NPR Anchor Denounces Juan Williams Firing as 'Incredibly Sloppy, Messy

NPR media reporter David Folkenflik reported on NPR’s internal review of the Juan Williams firing and the coinciding resignation of senior vice president Ellen Weiss on both Thursday’s night’s All Things Considered and Friday’s Morning Edition. Both stories were strictly limited to soundbites from NPR officials and in each story, one soundbite from Williams reacting on Fox News. Perhaps due…
Tim Graham

Why So Cynical? Steinhauer Nitpicks Reading of Country's Founding Docu

Reporter Jennifer Steinhauer seems a little crabby about Republicans reading the Constitution on the House floor: "If you are a member of the House and you plan to read the text of the Constitution on the floor, it's probably a good idea to have already taken the oath to support and defend it first."
Clay Waters

CNBC Panel Warns Drop to 9.4 Percent Unemployment is 'Anomaly

A sharp drop in the unemployment rate from 9.8 percent to 9.4 percent "surprised" analysts on Jan. 7, but Mesirow Financial's chief economist Diane Swonk warned CNBC viewers that it was an "anomaly." The drop in unemployment rate confused some because in the same report the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported only 103,000 overall nonfarm payroll gains in December 2010. CNBC's "Squawk…
Julia A. Seymour

Government PSA Hijacks Disney to Promote First Lady Initiative

When will the government stop wasting taxpayer dollars? In a new public service announcement, Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” initiative twists Disney’s classic "Beauty and the Beast" into an animated production telling parents how to have healthy children. Perhaps the choice of a Disney cartoon is appropriate, since the liberal nanny-state insists on treating Americans as children. The United…
Iris Somberg

WaPo Editor Tells Keith Olbermann 'Michele Bachman Has a History of Sa

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and Washington Post associate editor Eugene Robinson said on national television Thursday that Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has a history of saying "crazy-ass things." After doing so on MSNBC's "Countdown," Robinson was offered $100 by Keith Olbermann if he would title his next article using exactly those words (video follows with transcript and…
Noel Sheppard

On Fox & Friends, MRC's Bozell Blasts NPR As Part of 'Intolerant Left

Appearing on FNC's Fox & Friends on Friday, NewsBusters publisher and Media Research Center president Brent Bozell reacted to the resignation of National Public Radio executive Ellen Weiss and credited the incoming Republican Congress: "NPR is hearing footsteps, their hearing the footsteps of Republicans, who are saying...what in the world are we doing spending hundreds of millions of…
Kyle Drennen

Open Thread: Obama's Pick for Chief of Staff

Yesterday it became clear that President Obama has picked JP Morgan banker anf Fannie Mae board member Bill Daley as his chief of staff. Daley will replace fellow Chicagoan Rahm Emanuel. The pick says quite a bit about the state of the Obama White House. Fiscal conservative Larry Kudlow immediately praised Daley, saying he would ease the White House's anti-business image. Ben Smith concurred…
NB Staff

How Kooky Is Daily Kos? Obama's a GOP 'Hostage,' MoveOn.org Is Just 'M

Just when conservatives think there's finally a little ideological balance in the Congress, the far-left diarists of the Daily Kos are convinced the country has dangerously shifted to the right, led by Obama, who's now a "hostage" to Republicans, and even MoveOn.org is too "moderate left" for them. The blogger  Shutterbug thinks it's time to ponder the presidential psychosis: If we accept…
Tim Graham

On MSNBC, Rolling Stone’s Taibbi Accuses Boehner & Tea Party of Raci

 Appearing as a guest on Thursday’s Countdown show on MSNBC, Matt Taibbi - contributing editor of Rolling Stone magazine - ridiculously accused Republican House Speaker John Boehner and Tea Party activists of racism in the form of using "coded language" to refer to "Mexican immigrants and non-white inner city, Democratic-leaning voters" as he responded to a soundbite of Boehner talking about…
Brad Wilmouth

After Four Years of Kid Gloves for Dems, AP Can't Even Wait a Day to T

Well, that didn't take long. AP reporters Calvin Woodward and Andrew Taylor answered the bell and came out swinging at the Republican House within hours after John Boehner was sworn in as Speaker, accusing the GOP of supposedly breaking a number of core promises. As usual when the wire service covers Republicans, there's no shortage of inconsistency bordering on hypocrisy coming from AP's…
Tom Blumer

Williams to Boehner: ‘Where Are You Getting the Notion’ Americans

In an “exclusive” interview with new House Speaker John Boehner for Thursday’s NBC Nightly News, Brian Williams told Boehner the promised vote to repeal ObamaCare has “been called a stunt,” pressed him to justify repealing it given many would not call it “the best health care delivery system in the world because they, by the millions, weren't getting it” and demanded to know “where are you…
Brent Baker

Contessa Brewer: What If GOP Nixed ObamaCare Repeal, Invested In Educa

Reporting that House Republicans will soon be voting to repeal President Obama's "job-killing" health care law, MSNBC anchor Contessa Brewer wondered if the GOP should take a different route to save jobs. During her Thursday 12 p.m. EST news hour, she revealed a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report estimating that a repeal of the health care law will cost $230 billion over the next ten…
Matt Hadro

Matthews Mocks Bachmann's Appointment to Intelligence Committee and Wo

Chris Matthews has a new obsession for 2011 and her name is Michele Bachmann. Matthews has gone after Bachmann with the same fervor he used to reserve for Dick Cheney and on Thursday's Hardball he mocked the Minnesota Republican Congresswoman's new appointment to the House Intelligence committee as he snidely observed: "This is great irony here, on the Intelligence committee. I wonder what the…
Geoffrey Dickens

Let the Investigations Begin

Given the Democrats' track record of investigating Republican administrations, they will lack credibility when they protest Republicans investigating actions by the Obama administration. Oversight is a primary function of any Congress. The new Republican House majority is expected to conduct several investigations. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), the new chairman of the House Oversight and…
Cal Thomas