Lawrence O'Donnell

As the scandal involving failed solar panel company Solyndra and President Obama grows, the prime time programs at the so-called "news network" known as MSNBC continue to ignore it.

Despite the announcement of the Solyndra bankruptcy on August 31, "Hardball," "PoliticsNation," "The Last Word," "The Rachel Maddow Show," and "The Ed Show" have not done one single report on the subject.

Appearing as a guest on Friday's Last Word to discuss Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman's plan to simplify the income tax code, MSNBC political analyst Richard Wolffe saw extremism in the Tea Party movement as he asserted that Huntsman's plan was "moderate when you compare it to where the Tea Party extremists want to take this."

As the discussion turned to the current anemic job growth numbers and Texas Governor Rick Perry's views on economics, Wolffe claimed that President Jimmy Carter had created more jobs that President George W. Bush as he blamed Bush and Republicans for the current economic slowdown:

Somebody better tell incoming MSNBC host Chris Hayes the network giving him his own show later this month doesn't cotton to commentators disrespecting President Obama.

On Thursday's "The Last Word," Hayes told host Lawrence O'Donnell the current White House resident can't run his reelection campaign like Franklin Delano Roosevelt did in 1936 because FDR actually had a strong economic record to boast about (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Following Wednesday’s NBC News/Politico Republican presidential debate which will last one hour and forty five minutes, MSNBC will devote more time, two hours and fifteen minutes, to a group of ten left-wing commentators – with a mere two non-liberals mixed in – to analyzing what the Republicans and conservatives said.

The far from fair and balanced line-up of those with a history of hostility toward conservatives will showcase MSNBC's prime time anchors: Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews, Ed Schultz, Lawrence O’Donnell and Al Sharpton. Plus, Eugene Robinson, Howard Fineman, Michael Eric Dyson, Melissa Harris-Perry of the far-left The Nation and Huffington Post’s Alex Wagner.

As NewsBusters reported moments ago, MSNBC's Richard Wolffe said Wednesday that House Speaker John Boehner's (R-Oh.) request for Barack Obama to reschedule next week's jobs address might have been due to the color of the President's skin.

On his radio program Thursday, conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh responded by saying, "If they ever do a colonoscopy on Obama, they're gonna find Richard Wolffe's head there" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

MSNBC's Richard Wolffe went there. The political analyst for the Lean Forward network actually played the race card in his analysis of why the Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner did not accept Barack Obama's big foot move to deliver a speech to Congress on the same night as a GOP presidential debate, as he pondered: "it could be, let's face it, the color of his skin."

Appearing on Wednesday's edition of The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, Wolffe made the following accusation of racism:

(video after the jump)

Washington Post education columnist Valerie Strauss reported Monday that people in the Obama administration made several desperate attempts to lobby actor Matt Damon just before he spoke at last month's "Save Our Schools" rally in Washington D.C., blasting an emphasis on standardized tests and insisting he would never have become a movie star under that kind of education system.

Citing unnamed sources in sensitive spots, Strauss claimed "Duncan was willing to meet Damon at the airport when he flew into the Washington region and talk to him on the drive into the city, according to the sources. Damon declined all of the requests."

Obama advisers, Democrat senators, and terminally stupid ideologues that for days have blamed Standard and Poor's downgrade of America's debt on the Tea Party are sadly mistaken.

Next to the President of the United States and his Party, those really responsible are members of the media.

Obama advisers, Democrat senators, and terminally stupid ideologues that have been for almost two days blaming Standard and Poor's downgrade of America's debt on the Tea Party have all been ignoring a very inconvenient truth.

According to MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell, "Last week's vote for a debt ceiling increase was the most bipartisan vote to increase the debt ceiling we have seen in a very, very long time" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

At the top of Saturday's NBC Today, CNBC's chief Washington correspondent John Harwood told co-host Lester Holt that the downgrade of U.S. debt provided President Obama with "a tangible consequence to point to for Republican brinksmanship on the debt and deficit reduction deal."

