Free Republic

Why Can't MSNBC Say 'Sorry' to Limbaugh? MSNBC launches a campaign to discredit Rush Limbaugh but when the network screws up after running a fake quote it can only "clarify" its mistake. Change the meaning of the MS in MSNBC. At least for one brief moment last week, the abbreviation went from “Mostly Stupid” to “Mostly Sorry.” Co-host David Shuster, who seldom has a good word to say for any conservative, gave a classic non-apology apology when he said racial quotes attributed to talk show host Rush Limbaugh could not be verified. He was mostly sorry. Sort of. Maybe. “MSNBC...

Throughout the previous administration, MSNBC host Keith Olbermann would nightly attack President George W. Bush and members of his administration and regularly bash some conservative personalities for being too cozy with Bush. However, when he and his MSNBC colleague Rachel Maddow engage in the same brand of coziness, meeting with President Barack Obama earlier this week, it's no longer an indiscretion. Instead, it becomes justified - since Bush did it. Olbermann appeared on the Oct. 23 "The Rachel Maddow Show" and he and Maddow responded to critics. Maddow asked him to respond to particular comments from former White House Deputy...

More attacks on former VP Cheney? This clown has taken the Democrat party to an all time low. The only outlet out there that will give him a forum is MSNBC. More embarrassing is the fact that Matthews lets it slide right by. Remind me again which isn’t really a news organization.

Separated at birth? MSNBC is neither a news network nor a ratings success, but it is good for one thing: taking the pulse of the Left. Judging by his numerous recent appearances, the Left has a new It-boy: Rep. Alan Grayson, D-FL, who made headlines by saying the Republican health care plan is for you to "die quickly." Last night’s edition of Hardball with Chris Matthews gave Grayson another opportunity to display his cultivated intellect. Asked by Matthews to respond to Dick Cheney’s criticism of Obama’s Afghanistan (non-)policy, Grayson chose to uncork some Don Rickles one-liners: Well, my response...

Mr. President, you're embarrassing the friendlies now. There’s only one thing dumber than picking a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel -- picking a fight with people who don’t even have to buy ink. The Obama administration’s war on Fox News is dumb on multiple levels. It makes the White House look weak, unable to take Harry Truman’s advice and just deal with the heat. It makes the White House look small, dragged down to the level of Glenn Beck. It makes the White House look childish and petty at best, and it has a distinct Nixonian...

Is this a joke? "Speaking privately at the White House on Monday with a group of columnists and commentators, including Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann of MSNBC and Maureen Dowd, Frank Rich and Bob Herbert of The New York Times, President Obama himself gave vent to sentiments about the network, according to people briefed on the conversation…"

A petulant Chris Matthews wouldn’t talk about MSNBC’s recent ratings dip during an interview flogging his fawning essay on the late Sen. Edward Kennedy that’s in the November issue of Boston magazine. “Let’s just drop all the conversation about my network,” the “Hardball” host huffed the other day. “I’m not a media critic.” It could be that Matthews got a little hot under the collar because his left-leaning network has been losing viewers. During the recent third-quarter ratings period, Fox News averaged about 2.26 million total viewers in prime time and was up 2 percent from the same time last...

Is there no depth MSNBC's Chris Matthews won't sink to? Judging from a truly disgraceful comment he made on Thursday's "Hardball," the answer has got to be a resounding "NO!" -snip-

MSBNC's Brewer introduces Jackson as Sharpton Wednesday, October 21, 2009 NEW YORK, (AP) MSNBC's Contessa Brewer has apologized for mixing up civil rights activists Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. She made the slip-up Wednesday while introducing Jackson during a segment on homelessness. After the introduction, Jackson stared at the camera from a studio in Burbank, Calif., and said, "I'm Rev. Jesse Jackson." Brewer explained that her script read that she was to introduce "the Rev. Al Sharpton." She continued, "We all know who you are, Rev. Jackson. I'm so sorry."

A day after key White House officials declared the Fox News Channel wasn't a news organization, President Obama met with MSNBC personalities Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow. Talk about your delicious hypocrisy. Fittingly, the news was broken by FNC's Bret Baier during Tuesday's "Special Report" (video embedded below the fold with transcript, relevant section at 1:45, h/t Hot Air via NBer Thomas Stewart): BRET BAIER, HOST: And finally, during this morning's off-camera White House briefing with reporters, ABC's Jake Tapper asked Press Secretary Robert Gibbs about the ongoing White House attacks on FOX News Channel. After being asked about the...

