CBS 'Early Show' Touts ObamaCare On 'Fast-Track
Introducing a story on the latest effort pass health care reform on Thursday's CBS Early Show, co-host Maggie Rodriguez proclaimed: "This morning President Obama is putting health care reform on the fast-track, declaring that it's year-long journey must be completed in Congress quickly."At the top of the show, co-host Harry Smith had similarly declared: "President Obama says the health care…
Newsweek's Romano: Obama 'Too Reasonable' to Pass Health Care
Why can't President Obama get a health care bill through Congress? Nope, it has nothing to do with the fact that a clear majority of the country doesn't want the federal government overhauling seventeen percent of the economy. The problem is he is just too darn reasonable.So posits Newsweek's Andrew Romano, who notes that Obama could have gone wholesale-government-takeover on health care and a…
MSNBC Crops President Bush Out of Newsweek Cover
UPDATE: MSNBC responds (read below).On Wednesday's Morning Joe on MSNBC, host Joe Scarborough pointed out the cover of the latest edition of Newsweek magazine, which proclaimed "Victory At Last; The Emergence of A Democratic Iraq" and featured a picture of President George W. Bush walking the deck of an aircraft carrier. However, the image of Newsweek that appeared on screen cropped out President…
CBS's Schieffer Bashes Bunning: Blocking Bill 'Unconscionable,' Just
On Wednesday's CBS Early Show, Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer ranted against Republican Senator Jim Bunning's opposition to a spending bill: "it's unconscionable what has happened here....this is about politics. It is not – it was not about anything of substance." [Audio available here]Co-host Maggie Rodriguez began the segment by explaining that Bunning had stopped blocking the legislation…
Media Erroneously Charge Sen. Bunning with Filibustering; He Simply Wa
Some faulty memes get repeated so often they get burned in the media's collective memory as fact, even though they are myth. Perhaps the most notable example of that in 2009 was the myth that the New York 23rd congressional district had been solidly Republican since the Civil War until Doug Hoffman's third-party challenge of the liberal Republican Dede Scozzafava ensured a Democrat's victory in a…
CNN Omits 'Coffee Party' Founder's Past as Obama Volunteer
John Roberts and Kiran Chetry omitted mentioning that Annabel Park, the founder of the so-called Coffee Party, worked as a volunteer for President Barack Obama's presidential campaign, during an interview on Wednesday's American Morning. The anchors also didn't mention Park's past work for the liberal New York Times.Roberts and Chetry interviewed the Coffee Party USA founder at the bottom of the…
CNN's Rick Sanchez Again Hints Rick Perry is a Racist
On Tuesday's Rick's List on CNN, Rick Sanchez again hinted that Texas Governor Rick Perry is a racist. Sanchez, reacting to the distinct possibility that Perry would win the Republican gubernatorial primary, referenced a comment he made at a tea party rally in 2009: "He was talking about states' rights. States' rights is, to most people of color, a racist term" [audio clip available here].The CNN…
CNN's Cooper Follows Rick Sanchez's Example in Looking For Sob Stories
Just days after Rick Sanchez and his producer asked for "hardship stories" online, CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 program on Tuesday looked for people who have lost their unemployment benefits due to Republican Senator Jim Bunning's opposition to a $10 billion emergency measure which would have extended benefits.The unsigned entry on the AC360 blog, which was posted on Tuesday afternoon, first…
Time's Joe Klein Gleeful Over Bunning Stand; Sees 'Reactionary Radical
"Jim Bunning is doing all of us a favor," Time's Joe Klein tells his Swampland blog readers in a post published last night. Gee, Joe, is that because his stand is exposing the hypocrisy of Democrats who often preach the virtue of pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) budget rules? Of course not. Instead, Klein sees a potential anti-GOP blowback as Republicans show themselves to be positively out of touch with…
CBS 'Early Show': GOP Senator Causing 'Congressional Quagmire
Reporting on Republican Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning blocking spending legislation over deficit concerns at the top of Tuesday's CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith proclaimed: "Congressional quagmire. Democrats blame one Republican senator for preventing thousands of federal workers from working."In a later report, White House correspondent Chip Reid continued to assail Bunning: "The White House…
CNN's Velshi Tweets Rep. Jim Bunning is an 'Embarrassment
You have to feel bad for some journalists. They spend all day struggling to keep up the whole "disinterested reporter" act, only to be undone by their own Tweets. In a moment of weakness, maybe at the end of a long day, something pushes them over the edge - good (they catch a glimpse of the first lady's arms or Sarah Palin suffers some embarrassment) or bad (Obama's latest poll numbers or Sarah…
CBS's Plante: GOP Used Reconciliation to Pass 'Controversial,' 'Giant
On Monday's CBS Early Show, White House correspondent Bill Plante reported on the possibility of Democrats using reconciliation to pass a health care reform bill and noted how Republicans used the procedure when they were in the majority: "In the past it has helped the majority party push through some controversial legislation. In 2001, Republicans used it to pass a giant $1.3 trillion tax cut."…
WaPo Apologizes for Saying Cantor Was 'Posturing' at Health Care Summi
The Washington Post issued a correction on Saturday in which it apologized for a mischaracterization of the House Republican Whip's use of a printout of the Senate-passed health care bill:In a Feb. 26 editorial, we said Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) was "posturing" during the Thursday health-care summit by stacking the voluminous Senate bill before him. Mr. Cantor says that he had the bill with him,…
Time's Joe Klein: 'Unflappable' Obama Wins Day at Health Care Summit
Poor Joe Klein. The Time magazine writer missed yesterday's epic health care lecturefest summit. I can't blame him. Olympic curling is much more fascinating. Anyway, he's catching up and he's come to the conclusion that Professor Obama totally schooled the GOP. Why? Because the president talked a lot but observers found the event boring, ergo proving both Obama's brilliance and the dimwittedness…
