Since late January of 2012, the Washington Examiner’s Paul Bedard has once a week featured a “Mainstream Media Scream” selection in his “Washington Secrets” column. For each pick, usually posted online on Monday, I provide an explanation and recommend a “scream” rating (scale of one to five).
This post contains the “Liberal Media Screams” starting in January 2023.
> For 2021 and 2022, for all of 2020. For all of 2019. For all of 2018. (Re-named “Liberal Media Scream” as of June 11, 2018.) “Mainstream Media Screams” for:
> July-December 2017 posts; January through June 2017; July to December 2016; for January to June 2016; for July to December 2015; for January to June 2015. (2012-2014 are featured on MRC.org: For 2014; for June 17, 2013 through the end of 2013. And for January 31, 2012 through June 11, 2013.)
Check Bedard’s “Washington Secrets” blog for the latest choice and his other Washington insider posts. Each week, this page will be updated with Bedard’s latest example of the worst bias of the week.
(For more of the worst liberal media bias, browse the Media Research Center’s Notable Quotables with compilations of the latest outrageous, sometimes humorous, quotes in the https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/washington-secrets/liberal-media-scream-joy-behar-would-exile-trump-to-saudi-arabialiberal media.)
■ New on September 4: Liberal Media Scream: Biden’s coverage ‘tougher than he deserves’
See the posting on the Washington Examiner’s site where you can watch the video and read Baker’s assessment. A week later, Bedard’s article will be posted here.
■ August 28: Liberal Media Scream: Dour Dana bashes Ramaswamy over KKK reference
(Washington Examiner post)
This week’s Liberal Media Scream features CNN anchor Dana Bash repeatedly beating GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s comparison of liberal “Squad” member Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) to “a modern grand wizard of the KKK.”
Over more than five minutes, the anchor harangued Ramaswamy, who said he made the comparison to spark a debate over the lawmaker’s suggestion that candidates of color should be in lockstep with liberals.
After four minutes of her bashing, an exasperated Ramaswamy said: “Dana, I think you’re doing, with due respect, what many in the media do, picking on some fringe comment in the context of a broader context that I was offering in a speech, avoiding the meat of the issue.”
Here’s a sampling from CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday:
DANA BASH: You took issue with comments from Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (D-MA). She reportedly said, quote, “we don’t need any more brown faces that don’t want to be a brown voice.” About that, you said, “These are the words of the modern grand wizards of the modern KKK.” You know, I’m sure, the KKK was responsible for more than a century’s worth of horrific lynchings, rapes, murders of black people. How in any way are the views you’re talking about comparable to the views and atrocities committed by the KKK?”
VIVEK RAMASWAMY: What I said is: The grand wizards of the KKK would be proud of what they would hear her say, because there’s nothing more racist than saying that your skin color predicts something about the content of your viewpoints or your ideas.
BASH: No, you didn’t just say that. You didn’t just say that they would be proud. You said, “These are the words of the modern grand wizards of the modern KKK.”
RAMASWAMY: It is the same spirit. You’re right about that, Dana. I think it is the same spirit to say that I can look at you and, based on just your skin color, that I know something about the content of your character, that I know something about the content of the viewpoints you’re allowed to express.
….
BASH: But can you have an intellectually honest conversation when you accuse her of being a grand wizard of the KKK? Can you have that intellectually honest discussion with that kind of rhetoric?
….
BASH: If you want to have an intellectual question, do you think that maybe comparing her to the grand wizard and the notion of what she said to being a modern leader of the KKK was maybe a step too far, or you stand by what you said?
….
BASH: What I did was explain to our viewers that you were asked a question and you took it to a point where you called a sitting member of Congress who is black, who was having discussions about race, calling her the modern grand wizard of the KKK. And I’m just not sure how that’s open and honest discussion.
Brent Baker, the vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Bash’s constant harping was not good television. Ramaswamy explained his point and she should have moved on. But she so vehemently disagreed with him that she wouldn’t let go. In doing so, she helped prove Ramaswamy’s point about the elite who won’t countenance any contrary views on race relations, not even from the target of a racist attack.”
Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.
■ August 21: No Liberal Media Scream this week
■ August 14: Liberal Media Scream: Media rage at MAGA ‘alternative reality’
(Washington Examiner post)
This week’s Liberal Media Scream features the latest example of the sputtering anger Washington journalists have at the support former President Donald Trump has from his MAGA millions.
Appearing Sunday on ABC’s This Week, Susan Glasser, Washington reporter for the New Yorker and a veteran of the Washington Post and Politico, coughed up a word salad to the storyline that a growing list of indictments is good for Trump while the building criminal focus on first son Hunter Biden is bad for President Joe Biden.
