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"In West Africa, we are surging the response not only of CDC where we already have more than 130 people in the field, but also throughout the U.S. government. The president has leaned forward to make sure we're acting very proactively there, and the Defense Department is on the ground already strengthening the response," Centers for Disease Control Director Dr. Tom Frieden told reporters in a Tuesday evening briefing.

Could Chris Hayes, the eggheady MSNBC host, be a secret admirer of conservative firebrand Ted Cruz? The question arises in light of Hayes' new "Lean Forward" promo. In it, Hayes hails those with "the courage to look power in the eye and say 'no.'" Quick: in the current political context, who comes to mind? View the video here.

*According to filings with the state of New York and the IRS, Al Sharpton’s nonprofit group currently owes $871,688 in unpaid payroll taxes including penalties and interest. His foundation, the National Action Network, was founded in 1991 but has been dodging it’s financial problems for years. The organization has a deficit of more than $1 million, with Sharpton loaning money to the organization amounting to about $111,000.

During a May appearance on Rachel Maddow Lean Forward Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said gun rights are not "God-given" and any claim that the Founding Fathers wanted U.S. citizens armed so they could repel a tyranny "is insane." Murphy said, "The Second Amendment is not an absolute right, not a God-given right. It has always had conditions upon it like the First Amendment has." This is disturbing language from a sitting Senator, especially when you consider that the First Amendment opens with the phrase "Congress shall make no law" and the Second Amendment states that the right to keep and...

A sneering group of MSNBC hosts and analysts on Thursday berated Sean Hannity for his "mindless" anti-government attitude, mocking him as "pathetic." The Fox News host gave an interview to Playboy magazine in which he dismissed much of the federal government as "dysfunctional." Ex-Newsweek editor Howard Fineman, who has bragged about "steering clear of partisanship," slammed Hannity for having a "deliberate lack of self-awareness [that] is just stunning." Speaking of the federal government, Fineman continued, "One of the reasons why the system is so dysfunctional is because of the mindlessly accusatory nature of what he...what they [conservatives] do." The journalist,...

MSNBC and Anthony Weiner: made for each other like a frank and a bun? Today's New York Daily News reports that when NYC mayoral candidate Weiner got into an argument on the campaign trail yesterday, he boasted that despite his mistakes, "I am still gonna be out there leaning forward." "Lean Forward" is of course MSNBC's lefty slogan, featured in many promos that NB has analyzed, as here and here. More here.

It's a dark day, or month, when you are dead last in ratings (as in CNN actually beat them)...

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama paid $112,214 in federal taxes on $608,611 in income last year for a tax rate of 18.4 percent, which is slightly lower than the average rate paid by others in their income bracket. Most American households making between $500,000 and $1 million paid a 20.6 percent rate in 2012, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. In spite of the lower tax rate, the Obamas still managed to overpay taxes last year to the tune of $16,815, according to their tax returns, which were released by the White House on Friday.

Maybe MSNBC was trying to deflect some of the controversy surrounding Melissa Harris-Perry's recent "Lean Forward" promo by pushing out a new one. MH-P had provoked outrage by proclaiming that "kids belong to their communities" rather than to their parents. But if anything, the new promo aired during today's Morning Joe just adds fuel to MH-P's socialist fire. While claiming to defend meritocracy, Harris-Perry could only grudgingly admit that the most successful should earn "a little more." She then proceeded to proclaim as a right "health care, education, decent housing and quality food at all times." From each according to...

MSNBC’s newest ad features weekend host Melissa Harris-Perry unwittingly -- or at least one hopes-- referencing the Communist Chinese economic program known as the “Great Leap Forward” which left an estimated 18-45 million Chinese dead. The 30-second ad featuring Ms. Perry is narrated as follows: No fight began just in the years preceding victory. The struggle for civil rights didn’t begin in the 1950s. African-Americans had been demanding representation since the 1880s. Women didn’t just start fighting for the vote in the 1920s. That began at the founding of this country. Immigrants to this country have been since its founding...

