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Brian Williams wasted no time, on NBC’s live Tuesday GOP convention coverage, in bringing up the Todd Akin controversy, as he pressed Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio if he was worried about the “rape debate” surrounding his party. In fact, all of the NBC Nightly News anchor’s questions were negative as he pestered Rubio about the “closed-in” nature of nominee Mitt Romney and the “…

The Republican convention was delayed by a day on Monday. It’s not a problem: the national media’s pre-convention spin was timed perfectly, almost as if it was on automatic pilot. In Monday’s New York Times, longtime political writer Adam Nagourney regurgitated the same old, tired political spin that the Republican Party is too conservative and exclusionary on “social issues,” and that their…

Republican House Speaker John Boehner’s convention speech, in which he compared removing an obnoxious bar customer to throwing the current president out of office, threw the MSNBC crew went into a tizzy. On Tuesday night’s live coverage of the Republican National Convention, an incensed Lawrence O’Donnell railed against Boehner’s “ugly imagery of grabbing this president, throwing him out…

CNN's Jim Acosta tried to add some context to President Obama's infamous "you didn't build that" comment, during Tuesday's GOP convention coverage. "But wasn't he talking about you need roads, you need bridges, get the supplies to your business," Acosta pressed Newt Gingrich, who scoffed at the Obama campaign's explanation as "total baloney." [Video below the break.]

CNN's John Berman, reporting live from the floor of the GOP convention, asked a Louisiana delegate if it wasn't "inappropriate" for the Republican Party to continue the convention on Tuesday night with Hurricane Isaac set to make landfall in Louisiana. "There's been a lot of talk about whether it's appropriate at all for Republicans to be having this convention tonight, these festivities. Do…

“A lot of women look at the Republican platform on abortion, contraception, a number of issues,” CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley told Ann Romney, “and ask the question whether Republicans have women’s best interests at heart?” Pelley’s loaded question came just after he held up his smart phone so Mrs. Romney could see how the Obama campaign “is starting a tour called the ‘Romney-Ryan:…

On Monday night, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow played around with a story from Reuters intended to embarrass the GOP. Tampa is apparently the “death metal” capital of America. Reporter Andy Sullivan insisted “Some say it's ironic that a party that includes large numbers of religious conservatives would hold its convention in the city that fostered a musical genre known for album titles like ‘To Hell…

TAMPA, Fla. -- This week when Mitt Romney strides to center stage to deliver his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, he might draw inspiration from an unlikely source: the song "I Am What I Am" from the musical "La Cage Aux Folles." One of the chief complaints from voters about politicians is that they too often package themselves disingenuously to get elected, only to…

TAMPA, Florida | FreedomWorks president Matt Kibbe said Tuesday that the success of the Tea Party has the media in a bit of a panic. Speaking with NewsBusters at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Kibbe also said press attacks on the Tea Party will probably end “the day after the election” (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

On Monday’s Rachel Maddow Show, the MSNBC host mocked Mitt Romney’s pursuit of the white vote, reporting Romney told USA Today that President Obama moved toward welfare waivers “as a calculation that was designed to shore up the Obama base before the election.” Maddow thought it was ridiculous: “As if people on welfare are Barack Obama’s base. [Maddow winks] Especially the lazy ones. [Winks…

How painfully predictable: The New York Times filled the news gap caused by the cancellation of Monday's events with rumors of party discord. In fact, the Times first tried to gin up controversy at the 2012 Republican National Convention long ago. Here's a May 13, 2010 report from Damien Cave on how toxic beaches in Tampa might ruin the Republican convention, then over two years away: The…

TAMPA, Florida | American Values president Gary Bauer said Tuesday, "I have never seen a media so deeply in the tank for the left and for the Democratic Party and for Barack Obama. Never." Speaking with NewsBusters at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Bauer added, "They don’t even try to look like they’re unbiased anymore...They look like they’re a division of the Democratic…

There is a sixty percent chance that Republicans will rain on your weekend plans. The Weather Channel hasn't yet gone quite that far to inject politics into weather reporting but they sure seem to be working on it. Their reporting on Tropical Storm Isaac has brought out the inner liberal of a channel that was once noted for its complete professionalism but, sadly, seems to be going off into…

In a Tuesday 10 a.m. et NBC News special report on President Obama declaring a state of emergency for Gulf Coast states in the path of Hurricane Isaac, Today co-host Matt Lauer gushed: "Politics 101, you've got your opponents in Tampa and Mitt Romney's about to tell Americans why he should be elected president, if you're the president, you go out and act like the president." [Listen to the…