From the roundtable on Sunday’s This Week on ABC:
Susan Glasser: “Part of this is the incredible distortion field where we are all somehow living in Donald Trump’s alternate reality, right? We are talking about, ‘Well, it’s a great benefit to him,’ according to, you know, the big story in the New York Times today that he’s been indicted criminally, what, three times — and it looks like a fourth coming up this week — because we’re living in this warped distortion field of a Republican primary in which Donald Trump is stampeding? It’s a minority of a minority in the country, and so then, you have something like these series of abortion rights referenda in the wake of the Roe v. Wade decision.
“And you realize that in this country, even in deep-red states, there are solid majorities that don’t think, you know, Donald Trump should be the president again, who defeated him in the popular vote in 2016 and in 2020, who support, by actually record numbers, abortion rights, and yet we live in this world where it’s somehow good that Donald Trump is a criminal defendant but somehow bad electorally for the president that his son is being investigated for something, that as far as we know, does not directly concern Joe Biden.”
Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “What an incredible lack of inquisitiveness for a journalist. Glasser is living in her own ‘alternate reality,’ one inhabited by virtually all of her Washington press corps colleagues who are enraged by everything Trump but have put on blinders when it comes to President Joe Biden. They don’t want to give legitimacy to anything which could harm Biden’s reelection fortunes.”
Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.
■ August 7: Liberal Media Scream: Joy Behar would exile Trump to Saudi Arabia
(Washington Examiner post)
This week’s Liberal Media Scream features the ladies of The View jumping to a whole new level of “Trump derangement syndrome” following the third criminal indictment of former President Donald Trump.
Led by Trump Hater in Chief Joy Behar, they talked up a plea deal that prosecutor Jack Smith could offer that sends the former president away for good — but not jail. Instead, and due to concerns that the Secret Service might not allow a former president to live in a jail cell if he’s convicted, Behar suggested exile in Saudi Arabia.
“Wouldn’t that be good?” she said to some audience laughter. “I don’t even care if he goes to jail. I don’t have it in my heart to punish the guy. I just want him to go away and stop ruining my country.”
From Thursday’s The View on ABC:
JOY BEHAR: “Well, what about making a deal? What about, Sunny, if he makes a deal with [special counsel Jack] Smith?”
SUNNY HOSTIN: “Without jail time?”
BEHAR: “Without jail, and he says, “I’m going away and moving to Saudi Arabia”?
Wouldn’t that be good? Just go away. We don’t — I don’t even care if he goes to jail. I don’t have it in my heart to punish the guy. I just want him to go away and stop ruining my country.”
HOSTIN: “I think there are certain prosecutors that would offer him a plea agreement without time if he would agree to never run for public office again anywhere.”
BEHAR: “And go away. I don’t want to even see him in the Enquirer.”
Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Presumably, The View does not air in Saudi Arabia, so this idea might have some appeal to Trump — and many of us — who wouldn’t mind never again hearing Joy Behar’s voice, but I’d recommend flipping this and exiling the entire crew of The View to Saudi Arabia so none of us have to hear their discombobulated daily rantings.”
Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.
■ July 31: Liberal Media Scream: Chuck Todd still trying to downplay Hunter Biden scandals
(Washington Examiner post)
This week’s Liberal Media Scream features a Sunday network public affairs show host that President Joe Biden and his cronies are really going to miss when he finally leaves his perch.
It’s NBC Meet the Press host Chuck Todd, of course, playing “D” on the Hunter Biden scandals exploding in the news today.
On his Sunday show and while interviewing yet another Democratic politician, he sounded almost apologetic for having to address the first son who is facing tax and gun charges and has been linked to bribery allegations along with his father.
Said Todd to his guest, Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat from Biden’s home state of Delaware, “Republicans are gonna accuse” the president of misdeeds, “they’re going to make the accusation, whether they have the evidence or not,” because they “have an information ecosystem that helps amplify it.”
Todd recently announced that he was leaving his show in September to become the network’s “long form” political analyst.
From Sunday’s Meet the Press on NBC:
CHUCK TODD: Let me start with the Hunter Biden situation and I understand that, you know, you believe this is all being emphasized due to politics, the Republican — the House Republicans are doing. Let me ask you this, do you think it would behoove the president for him to come out and say, “Hey, I had no business dealings with my son. My son’s issues are my son’s issues”? Do you think he needs to say that more directly because there’s a lot of people that believe something else happened here?
