Media: Obama Down But Not Out

May 17th, 2013 4:50 PM
“Obama’s presidency was declared dead by the press on Tuesday.” So writes Elspeth Reeve of the Atlantic Wire, providing as evidence a quote from a Politico piece by Jim Vandehei and Mike Allen: “The town is turning on President Obama — and this is very bad news for this White House.” Reeve imputes a level of pessimism to the quote that doesn’t inhere in it. But then she turns around and…

Even Piers? CNN's Morgan Goes Sour on Obama

May 17th, 2013 3:10 PM
The same CNN host who slobbered back in 2011, "A lot of things are just perfect about Barack Obama," is now taking the President to task for lack of transparency. Two nights in a row, CNN's Piers Morgan whacked the Obama administration for promising transparency before three scandals revealed that promise to be broken at best. "[T]he real problem for Barack Obama, it seems to me, as the…

MSNBC's Joy Reid: 'Only Thing That Really Unites' GOP is 'Hatred' of O

May 17th, 2013 3:07 PM
On Thursday's The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, MSNBC contributor Joy Reid claimed that Republicans are going after Obama administration scandals because "the only thing that really unites conservatives and Republicans at this point is hatred of Barack Obama. So they're going to play it for all it's worth." Host Lawrence O'Donnell had begun the discussion by reading from a National…

Carney: 'This Administration Has a Record on Transparency That Outdoes

May 17th, 2013 1:05 PM
"This administration has a record on transparency that outdoes any previous administration's." So astonishingly said White House press secretary Jay Carney on CNN Thursday without the slightest pushback from host Piers Morgan (video follows with transcript and commentary):

NBC Touts Obama 'Trying to Move Past' Scandals, Believing It's 'Just A

May 17th, 2013 12:39 PM
On Friday's NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer described how President Obama was "trying to move past" the scandals plaguing his administration. In the report that followed, chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd began by parroting the President's attempts to downplay the political firestorm: "Aides say the President's keeping things in perspective and believes this is just a blip, he'll bounce…

Leno: GOP Should Repeal ObamaCare By Naming it Conservative Non-Profit

May 17th, 2013 12:19 PM
Jay Leno continued his humorous attack on the White House Thursday. At the beginning of a series of opening monologue jokes about the various scandals plaguing President Obama, the NBC Tonight Show host said, “If Republicans really want to do away with ObamaCare, they should endorse it as a conservative non-profit - let the IRS take it down” (video follows with transcript and absolutely no…

Video: Bozell, Hannity Amused That Obama Sycophant Chris Matthews Worr

May 17th, 2013 11:30 AM
NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell and Fox News host Sean Hannity kicked off the "Media Mash" segment of the May 16 Hannity with a deliciously ironic clip of Hardball host Chris Matthews lamenting on his Tuesday program that President Obama is surrounded by adoring yes-men who can't bear to tell him bad news, and that that culture of groupthink leaves the president prone to embarrassing…

ABC Lectures: 'Real Concern' GOP May Be 'Overplaying Their Hand' on IR

May 17th, 2013 11:15 AM
   The reporters at Good Morning America on Friday continued White House damage control efforts on the growing scandal involving the Internal Revenue Service targeting conservative groups. Former Democratic operative turned journalist George Stephanopoulos insisted that Barack Obama is "trying to turn the corner after a tough week fending off controversy." Talking to Jon Karl, he wondered, "…

MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell Makes Outrageous Claim That 'IRS Did Nothin

May 16th, 2013 10:15 PM
During Wednesday's edition of MSNBC's weeknight program “The Last Word,” host Lawrence O'Donnell responded to a statement made earlier in the day by President Obama about the Internal Revenue Service's discrimination against conservative groups seeking non-profit status: “Across the board, everybody believes” what was revealed in the report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax…

WaPo Reports White House Addressing 'Gender Salary Gap,' Omits That It

May 16th, 2013 7:26 PM
“President Obama has called for creation of a government wide strategy ‘to address any gender pay gap in the Federal workforce.'" Eric Yoder of the Washington Post noted in a May 14 article. That's all well and good, but nowhere in Yoder's story did he consider that there's a pay disparity problem in the White House and in Senate Democratic offices, according to investigations by the Washington…

Malkin Column: Obama's Emptiest Benghazi Talking Point

May 16th, 2013 6:50 PM
On Sept. 12, 2012, President Barack Obama vowed to "bring to justice" the perpetrators of the deadly attack in Benghazi, Libya. On Oct. 26, 2012, Obama said his "biggest priority" was bringing the "folks" in Libya responsible for murdering four Americans to "justice." Tick, tock, tick, tock. While White House press secretary Jay Carney sneers at the GOP's "obsession" with what went wrong at…

FNC's Powers: 'Transparently a Lie' When Obama Says He Called Benghazi

May 16th, 2013 6:14 PM
On Wednesday's The O'Reilly Factor, liberal FNC political analyst Kirsten Powers again accused President Barack Obama of speaking "lies" in claiming that he called Benghazi a terrorist attack early on. Host Bill O'Reilly introduced the segment by playing a clip of Powers from Monday's Special Report with Bret Baier. Powers, from Monday:

Letterman: ‘I Don't Make Jokes About Obama Because I Don't Want the

May 16th, 2013 5:17 PM
For years, NewsBusters has reported how few comedians dare to tell jokes about President Obama. On the CBS Late Show Wednesday, host David Letterman humorously addressed this saying, “I don't make jokes about him because I don't want the FBI tapping my phone, my phone. That's why” (video follows with transcript and commentary):

MSNBC's Hayes Plugs 'Incredible Story' of Felon Who Disrupted Oil Leas

May 16th, 2013 4:07 PM
On Wednesday's All In show, MSNBC host Chris Hayes boosted the efforts of convicted felon Tim DeChristopher as he interviewed the environmental activist who served two years in prison for making illegal bids in an oil lease auction that he had no way of honoring. Hayes gave the activist a forum to encourage more law-breaking as part of the environmental movement as DeChristopher suggested…