NPR's Nina Totenberg strangely cast doubt on the liberal credentials of Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor on Saturday's Early Show on CBS, claiming that "they're not nearly as liberal as justices were...thirty years ago." Totenberg also hinted that the other members of the Court were right-wing radicals: "Compared to the much more conservative members of the Court, they are liberal."
Anchor Russ Mitchell brought on the journalist for her take of the most recent term of the Supreme Court. Near the end of the interview, Mitchell noted how "this was the first full term for President Obama's two appointees, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor" and asked, "What do you think? Did we see a shift in the Court's philosophy this year at all?"
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By Matthew Balan | June 28, 2011 | 9:28 AM EDT
By Tim Graham | June 28, 2011 | 7:45 AM EDT
Labor unions might not be the best judges of "responsible journalism." Brian Maloney at the Radio Equalizer blog is horrified that harsh left-wing talk radio host Randi Rhodes was honored for "responsible journalism" from a probation officers union in Los Angeles County.
If in need of further evidence that our Californian "progressive" friends have indeed lost their marbles, we direct you to today's Exhibit A...Signed by Assemblyman Tony Mendoza (D-56), the public sector labor union-sponsored award doesn't appear to specify any particular examples of excellence in reporting.
By Noel Sheppard | June 28, 2011 | 2:30 AM EDT
In the past nine days, the comedian most revered by liberals as the nation's top political satirist has devolved into a gross, unintelligible caricature of himself.
So hell-bent on attacking Fox News has the "Daily Show" host become that on Monday he continued to put words in Chris Wallace's mouth while appearing completely oblivious to serious investigations going on in Congress (video follows with transcript and commentary):
By Dave Pierre | June 28, 2011 | 1:16 AM EDT
Earlier this month, the Archdiocese of Boston felt that a special mass at St. Cecilia's Church in Boston to "commemorate Boston Pride 2011" would give parishioners and the public the false impression that the Church was endorsing the city's annual Gay Pride festivities and its accompanying messages (e.g., acceptance of gay 'marriage'). It therefore asked the parish to postpone the liturgy to a different date. The priest, obedient to his local bishop, obliged.
End of story? Not for the Boston Globe.
By Tom Blumer | June 27, 2011 | 10:52 PM EDT
Earlier today, a grand jury convicted former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat, on 17 of 20 counts of corruption. 11 of of the guilty verdicts related to attempts to profit from the "sale" of the U.S. Senate seat Barack Obama vacated when he became president.
At USA Today's On Deadline blog (as of its 5:33 p.m. update), Michael Winter failed to identify Blagojevich or any other politician involved as a Democrat. Neither did the video found at Winter's article. This is not surprising, because the video came from the "see no evil Democrat" Associated Press.
In six items all carrying today's date found at the AP's main site in a search on the former governor's last name at 8:15 p.m. ET, the wire service not only failed to tag Blago as a Democrat, it failed to tag anyone as Democrat. Here's the list:
By Noel Sheppard | June 27, 2011 | 10:42 PM EDT
Like dutiful White House shills, the "NBC Nightly News" Monday reported Republican presidential candidate Michelle Bachmann mistaking the Iowa town where actor John Wayne was born.
Hypocritically, NBC News has still not informed viewers of President Obama's horrible error last Thursday when he said he had awarded a Medal of Honor in person to a living soldier who actually had been killed in Afghanistan in 2006 (video follows with transcript and commentary):
By Tim Graham | June 27, 2011 | 10:12 PM EDT
Cragg Hines, a longtime Washington bureau chief and columnist for the Houston Chronicle (who retired in 2007), announced his very strong backing of a liberal gay Democrat for the Virginia State Senate. In the gay magazine Metro Weekly, Hines wrote "it would be worth electing him just to see the look on the faces of right-wing Republican legislators and their sometimes vicious, off-the-wall supporters" when he was sworn in.
Hines has also put his money where his mouth is, donating $250 to Delegate Adam Ebbin's Senate campaign.
