Media, Democrats, and the President Have Been in Lockstep with the Tea

July 30th, 2011 2:29 PM
Throughout his tenure, there have been several facets in which President Obama has been demonstrably weak on leadership, with the debt debate coming to the forefront in recent months.  Now however, lost in that news cycle has been another failure of leadership for the President – his own request to tone down violent rhetoric in this country.  For it was mere months ago that Obama stood in front…

GDP Media Coverage, Part 2: Time's Error-Prone Embarrassment

July 29th, 2011 11:07 PM
This afternoon's report at Time.com's misnamed Curious Capitalist blog by Roya Wolverson ("GDP Report: What It Tells Us About the Debt") is an embarrassing hash of omissions, errors, and gratuitous political points. Ms. Wolverson's most obvious omission is her failure to mention the government's breathtaking downward revision to first quarter gross domestic product growth from the annualized…

Time Magazine's Scherer Insists: Obama Has a Plan

July 29th, 2011 7:45 PM
Appearing on MSNBC this afternoon, Time Magazine's Michael Scherer set out to debunk a non-existent Republican red herring on the debt ceiling debate on Friday's News Nation. "The President has been negotiating behind the scenes, has put forward a number of proposals and he's gone public with the outlines of a proposal he is willing to accept," said Scherer.

Time's Newton Small Praises 'Harry Reid's Canny Waiting Game

July 27th, 2011 11:39 AM
If her gig at Time magazine doesn't work out, Jay Newton Small could always try working in Harry Reid's press shop. She certainly knows how to butter up the Senate majority leader. Witness Newton Small's latest Swampland blog post at Time.com where she denounces House Republican debt ceiling plans as "histrionics" while forecasting a resolution to the debt ceiling deadlock that has Reid…

MSNBC Disses Boy Scout, 66% of Americans Who Want Federal Govt. to Liv

July 21st, 2011 5:12 PM
Halfway through the July 21 edition of "NewsNation," MSNBC anchor Tamron Hall brought on Time magazine assistant managing editor Rana Foroohar to diss a Boy Scout cited by John Thune (R-S.D.) on the Senate floor. After Hall aired a clip of Thune reading the Boy Scout's letter admonishing senators to spend only what the government can afford, she and Foroohar set about to dismiss his concern…

Time: Conservative Republicans Living in 'Alternate Reality' on Debt C

July 19th, 2011 12:32 PM
Conservative Republicans are divorced from reality while Democrats are governed by the facts. That's the take Time's Alex Altman has on how the two congressional parties are addressing the looming debt ceiling deadline in his July 19 Swampland blog post, "The Fact Gap: Can Republicans Overcome Their Alternate Reality to Strike A Debt Deal?":

No 'Chris Matthews Show' Panelist Can Name Republican Candidate That C

July 17th, 2011 6:39 PM
Chris Matthews as usual had four guests on the weekly syndicated program bearing his name. When he asked them which of the current Republican candidates could end up being a great president, nobody chose to identify a single one (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Time's Joe Klein: Obama's 'Winning' Debt Ceiling Debate - Americans Un

July 17th, 2011 3:54 PM
Time magazine's Joe Klein said this weekend that President Obama "is winning" the debt ceiling debate. Klein told his fellow panelists on the syndicated "Chris Matthews Show," "He is coming across as the most reasonable guy in a crazy city...When he says things like 'Eat your peas,' that's language Americans can understand" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Time's Calabresi Pours Cold Water on Lib Blogger Giddiness Over FBI Pr

July 15th, 2011 1:28 PM
While some leftist bloggers are positively delighted that the FBI has opened an investigation into NewsCorp regarding possible hacking of 9/11 victims' voicemail accounts -- dreaming of an existential threat to Fox News -- Time's Massimo Calabresi is perplexed as to what could justify the investigation other than political pressure (emphasis mine):

FNC’s Colmes Disputes MSNBC’s Olbermann/Halperin Double Standard

July 10th, 2011 12:28 AM
 On Saturday’s Fox News Watch, as the panel discussed MSNBC’s double standard in suspending Time’s Mark Halperin for calling President Obama by a vulgar word on MSNBC’s Morning Joe program, even after the network tolerated former host Keith Olbermann’s numerous examples of harsh language about President Bush, liberal FNC contributor Alan Colmes was obsessed with inserting Rush Limbaugh into the…

George Will Asks This Week Panel: Can Congress Require Obese People to

July 3rd, 2011 3:37 PM
As NewsBusters previously noted, ABC's "This Week" began its Independence Day weekend program disparaging the Founding Fathers as guys who didn't let women vote and allowed slavery. What followed was a Roundtable discussion about the Constitution which got quite interesting when the host brought up ObamaCare and George Will marvelously asked the group, "Does Congress have the constitutional…

ABC's 'This Week': Founding Fathers Were 'Guys Who Didn't Give Women t

July 3rd, 2011 12:16 PM
ABC's "This Week" began its Independence Day weekend program with a segment that echoed Time magazine's cover story questioning whether the Constitution matters anymore. After historian Douglas Brinkley said, "We shouldn't act like [the Founding Fathers] were somehow omnipotent," ABC's John Donvan responded, "They were not gods, they were guys - guys who didn't give women the vote and let…

MSNBC: Mark Halperin 'Suspended Indefinitely' for Calling Obama A '[Sh

June 30th, 2011 11:19 AM
Via TV Newser, we learn that MSNBC has "suspended indefinitely" its senior political analyst Mark Halperin for stating on Morning Joe that President Obama was "kind of a [male appendage]." This is not exactly what the "No Labels" crowd at Morning Joe were expecting. The official MSNBC statement: Mark Halperin’s comments this morning were completely inappropriate and unacceptable. We apologize…

Oops: Time.com Makes a Few Errors in Feature Recounting Politicians' H

June 29th, 2011 4:40 PM
In a feature entitled "Don’t Know Much About History: Epically Wrong Politician Accounts of Yesteryear," Time magazine's Swampland blog crew promised to break down "nine egregious examples of the type of revisionist flub you can expect in 2012," starting with Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) arguing John Quincy Adams was a Founding Father. Time made sure to toss in President Obama and Vice…