No Chat For the Jan-15 Demoncrat Debate?

Don't you just love it when The Washington Post lays bare its bias for all to see?

Today's lead editorial scolds those naughty Democrats, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, for slinging mud at each other, and pleads with them to "move the discussion to a higher plane" for the sake of the Party.

Heaven forbid the Party should tear itself apart months before a presidential election! Can you imagine the Post demanding that John McCain and Mitt Romney stop lying about each other to maximize the GOP's chances of winning in November?

Like so many Big Media reports about the Martin Luther King Jr. spat, the Post editorial bends over backwards to be fair and balanced, pointedly avoiding any hint of favoritism for either Hillary or Barack. Just like Mom breaking up a fight between Sis and Junior.

Asked by Katie Couric Tuesday night why having Republicans dominate the Michigan GOP primary, as opposed to independents and Democrats, is bad for John McCain, CBS's Bob Schieffer didn't cite any of McCain's views -- such as on immigration, tax cuts and freedom of speech -- where he's out of sync with most Republicans. Instead of realizing how McCain is too liberal for many conservatives who are the majority in the GOP, Schieffer contended Republicans just don't like him because he's “willing to challenge the authority,” insisting:

John McCain has always been sort of a maverick. He's always been willing to challenge the authority and a lot of Republicans just have not forgiven him for that.

Hillary was on Tyra Banks Show...said if she becomes President, she wants to have a national contest on "What will Bill be called?" ...any suggestions for Hillary? I got one....First Perv?

If you need any more proof that the concept of Global Warming is less "science" and is more just a replacement for the kind of failed concepts of communism and socialism that is increasingly being rejected by the world, two recent stories helps clarify the point. These same stories also highlight how the media facilitate the lies that is globaloney.

The first is a recent article by one Kellie Hastings, a writer who claims that her "research is thorough" and her "articles are written with style and intellect." In a piece titled "Deadly Ozone From Drive-Thru Mania," our Miss Hastings pours out her considerable "intellect" into the theory that drive thru windows are destroying the planet and making us a bunch of fatties.

MAO with a negative smirk from a European car ad. They have apologized for this.

I don't agree with posting modified pictures of religous figures, but I say political figures are fair game. I even disagree with posting pictures of that Mohammed guy since they are against it. I wish all the South Park and Family Guy people were in jail for making fun of Jesus and God in obscene ways, but political speech was the only reason freedom of speech was included

Roxanne Roberts and Amy Argetsinger, the Washington Post’s "Reliable Sources" gossip columnists, were all smiles in their column for leftist actor Danny Glover as he stumped for a leftist trying for a second to unseat Democratic Rep. Al Wynn in Maryland, contending he’s too conservative (with a lifetime American Conservative Union rating of 9.9 percent):

Lots of Hollywood types show up to a rally and give a two-minute speech. But who among them will do the real dirty work of politics?

Ladies and gentlemen, Danny Glover. The "Lethal Weapon" star turned out last night for congressional candidate Donna Edwards, doing the kind of chore that cures most folks of higher-office notions: standing at a Metro station on a cold winter night shaking hands with potential voters.

Glover is hailed for his commitment in the cold, and he jokes in the story that Mel Gibson would never do the same.

From MyDamnChannel.com comes a gem: Katie Couric yukking it up with CBS News production staff off-the-air on primary election night in New Hampshire. (Warning: There is some profanity in the video).

Some of my favorites 1) Couric admitting she doesn't know much about Huckabee 2) Couric talking about how she thinks she creeped out Cindy McCain because she couldn't stop staring at her eyes. 3) "I'm always like oh sh*t, oh sh*t, oh sh*t, oh sh*t, oh sh*t" 4) "Give me one interesting exit poll, please!" 6) "Oh sh*t, I have seven seconds. [shrieks]"

The Democratic presidential race is turning into a snippy identity-politics battle waged around the question: Is America more racist or more sexist? Is America too racist to deserve Barack Obama? Or too sexist to deserve Hillary Clinton? Liberals think this is a real puzzler, since they assume America is bigoted both ways. It’s going to be a long, America-accusing election year no matter who wins.

This is nuts. Our system of laws in this country contains energetic remedies for discrimination against blacks and women. Discriminatory attitudes still exist in isolated, politically irrelevant pockets whose existence is then magnified one hundred-fold by those in the media who want this picture of discrimination to exist. Blacks and women simply are not as a rule denied their humanity, as evidenced by a black and a woman vying to become America’s next president.

If we don’t want this year to be an exercise in liberal accusation and intimidation, we should force the Democratic front-runners to answer a different question. If we want to identify the one segment of American humanity that is routinely disregarded, we should ask them: when will you recognize the civil rights and humanity of the unborn baby? When will America overcome this injustice of destroying human lives in the name of "choice"?

You might disagree with how he slashed the Fed funds rate during times of economic turmoil as Federal Reserve chairman.

You might have even disavowed him after showing his coziness with the Clinton administration throughout the 1990s. But after 18 years of public service, you can't deny that Alan Greenspan should have a shot in the private sector.

However, despite media accolades through four Republican and one Democratic administration, some in the media think he broke an unspoken rule by going to work as a consultant for a hedge fund. One CNBC report called it "unseemly." The January 15 Wall Street Journal even hinted he may be profiting from the housing crisis, something they suggested he caused.

