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Writing on Commentary's blog, Jennifer Rubin is wondering why Mr. Obama isn't the beloved figure he used to be less than a year ago and is offering liberals a bit of advice on how to redeem the presient's reputation. You see, no longer able to ignore the plummeting popularity of their beloved messiah, our liberal brethren have now segwayed into a flabbergasted state of frustration as they struggle to understand what it is the common man wants from their virtually perfect president. Attributing his nearly 20 point free fall in less than a year to his (as of yet unseen)...

Should I be worried? I just agreed with something Neal Gabler said. On yesterday's Fox News Watch, the liberal media critic opined that the MSM is backing Benazir Bhutto over Pervez Musharraf in the current Pakistan crisis -- and not for the loftiest of motives . . . [Also includes interesting historical footnote on Willie Horton episode.] View video here.

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...

Would you take a paycheck from an organization you consider illegitimate? Neal Gabler apparently would. "I don't want to bite the hand that feeds me my Kool-Aid," claimed Gabler on this evening's "Fox News Watch." He then proceeded to do just that, claiming that Democrats pulled out of the Fox-sponsored presidential candidate debate in Nevada "for the same reason that Republicans would not go on Air America -- it doesn't make any political sense. Why in the world would you want to legitimize a network that spends hour after hour after hour after hour to, to." View video hereInterjected host...

Neal Gabler called Media Research Center "liars" on this evening's Fox News Watch. The accusation against NewsBusters' parent organization came in the course of a discussion of media coverage of Mitt Romney's announcement of his presidential candidacy.View video here.Conservative columnist Jim Pinkerton observed: "I don't think [the media] like Romney. I don't think they really want a Republican to win, and they're using his Mormonism as one way to get at him." Gabler: "Who's this 'they' you're talking about? This strange 'they' that doesn't want Romney to win?" Pinkerton: "I can answer that question for Neal. Thank you for asking....

I was curious as to how Neal Gabler would opine. Surely, there was no way the resident aggressive lefty at Fox News Watch would defend the odious statements of William Arkin, who in this column libeled the US military as "mercenaries" and claimed we treat them to "obscene amenities." As it turns out, Gabler didn't, even going so far as to call Arkin's statements "idiotic." However . . . that doesn't mean that Gabler didn't find something to complain about in the way conservatives reacted to the column. Kvetched Neal: "There are literally tens of millions of bloggers out...

Interesting panel discussion about "24" on last evening's Fox News Watch. On the one hand, lefty Neal Gabler actually defended the show. Mentioning that he likes Keith Olbermann "very much," Gabler continued: "I disagree with Keith Olbermann in this situation. I look at '24' as being like a 527 [tax-exempt groups that engage in political activity]. It's bringing up that issue about terrorism, it certainly serves the Bush administration. But unlike the 9-11 show that was on ABC which specifically cited Bush as a great hero, this does not do that. It is entertainment, and I don't think it ought...

How do you know the Iraq Study Group report is dead? When on this evening's Fox News Watch conservative columnist Jim Pinkerton declares its "total evaporation" and the most aggressive liberal panelist doesn't bother to deny it.Said Pinkerton:"I think the most interesting thing has been the total evaporation of the Baker-Hamilton commission as a force in American politics. Of all people Laurence O'Donnell at the Huffington Post had a headline: 'Rush Limbaugh Is Right,' about the report, saying it is a formula for surrender. And whether you like it or not, Neal, Bush is not going to surrender Iraq."View video...

A month or so ago I would have said that Neal Gabler and I inhabit different planets, but his apparent home of has recently been demoted from planetary status. While I'm off searching for another metaphor, let me pass along the latest comment from the decidedly liberal denizen of Fox News Watch that made me reflect on just how distinct a world view we have. In the course of discussing on this evening's show the controversy that erupted this past week over Rush Limbaugh's comments about Michael Fox, Gabler had this to say: "The media has tread lightly on Rush...

by Mark Finkelstein September 2, 2006 - 19:20 I don't know about you, but by the end of the Bush-bashing festival that was the MSM's coverage of the one-year Katrina anniversary, I was about ready to climb up on my roof with a bedsheet message begging to be evacuated by helicopter. Neal Gabler also had a complaint about the Katrina anniversary coverage: there wasn't enough of it. On this evening's Fox News Watch, Gabler made his comment in the context of the panel's discussion of the John Mark Karr fiasco. Griped Gabler: "The embarrassment isn't that he wasn't guilty, the...

