Congress

At the Washington Post on March 18, fact-checker Glenn Kessler gave Secretary of State John Kerry "four Pinocchios" for his resume-puffing "whopper" that he helped organize "the first hearings in the Senate" on global warming in 1988. In the process, Kessler inadvertently perpetuated a related myth and got called out for it. He admirably corrected himself this morning. Additionally, while…

One of the first rules of genuine comedy is that to be funny, a joke or skit needs to have some basis in truth. On that primary measurement, the cold open on "Saturday Night Live" last night failed miserably on so many fronts, it's hard to know where to begin. Its most offensive aspect is its portrayal of a Democrat inflicting violence on three Republicans to the audience's pleausre. It is…

Did you know that Republicans are in "unquestioned" "lockstep" support for Israel? That's how some New York Times headline writers saw it in an analysis by reporter Peter Baker, "For Republican Candidates, Support for Israel Is an Inviolable Litmus Test." The initial online headline portrayed the GOP as mindless slavish drones for Israel: "Republicans, in Shift, Demand Lockstep Support for…

Kelly O'Donnell touted Harry Reid's "reputation for mastering the tactical side of politics" on Friday's NBC Nightly News, after the Nevada Democrat announced that he is not running for a sixth term. O'Donnell quickly added that "that skill includes quickly endorsing a successor." However, the correspondent failed to mention that the politician had a significant role in exacerbating the partisan…

A day after CBS avoided using the "Democrat" label for the scandal-plagued Jesse Jackson Jr., the network on Friday made sure to identify "Republican" Aaron Schock for a story on the resignation of the Congressman. Guest co-host Vladimir Duthiers informed, "The Republican compared himself to Abraham Lincoln in his farewell speech." 

After the network morning and evening newscasts ignored a Reuters poll showing tumbling support for Hillary Clinton last week, the CBS Evening News bucked the trend and covered the results of its own poll that also found dwindling support for Clinton in light of recent scandals. While the program spent only 32 seconds on the results of the poll, anchor Scott Pelley was still able to highlight…

NBC and CBS on Thursday failed to label the scandal-tarred Jesse Jackson Jr. as a Democrat. Instead of identifying his political party, Today co-host Savannah Guthrie carefully explained, "And former Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. left an Alabama prison this morning, accompanied by his family." She then noted that he would serve more time in a halfway house.

Kim Messick believes America since its founding has suffered three serious breaches of political trust, the last of which is ongoing and results from “the readiness of Republicans to violate long-standing norms of institutional conduct in order to advance a highly divisive, intensely partisan agenda” that’s implacably hostile to most functions of government. Messick touches on Tom Cotton’s letter…

Timothy Egan, liberal New York Times reporter turned left-wing Times columnist, made Friday's paper accusing some conservative Republicans born disadvantaged as being "Traitors to Their Class." Egan's columns are typically online only, but the paper liked this one enough to feature in print. One can see why; it has the easy, superior mockery of Republicans who grew up poor but have the audacity…

From all appearances, only Fox News, CNS News, and a few Israel-based outlets and U.S.-based center-right blogs care about the fact, acknowledged by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, that Iran and Hezbollah, in the words of Fox's Greta Van Susteren, "are suddenly MIA from the U.S. terror threat list." DNI apparently has no plans to change its report, having told CNS News that…

Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig claims that the use of “taxpayers” (rather than "people") in discussions of fiscal and economic issues benefits conservatives for reasons including that it “seems to subtly promote the idea that a person’s share in our democratic governance should depend upon their contribution in taxes” and bolsters the makers-vs.-takers argument that became associated with Republicans…

Friday's ABC World News Tonight touted how the FBI is opening an investigation into departing Congressman Aaron Schock. David Wright devoted a full one minute, 39-second report to Schock allegedly "padding the mileage on his personal car by some 90,000 miles," as well as "misusing campaign funds and...taking improper donations." By contrast, ABC set aside just 30 seconds of air time to a…

In all the hoopla over the Federal Reserve's Wednesday's signals over its intentions to raise interest rates, its significant downgrades to expected growth of the U.S. economy during the next several years have mostly been ignored. The Associated Press, aka the Administration's Press, has played a part in that. Both of the wire service's reports following the Fed's actions and predictions on…

On Thursday's CNN Newsroom, Brooke Baldwin actually pointed out that both Democrats and Republicans are "pretty angry" with Senator Dick Durbin for his incendiary "back of the bus" attack on Senate Republicans, after they delayed the confirmation vote of Attorney General Nominee Loretta Lynch. Republican guest Margaret Hoover attacked Durbin for his "incredibly divisive" remarks, and underlined…