LA Times to Readers: Prepare for Michelle Obama Hate-fest from the Rig

Conservative criticism of Michelle Obama has no merit whatsoever and serves only as an outlet of right-wing hatred. That's the impression that Los Angeles Times reporter Robin Abcarian leaves readers with his June 11 story, "The GOP takes aim at Michelle Obama.":They loved to hate Hillary Rodham Clinton. They loved to hate Teresa Heinz Kerry. And now, it appears, conservative voices are…
Ken Shepherd

CNN: 'The Only News Channel to Give You All Sides

Try reading the following without busting out in uproarious laughter: the good folks at CNN see themselves as the "middle ground" between Fox News and MSNBC -- "the only news channel to give you all sides." "No spin. No affiliation. No agenda." Bet you can't.Well, as hysterical as it might seem, such was asserted -- with a straight face, no less! -- in a Los Angeles Times piece Tuesday (emphasis…
Noel Sheppard

Open Thread

NB Staff

Mitchell: 'Old-Fashioned' McCain vs. 'Centrist' Obama 'Helping People

Update | 10 AM: McCain Campaign Comments to NB on Mitchell RemarksMcCain campaign deputy chairman Frank Donatelli has commented to NB on Mitchell's remarks. See report at foot.------ IMing with a friend in England this morning, Morning Joe on in the background, I was vaguely aware that an Obama staffer was on, touting her candidate's economic plan. Signing off my chat, I focused on the tube,…
Mark Finkelstein

'Ask AP' Recession Question Response Contradicts Writer's Own Reportin

Here is the full text of, and response to, a question directed to Jeannine Aversa, AP Economics Writer, Washington, in an "Ask AP" item four days ago (second question-answer segment at link; bolds are mine): Why is it important whether we are or are not in a "recession"? I have read a technical definition of the word, and I have seen and heard many news reports in which economists and government…
Tom Blumer

Media Ignore that Gagging Sound from Canada

U.S. journalists are failing to report on an effort to censor a columnist prominent in Canada and the U.S.
Robert Knight

ACLU Targets Heartland, Sets Off CMI's Grinch-o-Meter

UPI seems ecstatic about the news.
Kristen Fyfe

Justice O'Connor's Legacy 'Undercut' by Roberts Court

Jason Aslinger

CNN’s Blitzer Mouths Liberal Talking Points on Taxes, Oil Profits

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer pressed McCain campaign adviser Carly Fiorina about oil companies "awash in record profits" on Tuesday’s "The Situation Room." The CNN host used ExxonMobil as an example five different times in his questioning. "...ExxonMobil has got these billions and billions of dollars in record profits. They can afford to not necessarily get additional tax cuts."After Fiorina outlined…
Matthew Balan

Media Prism: Repubs 'Block' Lower Gas Prices by Rejecting Tax Hike

The three broadcast network evening newscasts on Tuesday framed coverage, of a Democratic Senate plan to somehow lower gas prices by imposing a “windfall profits” tax on oil companies which they would just pass on to consumers, around how Republicans “blocked” the effort. No one cast any doubt on the presumption the oil companies are earning “windfall” and/or “excessive” profits. Fill-in NBC…
Brent Baker

Bozell Column: A Complete Hillary Whitewash

Feminism has been a very disgraced brand for decades. The final nail was placed in the coffin when feminists tried so athletically to see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil with Bill Clinton’s record of serial adultery, sexual harassment, and even a credible accusation of rape. But now that Hillary Clinton has finally conceded to Barack Obama, the media elites have suddenly discovered the…
Brent Bozell

Matthews Gets Touchy About Attacks on His Old Boss Jimmy Carter

Chris Matthews was not happy and seemed overly sensitive when John McCain compared Barack Obama to his old boss Jimmy Carter. On Tuesday night's "Hardball," after Matthews played a clip of McCain saying Obama was running for "Carter's second" term, he declared "I don't like it," and tried to write the attack off by saying not enough voters "even remembered voting for the guy." The following…
Geoffrey Dickens

Newsweek Asks McCain: How Can You Beat 'Hugely Gifted' Obama

Presumptive GOP nominee John McCain granted an interview to Newsweek’s Jon Meacham and Holly Bailey, and in the first sign of a long, uphill campaign with the media, McCain was asked how he could defeat such a "hugely gifted politician" in a "brutal year on a clinical level for any Republican to be running." Newsweek’s duo (or most plausibly, Newsweek editor Meacham) lectured McCain not to use a…
Tim Graham

Matthews Line of the Day: McCain = Staying On the Titanic, Obama = Del

Chris Matthews put the choice before voters in 2008 in the starkest terms possible on Tuesday's "Hardball" as he claimed a vote for McCain was akin to staying on a sinking Titanic and a vote for Obama was a chance at "deliverance."Matthews started the day citing the line on "Morning Joe," as first pointed out by Mark Finkelstein, and continued that line of attack later on the June 10 edition of "…
Geoffrey Dickens