CBS Pushes Liberal Talking Point About Tea Party 'Downgrade

On Monday's Early Show, CBS's Norah O'Donnell promoted the left-of-center talking point that Standard & Poor's recent lowering of the U.S.'s credit rating is a "Tea Party downgrade." O'Donnell played three sound bites of notable liberals using this line of attack, versus only one opposing from a center-right politician. She also spun Treasury Geithner's decision to stay as "good news for…
Matthew Balan
August 8th, 2011 1:45 PM

On Saturday's 'Today,' GOP Blamed for Debt Downgrade and Washington Gr

At the top of Saturday's NBC Today, CNBC's chief Washington correspondent John Harwood told co-host Lester Holt that the downgrade of U.S. debt provided President Obama with "a tangible consequence to point to for Republican brinksmanship on the debt and deficit reduction deal." Harwood observed: "Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, always said, 'We don't want co-ownership of the economy…
Kyle Drennen
August 8th, 2011 1:16 PM

NewsBusters Publisher Bozell to Media: Don’t Endorse John Kerry’s

John Kerry is on a crusade to destroy the Tea Party. To blame the Tea Party for the S&P downgrade is like blaming the Betty Ford Clinic for alcoholism. The entire existence of the Tea Party movement has been based on an attempt to stop the runaway spending of Washington – by the likes of John Kerry. Any media outlet that features his outrageous blame game remarks without challenging his…
Brent Bozell
August 8th, 2011 1:10 PM

ABC: Is Rick Perry Going 'Too Far' With Prayer Event? Frets 'Even Main

Good Morning America's David Kerley on Saturday offered up a one-sided, biased take on a prayer event led by Texas Governor Rick Perry over the weekend. The ABC graphic for the segment chided, "Prayer Controversy: Is Rick Perry Going Too Far?" The piece featured four clips from those hostile from the event and none in support. Yet, Kerley still attempted to speak for the faithful: "Even some…
Scott Whitlock
August 8th, 2011 12:22 PM

NBC's Ann Curry Fought With Navy Dad on Vietnam; Oozes We're 'Evolving

NBC Today co-anchor Ann Curry is the cover story of the September issue of Ladies Home Journal and discussed how she fought with her U.S. naval officer father about the Vietnam War, (unsurprisingly) taking the liberal, Walter Cronkite-inspired anti-war position: "When I was a teenager," she says, "Dad and I would have dinner table debates about the Vietnam War. I was deeply affected by Walter…
Tim Graham
August 8th, 2011 12:13 PM

WaPo Notes Congressional Black Caucus's Push on Black Unemployment, Om

"Black lawmakers are embarking on a month-long campaign Monday to address the staggering unemployment rate among African Americans, an issue that has become a growing source of tension between members of the Congressional Black Caucus and the Obama administration," Washington Post's Ylan Q. Mui noted in the open of her August 8 page A3 story, "Black caucus launches minority jobs campaign."…
Ken Shepherd
August 8th, 2011 12:11 PM

NBC's Gregory Accuses GOP of 'Politicizing' Debt Downgrade, After Allo

On Sunday's Meet the Press on NBC, host David Gregory allowed Massachusetts Senator John Kerry to blame Standard and Poor's downgrade of U.S. debt on the Tea Party without challenge. However, minutes later, in an interview with Arizona Senator John McCain, Gregory was quick to accuse Republicans of "politicizing" the issue by criticizing Democrats. After quoting a statement from House…
Kyle Drennen
August 8th, 2011 11:32 AM

Scarborough Tells 'Terminally Stupid Ideologues' to 'Stop Using the Te

As NewsBusters reported Sunday, Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) set off a liberal firestorm when he called Standard and Poor's U.S. credit rating change the "Tea Party Downgrade." On Monday's "Morning Joe," host Joe Scarborough told "terminally stupid ideologues" that "really don't understand" anything because they're "so dogmatic [they] can't think for [themselves]" to "stop using the Tea Party…
Noel Sheppard
August 8th, 2011 11:21 AM

Latest Notable Quotables: Deriding the Tea Party as Terrorists 'Strapp

MRC has just posted the latest edition of Notable Quotables, our bi-weekly compilation of the latest outrageous, sometimes humorous, quotes in the liberal media. This week, NQ is chock full of quotes from journalists slashing the Tea Party as the Republican Party’s “Hezbollah faction,” who have “strapped explosives to the Capitol” and “waged jihad on the American people.” Oh, and New York…
Rich Noyes
August 8th, 2011 10:32 AM

Open Thread: Can a Free Market Support a Democratic Socialist Society

In recent years, America has become increasingly socialized through a welfare state with entitlements seen as rights, mostly paid for by the rich through the redistribution of wealth. Such a state is seemingly the goal of President Obama and fellow liberal Democrats, who relish in the ideas of a more European-style centralized government. Last week, many labeled the debt negotiations in…
NB Staff
August 8th, 2011 10:26 AM

Under Deal, Debt to Rise $12 Trillion and 95% of Network Stories Leave

If you've been watching the news media react to the debt ceiling deal you might thing some drastic spending cuts were signed into law. After all, ABC made it sound like Congress took a "machete" to the budget and NBC's "Today" wondered if those spending cuts could harm the economy. What has been completely missing from much of the network reporting was an admission that the deal "doesn't cut…
Julia A. Seymour
August 8th, 2011 10:22 AM

WaPo Promotes Idea That Murdoch Endangered His Media Empire by Favorin

On the front page of its Style section, Monday's Washington Post highlighted PR combat between two right-leaning media tycoons -- Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch and Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. Both are mired in scandal, which might explain the Post's inside headline: "How do you say 'schadenfraude' in Italian?" They might be speaking for Berlusconi enjoying Murdoch's troubles, but…
Tim Graham
August 8th, 2011 8:13 AM

ABC Finds ‘Some Mainstream Christians Are Concerned’ About Perry R

On both Good Morning America and World News, two different ABC correspondents filed separate reports recounting that some Christians oppose Texas Governor Rick Perry’s prayer rally from the weekend, but, in both reports, clips of left-wing figures like the Reverend Barry Lynn of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, and Drew Courtney of People for the American Way were shown…
Brad Wilmouth
August 8th, 2011 7:25 AM

Greenspan on Meet the Press: No Chance of Default. Really

We've just spent the past month or so having politicians and the press tell us that if there was no debt-ceiling deal by August 2, the government might default on its debts (of course, Tim Geithner and Barack Obama could indeed have strategically defaulted if they had wished, but work with me here). But Sunday on Meet the Press, in a remark I expect will not be relayed much if at all by the…
Tom Blumer
August 8th, 2011 1:36 AM