Charles Krauthammer

It was rather telling on Friday when Gordon Peterson, the host of PBS's Inside Washington, cited the Huffington Post's Howard Fineman calling Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney "a giant hairball" on MSNBC.

Luckily for viewers with some objectivity, syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer was there to call Peterson out saying, "I like your choice of objective sources" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

On Friday's Inside Washington on PBS, as the panel discussed the new Obama administration rule that requires even Catholic employers to provide health insurance coverage for contraception to their employees, both liberal columnist Mark Shields and conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer hit Obama for the decision, while NPR's Nina Totenberg claimed that there were valid arguments in both directions as she made a flawed analogy between contraception and immunization as a defense of the Obama position.

But the blunt criticism directed at Obama by the liberal Shields, who is also a longtime regular on the PBS NewsHour, was the most surprising part of the show. After host Gordon Peterson noted that some Catholic leaders had supported Obamacare, and asked if they are "being hung out to dry," Shields responded:

Bloomberg's Jeanne Cummings got a much-needed lesson Friday about money not being everything in politics.

After she claimed on PBS's Inside Washington that Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's revival in the race was all due to multimillion dollar donations from casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer correctly replied that the former Speaker's ascendancy resulted from his debate performances in South Carolina not money (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Like so many of her liberal media colleagues, Bloomberg's Margaret Carlson believes cutting payroll taxes for a short period of time stimulates the economy.

Fortunately for viewers of PBS's Inside Washington, when she tried to make this absurd conclusion Friday, syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer was there to give her and others on the panel a much-needed education (video follows with transcript and commentary):

As NewsBusters reported, the media gushed and fawned over President Obama's speech last Tuesday likening himself to Teddy Roosevelt.

On Friday's Inside Washington, Charles Krauthammer called this "a classic example of how little it takes to stir the erogenous zones of liberals" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer and NPR's Nina Totenberg had a humorous exchange on PBS's Inside Washington Friday.

After mocking Totenberg for the "surprise" of her giving Democrats on the Super Committee credit, Krauthammer scolded her for constantly interrupting him saying, "I'm in the middle of a sentence, and I am going to get to the end, and I will let you know with punctuation, alright?" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Charles Krauthammer justifiably lost his patience with his fellow panelists on PBS's Inside Washington Friday evening.

No matter how many times he explained that Republicans last week proposed a revenue increase that Democrats refused, PBS's Mark Shields and NPR's Nina Totenberg couldn't seem to grasp this simple concept leading Krauthammer to ask, "What planet are you guys living on...I’ve rarely encountered such thickness" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

NPR's Nina Totenberg on Friday exhibited what Hillary Clinton would call a willing suspension of disbelief.

When the subject of failed solar company Solyndra came up on PBS's Inside Washington, Totenberg actually said with a straight face, "There is no evidence that there was any political anything about the awarding of this contract" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

On Saturday, at a Q&A session at the APEC CEO Business Summit in Hawaii, President Barack Obama, when asked about impediments to foreign investment in the United States, responded in part: "... we’ve been a little bit lazy, I think, over the last couple of decades. We’ve kind of taken for granted -- well, people will want to come here and we aren’t out there hungry, selling America and trying to attract new business into America."

As would be expected, this impolitic comment has generated quite a bit of discussion all over the place in the two days since. Well, almost all over the place, as you'll after the jump in graphic captures of the results of searches on "Obama lazy" (not in quotes) at the main site of the Associated Press and at the New York Times (Times search is in order of newest first):

There was a truly marvelous exchange between syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer and NPR's Nina Totenberg on Friday's "Inside Washington."

When Krauthammer pressed her on why President Obama didn't embrace the Bowles-Simpson plan to reduce the budget deficit, Totenberg replied, "Don’t make me the spokesman for the White House," leading him to deliciously ask, "What would be new about that?" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

On PBS's Inside Washington on Friday, the Politico's Evan Thomas - formerly of Newsweek - characterized the United States as a "great giant" that would go on to "stomp on" other countries after the 9/11 attacks.

After substitute host Mark Shields introduced a segment on the 10th anniversary of the war in Afghanistan by asking how history would "judge" the military operation, he turned to regular panel member Thomas who responded with a questionable choice of words:

For several weeks, NewsBusters has been reporting that despite protestations from liberal media members, Texas governor Rick Perry is 100 percent correct when he calls Social Security a Ponzi scheme.

On PBS's "Inside Washington" Friday, syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer put a fine point on this saying, "If Charles Ponzi had had the force of the law forcing people, new entrants, into his scheme, he’d still be going. He’d be commissioner of Social Security" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer and the Washington Post's Colby King got into a heated debate about Barack Obama on Friday's "Inside Washington."

After King compared the current White House resident to Harry Truman, Krauthammer struck back with a list of Obama's shortcomings concluding, "He would be a good professor...He can do a lot of things, but run the United States he can't" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Charles Krauthammer on Fox News's "Special Report" Friday offered Republicans a 2012 campaign slogan to defeat Barack Obama.

