Press Ignores, Minimizes Concerns in Fed's Beige Book About ObamaCare

Today, on the third anniversary of the enactment of state-managed healthcare, aka the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), aka ObamaCare, it's worth noting a precursor of what we can expect from the establishment press as the law's implementation presses on. It can be summed up in eight words: "Hype the alleged good. Ignore the obviously bad." Distilled in four words: "Toe the…
Tom Blumer
March 23rd, 2013 10:27 AM

Leno Strikes Back at NBC Executives

Jay Leno really went after NBC executives during his Tonight Show monologue Friday. First he joked about having a knife stuck in his back for three years, and then said NBC wants to make up with him by sending him and his wife on a Carnival Cruise (video follows with transcript and commentary):
Noel Sheppard
March 23rd, 2013 10:17 AM

Bozell Column: Still Shooting It Up on TV

Adweek reporter Katy Bachman obviously doesn’t know how silly she sounds. She recently passed along the intelligence that TV and movie industries would be “fulfilling a promise made to Vice President Joe Biden that they would be part of the solution to curb gun violence.” They’ve taken the Newtown massacre to heart and toned down the violence of TV and movies? That’s something they promise…
Brent Bozell
March 23rd, 2013 8:42 AM

Obama Delivered 'Clearly a Historic Speech' in Israel, New York Times

Barack Obama's speech in front of a sympathetic young left-wing audience in Israel demanding that Israel's leaders take risks for peace with the Palestinians, and to end the Israeli "occupation," received gushing reviews for its "historic" nature from New York Times journalists. Jerusalem Bureau Chief Jodi Rudoren joined host Marcus Mabry and deputy foreign editor Michael Slackman on Thursday's…
Clay Waters
March 23rd, 2013 8:16 AM

Rachel Maddow: Roger Ailes Put a 'Jet Engine' Into GOP's 'Hunk of Junk

Dylan Byers of Politico reported that the new Zev Chafets book on Fox News boss Roger Ailes includes talk of his warm friendship with MSNBC host Rachel Maddow. Ailes wrote a blurb for Maddow’s first book, “Drift,” and told Chafets he knew praising Maddow would make MSNBC executives think he was trying to bring her over to Fox. “I don’t want to recruit her but they’ll think I do,” Ailes told…
Tim Graham
March 23rd, 2013 7:45 AM

AP Report on Latest Hostess Asset Sale Tags the Wrong Union With Blame

I don't know whether AP Food Industry Writer Candice Choi misidentified the union responsible for the final demise of Hostess late last year deliberately or out of ignorance. But in the final five paragraphs of her report on the company's sale of several of its best-known brands to two investment groups, Choi definitely blew it (bolds are mine throughout this post):
Tom Blumer
March 22nd, 2013 11:33 PM

Daily Kos Week in Review: Playing the Base

Kossacks, of course, love to trash prominent Republicans -- freshman Texas senator Ted Cruz came in for some notable abuse this past week -- but they by no means neglect the party's rank and file and in some cases identify them as the root of the GOP's supposed madness. As usual, each headline is preceded by the blogger's name or pseudonym. Daily Kos Week in Review will return in two weeks.…
Tom Johnson
March 22nd, 2013 10:47 PM

Michael Moore's Irrational Reasoning: White Gun Owners Racist, But Und

Call it Michael Moore's Jesse Jackson moment . . . Jackson once famously said that when he walked down the street and heard footsteps behind him, he was relieved to turn around and find a white person behind him. This evening, on Ed Schultz's soon-to-be-extinct weeknight MSNBC show, a histrionic Michael Moore accused white gun owners of racism . . . then proceeded to say it was reasonable…
Mark Finkelstein
March 22nd, 2013 9:46 PM

Rahm Emanuel 'Murdering Schools' in Chicago, Rants Teachers Union Head

This has already gotten ugly, even by Chicago standards. Fifty-four public schools in the Windy City are closing due to a $1 billion budget shortfall and the president of the Chicago Teachers Union is putting the blame squarely on Mayor Rahm Emanuel. (audio clip after page break)
Jack Coleman
March 22nd, 2013 8:25 PM

NPR Ignores Republican Opponents of Leftward 'Shift' on Immigration, S

On Friday's Morning Edition, Mara Liasson lined up talking heads who support RNC Chairman Reince Priebus' Monday report that advises Republicans to "embrace...comprehensive immigration reform" and "change our tone" on issues championed by homosexual activists. Liasson failed to include soundbites from traditional marriage supporters and anti-illegal immigration activists. The correspondent…
Matthew Balan
March 22nd, 2013 7:36 PM

NB BookNotes: Peter Berkowitz Defends 'Constitutional Conservatism

On Tuesday, I sat down with Peter Berkowitz of the Hoover Institution to discuss his new book, Constitutional Conservatism: Liberty, Self-Government, and Political Moderation. That latter part of the subtitle might trip up a lot of folks, so I asked him to explain what exactly he meant by political moderation. Political moderation rightly understood, Berkowitz explained, is not "compromise…
Ken Shepherd
March 22nd, 2013 7:15 PM

WaPo Calls Maryland Gun Law "Victory for Public Safety," Ignores The B

Today, the Washington Post's Ann Marimow and Aaron Davis published a rather celebratory piece on the Metro section front page claiming that a federal court panel's upholding of Maryland’s restrictive "may issue" concealed carry law is a “decision seen as [a] victory for public safety.”  "'This is huge' for advocates of gun control," gushed the headline on the jump page, B8. Ever since Newtown,…
Matt Vespa
March 22nd, 2013 6:35 PM

Michelle Malkin Column | Dumb and Dangerous: America's Fast Pass for S

It's business as usual in the post-9/11 world. Your federal government is back to pandering to wealthy travelers from Saudi Arabia. In the eyes of our massive homeland security apparatus, the comfort of Saudis is a higher priority than the safety of American citizens. And thanks to reckless, feckless bureaucrats who fear being labeled "racists," "xenophobes" and "Islamophobes," political…
Michelle Malkin
March 22nd, 2013 5:44 PM

PBS: ‘Congress Hasn’t Passed a Budget in Years,’ Fails to Call

On Thursday’s NewsHour, PBS co-anchor Hari Sreenivasan misled viewers in a story about the latest action in Congress regarding the $984-billion continuing resolution -- a spending bill which will fund federal government operations through September 30, when the current fiscal year ends. Said Sreenivasan: “That spending legislation was necessary because Congress hasn't passed a budget in years…
Paul Bremmer
March 22nd, 2013 5:37 PM