MSNBC.com Wildly Spins: 'Obama Approval Ratings Turn Around

"Obama approval ratings turn around," exulted the msnbc.com landing page headline for Traci G. Lee's January 9 story, "Positive start to 2014 for Obama: poll." Lee set about spinning the results of the latest Quinnipiac Poll, which shows President Obama sitting atop a 41 percent approval rating, up from a low of 38 percent in December, but still a net negative approval rating. Lee used the…

MSNBC Guest Columnists Hint They'd Be Cool with Raising 'Age of Crimin

"The New York State Legislature needs to Raise the Age of criminal responsibility, and they need to do it this year," demands the subheadline on MSNBC.com's landing page this afternoon for a story headlined, "Stop charging kids as adults." The column, co-authored by former NAACP president Ben Jealous and actress Rosario Dawson, promotes a push by the Citizens Committee for Children of New York…

In Munoz Case, CBS’s Norah O’Donnell A Lone Media Voice for Life

In bioethical matters of life and death, the liberal media can generally be counted on to come down on the side of death. But once in a while, exceptions arise. CBS’s Norah O’Donnell joined a panel with her “This Morning” co-anchor Charlie Rose and legal analyst Jack Ford on January 6 to discuss the heated controversy of brain dead Marlise Munoz, a Texas woman who remains on life support…

Daily Beast Hails Sen. Heller (R-Nev.) As 'Compassionate Conservative

Daily Beast political writer Patricia Murphy dutifully peddled Democratic spin on the economy and unemployment while singing the praises of Nevada Republican Senator Dean Heller who led a breakaway contingent of fellow GOPers to invoke cloture on a Democratic bill to extend unemployment benefits without any offsetting spending cuts. In her January 7 story "The Senate’s Last Compassionate…

Daily Beast's Bouie Laughably Offers GOP 2014 Midterm Campaign Advice

Do liberal journalists ever get tired of pretending to offer conservative Republicans sage campaign advice? The latest example is the Daily Beast's Jamelle Bouie, who insists that "barring catastrophe" the GOP's anti-ObamaCare message will prove "irrelevant" to Republican success in November. "[I]nstead of rehashing the rhetoric of the last four years, Republicans should start to think a…

MSNBC’s Irin Carmon Whines About New ‘Abortion Restrictions’ in

MSNBC’s Irin Carmon -- the New York Abortion Access Fund's 2013 Champion for Choice award winner-- never hesitates in showing her support for “reproductive rights.” Whether it be in the newly established MSNBC.com website or on the airwaves of MSNBC, Carmon bemoans any attempts made by state legislatures to make abortion clinics safer through health department regulation. It should come as no…

Daily Beast Writer Insists 'War on Poverty Worked

Fifty years after it was first waged by LBJ, the federal War on Poverty has worked, and not only that, it's been a "wild success," the Daily Beast's Michael Tomasky is insisting. Great, that being the case, we can de-mobilize and drastically cut back spending on social welfare, right? Heaven forbid! No, Tomasky wants to double-down with efforts at tackling "income inequality." Of course,…

Politico Lets Admin Turn Obamacare's 7 Million Enrollment Target Into

In June, the Politico's Jennifer Haberkorn filed a report with the following headline: "Kathleen Sebelius: Exchange enrollment goal is 7 million by end of March." She reported in her first two paragraphs that "7 million" is "how many people the Obama administration hopes to enroll in its new health insurance marketplaces by the end of March." Apparently that clearly expressed target isn't…

CNN's 'OutFront' Worries USMC Fitness Test Half of Women Recruits Fail

"Marines delay female fitness plan after half fail pull-ups requirement. Is the test fair?" That's how the Facebook page for CNN's Erin Burnett OutFront teased a story on the topic to air on Friday's 7 p.m. Eastern program. [see screen capture below page break] It remains to be seen how fair and balanced the story itself may be, but the tease to the story clearly presents things from a…

New Year, Same Old ‘War on Voting’ Shtick at MSNBC.com

MSNBC.com’s Zachary Roth has an obsession pitting “voting rights activists” against Republicans in his running series on the supposed “step backwards” that voting rights have taken in the past year. In a January 2 online piece, Roth whines that, “Republican legislatures in states across the country continued to advance restrictive voting laws.” In typical MSNBC fashion, the piece is peppered…

Daily Beast's Daly Hails De Blasio Inaugural Manifesto, Says Leftist M

Even as he hailed Bill de Blasio's "progressive revolution," The Daily Beast's Michael Daly sought to downplay fears that the newly-sworn-in mayor was a radical leftist intent on soaking the rich. Instead Daly practically painted a picture of the Democratic politician as a drum major leading the "march" to a more "equal" New York. While noting de Blasio was a "leader speaking much the same…

MSNBC's Carmon Tweets 'Et Tu, Sotomayor' in Reax to Justice's Obamacar

Apparently, "I will think before I tweet" should be on Irin Carmon's New Year's resolution list. Her failure to do so shortly before the ball dropped in Times Square signaling the beginning of 2014 has caused her considerable embarrassment. On Tuesday, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued an injunction which "temporarily prevented(the government) from enforcing contraceptive coverage…

Mich. Car Dealer Is a Microcosm of What to Really Expect as Admin Ramp

Drudge's headline linking to a Politico item by Carrie Budoff Brown and John Allen about the Obama administration's plans to aggressively identify and promote Obamacare successes in 2014 ("White House Plans to Step up Obamacare Propaganda in 2014") is far better than the tired one Politico itself used ("White House looks to spread good Obamacare news"). What Team Obama plans to pursue will be…

Happy New Year: Already Depressed Median Household Income Has Gone Now

In an earlier post today (at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog), I noted that reporters at Politico and CNNMoney.com seemed mystified at a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll showing that 68 percent of Americans believe the economy is in poor shape, and that over half believe it will still be that way a year from now. One reason for their incredulity is that, perhaps deliberately, they haven't been…