Harwood observed: "Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, always said, 'We don't want co-ownership of the economy,'" and predicted, "You can expect the administration to say, 'You've got it now.'"

In the wake of liberal disappointment over December's budget agreement and this week's debt ceiling deal - both not including tax hikes - there's been a lot of squabbling from far-left media members about Barack Obama betraying them.

On Wednesday, AOL Huffington Post editor-in-chief Arianna Huffington told MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell that nobody believes the President's top priority is jobs - it's getting reelected (video follows with transcript and commentary):

The arrogance of Bill Maher, as well as his ability to revise history, knows no bounds.

On MSNBC's "The Last Word" Tuesday, the "Real Time" host told Lawrence O'Donnell the reason he invited conservatives like Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham, and Grover Norquist on his hit show "Politically Incorrect" years ago was to act as his "foils" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

MSNBC's Chris Matthews appears to have a serious case of Fox News envy.

In a special installment of "The Last Word" following Barack Obama's debt ceiling address to the nation Monday, the "Hardball" host said, "I thought the President used a couple of words we’re familiar with: 'Fair and balanced.' It was like a Fox commercial" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

 On Friday’s Last Word on MSNBC, as host Lawrence O’Donnell brought up his belief - explored more thoroughly earlier in the show - that President Obama had succeeded in a strategy to appear to be the "reasonable man willing to make compromises" without actually having to make those concessions, MSNBC political analyst Richard Wolffe at first seemed to buy into O’Donnell’s "cynical" theory of Obama’s true intentions, but the MSNBC analyst also suggested that Obama was indeed being "reasonable" and "the grownup in the room." He went on to suggest that Republicans were not being "responisible’ or a "serious party about deficits," and that they were behaving as "irresponsible children."

 On Friday’s Last Word, MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell advanced his belief that President Obama never had any desire for Republicans to accept the plan that he himself proposed because his strategy was to "manipulate" the process and appear willing to compromise, while at the same time insisting on tax increases to ensure that Republicans would never agree to his offer. O’Donnell further theorized that, because Republicans were about to agree to a tax increase similar to Obama’s proposal, the President changed his demands to deliberately derail negotiations.

During a segment with NBC correspondent Kristen Welker, O’Donnell observed:

At least five MSNBC anchors since Tuesday have promoted a cherry-picked House Democratic Caucus video that distorts President Ronald Reagan's position on the debt ceiling, inaccurately asserting that President Barack Obama is more in line with Reagan than the Republicans.

If any of the anchors had played the entirety of Reagan's 1987 radio address, instead of giving free air time to the Democratic Party's deceptively edited spot, they would have heard Reagan articulate a position on the debt ceiling almost identical to House Republicans' and nearly opposite Obama's: "You don't need more taxes to balance the budget. Congress needs the discipline to stop spending more, and that can be done with the passage of a constitutional amendment to balance the budget." Lo and behold, the House passed a plan last night, "cut, cap, and balance," that contained both spending cuts and a balanced budget amendment.

A compilation video of MSNBC anchors misrepresenting Reagan is below the page break:

Tonight MSNBC's cast and crew will gather in Washington D.C. to celebrate their network being on the air for 15 long years. In that time its hosts, reporters and guests have attacked conservatives and Republicans on everything from impeaching Bill Clinton and conducting a war on terrorism, up to the fight over public unions. All the while some of its reporters and hosts have been thrilled by the likes of Mikhail Gorbachev and Barack Obama.

For that entire 15 years MRC analysts have been dutifully watching and noting these often outrageous outbursts of leftism from NBC News' cable outlet.

The following collection of the worst MSNBC quotes, year-by-year, is just a sampling of the Lean Forward network's decade-and-a-half long devotion to advancing the cause of liberalism under the guise of journalism.

(video compilation after the jump)

In the wake of Mark Halperin's suspension by MSNBC for calling President Obama the D-word, there have been numerous vulgarities aired on the network further proving his offense wasn't what he said but who he said it about.

