MRCTV Finds Average Joe and Jane Unaware of the 'Fiscal Cliff

We at NewsBusters and the Media Research Center are located just inside the Capital Beltway in Old Town Alexandria. If any place is going to have folks walking around aware of the so-called fiscal cliff -- when the Bush tax cuts expire and automatic spending cuts are set to kick in -- you'd think it would be here. But MRCTV's Dan Joseph found that most folks on the street were unaware of the…
NB Staff
November 13th, 2012 3:44 PM

NBC's Gregory and BuzzFeed's Smith Blame Conservatives Only for 'Polar

During an exchange on NBC's Press Pass on Sunday, Meet the Press moderator David Gregory and BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith wrung their hands over political divisiveness on social media sites like Twitter, but only managed to cite a list of Obama critics as the worst offenders. Gregory lamented: "We talk about how polarized the country is....we see this reflected in particularly nasty…
Kyle Drennen
November 13th, 2012 3:43 PM

Year-Over-Year Deficit Worsens in October, and the Problem Is Spending

The government's October 2012 Monthly Treasury Statement was released at 2 p.m. It tells us that the government took in $184 billion ($21 billion more than last year) while spending $304 billion ($43 billion more), leaving a $120 billion deficit. That's 22% higher than the October 2011 shortfall of $98.5 billion. The early report from the Associated Press's Martin Crustinger predictably tells…
Tom Blumer
November 13th, 2012 3:10 PM

Liberal Media Still Eager to Offer Conservatives Advice

With all the gloating the liberal media has been doing since the election, one would think the margin of victory was comparable to that of Ronald Reagan's overwhelming win over Walter Mondale in 1984. From The Atlantic to Politico and various other outlets, there have been an abundance of columns published in the past week urging, as they always do after a rout at the polls, that the GOP must…
Ryan Robertson
November 13th, 2012 3:09 PM

How Dare Anyone Suggest I'm Leaving MSNBC, Fumes Ed Schultz

Ed Schultz's lofty opinion that he's indispensable at MSNBC is apparently not widely shared at 30 Rockefeller Center. Schultz responded angrily on his radio show yesterday to a New York Times story about the network that contained an eye-opening disclosure close to the end of the piece (audio clips after page break).
Jack Coleman
November 13th, 2012 1:05 PM

Fear-Mongering ABC Hypes Latest Global Warming Disaster: The End of Co

The alarmist journalists at Good Morning America on Sunday hyped a new report that fretted over whether global warming will spell the end of coffee. Reporter John Muller warned, "...The coffee bean may be going to way of the dinosaur. We're talking about extinction if you believe this new study..." [See video below. MP3 audio here.] Painting a dark picture, Muller worried, "Scientists from…
Scott Whitlock
November 13th, 2012 12:21 PM

NBC Works on 'Connecting the Dots' Between Sandy and Global Warming

In a report for Monday's NBC Nightly News, correspondent Anne Thompson seized on Hurricane Sandy to continue pushing the argument for man-made global warming: "Now some politicians are connecting the dots, blaming the gases that come from burning coal, oil and gas for changing the climate." A clip followed of New York's Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo declaring: "Climate change, extreme…
Kyle Drennen
November 13th, 2012 11:29 AM

CNN Badgers Congressman to Tear Up No-Tax-Hike Pledge

[UPDATE BELOW] CNN's Christine Romans and Soledad O'Brien teamed up on Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) on Tuesday's Starting Point, pressuring him to renege on his pledge not to raise tax rates. "So would you be fine doing a compromise where you would go against your signature on that pledge?" O'Brien pressed Chaffetz over Grover Norquist's pledge not to hike tax rates and not to increase tax…
Matt Hadro
November 13th, 2012 11:28 AM

Leno: 'Hope Everybody Went Out Today and Hugged a Veteran - Unless You

Not surprisingly, NBC Tonight Show host Jay Leno made a lot of jokes about David Petraeus Monday evening. He began a series of them during his opening monologue by saying, "Hope everybody went out today and hugged a veteran - unless your name is Paula Broadwell" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
Noel Sheppard
November 13th, 2012 11:07 AM

'Homeland' Star Makes Muslim Joke To Obama

After what Damian Lewis inscribed on Barack Obama's DVD box set of Showtime's hit series Homeland, the President might no longer be such a fan of the show. On the British program The Jonathan Ross Show Saturday, the Emmy-winner said he wrote a Muslim joke to Obama on the gift (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):
Noel Sheppard
November 13th, 2012 10:21 AM

Food Stamp Enrollment Is Up by More Under Obama Than During Bush's Eig

Consider it a grim, hidden, unreported milestone, and yet another media failure. The grim milestone relates to the increase in food stamp enrollment during the Obama administration. As Dave Gibson at Examiner.com noted on Saturday, the administration and campaign (as if there was any difference) did not release program participation data for August until three days after the election, roughly…
Tom Blumer
November 13th, 2012 10:18 AM

Open Thread

Discuss the news of the day and whatever else you'd like.
NB Staff
November 13th, 2012 9:51 AM

David Limbaugh Column: Don't Throw Out Conservative Ideas, We Need to

We conservatives may never reach a consensus among ourselves as to the main factors that caused our election defeat, but surely we can agree that we must do a better job of selling our ideas. Never mind, you say. The electorate has irreversibly become a taker class, and conservative ideas of self-reliance, personal responsibility and individual liberties will never appeal to a majority again…
David Limbaugh
November 13th, 2012 9:51 AM

Vatican Pushes Back on Gay Marriage Gains in U.S., Compares It To Poly

Following huge gains at the polls in the United States last week, the Vatican began a campaign blitz against same-sex marriage this weekend. It even went so far as comparing it to polygamy.
Noel Sheppard
November 13th, 2012 9:27 AM