Rewind: ABC News Didn't Notice When Laura Bush Helped 'Extreme Makeove

While ABC's Good Morning America promoted that "cool lady" Michelle Obama's role in the season debut of ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition last Thursday, they failed to notice when Laura Bush pitched in on the same ABC show in 2005 (after George W. Bush's last campaign). It was taped in September, and aired on December 11. Even the show's producers downplayed the cameo as atypical and not…
Tim Graham
September 26th, 2011 2:45 PM

WaPo Publishes Another Gauzy Story on Gay Soldiers Celebrating End of

The end of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) is almost a week-old story, but the Washington Post is still busy churning up gushy human interest stories about gay and lesbian soldiers who are coming out of the closet. "After end of ban, acknowledgment at last," reads the headline on page B3 of the September 26 edition of the paper. "Gay service members' partners celebrate repeal of 'don't ask,…
Ken Shepherd
September 26th, 2011 1:06 PM

'Variety' Profile of Ann Curry: 'Voice of Intelligence' on NBC's Today

Variety magazine just released its 2011 "Women's Impact Report" – examining the influence of women in media – which included NBC "Today" co-host Ann Curry, who was described as "'Today's' voice of intelligence, compassion." This is the same Ann Curry that could not find Illinois on a map. The same Ann Curry that wished all weapons could be inflatable toys. The same Ann Curry that proclaimed…
Kyle Drennen
September 26th, 2011 12:33 PM

Condescending ABC Dismisses 'Pizza Baron' Cain: 'Nobody' Won the FL St

Good Morning America's John Hendren on Sunday dismissed the victory of Herman Cain in the Florida straw poll, condescendingly asserting that the "big winner is nobody." The ABC reporter made sure to repeatedly mention the business of the Republican presidential candidate: "That's right. The man who brought you Godfather's Pizza at 37 percent." Hendren arrogantly explained, "What's notable…
Scott Whitlock
September 26th, 2011 12:15 PM

Reducing Size and Scope of Government Will Fix Our Financial Mess Over

What's the common thread between Europe's financial mess, particularly among the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain), and the financial mess in the U.S.? That question could be more easily answered if we asked instead: What's necessary to cure the financial mess in Europe and the U.S.? If European governments and the U.S. Congress ceased the practice of giving people what they…
Walter E. Williams
September 26th, 2011 12:04 PM

Joe Scarborough: There Aren't Enough Republicans in Mainstream Media t

The folks at MSNBC as well as parent NBC should sit up and take notice of something Joe Scarborough said on Monday's "Morning Joe." "There are not enough people that are either Republican in the mainstream media or talk to people on the telephone at least one a month...who actually understand what the Republican Party is" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
Noel Sheppard
September 26th, 2011 11:55 AM

George Clooney Wants Democrats Like In His Movies: They'd Ban the Car

George Clooney has begun a publicity tour for his new political thriller The Ides of March (which debuts in theaters October 7). John Horn of the Los Angeles Times says the Clooney character has a platform “so uncompromisingly left-leaning it might make Fox News commentators burst into flames.” Not only that, Clooney’s character proposes the U.S. government ban the internal combustion engine…
Tim Graham
September 26th, 2011 11:22 AM

Open Thread: Obama Sees a Drop in Small Donors

During the 2008 election cycle, small donors were the symbol of President Obama's campaign. This time around, though, Obama's low approval ratings have underscored a major problem with his 2012 campaign: the growing disillusionment from his former grassroots supporters. With their disillusionment and poor economy also comes a significant drop in the number of small donations Obama is receiving…
NB Staff
September 26th, 2011 11:15 AM

NBC's Curry to Herman Cain: Was Fla. Straw Poll Win Just A 'Protest Vo

Update : Full transcript added. In an interview with Herman Cain on Monday's NBC "Today," co-host Ann Curry declared: "The Washington Post is reporting that many of the delegates voted for you – are saying that they voted for you as a protest vote to express no confidence in the Republican field. Do you want to weigh in on this?" [Audio available here] Cain fired back at the report: "I…
Kyle Drennen
September 26th, 2011 10:23 AM

Media Mash: CNN's Romans Pushes 'Buffett Rule'; There's No Appeasing C

"Greece has got a 45 percent income tax, a 23 percent value-added tax on top of that, so Greece should be in fine shape according to this economic theory," NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell told Fox News's Sean Hannity on Friday, reacting to a clip of CNN's Christine Romans insisting that "serious economists" all agree that taxes must be raised on America's highest income earners. "This is a…
NB Staff
September 26th, 2011 9:35 AM

New York Times Watch Quotes of Note - Classless Krugman on 'Fake Heroe

Classless Krugman on "Fake Heroes" of 9-11 like Bush “What happened after 9/11 -- and I think even people on the right know this, whether they admit it or not -- was deeply shameful. The atrocity should have been a unifying event, but instead it became a wedge issue. Fake heroes like Bernie Kerik, Rudy Giuliani, and, yes, George W. Bush raced to cash in on the horror. And then the attack was…
Clay Waters
September 26th, 2011 9:26 AM

Fox's Roger Ailes: 'Every Other Network Has Given All Their Shows to L

"Every other network has given all their shows to liberals. We are the balance." So said Roger Ailes in a profile written by the Daily Beast's Howard Kurtz Sunday which also included the Fox News chairman taking a shot at MSNBC's Joe Scarborough:
Noel Sheppard
September 26th, 2011 9:15 AM

ABC News Promotes 'Cool Lady' Michelle Obama on ABC Home-Rehab Show

ABC News did not get around to the story that Michelle Obama wore a $42,000 set of bracelets to a Democratic fundraiser. But they certainly helped the Obama campaign by touting her appearance on Sunday night's season debut of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The Obama campaign used the appearance to promote the First Lady's work on behalf of military families (and let's not recall how her…
Tim Graham
September 26th, 2011 7:32 AM

UK Telly Picks Up IMF Lending Limit Problem Bloomberg Concealed and AP

Sometimes, I think that we wouldn't have a useful press at all if it weren't for the British press. The big news out of the International Monetary Fund this weekend was, as reported by the UK Telegraph, that it "may need billions in extra funding." Specifically, it "may have to tap its members – including Britain – for billions of pounds of extra funding to stem the European debt crisis."…
Tom Blumer
September 26th, 2011 12:18 AM