MSNBC's news bimbo talking head Contessa Brewer introduces Jesse Jackson as Al Sharpton. Jesse gets all mad and looks like he's going to cry. Brewer begins to obsequiously grovel and stutter. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sHn8_50c_s

NEW YORK — MSNBC's Contessa Brewer has apologized for mixing up civil rights activists Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. She made the slip-up Wednesday while introducing Jackson during a segment on homelessness. After the introduction, Jackson stared at the camera from a studio in Burbank, Calif., and said, "I'm Rev. Jesse Jackson."Brewer explained that her script read that she was to introduce "the Rev. Al Sharpton."She continued, "We all know who you are, Rev. Jackson. I'm so sorry."

I think it's safe to say that the gloves are off.

MSNBC President Phil Griffin has vowed to launch a "thorough and complete investigation" to root out "any insidious, racist teleprompters in our midst." After anchor Contessa Brewer was victimized by a racist 'prompter that couldn't tell the difference between Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton, the news organization realized that it had a serious problem on its hands. "It's something that we probably should have paid more attention to after the first few incidents," said Griffin. Griffin then detailed some recent 'prompter faux pas that the post-racial Obama administration network of choice originally dismissed as isolated incidents. Last spring,...

Around 2:30pmET this afternoon, MSNBC anchor Contessa Brewer was introducing a segment on unemployment and brought in her guest: "Joining me now to talk about this and the nation's real problem of joblessness, the Rev. Al Sharpton..." One problem: Brewer was interviewing the Rev. Jesse Jackson. And he made her aware of that fact. "I'm Rev. Jesse Jackson." "Right. I'm so sorry," said Brewer. "The script in front of me said Rev. Al Sharpton. I'm looking at your face. I know who you are, Rev. Jackson, we all do. I'm sorry."

Do the major media outlets in the U.S. have a liberal bias? Few questions evoke stronger opinions, and we cannot think of a more important question to which objective statistical techniques can lend their service. So far, the debate has largely been one of anecdotes (“How can CBS News be balanced when it calls Steve Forbes’ tax plan ‘wacky’?”) and untested theories (“if the news industry is a competitive market, then how can media outlets be systematically biased?”). Few studies provide an objective measure of the slant of news, and none has provided a way to link such a measure...

Here is pathetic video of MSNBC's Keith Olbermann running an ad on his show touting MSNBC as the "undisputed leader in Cable TV News." Olbermann said he has been saying for six years that Fox News is not a real news organization. He said the "White House has done the heavy lifting" now on that issue by saying that Fox News is not real news. So, he ran this pathetic ad that flies in the face of every fact. But, of couse, that's Keith Olbermann. How sad can you get. . . . (VIDEO)

For Chris Matthews, it’s not progress to find out there is less racism in the country than he supposed. THAT does not put the tingle in his leg, not one bit. Last week, the Democrats’ top national pollster, Stan Greenberg, and his partner, James “The Snake” Carville put out a focus group report that essentially said race is “beside the point” for those who oppose Obama’s policies. Chris was not happy. Now this should be good news for the Left. This means their opponents are not hardened by blind hatred or prejudice, and can be reached by reason, or won...

In an interview with Orrin Hatch, Andrea Mitchell (an anchor for MSNBC) said that she would NOT classify George Soros as a left wing person. Um…. Say it with me: There’s no liberal bias in the media. There’s no liberal bias in the media. There’s no liberal bias in the media. There’s no liberal bias in the media. There’s no liberal bias in the media. Click here to see interview with Orrin and Andrea...

When a liberal rag tells Obama and company they need to get ahold of themselves: The Obama administration really needs to get over itself. First, the president and his aides go to war with Fox News because the network maintains a generally anti-Obama slant. Then, an anonymous administration aide attacks bloggers for failing to maintain a sufficiently pro-Obama slant. These are not disconnected developments. An administration that won the White House with an almost always on-message campaign and generally friendly coverage from old and new media is now frustrated by its inability to control the debate and get the coverage...

As heard on Glenn Becks show today this is video of Anita Dunn discussing the tactics to be used in controlling the media and press. For Example: She talks about how they would use David Pluths videos to bypass having to talk to reporters. "We'd put those out and make them write what Pluth had said as opposed to Pluth doing an interview.." Here is the video Here is the video of Anita Dunn.

