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Letterman: Ted Cruz Appealing to 'Extreme Right-Wing' of GOP
Discussing the presidential bid of Senator Ted Cruz with Fox News host Bill O'Reilly on Tuesday's CBS Late Show, host David Letterman described the Texas Republican motivating "extreme" supporters: "...he announced at Liberty College [sic], which is Jerry Falwell's place.... And that was, of course, purposeful, because he wanted to establish his – the base, the core of the extreme right-wing part…
Nation Columnist: Right-Wing Pundits Seek to ‘Undermine Our Democracy'
The left-liberal magazine The Nation has just published its 150th-anniversary issue, which includes Alterman’s piece on the state of American conservatism. Alterman makes two main points. One is that conservatives are ideologues, whereas liberals are pragmatists. The other is that prominent righty pundits routinely spew nonsense not because they’re dumb, but because extremist plutocrats control…
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Nets Grill Ted Cruz on 'No-Compromise' 'Hardline' Conservative Views
In interviews with all three broadcast networks on Tuesday, newly-announced Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz was pressed on whether he would abandon his conservative principles in a White House run. Matt Lauer: "In your short time in the Senate you've developed a reputation as a guy who does not back down, who will not compromise....Will you bring that brand of no-compromise to the…
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Nets: Cruz Campaign Could Face ‘Rough Sledding’ with 'Mainstream' GOP
On Monday night, the major broadcast networks devoted full segments to the announcement from Republican Senator Ted Cruz (Tex.) that he will seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, with CBS touting how he could face “some rough sledding” if he seeks support from “mainstream Republicans” and ABC made sure to point out his promises of “no abortion, no gay marriage, no gun control,” and…
Lefty Blogger on Cruz Candidacy: ‘Is This Guy Freaking Kidding?’
The New Yorker’s Borowitz and Esquire’s Pierce trash the Texas senator (Pierce claims that Cruz “represents politics and a vision of government that was out of date in 1860” and that he’s “connected, rhetorically for the most part, to the darkest manifestations of the American political Id”).
USA Today: 'Hundreds of Thousands' Could Lose Their Vote In Wisconsin
Today the U.S. Supreme Court, as the Associated Press's Scott Bauer reported, "turned away a challenge to Wisconsin's voter identification law," meaning that "the state is free to impose the voter ID requirement in future elections." Bauer then focused on the impact of the state's off-year primary elections on April 7.
Bauer's relatively tolerable (for him) report tagged the law as "a political…
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NBC: Ted Cruz a 'Conservative Firebrand' Who Throws 'Rhetorical Bombs'
On Monday's NBC Today, while discussing Senator Ted Cruz's announcement of his presidential candidacy, co-host Savannah Guthrie described the Texas Republican as "whip smart, a real conservative firebrand, knows how to throw those rhetorical bombs that the base loves."
Salon: GOP, Likud, and ‘Iranian Right’ Have ‘Fanaticism’ In Common
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…
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Chuck Todd Tees Up Jerry Brown to Slam Ted Cruz as ‘Unfit’ for Office
Ahead of Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s expected Monday announcement declaring his candidacy for President of the United States, NBC’s Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd on Sunday teed up California’s Democratic Governor Jerry Brown to blast the Republican as “absolutely unfit to be running for office.”
New Republic Writer: The Word ‘Taxpayer’ Has a Right-Wing Bias
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…
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ABC Hypes FBI Investigation of Schock; Minimizes Hillary Subpoena
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…
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Palestinian Activist Blasts Israel, 'Racist' GOP; NBC Reporter Sits By
Filling in as host of MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports on Friday, NBC national correspondent Peter Alexander brought on radical Palestinian activist and executive director of the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation Yousef Munayyer to condemn Israel and the Republican Party. Alexander lobbed this softball: "What is your take on the back and forth right now between the President and…
Poll Shows Tumbling Support for Hillary Among Democrats; Nets Ignore
On Thursday night and Friday morning, the major broadcast networks neglected to cover a new poll from Reuters/Ipos showing support for likely Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton slipping among Democrats following the e-mail scandal as a majority of voters expressed support for an independent review of all her e-mails as well as the belief that she hasn’t entirely honest in her…
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Fallon Jokes About Obama’s Economic Record, Blaming Bad News on GOP
During his Thursday monologue, Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon turned to the Obama administration for the source of his current events jokes as President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and even the scandal-ridden Secret Service each saw a few jests sent their respective ways.