Halperin-Heilemann: Rand's Wife Kelley Good, But No Michelle Obama

Let's be clear: on today's With All Due Respect, Mark Halperin and John Heilemann were very complimentary about Kelley Paul's performance today in introducing her husband Rand at his presidential announcement speech.  They described her as a big asset and anticipate seeing a lot more of her on the campaign trail. That said, the duo said something that boggled my mind, claiming that as good as…
Mark Finkelstein
April 7th, 2015 8:44 PM

Not News: We've Really Had Two Bad Months of Payroll Job Additions

The business press and the financial analysts and economists they consult continue to mostly blindly rely on the seasonally adjusted figures the government and other economic report generators hand them on a silver platter. If these de facto stenographers had dug just a little deeper a month ago, they might have avoided the serious embarassment of predicting a level of seasonally adjusted March…
Tom Blumer
April 7th, 2015 8:25 PM

Vanity Fair: NBC Investigation Finding More Lies by Brian Williams

According to a new Vanity Fair exposé on the troubled NBC News, the Brian Williams scandal appears far from over as additional examples of fabrications by the suspended NBC Nightly News anchor have been uncovered and it’s unknown whether Williams will return to the network. Inside Bryan Burrough’s 8,400-word plus piece, he reported that the investigation into Williams’s numerous claims “is…
Curtis Houck
April 7th, 2015 6:24 PM

Conservative Latino Initiative Rankles Left

The LIBRE Initiative has recently become the object of fear and loathing among Left-aligned Hispanic operatives and organizations.
Gerardo Abascal
April 7th, 2015 5:54 PM

MSNBCer Uses Jeb Bush Error to Blast Opt-In Voter Registration

MSNBC's point-man on all things voter ID-related, Zachary Roth, has glommed on to Jeb Bush's accidentally check-marking himself as Hispanic on a voter registration form to argue essentially, that most Americans are dumb and unreliable to take the effort to register themselves to vote and, thereby, government should take over and automatically register all eligible citizens.
Ken Shepherd
April 7th, 2015 5:26 PM

ABC: Obama Not Buying Israeli Demand That Deal Include Right to Exist

The networks on Monday night and Tuesday morning minimized Barack Obama's casual dismissal of the idea that any nuclear deal with Iran include an acknowledgment of Israel's right to exist. On Good Morning America, Amy Robach quickly touted the President's rejection: "[Obama] is not buying Israel's latest demand concerning the nuclear deal with Iran. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says any…
Scott Whitlock
April 7th, 2015 4:34 PM

Mika: Rand Paul's Grandiose Ad 'Setting Yourself Up for Failure'

When Republicans make campaign announcements, the press usually grab their pitchforks, light their torches, and proceed to run them down. Such was the case with Mika Brzezinski, who typified the Morning Joe crew’s response to Rand Paul’s announcement trailer with the question, "Isn't that kind of setting yourself up to fail?"   Donny Deutsch also lamented the over-the-top rhetoric of the Paul…
Bryan Ballas
April 7th, 2015 4:27 PM

Barney Frank Surprised Obama Got Elected, Given 'Alienness About Him'

Shhhhh -- hear that? OK, maybe you can't, but surely your pooch can. That's why she's looking at you with a perplexed expression, or what passes for one from canines. It's the sound of dog-whistle racism we've heard so much about since the outset of the Obama presidency -- nay, since Obama's 2008 campaign for president, especially after Hillary Clinton began to lose. Liberals have repeatedly…
Jack Coleman
April 7th, 2015 3:05 PM

New Republic Writer: Rolling Stone Failure Due to 'Rightwing Tactics'

New Republic staff writer Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig has clearly run out of defenses for the conduct of those involved in the disgraceful, scandalous journalistic malpractice which gave rise to the now-retracted and thoroughly discredited "A Rape on Campus: The Struggle for Justice at UVA" at Rolling Stone. So here's her last refuge: Conservatism deserves some of the blame, because Sabrina Rubin…
Tom Blumer
April 7th, 2015 2:49 PM

Oops: CBS Evening News Flunks Basic Science

Even though they like to mock conservatives for being “anti-science,” apparently basic chemistry is hard for the media. The CBS Evening News mixed up its chemical formulas during a story about a tragic case of carbon monoxide poisoning. The broadcast not once, but twice, showed viewers a graphic displaying the symbol CO2 – the chemical formula for carbon dioxide – instead of CO for carbon…
Mike Ciandella
April 7th, 2015 1:41 PM

Nation Writer: ‘Wisconsin Badgers Deserve Better Than Scott Walker'

In a Tuesday post, The Nation blogger Dave Zirin argued that it’s politically unseemly for Gov. Scott Walker to root publicly for certain Wisconsin sports teams, including the University of Wisconsin basketballers, who came up just short in last night’s men’s national title game against Duke. Zirin claimed that it’s “almost flagrantly irresponsible” for the media to publicize Walker’s support of…
Tom Johnson
April 7th, 2015 1:32 PM

Hillary Political Operative Behind Women On $20

Have you noticed how we have been bombarded recently in the mainstream media about a push to replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill with a woman? The organization behind this drive is Women On 20s. What you almost never hear or read, with the exception of the New Yorker, is that the woman who founded that organization, Barbara Oritiz Howard, was a Hillary Clinton political operative. Also all of…
P.J. Gladnick
April 7th, 2015 1:27 PM

NBC Touts North Korea Apologist, 'Ardent Communist' Teen Athlete

Alexey Eremenko spotlighted "teen weight-lifting wunderkind and ardent Communist" Maryana Naumova in a Tuesday item on NBCNews.com. Eremenko, NBC News's Moscow producer, played up how "sports is only part of Naumova's agenda. As a member of the youth arm of Russia's Communist Party...she tours schools and orphanages across Russia to promote weightlifting." However, the journalist never mentioned…
Matthew Balan
April 7th, 2015 12:52 PM

NBC Trots Out 'Jesus's Tomb' Claim: Could 'Step on' 'Religious Toes'

Two days after Christians celebrated Easter, NBC trotted out the claim that the tomb and burial site of Christ has been found. The segment only included one brief clip of a skeptic. Instead, journalist Katy Tur, reporting live from Jerusalem, excitedly explained, "...A journalist and a geologist said they have new evidence that this right here, underneath this concrete slab is Jesus's tomb." 
Scott Whitlock
April 7th, 2015 12:45 PM