Friday night, Keith Olbermann replayed his hour-long “Special Comment” rant, Healthcare Reform: The Fight Against Death. For detailed commentary on his rambling and sometimes exceedingly strange commentary, look here, here and here. Keith says his commentary was prompted by his father’s recent illness and ironically, very good experience with the health care system. Keith gave an excruciatingly detailed account of his father’s ordeal after falling out of bed and being too stubborn to call for help. This was supposed, I guess, to show us… what? I guess it was just to batter us emotionally, tenderizing our brains for the later...

Now that they played their part in smearing Rush Limbaugh and creating a firestorm that resulted in Limbaugh being criticized by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and eventually being dropped from the group bidding to buy the St. Louis Rams, some in the media are admitting they used alleged "quotes" that they cannot confirm. First, here is Rick Sanchez at CNN apologizing for using quotes against Limbaugh that he now admits he cannot independently confirm . . . MSNBC's David Shuster admitted on air today that they cannot verify the quotes they used either, be he did not apologize . ....

MSNBC uber-dork Keith Olbermann has done it again. The cable channel's principal pontificator -- in naming syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin "the worst person in the world" on Wednesday night -- blasted her "total mindless, morally bankrupt, knee-jerk, fascistic hatred, without which Michelle Malkin would just be a mashed-up bag of meat with lipstick on it." AirAmerica.com blogger Megan Carpentier found Olbermann's remarks more than slightly misogynistic, and said, "By attacking Michelle Malkin's politics with an assault on women of every political persuasion, and then indicating a desire to see her physically harmed, a person might understandably get the idea that...

Perhaps the 41st president still has it in him - at least when it comes to the left crying foul about the so-called uncivil political discourse on right, but being equally if not worse on the left, particularly on MSNBC, the so-called "Place for Politics." In an interview on Oct. 16 with CBS Radio, former President George H.W. Bush took a very critical tact with MSNBC hosts Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow, deeming them "a couple of sick puppies." (via MSNBC's Oct. 16 "The Rachel Maddow Show") "I don't like it," Bush said. "I think the cables have a lot...

Joe Scarborough is under intense pressure to perform as he goes head-to-head with old foe Don Imus. MSNBC chiefs have been nervously watching the ratings since Imus' show on the Fox Business Network started airing at the same time as Scarborough's "Morning Joe" earlier this month. Scarborough was hit with a further blow this week when his radio show was dropped by DC radio station WMAL. A source told Page Six: "Those higher up at MSNBC are unnerved by Imus' move to Fox Business Network and fear his show could push Scarborough down. They're putting a lot of pressure on...

During the 3:00PM ET hour of live coverage on MSNBC Friday, co-host David Shuster admitted that racially charged quotes he and other hosts attributed to Rush Limbaugh had not been verified: “MSNBC attributed that quote to a football player who was opposed to Limbaugh’s NFL bid. However, we have been unable to verify that quote independently. So, just to clarify.” Shuster did not formally retract the quote or apologize.

"Mediocre ratings and predictable tantrums aside, there’s not much to the Keith Olbermann show. His hollow presentation of the day’s top news stories contains very little actual news. Instead, he uses every story as an opportunity to show off his smug, smooth face. His leering arguments are increasingly vapid. He exhibits as poor a grip on American values as he has on baseball (where his devotion to the New York Yankees and his hatred of the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Boston Red Sox is unprofessionally obvious). Olbermann casts himself as the YouTube generation’s Howard Beale, throwing out random bits of...

Media Bias: Not long after pro football welcomed a convicted felon back on the playing field, Rush Limbaugh is dropped for his opinions from a group seeking to buy an NFL franchise. Won't someone throw a flag? When even Keith Olbermann says back off, you know the politically correct critics of the conservative icon and megaradio talk host's proposed part ownership of the St. Louis Rams are guilty of piling on. The prospect of the leading conservative voice in America participating in the purchase of a football team sent the liberal elites into cardiac arrest and into a frenzied campaign...

Here is video of Chris Matthews talking with Allen Olson a SC Tea Party organizer about Sarah Palin. Chris Matthews asked Olson "who would you like to see replace people like Lindsey Graham?" Olson answered "I believe Sarah Palin would make an awesome President." he also said Sen. Jim DeMint "would be great for Vice President." Matthews then asked Olson "you think Sarah Palin is qualified to be President of the United States, based upon her partial single term as governor of Alaska?" (Video)

This ought to get the folks at the left-wing noise machine all wound up. Fox News host Glenn Beck on his Oct. 14 show, after being a regular recipient of MSNBC host Keith Olbermann's "Worst Persons in the World" on his "Countdown" program, decided to have a little fun by mocking Olbermann and his MSNBC colleague Chris Matthews. Beck mocked Olbermann's "Shakespearean" performance he puts on nightly on his "Countdown" program and also mocked Chris Matthews for his February 2008 "Obama gave me a thrill up my leg" comments. ...more (w/video)...

