Letterman's Airball: Shoe Hurler Offered Fox News Show

December 17th, 2008 6:53 AM
It's said that to work, humor must contain a kernel of truth. No wonder David Letterman's effort to wring humor out of the shoe-throwing incident fell so flat. The Late Show host joked that Muntadhar al-Zeidi had been offered a show on . . . Fox News.  Letterman was playing off the report that al-Zeidi is reported to be hot-tempered and possess poor journalistic skills.How lame was Letterman?…

Newsweek Still Dancing for Joy Over Anti-Bush Shoe-throwing Incident

December 16th, 2008 3:57 PM

CBS on Iraqi Shoe-Thrower: ‘Sock and Awe;’ ‘Thrilled the Arab Wo

December 16th, 2008 11:36 AM
At the top of Tuesday’s CBS Early Show co-host Harry Smith offered this witty line teasing a story on the Iraq journalist who threw his shoes at President Bush: "Sock and awe. How the Iraqi shoe-thrower is now being hailed as a hero and drawing thousands of supporters." Later, Smith introduced a report about the shoe-thrower: "It's being referred to as the 'toss heard around the world.' In fact,…

ABC and CBS Tout Shoe-Thrower as 'Celebrity' and 'Folk Hero

December 15th, 2008 9:30 PM
Usually rude protesters who disrupt events by throwing objects at state leaders don't earn media celebrations, but instead of being embarrassed by their Iraqi media colleague who, as he spewed venomous hatreds, dangerously threw his shoes at President Bush on Sunday in Baghdad, ABC and CBS on Monday night championed his popularity amongst Iraqis. ABC put “Folk Hero?” on screen as fill-in anchor…

MSNBC's Tamron Hall: President Bush 'Looked Unnerved

December 15th, 2008 5:28 PM
It's times like this that make me wonder whether I inhabit a universe different from that occupied by the MSM.  This morning, discussing Pres. Bush's reaction to the flying shoe incident, I wrote:Short of going full Ninja hero and snatching the shoes in mid-air, it's hard to see how Pres. Bush could have been any cooler in his handling of the Hush Puppy Hurler.But on MSNBC this afternoon, host…

ABC: Bush Shoe Attack is a 'Deep,' 'Embarrassing,' 'Huge Insult

December 15th, 2008 11:41 AM
"Good Morning America" hosts and reporters on Monday breathlessly reported the incident of President Bush having a shoe thrown at him during a press conference in Iraq as a "deep insult," an "embarrassing incident" and a "huge insult." Parroting the comparisons made on CBS's "Early Show," GMA news anchor Chris Cuomo reminded viewers of the 2003 toppling of a statue of Saddam Hussein: "You…

CBS: Bush Shoe Attack Same As Iraqis Beating Saddam Statue With Shoes

December 15th, 2008 11:13 AM
According to CBS correspondent Richard Roth, in a report on Monday’s CBS Early about an Iraqi journalist throwing a shoe at President Bush during a Baghdad press conference, the incident was reminiscent of the toppling of a statue of Saddam Hussein five years earlier: "Mr. Bush's message of progress was eclipsed in Baghdad by a sign of his unpopularity...The symbolism wouldn't have been lost on…

Newsweek Stomps On Bush with 'Conventional Wisdom' About Shoe-thrower

December 15th, 2008 10:31 AM

Kearns Goodwin: Bush Wouldn't Have Handled Shoe Incident So Well Two Y

December 15th, 2008 9:02 AM
Short of going full Ninja hero and snatching the shoes in mid-air, it's hard to see how Pres. Bush could have been any cooler in his handling of the Hush Puppy Hurler. I figure W's feeling pretty good about things this morning.  But that didn't stop ABC and NBC from declaring the incident "embarrassing" for President Bush.  For good measure, on Today, Doris Kearns Goodwin discounted Bush's blithe…

Bush's Newest Iraq Visit Already Drawing Media Swipes

December 14th, 2008 10:40 AM
The country awoke to surprising news that President George W. Bush had flown off to visit Iraq in a sort of farewell tour of the place that drove his presidency. With an early report, Reuters gave a few backhanded slaps at Bush that we are sure to see grow throughout the Old Media as the day progresses. In its very first sentence, Reuters reminded us all, as if we didn't already know, that the…

Rachel Maddow Condemns Alleged Revisionism on Iraq, Engages in Actual

December 9th, 2008 3:21 PM
Rachel Maddow is on a mission -- to stop what she perceives as egregious revisionism when it comes to the war in Iraq. And if Maddow has to engage in the real thing to indulge her outrage, all while airbrushing away the ominous decade between the Persian Gulf war and 9/11, so be it. The media's fave lefty mouthpiece of the moment has been in high dudgeon, her indignation initiated by Stephen…

CNN Makes Case Shinseki Did Not Push for More Troops in Iraq

December 9th, 2008 2:12 AM
On Monday’s The Situation Room, CNN correspondent Jamie McIntyre conveyed a dissenting view of whether retired General Eric Shinseki, Barack Obama’s choice for Veterans Affairs Secretary, can accurately be described as having advised the Bush administration to send more troops to occupy Iraq. McIntyre: "But Shinseki has his critics, too, who say, in fact, he never stood up to Rumsfeld, never…

CBS: Wounded the 'Consequence' of Rejecting Shinseki's Advice

December 7th, 2008 10:23 PM
Media reports on President-elect Barack Obama's selection of retired Army General Eric Shinseki commonly described the pick as a “rebuke” or “repudiation” of the Bush administration for underestimating the number of troops that would be needed to occupy Iraq, but CBS's Dean Reynolds went further as he implied abiding by Shinseki's 2003 recommendation for “several hundred thousand soldiers” would…

Only NBC Notes Fewest Ever Monthly Deaths in Wars

December 5th, 2008 8:44 AM
Of the broadcast network newscasts Thursday evening, only the NBC Nightly News took a few seconds to note some more good news from the war front as fill-in anchor Lester Holt reported “combined deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan in November” stood at eleven, “the lowest total since the U.S. invaded Iraq.” ABC's World News devoted more than two minutes to LBJ tapes, which showed him “anguished about…