CNN In 2002: 'Al Qaeda Leader Is Dead or Alive

CNN is finally vindicated, sort of. Nearly nine years ago, the network emphatically declared of Osama bin Laden: "Experts Agree: Al Qaeda Leader Is Dead or Alive." Which would pretty much cover all of the available possibilities. Now we know -- he was alive back then, and he's dead today. Here's the item from the September 4, 2002 CyberAlert (as written at the time by MRC's Brent Baker)…
Rich Noyes
May 2nd, 2011 4:35 PM

NYT's John Broder Provides Obama Political Cover Over High Gas Prices

New York Times environmental reporter John Broder, who writes like a firm believer in human-induced global warming, provided a little political cover for Obama in his front-page story Saturday on rising gas prices, "Gas Cost Spurs Fight Over End Of a Tax Break." The problem is more than perception. As Julia Seymour of the Business and Media Institute reported, on April 25 the average price…
Clay Waters
May 2nd, 2011 4:33 PM

Richard Clarke on ABC: bin Laden Killing 'Doesn't Mean Much' for U.S

The day after terrorist Osama bin Laden was killed in a U.S. military action, Good Morning America brought on consultant Richard Clarke to downplay the death as a "propaganda victory" that will "make us feel good," but won't "mean much" for U.S. security." GMA co-anchor George Stephanopoulos on Monday interviewed Clarke, who worked for both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. After…
Scott Whitlock
May 2nd, 2011 3:40 PM

Your Tax Dollars at CPB: Pacifica Radio Airs Radical Saying 'bin-Laden

Taxpayer-funded Pacifica Radio receives around $1.5 million a year in funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It has a nasty habit of being especially radical on conventionally patriotic occasions. On Memorial Day 2010, Pacifica brought on radical Noam Chomsky to denounce "the great killer and torturer" and "grand criminal" Ronald Reagan. The morning after Independence Day in 2010…
Tim Graham
May 2nd, 2011 2:40 PM

NY Times Critic Dargis Laments Lack of Women in Summer Movies and "the

New York Times movie critics Manohla Dargis and A. O. Scott spray the new crop of summer flicks with a dose of liberal guilt in Sunday’s “Gosh, Sweetie, That’s a Big Gun.” Dargis in particular just can’t be pleased with how women are portrayed by Hollywood. Three years ago she greeted the summer season with "Is There a Real Woman in This Multiplex?”  On Sunday she lamented that the women on…
Clay Waters
May 2nd, 2011 2:15 PM

NBC's Gregory Frets Over 'Purist' Tea Party, Urges Sen. Rubio to 'Comp

In an interview with Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday, host David Gregory worried: "There's a purist streak to the Tea Party, right? Don't compromise....As you think about yourself, are you here to legislate? Are you here to compromise?" Rubio countered: "...we are dealing with major issues in our country, big issues that deserve big solutions....if we…
Kyle Drennen
May 2nd, 2011 2:12 PM

NYT's Zernike Finds Political Conspiracy Theories Driven by Conservati

New York Times Tea Party reporter Kate Zernike made the front of the Sunday Week in Review with “Conspiracies Are Us – The endless debate over Obama’s birth certificate and the paranoid style in American politics.” While mentioning in passing the left-wing conspiracy theory that 9-11 was plotted by the Bush administration, Zernike used her selected sources to point toward historical…
Clay Waters
May 2nd, 2011 12:47 PM

Joy Behar and Barbara Walters Politicize bin Laden Death: Just Cancel

View co-hosts Joy Behar and Barbara Walters on Monday immediately politicized the killing of terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden. After giving credit to Barack Obama for the successful strike, supposedly straight journalist Walters giddily announced, "I would hate now to be a Republican candidate thinking of running." Liberal comedienne Joy Behar played off a months-old comment by token…
Scott Whitlock
May 2nd, 2011 12:34 PM

MRC’s Notable Quotables: GOP to ‘Screw’ Young People, ‘Throw G

Today, the news is all about the U.S. military’s successful elimination of Osama bin Laden (go USA!), but for much of the last two weeks the media have preoccupied themselves with demanding higher taxes and scorning proposed Republican budget cuts as mean-spirited attacks on the poor. The worst of these quotes have been documented in this week’s Notable Quotables newsletter, now posted at…
Rich Noyes
May 2nd, 2011 11:57 AM

No Trump Bid

Thank goodness for the royal wedding! It took U.S. media attention off Donald Trump for a few minutes. In case you missed it, President Barack Obama actually made a statement about Trump's search for Obama's official birth certificate, now made public by the White House. One assumes the president took Trump seriously not to help generate free publicity for the "Celebrity Apprentice" finale…
Kathryn Jean Lopez
May 2nd, 2011 11:17 AM

Washington Post Writer 'Cringes' at Sight of 'Vulgar' Americans Celebr

For the Washington Post's Petula Dvorak the sight of American college kids celebrating the death of Osama Bin Laden outside of the White House gates, on Sunday night, was "almost vulgar." In a May 2 story Dvorak described the scenes of joy as "one part Mardi Gras and two parts Bon Jovi concert" but then went on to say "It felt a little crazy, a bit much. Almost vulgar" and admitted: "my first…
Geoffrey Dickens
May 2nd, 2011 11:03 AM

Deutsch Goes Gaga Over Obama Announcement: 'I Have Never Seen A More C

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.  FDR's "we have nothing to fear but fear itself."  Reagan's "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall."  Meh.  Not bad, but nothing compared with Barack Obama's announcement last night of the killing of Osama Bin Laden . . . at least, apparently, in the eyes of Donny Deutsch. Appearing on Morning Joe today, Deutsch said of President Obama's remarks "I have never seen…
Mark Finkelstein
May 2nd, 2011 10:15 AM

NYT Home Page Pic Caption: 'Little Question ... Obama's presidency had

Not waiting for history to play out, a New Times caption writer, below a picture of celebrants of Obama Bin Laden's demise outside the White House, has written: "As crowds gathered outside the White House, there was little question that Mr. Obama's presidency had forever been changed." The pic and caption follow the jump.
Tom Blumer
May 2nd, 2011 10:05 AM

Open Thread: Osama bin Laden Killed (Updated and Bumped

Leave your thoughts on this great day for America. Also, check out some videos of the reactions from across the country - notably, from the White House and Ground Zero NYC - via Hot Air guest-blogger John Sexton. There were spontaneous celebrations underway last night as the country rejoiced in the death of one of our most hated mass murderers. We awoke today to a better world.
NB Staff
May 2nd, 2011 9:10 AM