Debates

On Thursday night, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow mocked Republican party chairman Reince Priebus for listing as a lesson from 2012 "controlling the debate process, getting involved in moderators and networks and all of these other issues so that we don`t have chaos." Maddow found it odd that the GOP chair would (very sensibly) say "we just can`t have MSNBC, you know, hosting a debate at the Reagan…

On Friday February 22, the Washington Post took a double-barreled approach to pushing more gun control In a 52-paragraph front-page story, staff writer Stephanie McCrummen highlighted the efforts of anti-gun activist Susan Beehler, a North Dakota woman “going against the gun culture” in the Roughrider State. Elsewhere in the A-section, staffer Philip Rucker devoted 23 paragraphs to boosting…

Before an audience of Nevada Republicans last night, Frank Fahrenkopf, co-chair of the Commission on Presidential Debates, admitted the obvious: picking CNN correspondent Candy Crowley to moderate one of the 2012 candidate forums was a “mistake.” “We made one mistake this time: Her name is Candy,” he told the assembled crowd organized by the conservative Keystone Group, according to state-…

CBS’s Bob Schieffer has come to the president’s defense again. Conveniently forgetting about the media's obsession with the “war on women,” and how the media tag-teamed with the president's reelection campaign on social issues, Schieffer insisted that Barack Obama based his successful reelection campaign on the economy. Schieffer, who moderated the final presidential debate in 2012, appeared…

Well, there goes any chance that MSNBC might have resolved to drop the phony "war on women" meme in the new year. On the January 3 NewsNation fill-in host Alex Witt interviewed Kate Pickert to push for greater abortion access across the nation, discussing her cover story for the January 14 print edition of TIME magazine, which is pegged to the forthcoming 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. "40…

Not only did MSNBC's Thomas Roberts jump on top of yesterday's deadly Oregon mall shooting to push gun control, he presented his softball interview with gun advocate Dan Gross of the Brady Campaign as a "debate." That's right, the segment's title, given in an onscreen graphic was "Gun Control Debate." Of course, Roberts failed to bring on a gun-rights advocate to balance out Gross's appearance…

In his day job at New York magazine, political writer John Heilemann is throwing cold water on Romney victory hopes. “What's true, however, is that two or three weeks ago, Mitt Romney and his people were fully convinced, and not entirely without reason, that victory was within their grasp. The reality now, though, is that this is no longer true.” As victory eludes Romney’s grasp, beware the…

CNN's Candy Crowley got a tremendous amount of criticism last month when she defended Barack Obama during the second presidential debate. On Sunday's State of the Union, she appeared to compensate by saying "President Romney" in a question to Ohio's Rob Portman (video follows with transcript and commentary):

A pretty funny bit from ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live proving some people accept whatever they are told and have no hesitation about pronouncing their opinion on it. Even if it never occurred. Kimmel sent a camera crew onto Hollywood Boulevard, outside his Los Angeles studio, to ask people who “won” the “First Lady Debate”? As excerpted, the Thursday before last, at the end of FNC’s Special Report…

Having not done a press conference since June, Barack Obama has instead appeared on ABC's The View, CBS's Late Show with David Letterman, and NBC's Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Apparently feeling MSNBC's Morning Joe will present him with similar softballs and friendly confines, the President is doing an interview with Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski Saturday to be aired Monday just eight…

The national and battleground state polls are all showing tremendous momentum for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney since the first debate. Despite this, with the absence of conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer, the entire panel of PBS’s Inside Washington Friday – comprised of the Washington Post’s Colby King, PBS’s Mark Shields, Politico’s Evan Thomas, and NPR’s Nina…

It's becoming very clear that Obama's media are starting to realize the candidate they helped get elected four years ago is in serious trouble. Count New York Times Washington Bureau correspondent Jeff Zeleny who tweeted moments ago, "In closing days of the race, Romney frames his candidacy as 'big-choice' vs. status quo of Obama. It's like watching '08 in reverse":

Now that all three presidential debates are history, did using only liberal moderators have any impact on the amount of time Democratic incumbent Barack Obama and GOP presidential candidate Milt Romney had to make their case for occupying the White House next January? The answer to that question is a definite "Yes," since President Obama got a total of 8 minutes and 8 seconds more time than…

On Tuesday's edition of MSNBC's The Ed Show, all but official Obama campaign surrogates Ed Schultz and Richard Wolffe discussed the third and final presidential debate. Both declared the president a clear winner and insulted the intelligence of anyone who would disagree. Failing to recognize the irony of what they were doing for Obama, Schultz criticized the Romney campaign for declaring…