SEN. CHRIS COONS: Let’s be clear about that point, Chuck. There’s been a five-year investigation. Five years by a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney. This investigation started during the Trump administration and they’ve come forward with not one shred of evidence tying President Biden to any of this. I am encouraged that, in sharp contrast to President Trump, you’ve just detailed his mountain of legal problems where President Trump is fighting, and pushing back and obstructing, Hunter Biden’s come forward, taken responsibility, paid his late taxes. As you just discussed with Chuck Rosenberg, I think the hiccup in the Delaware District Courthouse will get ironed out pretty quickly and I don’t think President Biden needs to say anything more than he has.
TODD: House Republicans are gonna accuse him. They’re going to make the accusation —
COONS: They’re going [to] accuse him of all sorts of stuff.
TODD: — whether they have the evidence or not.
COONS: Correct.
TODD: The question — and they may have an information ecosystem that helps amplify it to a point where you don’t think he needs to just — “Hey, despite what you hear, just so you know, I don’t do business with my son or my brother”?
COONS: I think he’s been perfectly clear.
Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “If only Chuck Todd had shown such reluctance to promote accusations against President Trump about ‘Russian collusion’ made by Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff and others, which turned out to be baseless, when they were on his program. We’d be in a whole different political-media environment. But no, Todd is only upset by publicity for revelations that may hurt the Democratic president, not the Republican one. And he wonders why so many see him as more of a liberal political operative than any kind of respectable journalist.”
Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.
■ July 24: Liberal Media Scream: CBS pushes for Hunter Biden media cover-up
(Washington Examiner post)
This week’s Liberal Media Scream features the latest example of how the networks are covering up the escalating Hunter Biden sex, gun, drugs, and taxes scandal.
Not only have most ignored the scandal going all the way back to dissing reports on the first son’s laptop full of dirty deeds, but now some in the media are urging the GOP to “move on.”
Exhibit A is CBS Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan, who this weekend said the plea deal Hunter Biden has cut should be the trigger for Republicans to end their investigation into the president’s son.
Her guest, former federal prosecutor and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, dismissed her question. “No, I wouldn’t, Margaret, and here’s why. The conduct here by the U.S. attorney in Delaware and by the Justice Department just can’t be justified,” he said.
She also rolled out the standard Democratic talking point to make her case: “You know that the U.S. attorney in Delaware was appointed by former President Trump.” It’s typical for senators to suggest prosecutors in their state and U.S. Attorney David Weiss was endorsed by Delaware’s two Democratic senators at the time.
From Sunday’s Face the Nation on CBS:
MARGARET BRENNAN: There are so many legal issues in this campaign, and I want to ask you about one involving the president’s son Hunter Biden who’s going to appear in court this week to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and will enter into an agreement that could avert conviction on a gun-related charge. The deal has infuriated many congressional Republicans, who were holding their own hearings, and I wonder after this plea happens if you would advise your party to move on?
CHRIS CHRISTIE: No, I wouldn’t, Margaret, and here’s why. The conduct here by the U.S. attorney in Delaware and by the Justice Department just can’t be justified. It doesn’t take five years, Margaret. As you mentioned, I was the U.S. attorney in the fifth-largest office in the country for seven years during the Bush administration. It does not take five years to investigate two misdemeanor tax counts and to dismiss a gun charge, and we need to know what they were investigating and why these are the charges they concluded to. This is not just any person. This is the son of the president of the United States. And while justice needs to be equal, it needs to be equal, and it doesn’t appear to me that this is the way to do it. And I would say one thing on the gun charge. I mean, this is a case where Democrats yell and scream for more new gun laws in the country, and yet you hear no Democrat yelling about the fact that Hunter Biden intentionally lied on his gun permit application, mishandled the gun after he received it with a false permit application, and faces absolutely no penalty. Guess what? The guy who sponsored that law was his father, Sen. Joe Biden, and that charge carries a 10-year sentence, Margaret. We need to explain — they need to explain to the public why that was done.
So no, I don’t think it’s time to move on.
BRENNAN: And you know that the U.S. attorney in Delaware was appointed by former President Trump.
CHRISTIE: Incompetent, Margaret. It doesn’t matter, Margaret. It doesn’t matter whether you’re appointed by a Republican or a Democrat, if your work appears to be incompetent and inexplicable, you need to explain it so we can have confidence in our justice system, and I don’t care whether Mr. Weiss is a Republican or a Democrat. He owes the American people an explanation.
Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “It takes a lot of chutzpah for Brennan to suggest Republicans ‘move on’ from a topic the broadcast news networks and much of the rest of the news media have done all they can to avoid in their quest to protect President Biden. Numerous revelations about Hunter and his dad have gone unreported, or get one story on one night, and then nothing more. What kind of ‘journalist’ pushes for cover-up and suppression over pressing for more coverage three days after two IRS whistleblowers detailed federal efforts to benefit Hunter and not pursue leads which could hurt the president?”
