Reince Priebus

Jonathan Karl interviewed RNC chairman Reince Priebus last week for the ABC News online series Politics Confidential, and the veteran reporter tried his very best to create a juicy headline for his video and accompanying article. It took a little stretching and some selective editing, but Karl managed to do it.

The headline for the entry, posted to ABC News’ Power Players blog, reads “Priebus: GOP Hurt by Dumb Comments; Needs to Work Harder to be Competitive in 2016.” The second paragraph of the article contained this Priebus quote regarding recent comments made by Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and Gov. Phil Bryant (R-Miss.): “I don’t think any party has a monopoly on dumb things that are said, so I’m not going to sit here and defend those comments.” But here’s the interesting thing: that quote did not appear in the video accompanying the article. All of the other quotes in the article also showed up in the video. If Priebus spoke that line, why did Karl not show him saying it? [Read the article and watch the video here.]

Chris Matthews on Thursday made it crystal clear that he sees his role at MSNBC is to present only one side of any issue.

Clearly oblivious to how he was letting the cat out of the bag for all to see, the Hardball host trashed his own network's Morning Joe for being "open to all people's points of view" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

On Thursday night, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow mocked Republican party chairman Reince Priebus for listing as a lesson from 2012 "controlling the debate process, getting involved in moderators and networks and all of these other issues so that we don`t have chaos."

Maddow found it odd that the GOP chair would (very sensibly) say "we just can`t have MSNBC, you know, hosting a debate at the Reagan Library only to have their network comment -- you know, make the commentary afterwards for three hours about the debate of the Republican Party. I mean, it’s ridiculous."

On Tuesday, Piers Morgan lashed out at "intransigent" Republicans and lectured RNC chair Reince Priebus that now is the time to compromise and increase taxes "to the benefit of the American national interest."

"But you Republicans led by Grover Norquist are absolutely intransigent about allowing any raise in taxation, and yet the American public want you to do it," Morgan lectured Priebus. Later on in his show, he smacked "implacable" GOP opposition to tax increases.  [Video below the break. Audio here.]

After a lengthy spar with CNN's Soledad O'Brien over an alleged Mitt Romney flip-flop, RNC chief Reince Priebus called her out for her double standard on Thursday's Starting Point.

"Soledad, I wish you would be as passionate about taking Barack Obama to task for every one of his promises and for every one of his changes that he didn't follow through on over the last four years, as opposed to this," Priebus lectured her. [Video below the break. Audio here.]

Chris Matthews's unhinged, fuming performance on Monday's Morning Joe is a good reason why members of the GOP avoid MSNBC. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus aggressively battled the liberal cable anchor after the host unloaded on Mitt Romney for playing the "race card." [Must see video below the jump. MP3 audio here.]

Asserting that just mentioning welfare is racist, Matthews spewed, "When you start talking about work requirements, you know what game you're playing and everybody knows what game you're playing. It's a race card. " Priebus fired back at the Hardball host, dismissing, "We've gotten to a place in politics that any moment of levity is totally frowned upon by guys like you just so that you can push your brand."

For years I have heard abortion enthusiasts contort themselves in knots to avoid saying "baby" when talking about abortion.

Leave it to MSNBC's plucky Rachel Maddow to go where few liberals dare --  acknowledging, albeit indirectly, that abortion involves killing human life at its most vulnerable. (video after page break)

In an interview with Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus on Wednesday's NBC Today, co-host Savannah Guthrie slammed Paul Ryan's proposed budget: "And the Ryan budget makes some very hard decisions and has some huge spending cuts....But how can you justify in the Ryan budget defense spending that stays flat and then giving a massive tax cut, which predominantly benefits the wealthy?" [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

In reality, Ryan's budget does not include "huge spending cuts," but simply slows the rate of growth of government spending. That was a "nuance" that NBC political director Chuck Todd made sure to point out on Monday as he attempted to diffuse Republican attacks on the President for taking Medicare funds to pay for ObamaCare.

At the same time that NPR was offended enough to go “truth squadding” on Romney’s advertisements attacking Obama's weakness on welfare, NPR’s Don Gonyea reported on Harry Reid’s unsubstantiated charges of Romney tax evasion by leaving the clear impression that Reid is effectively punching away at a Romney “vulnerability” and sees nothing to lose. He certainly can’t seem to lose with NPR.

