CNN's Costello Gleeful As She Hypes Palin Family Brawl Audio

Carol Costello could barely contain herself on Wednesday's CNN Newsroom, as she touted the recently-released audio of Bristol Palin giving her account of a fight involving her family to the police: "Okay. I'm just going to come right out and say it. This is quite possibly the best minute and a half of audio we've ever come across – well, come across in a long time anyway."
Matthew Balan
October 22nd, 2014 3:38 PM

David Remnick: Ben Bradlee Was Not an ‘Ideological Man’

The New Yorker editor and former Washington Post reporter contends that “the most overstated notion” about the late Washington Post executive editor Ben Bradlee “was the idea that he was an ideological man. This was a cartoon.” He and Post publisher Katharine Graham, though “often seen as ferociously committed liberals…were, in fact, committed to the First Amendment.”
Tom Johnson
October 22nd, 2014 1:43 PM

Little Girls Drop F-Bombs to ‘Empower’ Feminism

The feminist movement is selling something, but it isn’t feminism.  In FCKH8.com’s latest video, “Potty-Mouthed Princesses Drop F-Bombs for Feminism,” little girls between 6 and 13 years-old dressed up as pink princesses to say f*ck in the name of feminism. One girl questioned, “What is more offensive? A little girl saying f*ck or the f*cking on equal and sexist way society treats girls and…
Katie Yoder
October 22nd, 2014 1:06 PM

NYT Roots for Backlash vs. GOP's 'Harsh...Hardliners' on Illegals

New York Times reporter Jeremy Peters on Tuesday all but rooted for a backlash against the GOP's "harsh" "hardliners," and for the party to take a more "charitable" view of illegal immigration -- once the Republicans make their expected gains in the upcoming Congressional elections.
Clay Waters
October 22nd, 2014 12:45 PM

O'Reilly on 'Today': Obama Administration 'Blew It' on Ebola Response

On Wednesday, Today co-host Matt Lauer began an interview with Bill O'Reilly by citing liberal New York Times columnist Frank Bruni actually criticizing the Obama administration's handling of the Ebola crisis: "One dimension of the disease's toll is clear. It's ravaging Americans' already tenuous  faith in the competence of our government and its bureaucracies." O'Reilly agreed with Bruni's "…
Kyle Drennen
October 22nd, 2014 12:19 PM

Nets Yawn at Midterms, 'Love' 'Cute' Story of Obama Teasing a Voter

With the Democrats facing bad news in the coming midterms, the networks have largely been ignoring the possible electoral wave. Yet, NBC and CBS couldn't resist the "cute" story of Barack Obama bantering with a woman and her boyfriend on Monday. As the President was getting ready to do early voting in Chicago, a man walked by and told him, "Don't touch my girlfriend." 
Scott Whitlock
October 22nd, 2014 11:36 AM

Maddow Slams Hagan's Debate No-Show, But 'Fangate' Networks Ignore

Senator Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) and her Republican opponent, North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis, are currently locked in a close Senate race but with less than two weeks until Election Day Senator Hagan declined to participate in a debate Tuesday night. Despite Senator Hagan’s absence, all three network morning shows ignored the story on their Wednesday morning broadcasts. 
Jeffrey Meyer
October 22nd, 2014 11:20 AM

NBC: If GOP Wins Senate, They'd Better Not Oppose ObamaCare

At the end of Sunday's NBC Meet the Press, moderator Chuck Todd led his panel of guests in warning Republicans against any effort to oppose ObamaCare if they win the Senate majority in the upcoming midterm election: "...the biggest, I would argue, false promise of the...midterm campaign has been about [repealing] the Affordable Care Act....[Mitch McConnell's] never gonna have the ability to do it…
Kyle Drennen
October 22nd, 2014 10:14 AM

One Week Later: Networks Still Ignore Houston Sermon Subpoena Scandal

Despite approximately 77 percent of the population identifying as Christian, the media often couldn't care less when the government infringes on the rights of Christians. It’s evident because a week has passed since Fox News reported that openly lesbian Houston mayor Annise Parker issued subpoenas against five Houston pastors to submit their sermons to the city government, as punishment for…
Kristine Marsh
October 22nd, 2014 9:59 AM

Media Hyped Anti-GOP News in '06, Ignore This Year's Anti-Obama Wave

In less than two weeks, voters head to the polls in midterm elections that seem certain to yield strong Republican gains, if not outright control of the U.S. Senate. Such a political sea change is big news, but a new Media Research Center study finds that, in contrast to their enthusiastic coverage of the 2006 midterms when Democrats made big gains, the Big Three broadcast evening newscasts are…
Kyle Drennen and Rich Noyes
October 22nd, 2014 9:46 AM

AP Downplays Key Poll Finding: Dems' Advantage Among Women Is Gone

In relaying the results of their polling partnership's latest survey, Associated Press polling director Jennifer Agiesta and reporter Emily Swanson held their most important finding until their report's seventh paragraph. Despite their effort to downplay it, Matt Drudge, whose nose for genuine news is legendary, spotted it. Accordingly, his current headline screams: "POLL SHOCK: WOMEN WANT…
Tom Blumer
October 22nd, 2014 9:28 AM

WashPost Flags Democrat Mark Warner's 'Dictator' Smear of Opponent

The Washington Post is reporting Democratic Sen. Mark Warner’s airing a factually challenged ad that claims his Republican opponent Ed Gillespie lobbied for a “dictator.” Buried on page B-4, reporter Rachel Weiner’s article doesn’t sound like a fact-check from the headline: “Attack ad from Warner links Gillespie’s former firm to ‘dictator’.” In the ad, a female narrator claims “His firm even…
Tim Graham
October 22nd, 2014 8:48 AM

Wasserman Schultz Runs Away From Obama

Add Debbie Wasserman Schultz to the list of Dem politicians running away from Barack Obama.  Kind of ironic, no, given that DWS is Chair of the Dem party and President Obama is its standard bearer? On today's Morning Joe, repeatedly pressed by Joe Scarborough as to whether voting for Dem candidates means a continuation of President Obama's policies, Wasserman Schultz refused to answer.  Instead,…
Mark Finkelstein
October 22nd, 2014 8:31 AM

Embarrassing Economists

So as to give some perspective, I'm going to ask readers for their guesses about human behavior before explaining my embarrassment by some of my fellow economists.
Walter E. Williams
October 22nd, 2014 12:06 AM