Free Republic

Harry Reid may have deserted Pres. Obama over the Ground Zero mosque, but PBO can count on at least one stalwart defender: Norah O'Donnell. On today's Morning Joe, the MSNBC "correspondent" declared that the prez is deserving of praise for his position. Then, dancing a quantum leap further, O'Donnell accused mosque opponents of acting "like the people who attacked America and killed 3,000 people." View video here.

On the seventh day of Journolist, Daily Caller gave to me — the party line on post-debate sensibility. The latest from Jonathan Strong looks at the access by political operatives of Journolist and their sometimes-naked attempts to push the members into political advocacy. The strongest evidence comes from a posting by Jeff Hauser, who advocated to Journolist members to skew their opinions on an upcoming debate between Barack Obama and John McCain: The single biggest thing journolist can do is to lay the analytical framework within the media elite necessary for an actual Obama debate win to be viewed as...

Newt Gingrich and Howard Dean both left pants on the ground regarding the Shirley Sherrod Racism incident in their interviews with Fox News Chris Wallace. We learned earlier this month that a leftwing group affiliated with the website “Journolist” have plans in place to defeat those who they consider enemies by hurling the Leftwing invective “Racist” at enemies whether they are Racist or not and whether there is evidence of the charge or not. Many of these “Journalists” write for major newspapers around the country so they regularly access and influence the public square of ideas. In fact they may...

The following 75 names are confirmed members of the now-defunct JournoList listserv. 1. Ezra Klein - Washington Post, Newsweek, The American Prospect 2. Dave Weigel - Washington Post, MSNBC, The Washington Independent 3. Matthew Yglesias – Center for American Progress, The Atlantic Monthly 4. David Dayen - FireDogLake 5. Spencer Ackerman – Wired, FireDogLake, Washington Independent, Talking Points Memo, The American Prospect 6. Jeffrey Toobin – CNN, The New Yorker 7. Eric Alterman – The Nation, Media Matters for America 8. Paul Krugman – The New York Times, Princeton University 9. John Judis – The New Republic, The American Prospect...

It was the moment of greatest peril for then-Sen. Barack Obama’s political career. In the heat of the presidential campaign, videos surfaced of Obama’s pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, angrily denouncing whites, the U.S. government and America itself. Obama had once bragged of his closeness to Wright. Now the black nationalist preacher’s rhetoric was threatening to torpedo Obama’s campaign. The crisis reached a howling pitch in mid-April, 2008, at an ABC News debate moderated by Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos. Gibson asked Obama why it had taken him so long – nearly a year since Wright’s remarks became public –...

On her Bravo TV show Tuesday night, left-wing comedian Kathy Griffin referred to Sen. Scott Brown's two daughters as "prostitutes," and a CNN reporter apparently thought it hysterical. [Audio available here.] Griffin, who was readying herself for a trip to Washington, DC to rally and drum up support for a repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," brought CNN reporters (husband and wife) Dana Bash and John King onto the show to "coach" her for handling Washington. Bash is a congressional correspondent for CNN, while King anchors the news hour "John King, USA." When the couple showed Griffin a picture of...

You think there are problems now with the mainstream media? Just wait. Columbia University President Lee Bollinger joins the drumbeat of those proposing fixes that are guaranteed to make the MSM much, much worse — and he wants to do it with your tax dollars.In a July 14th op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Bollinger argues that the time has come to rescue the declining fortunes of newspapers and broadcast news with “enhanced public funding for journalism.” He envisions the future of American journalism as a “mixed system,” part public, part private. Otherwise, worries Bollinger, Americans might not get the news...

If you limit your news sources to mainstream news outlets, such as ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, or leftwing newspapers like The New York Times, you’re missing something important – news. For instance, very few outlets chose to cover how a very solid case against Black Panther Party ruffians who were intimidating voters at a polling site during the 2008 election just got dropped by the Obama administration. A video of the same charming Black Panther was just released showing a tirade of hate speech against white people, which included telling a crowd that they would, “have to kill some crackers”...

Several video clips of the Lamestream Media obsession with Governor Sarah Palin. What these idiots do not seem to realize is they are making her into a NATIONAL HERO! Keep it coming!

Been wondering which American industry is next to be consumed by our ravenous federal government? You may find the answer in a report released this month suggesting that the news media can only survive if it is a public media. This suggestion is contained in a paper titled “New Public Media: A Plan for Action,” in which the authors say: “Take a close look at the American journalism landscape in 2010, and the scene is grim. Ad revenue is down; job cuts are up; and new business models have yet to prove sustainable. In recent decades, media consolidation, poor business...

MSNBC coverage of the NYC Bomb is bizarro..