Rating: FIVE out of FIVE SCREAMS.
■ July 17: No Liberal Media Scream this week
■ July 10: Liberal Media Scream: CNN’s Zakaria tells Biden, ‘You’ve been a great president’
(Washington Examiner post)
This week’s Liberal Media Scream features a rare one-on-one interview of President Joe Biden and a hint of what it takes to get a sit-down with him.
In the case of CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, the payback came in a phrase of praise: “You’ve been a great president.”
The line was part of a long setup on his Sunday show to a question about some Democrats calling for Biden to step aside.
From Fareed Zakaria GPS:
Zakaria to Biden: “You’ve often said when people ask you about your age, just watch me. And I think a lot of people do watch you and are impressed, and they think you’ve been a great president. You’ve brought the economy back. You’ve restored relations with the world. But many of these people do say, and these are hardened supporters of yours, the next thing he should do is step aside and let another generation of Democrats take the baton.”
Kevin Tober, a news analyst & staff writer at the Media Research Center’s NewsBusters, explains our weekly pick: “Zakaria displayed a masterclass in professional gaslighting Sunday when he told Biden that ‘a lot of people’ watch him and are ‘impressed.’ In reality, even many Democrats have expressed their concern about Biden’s age and cognitive decline. Kissing Biden’s ring is not ‘facts first’ despite what CNN wants you to think.”
Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.
■ July 3: No Liberal Media Scream this week
■ June 26: Liberal Media Scream: MSNBC historian declares GOP hopefuls insurrectionists
(Washington Examiner post)
This week’s Liberal Media Scream highlights the latest example of the conventional liberal media’s view that all Republicans are deplorable and, thus, dismissible.
MSNBC “historian” Jon Meacham, an author and former Newsweek Washington bureau chief, wrote off the large and historically diverse collection of Republican presidential candidates as insurrectionists and seditionists because all have been supportive at times of former President Donald Trump.
“We have a pretty clear choice in this political season. We can choose a constitutionalist, a party that has been pretty faithful to the Constitution, which is the party of the incumbent president, or we can favor a party that has been shockingly but persistently supportive of an insurrectionist or a seditionist,” he said on Friday’s Morning Joe show.
“It’s not simple, but it is straightforward. That’s the choice before the country,” said Meacham, who punctuated his analysis with declarations of “right?!”
From Friday’s Morning Joe on MSNBC:
JOE SCARBOROUGH: We were talking about the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court who, again, out of control, running roughshod over the will of the overwhelming majority of Americans. And now, we have this president, again, unprecedented, but here we are moving towards, I believe, I think, the most serious charges and the one that I think historians are going to be grappling with long after we are all gone. That is a president charged with conspiracy to commit sedition against the United States of America.
JON MEACHAM: You’re right, historians will be wrestling with it as we all do all the time. I think citizens have to wrestle with it now, right? This is, it’s so central, and I just really believe that we have a pretty clear choice in this political season. We can choose a constitutionalist, a party that has been pretty faithful to the Constitution, which is the party of the incumbent president, or we can favor a party that has been shockingly but persistently supportive of an insurrectionist or a seditionist.
That’s not a sentence we would have said about Eisenhower and Stevenson, right? That was not something that a lot of people grew up with. But it’s pretty vital. And yet that’s the question: Is any policy so important that you would want to favor someone that you think is a vehicle for that policy, even if they don’t and have self-evidently tried to trash the Constitution of the United States? And we could go on, but that’s really kind of it. You know, it’s pretty basic. Do you want a constitutionalist or an insurrectionist?
Then we get into the, ‘But, but, but, taxes and judges.’ If we don’t have a Constitution, taxes and judges aren’t going to matter at all. That’s where we are, remarkably, right now. Again, we could go on, but I think it’s a fundamental question. People often say, you know, it’s simple. It’s not simple, but it is straightforward. That’s the choice before the country.
Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Meacham, in all his haughty glory, sees it as his role to declare every candidate in one party illegitimate presidential contenders because most of them refrain from denouncing the one candidate he really hates. Yet Meacham and Scarborough wonder why conservatives don’t heed their advice when they show such disdain for the choices made by those who don’t share their left-wing worldview.”
Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.
■ June 19: Liberal Media Scream: CNN begs ‘older’ white people to step aside, give values up
(Washington Examiner post)
This week’s Liberal Media Scream features one of CNN’s liberal big shots decrying “older” white people in Southern states for trying to maintain values and traditions instead of giving up to the “new demography.”