by Mark Finkelstein August 5, 2006 - 21:57 Neal Gabler might not look like an athlete, but don't be surprised to see him lining up for the long jump at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. For on this evening's Fox News Watch, Neal took a leap of logic of Beamonesque proportions. According to Gabler, the fact that a drunken Gibson made anti-Semitic remarks retroactively proves that his 'Passion of the Christ' was anti-Semitic too. Here's how the liberal media critic put it: "The interest here is 'The Passion.' It made something like $400 million. It was accused of being anti-Semitic. The...

by Mark Finkelstein July 9, 2006 - 14:12 Twice in less than 24 hours, conservative columnist Jim Pinkerton left liberal talking-head rivals at a loss for words on the issue of missile defense. Pinkerton's first victim was Neal Gabler, on last evening's Fox News Watch. In the context of the North Korean missile tests, liberal Gabler flatly stated: "Missile defense does not work. That is what we have learned." Shot back Pinkerton: "The Japanese believe in it. That's why they're building it right now." Gabler's silence was golden. Then this morning, Pinkerton made his regular appearance with Ellen Ratner in...

by Mark Finkelstein June 24, 2006 In 2000, that darn MSM elected George Bush by bashing Al Gore. And when it comes to the theological argument as to whether gays and women should be Christian clergy, well, actually, there isn't an argument. There's only one side. The liberal one, of course. Don't believe me? Ask Neal Gabler. The reliably liberal member of the Fox News Watch panel expressed those views on this evening's show. Host Eric Burns asked whether the torture and murder of two US soldiers, coupled with the charges brought against a group of Marines in the killing...

by Mark Finkelstein May 28, 2006 Could there be a new sheriff on the block at Fox News Watch? Brash lefty Neal Gabler often manages to get the last word, but on last evening's show he was soundly put in his place by National Review editor Rich Lowry, substituting for Cal Thomas. The topic was the recent press leaks that have compromised a number of highly-classified anti-terrorism programs including the secret prisons for Al-Qaeda members, the monitoring of Al-Qaeda related phone calls and the gathering of phone calling patterns. Predictably, Gabler was highly critical of the prospect of the government...

by Mark Finkelstein Is Neal Gabler jealous of Helen Thomas' status as a leading Bush media antagonist? You might think so, judging by the barbs Gabler aimed Thomas' way on this evening's Fox News Watch. In discussing Thomas' pointed exchange with President Bush during this past week's press conference, Gabler, whose sole regular media job would seem to be his weekly appearance on Fox News Watch, did claim that Thomas' question as to the president's motivation in invading Iraq was a good one. But Gabler prefaced that comment by gratuitously observing: "Helen has asked dumb questions in her time." Later,...

by Mark Finkelstein March 11, 2006 As has been well-documented by the Media Research Center, while MSMers are loathe to label anyone or anything 'liberal,' they don't hesitate to brand various entities or individuals 'conservative' or 'right-wing.' Well, folks, I believe we have a new world record in the category. In the course of discussing the case of Colorado teacher Jay Bennish, who compared President Bush to Hitler, liberal [there, I said it] Neal Gabler on tonight's Fox News Watch managed to utter the term 'right-wing' four times . . . in 14 seconds. Yes, I checked it by my...

by Mark Finkelstein January 21, 2006 - 19:12 Q: How does a lefty media maven know when he's gone off the deep end? A. When even fellow liberal Jane Hall laughs at him. Neal Gabler should take the lesson to heart, because that's exactly what happened to him on tonight's Fox Media Watch. The subject matter was the media's handling of Hillary Clinton's Plantation Declaration. Jane began with a surprisingly candid assessment of Clinton and her presidential ambitions: "She's clearly running for President and I think the media should quit going around that fact. She's tiptoeing around that fact. The...

by Mark Finkelstein December 31, 2005 - 18:56 I can now confirm what I've long suspected: Neal Gabler and I inhabit different planets. I inhabit the one in which the MSM coverage of the Iraqi war is a virtually-uninterrupted drumbeat of the negative. From headline coverage of every IED that goes off, to the beatification of Cindy Sheehan, the liberal media's treatment of the war has been decidedly downbeat. Neal Gabler, on this evening's Fox Media Watch, looked at the same coverage and complained that the MSM . . . has not been negative enough. He began his plaint with...

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...

Ad features vets who claim Kerry "lied" to get Vietnam medals. But one accuser quickly recants, and other witnesses disagree. August 6, 2004 Modified: August 6, 2004 A group funded by the biggest Republican campaign donor in Texas began running an attack ad Aug. 5 in which former Swift Boat veterans claim Kerry lied to get one of his two decorations for bravery and two of his three purple hearts. However, one of the veterans who appears in the ad has already recanted his principal accusation against Kerry, in an interview with the Boston Globe Some other veterans who accuse...