"President Zero: zero economic expansion, zero jobs, zero ideas on how to cure the economy" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Although he attributed it to Mike Huckabee, Mark Shields on PBS's "Inside Washington" said Friday that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney "has more positions than the Kama Sutra."

This led Charles Krauthammer to humorously scold, "I thought this was a family show...There are children watching" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer on Friday said one of those truly memorable lines he comes up with from time to time.

Speaking about Barack Obama's decision to give his jobs creation plan before a joint session of Congress next week, Krauthammer told the host of PBS's "Inside Washington," "The same way the Federal Reserve is debasing our real currency he’s debasing the currency of presidential authority and presence" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Charles Krauthammer on Friday evening exposed a classic liberal media hypocrisy concerning the differing bar used to determine truthfulness in politicians depending on their political leaning.

When "Inside Washington" panelist Nina Totenberg (NPR) asked if Republican presidential candidates might not have been totally honest Thursday evening when they all said they wouldn't accept a budget that incorporated ten dollars worth of spending cuts for every dollar raised in taxes, Krauthammer smartly responded, "Obama in the end said he wouldn’t sign a bill that didn’t increase taxes. In the end, he did. Was he lying?" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

It was by no means surprising when Politico's Roger Simon claimed on Friday's "Inside Washington" that former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney's comment concerning corporations being people "was one of his rare flubs."

But when the Washington Post's Obama-loving columnist Colby King stuck up for Romney saying, "He's actually right," it's a metaphysical certitude many unsuspecting viewers around the nation spit out whatever was in their mouths (video follows with partial transcript and commentary):

For the second week in a row, Bloomberg's Margaret Carlson got a much-needed education from Charles Krauthammer on PBS's "Inside Washington."

After Carlson gave the typical Keynesian response to Friday's unemployment report - "We’re cutting spending at a time when we should be adding spending to stimulate the economy and jobs" - Krauthammer without skipping a beat quipped, "The way it worked in ’09 and in ’10" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Bloomberg's Margaret Carlson on Friday accused the Tea Party of wanting "to burn the place down" and having figuratively "strapped explosives to the Capitol" during debt ceiling negotiations.

Sitting beside her on PBS's "Inside Washington" was Charles Krauthammer who smartly replied, "I thought post-Tucson we weren’t supposed to accuse our political opponents of being terrorists" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

"Inside Washington" host Gordon Peterson on Friday accused Tea Party members of being out of touch with reality due to their support for the Republican "Cut, Cap, and Balance" bill as well as a balanced budget amendment.

This lead Charles Krauthammer to respond, "I like the way you pose an objective question implying the insanity of a Republican proposal which passed the House...You manage to introduce a hell of a lot of bias" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Charles Krauthammer on Friday marvelously demonstrated just how in the pockets of Barack Obama America's news media are.

After claiming on PBS's "Inside Washington" that we now have a "completely compliant, pliant, supine press accepting every leak out of the White House," he silenced the entire panel by asking them to name one specific cut to entitlements the President has proposed (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Like so many members of the press, "Inside Washington" host Gordon Peterson wrongly thinks New York Times columnist David Brooks is a conservative.

When Peterson depicted Brooks this way on Friday, syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer marvelously corrected him with surprising support from Politico's Evan Thomas (video follows with transcript and commentary):

As he normally does on "Inside Washington," PBS's Mark Shields Friday was waxing moronic about Republican plans to balance the budget.

Not pleased by the fictional account on display, syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer challenged his fellow panelist saying, "Democrats have not even produced a budget for 2012. What’s their budget?" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post columnist Colby King on Friday disgracefully called Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann "Barbie with fangs."

His fellow "Inside Washington" panelist Charles Krauthammer - obviously annoyed by this sexist display - replied, "It’s good to see how civil and non-ad hominem we are here in the Huntsman spirit" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Newsweek's Evan Thomas on Friday tried to float the typical media meme that neither Party is doing anything to solve our nation's budget crisis.

Unfortunately for him, fellow "Inside Washington" panelist Charles Krauthammer accurately noted that the Republicans have offered a proposal to cut $6.6 trillion in the next ten years, "but the Democrats have done nothing except to demagogue the plan and to destroy it" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Newsweek's Evan Thomas said on Friday's "Inside Washington" that former Ambassador Jon Huntsman's big problem in getting the Republican presidential nomination is he's "too moderate" and "people like me like him."

Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer humorously agreed saying this was a "fatal problem" for Huntsman (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Charles Krauthammer said Tuesday that the press are so in bed with President Obama that they are actually supporting Democrat lies about Medicare and Congressman Paul Ryan's (R-Wisc.) plan to save it.

Appearing on the "O'Reilly Factor," the syndicated columnist also told the host that Fox News is "extremely powerful" because it "broke the monopoly that liberals had on all the media for about 30 years" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

PBS's Mark Shields on Friday advanced the typical liberal media line that there's a danger to the GOP if it nominates a presidential candidate that is too conservative.

When he finished, his "Inside Washington" co-panelist Charles Krauthammer marvelously responded, "What Mark wants is a Republican nominee who is a squish and then he’ll vote against him anyway" (video follows with transcript and commentary):