Open Thread

NB Staff
May 13th, 2010 10:08 AM

Politico's Allen: 'Absurd' To Send Pork-Meisters Reid, Bennett Packing

Enraged voters, too dumb to appreciate the purveyors of pork . . . That was Mike Allen's take on Morning Joe today.  Politico's chief political correspondent labelled "absurd" the decision of Utah and Nevada voters not to re-elect Bob Bennett [done deal] and Harry Reid [likely goner]. And why is it such a bad mistake?  Because Bennett and Reid are proven pork providers for their states. Allen…
Mark Finkelstein
May 13th, 2010 9:25 AM

AP Poll Touts Public Not Buying Limbaugh Oil Spill Line of 'Obama's Ka

Associated Press reporters Seth Borenstein and Alan Fram reported that despite Rush Limbaugh's claims,  Barack Obama is not "stained" by the massive oil spill -- but never mentioned that one reason is the "objective" media hasn't pushed that line like it would have in the Bush years: The Gulf of Mexico oil spill hasn't stained President Barack Obama nor dimmed the public's desire for offshore…
Tim Graham
May 13th, 2010 6:30 AM

AP Won't Dare Compare: April Deficit Report Ignores Huge April '07 and

The comparison of the results contained in the April 2010 Monthly Treasury Statement released this afternoon to April of last year is bad enough. But if the American people knew that April 2010 came in about a quarter-trillion dollars worse than both 2007 and 2008 with almost 40% less in tax collections, most of them would be appalled. Many more than are already doing so would be questioning what…
Tom Blumer
May 12th, 2010 9:50 PM

NBC Astonished Poll Finds Most Support Arizona Law and Anti-Terror Pro

NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd seemed astonished by how a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll confirmed solid agreement with Arizona's immigration enforcement law – “a whopping 64 percent support the law,” Todd marveled, “and we read them the law verbatim exactly as it's been written” and still, he repeated, “64 percent approve of it.” NBC also treated as surprising the majority backing…
Brent Baker
May 12th, 2010 9:27 PM

CNN Money's Plan to Save Social Security: Raise Taxes, Soak the Rich

Jeanne Sahadi at CNNMoney.com has finally realized Social Security needs urgent reform - and by reform, she means going after the wealthy, of course. On Monday, Sahadi reported on news from the Congressional Budget Office that Social Security is dipping into savings already this year and will not be able to meet its obligations by 2037. That's at least 15 years earlier than what the CBO had…
Candance Moore
May 12th, 2010 8:46 PM

NYT's Collins Praises Margaret Sanger as Birth-Control Savior, Ignores

New York Times editor-turned-columnist Gail Collins's Saturday column celebrated the 50th anniversary of the birth control pill and waxed on birth-control activist Margaret Sanger for several paragraphs, without touching on Sanger's racism and support for eugenics. The online headline: "What Every Girl Should Know About Birth Control."Discussing purity crusader Anthony Comstock, Collins wrote:One…
Clay Waters
May 12th, 2010 6:23 PM

Lefty Blogs, Duped By Student Project, Claim to Unearth 'Secret' Astro

One can't help but be a bit stunned at the audacity of an organization built by Morton Halperin and George Soros lecturing others on "astroturfing." But that same audacity -- not the good Barack Obama kind -- is taken to extremes when that same organization alleges a corporate conspiracy where there simply is none.Think Progress's Lee Fang was practically giddy that he had uncovered the next vast…
Lachlan Markay
May 12th, 2010 5:53 PM

CBS Review of Russell Crowe Film: 'Robin Hood Meets Che Guevara

On CBS's Sunday Morning, correspondent Mark Phillips described the latest adaptation of the Robin Hood legend by director Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe: "And so here is an evil King John, squeezing his subjects for more taxes....And here is Robin. Not as a thief, but as a revolutionary figure trying to limit the King's power. Robin Hood meets Che Guevara." [Audio available here]   …
Kyle Drennen
May 12th, 2010 5:41 PM

MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Derides Obama for 'Going Overboard' With 'Pseu

MSNBC reporter Andrea Mitchell on Wednesday actually expressed some journalistic outrage over a White House PR video disguised as an interview, deriding the administration for "crossing a number of lines when it comes to journalism." An irritated Mitchell highlighted a video on the White House website that features Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan. [Audio available here.]Most other media outlets…
Scott Whitlock
May 12th, 2010 5:34 PM

Video: Middle School Uses Students to Call for Arresting 'Non-Environm

EyeBlast.tv Staff
May 12th, 2010 5:30 PM

The Untold Story of Astroturf: Corporate-Sponsored Environmentalism

Media often criticize Tea Party activism for being promoted from top down, while green movement openly backed by major corporations.
Jeff Poor
May 12th, 2010 5:07 PM

On NBC, Vieira Sputters at Laura Ingraham's Charge That Kagan Was 'Ant

NBC’s Today offered a conservative counterpoint on the Elena Kagan nomination on Wednesday: conservative radio talker and author Laura Ingraham. Co-host Meredith Vieira suggested Republicans were hypocrites to suggest Kagan was inexperienced. The top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, has said that her lack of experience to him is troubling. Yet when Harriet…
Tim Graham
May 12th, 2010 5:06 PM

Lead Prosecutor Chris Matthews Indicts Dick Cheney for Oil Spill

Chris Matthews simply can't get Dick Cheney out of his mind. On Tuesday's Hardball, the MSNBC host once again attempted to pin the blame of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on the former vice president, a theory he first broached last week, as he sinisterly questioned "What role did Dick Cheney play in all of this?" Matthews, going after one of his favorite punching bags, brought on Democratic…
Geoffrey Dickens
May 12th, 2010 4:24 PM