So Much for Church-State Separation: White House Organizing 'Prayer Vi

Friday's lead New York Times story by Robert Pear, "White House Set To Shape Debate Over Health Law," passed right over the fascinating fact that the White House is helping "coordinate plans for a prayer vigil, press conferences and other events outside the court." Whatever happened to the dangers of mixing religion and politics, which was all the Times could fret about when it came to the…
Clay Waters
March 9th, 2012 2:47 PM

NYT's Former SCOTUS Reporter Celebrates 'Accidental Heroines' Fluke an

Linda Greenhouse the New York Times's former Supreme Court reporter (and left-wing ranter at commencement speeches), now writes a twice-a-month column for nytimes.com. Wednesday she hailed birth-control activist and new liberal martyr Sandra Fluke as a civil rights pioneer on the level of (naturally) Anita Hill, while tarring Rush Limbaugh as a thug, in "Accidental Heroines."
Clay Waters
March 9th, 2012 2:10 PM

Dim Bulbs at Obama Energy Dept. Award $10M Prize to Maker of $50 Light

Imagine if you will that President Bush were in the Oval Office now, facing reelection with unemployment above 8 percent and gas prices as high as they are right now. Now also imagine that the Bush Energy Department granted a $10 million award to the maker of a $50 LED light bulb, because, as Bush's energy secretary gushed, it's "affordable for American families." The media would, predictably…
Ken Shepherd
March 9th, 2012 1:13 PM

NBC Host: 'We're Managing Expectations' on Economy, 'Especially For th

Filling in for co-host Matt Lauer on Friday's NBC Today, CNBC's Carl Quintanilla seemed to suggest the media was helping the Obama administration shape public perception of the economy: "...we're in a situation where we're sort of managing expectations, especially for the White House." Quintanilla followed that admission by asking CNBC Mad Money host Jim Cramer about the upcoming jobs report…
Kyle Drennen
March 9th, 2012 12:54 PM

Shorter MSNBC: Voter I.D. Laws Are Racist, Even Though They Seem Perfe

Once again, MSNBC has continued to prop up Rev. Al Sharpton’s racist conspiracies that state legislatures led by the GOP are deliberately suppressing minority voters through new voter ID laws. On Friday’s episode of Jansing & Co., radio host and MSNBC substitute host Michael Smerconish led a left-wing attack on the GOP.  The panelists including Pennsylvania AFL-CIO chief Richard…
Jeffrey Meyer
March 9th, 2012 12:43 PM

Sharpton: 'It's Against The Law To Organize Unions' In Alabama

Did MSNBC ever vet Al Sharpton? Seriously. Much of the talk about HBO's Game Change docu-drama is focusing on the vetting of Sarah Palin or lack thereof by the McCain campaign. Is there any minimum standard of knowledge required to have one's own show on the Lean Forward network? Take Sharpton's mind-boggling misstatement on Morning Joe today.  The Reverend Al asserted that in Alabama, "it's…
Mark Finkelstein
March 9th, 2012 11:23 AM

Bozell, Hannity Discuss Media's Ongoing Push to Paint GOP As Waging 'W

"There's only one person who's trying to insert the reproductive rights debate into this campaign," NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell noted in the "Media Mash" segment  of the March 8 edition of Fox News Channel's Hannity. It's Barack Obama who made this a live issue when he moved to push religious institutions to provide contraception, even if it violates their religious conscience to do so…
NB Staff
March 9th, 2012 11:20 AM

Ed Schultz Paid Nearly $200,000 By Unions in 2011, According to Labor

What a shock -- labor unions paying one of their biggest cheerleaders in the media. Perhaps Ed Schultz could explain what he does for unions to warrant such largesse. I don't recall hearing anything along these lines on his radio program or MSNBC show. (graphic after page break)
Jack Coleman
March 9th, 2012 10:56 AM

Palin: 'Doesn't Bode Well for Our President's Character to Not Speak O

Sarah Palin on Thursday took Barack Obama to task for not telling his Super PAC to return Bill Maher's million dollar donation. Speaking to Fox News's Sean Hannity, the former Alaska Governor said, "It does not bode well for our President's character to not speak out against that dirty money" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
Noel Sheppard
March 9th, 2012 10:15 AM

Halperin: Romney Has Horrible Relationship With Media, But 'It's Not A

Mark Halperin says Mitt Romney's campaign has the worst relationship with the media of any major candidate he's covered.  But, according to the man from Time, it has nothing to do with the fact that Romney is the front-runner to take on the MSM's Chosen One.  No, Halperin assures us, "it's not a partisan thing."  The fault lies entirely with the Romney campaign itself, which reportedly has kept…
Mark Finkelstein
March 9th, 2012 8:08 AM

England Moves Toward Ban on Official Prayers, Opposed by a 'Small Frin

The Washington Post has a funny headline from England on its front page Friday. "Public prayer stirs culture war in Britain." Notice that secular liberals like the Posties always blame the "culture war" on the religious, not on the secularizers. The more accurate headline is "Public prayer ban stirs culture war in Britain." In Bideford, reporter Anthony Faiola writes, a town council stocked…
Tim Graham
March 9th, 2012 7:57 AM

NYTimes Ethan Bronner Files One More Sympathy Card for the Palestinian

Departing New York Times Jerusalem bureau chief Ethan Bronner filed Thursday's off-lead front-page story from the West Bank town of Ramallah, passing on yet another sympathy note for the Palestinians, whose left-wing cause for statehood and against Israeli "occupation" is no longer being trumpeted as loudly in the wake of the tumult in the region: "Mideast Din Drowns Out Palestinians." The…
Clay Waters
March 9th, 2012 7:30 AM

Game Change Co-Author Halperin Insists HBO Movie Leads Palin Detractor

Those who have seen HBO’s Game Change come away with a more sympathetic view of Sarah Palin, Time magazine’s Mark Halperin, co-author of the book on which HBO based its production set to air Saturday night, contended Wednesday night on CNN. Erin Burnett interviewed Halperin and co-author John Heilemann and Halperin told Burnett: We’ve seen a few screenings with people and uniformly – every…
Brent Baker
March 9th, 2012 3:32 AM

Schakowsky Admits Her Problem With Limbaugh is Politics More Than 'Slu

If the definition of the word "gaffe" is when a politician accidentally tells the truth, Illinois Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky may have committed a gaffe on Thursday's The Ed Show. After MSNBC host Ed Schultz gave her the chance to respond to complaints from conservatives that liberals have shown a double standard in tolerating vile comments about conservative women from liberals like Bill…
Brad Wilmouth
March 9th, 2012 1:46 AM