On Wednesday's All Things Considered, NPR anchor Melissa Block introduced the story as “Don Gonyea reports on the increasingly ugly fight,” but that was applied to both Reid and the Republicans. But their online headline was “In Brawl Over Romney's Tax Returns, Harry Reid Gets Marquee Billing.” Like a boxer, get it?

Tuesday was just another day for “The Five,” the boisterous discussion panel program on the Fox News Channel, until liberal pundit Bob Beckel sank to a new low by referring to the Republican National Chairman's name -- Reince Preibus -- with a vulgar word for a particular part of a woman's body.

The incident occurred when “Five” co-host Eric Bolling referred to an upcoming e-book entitled “Obama’s Last Stand” that's being produced by the Politico.com website and indicates President Obama intensely dislikes former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

On Sunday's World News, ABC's senior Washington editor, Rick Klein, found it to be a "wildly unsubstantiated" and "irresponsible" claim for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to accuse Mitt Romney of not paying taxes for 10 years. He also asserted that Republicans are "taking the bait" by responding, suggesting that there is a "big risk" for the GOP in doing so.

During an interview with RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, Brooke Baldwin skipped her own network’s poll showing more independents disagree than agree with the Supreme Court’s ruling on ObamaCare.  Such cherry-picking is not uncommon for CNN hosts as Baldwin's colleague Soledad O’Brien has engaged in the practice to prop up ObamaCare as well.   

When Priebus challenged Baldwin over her polling claims, she doubled down and continued to selectively highlight data that fit her narrative.  Brooke cited a Gallup poll showing 46 percent of all voters agree with the Supreme Court’s decision and 45 percent of independents agree as well.  Baldwin left out the key piece of data from CNN's poll which found that while 47 percent of independents agree with the ruling, a majority, 52 percent disagree.  [Video coming soon.  MP3 audio here.]

Perhaps inspired by comments made by Vice President Joe Biden on Meet the Press a day earlier, Andrea Mitchell continued MSNBC's drumbeat of activism on gay marriage on her May 7 program. Mitchell seized on Biden's categorical support for same-sex marriage as an opportunity to litigate the issue with Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman Reince Priebus.

During her interview with the chairman, Mitchell tried to excuse President Obama’s "evolving" position on gay marriage by suggesting that Mitt Romney has an authenticity issue himself.  Mitchell showed her liberal colors, disgustingly attacks conservatives like Romney and Priebus who oppose gay marriage by claiming that, "as a conservative, as a true conservative, what could be more conservative than a committed relationship between a man and a man or a woman and a woman who want to embrace the sanctity of marriage?"  [Video follows page break;  MP3 audio here.]

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus on Wednesday mocked the liberal, pro-abortion bias of MSNBC, educating anchor Thomas Roberts about the so-called "war on women." After Priebus denied such an attack on females existed, Roberts dismissed, "But Chairman, how can you say that it's a fiction if you stand on the record on what the Republican Party has said and done? "

Priebus highlighted the pro-Obama spin of MSNBC, taking it right to the network: "If you believe that all women are pro-abortion, maybe in your own world, maybe there's a war on women." An indignant Roberts huffed, "I think he term is pro-choice." Continuing to call out MSNBC, Priebus attacked, "...You and I are never going to be on same page because I happen to believe that life begins at conception and you don't." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

On Thursday's The Ed Show, Ed Schultz insisted that there is indeed a "war on women" by Republicans as the MSNBC host responded to a recent interview by RNC Chairman Reince Priebus in which is mocked Democrats for the scurrilous charge. At one point, Schultz absurdly thought it insightful to claim that, "ironically," Republicans deny that there is a "war on women" even though they "lied us into a war nine years ago," referring to Iraq.

Schultz teased his Thursday The Ed Show:

In a Thursday morning interview on CNN, RNC chairman Reince Priebus called out host Carol Costello for reading Democratic talking points. Costello had just told her guest that she was trying to wean him away from his talking points, but one can only wonder if she would do the same to DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

When Costello told him "I'm just trying to get you off your talking points," Priebus retorted "Well, you've been reading the Democratic talking points for the last seven minutes, Carol." [Video below the break.]

