Government shutdown

Sometimes the left approaches satire in its ongoing propaganda campaign to make the partial government shutdown seem worse than it is. Take Amanda Marcotte's October 1 Slate article "Government shutdown: From WIC to the panda cam, seven ways the shutdown will hit women hardest," no doubt a continuation of the whiny "war on women" meme only idiots fall for. My favorite paragraph in Slate's list…

Republicans are godless anti-government zealots responsible for a federal government shutdown that will literally kill people, MSNBC's Martin Bashir charged in the closing "Clear the Air" commentary on his Friday, October 4 program. But in a not-so-clever twist, the ever-sanctimonious Bashir -- who has a penchant for selective Bible-thumping to push liberal agenda points -- sought to enlist the…

It seems a metaphysical certitude the Obama-loving David Letterman didn't expect this response. During the opening monologue of CBS's Late Show Thursday, when the host asked the audience, "How many folks signed up on the ObamaCare," not one person responded (video follows with commentary):

On Thursday's NBC Nightly News, anchor Brian Williams introduced a full report on cancer research at the National Institutes of Health being stopped under the government shutdown: "And there are the millions who are feeling the impact of this shutdown very close to home and across this country, including some for whom this standoff feels very much like a matter of life and death for them." In…

In a piece filed today, Associated Press reporter Bob Christie and his editors provided a textbook example of how to use loaded language to tilt coverage while still being entirely accurate with the facts. Covering a controversy in Arizona over the federal government’s closure of the Grand Canyon National Park and the state government’s attempts to keep it open, Christie painted the conflict as…

Are you happy now, Republicans? You went and forced the president to cancel his trip to Asia and with it an important foreign policy overture. That's the message Time magazine is sending readers with Michael Crowley's October 4 post, "Shutdown Dents Vital Obama Foreign Policy Goal," which was plugged on the Time.com front page with a photo of a frowning President Obama given the teaser headline…

On Friday afternoon, CNN's Don Lemon blamed the government shutdown over ObamaCare for "not really helping" the mentally ill woman killed by police on Capitol Hill on Thursday who needed "health care." "[T]his woman is in obvious need of mental health, and that means health care. And so what they're doing in Washington is not really helping her, is it?" he asked psychotherapist Wendy Walsh who…

Appearing as a guest on Thursday's PoliticsNation, during a discussion of the government shutdown, MSNBC's Krystal Ball characterized congressional Republicans as "tak[ing] the whole government hostage," and "threaten[ing]" the "constitutional balance." After host Al Sharpton fretted over the operation of FEMA and the National Hurricane Center during the government shutdown, Ball responded:

While the media are busy painting Republicans -- particularly Tea Party-friendly conservatives in the House -- as the legislators who are ultimately responsible for the government shutdown, they are failing to note that "[t]he Democrats and the president have offered nothing" as a counteroffer on the continuing resolution to fund the government, NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell noted on the…

Appearing on CBS's Late Show on Thursday, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams ranted to liberal host David Letterman about Republicans in Congress being to blame for the government shutdown: "It's about a small – they've been called the suicide caucus in the U.S. House, about 80 members.....right now they have a hold on the House of Representatives....because of this caucus, this cabal,…

  The three network morning shows on Friday worried about President Obama and the fact that he had "no choice" but to cancel an Asian summit as the government shutdown drags on. On ABC's Good Morning America, Jon Karl lamented, "These were two significant summits in Brunei and Indonesia. The White House says he could legally have gone, but he needs to be here to push for reopening the government…

On Thursday, MSNBC's Chuck Todd, in the introduction to his "Daily Rundown" program, characterized both the response to the Obama administration's barricading of the World War II Memorial and Harry Reid's response to a question about helping children with cancer by funding the National Institutes for Health ("Why would we want to do that?") as "manufactured outrage." World War II ended in 1945,…

Reacting to a dramatic car chase in downtown Washington, DC Thursday, MSNBC host Chris Matthews jumped at the chance to blame the events on congressional Republicans. The low-rated cable host began his coverage of the death of a woman believed to have suffered from depression with a characteristic passive-aggressive slam against conservatives. “The death will no doubt become an iconic tragedy…

On Wednesday's The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, at the end of a discussion on the government shutdown, substitute host Alex Wagner tried to marginalize Tea Party conservatives as only representing "two percent of the public" after guest and MSNBC.com Executive Editor Richard Wolffe blamed the congressional Republican leadership for allowing Tea Party members to have so much influence.…