Ron Brownstein, a CNN political analyst and Atlantic editor, argued it is longtime residents who are trying to impose their values in states such as Texas, not the other way around.
The discussion came Monday when CNN This Morning devoted a segment to how those in red states are “imposing” their values on the rest of the nation.
Not considered by the panel: how those in red states see themselves as simply pushing back at the imposition of left-wing LGBT Pride values that CNN euphemistically described as “inclusion.”
From CNN This Morning:
RON BROWNSTEIN: The attempt to kind of impose the values, and to force companies to toe the line of the values of one segment of society, really puts them in a hard place and, ultimately, they have to decide whether they’re going to embrace this changing, inclusive America, or whether they’re going to back down in the face of this kind of pressure.
CO-HOST ERICA HILL: This is going to feel like a rhetorical question, but I mean it very seriously, as from both a political and a business standpoint, as you’re looking at this, right, inclusion is good for business. How and where is exclusion good for business or for politics when you’re narrowing your pool?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, look, it’s very different between the red states and the blue and purple states. In the red states, you have Republican coalitions that are running state government with an electoral coalition that is fundamentally rooted in the parts of the state that are not changing, that are basically nonurban, older white voters. And they are using that to impose the values of that coalition on changing places before the new demography maybe changes the political balance in a place like Texas. So you see half the country moving in this direction. And these boycotts are kind of the business flank of that same effort that in many ways is attempting to reverse what has been six decades of nationalizing more rights and creating common rights that are available in every state.
I mean, we are moving back toward a pre-1960s world where your basic civil liberties depended much more on your ZIP code. And I think, look, that in some places, like the period before the Civil War, no institution was equally credible on both sides of the sectional divide. And these companies, much as they want to stay out of it, ultimately have to decide: Are they going to embrace the changing America, or are they going to embrace this effort to, in effect, “Make America Great Again” by going back to older rules and older values?
Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “In being so concerned about conservatives ‘imposing’ their values on blue America, Brownstein is oblivious to how red-state America sees itself just pushing back against the Left’s values being pushed on them. But to Brownstein and CNN, the liberal blue America world is all that matters.”
Rating: THREE out of FIVE SCREAMS.
■ June 12: Liberal Media Scream: New host Charles Barkley calls CNN ‘the Titanic’
(Washington Examiner post)
This week’s Liberal Media Scream features something we don’t hear often — a CNN host who admits the cable network is in serious trouble.
In this case, it is an incoming host and former NBA great Charles Barkley who is teaming up with CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King for a CNN prime-time show.
The show was mapped out by fired CNN chief Chris Licht, who said at the time that the show would begin in the fall.
Barkley is apparently a bit concerned about what he’s getting into. Talking hockey with NHL Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky, Barkley said, “Apparently, with this new talk show, I’m jumping on the Titanic.”
From the Saturday night NHL on TNT pregame Face Off show:
WAYNE GRETZKY: You don’t need to go take that news job. You can come on our show. You know more about hockey than we do. You don’t have to travel out of Atlanta.
CHARLES BARKLEY: Apparently, with this new talk show, I’m jumping on the Titanic. So it’s not — everybody keeps saying “abort,” “abort,” “abort!” So, you know what, I’m looking forward to it. Gayle is awesome.
Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “The truth stumbles out spontaneously in the oddest of places. Barkley didn’t see that comment coming from Gretzky, so he blurted out the first thing he thought, which is the truth about the decline of CNN, before recovering with the more acceptable public stance of looking forward to the show. One suspects he’s having some second thoughts about agreeing to join CNN programming.”
Rating for telling the truth: FIVE out of FIVE SCREAMS.
■ June 5: Liberal Media Scream: Chuck Todd says he’s a ‘real political journalist’
(Washington Examiner post)
This week’s Liberal Media Scream turns the spotlight to NBC’s Chuck Todd, who portrayed himself as a journalistic martyr in announcing that he will step down as host of Meet the Press later this year.
“Being a real political journalist isn’t about building a brand. It’s about reporting what’s happening and explaining why it’s happening and letting the public absorb the facts,” he bragged Sunday.
“I take the attacks from partisans as compliments, and I take the compliments from partisans with a grain of salt,” said Todd, a favorite target of the Secrets’ weekly Liberal Media Scream.
NBC said that Kristen Welker, NBC News’s co-chief White House correspondent, will succeed him in what is a well-worn path to hosting Sunday public affairs shows.
Todd, on Sunday’s Meet the Press:
“I’ll be honest, though. I leave feeling concerned about this moment in history but reassured by the standards we’ve set here. We didn’t tolerate propagandists, and this network and program never will. But it doesn’t mean sticking your head in the sand either. If you ignore reality, you’ll miss the big story. Being a real political journalist isn’t about building a brand. It’s about reporting what’s happening and explaining why it’s happening and letting the public absorb the facts. If you do this job seeking popularity, you are doing this job incorrectly.