On Tuesday's Good Morning America on ABC, during an interview with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, substitute host Elizabeth Vargas singled out GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich as she asked if the former House Speaker is "fit to be President."  Vargas:

CNN's Piers Morgan easily could have been mistaken for Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod on his Monday night show. In two separate interviews -- with RNC chairman Reince Priebus and Hollywood Obama supporter Harvey Weinstein -- Morgan kept chipping in on behalf of the President's re-election in 2012.

When RNC chairman Reince Priebus attacked Obama's low poll numbers, Morgan countered that the President has lately garnered "a few ticks in the box" to use in his behalf, including improving jobs numbers and the end of the Iraq War. The CNN host used the same argument in his interview with David Axelrod last week, emphasizing the positives in Obama's record of late. [Video below the break. Click here for audio.]

Updated [11:22 ET]: More analysis and full transcript added.

At the top of Thursday's NBC Today, co-host Ann Curry reported on Herman Cain's campaign blaming Rick Perry for dredging up sexual harassment allegations against the Republican front-runner and then wondered: "Will this intra-party fight hurt the Republican Party's chance of taking back the White House?" [Audio available here]

Later, in an interview with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus Curry touted the back and forth among the GOP primary candidates as a "serious feud" and asked: "Do you think this scandal has affected your party's ability to unseat Barack Obama?" [View video after the jump]

After a week of seeking out Democrats to respond to Republican debates, Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos on Thursday interviewed Reince Priebus and grilled the Republican National Committee Chairman on the state of the GOP and whether Sarah Palin is "becoming a distraction" in the 2012 race.

Stephanopoulos did not invite Priebus to weigh in on the scandal involving Solyndra, a bankrupt green jobs company that received a guaranteed loan from the government. Yet, when the host interviewed Obama adviser David Axelrod on September 13, he implored the Democrat to higlight Republican problems. Speaking with Axelrod about Rick Perry, the anchor pushed, "Did he fix the Social Security problem he has?"

Despite the poor economy, MSNBC's Martin Bashir on Thursday saw only problems ahead for the 2012 GOP presidential candidates, grilling Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus.

Singling out Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul, Bashir chided, "...There are a large number of people in this country who find some of the beliefs and comments and commitments of these individuals to be, frankly, very, very difficult to accept."

Unemployment is at 9.1 percent, housing and stock prices are plummeting, national debt is exploding, and Medicare is going bankrupt.

Yet MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews' greatest fear is a president that doesn't believe in evolution or climate change (video follows with transcript and commentary):

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus got into a somewhat testy exchange over the President's lack of a jobs plan with CNN's Christine Romans on today's American Morning. "Sounds like you're the one with the talking points," Priebus replied to Romans's assertion that he was just repeating GOP talking points.

Priebus also noted that only congressional Republicans had offered any solutions to the nation's economic problems.  "I don't know if you're paying attention to what is happening in Washington, but it was the Republicans that offered a budget plan that addressed the out of control spending and out of control debt that is looming in regard to Medicare. It was Paul Ryan who presented a plan," said Priebus.

Talking to Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus on Wednesday's NBC Today, outgoing co-host Meredith Vieira questioned calls for disgraced Congressman Anthony Weiner to resign: "Nancy Pelosi has formally asked the Ethics Committee to look into this. So why not just let them do their job and then let the chips fall where they may?"

Priebus replied: "I don't think we need to spend taxpayer dollars investigating whether or not Anthony Weiner's a creep or not." Vieira continued to brush aside talk of resignation: "...[Weiner] has said he does not believe he has broken any rules, he has no intention of resigning, it's up to the people, his constituents, to decide whether he should leave or not."

On Tuesday's NBC Today, co-host Meredith Vieira grilled Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus on GOP criticism of the massive spending of the Obama administration: "...sixth consecutive month of job growth, unemployment numbers lowest in two years, it certainly appears that there is a recovery. So doesn't that throw a real monkey wrench into your argument?"

Priebus pointed out: "Under this president – he's promised millions and millions of jobs –  we've lost 26 million jobs, Meredith, since he's been president. He promised under an $850 billion stimulus program that we'd be on the path to recovery. Well, none of that has come true." Undeterred, Vieira followed by declaring: "And yet, even some Republican economists have said that in criticizing these numbers, the Republicans run the risk of looking like they're cheering for an economic reversal."