Latest Blogs

GOP Guest Informs CNN of Its Own Poll Results
Rep. Tom Graves (R-Ga.) twice told CNN's John King Thursday night the results of CNN's own poll showing Americans favor a Cut, Cap, and Balance plan. King would not affirm his claims and instead reported other poll results showing that Americans favor compromise on the debt ceiling.
Throughout Thursday afternoon, the network selectively touted results from its newly-released poll showing a…
July 22nd, 2011 1:26 PM

MSNBC's Thomas Roberts: A GOP President Would 'Extinguish' Gays
Following the media's relentless coverage of the Bachmann clinic and their semi-humorous insinuations that Marcus Bachmann might be gay, MSNBC's Thomas Roberts, who is himself openly gay, told viewers today the Republican presidential contender would try to wipe out gays and lesbians.
"But you will replace [Obama] with a person who would extinguish you," Roberts protested Friday morning to…
July 22nd, 2011 12:48 PM

NYT Art Critic Celebrates Nostalgia for Soviet Union Over Headline 'Wh
One can hardly imagine a newspaper running a headline that suggested a fascist society like Nazi Germany had its good points. Yet the New York Times has carved out a side industry in headlines that suggest a bright side to Communist tyranny in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.
The latest came attached to art critic Holland Cotter’s 1,700-word review of “Ostalgia,” an exhibit of Soviet and…
July 22nd, 2011 12:26 PM

Aww, David Shuster Laments That Rupert Murdoch Came Across as 'Likable
It irritates liberals to no end when conservatives they revile don't comply with the caricatures they've created for them.
Former MSNBCer David Shuster, for example, subbing for radio host Bill Press on Wednesday, had this to say about News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch's testimony before Parliament (audio clip after page break) --
July 22nd, 2011 12:25 PM
Carney's Bark About 'Vastly Improved' Economy Since Obama's Inaugurati
Yesterday, White House spokesmouth Jay Carney made yet another claim concerning how grrrrrrreat the economy is compared when President Barack Obama took office (bold is mine):
The economy is vastly improved from what it was when Barack Obama was sworn into office as president.
To no one's surprise, this howler was not considered news at the Associated Press. No article found in a search at…
July 22nd, 2011 12:10 PM

CNN's John King Distorts Reagan, Parrots False Claim That He Peddled T
CNN's John King on Thursday recycled the now debunked claim that, in a similar situation to the current debt ceiling debate, Ronald Reagan lobbied for a tax increase compromise to avoid an economic default. This was the fifth time in less than a week that the cable network peddled the distorted quote provided by congressional Democrats.
Discussing the national debt, King spun, "Believe it…
July 22nd, 2011 12:02 PM

CNN.com's Breaking News Bias on 'Cut, Cap and Balance' Rejection by Se
As soon as the Senate rejected the "Cut, Cap and Balance" plan, CNN.com shot out a biased Breaking News alert to e-mail subscribers that labeled the measure as one "favored by hard-line conservative [sic]" (screen capture attached below page break):
July 22nd, 2011 11:10 AM

Fareed Zakaria Blames Tea Party For Debt Ceiling 'Sideshow
CNN's Fareed Zakaria Thursday called the debt ceiling battle a "sideshow" caused by the Tea Party.
Appearing on "In the Arena" as a supposed "astute observer of the economy," Zakaria proceeded to bungle economic and historic facts like a high school dropout (video follows with transcript and commentary):
July 22nd, 2011 10:55 AM

Media Mash: Despite MSM Slamming 'Cut, Cap and Balance,' 66% of Americ
While the media have been busy persistently denouncing the Cut, Cap and Balance plan as Republicans "wasting time" with a "show" plan that has "no chance of passage," the public aren't accepting the media spin.
A CNN poll shows nearly 2/3rds of Americans favor that approach to tackling the national debt and balancing the budget, NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell noted on the July 21 "Hannity…
July 22nd, 2011 10:37 AM
Open Thread: Rick Perry's Chances
Today's starter topic: Rick Perry. He's continuing to generate buzz in the context of the 2012 Republican presidential primaries and now for the first time, the Texas governor is favored by bettors on the oddsmaking site Intrade to actually get the nomination:
Texas Gov. Rick Perry may not have formally declared his presidential candidacy yet, but bettors on the news-futures website…
July 22nd, 2011 10:21 AM

No Media Reckoning for Harkin's False Deficit History
Iowa Senator Tom Harkin was at his worst Wednesday morning in a press conference.
Sure, there was the usual immature Democratic Party name-calling -- calling Republicans "dead-beat debtors" and characterizing Republicans who oppose raising the debt ceiling as a "cult fringe," even though polls seem to be showing that 60% of Americans are in that "fringe." But beyond that, Harkin uttered a…
July 21st, 2011 11:29 PM
MSNBC Regular Dyson: Reaganism Imposed 'In Fascist Fashion
logorrhea: excessive and often incoherent talkativeness or wordiness. -- Merriam Webster
When watching lefty professor and MSNBC regular Michael Eric Dyson, the notion often occurs to me that the man suffers from the condition described above. Just yesterday, as James Taranto noted in his Best of the Web column at WSJ online, Dyson digressed, during an MSNBC appearance, into a riff to the…
July 21st, 2011 9:26 PM

CNN Ignores Poll Results Showing Strong Support for 'Cut, Cap, and Bal
CNN touted results from its newly-released poll Thursday showing Americans favor a balance of spending cuts and tax increases in the debt ceiling debate, as well as raising the debt ceiling. What the network completely failed to report -- although NewsBusters reported it -- was that Americans also favored two conservative positions – passage of a balanced budget amendment, along with spending…
July 21st, 2011 7:51 PM
PieGate: MSNBCer Floats Conspiracy Theory Murdoch Staged Pie Throwing
The media's attention on Rupert Murdoch and the British hacking scandal hit a new low Thursday.
Filling in for MSNBC's Chris Matthews, Michael Smerconish finished "Hardball" with a segment floating the conspiracy theory that Rupert Murdoch staged Tuesday's Parliamentary pie throwing incident to distract everyone's attention from his testimony (video follows with transcript and commentary):
July 21st, 2011 7:10 PM