Lawrence O'Donnell

Minutes before the pre-debate instructions commenced on Monday’s first 2016 presidential debate, MSNBC personality Lawrence O’Donnell griped to his cohorts and viewers that rules and time limits make it “actually more burdensome” for the more substantive candidate while the debates showcase “no actual presidential skills” for who would be best for the job.

Just as predicted, MSNBC did its best to draw attention away from the grilling Hillary Clinton received about her e-mail scandal on Wednesday night at their Commander in Chief Forum in their analysis on The Last Word by spinning her portion as a “very strong performance” and spent little time rehashing it in favor of trashing Trump discussing his intelligence briefings. 

Proving how the Clinton Foundation scandal has become increasingly difficult for the media to ignore, Monday’s The Last Word on MSNBC featured liberal host Lawrence O’Donnell and lefty New York magazine writer Jonathan Chait agreed that the foundation represents “a bigger problem than the Clinton campaign really seems to be aware of” and has been different than the set-up for another famous…

In the short time between speeches during Monday’s primetime schedule of the Democratic National Convention (DNC), CNN and MSNBC went out of their way to absolutely swoon over Senator Cory Booker’s speech that they deemed “brilliant,” “a home run,” and “powerful” that the assembled pundits claim they hadn’t seen since then-Illinois State Senator Barack Obama at the 2004 DNC. 

On Thursday night, MSNBC’s The Last Word spent the duration of its show on the Nice, France truck terror attack and New York Times columnist Frank Bruni lamented that the “really, really volatile moment” could be used have negative connotations on both European and “French politics” in light of Brexit with “feelings of nativism, wanting to close doors.”

On the Wednesday edition of MSNBC’s The Last Word, host Lawrence O’Donnell offered an baffling and exhaustive defense of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s outburst against Donald Trump by pointing to the first Chief Justice’s gubernatorial election record and opining that if Ginsburg is forced to recuse herself from any election-related cases, Catholics should recuse themselves from any…

On Thursday, MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell appeared on Morning Joe to dissect Hillary Clinton’s lucky break from the FBI. What struck O’Donnell was the notion of precedent, or a lack thereof, in finding a single similar case that supported criminal charges for Clinton’s private server. Unlike FBI Director James Comey, MSNBC’s O’Donnell believed the plea and pardon of former CIA Director John Deutch…

Late Wednesday night on MSNBC’s Last Word, host Lawrence O’Donnell asked his guests, Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards and CBS Sunday Morning contributor Nancy Giles, what they thought about Elizabeth Warren as Hillary Clinton’s potential running mate. O’Donnell seemed thrilled at the prospect and asked Giles if she felt the same way. She praised Warren “going for the jugular” against…

The TV networks are heavily promoting the word “historic” in Hillary Clinton’s presumptive-nominee status – and “historic” is correct. This surely is a first.  “Historic” can be a factual adjective, but in the hands of the networks, it often carries a highly positive ring, often attached to liberal victories. By contrast, consider the historic nature of Mitt Romney’s nomination in 2012. On May 29…

MSNBC’s always tolerant Lawrence O’Donnell trotted out the tired liberal narrative that all Republicans are idiots on the issues and governance on Thursday afternoon. Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan met Thursday to discuss how the Republican Party can unify and move forward following a contentious primary.  O’Donnell claimed to know exactly what happened during the meeting. “That's what…

Tuesday night’s Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC took Hillary Clinton to task for her claims about out-of-state guns being brought into New York to commit crimes. In a pretty obvious swing at her competitor Bernie Sanders on Monday, she made the claim that Vermont contributed to the most gun violence in New York. O’Donnell fact-checked Clinton on this, saying her campaign invented an “…

Well this is rich. Harbinger of truth Dan Rather, the disgraced former CBS Evening News anchor was on MSNBC’s Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell Tuesday actually agreeing with President Obama’s critique of the media. Asked to comment on Obama’s statements, Rather blamed the major networks for not doing enough hard-hitting, investigative reporting that he said “we particularly need in this…

On Monday's Last Word, MSNBC's Tony Dokoupil inadvertently revealed that his network restrains itself from pressing Donald Trump too hard. Dokoupil reported on conservative radio host Charlie Sykes's "incredibly blistering" interview of Trump earlier in the day, and underlined that the personality "knew it was going to be a one and done. He does not have to go back to Donald Trump ever again.…

On two occasions Thursday night during the opening panel segment of MSNBC’s The Last Word, liberals Charles Pierce of Esquire and MSNBC’s Joy Reid mocked radio talk show host and Resurgent writer Erick Erickson for leading the anti-Donald Trump movement when he himself is “quite the vulgarian” like Trump.