Sexuality

Apparently, ABC can't tell the difference between opponents of gay marriage and hateful, anti-American bigots. As World News reporter Terry Moran on Friday highlighted the Supreme Court's decision to consider the legality of same-sex marriage, video of Westboro Baptist picketers appeared onscreen to visually represent "opponents." [See video below. Listen to MP3 audio here.]

Members of the small and extreme Westboro Baptist Church have disrupted the funerals of American military personal who were killed defending this country. Yet, Moran announced, "For opponents of gay marriage, the very fabric of our society is at stake." During this voice-over, video showed Westboro protesters with signs reading "God hates America." After that footage, the segment immediately cut to a Family Research Council representative (FRC).

Actor Matt Damon made a crude sexual joke about "tossing salad" on NBC's Today show Tuesday.

Although the topic was food, co-hosts Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie both clearly understood the reference and laughed along with Damon and others on the set (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

Just before Thanksgiving, the leftist think tank Demos issued a report by its own Catherine Ruetschlin advocating a $12 an hour minimum wage (stated as $25,000 per year by her) for those who work full-time in retail.

What's interesting about Ruetschlin's suggestion is that there is a retailer out there which is actually doing that and more -- and it's not Costco, which "pays starting employees at least $10 an hour." To be fair to Costco, rapid wage advancement is apparently quite common there, but that's off-topic. Perhaps surprising to the press, the company involved starts its full-time employees not at $12 an hour, but at $13. Perhaps if it spent less time trying to figure how to discredit this company, the establishment media might instead focus on how this company is able to be profitable under such a wage structure. Before identifying the firm after the jump, we'll first see in an open letter from its CEO why it's not getting favorable press attention (in full; bolds are mine):

On today's Morning Joe, asked by substitute host Willie Geist how much of the tough talk by Republicans and Dems over the fiscal cliff was posturing, former RNC Chairman Michael Steele said that 80% was posturing, then added "a lot of it is, let's see how big yours is versus mine."

Steele was careful to suggest he was simply talking about the size of the two parties' respective . . . plans.  But between the smirks, raised eyebrows—and an immediate intervention from Geist—it seemed obvious that Steele was making a macho allusion to something else. View the video after the jump.

So let's get this straight. According to the folks at Gawker, pedophilia may well be just another sexual orientation that should not be illegal. But college kids owning guns and living in gun-friendly dorms, well, that's just plain craziness.

In a dismissive post published yesterday afternoon, Gawker's Mallory Ortberg scoffed that, at least so far, no one was clamoring to move into a planned dorm at the University of Colorado which will be open only to students who are at least 21 years old and who have concealed-carry permits:

On Monday's CBS This Morning, Norah O'Donnell helped British author Frances Osborne advance discriminatory policy prescriptions from the left to get more women in high positions of political and economic power. Osborne stated that so-called "positive discrimination" is "necessary...to equal out the opportunity" for women. O'Donnell also reacted enthusiastically to a draft E.U. quota that would require businesses to set aside 40 percent of their boards for women.

The best-selling writer also hyped the continuing political fight over federal funding for abortion giant Planned Parenthood as "women...beginning to lose their rights." [audio clips available here; video below the jump]

CNN's Piers Morgan gave a (left) thumb up Friday to states legalizing marijuana and opposing a traditional marriage amendment. He joined conspiracy theorist Jesse Ventura in applauding the votes.

"Well, Jesse, I can only say I totally agree with you on both the drugs and the gay marriage issue," Morgan said after Ventura declared "hoorah for Colorado," "Hooray for Washington," and "hooray for the state of Minnesota." [Video below the break. Audio here.]

Rolling with the martial theme of the current edition of Newsweek -- "The Obama Conquest Lucky General or Master of the Game" -- writer Michelle Goldberg exulted in the GOP's defeat with her story, "The War on Women Backfires." "Republicans thought they could get away with the endless attacks on the fairer sex. They couldn't have been more wrong," thundered the subheadline (emphasis Newsweek's).

Of course, as we've noted here at NewsBusters, Goldberg conducted her own war on conservative women earlier this year with an attack on the "insufferable" Ann Romney. But conservative women, apparently don't seem to matter to Goldberg, who sees as misogynistic the notion of cutting off federal taxpayer funding to Planned Parenthood, which of course happens to be the nation's largest abortion provider and hence largest murderer of unborn baby girls:

When the first season of Ryan Murphy’s twisted blood-and-sex fest premiered on FX in 2011 Entertainment Weekly put “American Horror Story” at the top of its “Must-Watch” list.

