Bill Clinton

MSNBC's on-air personalities were plainly in awe of Bill Clinton on Wednesday night. Moments after the former President finished his speech at the Democratic National Convention, they kept up the praise for almost 20 minutes. Chris Matthews gushed over the "strong offensive" Clinton gave for President Obama. Al Sharpton exclaimed, "Elvis and Bubba showed up tonight."

Ed Schultz was the most enthusiastic for the former Arkansas governor: "Affable, effective - as a Democrat, it doesn't get any better. I'm sitting here - I'm giddy...I just think President Clinton just did Barack Obama the biggest favor he could have ever done." Rachel Maddow and former McCain campaign advisor Steve Schmidt agreed that Clinton's address was "powerful," with Schmidt exclaiming that "I wish to God, as a Republican, we had someone on our side who had the ability to do that. We don't. It would be great if we did. Just an amazing performance." [audio available here; video below the jump]

Piers Morgan couldn't contain himself on Wednesday night as he adulated President Clinton as an "oratorical genius" who is "right up there with Churchill, Kennedy, MLK, and Mandela." CNN wasn't called the "Clinton News Network" for nothing.

"[T]hat was pound for pound, dollar for dollar, one of the great modern political speeches I have ever heard," sounded Morgan later on his show. He even asked on Twitter if Clinton could be British prime minister. [Video below the break. Audio here.]

After hyping that Bill Clinton might deliver "his patented rocket fuel" to the DNC on Wednesday night, ABC swooned over his "perfect tone" and compared him to an "old pro."

"Strikes me, George, like one of those movies where the old pro comes out of retirement, filled with vitality, and does he know how to ride the waves inside this arena," gushed Diane Sawyer. Former Clinton operative George Stephanopoulos called it "the best nomination a man could hope for." [Video below the break. Audio here.]

Bill Clinton just turned 66, so perhaps it might seem a bit dated to still find it amusing when feminist TV pundits  stumble into sexual double entendres for the intern-exploiting president.

But that's what happened on Now With Alex Wagner on Wednesday. When Time columnist Joel Stein suggested the Democrats might not be able to offer better speeches than Tuesday's slate, Wagner replied if anyone can "sort of be the tentpole here," it's Slick Willie: [Video and transcript below]

It's irresistible to play the game of imagining the MSM response had a prominent Republican been caught saying of Barack Obama that "a few years ago this guy would have been carrying our bags."  In the case of a Mitt Romney or Paul Ryan, calls for them to quit the campaign would be echoing from the halls of MSNBC to the shores of the New York Times.

But let a Democrat say it, in the person of The World's Greatest and Most Beloved Politician, AKA Bill Clinton, and well, no problem.  The MSM reacts with a yawn.  Take Ryan Lizza, the New Yorker correspondent who actually broke the story.  Appearing on CNN this morning, Lizza assured host Soledad O'Brien that "I don't think it's racial.  I don't think Bill Clinton has a racist bone in his body."  View the video after the jump.

On Monday's Charlie Rose show on PBS, during a discussion of Mitt Romney's selection of Paul Ryan having the positive effect of "energizing" the GOP base, Time magazine's Joe Klein faulted Romney for not taking a "moderate stance" for the general election, asserting that the "Republican base is the problem, not the solution." He began:

MSNBC's Chris Matthews sure doesn't have a problem expressing his affection for men on national television.

After showing a new campaign ad former President Bill Clinton just completed for the current White House resident, the Hardball host actually said, "If I were Barack Obama, I'd marry that guy" (video follows with commentary):

In a fawn-fest over Chelsea Clinton with CNN's Ashleigh Banfield on Wednesday, Vogue magazine's contributing editor Jonathan van Meter slipped in some serious love for Bill and Hillary.

"I think one of the things the Clintons will go down in history for, it may very well being the world's greatest parents. I mean, they did such an incredible job of protecting her [Chelsea] from the likes of us, basically," van Meter admitted of the press. [Video below the break.]

On Saturday's World News, ABC correspondent Jonathan Karl informed viewers that former Democratic President Bill Clinton had spoken favorably to Republican Rep. Paul Ryan about his budget plan that is so unpopular with other Democrats.

After recounting President Barack Obama's history of clashing with Rep. Ryan, Karl continued:

NewsBusters reported Friday that Politico's Roger Simon, appearing on PBS's Inside Washington, accused the Romney campaign of employing a racist "dog whistle" in its anti-Obama welfare ad.

Also appearing on the program was syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer who scolded, "Any time a real issue is brought up here, all of a sudden it’s a silent dog whistle that only liberals hear...Clinton’s the guy who passed the law in the first place. Was that a dog whistle? Was he a racist?" (Video follows with transcript and commentary).

CNN relied on liberal analysis and Democratic talking points to dismantle a new Romney campaign claim about Obama gutting welfare reform. On Wednesday morning the network twice cited PolitiFact calling Romney's new ad "Pants on Fire" and quoted former President Clinton calling it false.

As NewsBusters reported, the July HHS directive does away with work requirements for welfare recipients, which was at the heart of the 1996 welfare reform bill. The memo would allow states to creatively redefine the work requirements and replace them with excuses for "work."

Not so, says CNN, who even resorted to quoting former Democratic President Bill Clinton to back up its argument. "Even former President Bill Clinton who orchestrated this welfare-to-work program back when he was president said it's just simply not true," anchor Carol Costello said of the Romney ad.

