Alter Rejects Notion GOP Stimulus Opposition is Principled, Blames Pol

How could anyone take a principled stand against the $789 billion economic stimulus bill? Any opposition to this massive expansion of the federal government must be sheer political posturing. Or so said Newsweek magazine's Jonathan Alter. Alter said on MSNBC's Feb. 11 "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" that congressional Republicans oppose the stimulus bill based on an ill-conceived, low-…

Maddow Guest Leahy Wants Bush-era Show Trials for 'Investigating' of C

Chris Matthews Charmed: Obama is 'Fred Astaire Out There

When "Hardball," guest and former John McCain adviser Mark McKinnon suggested Barack Obama, in his first few days in office, is discovering what George W. Bush found out, that being President is "a hard job," Chris Matthews, on Wednesday night's show, vehemently disagreed, saying Obama "doesn't look he's having a hard time...he's Fred Astaire out there...he still moves around with incredible…

CNBC's Ratigan on Geithner's TARP II Presentation: 'He Soiled the Bed

Despite his tax problems, President Barack Obama's newly minted Treasury secretary, Tim Geithner, was sold to Congress as the one who was going to save the fragile financial system. However, in what was billed to be a big announcement, and Geithner's first major appearance, he failed to deliver. The Treasury Secretary was slated to outline his plan to rescue troubled financial institutions from…

MSNBC's Olbermann, Newsweek's Fineman Star At Fundraiser for N.Y. Chap

MSNBC: ‘Impressed’ by ‘Intellectual’ Obama, ‘I Love to Think

Shortly after President Obama’s Monday press conference, during a special abbreviated edition of Countdown, MSNBC's Chris Matthews effused that he was "very impressed with [Obama's] amazing ability," opining that the President was "at his best intellectually." After reciting one of Obama’s answers, Matthews further gushed: "What a mind he has, and I love his ability to do it on television. I love…

MSNBC Graphic Frets, 'Who Elected Rush Limbaugh

On Monday's "MSNBC News Live," the cable network featured yet another critical segment on Rush Limbaugh and his role as a leader of the GOP. The segment, hosted by David Shuster, featured a confrontational graphic which screamed, "Who Elected Rush Limbaugh?" Shuster brought on syndicated talk show host Armstrong Williams to bash Limbaugh over the issue of how much power the radio star has within…

Olbermann: Time for ‘Dick’ Cheney to ‘Shove It’ & ‘Leave Thi

Now that America has a liberal President, it is apparently no longer acceptable for a private citizen to express disagreement with the White House in Keith Olbermann’s world. On Thursday’s Countdown show, MSNBC host Olbermann delivered his latest "Special Comment" rant, this time calling for former Vice President Cheney to "leave this country," and made a suggestion that Cheney, who recently…

Maddow Guest Greenwald's Curious Recounting of 'External Threats

Only Fox News Concerned With Obama's Census Bureau Coup

The Obama administration revealed Thursday that whoever ends up being director of the Census Bureau, a position yet to be filled, he or she will be required to work closely with the White House.This is a departure from the autonomy the Bureau had under President Bush, and is worrisome given the census which will be taken next year.Despite this revelation by Congressional Quarterly on Thursday the…

Weekend Captionfest II

Stimulometer on the Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, February 5, 2009.

Maddow Omits Chunk of Floor Speech, Uses Bad Analogy to Attack Sen. Ji

On a Friday night, where can you look to find a little anti-religious media bias? No other than MSNBC's "Rachel Maddow Show." In her "Ms. Information" segment, Maddow engaged in a rant about Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., opposition to language in the stimulus bill that could forbid the practice of religion in institutions of higher learning where stimulus funds are used, as a Feb. 3 story by the…

MSNBC Host to Senator on 'No' Vote: Will You Take Blame When People Ha

Say goodbye to hope and change. It's time to embrace the politics of doom and gloom. MSNBC host Contessa Brewer, in an interview that seemed a lot like a lobbying campaign for the stimulus set for a vote in the U.S. Senate, quizzed Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., about the possibility that his vote against a stimulus bill could send the country spiraling into a Depression - and endanger the public's…

Irate Matthews Defends Obama's White House Attire, Bashes Bush

Former White House chief-of-staff Andrew Card's suggestion to Barack Obama that his administration should continue the Bush fashion code of wearing a jacket and tie in the Oval Office, out of respect, ignited Chris Matthews, on Thursday night's "Hardball," to unleash an angry litany against Bush's foreign and domestic policies and then condemned, "If that's dressing for success I prefer shirt-…