The original “American Horror Story” pushed explicit content on cable television with voyeurism, dual masturbation, graphic sex and an unhealthy dose of murder, blood and gore. It even featured a child taking vengeance on a bully by slashing his face to bloody ribbons for 43 seconds.

According to exit polling of the 2012 election, just 5 percent of voters who turned out were gay. Yet voters said their states should legalize same-sex marriage by 49 percent to 46 percent. Indeed, social issues like gay marriage and the media-concocted “war on women” probably gave President Obama his margin of victory.

Consider another figure: According to a May 2011 Gallup poll, most U.S. adults “estimate that 25 percent of Americans are” gay or lesbian. In reality, the number of people who identify themselves that way is just 3.4 percent, according to a Gallup survey released in October 2012. But it’s understandable that so many people might overestimate the number.

The shocking revelation of CIA Director David Petraeus's adultery has rocked Washington and has thrilled the media, perhaps a little too much.

Forget the pain that adultery causes and which Holly Petraeus must be feeling right now. For the Daily Beast/Newsweek's Lizzie Crocker, the whole situation is the perfect news peg to offer aspiring philanderers lessons they can learn from the ex-CIA chief's "rookie mistakes."

Should Debbie Wasserman Schultz lose her DNC job, there's always a stand-up gig waiting at the Laff Shack . . .

On Morning Joe today, DSW managed to maintain a straight face while claiming that if women ruled Washington, they'd be able to fix the fiscal cliff because they "build consensus" and "put aside petty differences."  The litany of Wasserman Schultz's hyper-partisanship is long, exemplified by her allegation back in March that by adopting voter ID laws, Republicans want to "literally drag us all the way back to Jim Crow laws." Oh, then claiming not to have said it.  View the chuckle-worthy clip from today's Morning Joe after the jump.

The other day, a study came out suggesting that the advertising being released by President Obama's re-election team is actually having the opposite of its intended effect. Instead of firing up his former 2008 voters to cast their ballots again for him, the ads that Obama's people are putting out are actually firing up former John McCain voters to turn out against Obama.

It's tough to argue with that conclusion after having viewed the campaign's latest spot, a dopey attempt at humor  featuring little-known hipster actress Lena Dunham comparing voting for Obama to having sex.

Charlie Rose and Norah O'Donnell badgered former RNC head Haley Barbour on Thursday's CBS This Morning on Indiana Republican Richard Mourdock's strongly pro-life stance, that even children conceived in rape are "God intended." Rose strongly hinted that the media firestorm surrounding Mourdock could affect the presidential race: "Romney may be gaining support among women. And the question arises, could this Mourdock controversy impact that?" [audio available here; video below the jump]

The CBS morning newscast stood out among its Big Three peers in significantly adding to the more than seven and half minutes of coverage from the previous day. The network devoted three minutes, 6 seconds to Mourdock, which is nearly three times the one minutes and 7 seconds that ABC's Good Morning America and NBC's Today set aside to the story combined.

With less than two weeks before the November election, it appears as though the media have found their newest manufactured controversy to smear Mitt Romney and other Republicans running for elected office.

Following comments made by  Richard Mourdock, Republican candidate for Senate in Indiana, NBC News’ Luke Russert disgustingly tried to twist Mourdock’s comments and tie them to the Romney campaign.  [See video below break.  MP3 audio here.]

CNN's Carol Costello agreed with a guest whom she cut off last week in mid-interview after he addressed health risks of homosexual behavior. He claimed her tactic was the "gay Gestapo" "in action."

"Well, Mr. Fischer if that's the definition of the 'gay Gestapo,' then I'm a proud card-carrying member," Costello professed on Monday morning. She had defended "Mix It Up at Lunch Day" against claims from her guest, Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association, that it promoted homosexuality. [Video below the break. Audio here.]

Saturday evening, via Emerson Marcus and with the Associated Press contributing, the Reno Gazette-Journal, which I hope doesn't try to describe itself as a family newspaper, published an irony-free a 500-word story (HT to a NewBusters tipster) on an appearance by Sandra Fluke earlier in the day "in front of about 10 people at the Sak ‘N Save in north Reno." You can't make this stuff up.

