Gregory Repeatedly Pesters Boehner to 'Stand Up to Ignorance' on Birth

The Los Angeles Times rushed to report yesterday that the "hot news" from NBC's Meet the Press was that Speaker John Boehner wasn't angry enough to denounce the "birthers" in the conservative movement, and the people who think Barack Obama's a Muslim (or at least, not a Christian). But, wait: what's news about that? NBC anchor Brian Williams pressed Boehner to denounce birthers when Congress…
Tim Graham

Greens vs. Obama When 'Solar Decathlon' Destroys Grass

The national media often don't like covering when liberals fight each other. On Sunday, Washington Post reporter Darryl Fears found the fossil fuel-haters are furious that Obama's Energy Department has kicked the "Solar Decathlon" off its grand stage on the grass of the Mall in Washington...because it makes a mess:  The decathlon has taken place on the Mall four times, most recently in 2009,…
Tim Graham

Reuters Fails To Note Irony Of Dictator Gaddafi's Call For 'Popular Re

Muammar Gaddafi has resorted to the oldest trick in the Arab-dictator book: distract attention from authoritarian rule at home by beating the Palestinian drum.  Nothing new there.  But what is noteworthy is how Reuters seems happy to march to the Libyan strongman's beat. Reuters' article "Gaddafi tells Palestinians: revolt against Israel" [h/t Drudge], fails to note the irony of an iron-…
Mark Finkelstein

CNN Shows Muslim Brotherhood Member Defending Violence Against Israel

 Over the past couple of weeks, as prominent Muslim Brotherhood members tried to sell themselves as harmless in interviews shown on the evening newscasts on ABC, NBC, and CNN, Eliot Spitzer of CNN’s Parker-Spitzer managed to coax spokesman Mohammed Morsy into defending violence against Israel by Palestinians, contradicting the Brotherhood spokesman’s claims in the same interview of being…
Brad Wilmouth

Funny With Numbers: AP's Crutsinger Minimizes Federal Spending Level

Sadly, one could write a term paper identifying and correcting the clever misstatements and obfuscations contained in Martin Crutsinger's Sunday report (since updated; original is still present here) for the Associated Press on the impending submission of the President's 2012 budget by the White House's Office of Management and Budget. Lacking such space, I'll concentrate on what I believe…
Tom Blumer

John Heilemann: Republican Presidential Field Weakest Anybody Has Seen

New York Magazine's John Heilemann on Friday said the Republican presidential field is the weakest anybody has seen in our lifetime. This absurd statement was made on the syndicated "Chris Matthews Show" in a segment about which GOPers will be throwing their name into the ring in the coming months before next year's elections (video follows with transcript and commentary):
Noel Sheppard

Chicago Sun-Times: HCUA Was 'Helmed by Sen. Joseph McCarthy

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) isn't alone in having trouble understanding how the government is organized.  In a Sunday article posted on the Chicago Sun-Times's Web site, staff reporter Mary Houlihan credits the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-WI) with running the House Committee on Un-American Activities.  That would have been quite an accomplishment, given the fact McCarthy never served in the…
Mike Bates

Mort Zuckerman Smacks Down Eleanor Clift's Claim Egypt Protesters Are

For the second week in a row, Newsweek's Eleanor Clift found herself in a hostile crowd on PBS's "McLaughlin Group." During a lengthy segment about the crisis in Eqypt, after Clift claimed the protesters were secular, the entire panel almost pounced on her with Mort Zuckerman saying several times, "That's nonsense" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
Noel Sheppard

D.C. NPR Station Sounding Alarm: GOP May 'Eliminate' Tax Subsidy

Forget the self-dealing and nest-feathering at WAMU! Forget the $300,000 salaries that make you rethink the $50 pledge! The Washington NPR affiliate is campaigning on its airwaves to get people to call Congress and stop any attempt to reduce funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. At the top of WAMU's website is this message from general manager Caryn Mathes:  Reports are…
Tim Graham

CNN’s Zakaria Recommends Bush’s ‘Surprisingly Well Written’ Me

 As CNN’s Fareed Zakaria concluded his Fareed Zakaria GPS show on Sunday, he recommended to his audience that they read former President George W. Bush’s memoir, Decision Points, but, even while recommending the book, he still took a dig at the former President as he described the book as "surprisingly well written." He also acknowledged that "you might not think he’s super-smart" before…
Brad Wilmouth

MSNBC’s O’Donnell Sees ‘Right Wing’ Inciting ‘Anti-Islamic H

 On Thursday’s Last Word show on MSNBC, host Lawrence O’Donnell trashed conservatives for raising concerns about the possibility of a Muslim Brotherhood takeover of Egypt as the MSNBC host claimed that, "The Muslim Brotherhood is the latest excuse for the right wing to whip up anti-Islamic hysteria, including the old standby that President Obama is secretly a Muslim." Minnesota Democratic…
Brad Wilmouth

CNN Anchor Candy Crowley's Basic Budget Question: 'Who's Going to Get

America's budget deficit is enormous. In fiscal 2010, it was $1.3 trillion, and government spending increased nine percent. But on Sunday's State of the Union program on CNN, anchor Candy Crowley pressed Obama's budget director Jack Lew from the left. The only question was who's going to be victimized by spending cuts: "So let's get down to the basic question, who's going to get hurt in this…
Tim Graham

Juan Williams on Fox: Tea Party Congressmen are 'Extremists' Setting U

Since he was summarily dismissed from National Public Radio for appearing on Fox News, some might forget that Juan Williams is a liberal -- but not if they were watching Fox News Sunday. Host Chris Wallace asked Williams about the House leaders losing track of how their freshmen would vote: "How embarrassing and that was what we saw John Boehner respond to at the beginning of the segment."…
Tim Graham

Time.com Also Deceived by Palin-Aguilera Anthem Satire, Seems to Claim

On Thursday (at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog), I noted that Us Weekly's web site briefly posted a satirical item as legitimate news. The satire item was about Sarah Palin criticizing Christine Aguilera's infamous National Anthem botch at last week's Super Bowl on Sean Hannity's Monday radio show. Palin didn't even appear on Hannity's show on Monday. Once caught by gossipcop.com, Us Weekly pulled…
Tom Blumer