Barack Obama

In early August, the Wall Street Journal reported that "The Obama administration secretly organized an airlift of $400 million worth of cash to Iran that coincided with the January release of four Americans detained in Tehran." Two weeks later, the administration acknowledged that the cash "was used as 'leverage' to gain the release of American prisoners" — that is, in layman's terms, the cash…

On Friday, it was announced that NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt will be moderating the very first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on September 26. Holt took over anchoring duties from the disgraced Brian Williams in June of 2015 and a look at his coverage of this election cycle suggests he may favor Clinton in his selection of debate questions. When he…

To borrow a phrase from President Obama, let New York magazine’s Chait be clear: “Republicans nominated Donald Trump [because] Republican voters like Donald Trump. This theory has the virtues of simplicity and truth.” Chait’s peg for his Friday post, however, was an “alternate theory” he rejects: that “Trump prevailed at least in part because liberals blew their credibility by hyperbolically…

It's never Dear Leader's fault, is it? For those who haven't noticed — and that would be understandable, given the national press's and broadcast outlets' consistent lack of interest in the period involved — the ongoing and worsening disaster in Syria during the past three years has caused "physical, human and political damage on an unprecedented scale." That quote comes the subheadline at Anne…

It's hard to imagine a press report accomplishing the following three things at once: disrespecting U.S. servicemen, demonstrating fever-swamp presumptive support for the one-world "climate change" agenda, and vastly overstating a 2.4-mile atoll's significance to "native tradition." In a Tuesday morning dispatch, the Associated Press's Josh Lederman, in covering President Barack Obama's visit to…

In Bangladesh on Monday, Secretary of State John Kerry had a concern about media coverage of terrorism he felt he needed to communicate, namely that "the media would do us all a service if they didn’t cover it quite as much." That would be a great thing, apparently, because then "People wouldn’t know what’s going on." You can't make this stuff up. The dateline location at Diplomatic Writer Matt…

Those who continue to bitterly cling to the notion that the press is fair and balanced won't be able to explain this one away. In covering Colin Kaepernick's Sunday comments about his decision to sit through the National Anthem just before the beginning of National Football League games, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback called GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump "openly racist." He…

Tuesday morning, Fox Business's Stuart Varney appeared on Fox News Channel's Fox & Friends program to discuss what he called the "terminal decline" in the financial viability and even availability of health plans being provided under the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. Brian Kilmeade called it "the most under-reported major story in the country by far." A Friday Investors Business Daily…

During an interview with actress Tika Sumpter in 9 a.m. ET hour of Monday’s NBC Today about her role in a new biopic about the first date of Barack and Michelle Obama, co-host Al Roker eagerly wondered if the First Couple had seen the movie yet: “Have you heard at all from the Obamas?” Sumpter replied: “We haven't, not yet. I mean, I know they know about it."

In the August 29 edition of Notable Quotables: Journalists fret about presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton being victimized by a sexist double standard, while reporters find it admirable that President Obama took a principled stand in favor of his vacation instead of visiting flood-ravaged Lousiana. At the same time, MSNBC's Joe Scarborough blames "extreme" talk radio for the "dumbing down"…

A major event that would damage Barack Obama’s presidency as much as Hurricane Katrina did George W. Bush’s is a white whale for conservatives, suggests Brian Beutler: They’re constantly, eagerly scanning the horizon for it, but they’ll never see it. Beutler finds it hard to imagine that any Democratic president would have his or her own Katrina, since Dems have made responding to natural…

ABC's World News Tonight on Friday led its broadcast with a preview of a special 20/20 report that detailed how the parents of ISIS hostage Kayla Mueller tried to free her before she was killed in captivity. Carl and Marsha Mueller disclosed that President Obama "made a promise to help the foundation they set up in her name, and then broke it." Mueller's parents also revealed their "belief that…

The Washington Post is unsurprisingly in love with the new Obama-puffing film about Barack and Michelle’s first date. Movie critic Ann Hornaday won the prize for the biggest gush, comparing Obama to young Abe Lincoln.