Lawrence O'Donnell

So nice to see they're again acting like they like each other.

Quick in the wake of MSNBC colleague Lawrence O'Donnell's passive-aggressive criticism of her views on the Health and Human Services contraceptive mandate, the seemingly selfless Rachel Maddow leaped to O'Donnell's defense on her show last night. (video after page break)

MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell said Friday, "Mitt Romney is the single most cynical presidential candidacy we have ever seen."

Appearing on Morning Joe, the unabashed Obama lover doubled down claiming, "We have never seen such an empty, cynical candidacy in the history of presidential campaigning" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Let he who is without a Y chromosome cast the first stone . . . Today's Morning Joe afforded viewers a study in hypocrisy: the all-male makeup of a panel at yesterday's House hearing on contraception was bashed by the show's panel consisting entirely of, yes, men. 

With Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough having the day off, Willie Geist and Mike Barnicle took guest-hosting turns.  Barnicle introduced the subject, harrumphing about "the absurd picture we just saw of basically, it looks like an all-male locker room in a golf club."  Lawrence O'Donnell and Dem congressman Elijah Cummings joined in the breast-beating. Video after the jump.

This keeps up, I won't feel so guilty watching reruns of  "The West Wing."

Lawrence O'Donnell made a pointed observation on his cable show Thursday night that came across as helpfully illuminating -- and more than a tad passive-aggressive when juxtaposed with what MSNBC colleague Rachel Maddow said only an hour earlier. (video after page break)

With the number of numbskulls on the airwaves today, I'm not sure I'd called MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell the dumbest man on television.

But that's how real estate tycoon Donald Trump referred to the "Last Word" host on Twitter Thursday also calling him the "poor man's Ed Schultz...and Al Sharpton":

On Thursday's The Last Word, MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell disproved claims by liberals that eight states already have regulations that require Catholic employers to provide health insurance coverage of contraceptives for their employees, as the liberal host informed viewers that his staff had looked into the laws of these states and found the assertions to be untrue. (Video below)

O'Donnell declared to his viewers:

During a syrupy interview with Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards on Monday's The Last Word, MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell was so impressed with her that he concluded the segment by declaring that she is worthy to be ambassador to the United Nations. O'Donnell:

Not surprisingly, the Obama-loving media are having a field day with Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's comment to CNN's Soledad O'Brien regarding not being "concerned about the very poor."

MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell Wednesday decided to make an even bigger deal out of this issue by cherry-picking Rush Limbaugh to make it appear the conservative radio host shared the press's view (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Everyone knows the folks at MSNBC nearly faint in outrage whenever the words “Obama” and “Kenya” are used in the same sentence. Barack Hussein Obama Senior had four wives (one at a time), and fathered eight children from 1958 to 1982, but climbing that family tree is no doubt seen as racist by MSNBC.

But on Monday night’s Last Word on MSNBC, host Lawrence O’Donnell not only mocked Mitt Romney’s great-grandfather Miles Park Romney leaving America for Mexico to preserve his polygamy. He claimed their history is “profoundly weirder” than you would think – and didn’t really explain what he meant. [MP3 audio here. See video below.]

The unhinged hysteria being displayed by the liberal media over a picture of President Obama and Arizona's Republican governor Jan Brewer supposedly in a heated exchange has become laughable.

On Thursday's The Last Word, newly promoted MSNBC anchor Melissa Harris-Perry told host Lawrence O'Donnell that this photo reminded her of "the still photograph that was captured in 1957 in Little Rock, Arkansas, of the young woman Hazel screaming at a young Elizabeth Eckford on her way trying to get into Little Rock High School, Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell on Saturday said "Republican audiences do not know that most people on food stamps are white."

This occurred during his network's coverage of the South Carolina primary (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Upon seeing former New Hampshire governor John Sununu on MSNBC last night, you might have wondered why he was wasting his time.

After seeing Sununu's epic smackdown of terminally smug Lawrence O'Donnell, you were undoubtedly glad he did. (video after page break)

Warning: Sweeping pontifical claims ahead from Lawrence O'Donnell. Best taken with shaker of salt.

As is his wont, O'Donnell was holding forth last night during MSNBC's coverage of the Iowa caucuses, making not one but two statements of alleged fact that went beyond dubious to flat-out inaccurate (video after page break) --

In 2008, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics. At that time it wasn’t hard to imagine the Swedes were rewarding Krugman for eight years of blasting George W. Bush. In other words, the Nobel Prize truly matched its namesake: Alfred Nobel invented dynamite. Krugman regularly throws rhetorical dynamite at anything that stands in the way of his radical worldview.

Krugman outdid himself for outrage in 2011. Every year the Media Research Center collects a panel of willing conservative journalists and talk show hosts and puts them on a  sickening roller coaster ride through the worst media bilge of the last twelve months to arrive at the Best Notable Quotables of the Year. Paul Krugman sat in the sulfurous center with three “bests.”

When anti-war liberals are pressed about whether they are anti-military, they normally claim to support the troops while disagreeing with the war the troops are under orders to take part in.

But, as he introduced Thursday's Last Word show, MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell certainly sounded like he was attacking the U.S. military as he not only absurdly suggested that it was the U.S. military, rather than the President,  that "chose" to "stay encamped for nearly nine years" in Iraq, but he even recounted the number of Iraqi civilians killed by both the U.S. military and Iraqi insurgents combined.

