MRC President and NewsBusters Publisher Brent Bozell appeared on the May 9 edition of Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends" to discuss media coverage of the Democratic primary race. Bozell held that while the conventional wisdom that Clinton's candidacy is all-but-over may be accurate, political reporters who should be objectively reporting the campaign have taken on the role of pundits and commentators. What's more, Bozell added, it's precisely this sort of cheerleading by the referees that has called the game for Obama well before the clock's run out. [audio available here]

For general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: death toll in Burma could reach 500,000:

THE death toll in cyclone-ravaged Burma could hit 500,000 – more than TWICE the total killed by the Boxing Day Tsunami.

As you probably know, Nobel Laureate Al Gore has already blamed this cyclone on -- wait for it! -- global warming. As our hearts go out to the Burmese, as well as our generous charitable contributions, one must wonder when American media will begin blaming George W. Bush for this horrible cataclysm.

After all, he hasn't signed on to the Kyoto Protocol, and has done little to reduce America's shameful emissions of carbon dioxide. As such, akin to the tsunamis of 2004, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and last year's tornadoes in Kansas, there has to come a point when media will tie this natural disaster to Bush, his policies, or, at the very least, the war in Iraq.

Isn't it only a matter of time?

Topics in today's episode include Barbara Walters's love life, layoffs at the New York Times, John Cusack's new anti-war film, and Spike Lee tells Rev. Jeremiah Wright to shut up. Click "Play" on the image to the right to watch.

If you're a Myspace user, be sure to visit our MySpace page and add NewsBusted as a friend. You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel and help take back Web 2.0 for conservatism by giving us positive ratings and smacking down left-wingers who can't stand that the joke's on them for a change.

Want to try your hand at comedy? Send your one-liners to rightstuffcomedy@yahoo.com. If we use them, we'll pay you $50.

For general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: Clinton continues to throw the race card (paragraph breaks removed):

Hillary Rodham Clinton vowed Wednesday to continue her quest for the Democratic nomination, arguing she would be the stronger nominee because she appeals to a wider coalition of voters — including whites who have not supported Barack Obama in recent contests. "I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on," she said in an interview with USA TODAY. As evidence, Clinton cited an Associated Press article "that found how Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me." "There's a pattern emerging here," she said.

What do you think about these statements? Could a Republican get away with this? Wouldn't any GOP candidate saying such a thing get so trashed by the media that he or should would have to drop out of the race? Assuming Obama gets the nomination, will McCain be allowed to make similar comments?

For general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: not a good night for Hillary.

Sure, she won in Indiana, but not by much. And, North Carolina, no matter how you spin it, was a disaster.

Does she have to get out now? Will Democrat leaders start putting the pressure on her?

That's certainly not the way it looked during her "victory" speech last night in Indiana.

On another note: how much do you think Operation Chaos impacted the results in the Hoosier state?

For the rest of the campaign, the Media Research Center will each Tuesday announce its picks for the “Worst of the Week,” meaning the most egregious, horrendous and stupefying liberal bias of Campaign 2008. This week, the spotlight shines on those journalists who rushed to the side of Barack Obama after his minister’s radical comments, and NBC’s ridiculous effort to hype bad economic news [audio/video links below fold]:

Feeling Obama’s Pain. After Barack Obama’s former pastor’s radical remarks at the National Press Club, liberal journalists rallied around the Democratic candidate. Hours after Jeremiah Wright spoke on April 28, NBC’s Brian Williams emphasized those who deemed it a "circus" and a "sideshow," as his NBC Nightly News highlighted the Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart: "Unfortunately, the victim in all of this is going to be Senator Obama’s campaign."

For general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: $200 oil?

Oil prices are increasingly likely to hit between $150 and $200 a barrel over the next six to 24 months, said Arjun N. Murti and other Goldman Sachs analysts in a research report. "We believe the current energy crisis may be coming to a head, as a lack of adequate supply growth is becoming apparent and resulting in needed demand rationing in the OECD areas in particular the United States," the Goldman Sachs analysts wrote in the report dated Monday.

Be advised that Goldy predicted $105 oil back in March 2005 when crude was at $50. So, they've been pretty darned prescient. Of course, also be advised that this is the largest commodity trading house in the world, and, therefore, has a vested interest in these prices continuing to rise.

Topics in today's show: the "recession" that isn't, the guy who discovered LSD died, Oprah's taking a hit in ratings for endorsing Obama, the Supreme Court upholds voter ID laws. Click "Play" on the image to the right to watch!

If you're a Myspace user, be sure to visit our MySpace page and add NewsBusted as a friend. You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel and help take back Web 2.0 for conservatism by giving us positive ratings and smacking down left-wingers who can't stand that the joke's on them for a change.

Want to try your hand at comedy? Send your one-liners to rightstuffcomedy@yahoo.com. If we use them, we'll pay you $50.

