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I agree with President Obama. When it comes to politicizing random violence, he and his supporters have been "far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than" they do. Recognition is the first step toward reconciliation. It's time to recognize the poisonous pervasiveness of the Blame Righty meme. For the past two years, Democratic…

President Obama is receiving uniform praise for his memorial remarks in Tucson, Ariz. Even conservatives are saying he hit the right notes, substantively and tonally. I agree, with a few qualifiers and gentle cautions. Obama was eloquent in his tribute to the victims and appropriately acknowledged that "none of us can know exactly what triggered this vicious attack ... or what thoughts lurked…

Earlier this morning, NewsBusters publisher and Media Research Center (MRC) president Brent Bozell sat down with C-SPAN's Libby Casey for an interview on "Washington Journal." Among other topics, Bozell addressed media coverage of the Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Arizona) shooting. "Where's the harm in having this discussion about civil discourse?" Casey asked Bozell. "I think it's a very…

Ah, the perils that befall Chris Matthews when he brings a non-liberal on his show. Maybe this is why it happens so rarely. MSNBC contributor Pat Buchanan made an astute observation on Thursday's "Hardball": people who continue to blame Sarah Palin or any other conservative for Saturday's shooting in Tucson - people like Chris Matthews - are the new conspiracy theorists. They bear striking…

The race is still ongoing, with four candidates remaining, but Steele made an emotional exit under an hour ago. Use this thread to share updates and for any discussion related to Steele or the RNC generally. You can watch a live stream of coverage of the race here, compliments of C-SPAN.

On Wednesday (at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog), in commenting on USA Today's poor decision to quote a paragraph from a New York Times op-ed by former Congressman Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.) -- a bad decision because Kanjorski's call for "civility" directly contrasts with his call for someone to shoot Florida gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott just a few months ago -- I wrote that USAT Founder Al…

Jon Stewart on Thursday again jumped to the defense of Barack Obama, slamming those who questioned the cheering at Wednesday's memorial for the Arizona shooting. After playing a clip of Michelle Malkin complaining about the event, he derided the conservative: "You're not a primitive nematode, capable only of autonomic response to outside stimuli. You have a choice." Trading jokes for…

On Friday's CBS Early Show, correspondent Mark Phillips declared how the beatification of Pope John Paul II to sainthood was moving "at break-neck speed" and noted that "Groups protesting the Catholic Church's child abuse scandal are urging the Vatican to slow down the process." Despite the protests, Phillips remarked that "the current pope, Benedict XVI, seems determined to charge ahead…

"The Second Amendment that guarantees the right to bear arms is part of America’s founding fabric. So is senseless violence brought about by guns also American?" asked Newsweek's Daniel Stone in a January 13 post at the magazine's website. Stone noted that his question was inspired by a similar query posed recently by a Russian journalist Andrei Sitov to White House press secretary Robert…

Update (5:03 pm): The Times responds. See the full response below. Below is the full text of an email I sent Friday afternoon to Arthur Brisbane, Public Editor of the New York Times. In it, I detail a serious error made by Times columnist Paul Krugman in his Sunday column - documented at NB - and request that the Times correct the record, in keeping with its own ethics policies. If Mr.…

Linda Greenhouse, the Times' former Supreme Court reporter and confessed liberal, describes the Constitution as a document that moves with the Times: "...the Constitution is a participant in a continual dialogue between past and present. A reading of the text that ignores that fact is...simplistic and sterile."

Anyone who’s read Big Hollywood for any period of time knows I’m no Jon Stewart fan. On his best days, I find him smug and disingenuous. “But he attacks the Left!”, my friends tell me. Yeah, when they’re not liberal enough or like the ACLU taking a righteous case every now and again, as cover so people will say, “But he attacks the Left!” Sorry, no sale here, and Stewart’s increasingly…

On Friday's CBS Early Show, co-host Erica Hill noted President Obama "calling for a little bit of a detente" in the wake of the Tucson shooting and wondered, "is this civility going to last?" Political analyst John Dickerson argued: "There will be one small test next week as House Republicans bring up the repeal of the health care bill." Dickerson criticized the name of the repeal…

In the wake of last Saturday's shooting spree in Arizona, MSNBC anchor Chris Jansing on Friday wondered if the phrase "jobs-killing health care" bill is now taboo. Speaking to a former speechwriter for Condi Rice, Jansing also speculated as to whether Barack Obama's address at a memorial service will "take some of the wind" out of the Republicans' sails. Talking to speechwriter Elise Jordan,…