Open Thread

NB Staff
April 19th, 2010 9:16 AM

WaPo Promotes Maddow Special on How McVeigh Echoes in 'Rising Tide of

Today marks the 15th anniversary of the horrific Oklahoma City bombing, and The Washington Post's Hank Stuever promoted MSNBC on the front page of the Style section -- because Rachel Maddow "has been having 1990s flashbacks with the anti-government vitriol that most recently accompanied the health-care reform debate."Stuever offered a preview of the left-wing propaganda to be unveiled tonight in…
Tim Graham
April 19th, 2010 7:34 AM

Todd: Crist for President?; Remnick Reveals ObamaCare Passed to Gain N

Friday follies. Before the weekend ends, two quotes from journalists worth noting made on Friday night shows: ♦ On MSNBC’s Hardball, NBC’s Chuck Todd forwarded the notion that if Florida Governor Charlie Crist drops out of the Republican primary -- where polls put him way behind conservative Marco Rubio -- and wins the Senate seat as an independent, “he becomes the most powerful Senator in the…
Brent Baker
April 19th, 2010 12:15 AM

On CNN, Howard Kurtz Disses Bret Baier's Fox Interview with Obama as

When interviewing White House press secretary Robert Gibbs on Sunday's edition of Reliable Sources on CNN, host Howard Kurtz suggested Bret Baier's interview with President Obama was an "interrupt-a-thon," as if the proper role of a journalist is to allow 90 seconds for each answer. It sounded like a CNN host attacking the other team, or simply like a softball question: KURTZ: Let me ask you…
Tim Graham
April 18th, 2010 9:32 PM

Liberal WaPo Columnist Attends Tea Party Rally; Discovers Refreshing R

Robert McCartney, the liberal Washington Post columnist, has done something that Chris Matthews and his fellow leftist MSNBC hosts have yet to do: attend a tea party rally without being confrontational and/or snarky. McCartney went to a tea party with an open mind last week and this is what he discovered: I went to the "tea party" rally at the Washington Monument on Thursday to check out just…
P.J. Gladnick
April 18th, 2010 8:39 PM

Terse AP Report Avoids Cynical Politics Behind Prop 8 Repeal Failure

In one of those "I guess we have to mention it, but we'll get it out of the way quickly" reports, the Associated Press on Monday, April 12 tersely told its readers the following about the failure of an attempt in California to repeal California's Proposition 8 (reproduced in full for fair use and discussion purposes): What AP chose to avoid telling the rest of the nation is why "more…
Tom Blumer
April 18th, 2010 8:23 PM

Time’s Klein: Beck, Palin Potentially Committing Sedition against U

Liberals are all too often eager to charge conservative personalities of using hyperbole to gain a political advantage, especially when it contradicts their world view - whether it's suggesting the Obama administration is taking the country down the path of socialism, fascism or any other -ism. However, it could be argued there's a different set of standards for those same people when they want…
Jeff Poor
April 18th, 2010 7:29 PM

On HBO, Jesse Ventura Said Catholic Church Should Be Prosecuted Like M

(Updated with anti-Catholic "New Rules" jokes below.) Liberals complained this week when Rep. Michele Bachmann complained about "gangster government." But do they mind if the Catholic Church is compared to (and prosecuted like) the Mafia? So said former Gov. Jesse Ventura on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday.MAHER: You did a movie called Predator. Let's talk about the Vatican. VENTURA:…
Tim Graham
April 18th, 2010 2:27 PM

Conservative Blogger Takes Flak for Noting SCOTUS Nominee's Presumed H

Here's the thing about the vast right-wing conspiracy: it doesn't really exist. The left's latest attempt to invoke the notion has ended in rebuttals from commentators on both sides of the political spectrum.Conservative blogger Ben Domenech noted the White House's apparent desire to appoint a homosexual to the Supreme Court. He noted in a post at the New Ledger that at least three nominees --…
Lachlan Markay
April 18th, 2010 1:51 PM

Bill Maher Claims Tea Parties Wrong About Tax Hikes, But Won't 'Let th

HBO should name its show "Real Lies with Bill Maher," because on Friday night he was wildly claiming that 98 percent of taxpayers paid lower taxes this year, and so Tea Parties are just a Klan rally: What a day for the Tea Party people. Did you see that? America's parks and fairgrounds were lost in a sea of man-boobs. (Laughter) As they were venting their anger and rage against taxes, which in…
Tim Graham
April 18th, 2010 1:45 PM

Open Thread

NB Staff
April 18th, 2010 9:39 AM

Liberal Media-Speak: When a 'Stubborn Catholic' Loves Atheist Rants Ag

It's quite clever and misleading for Newsweek and The Washington Post to name their religion site "On Faith." It's a little like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals starting a website simply called "On Meat." Author Donna Freitas, called "The Stubborn Catholic," is absolutely thrilled with the idea that two very publicly vicious atheists want to arrest the Pope when he visits the United…
Tim Graham
April 18th, 2010 7:52 AM

AP Report Gives Waxman Cover for Cancelled Hearings on Corporate Obama

Talk about running interference. On Wednesday, Congressman Henry Waxman cancelled hearings, or what Michelle Malkin referred to as "show trials" in her Friday syndicated column, designed to put the spotlight on companies that dared to do what they legally had to do in response to the passage of ObamaCare: tell the public the estimated impact on their bottom lines relating to a specific tax law…
Tom Blumer
April 17th, 2010 11:18 PM

Sally Quinn Lets Jim Wallis Claim Glenn Beck's Unfairly Painting Him a

At the On Faith page of The Washington Post and Newsweek, Sally Quinn interviewed liberal Sojourners magazine publisher Jim Wallis about his squabble with Glenn Beck about the meaning of “social justice” and Christianity. Quinn probably could have lined up Beck – after all, he sat down for an online interview with Katie Couric. Quinn wanted to know if Beck would keep attacking if Wallis and his…
Tim Graham
April 17th, 2010 9:47 PM