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Frank Rich’s Sunday column for the New York Times, “Gay Bashing at the Smithsonian,” on the removal of a video from the “Hide/Seek” show of gay artists sponsored by the federally funded museum, was even more melodramatically offended (and offensive to Christian conservatives) than Arts critic Holland Cotter’s Saturday anguish. After a video that included an 11-second clip of ants crawling…

Ever the classy bunch, the ladies of "The View" spent a few minutes Monday mocking incoming Speaker of the House John Boehner for tearing up during an interview with CBS's Lesley Stahl. The usual suspects, apparently no longer bothered by dramatic showings of disrespect towards national leaders, hit Boehner with characteristically immature and uninformed attacks. The bigger surprise, though…

CNN's Roland Martin went on a tirade against Rush Limbaugh on his "Washington Watch" program on TV One on Sunday, labeling the conservative talker a "right-wing blowhard" and "absolute idiot" for pretending not to know anything about the black-oriented TV network. Martin claimed that he was "more fair and sensible" than Limbaugh, but his list of guests alone betrays a definite liberal bias.…

Comparing the current tax cut compromise with Barack Obama's stimulus plan of 2009, MSNBC's Joe Scarborough labeled the tax cuts a "steaming pile of garbage" on his December 13 show. Complaining that the compromise will add another $900 billion to the deficit, Scarborough compared it to the stimulus plan that cost a similar amount in the name of "stimulating" the economy. "This is a…

Some refreshing frankness from Chuck Todd today.  Commenting on the MSM hoopla about Bill Clinton's recent White House press room solo, NBC's political director and chief White House correspondent acknowledged that there are "a lot of Clinton Kool-Aid drinkers" in the media. Chris Matthews, who had played a couple Clinton clips and gushed over his brilliance, protested that Todd was…

On CNN's Reliable Sources on Sunday, host Howard Kurtz explained the large online fuss over how New York Times dance critic Alastair Macaulay questioned the weight of several dancers at a holiday performance of the Nutcracker: Now, dance critics don't usually stir a whole lot of controversy, but Alastair Macaulay of The New York Times has gotten a flood of negative mail for his review of the…

Earlier today, a federal district judge in the 4th Circuit found the individual mandate section of the ObamaCare law unconstitutional. Tribune Newspapers Washington bureau writers Noam N. Levey and David G. Savage wrote up the 19-paragraph story, which I accessed at LATimes.com. Levey and Savage waited until the 12th and 13th paragraphs to actually quote U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson:

The Girls discuss the media fascination of what Sarah Palin reads, Katy Perry's newest Firework, and a little kid who had too much fun during a Meredith Vieira interview. [Video embedded after page break]  

"Missed birthdays, games, and plays end in tears," one congressional wife and mother of young children tells me, delighted by the "certainty of the calendar" for the next Congress. Hers is a reality that all too many parents -- in and out of Congress -- know is often unavoidable. But sometimes it can be managed. Seventy-six of the 87 new Republican members of Congress have children, 233 in…

Over at The New Republic, they hate MSNBC's Morning Joe -- because it's insulting to feminists. Eliza Gray's Monday lament was promoted as "The Pathetic Sexism of Morning Joe."  Gray began simply by lamenting the word count. Shouldn't Mika Brzezinski talk just as much as Joe Scarborough? One Monday morning in November, according to the admittedly rough transcript provided by the Federal News…

The network morning shows on Saturday thrilled over Bill Clinton's impromptu return to the White House. Commenting on the ex-President and Barack Obama's appearance on Friday to promote the tax bill compromise, Good Morning America's Dan Harris raved, "That was an awesome bit of political theater. An amazing atmosphere in the room, I have to imagine." Reporter David Kerley saw Clinton's Q…

A useful guideline in evaluating the significance of a national security-related news story first revealed by someone in the establishment press is whether other media outlets pick it up. If they don't, it's probably significant. Such is the case with the Washington Post's Saturday story about Venezuela acquiring 1,800 Russian antiaircraft missiles. That appears to be 1,700 more than…

MSNBC's Chris Jansing thinks that Republicans outraising Democrats in the 2010 midterms is a problem that government needs to fix. On the December 13 "Jansing & Co.," the daytime anchor fretted, "Do you think it's getting out of hand?" She sardonically added, "Is the sky the limit here?" Jim Gilmore, former chairman of the Republican National Committee, fired back in support of…

How did the nation ever survive without the government telling its schools what foods they should serve? This is one of many questions the Associated Press's Mary Clare Jalonick did not explore in her brief de facto press release this morning trumpeting the wonders of the "nutrition bill" President Obama is signing into law these days (presented in full for fair use and discussion purposes):