“I take the attacks from partisans as compliments, and I take the compliments from partisans with a grain of salt. The goal of this and every Meet the Press episode is to do all of the following in one informative hour: Make you mad, make you think, shake your head in disapproval, and nod your head in approval. If you do all of that in one hour of this show, we’ve done our jobs. So, again, this isn’t goodbye. But know this: No matter who sits in this chair, if it’s Sunday, it’s Meet the Press.”
Brent Baker, the vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Arrogant until the end. No acknowledgment from Todd that he just might be biased in favor of the Left and against conservatives. Instead, he played the martyr card, portraying himself as the target of misguided criticism which only proves his integrity.”
Rating: THREE out of FIVE SCREAMS.
May 29: No Liberal Media Scream this week.
May 22: Liberal Media Scream: NBC’s Chuck Todd says only tax cheats oppose more IRS agents
(Washington Examiner post)
This week’s Liberal Media Scream shows exactly the difference between small-government conservatives and big-government liberals.
Imagine wanting 87,000 more Internal Revenue Service agents. Well, that’s not only what NBC Meet the Press host Chuck Todd said, but he sneered at those who don’t want them as likely tax cheats.
On his Sunday show, he took on the GOP plan to roll back the Biden administration’s request and said, “I have never understood the resistance of extra IRA agents — unless you knowingly cheat on your taxes.” His guest, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), replied, “That’s salacious and you know that.”
Donalds said that “when you have that many more agents, it’s not to go after the rich. It’s to go after the middle class.” Todd stood by his view that the honest have nothing to fear from more enforcement. “So if you’re paying what you are supposed to pay, then you should have nothing to fear,” he said.
The exchange on Sunday’s Meet the Press:
CHUCK TODD: But there’s one more thing House Republicans are asking for, which is they want fewer IRS agents. They want fewer attempts to try to properly get tax receipts into the federal government’s coffers. I have never understood the resistance of extra IRS agents — unless you knowingly cheat on your taxes.
REP. BYRON DONALDS: First of all, that’s salacious and you know that. Most Americans, by far, pay their taxes, and they do it honorably. What House Republicans, and frankly the Republican Party, is concerned about is having IRS agents go after middle-class families and small business owners. When you have that many more agents, it’s not to go after the rich. It’s to go after the middle class. That’s what it’s for.
TODD: So if you’re paying what you are supposed to pay, then you should have nothing to fear.
DONALDS: You would make the assumption that IRS audits are up, that they’re putting out more liens on the American people. That’s not true. That data is not there. All Joe Biden is trying to do is find every possible nickel out of every couch from every American to pay for his radical spending. Why would we do that?
Brent Baker, the vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “How ridiculous. More people in any job that involves tracking the activities of others means at least some of those in their purview will get harassed. After all, the additional staff has to justify their existence. By Todd’s logic, minority communities have nothing to fear from dozens more police officers on patrol since only criminals have any reason to ‘fear’ more cops. But that’s not the view of Black Lives Matter activists. Yet, Todd and the media would never take on that premise.”
Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.
May 15: No Liberal Media Scream this week.
■ May 8: Liberal Media Scream: Even if Trump loses, Washington Post editor sees America’s ‘dissolution’
(Washington Examiner post)
This week’s Liberal Media Scream demonstrates that anti-Trumpers have jumped off the deep end eight months before the first primary and caucus vote is cast in the 2024 race.
We feature Washington Post columnist and editor-at-large Robert Kagan, who has long criticized former President Donald Trump, once dubbing him a “Frankenstein monster.”
In his latest expression of “Trump derangement syndrome,” he talked about Trump running again and how it will ruin the nation. But in this case, Trump doesn’t win but loses and claims fraud.
The result: America ends. “At that point, I think we face a very serious possibility of dissolution of the United States and secession,” the neoconservative Never Trumper said on the First Look podcast hosted by the Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart.
It even seemed too much for the host, who called Kagan’s take “a pretty apocalyptic view, and I’m laughing to keep from crying.”
From Friday’s First Look on Washington Post Live:
ROBERT KAGAN: If you look ahead a year, I think it’s very hard. I really don’t think most Americans — even attentive Americans — have really focused on the fact that a year from now, Donald Trump is going to be the strongest person in the country in some respects. Certainly, he’s going to dominate the Republican Party. At that point, he will be accumulating votes, which in this country is the ultimate certification of legitimacy. And so I think he’s going to be in an incredibly powerful position.
