Reality Check: No Matter the State of the Union, Reporters Love Obama
January 24th, 2012 8:55 AM
Tuesday night, President Obama delivers his third State of the Union address, and his sixth speech to a joint session of Congress since taking office in 2009. But there’s no need to spend a lot of time wondering about what the media will say after The Great One speaks, since — like a gaggle of corporate yes-men — journalists have gushed over every one of these major addresses.
“It was a big…
Santorum Socks Heilemann: MSM's Job To Defend Obama, Not Mine
January 24th, 2012 8:44 AM
Rick Santorum to John Heilemann [and by extension to MSM at large] on today's Morning Joe: "it's your responsibility to defend the president, not mine." Ouch! If Newt's deft dicing of John King and Juan Williams paid huge electoral dividends, Santorum might anticipate a much-needed bump after running roughshod over the New York mag reporter.
Heilemann had called on Santorum to explain his…
Bashir: ‘Gingrich Lies Repeatedly’ – ‘More People Were Collect
January 24th, 2012 12:06 AM
MSNBC's Martin Bashir spent a good part of his on air time Monday calling Republicans liars as he foolishly confused two extraordinarily simple pieces of economic data thereby making it he that was commiting a falsehood.
After calling Tea Party Express founder Judson Phillips a liar on his 3PM program, Bashir said the same thing about Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on The Ed…
Joan Walsh: 'Newt Is the Face of the Politics' of 'Racism and Angry Wh
January 23rd, 2012 10:50 PM
Salon's Joan Walsh stooped to an even further low Monday when she said on MSNBC's pre-debate show, "Newt is the face of the politics of resentment and racism and angry white male rage."
Yes, she was talking about Republican presidential candidate and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (video follows with transcript and commentary):
Bashir Calls Tea Party Leader a Liar for Saying More People on Food St
January 23rd, 2012 6:56 PM
UPDATE AT END OF POST: Bashir responds via Twitter.
During a heated exchange with Tea Party Express founder Judson Phillips, MSNBC's Martin Bashir on Monday actually called his guest a liar for correctly saying there are more people on food stamps now than when George W. Bush was president.
This makes two MSNBC anchors in just three days that have made the same completely false claim on the…
Scarborough Thinks Media Aren't Fact-Checking Gingrich Enough
January 23rd, 2012 11:17 AM
After the media's disgraceful intrusion into Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's former marriage last week, it would be hard to make the case they've been too easy on him.
But that's exactly what MSNBC's Joe Scarborough did on Monday's Morning Joe (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):
Notable Quotables: GOP Candidates Pandering to Black-Hating, Jim Crow
January 23rd, 2012 9:15 AM
You know liberals are desperate if they’re playing the race card so early in the 2012 campaign cycle. The latest edition of MRC’s Notable Quotables is now out, and this week’s collection was heavy with media quotes attacking both Republican voters and their presidential candidates as racist.
Among the lowlights: NBC’s Ann Curry accusing Newt Gingrich of “intentionally playing the race card”…
Harold Ford, Jr.: Republicans Wrong To Believe Obama Enjoys Great Favo
January 23rd, 2012 7:46 AM
Of all the Morning Joe regulars, I find Harold Ford, Jr. the least interesting. Ever on the lookout for his next opportunity, the fiercely ambitious Ford is firmly of the "my good friend" so-and-so school of politics, constantly hedging his bets and finding a way to praise or agree with virtually everyone.
So it was an exception this morning when the former Dem congressman from Tennessee…
Fuzzy Math: MSNBC's Sharpton Wrongly Claims More Got Food Stamps Under
January 23rd, 2012 5:59 AM
After Newt Gingrich recently proclaimed that "more people have been put on food stamps by Barack Obama than any President in American history," presumably referring to the straightforward statistic that a record number of Americans now receive food stamp assistance, FactCheck.org set out to prove him wrong. (Video below)
David Stockman: American Exceptionalism Is 'Neo-Con Code' For Aggressi
January 22nd, 2012 8:49 AM
There are few things the liberal media like more than a Republican renegade. David Stockman has made a career out of strutting his independence from the GOP. So little surprise that he was an honored guest on this morning's Up With Chris Hayes on MSNBC.
That Stockman repaid his hosts by attacking Republicans was utterly predictable. Even so, the absurdity of Stockman's particular…
Lawrence O'Donnell: 'Republican Audiences Don't Know Most People On Fo
January 21st, 2012 8:02 PM
MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell on Saturday said "Republican audiences do not know that most people on food stamps are white."
This occurred during his network's coverage of the South Carolina primary (video follows with transcript and commentary):
Maddow Blames Audio Glitch in GOP SuperPACS Segment on 'Nefarious Cons
January 21st, 2012 7:16 PM
MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, in a segment about GOP SuperPACs, blamed a technical glitch with a guest's audio on "some sort of nefarious conspiracy."
"I'm assuming it's an eccentric billionaire with an axe to grind" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
Scarborough: Conservative Leaders All Tell Me They Want Brokered Conve
January 20th, 2012 7:43 AM
"I've been talking quietly to the most powerful, I think, conservative movers-and-shakers in Washington over the past couple weeks, trying to get their read. Are we really going down this path? Every single one I've spoken to is trying to figure out a way to get to a brokered convention."
That was Joe Scarborough on Morning Joe today. For good measure, Scarborough also stated as a simple…
Former SC First Lady Tells Chris Matthews Notion of Racist Voters In H
January 19th, 2012 7:21 PM
As NewsBusters reported Tuesday, MSNBC's Chris Matthews accused Republican voters in South Carolina of being racist.
On Thursday's Hardball, former South Carolina first lady Jenny Sanford told Matthews this depiction of her fellow residents "is absurd and nonsense and frankly just, you know, stirred up by people in the press" (video follows with transcript and commentary):