On Tuesday's CBS This Morning, liberal comedian D.L. Hughley claimed that Republicans acted as bullies when they impeached former President Bill Clinton in 1998, as well as Rep. Joe Wilson when he shouted "you lie" at President Obama in 2009. Hughley also indicated that Clinton would have handled Wilson's outburst better, as "he had, to a greater or lesser degree, been bullied and seen what kind of capacity he had." [audio available here; video below the jump]

The former CNN host must not have caught the irony of his remarks, as he has a record of assailing Republicans. In 2009, Hughley claimed the Republican National Convention "literally look[s] like Nazi Germany." Later that year, he smeared former President Ronald Reagan as "the Moses of...greedy white men."

Is there anything more disgusting than watching a grown, heterosexual, married man gush and fawn over another grown, heterosexual married man for political reasons on national television?

Unfortunately, this happens all too often for MSNBC's Chris Matthew who on Monday's Hardball was once again proudly displaying the thrill up his leg, this time for former President Bill Clinton (video follows with transcript and commentary):

In a post-Occupy Wall Street/Buffett Rule world, I bet you'd never expect a liberal news organization to admit that you can't solve all the country's problems by just raising taxes on the rich.

The Washington Post did exactly that in an editorial Monday:

If the idea of tax increases is so darned popular, why do journalists "creatively" avoid using the term?

Here's an example from a lengthy Saturday report on Democrat Bob Kerrey's U.S. Senate comeback effort in Nebraska by Karen Tumulty at the Washington Post, wherein she describes the 1993 Clinton tax hikes as a "deficit-reduction plan" (bolds are mine):

There has yet to be any evidence circumstantial or otherwise to indicate that James Holmes had a political motivation or enticement to murder innocent people at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, Friday.

Despite this, in the middle of a panel discussion about this massacre Sunday, NBC Meet the Press host David Gregory brought up former President Bill Clinton's words following the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that most at the time felt were directed at conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh (video follows with transcript and commentary):

"Gun control advocates sputter at their own impotence."

Such was the shocking opening sentence of a piece published by the Associated Press moments ago addressing the political aftermath of the tragic shootings at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado.

In an interview aired on Friday's NBC Today, former President Bill Clinton began by attacking Republicans: "I'm not sure both sides want the economy to get better....I know what Senator McConnell said, that his number one priority was winning the election." Co-host Savannah Guthrie helpfully added: "It sounds like you're saying the Republicans are basically rooting for the economy to fail." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

That teed up Clinton perfectly to proclaim: "No, I didn't say that. Senator McConnell did. Senator McConnell said his number one goal was not to get the economy going again, it was to defeat the President. So I hope they're not rooting for it to fail. I think, you know, they really may believe that austerity now is the right policy."

On Sunday's Melissa Harris-Perry show on MSNBC, as host Harris-Perry led a discussion of what the presidential candidates will need to do to appeal to white voters, panel member and CNBC contributor Keith Boykin asserted that Republicans have "carefully caricatured" the Democratic Party as the "party of black people," and suggested that Americans have been duped into believing that most federal tax dollars are spent to benefit black Americans. Boykin:

Former President Bill Clinton made headlines last week when he told CNBC's Maria Bartiromo the Bush tax cuts should be extended into next year.

On ABC's This Week Sunday, Clinton's former adviser turned talk show host George Stephanopoulos asked one of his guests, "Might not he be right on the issue of extending the tax cuts at least for two or three or four months into next year to get over that uncertainty that’s going to come right after the election?" (video follows with commentary, photo via Life magazine):

CNN was called the 'Clinton News Network' during the 90s for a reason. After letting Bill Clinton get away with his ridiculous excuse for supporting a temporary extension of the Bush tax cuts, Wolf Blitzer kissed up to the former president by fawning over his daughter Chelsea in the Thursday interview.

And Blitzer had a sugary introduction ready. "[W]hen we spoke about the President's daughter, Chelsea, his face lit up with pride," Blitzer cooed. [Video below the break. Audio here.]

NewsBusters reported Thursday that CNN's Wolf Blitzer shamefully allowed former President Bill Clinton to absurdly claim that prior to Tuesday's controversial interview with CNBC's Maria Bartiromo, he thought the Bush tax cuts expired before Election Day.

On Friday's Starting Point, CNN's chief political correspondent Candy Crowley agreed with NewsBusters saying about Clinton's preposterous statement, "I don’t buy that explanation" (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

Back in the '90s, many people called CNN the "Clinton News Network" because it was so obviously partial to the Democratic President from Arkansas.

Wolf Blitzer perfectly exemplified why this was the case Thursday when in an interview with former President Bill Clinton, he shamefully allowed his guest to absurdly claim that prior to Tuesday's controversial interview with CNBC's Maria Bartiromo, he thought the Bush tax cuts expired before Election Day (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

Time magazine's Joe Klein on Wednesday compared Tuesday's recall election in Wisconsin to former President Bill Clinton's impeachment proceeding in the late '90s.

Not surprisingly, appearing on CNN's Starting Point, Klein got most of the facts wrong (video follows with transcript and commentary):

CBS This Morning on Tuesday heralded President Obama and former President Bill Clinton's joint fundraising appearances in New York City, playing up the "star-studded lineup" that appeared with the two. Correspondent Bill Plante gushed that Obama "shared the stage and the spotlight with former President Bill Clinton...his reputation now bathed in nostalgia as he made the case for his fellow Democrat."

Political director John Dickerson also likened Clinton to a lumbering dog throwing its weight around: "He's [Clinton] also, sort of, a big St. Bernard bounding around the political landscape, saying what he wants, and it's difficult for the Obama team to quiet him down if he says something that might be slightly off message."