The Lead

On Thursday's The Lead on CNN, James Allen Fox used actual crime data to splash cold water on a liberal talking point claiming that mass shootings on the rise: "It's a horrific event when four, five, twelve people are gunned down...But let's not think that this is an epidemic." Fox, a criminology professor at Northeastern University, also pointed out that the now-expired "assault weapons" ban…

CNN’s Jake Tapper interviewed Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy on his The Lead with Jake Tapper program on Monday, June 2 and used the opportunity to hit the Obama official over new regulations aimed at reducing CO2 emissions by 30 percent by the year 2030.  Throughout the discussion, Tapper grilled McCarthy over the lack of Democratic support for the new…

In discussing President Obama's Wednesday press conference on the Veterans Administration wait-list scandal, CNN's Drew Griffin, identified by the network's Jake Tapper as "the reporter who began this whole story with his investigation into the Phoenix VA," appeared to barely contain himself as he described the "disconnect between what's happening out here in the country and what the president…

Emily Bazelon apparently has found the opening of the 9/11 Memorial Museum in lower Manhattan as a perfect excuse to suggest that conservatives are particularly prone – compared to other Americans –  to buy into the absurd conspiracy theories of the so-called 9/11 Truther movement. But the most prominent of 9/11 Truthers in the national spotlight are celebrities and media personalities whose…

Today White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough kept defending the record of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinkseki over his handling of the Veterans Administration hospitals scandal on CNN's The Lead. Finally an increasingly agitated Jake Tapper grew frustrated with the excuses until he exploded in anger: "How Many Dead Veterans Do You Need?" It was an all too familiar administration two…

CNN's Jake Tapper gave a full segment to Democratic Congressman Bennie Thompson calling Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas an "Uncle Tom," but the broadcast networks completely ignored the controversy on Wednesday evening. The networks' blackout of a Democrat using a racial insult against a Justice shows a clear double standard after their deluge of coverage of Los Angeles Clippers owner…

On Wednesday, Jake Tapper set aside a full segment on his CNN program to Rep. Bennie Thompson's "Uncle Tom" insult of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Tapper spotlighted the "racially-charged" and controversial" remarks, where the Mississippi Democrat also denigrated Senator Mitch McConnell and opponents of ObamaCare in general as "racists." The anchor turned to correspondent Dana Bash…

In his “Happy Warrior” column in the April 21 National Review, Jonah Goldberg reports on how “Press Shows Bias.” In this case, it’s the case of California state Sen. Leland Yee, whose remarkable attempts to smuggle guns and even missile-launchers went mostly ignored in the national media. The most notable omitter was CNN, which tweeted it covers state officials “just about never.” (On April…

CNN's Jake Tapper didn't ask guest Bill Maher once about his vile rhetoric against conservative women in a lengthy, two-segment interview on Friday's The Lead. Tapper asked all soft questions of the liberal comedian who gave $1 million to President Obama's super PAC in 2012. He also brought up the Lewinsky scandal, which enabled Maher to laud Bill Clinton as "respectable" and a "great guy."…

Conservatives across the fruited plain are likely going to be shocked by this - and liberals extremely angered! - but the fact-checking website PolitiFact on Thursday named President Obama's "If you like your health care plan, you can keep it" promise the Lie of the Year. Such was announced on CNN's The Lead (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

Jake Tapper's Thursday interview with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi started off chummy and didn't really get tough until near the end.  Tapper teed her up to criticize Tea Party Republicans and critique John Boehner's Speakership on CNN's The Lead. "Speaker Boehner has an unruly group of Tea Party Republicans," Tapper noted before serving his biggest softball. "How have you been able to…

As NewsBusters reported, former Florida governor Jeb Bush pounded public school activist Matt Damon in August for putting his kids in private school. Damon gave CNN's Jake Tapper a rather lame excuse for this in an online segment of their interview Friday while claiming, "I'd eat my shoe if he could name a Bush that ever even walked into a public school" (video follows with transcript and…

On CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper today, Tapper reported on a woman who’s very happy with the way ObamaCare is working: TAPPER: That's not a yes. Park is still working on fixes, but Tony Trenkle, the chief information officer for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, which is running the site, resigned. The Web site does have some satisfied customers out there, such as Flora Brewer of Fort…

On Tuesday's The Lead, liberal historian Doris Kearns Goodwin dismissed the notion that the media is in President Obama's "pocket." "I don't think the country would feel that his way of dealing with the country has been eased by the press," she lamented of Obama and the media. "I think the press is much more complicated today. I think ever since Watergate there's a more antagonistic view…