Free Republic

Hate Sarah Palin? She Loves That Palin, like Richard Nixon, realizes how powerful a weapon contemptuousness toward her can be in the American political landscape. By Neal Gabler November 29, 2009 It's week three of Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue" book tour, and while she has been met with rapture from her fans, she has received a wave of hostility from the mainstream media. David Letterman devoted four minutes of his monologue on publication day to mocking her. New York Times columnist David Brooks called her a joke, and Newsweek referenced "The Sound of Music," asking on its cover "How Do...

As the Iraq war continues, the vitriol from the left is getting even more hostile. In fact, just days after a long-time member of Congress stood on the floor of the House claiming the president is amused by American soldiers having their heads blown off, media writer and Fox News contributor Neal Gabler strongly implied that he'd like the Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol to go to Iraq and die. Here's the partial transcript of this unbelievable moment in television history from Saturday's "Fox News Watch" (h/t Hot Air, video available here): I love so many critics of the press in...

Norma Gabler, who spent much of the past 46 years fighting for accuracy in textbooks, has died in Phoenix at the age of 84. Gabler and her husband, Mel, founded Educational Research Analysts, a nonprofit that describes itself as a conservation (sic) Christian organization. They began their crusade against textbook errors in 1961 after finding mistakes in their son's textbooks. Mel Gabler died in 2004. .... (A son) said his parents' work led to changes in the way textbooks were adopted. He said some publishers would submit their books to his parents before the approval process began so they could...

If Neal Gabler had been around in the late 1930s, would he have been praising Neville Chamberlain's complacency toward Hitler while condemning Churchill and FDR for their "hysteria"? Maybe so, judging by the liberal Fox News Watch panelist's comparison of the reaction of the British and the Americans to terror.Gabler appeared on last evening's Fox News Watch. FOX NEWS WATCH PANELIST NEAL GABLER: The [British] coverage was I think very responsible, very even-tempered, very fact-based, very cool, and I'm wondering if this isn't a function of the way the British government responded, which was very even-handed, very temperate, very cool...

This evening's episode of Fox News Watch was more jam-packed than Smucker's at harvest time. But for space restraints, the headline would have been much longer. Let's get this party started: Jim Pinkerton took an unvarnished shot at Charley Gibson, anchor of ABC's World News. Said Pinkerton, discussing Nancy Pelosi's shameless photo-op, shown here:: "The picture of Nancy Pelosi holding the baby inspired that genius of analysis Charles Gibson on ABC to say 'Oh! Nancy Pelosi is taking care of a baby and taking care of the country at the same time.' That's a total home-run for the spin...

by Mark Finkelstein October 1, 2006 - 09:39 Being a regular Fox News Watch viewer, there was nothing surprising, tuning into this evening's discussion of the Clinton-Chris Wallace dust-up, in hearing lefty panelist Neal Gabler take his employer and colleagues to task. Among his moves, Gabler: - Claimed "this network's reputation [presumably as right-leaning] precedes it." - Asserted that Chris Wallace "did not frame the question properly. He asked why didn't you do more? Which is like asking 'will you stop beating your wife?'" - Defended Wallace only at the expense of other Fox colleagues: "He is not a Hannity,...

by Mark Finkelstein June 17, 2006 Neal Gabler might have hit a new low when it comes to the coarseness of his criticism. On this evening's Fox News Watch, he castigated as 'sub-moronic' a statement President Bush made during his recent Iraq trip. And Gabler was furious that, in his view the MSM hasn't been sufficiently critical in its coverage of Iraq and the president. To make his point, the normally PC Gabler repeatedly branded the MSM 'brain dead.' Gabler began his assault by pouring cold water on the president's recent uptick in the polls: "the boost is very small....

by Mark Finkelstein June 10, 2006 Jealous guardians of high standards or just . . . jealous? There was a rare bit of consensus on tonight's Fox News Watch, as journalists from left and right came together to excoriate Ann Coulter for what they judged to be her money-motivated excesses in her latest opus, 'Godless: The Church of Liberalism'. The focus was on Coulter's controversial statements about the Jersey Girls - the 9/11 widows turned harsh Bush administration critics. Highlighted was this excerpt from Ann's book: "These broads are millionaires, lionized on TV and in articles about them . ....

by Mark Finkelstein April 1, 2006 Do you support rigorous measures to strengthen border security and tighten immigration controls? If so, you're probably a 'nativist' - read racist - or a rube, or very possibly both. Don't believe me? Just ask Neal Gabler. Here's what he had to say on this evening's Fox News Watch: "The conservative nativists, and maybe that's a redundancy, thought they had a winner here. What a great issue they have," he said sarcastically. "You can beat up on aliens and get all of those white folks for the 2006 election." Conservative columnist Jim Pinkerton weighed...

by Mark Finkelstein March 4, 2006 And here we thought the MSM was biased against President Bush. Wrong! On this evening's Fox News Watch, reliable lefty Neal Gabler informed us that just the opposite is true. Turns out. . . the MSM has uncritically propagated an overly positive image of the president. Who knew? Gabler's shocking revelation came in the course of a discussion of the recent Katrina revisionism. In particular, News Watch aired footage from an ABC interview from this past week in which the president made this frank acknowledgement: "Here's the problem that happened in Katrina. There was...

by Mark Finkelstein February 18, 2006 Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, Neal Gabler's gotta take outlandish swipes at the Bush administration on Fox Media Watch. And, perhaps in a form of childish defiance, Gabler also has a penchant for biting the Fox hand that feeds him. On tonight's episode, Gabler: Claimed that Vice-President Cheney "doesn't believe in a free press." Described the shooting accident as "idiocy" on the VP's part. Accused Brit Hume of not asking the 'major question' in his interview of Cheney [having to do with the timing of notification]. Seconded the notion that the shooting might...

Fox News Watch is a Sunday program about journalism. This weekend, it demonstrated how not to be a journalist. The star of this dreadful segment was Neil Gabler. Much of the discussion was on the coverage of the Iraq War. Gabler has frequently demonstrated his bias to the left on this program. This time, he was over the top. Twice in the course of this discussion he yelled, not merely said, “Iraq is a DISASTER. Get it? EVERYBODY gets it now.” Therefore, anyone who disagreed with his conclusion, whether a spokesman for the Administration, or even anyone on the program...

by Mark Finkelstein December 3, 2005 - 18:48. It's war, I tell you, war! On Fox News Watch, the Fox show dedicated to a review of journalism, [tiny] liberal talking head Neil Gabler just branded Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and John Gibson "demagogues." The topic was the "war against Christmas," and nerves quickly got frayed. Gabler's fellow lefty, Jane Hall, a normally staid presence, got exercised over what she saw as Jim Pinkerton's questioning of her religious bona fides. In a surprising bit of personal revelation, she declared herself a church-goer and insisted she would not take a back seat...

<p>AMAGANSETT, N.Y. ? Every president for nearly a century has had political operatives in the White House to advise him on how his decisions would play with the public and tell him what the ramifications of policy would be on his reelection prospects. But few Americans are cynical enough to believe that this political gamesmanship is anything other than a means to an end, the end being to effectuate policy. Teddy Roosevelt had trusts to bust and Manifest Destiny to fulfill; FDR a Depression to tame; Richard Nixon a détente to achieve; Ronald Reagan a government to shrink and a Cold War to win; Bill Clinton social programs to save from the conservative hatchet.</p>