WaPo Again Pushes for Statewide Bag Tax in Md., Fails to Mention Newsp

Yesterday I critiqued Washington Post staffer Michael Laris's reporting on the Montgomery County [Md.] Council passing into law a 5-cent bag tax effective January 1, 2012. Laris omitted the fact that the county bag tax has a glaring exemption for newspaper bags, including the sleeves that protect home-delivered newspapers from the elements. This was despite the fact that his newspaper's…
Ken Shepherd
May 5th, 2011 3:21 PM

Rachel Maddow Belatedly Realizes That Fort Hood Massacre Was Terrorism

Not bad, it took her a mere 18 months to grasp this. On her MSNBC show Monday night, the first time it ran after the death of bin Laden, Rachel Maddow cited several post-9/11 examples of terrorism targeting Americans in the US -- including the attack at Fort Hood in November 2009. "Since Sept. 11, the story of terrorism targeting the United States itself has mostly, thankfully, been the…
Jack Coleman
May 5th, 2011 2:57 PM

NYT: Obama Nabbing Osama: 'Glow of National Pride;' Bush's Capture of

President Bush received a short-term boost in a New York Times poll when Saddam Hussein was captured in December 2003, his job approval rating rising to 58% from 50%, while the assassination of Osama bin Laden similarly benefitted President Obama in yesterday's NYT/CBS poll, 57% to 46%. Yet it was Obama who got the warmer initial greeting on the New York Times's front page. The first three…
Clay Waters
May 5th, 2011 2:12 PM

NBC's Gregory: Obama's 'Ultimate Leadership Moment' Dispels GOP Critic

Anchoring NBC News special report coverage of President Obama visiting Ground Zero on Thursday, Meet the Press host David Gregory used the opportunity to take a shot at critics of the administration: "...this [killing bin Laden] was the ultimate leadership moment for a commander in chief who in some ways had not been tested on this order. Who had been the target of criticism from Republicans…
Kyle Drennen
May 5th, 2011 2:06 PM

New York Times Suggests GOP Ruining Post-Osama Mood of Unity By Pushin

In Wednesday’s “Good Feeling Gone, In Congress, Anyway,“ New York Times reporters Jennifer Steinhauer and Carl Hulse suggested it was unseemly for Republicans to not accede to President Obama on domestic issues, after the killing of Osama bin Laden by Navy SEALS in Pakistan. The article superficially appears to be an even-handed “pox on both houses“ story, but the text provided a tableaux of…
Clay Waters
May 5th, 2011 1:24 PM

Fmr. Clinton WH Counsel Davis: Liberals Should Stop Cheap Shots at Bus

This morning on WMAL's "Morning Majority" program, former Clinton White House counsel Lanny Davis slammed liberals who were taking partisan pot-shots at former President George W. Bush in the wake of Osama bin Laden's killing on Sunday. While Davis didn't name names, he made veiled references to MSNBC and its "Last Word" host Lawrence O'Donnell. O'Donnell, you may recall, bashed former…
Ken Shepherd
May 5th, 2011 12:27 PM

Chris Matthews Bizarrely Mocks Rush Limbaugh as a 'Walrus Underwater

MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Wednesday mocked Rush Limbaugh's response to the killing of Osama bin Laden, deriding the conservative as a "walrus underwater." Matthews also made an odd grunting noise to back up this description. After playing a clip of Limbaugh asserting that the media have played up Barack Obama's role in the action, the Hardball anchor berated, "You know, I don't even know…
Scott Whitlock
May 5th, 2011 12:24 PM

New CBS Anchor Scott Pelley Defensively Responds to MRC Criticism

Incoming CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley was asked by the Politico's Keach Hagey for his reaction to the MRC's Profile in Bias on him and the longtime 60 Minutes correspondent, who once compared global warming skeptics to Holocaust deniers, seemed to deny the charge of liberal bias as he huffed: "CBS has been called liberal for a lot of years," adding, "It probably harkens all the way back…
Geoffrey Dickens
May 5th, 2011 11:13 AM

Unions Under Siege Across the Nation

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has started a revolt — a pro-democracy revolt in favor of taxpayers and workers.
Rebekah Rast
May 5th, 2011 10:31 AM

Open Thread: 'Release the Dead Laden Photos,' Says Jack Shafer

Slate's media reporter Jack Shafer has a great column up calling on the White House to release the apparently-gruesome photos of Osama bin Laden after he was shot and killed by Navy SEALs on Sunday. Suppressing the photos, Shafer claims, "infantilizes the nation and gives the White House unwarranted news control." Check out a longer excerpt below the break.
NB Staff
May 5th, 2011 10:01 AM

NPR's 'Mutual Respect' Claim Doesn't Extend to Trump and the Birthers

NPR anchor Steve Inskeep denied NPR’s liberal bias in The Wall Street Journal in March: "Most listeners understand that we're all figuring out the world together, calmly and honestly, in an atmosphere of mutual respect. NPR's audience keeps expanding because Americans want more than toxic political attacks. They want news." But that’s not really the case. On Tuesday, the Journal’s James Taranto…
Tim Graham
May 5th, 2011 7:53 AM

Oil Speculation Is Not the Problem, Government Overregulation of Suppl

Here's a non-rocket science question: If you expect a reduced harvest of wheat, corn, rice or any other commodity some time in the future, what would be the wise thing to do about your consumption today? I bet that the average person would answer: Consume less now so that more will be available in the future. But how in the world can people be encouraged to consume less now? Enter the futures…
Walter E. Williams
May 4th, 2011 6:36 PM

Rush Limbaugh Cited NewsBusters on May 3 Program

In case you missed it, Rush Limbaugh made reference to Tom Blumer's May 2 article, "AP: Secret Prisons and Harsh Interrogation Techniques Worked; Will TV Nets Report?" You can access the audio for that here or here:
NB Staff
May 4th, 2011 5:51 PM

NBC's 'Today' Frets Celebrations After bin Laden's Death Were 'Very Di

On NBC's Today on Wednesday, co-host Matt Lauer worried about Americans celebrating the death of Osama bin Laden: "...your children are going to see, and have already seen, people in the streets celebrating about the death of someone and that's a contradictory image for them." Today contributor and psychiatrist Gail Saltz replied: "Absolutely, very disturbing for them." The segment was on…
Kyle Drennen
May 4th, 2011 5:32 PM