Former Newsweek Editor on Why He Didn't Run Lewinsky Story: 'We Didn't

Former Newsweek editor Mark Whitaker said Sunday he chose not to run the story that former President Bill Clinton had an affair with Monica Lewinsky because he and his staff didn't feel they were on firm enough ground. "If we had gotten that wrong," Whitaker told CNN's Howard Kurtz on Reliable Sources, it "could  have been a mortal blow to Newsweek's reputation" (video follows with transcript…
Noel Sheppard
November 6th, 2011 9:41 PM

Daily Kos Week in Review: Barking Up the Wrong Tree

The left often accuses the right of dog-whistle politics, but likening actual conservatives to actual dogs? Two Kossacks went there this past week. That plus the ongoing Herman Cain sexual-harassment tale and the new statue of Ronald Reagan at National Airport are among the grist for this edition of DKWIR. As usual, each headline is preceded by the blogger's name or pseudonym.
Tom Johnson
November 6th, 2011 8:02 PM

Kurtz Spends 22 Minutes on Cain Allegations With No Mention of Media's

CNN's Howard Kurtz considers himself to be a media analyst, yet on Sunday's Reliable Sources, he spent 22 minutes discussing Politico's hit piece on Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain without once mentioning how the press handled Bill Clinton's actual  sex scandals. The program began:
Noel Sheppard
November 6th, 2011 7:33 PM

Amanpour, Agreeable with Pelosi, Pushes Boehner Repeatedly from Left t

ABC’s Christiane Amanpour, on Sunday’s This Week, hit House Speaker John Boehner repeatedly from the left to raise taxes, a hostile, political agenda-driven approach she failed to apply a month earlier to the House’s top Democrat, Nancy Pelosi. Amanpour demanded of Boehner: “Do you not feel that by opposing” a tax hike on millionaires to pay for Obama’s jobs bill “you’re basically out of…
Brent Baker
November 6th, 2011 6:10 PM

Eleanor Clift: Herman Cain Got 'Free Ride' From Media Until Politico H

There have been a lot of ridiculous comments made in the past week since Politico published its hit piece on Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, but one of the most absurd yet came from Newsweek's Eleanor Clift this weekend. Appearing on PBS's McLaughlin Group, Clift actually said, "This is the press doing what the press should be doing, and they should have done due diligence on…
Noel Sheppard
November 6th, 2011 4:33 PM

Liz Cheney Scolds Bob Schieffer for Discussing Cain 'Scandal' Rather T

While Bob Schieffer spent a goodly amount of time on Sunday's Face the Nation discussing the allegations made against Herman Cain this week as well as Rick Perry's strange speech in New Hampshire, Liz Cheney was the voice of reason asking why he was wasting so much time on these irrelevant issues. "With all due respect, you know, the American people are out there afraid. They're afraid that…
Noel Sheppard
November 6th, 2011 2:51 PM

'This Week' Guest: 'All The Texans I Know Can't Stand' Rick Perry

Call it Niall Ferguson's Pauline Kael moment . . . During the roundtable segment this morning on ABC's This Week, Ferguson, an academic with appointments at Harvard, Stanford and Oxford, said that "all the Texans I know" can't stand Rick Perry. Ferguson was reacting to host Christiane Amanpour's question about Perry's highly-animated New Hampshire address.  Ferguson professed to like the "…
Mark Finkelstein
November 6th, 2011 2:13 PM

George Will: GOP Congress-Blaming Obama Ignores Senate

As NewsBusters observed last month, the media, possibly with marching papers from the White House, have regularly been blaming all that ails the nation on "The Republican Congress" despite the fact Democrats control the Senate. On ABC's This Week Sunday, George Will marvelously noted, "While [Barack Obama] was lecturing in Constitutional law, he missed that part of the Article I that says…
Noel Sheppard
November 6th, 2011 12:55 PM

Fareed Zakaria: 'The American Dream Is Better In Europe

The European Union might completely fall apart any day now as the countries in that region implode under their massive debt. Despite this, CNN's Fareed Zakaria offered another America-hating love letter to the struggling continent Sunday actually claiming, "The American dream seems to be thriving in Europe not at home" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
Noel Sheppard
November 6th, 2011 11:11 AM

Open Thread: Mark Levin's Keynote Speech at Dream

Media Research Center friend Mark Levin spoke at Saturday's Defending the American Dream Summit sponsored by Americans for Prosperity. Take 30 minutes out of your busy schedule to watch this marvelous address - you won't regret it (absolute must-see video follows):
Noel Sheppard
November 6th, 2011 9:08 AM

On PBS, David Brooks and Liberal Agree: Obama's 'Defied Gravity,' Cain

On the PBS NewsHour Friday, there was the typical agreement between "conservative" David Brooks and liberal Mark Shields on the sour state of the economy, and that despite that, Brooks said President Obama's "hanging in there reasonably well," and Shields agreed he's "defied gravity." Brooks slammed Herman Cain's response to the incredibly vague Politico story: that he "didn't do kindergarten…
Tim Graham
November 6th, 2011 8:36 AM

MSNBC's Wolffe Sees Herman Cain Base as 'Ultraconservative

Appearing as a guest on Saturday's Today show on NBC, MSNBC political analyst Richard Wolffe - formerly of Newsweek - labeled Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain's supporters as "ultraconservative" as he admitted to the media's unpopularity not only with the general population, but with conservatives in particular. After co-host Lester Holt noted that Cain's poll numbers have held…
Brad Wilmouth
November 6th, 2011 7:30 AM

On NPR, 'Conservative' David Brooks Trashes Cain the 'TV Show' and Rom

On Friday night's All Things Considered, the Week in Politics segment could have been titled "Another Horrible Week for Republicans." Helping out enthusiastically was New York Times columnist David Brooks, who is billed as the conservative half of the political analyst team with ultraliberal Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne. But the two end up agreeing so much you can't tell which one is…
Tim Graham
November 6th, 2011 7:09 AM

AP Likens Police in Occupy Atlanta Arrest Story to Insects

According to an unbylined Associated Press report out of Atlanta tonight, when police move in to arrest members of a crowd which won't move when ordered to move, they "swarm." Nice insect comparison, eh? And in case readers didn't get the negative connotation the first time, the AP report used the word again in its final paragraph. Here are several paragraphs from the report, including an…
Tom Blumer
November 6th, 2011 1:17 AM