He’s going to make it clear to his supporters that if he loses, it can only be as a result of fraud. And therefore, I think the entire Republican Party is going to, if Trump loses, say that the election was fraudulent. And at that point, I think we face a very serious possibility of dissolution of the United States and secession. I know that that sounds extreme, but secession has been pretty common, what used to be a very common activity or at least, you know, in the first hundred years of our republic, and our country hasn’t changed that much. So, I think that’s what we’re looking at in the 2024 scenario right now.
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Danielle [Allen], do you share? I mean, that’s a pretty apocalyptic view, and I’m laughing to keep from crying, Bob, but—
KAGAN: For the first thing in the morning.
Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “The ultimate in ‘Trump derangement syndrome’ scaremongering. It’s not good enough for former President Donald Trump to lose. Per Kagan, even if Trump loses, we’ll get an apocalyptic outcome. So, the only way for the U.S. to survive as a nation is for Trump to not even run. For someone who sees Trump as a destroyer of democracy, Kagan isn’t very confident in the strength of our democratic institutions.”
Rating: FIVE out of FIVE SCREAMS.
■ May 1: Liberal Media Scream: Todd cues up Mayorkas to tout Biden as ‘incredibly sharp’
(Washington Examiner post)
This week’s Liberal Media Scream shows how the Washington political/media machine works when it comes to a matter both sides just don’t want to address fully, such as reports President Joe Biden doesn’t have the mental capacity or stamina to run for reelection or serve out a second term.
On Sunday’s Meet the Press, moderator Chuck Todd cued up Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to champion Biden as fully fit for reelection. Todd: “Is he up for a second term?” Mayorkas: “100%. Incredibly sharp, incredibly probing, incredible command of the details, probing on the details.”
Todd’s follow-up: “You have full confidence he can serve a second term?” Mayorkas repeated his 100% line, and then Todd wrapped up the segment without ever challenging the upbeat assurances from Mayorkas.
From Sunday’s Meet the Press on NBC:
CHUCK TODD: You’re in Cabinet meetings. There’s a lot of questions about President Biden and his ability to serve in a second term. You see him up close, face-to-face. What say you? Is he up, is he up for a second term?
ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS: Oh, Chuck, 100%. Incredibly sharp, incredibly probing, incredible command of the details, probing on the details, asking tough questions. Absolutely. I’m incredibly proud to serve in his administration. I am incredibly proud of the work that we have done across the board —
TODD: You have full confidence he can serve a second term?
MAYORKAS: 100%.
Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “It’s the obtuse leading the blind. Everyone knows Joe Biden is as ‘incredibly smart’ as the border is secure, as Mayorkas has repeatedly assured. All but a few Biden sycophants know neither is true, yet Todd let Mayorkas get away with the laugh line.”
Rating: THREE out of FIVE SCREAMS.
■ April 24: Liberal Media Scream: Government-funded PBS has Biden scandal, gaffe-free
(Washington Examiner post)
If ever there was an example that Twitter had it right when the social media giant slapped “government-funded” and “state-affiliated” on PBS and NPR, consider our Mainstream Media Scream example this week featuring politically delusional contributors David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart.
Imagine a conservative calling President Joe Biden a strong speaker who is gaffe- and scandal-free, ignoring his refusal to meet with the media, his weekly mistaken mumbles, and the investigations into the family finances or the historic crisis on the border.
Well, roll the tape from the Friday PBS NewsHour. There you will see Brooks cheering Biden’s reelection plans and saying that the president “gave a strong State of the Union,” and adding that “there hasn’t been any obvious gaffes, big scandals or anything like that.”
From Friday’s PBS NewsHour:
GEOFF BENNETT, ANCHOR: President Biden’s allies say the fact that he’s facing only token primary opposition from author Marianne Williamson and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. really is a show of strength for him.
DAVID BROOKS: Oh, for sure. I mean, there’s — in the polling, there’s still a lot of Democrats who think he should not run, but that’s mostly an age issue, not an ideology issue. But the midterm election sort of silenced all that. And he’s been looking strong. He gave a strong State of the Union. There hasn’t been any obvious gaffes, big scandals or anything like that.
And so there’s nothing — or, even ideologically, I’d say, over the two years so far, two and a bit, that he’s pretty well massaged the center-left fights that happen in the Democratic Party by doing things that some people, the centrists like, and some things that people on the Left like.
And so there’s no natural home for an opposition candidate, and everyone’s united by Donald Trump. And so, you know, I think what’s interesting about him, he’s been sounding pretty candidate-y for six months now. He’s been talking like, ‘I really want to go after Trump.’ And he’s been doing it.