On Tuesday’s Countdown show, MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann spewed bile at conservative commentator Michelle Malkin, accusing her of possessing "fascistic hatred," and comparing her to a "mashed-up bag of meat with lipstick on it." During his show’s regular "Worst Person" segment, Olbermann attacked Malkin for her role in bringing attention to the recent controversy over school children in New Jersey singing a song about President Obama.

This will be the last report on this particular tree falling in the forest—not that we are going to end this series on Keith Olbermann, or MSNBC in general-- but on Keith Olbermann’s not-so- Special Comment on Health Care grandiosely entitled, The Fight Against Death. Tonight, Keith reported proudly just how short a reach he has, when he got all excited that his audience had contributed just under 50 cents per viewer to provide free health care to the needy. Mocking the fact that Keith has raised a half million bucks for charity might seem, well, uncharitable, but Keith’s motives...

MSNBC contributor Touré on Wednesday continued the network's vitriolic, slanderous attacks on Rush Limbaugh. Discussing the radio host’s bid to buy the St. Louis Rams, the cable commentator smeared, "Several NFL players have already said they would not play for Rush because they know he would love to say he owns a plantation full of black men." [Audio available here.] When Morning Meeting host Dylan Ratigan mock protested, "No, they don't know that," the one-named Touré reiterated, "They feel it." Ratigan gave in and played along, "Okay, they feel that." Despite calls from the Media Research Center, MSNBC has repeatedly...

Just when you thought Keith Olbermann couldn't get any more vile or vulgar . . . Opening this evening's Countdown, Olbermann said that Rush Limbaugh's observation that Glenn Beck was the result of his success "is like congratulating yourself for spreading syphyllis." Olbermann made his crude comment in teasing a segment on Rush's interview with NBC's Jamie Gangel. View video.

Olbermann: "By nighttime, [Michelle] Malkin and the lunatic fringe had decided Carney-Nunez was responsible for the [NJ school] song and whichever plot their fevered little paranoid minds saw behind it. She received death threats and hate-filled voice mails all thanks to the total mindless, morally bankrupt, knee-jerk, fascistic hatred, without which Michelle Malkin would just be a big mashed-up bag of meat with lipstick on it."

Here is pathetic video from Morning Joe today where guest Donny Deutsch made a comment about Rush Limbaugh that had to be bleeped out (see video below). In the video above, Joe Scarborough questions Deutsch about the comment, and Deutsch then tries to get a group hug from those on set with him. And this is what the White House would call a "real news channel" as opposed to Fox News. . . . (VIDEOS)

It's an odd natural occurrence when you put MSNBC "Hardball" host Chris Matthews and CNBC "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer together, but when it happens they seem to draw some obvious conclusions - albeit nearly 10 months too late. Back in January, Cramer appeared on Matthews' show. They both expressed their concern over the $787-billion stimulus, which eventually passed and asked if it really was stimulative. When the duo appeared together again on Oct. 12, they concluded it wasn't. Cramer was on "Hardball" to promote his new book, "Jim Cramer's Getting Back to Even." Matthews observed that the stimulus bill...

Latest evidence of the MSM/Obama mind-meld . . . Reporting on the prospects of an ObamaCare bill coming up for a Senate committee vote, NBC's Athena Jones told Tamron Hall during MSNBC's 4 PM hour today: "It looks like it's going to work out fine to pass tomorrow." View video here.

As AMERICAblog has reported, NBC's chief Washington, D.C. correspondent John Harwood says that—according to the White House—the president doesn't take today's Equality March seriously: Barack Obama is doing well with 90% or more of Democrats so the White House views this opposition as really part of the Internet left fringe. For a sign of how seriously the White House does or doesn't take this opposition, one adviser told me those bloggers need to take off the pajamas, get dressed, and realize that governing a closely divided country is complicated and difficult. And here's the MSNBC video: http://tinyurl.com/ykbgd29 I'll take this...

