Mark Finkelstein's blog

No wonder President Obama adopted some of the language of the Occupy movement in his class-warfare speech this week.  It's led by the likes of Alfredo Carrasquillo, a fellow "community organizer" with whom the president perhaps identifies.  Carrasquillo specializes in breaking into foreclosed homes to dole them out to people—beginning with himself—to live in.

Chris Hayes gave Carrasquillo a sympathetic platform on his MSNBC show this morning. Making it clear that he was speaking as a "devil's advocate," not, God forbid, expressing his own opinion, Hayes gently inquired of Carrasquillo whether, you know, it could be said he has no right to break into and live in homes owned by others.   Dismissing the notion out of hand, Carrasquillo described theft of others' property as "technicalities."  That seemed good enough for Hayes, who helpfully pointed out that the homes Carrasquillo is breaking into "are just sitting there, no one's making use of them." Video after the jump.

Take a stroll down the list of the six stories featured in Politico's "Daily Digest" email today, and you'll find five of them with a decided pro-Obama and/or anti-Republican angle.

Let's score the first story, about the upcoming GOP debate in Iowa, as neutral, even though the theme is a pending alpha dog-fight between Gingrich and Romney.  But after that, every story has a decided liberal slant, as you'll see here:

Barack Obama's political tone has become progressively more partisan since his "no red states, no blue states just the United States" warm 'n fuzziness at the 2004 Dem convention.   But President Obama's rhetoric is still not harsh enough to suit Mike Barnicle.

On Morning Joe today, the former Boston Globe columnist demanded to know of Obama press sec Jay Carney just when the president was going to stop "swinging at air" and start calling out Republicans by name.  Video after the jump.

In his Politico column and on Morning Joe today, Joe Scarborough made the case for Newt Gingrich from the Republican primary voter's perspective, pointing to Gingrich's record of winning back the congressional majority, achieving balanced budgets and passing welfare reform.

Scarborough then proceeded to trash Gingrich, saying that: 1. he'd never vote for him; 2. Gingrich would be a "danger to the country"; 3. Gingrich is a "bad person" in political if not personal ways; and 4. Gingrich would lose to Obama in a rout, winning 100 electoral votes at best.  Video after the jump.

Check out the screengrab after the jump.  Before Chris Hayes uttered word one of commentary about Hermain Cain's speech suspending his campaign, he reacted with derisive laughter.  Hayes, host of a weekend MSNBC show, was serving as analyst on Alex Witt's show as they broke down the Cain announcement.

Hayes went on to mock Cain and his speech as a "bizarre charade" and a "freak show," along the way laughing once more, this time at the notion Cain might have a career as a motivational speaker. Video after the jump.

Sad to see Ed Schultz suffer such sudden memory loss on live national TV.  On his MSNBC show this evening, discussing Herman Cain's handling of the various allegations against him, Schultz: found it odd that Cain's wife had come to his defense; said he'd never "seen anything like this in American politics;" and claimed that by criticizing his accusers, Cain had hit "a new low in American politics."

Do any of the following sound an echo with Ed?:

Zbigniew Brzezinki's indictment of the United States was so harsh—calling America "one of the most socially unjust societies in the world"—that even his own daughter Mika was taken aback, asking her father to explain himself.

But that didn't stop Andrea Mitchell from emphatically agreeing with Zbigniew Brzezinki's condemnation of the USA.  In the course of doing so, Mitchell called the Tea Party  and opposition to ObamaCare "exaggerated forms" of protest, while praising Occupy Wall Street as "a real movement." Video after the jump.
 

UPDATE: Scarborough Responds--Don't Twist My Criticism of Newt Into Support For Obama

In response to an inquiry from this NewsBuster, Joe Scarborough has made clear that he strongly opposes President Obama's "disastrous" record, urging people not to twist his criticism of Gingrich into support for Obama.  Full Scarborough statement after the jump.

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Recently on Morning Joe it was Jon Meacham suggesting that Barack Obama doesn't particularly like people and was in the wrong line of work. Today it was Tina Brown's turn, opining that PBO doesn't dig his gig.  

