Bernie Goldberg: Jon Stewart 'Throwing Spitballs at a Battleship' with

April 21st, 2010 7:16 PM
Fox News contributor Bernie Goldberg hit back at Jon Stewart today, saying the "Daily Show" host was "throwing spitballs at a battleship" by attacking the Fox News Channel.The back-and-forth between Stewart and Goldberg began when the former leveled accusations of hypocrisy, claiming Goldberg criticized others for generalizing while doing so himself. Stewart responded to Goldberg's retort with a…

Newsweek's Liz White Complains of 'ObamaCare' Label Use Again

April 21st, 2010 6:02 PM
Last month I noted Newsweek's Liz White's complaint about the term "ObamaCare" being used as shorthand for the Democratic health care legislation. White griped that the term was "ominous-sounding" and favored by the legislation's conservative opponents as reasons why mainstream media outlets should eschew the term.Now a full 27 days later, White is back at it with her complaint about the term "…

Al Mohler: News Accounts on Abortion of 'Wrong' Baby Speak Volumes Abo

April 21st, 2010 1:20 PM
A Sarasota, Florida, doctor recently lost his medical license on the basis of an error he made in 2006 in an abortion procedure where he mistakenly took the life of the healthier fraternal twin of a boy diagnosed in utero with Down Syndrome.In covering the story, most media outlets have noted that Dr. Matthew Kachinas aborted "the wrong baby." Baptist theologian and radio program host Dr. Albert…

Politico Snarks: 'Most Transparent White House Ever' Prevents Reporter

April 20th, 2010 5:35 PM
While mainstream media reporters are generally pretty supportive of the Obama administration, they bristle, and rightly so, at incidents where the administration is less than transparent or actively seeks to impede journalists from working.Last week it was liberal Post columnist Dana Milbank snarking about how the nuclear summit was closed off to press scrutiny. Today it's Politico's Ben Smith,…

Newsweek's Kliff Laments 'Lack of Passion' Among Millennial Generation

April 20th, 2010 1:06 PM
"How can the next generation defend abortion rights when they don't think abortion rights need defending?"That's the question posed by the subheader to Sarah Kliff's article for the April 26 dead-tree edition of Newsweek entitled, "Remember Roe!" You may recall Kliff as the Newsweek staffer who complained that the House of Representatives has an "anti-abortion rights majority." In her April 26…

Study: Online Media Don't Polarize Like Critics Claim

April 20th, 2010 12:17 PM
Update - 12:48 PM | Lachlan Markay: David Brooks weighs in. See his thoughts below.One of the gripes about online journalism often aired by the Helen Thomases and the Chuck Todds of the world is that online news consumers will only consume news that reinforces their worldview or political beliefs. A new scholarly study challenges that assumption.The study, conducted by Matthew Gentzkow and Jesse…

Massa Saga 'Just Heating Up'? Don't Hold Your Breath for Media Obsessi

April 19th, 2010 1:34 PM
The "Eric Massa saga [is] just heating up," promises the headline for Jonathan Allen's April 19 Politico story about the latest development in the swift demise of the tickle-happy freshman Democrat:For nearly a year, the allegations of scandalous activity in former Rep. Eric Massa’s office were kept quiet — by the congressman, by male aides who accuse him of sexually harassing them and by other…

Conservative Blogger Takes Flak for Noting SCOTUS Nominee's Presumed H

April 18th, 2010 1:51 PM
Here's the thing about the vast right-wing conspiracy: it doesn't really exist. The left's latest attempt to invoke the notion has ended in rebuttals from commentators on both sides of the political spectrum.Conservative blogger Ben Domenech noted the White House's apparent desire to appoint a homosexual to the Supreme Court. He noted in a post at the New Ledger that at least three nominees --…

PBS's Bonnie Erbe Slams 'Offensive' Measure to Call Attention to Traum

April 16th, 2010 12:17 PM
Darn! She's on to us pro-lifers! PBS "To the Contrary" host Bonnie Erbe has discovered the real eeeevil secret of the pro-life movement, which she unveiled in an April 15 post at the Thomas Jefferson Street blog on USNews.com (emphasis mine):What is the religious right doing by campaigning against abortion? First and foremost, its efforts seem aimed at trying to keep church pews filled by…

Newsweek's Ben Adler Slams 'Stupid Idea' of Putting 'Tax' On Homeless

April 15th, 2010 12:29 PM
Combining bleeding heart bluster with soak-the-rich envy, Newsweek's Ben Adler savaged liberal billionaire New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in an April 14 The Gaggle blog post for his green-lighting city homeless shelters to levy a monthly rent on residents who hold down jobs:Don't complain about your taxes today, they are surely less than the 44 percent of one's income that homeless New…

How AP Feels About Today's Tea Party Gatherings

April 15th, 2010 9:34 AM
This is sooooo predictable. An unbylined Associated Press item on today's Tea Party Express tour wrap-up in Washington uses a word that the wire service almost never (if not absolutely never) applies to truly violent leftist groups. The Google page carrying the AP report also has an interesting lead "Related article." Here's the brief AP item (produced in full for fair use and discussion…

Kudos: Time's Pickert Criticizes Airline-bashing Bill as 'Pandering At

April 13th, 2010 6:10 PM
Given the media's penchant for furthering populist anti-business rhetoric, especially when it comes to beleaguered industries like the airlines, I must confess it was a bit refreshing to see a mainstream journalist skeptical of a legislative push to stick it to the commercial aviation sector.In her April 13 Swampland blog post, "Bashing the Airlines -- Always a Safe Political Bet," Time's Kate…

Over at HuffPo Alec Baldwin Tries Real, Real Hard to Sound Smart But

April 13th, 2010 4:49 PM
No one has ever accused Alec Baldwin of being a rocket scientist, but apparently the actor fancies himself a nuclear physicist. At least that’s the logical conclusion to draw based on his post over at HuffPo entitled “The Human Cost of Nuclear Power.” The actor assumes his new role with gusto, metaphorically donning a lab coat to explain what he believes are the inherent dangers of nuclear…

Roseanne Barr: Church-going Catholics 'Should Lose Custody' of Their K

April 8th, 2010 10:56 AM
For some reason, washed up celebrities simply cannot resist weighing in on the Catholic Church's ongoing abuse scandal.The latest is Roseanne Barr, who last weekend wrote on her personal blog that Catholics who bring their children to church should lose custody. "Taking your kid where you know sex offenders hang out is inexcusable!!!"This is but the latest example of vitriol directed at the…