WaPo: Gun Control Push Helped Va. GOP Win; Chris Matthews Mum
As I blogged Monday night, MSNBC Hardball host Chris Matthews gave Virginia Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe a platform to urge liberal viewers at home who live in the Old Dominion to vote pro-gun control by voting for Democrats the following day. Of course, that didn't pan out like either hoped. Republicans retained control of the both houses of the state legislature, while Democrats had hoped to…
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CNN's Hill: Police Shootings Shaped By 'Artifacts of White Supremacy'
Marc Lamont Hill doubled down on his theory about supposed white supremacy shaping police encounters with black people. During a segment on Wednesday's CNN Tonight, Hill disputed the Supreme Court's decades-old "objectively reasonable" standard on the use of police force, and emphasized that "everyday citizens have biases....oftentimes, we are shaped by white supremacy. We are shaped by fear of…
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Tapper to Cruz: Are You ‘Endorsing Conservative Intolerance?’
Wrapping up his interview with 2016 Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz on Thursday’s edition of The Lead on CNN, host Jake Tapper asked Cruz about the upcoming National Religious Liberties Conference he’s attending in Iowa this weekend and if Cruz is “endorsing conservative intolerance” since it's organized by an activist pastor named Kevin Swanson.
Lefty Blogger: GOP Primary Process a ‘Travelling Medicine Show’
The heyday of patent medicine, medicine shows, and related phenomena has been over for more than a century, right? Yes and no, implied Esquire's Pierce in a Thursday post. While it’s true that (for example) Coca-Cola no longer is sold as a cure for impotence, political snake oil, Pierce asserted, has become the chief product of the Republican party.
Pierce’s peg was Ben Carson’s involvement with…
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Fox's Megyn Kelly Spotlights Trump Unleashing at CNN Reporter
On Wednesday's The Kelly File, Fox News Channel's Megyn Kelly touted Donald Trump's interview on CNN's New Day hours earlier where "he slams the very network he's on the phone with — something he is apparently fond of doing." Trump attacked CNN correspondent Sara Murray several times during Chris Cuomo's interview of the Republican presidential candidate. Kelly contended that the billionaire was…
This Year's Pre-election Polling: As Bad As or Worse Than 2014
After the November 2014 midterm elections, I wrote that "Despite all of their supposed science, improved methodologies, and sophisticated turnout models, nation’s pollsters have just suffered through their worst midterm elections drubbing in 20 years. The last time they were off this badly was when they woefully underestimated Republican gains in the Newt Gingrich 'Contract with America' midterms…
Rachel Maddow Dismisses Criticism of CNBC’s Republican Debate
During an interview with the Charlotte Observer to preview MSNBC’s Democratic presidential forum on Friday night, host Rachel Maddow strongly downplayed criticism leveled against CNBC for its handling of the Republican presidential debate.
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Morning Joe Keeps Pounding Team Obama for Ignoring US Hostages in Iran
Thursday’s Morning Joe featured a discussion on the Iranian deal and hostages in Iran. Late into the segment, Mika Brzezinski inquired of Vali Nasr on whether he was surprised the hostages weren't part of the deal. Nasr, who served as a State Department official in the Obama administration, and Karl Vick, of Time Magazine, both expressed a lack of surprise for getting the hostages. Joe…
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Nets Hype Elder Bush’s ‘Scathing’ ‘Political Bombshell’ Against Cheney
The three networks on Thursday hyped the “scathing” “political bombshell” of George H.W. Bush criticizing Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. In contrast, when Barack Obama’s former Secretary of State went on the record with harsh criticism of his former boss, ABC and NBC avoided it. Speaking of the Bush family, Good Morning America’s Amy Robach trumpeted, “This is being called a political bombshell…
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Trump on ‘Today’: ‘No Problem Whatsoever With NBC’
In an interview with Donald Trump on Thursday’s NBC Today, co-host Savannah Guthrie wondered why the Republican presidential candidate accepted an invitation to host Saturday Night Live: “As you are perfectly aware, there are Latino groups that are outside protesting NBC and SNL because you are hosting this weekend. Are you surprised that SNL asked you to host after there was this acrimonious…
The Media's Uneven Treatment of Sexual Abuse
The media are pushing Spotlight, the movie that opens on Friday about the Boston Globe team that exposed priestly sexual abuse in the Boston Archdiocese prior to 2002. But there is little interest in this issue when non-Catholics are implicated in such crimes. As recent cases show, many courts around the nation evince disparate treatment as well.
Week in TV News Typos: Candidate Confusion and a 161-Year-Old Iraqi
Journalists love to claim that they’re fact-checking others, but sometimes they might need to take a closer look at their own work.
On Nov. 3, a CBS Evening News graphic during an obituary for Iraqi Ahmed Chalabi stated that the Chalabi had died in 2105, instead of 2015 – a 161 year life span.
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MSNBC Panel Desperately Tries to Minimize Democrats 2015 Losses
On Wednesday night’s Last Word, MSNBC’s Alex Wagner introduced the broadcast by complaining that despite President Obama “riding the political wave of political success” “the Democratic Party just got a brutal reality check” in the 2015 elections. The MSNBC host and liberal Washington Post columnist EJ Dionne repeatedly tried to downplay the bad night for Democrats and chalked it up to low voter…
