Government shutdown

 Chris Matthews, who has publicly insisted that he doesn't like "cheap shots," on Tuesday trashed conservatives in the House as "troglodytes" from the movie Planet of the Apes. According to the Hardball anchor, Republicans opposing the President in the government shutdown believe that "if the country goes down, the economy goes down, the world comes apart, 'hey, we get an extra inch of flesh off…

Even though the Nov. 4, 2014, mid-term election is more than a year away, liberals are already doing some wishful thinking regarding the prospects of Democrats winning back control of the U.S. House of Representatives, which is currently under Republican leadership. During an interview on MSNBC's The Cycle program on Monday, NBC News chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd stated that such…

On Wednesday's NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer wrung his hands over Congress, particularly Republicans, not yet reaching a budget deal to end the government shutdown: "...the Tea Party seems very much dug in here. Both sides seem dug in." Chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd responded by removing the criticism of "both sides": "You're right, the Tea Party side of this is dug in." [Watch the…

In recent days you can't swing a dead cat without hitting some media member or politician blaming the Koch brothers for the government shutdown. On Wednesday, Koch Industries sent a letter to a number of people on Capitol Hill trying to set the record straight while attempting to end the misinformation campaign (published with permission):

The liberal media have taken sides in the government shutdown debate and not surprisingly holds only one party to blame - the GOP.  In the last week liberal anchors, reporters and writers have depicted fiscal conservatives in terms usually reserved for terrorists as they’ve hyperbolically charged that Republicans were being run by a “suicide caucus” that is holding America “hostage.” The…

On Monday's All In show, MSNBC host Chris Hayes devoted a segment to blaming a "fatal flaw" and "quirks" in the U.S. Constitution for making it possible for government shutdowns to happen, as he suggested that parliamentary governments are preferable because they make it more difficult for divided government to exist.

 One way to know if a journalist is asking a softball question is when the President of the United States compliments the reporter after he or she asks it. That happened twice on Tuesday as Barack Obama talked to reporters about the government shutdown. The President called on Sam Stein of the liberal Huffington Post website. Stein dutifully wondered, "With Speaker Boehner so far unwilling to…

In case you haven’t noticed, the government shutdown is all the GOP’s fault.  Today’s Chicago Tribune wanted to make sure readers knew that with a front-page headline titled “Hard-right bloc sticks to its guns: Shutdown stalemate continues as lawmakers in safe seats hold sway.” The article reports that some House Republicans “have chosen to defy Washington’s traditional norms of conversation and…

[***UPDATED*** 17:30 ET: More analysis and full transcript added] Appearing on Andrea Mitchell's MSNBC 1 p.m. ET hour show on Tuesday, Wisconsin Congressman Sean Duffy slammed the press for not doing its job in pointing out the hypocrisy of ObamaCare being delayed for certain groups but not for all Americans: "...the media won't even ask the question about, 'Why are you [the Obama administration…

MSNBC contributor Jonathan Alter on Saturday continued the liberal media pattern of siding with the Obama administration on the current government shutdown. Appearing on Weekends with Alex Witt, Alter claimed that House Speaker John Boehner is not acting in a “patriotic fashion” and “can’t even deliver a pizza,” as Team Obama says. Fill-in host Mara Schiavocampo had asked Alter about the…

Evidence of testiness on the Democratic side of the 17% government shutdown continues to accumulate. Today, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney had a tense exchange with ABC's Jonathan Karl, who was apparently so taken aback by Carney's answer to another reporter that he interjected himself into the dialog — to correct Carney about what House Speaker John Boehner said earlier today about his…

President Obama has pretty much completely outsourced his negotiations on the government shutdown to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), a move which pleases hard-core liberals in Congress, reported Alexander Bolton of The Hill this morning. "This is a welcome change for Democrats who thought Obama was too accommodating to Republicans during previous crises," Bolton noted, adding, "…

In a story published early this morning by Manu Raju at the Politico which is primarily about Senate Majority Harry Reid's plans to aggressively pursue reelection in 2016, the Nevada senator took shots at the establishment press for "trying so hard to be fair that you are unfair." Proving Reid wrong in real time, Raju failed to mention Reid's response last week to a question by Dana Bash at CNN…

Hard-left MSNBC host Ed Schultz on Monday took his assault on the Republican Party to a new level, declaring that John Boehner is a "traitor" to America for not giving in to Barack Obama on the government shutdown. After railing about how congressional GOP members are trying to destroy the country, the Ed Show anchor delivered his verdict: "And they will shut down the government and they will not…