WashPost's Gearan Treats Hearing on Benghazi Debacle As Partisan While

Updated at bottom of post | Bit by bit, slowly but surely, the Obama administration's initial story about what transpired in the deadly September 11 terrorist attack unraveled over the past few weeks. At the same time, we learned, no thanks to broadcast network newscasts that largely ignored the story -- that the consulate was poorly secured, that security personnel had been reduced in the…
Ken Shepherd
October 11th, 2012 3:54 PM

CBS Asks Axelrod Four Questions on Debate, Saves Libya Controversy for

On Thursday's CBS This Morning, co-hosts Charlie Rose and Norah O'Donnell waited until the fifth interview question to press Obama adviser David Axelrod about the fiasco in Libya. The question wasn't even a tough one, basically asking for the administration's spin. "David, the consequences of what happened in the death of the Ambassador in Libya has caused some scrutiny in those incidents in…
Matt Hadro
October 11th, 2012 3:25 PM

NYT: Democrats Have Portrayed Romney as 'Ultraconservative, Unfeeling

On Thursday, New York Times campaign reporters Michael Barbaro and Ashley Parker filed a relatively positive story on the suddenly resurgent Romney campaign: "Romney Campaign Looks to Capitalize on Image Voters Saw in Debate." Inside Mitt Romney’s campaign headquarters over the past few days, the data pouring in was unmistakable. Aides scouring the results of focus groups and national polls…
Clay Waters
October 11th, 2012 3:05 PM

Another PolitiFact Retraction You'll Never See: HHS July Rule Did Weak

In August, in response to an ad from the campaign of GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney claiming that the Obama administration's Department of Health and Human Services had just weakened the work requirements of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program (also known as TANF, or "traditional welfare"), Molly Moorhead at the so-called fact check site PolitiFact gave the ad a "Pants…
Tom Blumer
October 11th, 2012 2:58 PM

Seriously? New York Times Calls Wisconsin a 'Republican Haven

New York Times reporter Monica Davey was in Wisconsin on Thursday, playing up the Democratic candidate's Rep. Tammy Baldwin chances in her race for an open Senate seat against former Wisconsin governor, Republican Tommy Thompson. The headline was a puzzler: "A Republican Haven Is Finding Itself Split." Though Gov. Scott Walker pushed through his public sector union reforms and survived a…
Clay Waters
October 11th, 2012 2:50 PM

Obama Campaign Derides Liberal Bloggers as ‘Tinfoil Hat Crowd’ for

You would think that as poorly as President Obama did in his first debate with Mitt Romney last week that his supporters would want to stop talking about the embarrassment. Instead, the very opposite is true. Denizens of the fevered swamps of the online left not only want to talk about it, they also want to embarrass themselves by concocting all sorts of crazy theories about how Romney somehow…
Matthew Sheffield
October 11th, 2012 1:55 PM

Will Moderator Martha Raddatz Bring Her Biased 'Budget Slasher' Talk t

When Congressman Paul Ryan was named Mitt Romney’s running mate, one of the dominant liberal-media spin lines is that his budget proposal would “slash Medicare.” Everyone knows that Medicare spending is never “slashed,” but there are proposals to slow it from its skyrocketing trend line. ABC reporter Martha Raddatz, who will moderate Ryan’s debate with Vice President Biden, used exactly this…
Tim Graham
October 11th, 2012 1:40 PM

ABC and CBS See Romney 'Gaining Ground' Post-Debate, NBC Claims 'Not M

While the ABC and CBS morning shows on Thursday focused on a tightening presidential race following Mitt Romney's winning performance in the first debate, on NBC's Today, political director Chuck Todd used the network's new swing state polling to argue that the debate was "not as helpful to Romney as he might have hoped." Prompting co-host Savannah Guthrie conclude: "Alright, so the debate had…
Kyle Drennen
October 11th, 2012 12:58 PM

Stand Up, Chuck! Todd Says Biden Has 'Gravitas' Going For Him In Debat

I say "Joe Biden," you say . . . . Joke?  Gaffe machine?  Not Chuck Todd.  In his pre-game commentary for tonight's debate, the NBC political director claimed that, as with Cheney versus Edwards and Bentsen versus Quayle, Biden—matched up against Paul Ryan—has "gravitas" going for him. View the video after the jump, along with a list of some of Grandpa Gravitas's most famous gaffes.
Mark Finkelstein
October 11th, 2012 12:45 PM

Cynthia McFadden Enthuses Over Michelle Obama's Skill at 'Cutting' and

In the fourth and final part of ABC's 20 minute-long interview with Michelle Obama, Nightline co-anchor Cynthia McFadden on Wednesday praised the First Lady's skill at "the art of the cut that doesn't draw blood." After playing a clip of Mrs. Obama at the Democratic National Convention, McFadden cued, "Do you think Mitt Romney is the kind of guy that slams the door behind himself [when it comes…
Scott Whitlock
October 11th, 2012 12:33 PM

Labor Dept. Unemployment Claims Data Incomplete For One 'Large State

UPDATE: Henry Blodget at Business Insider reports that a "source, who is an analyst at the Department, " has told him that "the number of California claims that were not processed totalled about 15,000-25,000." Today's release of the Department of Labor's weekly unemployment claims report showed 339,000 initial claims filed during the previous week -- a sharp decline of 30,000 from the previous…
Tom Blumer
October 11th, 2012 12:19 PM

Gang-Raped Indonesian Girl Expelled for 'Tarnishing School's Image

A 14-year-old Indonesian girl was expelled Monday for "tarnishing" her school's image as a result of being gang-raped by a child trafficking syndicate. Due to the media frenzy this kicked off, this absurd decision has been overturned.
Noel Sheppard
October 11th, 2012 11:46 AM

Time Magazine Offers List to Fight Global Warming, Including Contradic

 Move closer to your job, live in a tiny home with a clothesline and telecommute more. 
Liz Thatcher
October 11th, 2012 11:22 AM

Bozell Discusses Media's Reticence to Address Benghazi Fiasco with FBN

The Benghazi fiasco and the ensuing cover-up by the Obama administration got minimal media play before yesterday's congressional hearing, and even with that hearing, the media are still hard at work with their excuse-making for the White House, NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell told Fox Business Network's Stuart Varney on Thursday morning's edition of the Fox Business Network program Varney…
NB Staff
October 11th, 2012 11:13 AM