Chris Matthews Dubs Himself the 'Great Communicator' for Getting Hunts

This may not be the endorsement Jon Huntsman wants. MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Tuesday touted the Republcian presidential candidate's apparent acquiescence to a demand he made in an advertisement for Hardball. The journalist was so pleased, he dubbed himself, "the great communicator." Matthews praised the moderate Republican for answering "the call I made during that promotional ad I was very…
Scott Whitlock
June 28th, 2011 6:00 PM

What Was Chris Wallace Driving At

I was disappointed that Chris Wallace asked Michele Bachmann whether she is a flake, but Wallace's behavior is hardly the most important issue involved. What he was trying to get at is another matter. It is no secret that a good number of people regard Bachmann as a loose cannon who is given to gaffes and hyperbole. And it's not just Bachmann.
David Limbaugh
June 28th, 2011 6:00 PM

CNN Presses Michele Bachmann: Did You Intend to Make False Statements

On Tuesday's American Morning, co-host Kiran Chetry reported that  Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) is "prone to misstatements" and posed this question to her: "Did you mean to make false statements intentionally or were you just misspeaking?" "PolitiFact.com, which is a Pulitzer Price winning fact-checking web site examined 26 statements that you made and they found only one to be fully true…
Matt Hadro
June 28th, 2011 5:50 PM

Networks Omit Blagojevich's Democratic Affiliation After Conviction

ABC, CBS, and NBC all failed to mention former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's affiliation with the Democratic Party on their Monday evening news broadcasts and the Tuesday morning shows. Blagojevich was convicted by a jury on Monday on 17 out of 20 charges, mainly related to the attempt to sell the Senate seat of President Obama. Only CBS's Early Show noted his party with a "D" on-screen…
Matthew Balan
June 28th, 2011 5:42 PM

Conservative Blogger Spots 13 Factual Errors in Time Editor's Attack o

Last week my colleague Eric Ames addressed the bias and some misstatements of fact in Richard Stengel's recent attack on the Constitution/defense of ObamaCare here. Today, Aaron Worthing over at Patterico's Pontification's ticked off 13 factual errors in the Time magazine editor's piece and systematically addressed each one. It's an excellent piece. Here's an excerpt that I think addresses…
Ken Shepherd
June 28th, 2011 5:20 PM

NYT Reviews Ann Coulter's Book Cover But Not the Actual Book

The “Inside the List” column for the New York Times’s Sunday Book Review, compiled by Jennifer Schuessler, discussed Ann Coulter’s latest New York Times bestseller “Demonic” under the subhead “Woman In Black.” The first paragraph of the Times’ official Topics page for Coulter describes the author as “ultraconservative,” and Schuessler’s Book Review brief is no less loaded:
Clay Waters
June 28th, 2011 5:11 PM

NY Times Magazine Editor on Vargas Tale: Come On, Lying's Hardly 'Unpr

Over the weekend, NPR’s On The Media found that the New York Times was so fascinated by self-proclaimed illegal alien activist Jose Antonio Vargas and found his story so compelling, the credibility of the author was not an issue. New York Times Magazine editor-in-chief Hugo Lindgren (that "great magazine head") said all the lying about his citizenship is not an issue for journalists: That's…
Tim Graham
June 28th, 2011 4:41 PM

The New York Times's Latest Gas Attack

For a paper so eager to wean us off “our addiction to foreign oil,” the New York Times is pretty squeamish when it comes to the actual alternatives. Ian Urbina’s Sunday lead story was the paper's latest attack on the natural gas industry, “Insiders Sound an Alarm Amid a Natural Gas Rush – Productivity of Shale Wells Is a Concern – Investor Flood Spurs Talk of Bubble.” That was followed by…
Clay Waters
June 28th, 2011 4:35 PM

ABC, CBS Whack Bachmann with PolitiFact, Have Spared Obama Similar Dru

ABC and CBS have both recently wielded PolitiFact as a club to bash Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), yet in the 29 months since President Barack Obama took office – despite 49 "false" ratings in Obama's PolitiFact file – the three broadcast networks have cited the fact-checking website only once to challenge the Democratic commander-in-chief. ABC host George Stephanopoulos on Tuesday…
Alex Fitzsimmons
June 28th, 2011 4:29 PM

MSNBC's Bashir Defends Media Not Hitting Obama for Gaffes

With apologies to King Solomon, as a dog returns to its vomit, so a biased MSNBC anchor repeats his tired talking points. [video follows page break] On the June 14 edition of his eponymous program, conservative New York Daily News columnist S.E. Cupp hit Martin Bashir for marveling at Rep. Michele Bachmann's (R-Minn.) June 13 debate performance, given her history of gaffes. At the time,…
Ken Shepherd
June 28th, 2011 4:13 PM

NY Times Reports Bachmann's 'John Wayne' Flub, Ignored Obama's Awful F

New York Times reporter Jeff Zeleny was with Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann in Waterloo, Iowa, at the official launching of her presidential campaign for Tuesday’s “Bachmann Opens Campaign as Expectations Grow.” But Zeleny concluded his mostly balanced story with a reference to Bachmann’s latest in a “string of gaffes” – her mistaken claim that Western movie star John Wayne had been born in…
Clay Waters
June 28th, 2011 4:08 PM

Morning Joe Crew Decries Blago Convictions: A 'Miscarriage of Justice

The following post was based on a misunderstanding of the conversation described. Please see our retraction here. Tuesday's Morning Joe treated the conviction of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich as a relatively minor affair, and gave it little to no coverage save a brief discussion about the supposed injustice of the process. "It's any other day and that's any other news story," said…
Eric Ames
June 28th, 2011 4:03 PM

Eliot Spitzer Fawns Over Openly-Gay Fmr. New Jersey Governor's Take on

One disgraced former governor hosted another disgraced former governor Monday night to praise New York's same-sex marriage bill. CNN's In the Arena host Eliot Spitzer brought on former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey to discuss the bill in what turned out to be love-fest in honor of McGreevey's pro-gay sentiments. McGreevey, a Democrat, announced he was gay in 2004 while he was in office as…
Matt Hadro
June 28th, 2011 2:08 PM

Hillary: State Dept. ‘Instrumental in Sealing Deal’ For Lady Gaga

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Monday that the State Department played an instrumental role in “sealing the deal” for pop-rock star Lady Gaga to perform at a gay pride rally in Rome, Italy. Clinton specifically pointed to a letter that David Thorne, the U.S. ambassador to Italy, sent to Lady Gaga urging her to participate in the event.
Penny Starr
June 28th, 2011 1:51 PM