Political Groups

On CNN's State of the Union show Sunday morning, Jake Tapper appeared to try to carve out an exception for his network in how it has covered Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. After Sanders went into his "(we) started off as a fringe campaign" schtick, Tapper reassured the Vermont socialist: "For the record, sir, as you know, we never considered you a fringe candidate." Well, that…

On today's Meet the Press, Chuck Todd helped perpetuate the myth that Planned Parenthood provides mammograms. Interviewing Donald Trump, Todd said "Democrats will say the money they give to Planned Parenthood does not go to abortions. That the money they give to Planned Parenthood only goes to other women's health issues including mammograms and things like that." Let's make this absolutely…

The Washington Examiner's Philip Klein is reporting that "Turnout in Nevada's Democratic caucuses dropped by about one third on Saturday as compared to 2008, raising questions about a lack of enthusiasm among the party's voters." There have been precious few other acknowledgments of this in the establishment press. Based on the Democratic Party's less than transparent presentation of the…

Liberal Alan Colmes, apparently miffed at people who have criticized President Barack Obama for not attending the funeral of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, asserted earlier today that GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz would not be there. Colmes got it wrong. Cruz was there, and it was known for quite some time that he would be there. Colmes, since the words "I'm sorry" are apparently…

West Virginia became the nation's 26th state with a "right-to-work" law a bit over a week ago. At the same time, it also repealed "prevailing wage" requirements for public construction projects. The idea that the formerly Democrat-dominated Mountain State would pass either item was unthinkable as little as a decade ago. That was before the Obama administration began its war on coal-powereed…

If you're going to flaunt your superior knowledge, it's a good idea to get it right . . . On this evening's O'Reilly Factor, Geraldo Rivera scolded guest host Eric Bolling for pronouncing the state of Nevada as Ne-VA-da. Condescendingly instructed Rivera: "It's a Spanish word, Ne-VAH-da. Gringo."  There's just one problem. When it comes to pronouncing the name of the state, and not the Spanish…

Talk about setting someone up to fail . . . Heading into a contest, politicians traditionally like to lower expectations. But Joe Scarborough has raised expectations for Marco Rubio almost to the roof. On today's Morning Joe, Scarborough repeatedly cited talk that if Marco Rubio doesn't finish second in the South Carolina primary, "he has to get out of the race."   Chuckling through Joe's…

On today's on Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough flatly stated that people that know him, as in his family, know whom he's voting for, and "it's not Donald Trump!" That's newsworthy because Scarborough has been accused by many, as here, here and here, of being in the tank for Trump. Clashing with Time's Joe Klein, Scarborough said that, while not supporting Trump, he and Mika Brzezinski have simply…

MSNBC's Chris Hayes is usually right less often than a stopped clock, i.e., fewer than two times a day. But he might get lucky if by some miracle he's right about something else today because of the matter discussed in this post. After the Obama administration announced that President Barack Obama will not attend Saturday's funeral for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, a staunch Catholic,…

Could the end be near for Jeb Bush's presidential campaign? Would a back-in-the-pack finish in South Carolina be the final blow? Kasie Hunt seems to suggest so. MSNBC's Hunt, appearing on today's With All Due Respect, sounded an ominous note for Bush fans. Reporting that the Bush campaign has been disappointed by the lack of a bump coming off a strong debate performance, Hunt said "to a certain…

Yesterday, Matt Balan at NewsBusters noted that only two of the Big 3 broadcast news networks covered "the assault allegation against former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer that emerged over the weekend," and that only NBC mentioned Spitzer's Democratic Party affiliation. A broader look at news coverage of Spitzer's latest encounter with law enforcement indicates that omitting his party…

Yesterday, New York Times editorial board member Brent Staples tweeted what was and apparently still is his best argument for why the Republican-controlled Senate should roll over and approve whoever President Obama wishes to nominate to fill the Supreme Court vacancy caused by Justice Antonin Scalia's death on Saturday: "In a nation built on slavery, white men propose denying the first black…

On Thursday, Venezuela's Supreme Court decided to grant Bolivarian socialist "President" Nicolas Maduro what an unbylined Associated Press report described as "broad decree powers" to deal with the economic crisis and humanitarian nightmare he and his predecessor Hugo Chavez created. Maduro's government now for all practical purposes has total control of that nation's economy, which in the…

Welcome to the official Evangelical Christian Church of America, brought to you by President Ted Cruz . . .   That's the scare-mongering scenario that Joy Reid painted on MSNBC today. Reid alleged that as president, Cruz would "ignore" the part of the Constitution prohibiting the establishment of a national religion. She in essence falsely accused Cruz of planning to establish evangelical…