Amanda Marcotte: ACA Lawsuit Proves ‘Wingnut Wing’ Runs GOP
In her Talking Points Memo column, Marcotte writes that King v. Burwell itself is ridiculous but par for the course: “Exploiting the obsessions and fantasies of rightwing cranks…has [been] the standard operating procedure of conservative leadership for decades now. But that the Supreme Court is elevating this kind of talk radio madness to the highest court in the land takes this to another level…
12 Hours Later, Kitzhaber Wasn't on AP's 'Big Story' Front Page
Democrat John Kitzhaber announced his resignation as Governor of Oregon shortly after 3 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday (noon Pacific Time).
By 3 a.m. Eastern time Saturday morning, as seen here, less than 12 hours after the announcement, the Associated Press's "Big Story" page, the collection of current stories the wire service considers especially important, had no stories on Kitzhaber. But there…
WashPost's Bump Lamely Denies Kitzhaber-Christie Double Standard
Late Friday afternoon, roughly two hours ("shortly after noon" Pacific Time) after the press release announcing Oregon Democratic Governor John Kitzhaber's resignation effective next Wednesday, Philip Bump at the Washington Post's "The Fix" blog tried to explain away the national press's nearly complete failure to cover Kitzhaber's mounting ethical and now potentially criminal problems for nearly…
Salon TV Critic: Jon Stewart a ‘Liberal Organizer and Rallying Point’
Sonia Saraiya suggests that Stewart “is one of the most influential political figures of our era” and claims that “as difficult as it has been to advance a progressive agenda over the last 16 years, it would likely have been impossible without Stewart’s ability to connect to millions of viewers and remind them that they weren’t alone in hoping for something better.”
AP, NY Times Finally Focus on Oregon Gov. Kitzhaber Corruption Story
In a sign that the walls are truly beginning to close in around him, the Associated Press's national site and the New York Times, both of which have largely ignored the growing ethical scandals surrounding Oregon Democratic Governor John Kitzhaber and his fiancee Cylvia Hayes for months, have gotten busy during the past 24 hours.
The very belated national attention cannot possibly be helpful to…
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Cuomo Badgers Roy Moore on Marriage: 'It's About Discrimination'
On Thursday's New Day, liberal CNN anchor Chris Cuomo hammered Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore over his resistance to same-sex "marriage." Cuomo forwarded many of the talking points of the social left during the long segment: "It used to be legal to have slaves. Your state had a lot of laws on the books, like other states, where times changed, and those laws had to change. And this…
Least-Known, Scandal-Plagued Governor in U.S.: Oregon Dem Kitzhaber
The establishment press has obsessed over Republican Governor Chris Christie's non-scandals in New Jersey for 18 months. Anything appearing to be problematic during the past four years for Wisconsin GOP Governor Scott Walker, including a "John Doe" fishing expedition driven by a power-abusing Democratic prosecutor, has been national news.
Meanwhile, the press appears to have lost interest in…
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ABC, CBS Omit Keystone Pipeline Passing Congress; NBC Gives It 11 Secs
When it came to the major broadcast networks covering the full congressional passage of the Keystone XL oil pipeline on their Wednesday night newscasts, ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir and the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley chose to ignore the story completely and left their viewers in the dark on this issue. Meanwhile, NBC Nightly News made it the second topic covered on its…
Another Month, Another Selective AP Federal Deficit Report
The federal government today reported a $17.5 billion budget deficit for January. That brings this fiscal year's shortfall through four months to $194.2 billion, up from $182.8 billion during the same period last year.
As usual, the Associated Press's coverage, this time delivered by Martin Crutsinger, named the nation's "Worst Economic Writer" by National Review's Kevin Williamson two years ago…
Frank Rich: Conservatives Wildly Exaggerate Williams’s Liberalism
New York magazine pundit Rich admits the anchor badly mishandled the flap over his Iraq-war tall tale but dismisses much conservative criticism of Williams: “They view him as Exhibit A of a lying left-wing mainstream media conspiracy…But neither in public nor private have I ever seen or heard Brian Williams express any partisan political opinion.”
HuffPo Columnist: Combat Veteran Joni Ernst Shouldn't Claim to Be One
Very few things drive leftists to distraction more than a strong Republican or conservative woman achieving political power.
Joni Ernst is a perfect example. The strong-willed freshman Senator from Iowa describes herself in three words: "Mother. Soldier. Leader." Imagine the howls of outrage if a conservative went after a liberal female combat veteran as Andrew Reinbach at Huffington Post did on…
NYRB's Smart Take: Republicans Are Scary, Purist, Nativist, and Racist
To understand the literary elite's simplistic grasp of politics, look to whom they get their opinions from: Veteran political contributor Elizabeth Drew, a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books, explained the Republican takeover of the U.S. Senate for the Review's February issue under the headline: "The Republicans: Divided and Scary." And purist. And nativist. And racist....
Michael Moore Defends Brian Williams by Bashing Bush and 'Real Liars'
Michael Moore took to his Facebook account on Sunday night to unleash a lengthy post lamenting how “a man with integrity” in Brian Williams was being punished for “committing the crime of Faux Macho due to his claim of being on the wrong chopper,” while members of the Bush administration “roam free” and get away with being “the real liars who were responsible for the Iraq War.”
Axelrod Book: Obama Really Favored Same-Sex 'Marriage' in 2008
In a new book, Obama 2008 campaign manager and longtime Obama adviser David Axelrod reveals that, in the words of Zeke J. Miller at Time.com, "Barack Obama misled Americans for his own political benefit when he claimed in the 2008 election to oppose same sex marriage for religious reasons."
The subheadline at Miller's coverage calls it "A striking admission of political dishonesty from the…
