Jon Stewart Wades into BMI Muppet Controversy

When MRC’s Business & Media Institute pointed out that the latest Muppet Movie featured the tired Hollywood cliché of a rich oil man as the villain, left-wing bloggers and comedians ran to the Muppets’ defense. Now Jon Stewart has picked up the mantle. On the Dec. 14 episode of “The Daily Show,” Stewart railed against the Muppet critics, “There are so many controversies this holiday season…
Iris Somberg
December 15th, 2011 1:32 PM

24 Hours Later, Thomas Roberts Apologizes for His 'Appalling' KKK Smea

Twenty four hours after linking Mitt Romney to the Ku Klux Klan, MSNBC's Thomas Roberts apologized for his "appalling" smear. The News Live host on Thursday waited until the show was 50 minutes over and then conceded, "During yesterday's 11am, we reported on a blog item that compared a phrase used by the Romney campaign to one used by the KKK in the 1920s." [Video of the original comments and…
Scott Whitlock
December 15th, 2011 12:55 PM

NBC's Brian Williams Labels Iraq War a 'Tragic and Prolonged Slog

Opening NBC's Nightly News on Wednesday, anchor Brian Williams touted the U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq as an Obama administration accomplishment while slamming the war effort itself: "The President promised they'd be out by New Year's Eve and here they come....The war started with the event somebody called 'shock and awe' and it became a tragic and prolonged slog." In the report that…
Kyle Drennen
December 15th, 2011 12:53 PM

AP Buries Lede In Reporting on Latest Poll: Voters Favor Budget Cuts O

A new Associated Press poll finds movement by crucial swing voters towards Republican-friendly economic priorities: budget cuts over Democrat-preferred tax hikes. But in reporting on the news wire's poll, the AP's Laurie Kellman opened her story with a focus on numbers that show the  popularity of extending the Social Security payroll tax holiday, a priority of the Obama administration and…
Ken Shepherd
December 15th, 2011 12:21 PM

CNN Money Reporter Hits Keystone Pipeline from Far Left

When President Obama put off giving the go-ahead to build the Keystone Pipeline until after the 2012 election, it put the liberal media in a difficult position. Just about everyone from Big Labor to congressional Republicans to the states through which the Keystone would run agrees it would create thousands of jobs, strengthen ties with Canada and reduce dependency on oil from unstable and…
Paul Wilson
December 15th, 2011 11:55 AM

Rudy Really Doesn't Like Mitt Much

Philosophically, you'd think Rudy Giuliani might align more closely with Mitt Romney than with Newt Gingrich.  So what's behind Rudy's recent statement that Gingrich could be the stronger candidate?  And why did Giuliani go on Morning Joe today to trash Romney as "elitist" and "a man without a core, a man without a substance"? Well, Rudy also reminded viewers that "I ran against him in '07…
Mark Finkelstein
December 15th, 2011 10:18 AM

Rush Limbaugh: 'Anybody Other Than Ron Paul Could Beat Obama' - 'Easil

The Paul-bots aren't going to be happy about this. On Fox's On the Record Wednesday, conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh said, "I think right now anybody other than Ron Paul could beat Obama if the election were tomorrow – easily" (video follows with transcript):
Noel Sheppard
December 15th, 2011 9:09 AM

NYT's Friedman: Netanyahu's Standing Ovation in Congress 'Bought and P

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, who poses as a tough friend of Israel, offensively referred to the “Israel lobby” in his Wednesday column “Newt, Mitt, Bibi and Vladimir." After bashing Newt Gingrich for suggesting the Palestinians are an “invented” people, Friedman reiterated the usual talking points in support of a Palestinian state, but with a hostile and paranoid twist.
Clay Waters
December 15th, 2011 9:03 AM

Open Thread: Will Paul Ryan Play a Part in GOP Nomination

In May of this year when Rep. Paul Ryan had released his budget plan, Newt Gingrich described the plan as "too big a jump" and "right-wing social engineering." Ryan responded, "with allies like that, who needs the Left?" Gingrich's campaign was nearly ended, and much of his staff quit shortly after. After a public backlash, Gingrich apologized to Ryan, but the episode still didn't leave the…
NB Staff
December 15th, 2011 9:02 AM

Daily Kos Hates Huckabee's 'Fetus Fixation' Film -- Without Seeing It

Former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee premiered a pro-life documentary called "The Gift of Life" in Des Moines last night, and Kaily Joy Gray at the Daily Kos sneered, "In case it was not sufficiently clear just how Jesus-y the Republican candidates for president are, today they'll have an opportunity to really pander to the extremist wing of the extremist party at Mike Huckabee's…
Tim Graham
December 15th, 2011 8:22 AM

Tom Brokaw: President Clinton Thought Saddam Hussein Had WMD

Appearing as a guest on Wednesday's Piers Morgan Tonight on CNN, former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw recounted some of the rationale behind why the Bush administration believed that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction before the invasion of Iraq, even noting that President Clinton had also believed in the presence of WMD. (Video below)
Brad Wilmouth
December 15th, 2011 6:53 AM

Obama Crony-Run LightSquared's Network Now Shown to Disrupt Plane Safe

Late Friday afternoon, Todd Shields at Bloomberg News broke a story about some guy, who happens to be an Obama and Democratic Party donor (but not disclosed), against whom the Securities and Exchange Commission is formally considering an enforcement action (also not disclosed, though it was noted at the New York Times's Dealbook Blog five hours before Shields's report), whose "wireless service…
Tom Blumer
December 14th, 2011 11:17 PM

Chris Matthews Attacks Newt Gingrich: 'Don't Give WMD' to a 'Weapon of

If you had any question who the folks at MSNBC would prefer President Obama run against next November, what happened on Wednesday's Hardball should make it crystal clear. About thirty minutes after host Chris Matthews apologized for his network's pathetic Ku Klux Klan smear of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, he disgustingly attacked former House Speaker Newt Gingrich saying, "…
Noel Sheppard
December 14th, 2011 10:17 PM

MSNBC's Klan Smear Of Romney So Slimy, Even Sharpton Shuns It

Q. How do you know when MSNBC has sunk to unimaginable depths of Dem-partisan hackery? A. When even Al Sharpton renounces it.   On his MSNBC show this evening, Sharpton said the network was right to apologize for the smear MSNBC host Thomas Roberts perpetrated against Mitt Romney earlier in the day, when Roberts suggested Romney had borrowed a campaign slogan from the Ku Klux Klan. Video…
Mark Finkelstein
December 14th, 2011 9:22 PM