MSNBC Execs Scramble to Defend Olbermann as 'Countdown' Ratings Declin

Keith Olbermann's appeal has generally been his incendiary, attack-dog approach to the news. The approach paid off during the Bush administration when bashing the president was good business for a television host. Since Obama's inauguration, Olbermann's ratings have been in free-fall, but MSNBC brass are still more than willing not only to keep him on the air, but to defend him against any and…
Lachlan Markay

Bill O'Reilly and Jon Stewart Fight About Fox News and Glenn Beck

A heated debate about the political leaning of Fox News happened Wednesday when "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart was invited on the "O'Reilly Factor.""What you have been able to do, you and Dr. Ailes, have been able to mainstream conservative talk radio," said the Comedy Central star."Don't give me I'm a Republican shrill," countered host Bill O'Reilly. "That's bull."The pair also battled over Fox…
Noel Sheppard

MRC's Brent Bozell Rebuts 'Excrement In Broadcasting' Attack From D.C

MRC president Brent Bozell offered a radio rebuttal on Thursday morning defending Rush Limbaugh against a nasty January 21 commentary on D.C. NPR station WAMU. Regular commentator and longtime WAMU host Fred Fiske denounced Rush's show as "Excrement in Broadcasting."After I blogged about that outrage, our request for a rebuttal was granted, so Brent recorded one, and it was scheduled for today. […
Tim Graham

Obama Submits Largest Budget in History, But Networks Portray Him as F

President Obama just submitted a $3.8 trillion budget proposal, the largest federal budget ever, which will come with a "record amount of red ink." The projected deficit of that budget would be $1.6 trillion, yet the networks didn't criticize him for being spendy. To put this in perspective: Obama is proposing a budget $700 billion larger than big spender Pres. George W. Bush's last budget. It's…
Julia A. Seymour

Open Thread

NB Staff

Obama Submits Largest Budget in History, But Portrayed as Fiscal Conse

ABC, CBS and NBC reports on federal budget give the president pass on spending, ignore critical liberal and conservative economists who argue it is 'unsustainable.'
Julia A. Seymour

Post's Milbank Gushes Over Admiral's Plea to End Ban on Gays in Milita

Dana Milbank of The Washington Post couldn't contain his glee over Joint Chief of Staffs chairman Admiral Mike Mullen's Feb. 2 testimony in favor of overturning "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." "Mike Mullen's 42 years in the military earned him a chest full of ribbons, but never did he do something braver that what he did on Capitol Hill on Tuesday," began Milbank's Feb. 3 ode to the admiral. "In…
Colleen Raezler

Rachel Maddow Building a Money-for-Nothing Reputation

Patrick McGeehan of The New York Times reported that several Air America radio talkers didn't get all their pay before the network went belly-up -- including Rachel Maddow, who wasn't even producing a show any more (just a simulcast of her MSNBC hour):But when the lefty chatter stopped, some of the talkers had not been paid for the last of the airtime they filled. Ms. Maddow was due $3,952 for…
Tim Graham

Planned Parenthood Strikes Back at Tebow Ad with Pro-Abortion Video

Planned Parenthood has just released a video in response to the upcoming Super Bowl ad featuring the pro-life birth story of college football star Tim Tebow. The pro-abortion group's ad includes Olympic gold medalist Al Joyner and former NFL football player Sean James promoting what they call "respect for women's choices." James said in the ad that he "respects and honors Mrs. Tebow's…
Carolyn Plocher

ABC’s Robin Roberts Lauds Pay Czar for Slamming CEOs: ‘We Can Feel

Good Morning America co-host Robin Roberts didn’t even try for objectivity on Wednesday when she talked to pay czar Kenneth Feinberg about his attempts to stop AIG CEOs from receiving bonuses. "We can feel the fire in your belly," she enthused after Feinberg touted the administration’s efforts at reining in bonuses. "And that's great to see," Roberts opined. After Feinberg proudly told Roberts, "…
Scott Whitlock

Limbaugh: Miss America Contestants Know More About Politics Than Elect

Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh believes that many of the Miss America contestants he met last week know more about politics than elected officials he's spoken to."I've really been impressed with all of them," Limbaugh told Fox News's Gretchen Carlson in a segment that aired on "Fox & Friends" Tuesday.In his first interview since being rushed to the hospital in December, Limbaugh…
Noel Sheppard

CNN's Acosta: Tea Partiers are 'Recession-Raging Conservatives

[Update, 5:24 pm Eastern: Audio and video clips from Acosta’s report added.]CNN’s Jim Acosta continued his network’s bias against tea party protesters on Wednesday’s American Morning by depicting them as “recession raging,” and questioned one participant over her depiction of President Obama as the personification of death: “Do you think having the President dressed up as the Grim Reaper is a…
Matthew Balan

Santelli: Media's Coverage of Economy, Tea Parties 'Very Much Lacking

Rick Santelli is the star of perhaps the most politically consequential online video, viral to the extreme, of the past year (right). On February 19, 2009 he let loose on the Obama administration's economic policies on CNBC's "Squawk Box", calling for a "tea party", and inspiring millions of Americans to speak out against what he and many others see as collectivist economics policies pursued by…
Lachlan Markay

Financial Times Reporter: Is Next Year Too Soon to Address Deficit

Only a liberal could imagine that addressing the federal deficit and creating jobs might be mutually exclusive. On MSNBC's Feb. 3 "Morning Joe," Chrystia Freeland of The Financial Times asked Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., whether she agreed with President Obama's stated intention of addressing the deficit next year. "Senator, we've also heard from the president that next year - in his budget…
Matt Philbin