For general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: Hillary bet on the horse that had to be put down at the Kentucky Derby Saturday (paragraph breaks removed, emphasis added):

Showing a sisterhood with the female horse, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., during a trip to Louisville this week had said she was going to bet on Eight Belles to win, place, and show. ABC News' Karen Travers reports that Clinton told supporters in Jeffersonville, Ind., earlier this week, "I hope that everybody will go to the derby on Saturday and place just a little money on the filly for me. I won’t be able to be there this year -- my daughter is going to be there and so she has strict instructions to bet on Eight Belles." Travers also points out that Eight Belles' trainer, Larry Jones, returned the love. "It looks like it could be the year for the girls," he said.

Is this a macabre irony given how poorly things have gone this year for the woman that would be president as well as Katie Couric, or in very bad taste to bring up?

For general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: equating Rev. Hagee with Rev. Wright:

BORED by those endless replays of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright? If so, go directly to YouTube, search for "John Hagee Roman Church Hitler," and be recharged by a fresh jolt of clerical jive...Mr. Hagee is not a fringe kook but the pastor of a Texas megachurch. On Feb. 27, he stood with John McCain and endorsed him over the religious conservatives' favorite, Mike Huckabee, who was then still in the race...Mr. Hagee, it's true, did not blame the American government for concocting AIDS. But he did say that God created Hurricane Katrina to punish New Orleans for its sins, particularly a scheduled "homosexual parade there on the Monday that Katrina came."

Is there any similarity between the Hagee issue and Wright? Is the left grasping at straws to deflect criticism from Obama? Isn't there a huge difference between attending a church for 20 years and accepting an endorsement? Or are Rich and others making this comparision correct, and this is going to be a problem for McCain?

Kenny Leitner of Grafton, IL mows what little grass isn't covered by Illinois River floodwaters (Alton Telegraph photo by John Badman)

For all things related to sports. Possible talking point: Tejada does a Babe Ruth:

When Miguel Tejada met 8-year-old Jacob Scott on Friday, he was so touched by the little boy with muscular dystrophy he promised him a home run.Tejada fulfilled his vow to the youngster by hitting the first of three straight Houston home runs in a 7-4 win over the Milwaukee Brewers.

"I was so excited," said Tejada, who'd never promised a home run before. "I know it's hard to tell someone you'll hit a home run and do it. But today when I went to lunch with this kid I wanted him to be happy. So I told him I'd do it."

Stop it. You can't actually promise someone you'll hit a homer, and actually do it. But Miggy did. If this doesn't bring a tear to your eye, turn off your computer, and back away from your desk.

For general debate and discussion. Possible talking point: England makes a HUGE right turn:

Boris Johnson, the floppy-haired media celebrity and Conservative member of Parliament who transformed himself from a shambling, amusing-aphorism-uttering figure of fun into a plausible political force, was elected mayor of London on Friday...With final votes in for the 159 local councils in which seats were being contested, Labor lost 331 seats overall, and the Conservative opposition gained 256. The Labor Party took an estimated 24 percent of the overall vote, placing it a woeful third behind the Conservatives, with 44 percent, and the Liberal Democrats, with 25 percent.

This is a HUGE win for the Conservatives in the UK. Does this have any portent for our elections in November? Before you answer, consider what the Tory victory in 1979 under Margaret Thatcher's leadership did for Ronald Reagan the following year.

Chelsea Clinton in Portland, OR on April 12th at the Red Dress Party, described by Willamette Week as "a mondo-alcohol-fueled dance party where nearly 2,000 gay men in various states of red dress undress (and several nearly naked straight men as well as one very colorfully decorated naked woman) invade a warehouse in Northeast Portland and dance their collective ----- off."

Hillary Clinton's recent appearance on "The O'Reilly Factor" was a play for superdelegate support at the Democratic Convention, MRC President Brent Bozell argued on the May 2 "Fox & Friends" in a segment joined by liberal talk show host Mike Papantonio. [audio available here]

Asked about the media and if it will follow up any more on the Rev. Wright controversy, the NewsBusters publisher quipped that, "[u]nless Jeremiah Wright sends a cruise missile back in their direction, no, the networks aren't going to touch this, and the New York Times is going to leave this alone. That's the end of the story, that's the way it goes."

Below is a transcript of some remarks from Bozell's appearance on the May 2 "Fox & Friends":

For general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: Is the worst of this economic slowdown behind us?

In case you hadn't noticed, there's been a good deal of positive economic news lately, especially today's jobs number and factory orders report. Stocks appear to have bottomed, ditto the dollar, ditto the S&P financial index. Oil, grains, and precious metals have been softening while credit spreads tighten.

Despite the negativity of Democrat politicians and their media minions, are you starting to feel that we're closer to an economic bottom than the top, and that things might be a whole lot better before they get any worse?

