economic rut nine months from now, the Republicans are going to win the election,” said Moore, a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at The Heritage Foundation.
Sam Dorman
January 14th, 2016 3:44 PM

Bias by the Minute: Tallying the Network News Agenda in 2015

A new Media Research Center study of every broadcast network evening newscast of 2015 documents last year's news agenda: heavy on crime, terrorism and weather, but light on Democratic scandals, ObamaCare's failings, the out-of-control national debt, sanctuary cities and Planned Parenthood's grotesqueries. In their Campaign '16 coverage, the networks highlighted Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton,…
Mike Ciandella and Rich Noyes
January 14th, 2016 1:36 PM

NBC, ABC Accuse Ted Cruz of ‘Hypocrisy,’ Lack of ‘Credibility’

Hours before the first Republican debate of 2016 on Thursday, NBC’s Today and ABC’s Good Morning America both eagerly hyped a report in The New York Times that Ted Cruz failed to disclose a loan from Goldman Sachs to help fund his 2012 Senate campaign.
Kyle Drennen
January 14th, 2016 1:00 PM

Dog Bites Man: THR Notes Benghazi Movie Marketed to the Right

Paramount Pictures is releasing 13 Hours: Secret Soldiers of Benghazi nation-wide on Friday. It tells the story of the attack on two U.S. diplomatic outposts in Benghazi, Libya on September 11, 2012 that took four American lives, including that of the U.S. Ambassador to Libya. Despite claims from Paramount and director Michael Bay that the film isn’t political (the book on which it’s based…
Matt Philbin
January 14th, 2016 12:36 PM