A discussion with Dee Bunk and Leon in a recent Open Thread prompted me to start this forum. I'm interested in everyone's top favorite films. In particular, I'd like to see people mention films that are not only "enjoyable" to watch, but that are, to you, important or meaningful or just really worth seeing. For instance, while I really enjoy the Harry Potter films, I wouldn't exactly categorize them as brilliant cinema. Perhaps this sounds elitist. Whatever, that's the watchword of film buffs. Commentary optional.

In no particular order:

Match Point (Woody Allen, 2006): Unlike any other Allen film in every way. Brilliant plot; Dostoyevsky would be proud.

Eraserhead (David Lynch, 1977): Mind-bogglingly weird and surreal.

Lost Highway (David Lynch, 1997): Blue Velvet always gets all the credit when it comes to Lynch's "dual realities" films, but I think this is better.

Rope (Hitchcock, 1946): Hitch was the master, and I'll take this film over any of the classics.

The '80s are back -- Sylvester Stallone has prepped another "Rambo" movie, Chuck Norris is an Internet icon and Mr. T is doing commercials. Alex Williams tackled the "trend" for the Sunday Styles section of the New York Times, "Tough Guys for Tough Times." Williams' story is a retread in its own way; the first sentence below in particular could have been been found 20 years ago in any college rag, pretentiously penned by an earnest liberal student straining for profundity:

"The leading action symbols of the Reagan era -- with all their excess, jingoism and good vs. evil bombast -- have returned, as outsize and obvious as they were in the decade of stonewash. Yet as stars of prime-time hits and feature films (not to mention Republican mascots), these actors are still as ripped and imposing as they were 20 years ago, and they continue to carry an undeniable authority with fans old and new."

Williams cracked on insecure conservative men, albeit in code ("likely not Hillary Clinton supporters"):

The penguins soon won’t have a home and it’s all our fault.

You might get that impression after watching the January 14 “Our Planet” segment on “NBC Nightly News” about the ice shift in Antarctica.

“In 2006, the Antarctic peninsula near South America lost 60 billion metric tons of ice; 132 billion tons disappeared in West Antarctica,” said Anne Thompson, NBC News chief environmental affairs correspondent. “Big numbers that could have a big impact.”

Thompson blamed mankind as the “prime suspect” for the changes – ignoring all other possibilities, despite some scientists that are skeptical of that theory.

It wasn't long after the fatal Minnesota bridge collapse on I-35 last summer that the liberal media jumped on the tragedy as a way to bash President Bush and the spending priorities of the Bush administration. Keith Olbermann suggested that Iraq war spending was to blame and Mike Barnicle, subbing for Chris Matthews on "Hardball" wondered if it gave Democrats political ammunition for growing the size of government.

Of course, this hardly was shocking for seasoned bias busters like our own Tim Graham, who noted parallels with media bias following a 1989 bridge collapse in San Francisco.

But now the investigation into the August bridge collapse is complete and it turns out that the seeds of the tragedy were planted in the 1960s when the bridge was built during the LBJ Era of massive social and defense spending with the Great Society and Vietnam respectively.

From a January 15 article by AP's Frederic J. Frommer:

[Warning: Profanity to follow]

Actress Diane Keaton appeared live on Tuesday's "Good Morning America" and dropped the F-bomb while attempting to compliment GMA co-host Diane Sawyer's looks. After gushing over how much better her life would be with "those lips," the movie star blurted, "I'd like to have lips like that. Then I wouldn't have worked on my fucking personality or my-- excuse me. My personality."

Video (:20): Windows Media (634kB) or MP3 audio (131kB).

Sawyer, who had been attempting to get the actress to talk about "Mad Money," Keaton's new film, appeared momentarily shocked and then started laughing. She retorted, "My mother is going to work on your personality with soap in your mouth, is what she's going to do."

CNN senior political analyst (and U.S. News & World Report editor-at-large) David Gergen scolded GOP candidate Mitt Romney on Monday’s Anderson Cooper 360 for daring to suggest that the health of the American economy is as important as fighting climate change. Gergen likened that to the "divisive" debate on race among Democratic candidates and called it a “very dangerous” argument for Republicans to make: “If Romney wins, and that becomes the message of the Republican Party, we are going to have two huge clashes in this country between needs on the economy vs. needs to deal with climate change. And it’s a very dangerous place for the Republican Party to go.”

Romney’s chief rival in today’s Michigan primary, Arizona Senator John McCain, has consistently pushed the liberal side of the climate change debate. In a speech in Kalamazoo yesterday, McCain sounded a lot like Al Gore: “I believe there's scientific evidence that drastic things are happening to our planet. If I'm wrong and we move ahead with green technology, the only downside is leaving a cleaner world for our children.”

Instead of scolding McCain for embracing a liberal position in a Republican primary, Gergen faulted Romney for not following suit. Because of his past service in the Reagan and Ford administrations, Gergen is often cast as the conservative counter-balance in roundtables; last night, for example, he appeared with reporter Candy Crowley and liberal CNN contributor Roland Martin. But with Gergen (who also worked for Bill Clinton) making liberal points, too, there’s no conservative to offer an alternative opinion.

It really was just a matter of time before one of the most hate-filled and vitriolic press members, whose material relies so strongly on reports from Clinton front organizations Media Matters for America and Think Progress, would start posting articles at one of the most hate-filled and vitriolic liberal websites on the Internet.

In fact, it's really a perfect fit, dontcha think?

As such, when MSNBC's Keith Olbermann posted his first blog at Daily Kos Monday, it shouldn't be surprising that he took the opportunity to bash Fox News's Bill O'Reilly.

After all, what would this man be without Bill, and those who hate him (h/t NB reader Thomas Stewart and Inside Cable News):