Or, is this all a head-fake, and there's much more bad economic news looming on the horizon?

Topics in today's show: Jimmy Carter negotiates with Hamas, the "virtual" border fence, pot smokers across America unite, and bomb-sniffing cats? Click "Play" on the image to the right to watch!

If you're a Myspace user, be sure to visit our MySpace page and add NewsBusted as a friend. You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel and help take back Web 2.0 for conservatism by giving us positive ratings and smacking down left-wingers who can't stand that the joke's on them for a change.

For general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: Will Obama and the media's attempt to "move on" from Rev. Wright work?

As NewsBusters predicted Monday following Wright's performance at the National Press Club, the media have used the event to assist Obama in distancing himself from the reverend. In the past couple of days, Obama has expressed his outrage, and the press have followed suit, even allowing Michelle to tell us all that focusing attention on Wright is bad for our kids.

Is this going to work? Will Obama and press members telling folks to ignore Wright lead Americans to do so? Or are his words to venomous for most to forget?

On a related issue, will this strategy only work to seal his nomination, but fail in the general election as Republicans revive Wright's words? And, finally, what's the possibility that Wright and Obama orchestrated the Press Club speech so as to give the candidate the ammunition to publicly disavow the reverend? Think about it.

MRC President and NewsBusters Publisher Brent Bozell appeared on both the April 29 "Hannity & Colmes" and the April 30 "Fox & Friends" to discuss media treatment of the ongoing Barack Obama/Rev. Jeremiah Wright saga. Bozell discussed a taxpayer-funded "puff piece" interview by PBS's Bill Moyers on "Hannity & Colmes." The next morning on "Fox & Friends," in addition to addressing Moyers's bias, Bozell discussed reports that Hillary Clinton backer the Rev. Dr. Barbara Reynolds was the person responsible for arranging Rev. Jeremiah Wright's April 27 National Press Club event.

While Reynolds has a political agenda in view, Bozell noted, he doubted there was a direct link to Hillary Clinton herself. [Audio excerpt here]

An excerpt from the "Fox & Friends" segment:

GRETCHEN CARLSON, co-host: Well how did Rev. Jeremiah Wright end up as a keynote speaker at the National Press Club? And what role Barbara Reynolds, openly a Clinton supporter, what role did she play in arranging Rev. Wright's appearance? More details coming out this morning now.

BRIAN KILMEADE, co-host: Yeah, Brent Bozell, you have a theory here. And we know now thanks to one of the reports that she had brought up Rev. Wright's name two years ago as a speaker and he has spoken before at 2007. But when they needed Rev. Wright, they had to go to Reynolds who does know him personally.

For general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: government on a hiring binge (paragraph breaks removed):

Federal, state and local governments are hiring new workers at the fastest pace in six years, helping offset job losses in the private sector. Governments added 76,800 jobs in the first three months of 2008, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. That's the biggest jump in first-quarter hiring since a boom in 2002 that followed the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Is this good news, or something that should really concern fiscal conservatives, assuming such an animal still exists? :-)

Leftist MSNBC host Keith Olbermann attacked NewsBusters and the Media Research Center in his "Worst Person in the World" segment on Monday night, awarding us the "Worser" prize with a typical sneer: "The nice thing about being on the opposite side of the war with the Media Research/NewsBusters crowd is they're really stupid." Olbermann singled out Tim Graham's Friday post on Nancy Pelosi hailing both the Pope and the Dalai Lama as "Holinesses." Media Matters posted on Friday that President Bush had done the same thing. Olbermann, whose broadcast often cribs heavily from that site, pounced:

For general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: Sharpton blasts Obama for "[grandstanding] in front of white people":

Barack Obama made a call for nonviolence in the aftermath of the Sean Bell verdict - infuriating the Rev. Al Sharpton, who accused the presidential candidate of trying to "grandstand in front of white people," sources told The Post. During what a source described as a "heated" phone call yesterday, Sharpton told Obama he was disappointed with the Illinois senator's words on Friday, when Obama said "resorting to violence to express displeasure" was "completely unacceptable and counterproductive."

Is Obama's campaign beginning to dissemble? Are we witnessing one of the biggest political collapses in years? Or, will media save Obama from himself long enough to capture the nomination?

Topics in this show: 15% of American adults admit they've driven under the influence of alcohol, Barack Obama's campaign blogger, Alicia Keyes on the rap conspiracy, "American Idol's" ratings start to drop, and Flavor Flav's new sitcom. Click "play" on the video to the right to watch.

Support conservative comedy! If you're a Myspace user, be sure to visit our MySpace page and add NewsBusted as a friend. You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel and help take back Web 2.0 for conservatism by giving us positive ratings and answering angry lefties who don't like the joke being on them for a change.