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A recurring theme during the Obama presidency has been that, despite the distinct sense he gives of a man who sees himself as “above it all,” the president is a regular down-to-earth Joe. His efforts to connect with the hoi polloi have not always succeeded. His most recent attempt, enrolling in Obamacare, was sullied by the revelation that he didn’t actually dirty his own hands navigating the…

The late Republican congressman Charles Norwood would probably be sad about what happened at the Charles Norwood VA Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia last week. Via the Deacon’s Bench blog, Wesley Brown reported the veterans’ hospital is “taking a stricter stance on its policy banning carolers from singing religious Christmas music in public patient areas.” They presented a group of…

On Pearl Harbor Day, Campbell’s got in a lot of trouble when it tweeted out a picture of its SpaghettiOs mascot holding an American flag and asking people to "take a moment to remember #PearlHarbor with us." On NBC’s “New Year’s Eve with Carson Daly,” actress and comedienne Natasha Leggero disgustingly joked, “It sucks that the only survivors of Pearl Harbor are being mocked by the only food…

Filmmaker Kevin Smith wasn’t satisfied making a religion-bashing comedy in “Dogma,” or a religion-bashing gore film with overtones of David Koresh and Fred Phelps called “Red State.” The website Film School Rejects reports Smith has a new film in the planning stages. It’s “the punnily-titled ‘Helena Handbag’....he’s currently writing the screenplay based off [his own podscast] SModcast…

Happy 2014! Today's starter topic: Which MSNBC host (if any) do you think will say or do something to get fired?

I've not read the official obituaries because they are predictable. "Billionaire." "Reclusive." "GOP donor." "Swift Boat Vets." "Industrialist." "Controversial." "Dallas, Texas." And there you have it: the death of a sinister figure driven by greed, the puppeteer manipulating the political process, a 21st century J.R. Ewing. (Or is it Mr. Burns?) If this is what you've read, it’s written by…

Harold Simmons, the Texas billionaire who has served as chairman of the board of the Media Research Center, died Saturday. If you've enjoyed any of MRC's work over the years, one major force keeping the televisions on was Mr. Simmons. So we were especially disgusted (if not shocked) when the New York Times obituary carried the headline "Harold Simmons Dies at 82; Backed Swift Boat Ads." That’…

New York Times entertainment reporters Brooks Barnes and Michael Cieply reviewed the year at the box office on Monday, another record year of almost $11 billion spent on movie tickets. The top five grossing movies were all sequels (or in the case of “Monsters University,” a prequel), but the article got a little weird when they called it a “tough year for the good-behavior watchdogs of…

On the Monday, December 30, The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC, Richard Wolffe -- executive editor of MSNBC.com -- mocked "ObamaCare haters," tagging them as the "biggest losers of the year," as he appeared as a panel member to select awards in various news categories for the year 2013. As he suggested that the reduction in glitches at Healthcare.Gov solves ObamaCare's problems,…

Barack Obama's favorability rating is in the toilet, there are crucial midterm elections next year that could decide the fate of his presidency, and what do you think his pollster wishes from the media in 2014? According to Politico's Mike Allen, Joel Benenson hopes "playbookers" will "[g]o one year without reporting any public polling data."

How much do you need to know about a subject before expressing a strong opinion during a panel on MSNBC? Apparently very little, as Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart took part in a Monday afternoon discussion on the future of the Washington Redskins National Football League team since coach Mike Shanahan had just been fired. Kristen Welker -- fill-in host for that weekday's edition…

Appearing on the Monday, December 30, The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC, Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart charged that, in the year 2013, Republicans had "told" women, young people and minorities to "go bleep yourself" as he divulged his choices for "worst political move" of the year.

Drudge's headline linking to a Politico item by Carrie Budoff Brown and John Allen about the Obama administration's plans to aggressively identify and promote Obamacare successes in 2014 ("White House Plans to Step up Obamacare Propaganda in 2014") is far better than the tired one Politico itself used ("White House looks to spread good Obamacare news"). What Team Obama plans to pursue will be…

Islamic terrorists were suspected in the terrorist bombings that just killed dozens in Russia.  But reporters at ABC, NBC and CBS went out of their way to avoid the obvious connection or even to call the suspects “terrorists,” preferring instead the squishy word “militant.” Friday, Sunday and Monday, three separate suicide bombings left at least 37 people dead in the Volgograd and Pyatigorsk…