Matthews: IRS Scandal Worth 5-10 Points To Republican Candidates

What will be the political fallout of the various scandals in which President Obama is ensnared?  Chris Matthews thinks it will be huge. Appearing on today's Morning Joe, Matthews mused that the IRS scandal alone would be worth 5-10 points to Republican candidates. He specifically mentioned Mitch McConnell, Tom Corbett and Ken Cuccinelli as Republicans whom the scandal would aid in their…
Mark Finkelstein
May 15th, 2013 9:42 AM

Remember That? AP Phone Records Furor Breaks 335 Days of Silence on Ob

The media furor that began Monday night over the Justice Department obtaining two months of phone records from the Associated Press marks the first time in 335 days that any of the Big Three evening newscasts have even mentioned the existence of two criminal investigations into whether White House or other national security officials leaked sensitive secrets, perhaps to politically benefit…
Rich Noyes
May 15th, 2013 9:30 AM

Lisa Myers Calls The Press And The Left 'One' Of Obama's 'Most Importa

The press and the left. But Lisa Myers repeats herself.  Seriously, though, Myers did make a stunning admission along such lines on today's Morning Joe? H/t NB reader Pam. Describing the harm done to President Obama by the AP spying scandal, NBC senior investigate correspondent Myers said the effect of the scandal has been to turn "one [sic] of the President's most important constituencies,…
Mark Finkelstein
May 15th, 2013 8:33 AM

Scandals Sink In: NPR Political Director Gets Out a Hanky for Obama's

NPR political director Ron Elving wrote a wistful blog post on Tuesday night headlined “Goodbye, Again, To Obama's Most Audacious Hope.” “The sudden eruption of second-term scandals in his administration will have many costs for President Obama, but surely the most grievous will be the lost opportunity to transcend the partisan wars of Washington,” Elving mourned. “That aspiration was his…
Tim Graham
May 15th, 2013 7:49 AM

NRO's Williamson: Conference Question to IRS's Lerner Was Planted

When I first heard of limp faux apology by the IRS's Lois Lerner on Friday for her tax-exempt division's harassment of Tea Party and conservative organizations, I thought she had done so on a conference call. Well, she did have a conference call with reporters later that day -- the one where she said “I’m not good at math” -- but her original apology occurred at a conference of the Exempt…
Tom Blumer
May 15th, 2013 7:30 AM

Memo to Hysterical Leftists: LA Times Currently Is 'Ideological Mouthp

Ever since libertarian billionaires Charles and David Koch expressed an interest this past March in buying the Los Angeles Times, half of the daily newspaper's staff has threatened to quit if the deal goes through because the paper would become an “ideological mouthpiece” for conservative Republicans. Well, the people who oppose the sale -- including union members and the Los Angeles City…
Randy Hall
May 15th, 2013 12:05 AM

Bozell Column: Obama's Legacy? Scandal

The Obama scandals started piling up on top of each other in the last few days. The civil servants who testified on Benghazi were heart-breaking. Then the IRS admitted a punitive agenda against tax exemptions for groups with “Tea Party” in the name, or groups which “educate about the Constitution.” Then Eric Holder’s Justice Department was revealed to be wiretapping the Associated Press in…
Brent Bozell
May 14th, 2013 10:51 PM

After Over Five Years of Fawning, Politico Pair Writes That 'D.C. Turn

Imagine that. Politico has a very negative story on our second-term president. After over five years during which the online publication has engaged in virtual non-stop fawning over the wonders of Barack Obama -- going all the way back to shortly after its founding in January 2007, when Ben Smith found someone who described him as "frighteningly coherent" -- Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei…
Tom Blumer
May 14th, 2013 10:18 PM

WSJ: 'Obama Dismisses Benghazi Claims' as Partisan Fundraising Fare

Covering Barack Obama's  Monday May 13 press conference for the May 14 edition of the Wall Street Journal, reporters Peter Nicholas and Janet Hook painted the president as above the partisan fray and Republicans as the ones sidetracking Washington from the "plenty of unfinished business" that the president has on his plate just "[f]our months into his new term." In their 20-paragraph story, "…
Ken Shepherd
May 14th, 2013 7:45 PM

AP's Yost Cuts Holder Undeserved Slack in DOJ's Power-Abusing Phone Re

In a disptach early this evening, the Associated Press's Pete Yost, perhaps signaling his employer's intent to remain the journalistic lapdog known as the Administration's Press, accepted at face value Attorney General Eric Holder's claim, while defending his department's actions, to have played no role in its wide-ranging subpoena of two months of AP phone records involving 20 cellular,…
Tom Blumer
May 14th, 2013 7:35 PM

Morning Shows Hype Angelina Jolie's Mastectomies With Nearly 27 Minute

ABC and NBC led their morning shows on Tuesday with nearly 10 minutes of "breaking news" coverage of Angelina Jolie's double mastectomy. This celebrity-driven story was apparently deemed more important than abortionist Dr. Kermit Gosnell being found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder, as Good Morning America and Today devoted just 38 seconds to the Gosnell trial. (audio clips of…
Matthew Balan
May 14th, 2013 6:23 PM

Matthews and Jonathan Alter Freak Out: 'Vulnerable' Obama Hurt By Staf

  Liberal journalists Chris Matthews and Jonathan Alter conducted a freak out session on Tuesday. Citing the growing IRS, Libya and Associated Press scandals, Matthews ranted that Barack Obama is a "ship with the engine off." Sending up the warnings, the Hardball anchor lamented, "[Obama is] vulnerable. And that is obvious to everyone this side of the White House gates." In an…
Scott Whitlock
May 14th, 2013 6:04 PM

David Limbaugh Column: Partisan Obama Culture Spawned a More Abusive I

In case you're hiding under a rock, you should know that an audit conducted by the inspector general for the Internal Revenue Service has found that IRS officials targeted for scrutiny certain groups critical of the administration. Which groups? Well, those with "tea party" or "patriot" in their names and nonprofit groups that criticized the government and sought to educate Americans about…
David Limbaugh
May 14th, 2013 5:56 PM

MSNBC's Harris-Perry Sees Red Areas Not 'Caring About' Children Being

As she appeared as a guest on Monday's All In with Chris Hayes show, MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry described the conservative "red" parts of her home state of Lousiana as "not thinking about or caring about the 10-year-old children in my neighborhood who are shot while walking down the street" as she and host Chris Hayes discussed a recent mass shooting at a parade in New Orleans and…
Brad Wilmouth
May 14th, 2013 5:55 PM