Nowadays, our nation's capital is in such ill-repute that if George Washington were around, he might sue to have his name taken off it. But never fear: restoring Washington's good name is just a few trillion dollars away! So Chris Matthews assures us in an MSNBC "Lean Forward" promo that is currently airing. After ticking off a number of big-government programs initated under past presidents, Matthews continues: "we got to get back to that, and then Washington will have a good name again." View the promo here.

Not the first to think of it, see more examples here.Rachel Maddow exemplifies this perfectly, see the video on how she does it here.

The Obama campaign apparently didn't look backwards into history when selecting its new campaign slogan, "Forward" — a word with a long and rich association with European Marxism. Many Communist and radical publications and entities throughout the 19th and 20th centuries had the name "Forward!" or its foreign cognates. Wikipedia has an entire section called "Forward (generic name of socialist publications)." "The name Forward carries a special meaning in socialist political terminology. It has been frequently used as a name for socialist, communist and other left-wing newspapers and publications," the online encyclopedia explains. The slogan "Forward!" reflected the conviction of...

In an MSNBC "Lean Forward" promo aired on today's Morning Joe, Tamron Hall says she's been upset and saddened by the use of patriotism and military families as political pawns. So where did Hall station herself for purposes of the spot? Why, in front of a military jet [an A-4 Skyhawk]! As she so often does during her on-air appearances, Hall also spoke of her background as member of a military family. Speaking of using the military as a pawn, have you ever heard Hall or any of her MSNBC cohorts criticize President Obama for staging shots like the one...

Republicans have a problem. The most-talked-about figure in the GOP is a reality show star who cannot be elected. And yet the same leaders who fret that Sarah Palin could devastate their party in 2012 are too scared to say in public what they all complain about in private. Enough. It’s time for the GOP to man up. Everybody knows that Palin is a busy woman. The former half-term governor of Alaska stays so busy these days that one wonders how this mother of five manages to juggle her new reality show, follow her eldest daughter’s dancing career and launch...

Looks like the MSNBC-Obama merger is complete . . . Janet Napolitano did double-duty on Good Morning America today, describing administration anti-terrorism efforts while serving as an MSNBC shill by parroting the liberal network's new marketing catchphrase, Lean Forward. To complete the daisy chain, Napolitano was interviewed by ABC's Bianna Golodryga, wife of . . . former Obama budget director Peter Orzag. View video after the jump.

In August, Ed Schultz reportedly erupted in the MSNBC newsroom over being excluded from the network's election night promos. According to the NY Post, network honchos threatened to fire Schultz if he pulled a similar stunt again. Could there be some kiss-and-make-up going on at 30 Rock? Of all the MSNBC personages, the network apparently selected Schultz first to have his own spot in the "Lean Forward" series of network promos. It aired this afternoon during Chris Matthews "Hardball" . . . and the theme was pure class warfare. Scolded Schultz: "Why are we letting the top 2% of the...

Sometimes the bias can't get any clearer: A MSNBC graphic on Monday mocked GOP senatorial candidates with the headline, "American Freak Show: Angle, Paul, O'Donnell: New Faces in Politics." American Freak Show is also the title of guest Willie Geist's new book on politics, but all the apparent "freaks" discussed in the piece were Republicans. The tone of the segment made it even more clear. Geist complained to Jansing and Co. Host Chris Jansing, "The frustration about this is, you have to hand in a book so early

Not that there was any doubt, but we now have confirmation that the new MSNBC "Lean Forward" series of promos is all about . . . promoting the election of Democrats. On his MSNBC show this evening, Ed Schultz used the "lean forward" phrase in urging "base Democrats" to go to the polls to defeat Republicans and support President Obama's agenda. View video here.

Via I Own the World. The good news? “America’s candidate” has mastered the fine art of message discipline. The bad news? It’s rendered him incapable of normal human interaction. The mitigating news? That was never his strong suit in the first place.Lawrence O’Donnell says near the end that he’d still support him over DeMint. That, not “Lean Forward,” should be MSNBC’s new slogan.