After MSNBC allowed numerous F-bombs during its Independence Day coverage of the Casey Anthony trial, Matthews uttered a D-word of his own on Tuesday's "Hardball" (video follows with transcript and commentary, vulgarity warning):

CNN's Howard Kurtz began Sunday's "Reliable Sources" talking about Mark Halperin's infamous D-word said of Barack Obama on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" Thursday.

Rather hypocritically, there was absolutely no mention of the following F-bomb dropped during prime time on MSNBC's "The Last Word" just three days prior (video follows with partial transcript and commentary, vulgarity warning):

Lawrence O'Donnell on Tuesday accused Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) of being a socialist.

"The Last Word" host, who has admitted on national television to himself being a socialist, did so by cherry-picking from an article published at the perilously liberal website "The Huffington Post" (video follows with commentary and full transcript at end of post):

Monday appeared to be the day that MSNBC commentators bashed the ratings of Sunday political talk shows other than NBC's "Meet the Press."

After Chris Matthews ridiculed ABC's "This Week" despite it having more than three times his audience, Lawrence O'Donnell went after Chris Wallace and "Fox News Sunday" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

In a desperate attempt to save Rep. Anthony Weiner, who has even been abandoned by the leaders of his own party, MSNBC is still refusing to acknowledge that Weiner's actions should jeopardize his House seat.

Lawrence O'Donnell, host of "The Last Word," ridicules the idea that lying should be grounds for resignation, Rachel Maddow, host of "The Rachel Maddow Show," describes the situation as "more gossip than news," and Cenk Uygur, MSNBC political commentator, says that "he lied, so what."

(Videos after the break)

The MSM and their liberal politician friends revel in proclaiming their admiration for average Americans.  But scratch a liberal, and find condescending contempt for the people they pretend to glorify.

Take Larry O'Donnell. On his MSNBC show this evening, discussing President Obama's problems in convincing voters that the economy is on the road to recovery, O'Donnell denigrated most Americans.  Declared O'Donnell: the majority of voters "don't really know anything about the economy."

While much of the media have actually been doing a fairly good job reporting Congressman Anthony Weiner's (D-N.Y.) sex scandal, most of MSNBC's commentators have been doing what MSNBC commentators do best - defend anyone with a "D" next to his or her name.

Such was the case Wednesday evening when "Last Word" host Lawrence O'Donnell told his viewers, "Voters need to realize that sex doesn't matter when it comes to casting their votes" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Washington Post media reporter Paul Farhi profiled MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell on the front of Friday’s Style section. The headlines were vaguely promotional. Above a large picture it reads "Lawrence O’Donnell is hitting his marks at the center of MSNBC’s prime time lineup." The actual headline below is "A starring role as the cable guy."

But read deeply into Farhi’s portrait, and it becomes clear that O’Donnell prides himself on being detached – some might say insincere. Late in the piece, Farhi quotes me on how Larry’s done "some very weird shouting and tantrums." In response, O’Donnell says he’s not really outraged on TV, he’s...acting! He's the Master Thespian of Cable News. He’s sort of playing a character for theatrical effect:

If you looked out your window at roughly 8:50 Wednesday evening, you may have seen pigs flying.

At that moment, MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell was actually taking the side of a conservative newspaper in a dispute with - wait for it - President Obama (video follows with transcript and commentary):

As NewsBusters has been reporting, so-called "news" organizations have been routinely calling leading Republican figures racists for having the nerve to criticize the policies of President Obama.

On Monday, conservative talk radio host Mark Levin specifically called out NBC News not only for its on-air talent being "blindingly white," but also for "promoting racial division in this country" (embedded audio follows with transcript and commentary):

For many years I've been saying it takes a lot of rationalizations to be a liberal these days.

As additional evidence, I offer the following statement by Lawrence O'Donnell published in the June issue of Playboy: