Howard Fineman

Fox Business’s Don Imus had a delicious trifecta Thursday trashing three perilously liberal journalists in less than 90 seconds.

After telling Jonathan Alter to “shove” his request to come on the program and hawk his new book, Imus called Howard Fineman a “sniveling little weasel” and Jon Meacham a “phony bastard” (video follows with transcript and commentary):

With Friday's admission by liberal activist Curtis Morrison for having bugged Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) office in April, there are some liberal media members that owe the Senator an apology.

One is certainly Howard Fineman, the editorial director of the Huffington Post, who on April 10 wrote the following (emphasis added):

Former Newsweek editor Howard Fineman on Monday predictably worried that Republican "nativism" in the wake of the Boston bombing will imperil the chances of immigration reform passing. While discussing the issue on Hardball, the political director of the Huffington Post complained, "I think that's sort of the impulse behind Chuck Grassley. It's the impulse behind Rand Paul, who is one of the renegades who says 'let's stop immigration reform.'"

Connecting Boston to the immigration debate, Fineman fretted, "And what proponents of reform here have to worry about is this sort of notion of nativism coming up again and people just saying, 'No, let's stop.'" Incredibly, the liberal Fineman tried to give advice to the Republican Party: "But Rand Paul doesn't have the interests of the Republican Party at heart...People like Rand Paul are not interested in the future of the Republican Party." Who believes that Fineman cares about the future of the GOP?

When a secret, closed-door conversation about campaign strategy is recorded, illegally, and put out in the public domain, it's a significant story about invasion of privacy that should generate media attention. But of course, the target of the recording in question was Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), so naturally the liberal media are turning a critical eye on him rather than the group that made the illegal recording.

On Saturday’s Today, NBC brought on the Huffington Post’s Howard Fineman to spin the controversy into a story about McConnell’s weaknesses and wrongdoings. Co-host Erica Hill started by asking if the conversation was recorded illegally. Fineman danced around the matter with an evasive answer: “Well, that's an open question... In Kentucky law and federal law it's possibly illegal, but that's open to question because the person recording it could also hear it.” [Video below. MP3 audio here.]

"No chance anyone’s looking for a nekkid picture of Mitch McConnell.”

As amazing as it might seem, such was actually said by MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Hardball Monday (video follows with transcript and commentary):

According to TV critic David Zurawik, MSNBC's hiring of ex-Obama officials David Axelrod and Robert Gibbs makes the so-callend news network almost "a bona fide organ of state propaganda."

Hours after this was published Monday, Hardball's Chris Matthews offered his services to Hillary Clinton - along with those of MSNBC contributors Howard Fineman and Joan Walsh - in order to get her elected president in 2016 (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

Chris Matthews on Sunday actually joked about whether or not it was good that media mogul Rupert Murdoch is still going strong despite being in his 80s.

Not surprisingly, the panelists on the syndicated Chris Matthews Show also thought this was a hoot (video follows with transcript and commentary):

It’s been four years since President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney left the White House, but MSNBC’s Chris Matthews can’t miss an opportunity to trash the former vice president every chance he has. After playing a recent soundbite of Matthews's favorite bete noir, Matthews asked Howard Fineman, the editorial director of the Huffington Post, “Where do you learn to be that evil?”

Speaking to his all-liberal panel, which included Joan Walsh of Salon.com, Matthews went on a bender against Cheney from everything from the leaking of CIA agent Valerie Plame -- he blamed the wrong person for it, by the way -- to the decision to go to war with Iraq.  Matthews began his spittle-laced rant:

The media's hatred of the Tea Party knows no bounds.

On Sunday's syndicated Chris Matthews Show, the Huffington Post's Howard Fineman said, "The Tea Party people are not here to legislate. They're here to demonstrate" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Is it the media's responsibility to worry about Barack Obama's legacy?

The Huffington Post's Howard Fineman seems to think so, and told MSNBC's Chris Matthews Thursday that gun control is "legacy material" for the President (video follows with LexisNexis transcript and commentary):

Former Newsweek editor Howard Fineman apologized on Monday for his "inadvertent smear" against Grover Norquist. First reported on NewsBusters, Fineman appeared on the December 3 Hardball and slammed the President of Americans for Tax Reform. The journalist railed, "A long time before the Tea Party existed or had a name, Grover Norquist, the famous anti-tax lobbyist in Washington, was running around beginning to enforce, ayatollah-style, his edict about taxes."

Four hours after the comment, Fineman tweeted an apology, allowing, "Apologies to Grover Norquist and his Muslim wife for inadvertent slur on #MSNBC #Hardball, calling him 'Ayatollah' of GOP anti-tax movement."

[UPDATE: Fineman apologized. For more, go here.] MSNBC contributor and Huffington Post editor Howard Fineman on Monday smeared Grover Norquist as "ayatollah"-like for his opposition to higher taxes. Talking to Hardball's Chris Matthews, Fineman fumed, "...A long time before the Tea Party existed or had a name, Grover Norquist, the famous anti-tax lobbyist in Washington, was running around beginning to enforce, ayatollah-style, his edict about taxes." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

According to Fineman, this Middle Eastern-style pledge "has really become the core identity of the modern conservative Republican party." Anchor Matthews ludicrously described GOP fidelity to Norquist as "human bondage."

The Huffington Post's Howard Fineman said Sunday that Democrats in Kentucky are hoping actress Ashley Judd will run against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in 2014.

This happened on the syndicated Chris Matthews Show (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

During his special post-debate Hardball,  Chris Matthews's panelists -- with the exception of Republican Michael Steele -- praised moderator Bob Schieffer’s ability to get Romney “to be quiet.”  Apparently it’s the job of the moderator to keep the Republican docile during debates in the minds of liberals. 

Matthews also liked the format of Monday's debate because it denied Romney from being exhibiting "flagrant disrespect" towards President Obama.

Howard Fineman, the former Newsweek reporter turned editorial director for The Huffington Post, is excited for the upcoming Vice Presidential debate this Thursday.  You could tell from his column published today, which glorifies Joe as the archetypal debater. It's titled "Obama Needs the Merciless Joe." 

To start things off, Fineman threw in a thinly veiled racial remark concerning Biden’s thirst for a political fight saying  “what Biden lacks in academic chops he more than makes up for in street smarts; genetic political talent (his Secret Service code name is "Celtic," enough said); an eye for and an ability to earn the loyalty of brilliant, dedicated staffers; an instinct for the jugular; and a thirst for political combat.” 

It is one thing to trash Jim Lehrer’s moderating behind his back.  It’s even worse when you then bring him on your show to praise his performance after you trash him.  No one does this better than Morning Joe’s Scarborough who did a complete 180 on his analysis of Lehrer’s moderating skills. 

On the morning after the first presidential debate, Scarborough claimed that “Jim Lehrer got rolled over” as moderator on October 3rd.  Fast forward to Monday’s Morning Joe when Lehrer appeared in person and Scarborough had suddenly wiped his hands clean of any such criticism.  [See video below break.  MP3 audio here.]

MSNBC contributor Howard Fineman lamented how the president was on the defensive in his first bout with Republican nominee Mitt Romney. Jim Lehrer, who moderated the October 3 debate, has a history of bias that is usually cloaked with his soporific disposition. However, Fineman seemed agitated to the point of calling Lehrer “useless” and equated his moderating of the debate to “criminal negligence.” Fineman’s ire seems to be indicative of liberals’ reaction towards Obama’s poor debate performance.

With the first debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney in just three days, the media have been doing their darnedest to lower expectations for the President's performance.

Doing his part Sunday was New York magazine's John Heilemann who said on the syndicated Chris Matthews Show, "Barack Obama's not a very good debater. He lost almost every debate that he debated with Hillary Clinton" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Most editors spend a lot of their time assigning, proofreading, copy editing, and fact-checking articles for their news organizations while trying to eliminate any bias in their stories, or at least strive to balance information from both sides of the political aisle.

Judging by a post entitled “Barack Obama Floating Like a Butterfly,” that's apparently not the case with Howard Fineman, editorial director of the Huffington Post and far-too-frequent MSNBC guest.

Stick a fork in Romney, he's done! The election's over! According to hard-left MSNBC contributors anyway. It's just a matter of time before Chris Matthews demands a prime slot on the president's inaugural ball dance card.

Speaking on Wednesday’s Morning Joe, Donny Deutsch ridiculously proclaimed the race over and asked regarding the first presidential debate, “What do you think's going to happen October 3rd that we haven't seen already?”  The segment focused on a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll which found President Obama with a 5-point lead in their poll. Of course, the most recent AP/Gallup poll has the race within 1 point, but that doesn't seem to faze Deutsch.  [See video below.  MP3 audio here.]

During the midnight hour of MSNBC's Thursday night Democratic National Convention coverage, MSNBC analyst Howard Fineman -- formerly of Newsweek -- declared that it was "brilliant" for President Obama to suggest that Republicans are being "unpatriotic" in trying to make an issue of the economy's poor performance during his time in office.

Shortly past midnight, Fineman asserted:

During the midnight hour of MSNBC coverage of the Democratic National Convention, Chris Matthews and Howard Fineman went after what they viewed as "hate" on the Republican side, with Matthews raising the topic by reciting Bill Clinton's contention that he never felt "hate" for his opponents. A bit earlier, Matthews also managed to bring in a reference to Nazi Germany as he admired Clinton because he "belittled" Republicans. Matthews:

Playing to a crowd of Democrats in Charlotte cheering on Democratic operative Chris Matthews as he hosted his MSNBC program, Howard Fineman blurted “I survived Tampa and am now glad to be here in Charlotte,” before he derided the Republican gathering: “That convention was like dropping a bowling ball in a sand box.” (An apparent reference to the lack of a post-convention bounce in the polls for Romney.)

MSNBC's Chris Matthews didn't even wait for the balloons and the confetti to stop falling before laying into Mitt Romney. Moments after the former Massachusetts governor finished his Thursday night speech at the Republican National Convention, Matthews slammed the supposedly "very dark, very jingoistic, very anti-scientific, and, really, Know-Nothing" elements of the address.

The left-wing host concluded that "on science, on war and peace...I personally think this was a bad address for the American people." Matthews later went on a tear on how Romney was apparently "narrow-minded...small and insular and piggish...to say, we don't care about the planet we live on, which is getting hotter." [audio available here; video below the jump]

During MSNBC's live coverage of the Republican National Convention on Tuesday, MSNBC political analyst Howard Fineman -- formerly of Newsweek -- complained that Chris Christie's speech was "nasty, and it was mean in tone," as he asserted that the speech failed to explain why Mitt Romney should be elected President. Shortly after 11:00 p.m., Fineman observed:

"These are two of the most moronic statements I have ever heard," NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell, himself a practicing Catholic, complained after watching video of MSNBC host Martin Bashir and MSNBC contributor Jimmy Williams attacking Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) as championing an "unbiblical" budget that doesn't comport to Catholic social teaching.

"Consider that one of these morons is saying that Paul Ryan's budget is unbiblical?! I mean, what book of the Bible dealt with Paul Ryan's budget?" the Media Research Center founder asked on the August 23 "Media Mash" segment, going on to note that seeing as that the Catholic Church is suing the Obama administration over the religious liberty-infringing contraception mandate, it's laughable to suggest that Joe Biden is a better Catholic. [watch the full segment below the page break]

Former Newsweek editor Howard Fineman appeared on Wednesday's Hardball and warned that the Republican Party has become a "faith-based," "Bible-based" political organization. Fineman also derided Paul Ryan as untrustworthy when it comes to considering science: "[Ryan] starts every consideration of public policy, not from the standpoint of science, but from the standpoint of faith."

The journalist, who is now the editorial director for the Huffington Post, darkly intoned, "But the Republican Party has become a faith-based party. Starting with Ronald Reagan, there was a marriage between the Bible Belt of the south, fundamentalist Bible Belt of the south." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

Former Newsweek editor Howard Fineman on Monday's Hardball compared the Republican vice presidential candidate to a congressman who is under fire for discussing what makes a "legitimate rape." Fineman attacked, "Because Todd Akin is the Paul Ryan of Missouri." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

Akin on Sunday was asked about women who get pregnant after being raped. He replied, "If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down." Fineman connected, "What matters is that the views that Todd Akin has espoused and the legislation he's supported is exactly in line with what the perspective Republican vice presidential nominee, Paul Ryan, believes and supported." Matthews, typically, derided the Republican Party's "right-wing assault on women, this caveman view of the sexes."

Presumptive Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan was heckled Monday by protesters at a campaign event in Iowa.

Time senior political analyst Mark Halperin told MSNBC's Chris Matthews these were Democrats "on duty" (video follows with transcript and commentary, photo courtesy Des Moines Register):

Journalist Howard Fineman, who previously slammed Rush Limbaugh as a "werewolf," who knocked Rick Perry and Sarah Palin as stupid, who smeared Tea Partiers as "secessionists," touted his non-partisan credentials on the website of the liberal Huffington Post.  Fineman absurdly proclaimed, "I'm pretty well known for keeping an even keel ideologically and for steering clear of partisanship."

Fineman, who once lectured Mitt Romney to tell Limbaugh, "stuff it," added, "I'm old-fashioned, even out of date, in this deconstructionist era, in which everyone is assumed to have an ulterior -- political -- motive. I don't. I really don't." Fineman's defense came after a public squabble with Limbaugh. The radio host derided the journalist for tweeting of the Olympics: "Brits long ago lost their empire, powerful currency. They've got social strife, but overall show us how to lose global power gracefully."