On ABC’s This Week, when retired ABC newsman Sam Donaldson recommended that President Barack Obama nominate, to replace Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, someone who “is going to stand up for the principles – on the left, if you will – that he believes in,” Cokie Roberts jumped in: “I’m not so sure he is so far to the left.” Donaldson agreed: “Well, I’m not sure either.” Minutes later, Roberts contended the efforts of state attorneys general, to get a federal court to rule unconstitutional ObamaCare’s requirement every citizen get health insurance, reminded her of the “nullification” which led...

The mercury is running high, all right, and it has nothing to do with the weather. Public displays of political anger have been a staple of the American scene for the last eight months or so, but in recent days a handful directed at members of Congress have gone a bit further than noisy, sign-carrying assembly to window-smashing, spitting, threatening faxes and phone calls, even a cut propane line on a barbecue grill. ..." VARYING DEGREES OF RAGE - The Weathermen, including Bill Ayers, second from right, during the Days of Rage in 1969, and anti-health reform protesters in Washington...

The Democratic victory in the protracted health care debate has brought the expected rejoicing from the liberals in government, the universities, and in the prestige media. The current slant on the story follows the idea that America has now climbed aboard the progressive express, joining enlightened lands such as Britain, Cuba and North Korea in guaranteeing health care for all. The triumphalism extends now to the next few tiles in the liberal mosaic, namely amnesty for illegal aliens, a comprehensive energy bill, and a staggering tax increase to start paying for these goodies. At the nation’s newspaper of record, the...

The Hutaree militia and the rising risk of far-right violence By Eugene Robinson Tuesday, March 30, 2010 ....By contrast, there has been explosive growth among far-right, militia-type groups that identify themselves as white supremacists, "constitutionalists," tax protesters and religious soldiers determined to kill people to uphold "Christian" values. Most of the groups that posed a real danger, as the Hutaree allegedly did, have been infiltrated and dismantled by authorities before they could do any damage. But we should never forget that the worst act of domestic terrorism ever committed in this country was authored by a member of the government-hating...

You can’t spell “hate” without “T,” “E” and “A.” This has been the media meme on the Tea Party movement from the beginning. Since the day of Rick Santelli’s cable-TV rant in support of capitalism, the default assumption of the left has been that Americans who show up to protest the Obama administration are all just one pillow case and pair of scissors away from joining the Klan. If it were merely poor reporting, that would be bad enough. But the cry of racism is being used against these concerned citizens, not because it’s true, but because it’s an effective...

Conventional wisdom on the right and left has been that President Obama and the Democrats will pay a heavy price in the November mid-term elections for passing the deeply unpopular health care reform bill. But Fox Business Network's Charlie Gasparino isn't so sure. Gasparino appeared on the network's "Imus in the Morning" on March 25. "They can all get even in November then," Imus said of conservatives and Republicans. But Gasparino pointed out the indispensable weapon liberals have their side: the "cheerleading" news media. "You know, listen - there's not a lot of good reporting on this stuff, and that's...

There's a media pile-on afoot. Led primarily by the New York Times, a variety of news organizations are attacking the National Tea Party Convention, scheduled to begin Feb. 4 in Nashville, Tenn., with Sarah Palin as the keynote speaker. The Times claims the event is a "profiteering" enterprise, suggesting that the convention violates the grass-roots nature of the "tea party" movement. "Fractiousness," territorial disputes and suspicions have cast a shadow over the effort, the paper says. Yet the event is sold out. There's a waiting list, even among those seeking entrance to Mrs. Palin's speech alone. Eight sponsors include Judicial...

Led by the Democratic party front group Media Matters which issued a posting headlined "We've already donated to Haiti, it's called the U.S. income tax", the media is smearing Rush Limbaugh with a despicable lie accusing Rush of telling his listeners to not donate to Haiti earthquake relief efforts.Rush was warning listeners of being taken in by the Obama administration by going to WhiteHouse.gov, as Obama instructed, to make donations to Haiti earthquake relief. He was concerned the donations made there would go to the Obama administration. It was that concern that prompted his remark that has been taken out...

A reporter trying to question Massachusetts Senate candidate Martha Coakley was involved in a scuffle with one of her aides. John McCormack of the Weekly Standard fell Tuesday night as he tried to speak with the Democrat while simultaneously videotaping her and trying to pass a metal grate on a Washington sidewalk. Photos and video of the incident show Coakley aide Michael Meehan trying to help McCormack up. A scuffle broke out as Meehan tried to block McCormack and determine if he was an operative of a rival campaign. Coakley is seen ignoring McCormack. The trip prompted criticism, since Coakley...