By the Numbers: Cable Nets Boost Biden, Trash Palin
September 3rd, 2008 12:08 AM
Now that the dust has settled on both parties' vice presidential picks, it's time to take a look at how the media treated Joe Biden and Sarah Palin in the crucial early hours after they were announced as running mates.This analysis is the first of several "Quick Study" reports we'll be running this election season to give a snapshot of press coverage, primarily through the lens of cable…
Olbermann Sneers at Thompson Speech
September 2nd, 2008 11:56 PM
Reviewing speeches at the Dem convention, Keith Olbermann was like a mother describing her child's performance in a middle-school musical. "A grand slam across the street," enthused Olbermann over Hillary's effort, only to outdo himself by calling Obama's speech's "spellbinding" and "extraordinary." But when it came to reviewing Fred Thompson's speech tonight at the GOP convention, Olbermann…
Olbermann, Matthews Don't Disclose Tabloid That Trashes Palin Owned by
September 2nd, 2008 9:57 PM
If a hypothetical tabloid owned by, say, Richard Mellon Scaife, had a cover story with scurrilous accusations about Joe Biden, do you think Chris Matthews would be waving it about on camera and Keith Olbermann citing it? Neither do I. But if for some reason they did, would they possibly fail to mention the mag's ownership?But Matthews saw fit—not once but twice—to display the cover of Us…
NewsBusters Shares a Laugh with 'Morning' Joe and Mika
September 2nd, 2008 5:41 PM
ST. PAUL, Minn.-- The NewsBusters team caught up with "Morning Joe's" Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski on Tuesday, and had a nice discussion about how she got the nickname "Bubbles."For those that have forgotten, last September, Mika mentioned, "I never had a writing section [on my SATs], just bubbles."This led NB's Mark Finkelstein to nickname her "Bubbles." As a result, when we bumped into…
Nuthin' MSM Can't Spin Against Sarah: Now She's Too Popular
September 2nd, 2008 2:20 PM
Is there nothing—nothing?—that the MSM won't try to spin against Sarah Palin? They've turned the matter of her Down syndrome son into a suggestion she will neglect her child. Twisted the news of her daughter's pregnancy into a "damaging revelation" that will cause her image to "suffer." Now, in perhaps the most acrobatic stunt yet, Andrea Mitchell has suggested that the intensity of Palin's…
'You Are a Pathetic Human Being, and You Should Be Ashamed of Yourself
September 2nd, 2008 7:30 AM
No, not Chris Matthews to Keith Olbermann. That media odd couple have already begun to kiss and make up. Instead, it was Joe Scarborough who authored the line this morning, directing it at Obama spokesman Mark Bubriski. The cause of Joe's ire was this email statement Bubriski released to the Miami Herald [emphasis added]:Palin was a supporter of Pat Buchanan, a right-winger or as many Jews call…
Olbermann To Matthews: 'I Miss You Already
September 1st, 2008 8:49 PM
It's a love-in, man!Looks like the grown-ups at NBC/MSNBC have taken the kids aside and told them to kiss and make up. After the embarrassing "tension convention" [to quote Imus] at the DNC amongst Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews and Joe Scarborough, we've already seen the Countdown host plucked out of the GOP convention, under the convenient excuse that he would be anchoring—back in NYC and…
MSNBC: 'Fire-Breather' Palin 'Makes Obama Look Like John Adams
September 1st, 2008 5:18 PM
On Friday’s Countdown show, while appearing as a guest, Newsweek’s Howard Fineman, also an MSNBC political analyst, contended that, regarding her level of experience, Sarah Palin "makes Barack Obama look like John Adams." Host Keith Olbermann called her "the least experienced vice presidential candidate probably in American history," and repeatedly applied labels to her suggesting extremism,…
Olbermann in MSNBC Promo: 'We Must Ignore Partisanship
September 1st, 2008 12:20 PM
The MSNBC promo bills the network as "the place for politics." Looks like it's the place for rib-ticklin' comedy, too. Check out Keith Olbermann's side-splitter from the ad:KEITH OLBERMANN: This is one of those turning-point-in-history American elections. We as citizens must at some point ignore partisanship. Not that we may prosper as a nation, not that we may achieve, not that we may lead…
Hemmer Stunned by Maher's 'Ready to Have Sex' Rebuke of MSNBC
August 30th, 2008 9:23 PM
Stunning Fox News Watch host Bill Hemmer, panelist Jim Pinkerton, picking up on a NewsBusters post with video (“Maher: Matthews and Olbermann 'Were Ready to Have Sex with' Obama”), from just hours before the FNC show aired live at 6:30 PM EDT Saturday from St. Paul, pointed out that MSNBC's Democratic convention coverage was so adulatory that it led to:Bill Maher, who's no conservative, who hates…