Mika Brzezinski: 'I'm Hoping' Blaming Bush Will Work

We've gone from "hope and change" to hoping blaming Bush will work.  As Joe Scarborough said: at least Mika Brzezinski's honest about it.  Asked whether she believed that President Obama's attempt to continue to blame George W. Bush for the country's economic woes will work as a campaign strategy, a seemingly dispirited Mika Brzezinski replied: "well, I'm hopin'".  Scarborough burst into…
Mark Finkelstein
June 13th, 2012 8:17 AM

Don Rickles Joke About Obama and Mop Scrubbed From TV Land Tribute Sho

“Viewers of TV Land will not be able to watch insult comic Don Rickles compare President Barack Obama to a janitor at the recent American Film Institute tribute to Shirley MacLaine,” The Hollywood Reporter revealed. “I shouldn’t make fun of the blacks...President Obama is a personal friend of mine,” said Rickles. “He was over to the house yesterday, but the mop broke.” "He is not being…
Tim Graham
June 13th, 2012 8:00 AM

'Poor John Bryson!' Even the Papers of Record Didn't Find Him Notable

“Poor John Bryson!” exclaimed the "Reliable Source" gossips at The Washington Post on Wednesday. “Be honest: How many of you could have coughed up the name of the commerce secretary last week, even if a Jeopardy Daily Double were on the line?” (Especially, you, Chris Matthews.) Even the newspapers ignored him: “In the year since he was nominated for the job by President Obama, Bryson had…
Tim Graham
June 13th, 2012 6:29 AM

AP's Crutsinger Omits Key Facts in Report on May Deficit, Engages in U

To illustrate how factually negligent this afternoon's report by Martin Crutsinger at the Associated Press on the federal government's financial results embodied in its Monthly Treasury Statement was, let's take a look at how Pedro Nicolaci da Costa at Reuters communicated more in a four-sentence brief than the AP reporter did in 18 painful paragraphs. Here is da Costa's item, in full:
Tom Blumer
June 12th, 2012 11:38 PM

NBC Notes 25th Anniversary of Reagan's 'Tear Down This Wall' Speech

Uniquely among the broadcast network evening newscasts, on Tuesday's NBC Nightly News, anchor Brian Williams noted that today is the 25th anniversary of President Reagan calling on Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev to demolish the Berlin Wall, as Reagan stood in Berlin on June 12, 1987, and delivered his famous "Tear down this wall" speech. Williams read the brief item:
Brad Wilmouth
June 12th, 2012 10:39 PM

Bozell Column: Partisanship Reigns at CBS

Les Moonves, the president and CEO of CBS, took his wife, the former CBS news anchor Julie Chen, on a date on June 6 – to a star-studded Beverly Hills Democratic Party fundraiser starring President Obama. He told a reporter for the Los Angeles Times of his respect for Obama, whom he said “has shown great leadership”  – by bringing his support for gay marriage out of the closet. Did I mention…
Brent Bozell
June 12th, 2012 10:14 PM

Joy Behar Wants to See Romney's House Burn Down: 'Who's He Going to Ca

CRITICAL UPDATE AT END OF POST. Joy Behar, Al Gore's new employee at Current TV, said Tuesday in response to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's comments on the need for more police, teachers, and firefighters, "I’d like to see his house burn, one of his millions of houses burning down." During an interview with the liberal website Mediaite, Behar added, "Who's he going to call…
Noel Sheppard
June 12th, 2012 8:25 PM

Suddenly, George W. Bush Is a 'Mainstream Republican' at the New York

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is attracting lots of media attention Bush for claiming that even conservative hero Ronald Reagan would struggle in today's Republican Party, a Tea Party-infused "orthodoxy that doesn’t allow for disagreement." New York Times Political reporter Jim Rutenberg was intrigued: "Jeb Bush Offers Critical Views of Modern Republican Party and Its 'Orthodoxy.'" The online…
Clay Waters
June 12th, 2012 6:57 PM

CBS's Pelley Covers First Day of Sandusky Trial; Ignored Edwards Trial

The weekday edition of CBS Evening News with anchor Scott Pelley bizarrely paid no attention to the campaign finance trial of 2004 Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards until the jury declared a mistrial on all but one count on May 31, 2012. By contrast, the evening news program devoted a full report to the first day of the trial of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry…
Matthew Balan
June 12th, 2012 6:33 PM

WashPost Front-Pager on Collapsing Net Worth Missing One Word: 'Obama

A new economic report from the Federal Reserve doesn't offer much hope. On the front page of The Washington Post,  Ylan Q. Mui underlined "the Federal Reserve said the median net worth of families plunged by 39 percent in just three years, from $126,400 in 2007 to $77,300 in 2010. That puts Americans roughly on par with where they were in 1992."    Furthermore, "the data represent[s] one of…
Matt Vespa
June 12th, 2012 6:07 PM

Chris Matthews: 'In North Carolina a New PPP Poll Has Romney Up By

Chris Matthews on Tuesday's Hardball gave viewers a preview of what's going to happen on MSNBC the next five months any time a poll comes in showing Mitt Romney leading President Obama. "In North Carolina a new PPP poll has Romney up by two - that’s not good" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
Noel Sheppard
June 12th, 2012 5:57 PM

Where’s the Media Outrage Over Team Obama’s National Security Leak

If Attorney General Eric Holder’s goal was to minimize broadcast network news coverage when he chose late Friday evening to announce a criminal investigation into how damaging national security secrets were released to the New York Times, the media have certainly played along. Holder announced the investigation after the East Coast feeds of Friday’s ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts. While…
Rich Noyes
June 12th, 2012 5:38 PM

Chuck Norris Column: Who Is More Powerful Than the President

How much power does the president actually possess? That is a question at the heart of most debates about the federal government. Declaring war, writing executive orders, legislating, allocating taxpayers' money and even influencing what your children learn and eat are just a very small sample of subjects hotly under dispute right now.
Chuck Norris
June 12th, 2012 5:06 PM

Sorry, Jeb Bush Didn’t Say Reagan Couldn’t Get Elected

The BuzzFeed Website carried an article on Monday based on an interview with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in which he said that his father, George H. W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan would have a difficult time getting nominated by today's “ultra-conservative” Republican Party in a “hyper-partisan moment.” The only problem is that Bush never used the words “ultra-conservative” or “hyper-partisan”in…
Randy Hall
June 12th, 2012 4:44 PM