Discussing PBO's ever-paltrier poll numbers, Brown opined that Obama "doesn't like his job."  Video after the jump.

With penetrating political analysis like this, no wonder Ed Schultz has been named one of the least influential people alive . . .

On his MSNBC show this evening, discussing the recall effort in Wisconsin, Schultz said that Republican Governor Scott Walker "sucks." Video after the jump.

Q. How does someone seeking the Republican presidential nomination know he might have stepped in it with the people who will actually vote in the primaries? A. When a position he's taken has the likes of Newsweek/Daily Beast editor Tina Brown suddenly saying she likes him, and calling him a "shining star."

Newt Gingrich might thus be having a "ruh-roh" moment this morning. On today's Morning Joe, Brown repeatedly said "I like Newt" and saddled him with her "shining star".  It was Newt's position on immigration, in which he called for a "humane" solution that would find a path to "legality" for illegal immigrants, that won Tina's heart--and may have turned off GOP voters from Iowa to South Carolina.  Video after the jump.

When it comes to the MSM, it's hard to get more mainstream than Jon Meacham.  Former Newsweek editor. Current Random House editor.  Picked for a Pulitzer Prize.

So when someone of Meacham's genteelly liberal ilk unloads on Barack Obama in such stark terms, it's newsworthy.  On today's Morning Joe, Meacham flatly stated his belief that President Obama "doesn't particularly like people and politicians who don't like people are kind of in the wrong business."  Video and more after the jump.

Shades of "Special Comment"!  In a rant worthy of Keith Olbermann at the height of his Miss Precious Perfect histrionics, Mika Brezinski began today's Morning Joe by tearing into Newt Gingrich for his recent suggestion that Occupy protestors should "get a job, right after you take a bath."

It wasn't merely Mika's words: "arrogant, disgusting, sickened."  So strongly ran Brzezinski's rage that more than once her voice quavered and she seemed on some sort of emotional brink.  Video after the jump.

Serious question: who do you think the liberal media loathes more: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Grover Norquist?  I'm going with 'b.' After all, Mahmoud merely wants to build an atom bomb and wipe Israel off the map, for starters. But Grover Norquist wants to keep taxes from increasing and thereby limit the growth of government.

In a 60 Minutes hit piece tonight, CBS correspondent Steve Kroft claimed Norquist, head of Americans for Tax Reform, "likes things ugly." For good measure, Kroft claimed that Norquist's strategy has some of the characteristics of a "protection racket." Video after the jump.

Say, Al Sharpton: if Herman Cain lacks "intelligence" for colloquially referring to "Cuban" as a language, how about Barack Obama . . . who did precisely the same thing when it came to "Austrian"?

On his MSNBC show tonight, Sharpton mocked Cain for asking in an aside while munching on a Cuban delicacy during a campaign stop: "how do you say 'delicious' in Cuban?" Does Sharpton not know that Barack Obama, in a much more formal setting, addressing a NATO audience, said something virtually identical, wondering how a certain phrase was said "in Austrian"? Video after the jump.

Ever been watching Morning Joe, and wished you could stop the steady stream of liberal blather?  Simple.  Say the magic word—Solyndra—and watch the gabby guests fall suddenly silent.

Today's show offered a prime example of the phenomenon.  For the first ten minutes, the panel had a great old time cackling and crowing on the theme that the Republican presidential field is a mass of morons.  They laughed at the mere mention of Herman Cain, likened the GOP field to a vaudeville show, dragged out the shopworn "bar in Star Wars" simile, and called the Republican candidates "jokes," "clowns" and "stupid." But then, 13 minutes in, Mika Brzezinski mentioned a story reporting that the Obama admin had suppressed the announcement of layoffs at Solyndra until after the 2010 elections.  Despite Mika looking around the table at her guests as she wondered out loud "why this story hasn't picked up more," there wasn't a peep out of the quickly clammed-up crew and Brezinski breezed on to another topic. Video after the jump.

