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Younger political junkies may not remember it, but watchers of the 1992 Clinton campaign can recall "The War Room," a documentary filmed inside the Clinton campaign. There's a new DVD of the film, out so National Public Radio just had to praise it. On the program "Fresh Air" Wednesday,  film critic John Powers described George Stephanopoulos as "a sweet but overbearing altar boy" while James…

Scott Sayare and Steven Erlanger reported for the New York Times from Toulouse, France on Thursday on the cornering of the killer of seven people in France, including three children: "Shooting Suspect, Cornered and Armed, Tells French Police That He Killed 7." The story was filed before the suspect, Mohammad Merah, was shot dead in a police raid. Merah's confession obviously made it hard for…

CNN commentator Dean Obeidallah has some advice for politicians who are offended by gross and vile insults from comedians: "change the channel." Comedians like Bill Maher and Louis C.K. must have an "unfettered right" to spew their vitriol at politicians like Sarah Palin, insisted Obeidallah in a CNN.com op-ed. Such insults "come with the territory" of running for office, he told CNN host…

On Thursday's CBS This Morning, Charlie Rose shamelessly boosted the Obama campaign's talking point about the economy: "The President will...say, things are in much better shape...so my policies are, at long last, working." When Haley Barbour replied that "the liberal media leads you to think that the economy's getting great," Rose sneered, "I didn't realize you think the Federal Reserve…

New York Times columnist Gail Collins went on the Late Show with David Letterman Tuesday night, ostensibly to discuss her new biography of President William Henry Harrison. But the first segment was entirely devoted to what even Letterman knows she is famous for: Obsessively retelling in her columns the tale of poor Seamus, Mitt Romney's dog, strapped in a crate to the roof of a station wagon…

Any Republican governor of a blue state who manages to balance the budget without raising taxes should be a nominee for Mount Rushmore, to say nothing of president. Mitt Romney was governor of a state so blue, it's North Korea with more Irish people, and he balanced the budget without raising taxes.

Four years ago this month, journalists began spinning, downplaying and, at times, ignoring Barack Obama's close ties with the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, a man who famously implored, "Goddamn America!" As the nation begins another presidential race with Obama as the head of the Democratic Party, what will they do this time? In 2008, reporters tried many different angles. On April 28, 2008,…

On her eponymous MSNBC program on Wednesday, host Andrea Mitchell slammed congressional Republicans for voting down reauthorization and funding of the U.S. Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank: "If I'm sitting out there and watching this program, I would, you know, likely say right now these people in Congress are idiots." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump] Mitchell interviewed…

On Thursday’s edition of Morning Joe, Zeke Emanuel, former health policy advisor for President Obama, completely distorted and misrepresented the controversy surrounding ObamaCare, and found no pushback from the Brew Crew, naturally. Emanuel started out the segment making the ridiculous claim that no "credible legal scholar" would doubt the constitutionality of the individual mandate in…

Here's some good advice from Rush Limbaugh's opening monologue today: "If I were you, I would regard every AP story, particularly this year, as nothing more than a propaganda piece for the reelection of Barack Obama." What occasioned Rush's rant is the thinly disguised propaganda today from the Associated Press, aka the Administration's Press, concerning President Obama's visit to Cushing,…

Comedian Bill Maher, host of HBO's panel show "Real Time," appeared in Thursday's New York Times, pleading for a cease-fire in the current culture wars over insensitivity: "Please Stop Apologizing." It's quite a convenient argument for Maher, given that he's been under fire from conservatives lately for his vulgar and demeaning descriptions of Sarah Palin, delivered last year both on his HBO…

Time's Ideas blog turned to psychoanalyst Dr. Justin Frank on Wednesday to explain "What Attacks on Obama Say About the Republican Candidates." He needed to explain "why Republicans are being driven to such rhetorical extremes." "While they may target 'Obamacare' or something else, what they are really attacking is Obama’s capacity to tolerate complexity, on which he thrives," he lectured. "…

Claims that Obamacare includes “death panels” sparked the ire of supporters of the law, who called the claim outrageous, but now - as Obamacare turns 2 years old -- the Congressional Budget Office admits the law itself is going to kill the jobs of 800,000 Americans. At a recent House Budget Committee hearing, CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf confirmed as much, saying that indeed indeed “there…

Eager to seize on an unfortunate Etch-A-Sketch analogy made by a Romney campaign advisor, on Thursday's NBC Today, co-host Ann Curry used all her cleverness to come up with this one-liner: "...a very mixed day for GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney. He picked up a key endorsement on Wednesday, but it's a campaign gaffe from a top aid that Romney's having a hard time shaking." In the report that…