Chris Matthews: Pelosi Was the Strongest House Speaker in 50 Years

Just how biased would you have to be to think Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was the strongest Speaker of the House in the last 50 years? If you're thinking as biased as MSNBC's Chris Matthews, you'd be right (video follows with transcript and commentary):
Noel Sheppard
July 7th, 2011 4:14 PM

Twice in Less Than 24 Hours, Chris Matthews Compares Republicans to 'T

Two times in less than 24 hours, MSNBC's Chris Matthews smeared Republicans who oppose raising the debt limit as "terrorists." On Tuesday, after liberal guest Joan Walsh compared the GOP position to "hostage taking," the Hardball anchor derided, "I agree. It's terrorism." On Wednesday, while talking with left-wing blogger Ezra Klein, Matthews engaged in extreme hyperbole again, excoriating…
Scott Whitlock
July 7th, 2011 3:51 PM

David Brooks's Anti-GOP 'Mother of All No-Brainers' Column Gets Mother

Tuesday’s notorious column from the New York Times’s “conservative” David Brooks, “The Mother of All No-Brainers,” in which he accused Tea Party sympathizers of having "no sense of moral decency," is getting fulsome praise from staunch conservatives like Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Here’s Politico: Reid, on the floor on Tuesday, gave his approval to many of the points…
Clay Waters
July 7th, 2011 2:46 PM

Mis-Tweetment: Reuters Falsely Tweets That GOP Is OK With $150-200B in

Wednesday afternoon, BigJournalism.com editor-in-chief Dana Loesch reported that Arizona Senator John Kyl had been on the receiving end of what I would call "mis-tweetment" at the hands of someone irresponsibly chirping away at Reuters. The Reuters tweet stated that "Republicans have agreed to $150 billion to $200 billion in increased tax revenues as part of budget talks," and claimed Senator…
Tom Blumer
July 7th, 2011 2:15 PM

WaPo Slams Bachmann Yet Again

Hit piece portrays Michele and Marcus Bachmann as radical anti-gay crusaders, religious zealots.
Paul Wilson
July 7th, 2011 1:45 PM

David Gregory's Obama-Spin of the Day: If Democrats Make the Hard Choi

NBC's David Gregory challenged House Majority Leader Eric Cantor on Thursday's Today show, insinuating that Republican efforts to include tax cuts along with closing tax loopholes is not an effective compromise if Democrats are willing to cut entitlement spending. Gregory seemed to frame the debate around whether Republicans would make the "tough" choice of not cutting taxes, since Democrats…
Matt Hadro
July 7th, 2011 1:02 PM

Judiciary Committee Launches Probe of Kagan’s Involvement in Obamaca

The House Judiciary Committee is launching an investigation to probe the involvement that Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan had in “health care legislation or litigation” when she was serving as President Barack Obama’s solicitor general and was responsible for defending the administration’s position in federal court cases. The investigation will look at whether Kagan is required by law to…
Terence P. Jeffrey
July 7th, 2011 11:33 AM

Open Thread: Tea Party Democrats

While the Tea Party movement has largely been viewed as a resurgence in conservative values away from big government Republican politicians, its fiscal policies are attracting a new crowd: fiscally conservative Democrats. With remarks from both Rep. Michele Bachmann and Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele that the Tea Party embraces a number of disaffected Democrats, but…
NB Staff
July 7th, 2011 11:09 AM

Washington Post Slams Bachmann Yet Again

Jason Horowitz's July 6 piece in the Style section of the Washington Post, "Faith & Politics," was a continuation of the mainstream media's crusade against Michele Bachmann and her family. Half anthropology report from the darkest Midwest, half political hit-piece, Horowitz's article sniped at the Bachmanns' opposition to homosexuality and their strong Lutheran faith.
Paul Wilson
July 7th, 2011 10:55 AM

Reuters Ignores Projected August Debt Payments in 'Exclusive' About Pr

Reuters on Thursday issued what it called an "exclusive" report about the Treasury department "secretly" weighing options to avert a default if the debt ceiling isn't raised by August 2nd. In the piece, the authors shared with readers the amount of tax revenue Treasury projects it will collect in August as well as projected Social Security payments, but conspicuously ignored what the…
Noel Sheppard
July 7th, 2011 10:21 AM

MSNBC: Leaning Left for 15 Long Years - A Year-by-Year Video Retrospec

Tonight MSNBC's cast and crew will gather in Washington D.C. to celebrate their network being on the air for 15 long years. In that time its hosts, reporters and guests have attacked conservatives and Republicans on everything from impeaching Bill Clinton and conducting a war on terrorism, up to the fight over public unions. All the while some of its reporters and hosts have been thrilled by…
Geoffrey Dickens
July 7th, 2011 10:13 AM

Liberals at Wash Post Wrong to Underestimate Newt

One would be hard-pressed to find a better example of sheer misguided reporting than the story in The Washington Post last weekend in which it was reported that "Newt Gingrich thinks he can revive his debilitated campaign by talking about Alzheimer's. ... For most presidential candidates, Alzheimer's is a third- or fourth-tier subject, at best. But as Gingrich sees it, Alzheimer's, as well as…
Tony Blankley
July 7th, 2011 9:49 AM

NPR Listeners Hear EPA Touted as 'Environmental Investment Agency

In the Obama era, the Environmental Protection Agency and its chief Lisa Jackson have been absolutely non-controversial in the national media. Few reporters have considered its aggressive “green” tactics a job-crusher. In fact, on Wednesday night’s “Marketplace” business show on many NPR stations, that notion was mocked as a playground taunt that children might make. Reporter Adriene Hill began…
Tim Graham
July 7th, 2011 7:43 AM

Frank Rich, Former NYT Columnist, Takes on 'Elitist' Obama From the Le

Frank Rich, the New York Times’s puzzlingly influential former op-ed columnist and over-dramatic hater of the Bush administration and the Tea Party, has landed with a splash at New York Magazine,penning the magazine’s new cover story, “Obama’s Original Sin,” going after the president's timidity from the left in a way he never managed at the Times. What haunts the Obama administration is what…
Clay Waters
July 7th, 2011 6:36 AM