Open Thread: Behind the Executive Privilege Claim

Now that the White House has claimed executive privilege over a large number of documents, what happens next? Dick Cheney's former lawyer, Shannen Coffin, takes a look at the assertion and its likelihood of standing up in court should the House of Representatives sue to enforce a contempt citation:
Matthew Sheffield
June 21st, 2012 8:34 AM

PBS Pushes Shoddy Study Blaming Motorcycle Deaths on Removal of Helmet

A story that aired on PBS NewsHour Monday showcases the innate pro-bigger-government bias of that program, embedded in a discussion of mandatory motorcycle helmet laws and an increase in motorcycle accident fatalities. Host Gwen Ifill introduced the segment as a look at "the correlation between motorcycle casualties and helmet laws," featuring a Judy Woodruff interview with Rick Schmidt, who…
Matthew Sheffield
June 21st, 2012 8:32 AM

Sorkin Sees Not Liberal Bias But ‘Bias Toward Fairness,’ His HBO N

Writer/producer Aaron Sorkin, whose new drama, Newsroom, about a cable news anchor -- which debuts this Sunday night on HBO -- proved in a USA Today piece he lives in a fantasy world. First, he maintained that when watching broadcast network news “I don’t see the liberal bias — and I’m trying to — that I hear about,” insisting: “What I do see is a bias toward fairness, a bias toward neutrality…
Brent Baker
June 21st, 2012 4:00 AM

CBS's Pelley Notes History of Presidents Invoking Executive Privilege

On Wednesday's CBS Evening News, after a report in which it was noted that the Obama administration has invoked executive privilege over the investigation into the Fast and Furious scandal, anchor Scott Pelley related the history of other Presidents taking similar measures. After tying in George Washington, Pelley ended up informing viewers that Bill Clinton had used similar tactics 14 times…
Brad Wilmouth
June 21st, 2012 2:24 AM

MS Sufferer Neil Cavuto Slams 'Horses' Asses' at MSNBC for Mocking Ann

As NewsBusters previously reported, MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell on Monday shamefully mocked Ann Romney for riding horses to combat her multiple sclerosis. On Wednesday, Fox News's Neil Cavuto, an MS sufferer himself, took on all the insensitive anchors and commentators at MSNBC that have participated in this attack on Mrs. Romney rightly calling them "horses' asses" (videos follow with…
Noel Sheppard
June 20th, 2012 11:05 PM

MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry Charges 9/11 Gave Americans 'Post-Traumat

The host of MSNBC's weekend program The Melissa Harris-Perry Show used a racially charged speech on Monday to claim that the events of 9/11 sent America into a “nationalist fervor” that resembled post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While addressing the liberal Take Back the American Dream Conference in Washington, D.C., Harris-Perry asserted that “for about a year, there were African-…
Randy Hall
June 20th, 2012 10:04 PM

Rachel Maddow Reprises Role of Anguished Diva Scorned by Scott Brown

Has Rachel Maddow ever considered trying her hand at fiction? What am I saying? She already does, just about every night on MSNBC. (video after page break)
Jack Coleman
June 20th, 2012 9:10 PM

CNN's Hoover to First Black President of Southern Baptist Convention

Yesterday the Southern Baptist Convention elected their first black president, an historic moment for an organization that got its start defending slavery in pre-Civil War America. CNN Starting Point host Soledad O'Brien interviewed Fred Luter Jr., who will be installed as president Wednesday evening. The interview on the main was fine, but towards the end, contributor Margaret Hoover pressed…
Ken Shepherd
June 20th, 2012 6:18 PM

Mark Levin: Executive Privilege and How the House Should Move Forward

Conservative author and constitutional attorney Mark Levin, in response to President Obama's controversial decision to invoke executive privilege regarding Fast and Furious information being withheld from Congress by Attorney General Eric Holder, posted a legal opinion concerning this matter at his Facebook page Wednesday. It follows in its entirety with the author's permission.
Noel Sheppard
June 20th, 2012 6:07 PM

ABC Reporter's Book Review: Obama's 'Unreliable' Retelling of His Own

According to ABC's Jon Karl, Barack Obama's retelling of his own life in Dreams Of My Father has been exposed as "unreliable." On June 16 in the pages of the Wall Street Journal, the correspondent reviewed David Maraniss' new book, a 641 page tome that "raises questions about the carefully crafted story that Mr. Obama has told about himself." However, Karl and ABC have yet to interview or…
Scott Whitlock
June 20th, 2012 4:50 PM

NBC's 'Today' Continues Blackout on Fast and Furious Controversy

NBC's Today kept up its complete omission of the Fast and Furious gun-running controversy on Wednesday, even as a House committee prepared to vote later in the day on whether to find Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress. CBS This Morning stood among the Big Three morning newscasts in devoting a full report to the issue. ABC's Good Morning America gave only a 20-second news brief…
Matthew Balan
June 20th, 2012 4:36 PM

Dan Savage Calls Gay Conservative Group 'House Faggots' and 'Pathetic

The blogosphere is abuzz today after anti-conservative bully and gay activist Dan Savage tweeted, “The GOP’s house faggots grab their ankles right on cue...Pathetic” in response to GOProud’s endorsement of Mitt Romney in the 2012 election.  GOProud, which describes itself on its website as, “the voice of gay conservatives and their straight allies,” voted last night to endorse the presumptive…
Kelly McGarey
June 20th, 2012 4:17 PM

Ex-Democrat Artur Davis Defends GOP on Fast & Furious Probe, Voter ID

Yesterday former Rep. Artur Davis -- who served in Congress as a Democrat but recently became a Republican out of frustration with the Obama administration -- was a featured guest of the Heritage Foundation's weekly blogger briefing. Davis briefly discussed the similarities between the upcoming election and the election of 1980. He claimed that Ronald Reagan had to make the American people…
John Bates
June 20th, 2012 4:07 PM

Wash Post: Is It Even 'Possible' for Obama or any President 'to Succee

If you’re the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza, the answer to this ridiculous question is yes. In a June 17 article, Cillizza groaned, "Is it possible for a president — any president — to succeed in the modern world of politics?" Rather than admit to the possibility that President Obama has been a lackluster president, Cillizza maintained, “...Pessimism about our nation’s future,…
Jeffrey Meyer
June 20th, 2012 3:57 PM