Debates

The Republican presidential candidates, minus Rudy Giuliani, are having their last face-off tonight at the Reagan library at 8pm ET. The event will be broadcast on CNN and is hosted in cooperation with the Politico and the Los Angeles Times. You can also watch online here.Post your comments on this thread or join the live NB chat.

Living in the DC area, Chris Matthews has surely been stuck in traffic more than once behind someone sporting the classic NRA bumper sticker: "If Guns Are Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Have Guns." Was Chris was listening too intently to NPR to consider the the truth of that pithy aphorism? You might think so, considering his anti-gun rant that seemed to assume that criminals, rather than law-…

 Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) confronts Sen. Barack Obama (D-Illinois) during Democratic presidential debate in South Carolina, January 21, 2008.

The biggest news out of last night's GOP debate could be the hit taken by John McCain's reputation for straight talk.For whatever reason, McCain chose to deny the undeniable: that on more than one occasion he has admitted not understanding the economy as well as he should. When the debate ended it took MSNBC no time to document the record. And a bit later, in the post-debate coffee klatsch,…

The Republican presidential candidates will be debating tonight in Florida. The event is hosted by MSNBC, click here to watch it online. Discuss the debate here or in the live chat. Thankfully the Matthews-Olbermann moonbat brigade is not moderating tonight: Brian Williams and Tim Russert are.

It's quite a sight to behold when media "has-beens" start drinking the doom and gloom Kool-Aid offered up in the media. Sam Donaldson, who covered the Reagan White House for ABC and who now is a contributor to the network's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," last night told a gathering in Georgetown that the U.S. economy is going "in the dumper" and criticized the Democratic presidential…

Not that there was much doubt, but let's make it official: MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski is firmly in the Obama camp. The capper came during today's opening segment of Morning Joe. After Chris Matthews offered a plausible explanation for Obama's "present" votes in the Illinois senate, David Shuster used an apt metaphor to describe Barack's less-than-trenchant rhetorical style.DAVID SHUSTER: It's in…

You don't suppose NewsBusters has become Matt Lauer's guilty pleasure; one having a salubrious effect on his thinking? The Today co-anchor this morning suggested an MSM double-standard on the Dem and GOP races and acknowledged the success of the surge.Matt's guest during the first half-hour was Tim Russert, impressively fresh despite red-eyeing to NYC after moderating last night's Nevada debate…

Rush Limbaugh called out Old Media for playing favorites in the GOP presidential race. He was, as usual, dead-on correct. Audio is at Hot Air. The transcript, which will remain available at Limbaugh's site until next Friday, is here. Here is the first portion of what he had to say (bold is mine):

See updates for Huckabee, Thompson responses to this story at bottom.Scratch Joe Scarborough from the list of those praising the performance of Fred Thompson at last night's South Carolina debate hosted by Fox News. With panelists Willie Geist and Mika Brzezinski in supporting roles, the Morning Joe host went off on Thompson today with stunning vitriol, deriding him as "Freddie boy" "pathetic,"…

Just in case anyone doubted it . . . From today's Morning Joe.JOE SCARBOROUGH: The press corps, for the most part, there are exceptions, loathe Mitt Romney. And the press corps loved to see all of the Republicans [at the ABC debate this past Saturday night] kicking the tar out of him, and they were all sitting there smirking. But I thought it was too much. I think if you're sitting at home in…

Fred Thompson today blasted the media for propagating a false rumor about his impending withdrawal, while reinforcing the role he has created for himself as the candidate in this race who does not suffer unwelcome questions gladly. Back in Iowa, Thompson famously refused to respond to the debate moderator/school marm's demand for a hand-show on global warming. On this morning's Today, he…

ABC News and Charles Gibson are no CNN and Anderson Cooper when it comes to skewing the agenda of presidential debates. In the back-to-back Republican followed by Democratic debates from New Hampshire aired between 7 and 11 PM EST Saturday night on ABC, moderator Gibson challenged the presumptions of both sets of candidates with a key talking point being pushed by the other party: He hit…