The story is currently the "Most Popular" at the paper's rgj.com home page. The Gazette-Journal seems to have been determined to hype Fluke's appearance no matter what so it could take shots at Rush Limbaugh and employ the "s-word" ("slut") Rush Limbaugh used (and then apologized for having used) to describe Ms. Fluke. It even employed the word in promoting her upcoming appearance in advance in one of two items dated Friday which were apparently meant for Saturday's print edition.

As we've noted here at NewsBusters, the Washington Post's Laura Vozzella has done her level best to attack Virginia's new strict abortion clinic regulations. Today was no exception as the Post staffer jumped on the chance to cast a Democrat-appointed health official's resignation in protest of the new regs as a move that has "provoked an outcry among the medical community." However the doctor that Vozzella quoted to represent the entire medical professional in the Old Line State is a Democratic donor whose primary place of medical practice is a Planned Parenthood clinic in Richmond.

In her October 19 front-pager "Virginia health official resigns: Abortion clinic rules cited," Vozzella noted how "Virginia's health commissioner" Karen Remley -- a 2008 appointee of then-Gov. Tim Kaine who was retained by Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) -- "abruptly stepped down Thursday over new regulations requiring abortion facilities to meet strict, hospital-style building standards that many clinics contend they cannot afford." Later in her story, Vozzella turned to one Wendy Klein, whom she simply told readers was "an internist and retired Virginia Commonwealth University medical professor who has spoken against the building rules."

While every liberal journalist and their sister is busy flogging the desperate "binders full of women" attack meme against Mitt Romney today, MediaBistro's Peter Ogburn took time to note that Playboy is ginning their election season push against the former Massachusetts governor and his alleged "war on your sex life." Ironically, Playboy is the original mass-marketed binder full of [naked] women, a pioneer in the pornification of the culture and the objectification of women.

For his part, of course, Ogburn joshes around about nudie mag giving a platform to "author and activist Nancy L. Cohen" -- who back in September suggested on AlterNet that Romney is a "Mormon militant" -- a platform to lambaste the supposed puritanical, asexual Romney with her laughably ludicrous prediction of what America will look like sexually in 2014 (emphasis mine):

The book industry seems to be collapsing, at least that hallowed old paper-and-glue industry that promoted serious ideas. Even talk-radio and TV hosts are spending less time with authors. There are exceptions – but they won’t make you feel optimistic about books.

Exhibit A of today’s kind of author: Jenny McCarthy, the former Playboy centerfold who’s parlayed her nudie shots into a long list of TV gigs and six best-selling “humor”/advice books (which absolutely no one might guess were written by someone else). Her latest must be her lamest. It’s called “Bad Habits: Confessions of a Recovering Catholic.” She’s wearing a nun’s habit on the cover. Original, huh?

On Friday afternoon, Joe Biden lived up to his reputation for committing gaffes, not even a day after Paul Ryan zinged the Vice President over how "sometimes the words don't come out of your mouth the right way" during Thursday's debate. At a rally in La Crosse, Wisconsin, Biden claimed Planned Parenthood "under law cannot perform any abortions." In reality, the organization is the largest abortion racket in the country.

Hours later, none of the Big Three's Friday evening newscasts had covered Biden's patently false claim. But just two days earlier, these programs devoted a combined five minutes and 1 second on Wednesday to Mitt Romney's statement to The Des Moines Register that "there's no legislation with regard to abortion that I'm familiar with that would become part of my agenda." NBC's Brian Williams mouthed the Obama campaign's spin - that "what Mitt Romney said about abortion that sure sounds like a change."

Norah O'Donnell hounded Republican strategist Mike Murphy on Wednesday's CBS This Morning, repeatedly hinting that Mitt Romney flip-flopped on the issue of abortion during his Tuesday interview with The Des Moines Register. O'Donnell conspicuously failed to mention that during the same interview, Romney promised to "reinstate the Mexico City policy....that foreign aid dollars...would not be used to carry out abortion in other countries." [Update, 3:55 pm Eastern: audio clips available here; video below the jump]

By contrast, the anchor's former employer, NBC, pointed out on Wednesday's Today show that "Romney did say he would instead use an executive order to reinstate a ban on using American foreign aid to fund abortions."