In July when I interviewed for the MRC position, I pitched a program I’ve always wanted to produce. Well, a few weeks ago, we shot a pilot, the boss bought the concept, and we were in the studio yesterday and I edited it today. So on Monday, the series premiere of Notable Quotables (the video) will post and I’ll have it here on B&R. MRC has committed to four videos and if popular, can go indefinitely.

It probably wasn't totally unexpected, since the tally of time the on-air talent at MSNBC spends on Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., increases with every broadcast hour. Bachmann, not one to hold back on expressing her opinions, has criticized MSNBC on not one, but two occasions recently. And one of those appearances, on Fox News' Oct. 7 "The O'Reilly Factor," she called her critics on the left-leaning network "personal stalkers, only they have TV shows." And that earned her the top spot on Olbermann's "Worst Person in the World" segment. "But our winner, Michele Bachmann," Olbermann said, referring to the first...

Remember how the left was up in arms about the possibility that conservative talker Rush Limbaugh might purchase the St. Louis Rams, especially from the left-wing noise machine and the pundits that echo its message? Well, in a curious turn of events on MSNBC's Oct. 8 "Countdown," host Keith Olbermann told his viewers that those who are opposing Limbaugh's bid for the Rams were the third worst people in the world on this particular day. ...more (w/video)...

Remember back just a few short months ago - when thousands, if not millions, of Americans were protesting out-of-control government spending and other policies favored by President Barack Obama's administration? Surprised by the resounding turnout, the usual lefty talking heads on MSNBC, specifically on "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" and "The Rachel Maddow Show," explained the protests away as being fake grassroots aka AstroTurf? Fast forward to Oct. 7, when both Olbermann and Maddow started laying down AstroTurf of their own. They encouraged free health care clinics to be held in the states of six Democratic senators that are not in...

Over the past several days, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., has made a series appearances pushing for action against the disgraced organization ACORN. However, in an appearance on Fox News Oct. 7 "The O'Reilly Factor," host Bill O'Reilly asked Bachmann about a trend others have noticed - why do so many media figures on the left have such a fixation on criticizing her or former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin? "You are a pretty interesting politician, congresswoman," O'Reilly said. "You are second to Sarah Palin in far-left angst. You know, Sarah Palin leads the league, no doubt. But they're after you now....

WASHINGTON -- Keith Olbermann wants you to listen to him. That was, essentially, the message of Wednesday night's "Countdown." The entire hour was dedicated to a "Special Comment" -- Olbermann-ese for an editorial -- about healthcare reform. But the point didn't seem to be to pass reform legislation; the point appeared to be to chastise everyone involved in it, on either side, and to declaim about the nature of the system. Where Olbermann could have explained what the legislation would do -- and taken on the myths against it -- instead he spent his time making solemn pronouncements. The very...

Here is video of Michele Bachmann talking to Bill O'Reilly about the lefts anger towards her. O'Reilly told Bachmann "you are second to Sarah Palin in far left angst," and asked "how did you get into that wheel house?" Bachmann answered "I think it happened with a competing cable network that took an interest in me, and it's only grown." She went on to say "it's almost like I have personal stalkers, only they have Tv shows, so it's kind of an interesting phenomenon." When asked why the left is going after her, Bachmann answered "It may bother them that...

The last ratings cycle Monday night, Beck withing less than 200k of O'Reilly and that's at a 5:00p.m. timeslot, MSNBC also continues to lose viewers...

"I decline utterly to be impartial as between the fire brigade and the fire."--Winston Churchill, House of Commons, 1927For the past 6 years, Chris Matthews has hosted a show in which guests gleefully reported the purported success of both indigenous insurgents and foreign al Qaeda fighters in Iraq. On his network, MSNBC, that became the default setting. They were the publicity arm of al Qaeda. Car bombs led the news, successful American battles, infrastructure completion, or the like were not even news. Bagdad Bob had nothing on them. Chris would evoke the worst kind of moral equivalence by constantly posing...

As the Olympics head to Rio, unemployment edges toward ten percent, and Tehran barrels toward a nuclear weapon, the Left continues its “Question the Patriotism of Conservatives” tour ‘09. In one of the more unlikely scenarios of recent television history, MSNBC’s “The Ed Show” compared President Obama’s perpetual criticism of his country favorably against Rush Limbaugh. The episode was outstanding for its audacity and the light it shed on where the Left really pledges its allegiance. Shortly after slamming conservatives’ “lack of patriotism” and insisting opposition to Obama’s myopic focus on the Chicago Olympics “rivals Jane Fonda sitting on a...