By Noel Sheppard | June 27, 2011 | 9:28 PM EDT
For months, NewsBusters has been alerting readers that the media scrutiny on every word uttered by Republican presidential candidates this election cycle will be like nothing we've ever experienced.
MSNBC's Chris Matthews perfectly demonstrated this on Monday's "Hardball" when he not only took Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) to task for mistaking the name of the town John Wayne was born in, he also expressed shocked that she would say "Iowa" fourteen times during a speech given in - wait for it! - Iowa (video follows with transcript and commentary):
By Matt Hadro | June 27, 2011 | 7:30 PM EDT
It didn't take long for CNN to buy into the hype of New York's legalization of same-sex marriage and pose this question: Is it time for marriage equality in America? CNN asked the question on both the 11 a.m. 12 p.m. EDT hours of Newsroom.
The network referred to the words of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who stated that he believes "it is time for marriage equality all across the country." Cuomo signed New York's same-sex marriage bill into law over the weekend.
By Matt Hadro | June 27, 2011 | 6:40 PM EDT
Continuing his push to "modernize the Constitution for the 21st century" by talking about "a few revisions," CNN's Fareed Zakaria hosted legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin for a liberal gripe session on his Sunday show Fareed Zakaria GPS. Both criticized the current Electoral College and state representation in the Senate, and also slammed the "grammatical mess" that is the Second Amendment.
One of the "kinks" of the American Constitution, Zakaria complained, is that "the Second Amendment is a grammatical mess, whatever you may think of the right to bear arms." This is liberal code for the amendment needs to be "updated" to their standards.
By Scott Whitlock | June 27, 2011 | 6:26 PM EDT
After playing a clip of Michele Bachmann longing for a return to the "Founders' vision of a constitutionally conservative government," MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Monday assumed the Republican presidential candidate meant "slavery."
The Hardball anchor offered bizarre analogies, questioning former RNC Chair Michael Steele on Bachmann's 2012 campaign: "What is this, Michael? The Protestant Reformation? That somehow we're going back to the purity of the original Christian church?"
Immediately jumping to the worst interpretation, Matthews continued, "We're going back to the original perfection of slaveholders and how perfect they were and government is the enemy. She speaks pure Tea Party lingo."
By Eric Ames | June 27, 2011 | 5:21 PM EDT
Chris Wallace of Fox News had a new fan in CNN's Carol Costello on Monday's American Morning, at least on his question asking presidential candidate and Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann if she was a flake. "It was a good question, because many in America think she's a flake," announced Costello.
Rude questions are apparently only par for the course when it comes to Republican candidates. Beyond this, Costello moved on to parroting the standard media tropes regarding Bachmann."During the 2008 campaign she said that she wanted the press to investigate members of congress for being un-American. She says a lot of extreme things, and that brings up questions exactly how Chris Wallace posed them."
By Ken Shepherd | June 27, 2011 | 4:58 PM EDT
Columbia University professor Simon Schama made his Newsweek debut yesterday with a blog post that indirectly attacked Tea Party activists and conservatives for what Schama considers a historically illiterate ancestor worship of the Founding Fathers.
"The Constitution’s framers were flawed like today’s politicians, so it’s high time we stop embalming them in infallibility," snarked the subheading for Schama's June 26 post.
By Nicholas Ballasy | June 27, 2011 | 4:20 PM EDT
The Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is accusing former House Speaker Newt Gingrich—along with deceased al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden—of “pushing Islamaphobia” in the United States.
By Geoffrey Dickens | June 27, 2011 | 3:58 PM EDT
Today's official announcement by Republican Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann that she is running for the GOP nomination for President could spawn a whole new round of frenzied attacks by the liberal media on the Tea Party favorite.
A review of the MRC's archives shows a particular disdain for Bachmann coming from the likes of MSNBC host Chris Matthews, who once accused her of being a "zombie," even going as far to ask her on live Election Night coverage if she "hypnotized?"