After ObamaCare Win, NYT's Landler Praises Obama for Expanding 'Safety

In passionate text that reads more like a pro-Obama opinion piece than a straight news story, New York Times reporter Mark Landler delivered "A Vindication, With a Legacy Still Unwritten" for Friday's front page. Landler was passionate about the "change we can believe in" wrought by the president through the Affordable Care Act, which Landler called his expansion of the "nation's safety net"…
Clay Waters
June 29th, 2012 3:06 PM

MSNBC Urges Michael Moore to Praise Roberts, Attack Those Who Believe

MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell brought on radical filmmaker Michael Moore to offer his “Last Word” of liberalism on Thursday night. Moore said “maybe Mr. Roberts is a man of conscience. And part of that conscience says that it would be immoral to upend this bill.” Moore still felt insurance companies should  be surgically removed and single-payer statismshould be installed: “we’re 65 years behind…
Tim Graham
June 29th, 2012 2:45 PM

‘Ted’: The Kind of Flick You’d Expect from the ‘Family Guy

Much like Peter Pan, Seth McFarlane doesn’t want to grow up. For an entertainment producer, that can be a good thing. But instead of transporting his audience to Never Never Land, McFarlane’s TV shows “Family Guy” and “American Dad” take viewers on a tour of a pubescent boys’ locker room: gross-out contests, twisted sex jokes, vicious taunting. Sometimes it’s funny, sometimes not, but it’s…
Lauren Thompson
June 29th, 2012 2:25 PM

‘Ted’ the Kind of Flick You’d Expect from the ‘Family Guy

McFarlane’s teddy bear movie is for families ‘who don’t mind swearing around their kids.’
Lauren Thompson
June 29th, 2012 2:12 PM

Conservative Arguments Against ObamaCare 'Misguided, If Not Frivolous

New York Times legal reporter Adam Liptak used his Friday lead (five other reporters contributed research) on Obama-care being upheld at the Supreme Court to take another crack at the argument by conservatives and libertarians, the so-called broccoli argument "as misguided, if not frivolous." Conservatives took comfort from two parts of the decision: the new limits it placed on federal…
Clay Waters
June 29th, 2012 1:16 PM

ABC Cheerfully Highlights How 'Statesman' John Roberts 'Saved' Obamaca

Good Morning America's Terry Moran on Friday highlighted how Chief Justice John Roberts "saved" Obamacare, featuring voices that lauded the "statesman" and only one clip of Mitt Romney condemning the ruling. In comparison, CBS showcased an interview with Republican Congressman Eric Cantor. Instead of allowing much conservative opposition, Moran delicately spun, "Roberts's opinion reframed…
Scott Whitlock
June 29th, 2012 12:04 PM

PBS Defends Use of Convicted Felon as Expert on Documentary

PBS’s “Frontline” defended its use of a convicted felon as an expert in its “Dollars and Dentists” documentary. Phil Bennett, managing editor at “Frontline,” responded on June 28 to the Business and Media Institute, saying the show was “unaware of [Christina] Bowne's criminal record,” and that he did not think it undermined the story. However, the interview was crucial to the show’s case…
Mike Ciandella
June 29th, 2012 11:32 AM

CNN Helps Eulogize Ted Kennedy, Lets His Son Patrick Praise ObamaCare

Health care activist Patrick Kennedy got over four minutes on CNN prime-time to air his glee over ObamaCare being upheld on Thursday. Host Piers Morgan simply let the former Democratic congressman expound on his father Ted Kennedy's fight for health care and praise the Supreme Court decision. CNN is no stranger to the Kennedys, having lauded Ted Kennedy as "American royalty" and given his…
Matt Hadro
June 29th, 2012 11:22 AM

Tonight Show Airs Mock Video of Obama Dancing in White House After Hea

Barack Obama, in his statement after Thursday's Supreme Court ruling upholding the individual mandate in his healthcare legislation, did his best not to appear that he was spiking the football. The folks at NBC's Tonight Show clearly weren't pleased with the President's reserve and created a video of their own showing a jubilant Obama dancing in the White House before he addressed the nation…
Noel Sheppard
June 29th, 2012 10:39 AM

NBC: Chief Justice Had 'Nixon-to-China Alignment' With Court Liberals

On Friday's NBC Today, co-host Savannah Guthrie touted Chief Justice John Roberts joining the Supreme Court majority in upholding ObamaCare as an "almost Nixon-to-China alignment with liberals on the Court." Special correspondent Tom Brokaw applauded the move: "I do think that it lowered the temperature about the debate about the politicalization of the Court. And that's a good thing for the…
Kyle Drennen
June 29th, 2012 10:37 AM

MSNBC's 'The Cycle' Spins Mandatory Voting As Good For America

The day before the Supreme Court ruled ObamaCare's individual mandate constitutional -- as a tax, not as an exercise of the commerce clause -- the mostly-liberal panel at the brand-new 3 p.m. program The Cycle explored the question of what, in the view of the panelists, that government should consider making Americans do against their will. For her part, panelist Krystal Ball insisted that…
Matt Vespa
June 29th, 2012 10:21 AM

ABC's Terry Moran and Yahoo! News Preach Roberts 'Saved' the Supreme C

The top of the Yahoo home page on Friday asked "Did Chief Justice Roberts save the Supreme Court?” That’s channeling the incessant spin of ABC Nightline anchor Terry Moran, who announced on Yahoo's web show Top Line: “Roberts rode to the rescue of the Obama health care plan, and maybe rode to the rescue of the Supreme Court, a little bit, as well.”  "We live in an era of punditry and hyper-…
Tim Graham
June 29th, 2012 9:22 AM

Politico's Joe Williams Blames Suspension on 'Radical Conservatives

Joe Williams, Politico's White House correspondent that was suspended after stating Mitt Romney was most comfortable around “white folks,” said on a Wednesday radio show that he was a victim of conservative websites that seized upon those words to make a point about the media. While a guest on “The Bill Press Show,” Williams was asked by the liberal host, “Do you believe those words were…
Randy Hall
June 29th, 2012 9:10 AM

NBC Uniquely Notes Some Dems Voted to Sanction Holder

Uniquely among the broadcast network evening newscasts, the NBC Nightly News, not only ran a full report on the House of Representatives vote to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, but the network also noted that some Democrats joined Republicans on the vote. By contrast, ABC's World News and the CBS Evening News only mentioned the dozens of Democrats who walked out of…
Brad Wilmouth
June 29th, 2012 8:59 AM