O'Donnell began his Thursday, December 15, Last Word program on MSNBC (Video and transcript follow):

The media never let President Bush live down the so-called "Mission Accomplished" speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003 when the then-president declared an end of major combat operations in Iraq, even though Bush pointedly noted "Our mission continues. Al-Qaida is wounded, not destroyed....The war on terror is not over."  But now that President Obama is earnestly trying to portray himself as the president who is once-and-for-all wrapping up the Iraq War, MSNBC is more than happy to give the commander-in-chief the benefit of the doubt.

"This president seems determined to deliver imagery of an organized exit" from Iraq, MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell approvingly noted on today's Andrea Mitchell Reports right after watching live video of President Obama with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The Iraqi prime minister is in Washington "for talks aimed at cementing U.S.-Iraqi relations in a new, postwar era," the Washington Post reported today, "kick[ing] off a week in which the administration will trumpet the imminent end of the war, and the fulfillment of Obama’s election pledge to withdraw all U.S. forces from Iraq."

MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell hopefully learned a valuable lesson Wednesday: when you invite someone on your show to discuss his new book, you might want to read it first.

As the Last Word host questioned convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff about his recently released memoir "Capitol Punishment," it quickly became obvious O'Donnell had no idea what was actually in the book he was holding up (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Did MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell ignore President Obama's previous calls for civility? The late-night host, in a five-minute Thursday night tirade, called for violence by specifically telling Occupy D.C. protesters to bring a "firestorm" to the National Restaurant Association (NRA) headquarters nearby, as well as to the NRA's corporate sponsors which include Starbucks and 7-11.

O'Donnell insisted that the organization release presidential candidate Herman Cain's accuser from her confidentiality agreement and let her bring the allegations against Cain to the public. If by Friday they still refused to do so, "then a firestorm should be visited upon the 1200 17th Street Northwest and the members of the National Restaurant Association," ranted O'Donnell. [Video available shortly. Click here for audio.]

It has now been nine weeks since stimulus-funded solar company Solyndra declared bankruptcy.

Yet despite Thursday's vote by the House Energy and Commerce Committee panel to subpoena internal White House communications concerning the company, MSNBC's prime time hosts Chris Matthews, Lawrence O'Donnell, Ed Schultz, and Al Sharpton still haven't said one word about this scandal:

The liberal media are clearly in a full-scale panic over the possibility that a black conservative could either win the Republican presidential nomination or become the eventual victor's running mate.

On MSNBC's The Last Word Monday, left-wing author Touré went on a racially charged attack on Herman Cain referring to him as a black "minstrelsy" entertainer (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Wednesday marked the six week anniversary of solar company Solyndra declaring bankruptcy.

Despite this, MSNBC's Chris Matthews, Lawrence O'Donnell, Ed Schultz, and Al Sharpton have yet to report one single word about this growing scandal on their respective prime time programs.

As Al Sharpton ridiculed Herman Cain on MSNBC's "The Last Word" Friday for saying blacks have been brainwashed into voting for Democrats, the reverend ended up proving the Republican presidential candidate's point.

Seconds after claiming, "What [Cain] does not have the right is to rewrite history by saying that blacks were brainwashed by becoming Democrats," Sharpton showed his ignorance of the subject by stating, "We went with a Party that stood up for the Civil Rights Act of '64 and Voting Rights Act of '65" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Herman Cain is now leading the polls for the Republican presidential nomination, and the folks at MSNBC are clearly scared to death.

Following in Lawrence O'Donnell's footsteps who spent 23 minutes antagonistically grilling Cain Thursday, Martin Bashir said of the black Republican's "calm, measured" style Friday, "The people that he needs to win over in order to win a primary, those people do not want to hear from a black man who’s aggressive, assertive, angry" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

UPDATE AT END OF POST: O'Donnell evaded draft with college deferment.

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain and MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell had quite a heated battle on Thursday's "The Last Word."

During one segment, after O'Donnell besmirched his guest for not enlisting for military service during the Vietnam War despite having worked for the Department of Navy as a ballistics analyst, Cain marvelously asked, "Do you stay up night to come up with the wording in these questions or do you have someone writing them for you?" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

It is now five weeks since the solar company Solyndra declared bankruptcy.

Despite the Obama administration lending this failed company $535 million dollars, and a growing scandal involving the White House, MSNBC's prime time hosts Chris Matthews, Lawrence O'Donnell, Ed Schultz, and Al Sharpton have yet to say one word on the subject.

Despite the growing scandal involving failed solar company Solyndra - now officially four weeks old - MSNBC's Chris Matthews, Lawrence O'Donnell, Ed Schultz, and Al Sharpton have still not reported the matter on their respective prime time programs.

The only regular MSNBC host to mention this subject in prime time is Rachel Maddow who predictably discounted its importance Monday (transcript and commentary follow):

Today is the three week anniversary of the beginning of the Solyndra scandal, and the prime time programs of the so-called "news network" named MSNBC have yet to report one single word about it.

This is despite daily revelations about the growing controversy for the Obama administration including the following from the San Jose Mercury Tuesday:

As NewsBusters reported Friday, despite the growing scandal involving solar panel company Solyndra and President Obama being sixteen days old, the prime time programs of MSNBC have not said a single word about the matter.

When "Fox News Watch" discussed the media coverage of this issue Saturday, the "American Conservative's" Jim Pinkerton noted our findings (video follows with transcript and commentary):