Press Calls Plouffe 'Former Campaign Manager' As His E-Mails With That
Here's the relative tempest in a teapot that happened on Thursday: Former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe made an unusual request for his speech today at the National Press Club: he wanted it off the record. ..... Politico editor-in-chief John Harris said that after hearing of Plouffe’s request, and decision not to reverse course, he backed out from moderating the lunch-time event. Harris…
Network Morning Shows Mostly Ignore Gregg Withdrawal; Census Grab
CBS's "Early Show" and ABC's "Good Morning America" on Friday almost entirely ignored the embarrassing departure of yet another of Barack Obama's cabinet nominees, with only NBC's "Today" providing any real information on the event. GMA devoted a scant 15 seconds to the withdrawal of Republican Senator Judd Gregg as the President's second nominee for Commerce Secretary. (Previous choice Bill…
CNN's Anderson Cooper: Has Insurgent GOP Declared 'War' on Obama
On Thursday's edition of "Anderson Cooper 360," the host of the self titled show fretted that the withdrawal of Republican Senator Judd Gregg as commerce secretary nominee might indicate the Republican Party has declared "a war, an insurgency" against Barack Obama. Speaking to CNN analyst David Gergen, Cooper expanded on the theory. [audio excerpt here]Referencing an embarrassing gaffe by…
CBS’s Reid: Obama Using ‘Pressure of Popularity’ to Pass ‘Stim
On Monday’s CBS Evening News correspondent Chip Reid described Barack Obama’s efforts to gain support for the so-called "stimulus" bill: "The president aimed the full power of his office, including Air Force One, at the Heartland today, speaking directly to the people in Elkhart, Indiana...For now, the president appears to have the public on his side. A new Gallup poll out today gives him a 67…
CBS: Clock is Ticking on Economy, Need ‘Stimulus’ Now
During the opening of Friday’s CBS Evening News, anchor Katie Couric teased upcoming coverage of the so-called "stimulus" bill being debated in Congress: "Tonight, 13 jobs a minute disappearing...Senate moderates race to trim the stimulus package to a passable size." An image of a ticking clock appeared on screen as Couric spoke. A clip was also played of Barack Obama exclaiming: "These numbers…
Newsweek: Celebrating America as a New, Socialist France
Newsweek's Jon Meacham and Evan Thomas are tired of all this talk of socialism. We need to stop talking about yesterday's news, they say, and embrace the great new fact that America is already a socialist country. They chortle that
America is just like France. Meacham and Thomas chide Sean Hannity for using socialism as a dirty word because it "seems strangely beside the point." The pair is…
WaPo ‘Sleuth’ on White House Census Power Grab: A ‘Tom Delay-Sty
The Washington Post's Mary Ann Akers, aka "The Sleuth," has (Tom) Delay Derangement Syndrome (DDS), and she's got it bad. Akers's DDS outbreak occurred as she reported on the plan by the Obama Administration to have the director of the Census Bureau report to the White House instead of the Director of the Commerce Department. (On Thursday evening, after my original post [at NewsBusters; at…
CBS Poll Claims Obama More Bipartisan Than Republicans
On Thursday’s CBS Evening News, correspondent Chip Reid touted a new CBS News poll that portrayed Barack Obama as being more bipartisan on the current "stimulus" spending bill being debated in Congress, than Republicans: "The new CBS News poll shows 81 percent of Americans think the president is trying for bipartisanship, but less than half say congressional Republicans and Democrats are doing…
Press Clairvoyants: Opening Rise Means Markets Want Stimulus Passed
Have you ever wondered how the geniuses who report business news know why the stock market opens or closes up or down on any given day -- especially when they venture into political explanations? I received this e-mail from CNN just after the markets opened: Gosh, those e-mail drafters at CNN are smart. Who knew that the markets want the stimulus package so bad? Can't you hear, senators? The…
AP Pity Party: Obama 'Escapes
I suspect most readers' first reaction to this will be, "There's no way George W. Bush would ever have gotten this level of sympathy from an Associated Press writer."You see, poor Barack Obama was having a hard time and getting stressed out after his first two weeks on the job. So he "escaped" with his wife to a Washington, DC public school.The Associated Press's ever-sympathetic (or, I should…
Daschle's Tax Dodging: (Of Course) There's Even More Than Originally R
Sleep a little, miss a lot. As noted Friday evening (at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog), Jake Tapper at ABC's Political Punch blog revealed that former South Dakota senator Tom Daschle, Barack Obama's nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, had failed to pay over $100,000 in federal income taxes for 2005, 2006, and 2007, because he did not originally report the "the services of (a free)…
Driving Mr. Daschle: HHS Nominee Has $100,000 'Geithner Problem
Former South Dakota Senator Tom Daschle (picture at right is part of a Getty Images pic at a related New York Times story) has just upped the ante in Washington's tax-avoiding/evading game of "Can you top this?" Whereas recently confirmed Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner "only" $40,000 in back taxes and interest, principally relating to unpaid Social Security and Medicare taxes (with a dash of…
Weekend Captionfest
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) at a press conference in support of the Democrats' stimulus proposal, January 28, 2009. Photo AFP/Getty/Mark Wilson
Chris Cuomo Again Whines About Lack of GOP Support for Spending Bill
[See update below] Appearing on a panel for Wednesday's edition of "Hannity," "Good Morning America" news anchor Chris Cuomo once again fretted about a lack of support for Barack Obama's massive new spending bill. After mentioning an earlier interview he conducted with House Minority Leader John Boener, Cuomo complained, "He [Boehner] said that he was impressed by President Obama, that they…