"Memories, light the corners of my mind. Misty watercolor memories of the way we were." -- Barbra Streisand, The Way We Were

Sober political analysis, or merely an MSMer pining for the good old days of Speaker Pelosi? On Morning Joe today, touting a Politico Pelosi puff piece about her "golden touch," Mike Allen claimed it was "very possible" that Democrats would retake the House majority in 2012. Video after the jump.

The Penn State scandal couldn't be more serious.  Can't MSNBC find someone more serious than Al Sharpton to comment on it?

On his show this evening, Sharpton had another language run-in reminiscent of his "resist we much" moment.  This time, Sharpton mangled the name of Mike McQueary, the suspended Penn State assistant coach.   Sharpton rumbled, bumbled and stumbled before eventually pronouncing it "Muckary." Video after the jump.

Joe Scarborough has escalated his running war with the conservative blogosphere.  Clearly stung by being branded a RINO—among other things—Scarborough lashed out at "conservative bloggers" this morning.

Springboarding off his handicapping of the GOP presidential primary, in which he asserted that only Romney, Gingrich and Huntsman have a shot, Scarborough said: "I'm right all the time. And I know my Republican party better than you know your Republican party and it pisses you off and I understand why it would. Because you're always calling me a RINO and I'm always right about my party and you're always wrong."  Video and more after the jump.

It's one thing for your average, secular liberal not to know the New Testament.  But for the Reverend Al Sharpton not to know better?

On his MSNBC show this evening, Sharpton rolled video of Michelle Bachmann, after making the case for self-reliance, saying "if anyone will not work, neither shall they eat." Even this NewsBuster, who is anything but expert in the area, realized that Bachman was quoting Scripture to the effect that people who are unwilling--not unable--to work don't deserve support.  But Sharpton incredibly claimed Bachmann meant that "if you don't have work, you should starve."  Video after the jump.

If the liberal media were allowed to select the Republican presidential nominee, there's little doubt who he'd be: come on up, Jon Huntsman!

On today's Morning Joe, Mark Halperin claimed Huntsman "has as good a chance as any of the other candidates to test Mitt Romney" in New Hampshire.  Mika Brzezinski took the Huntsman-love a large step farther, flatly proclaiming that Huntsman "has all the goods."  Vexed by Huntsman's nearly-invisible primary polling numbers, Mika admitted: "I don't get your party."  Video after the jump.

Call it Niall Ferguson's Pauline Kael moment . . . During the roundtable segment this morning on ABC's This Week, Ferguson, an academic with appointments at Harvard, Stanford and Oxford, said that "all the Texans I know" can't stand Rick Perry.

Ferguson was reacting to host Christiane Amanpour's question about Perry's highly-animated New Hampshire address.  Ferguson professed to like the "swaggering Texan" side of Perry he apparently saw in the speech.  George Will had a caustic comeback.  Video after the jump.

How vile is Mike Papantonio?  For the second time in three days the trial lawyer-cum-radio host has actually made Ed Schultz look relatively reasonable.

Interviewed by Schultz on his MSNBC show this evening, Papantonio claimed that the Koch brothers had "purchased" Herman Cain in order to be able to "kill more people" with toxins.  Video after the jump.

Question:  What does an MSMer call congressional support for tax increases?

Answer: A "bright spot."

Earlier today in another item this NewsBuster wrote: "In the liberal media mindset, mature, sensible citizens will vote for higher taxes, and by extension, for Democrats.  If they don't, they must have taken temporary leave of their senses.  The notion that people, in full control of their rational faculties, might be opposed to higher taxes and more goverment, simply doesn't compute in the MSM medulla." Literally within minutes of that item appearing, we had a perfect illustration of the MSM mindset it described. [Video after the jump]

"Some thoughts on those angry voters. Ask parents of any two-year-old and they can tell you about those temper tantrums: the stomping feet, the rolling eyes, the screaming . . . The voters had a temper tantrum last week."-- ABCs' Peter Jennings, November 14, 1994, explaining the Republican congressional victory.

Looks like the Associated Press has had its Peter Jennings temper-tantrum moment.  AP's explanation, as per the headline it chose for its story, of the overwhelming, 30-point margin by which Colorado voters rejected a tax-raising referendum?  Coloradans were in a "sour mood."  More after the jump.