You know, I think what has to concern the White House a little is they’ve had improving inflation, a lot of good domestic policy achievements, Republicans have staked out some pretty extreme ground on a lot of issues. And if you look at the polls, it’s still reasonably close. His approvals are still in 46s.
And it could be that we’re just in an extremely partisan, divided country, an extremely cynical country, where, on the national level, nobody — and this is global — no national leader gets popular anymore. No national leader gets to 55, because there’s so much cynicism across the Western world.
Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “How surreal to visit the world of PBS News, where Joe Biden is ‘strong,’ has had ‘a lot of good domestic policy achievements’ and hasn’t had any ‘obvious gaffes’ or scandals. Biden is a ‘gaffe’ machine! As for scandals, hello Hunter Biden and Chinese money going to the Biden family, to say nothing of the ongoing scandal of the out-of-control border. Just because PBS ignores Biden’s confusion and malfeasance doesn’t mean he’s good at his job. But to PBS, this is analysis from the ‘conservative’ house analyst. No wonder conservative taxpayers are so annoyed about having to fund PBS.”
Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.
■ April 17: Liberal Media Scream: ABC pundit says Republicans are the bossy ones
(Washington Examiner post)
This week’s Liberal Media Scream features an ABC News pundit ripping Republicans for pushing people around.
Jane Coaston, once with the New York Times, cited abortion in claiming Republicans are America’s busybodies, ignoring how the Democrats are engaged in a wide-ranging effort to force the country to accept electric cars, gas stoves, and kiddie transgender operations.
“I think the most important political priority for any political party is to not be the people telling people what to do,” she said.
Thankfully, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was sitting next to her on ABC’s This Week. He countered, “Democrats are going to have a hard time making that case when you look at public education and what their position is, which is, us and the teachers’ unions know what to tell your children and where they should go to school and how they should be taught.”
From the roundtable on Sunday’s This Week on ABC:
JANE COASTON: I think the most important political priority for any political party is to not be the people telling people what to do. For the last five years, we’ve heard from Republicans, especially even during COVID, about how freedom was going to reign and that they were just going to let people make decisions for themselves. They want to be the cool mom of politics. Well, that era has ended.
And I think that there’s a specific type of libertarianism that is very popular in America. Unlike the Libertarian Party. But there’s a specific type of, don’t tell me what to do, let me make my decisions. Let me make my decisions for my family, that is very politically profitable. And I think that if Democrats are able to say that we are the party that says you can make these decisions, you can make decisions for your family, your family can make decisions for themselves, I think that that will be politically profitable. And I think that for Republicans, it’s going to be challenging to try to sound simultaneously like cool mom and the Moral Majority that so many of us grew up with.
CHRIS CHRISTIE: Well, the Democratic Party is all for that on abortion, but they are against it when it comes to public education. When it comes to public education, people shouldn’t be able to make their own decisions, you shouldn’t be able to have the ability to have your child go to parochial school if you can’t afford it, or to go to a charter school if they’re not available in your town. Or to be able to decide what your children should be able to learn about sexuality and at what age they should learn that. So the Democrats are going to have a hard time making that case when you look at public education and what their position is, which is us and the teachers’ unions know what to tell your children and where they should go to school and how they should be taught.
Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “What a total lack of self-awareness. If you really think ‘the most important political priority for any political party is to not be the people telling people what to do,’ how can you be a Democrat, as Coaston obviously is, since telling people what to do is the fundamental passion of modern Democrats on everything from the kind of car you can drive to the type of stove you can put in your kitchen? As the famous line goes, where Democrats can be substituted for liberals, liberals don’t care what you do as long as it’s mandatory.’”
Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.
■ April 10: Liberal Media Scream: Liberals can’t handle the truth
(Washington Examiner post)
This week’s Liberal Media Scream features the news industry’s knee-jerk reaction to the expulsion of two Tennessee Democrats from the legislature for violating floor rules in aggressively demanding gun control.
MSNBC political pundit Jon Meacham gets our spotlight for his rambling tie-in of abortion, gender, guns, and, of course, former President Donald Trump to the ouster of state Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson last week.
“These things are connected,” Meacham said in dismissing Republicans and blaming Trump in the latest example of the media’s Trump derangement syndrome. “It’s a reminder that what Trump has represented, which is this showmanship, this, ‘We’re going to own the libs,’ is actually of enormous real-world consequence, right? His reality show, which is about his attention and his fundraising and his ego and his narcissism, has an impact on how people live and how the vulnerable live.”
Our curator, Media Research Center’s Vice President Brent Baker, gave a rare five out of five “scream” rating and said the meandering performance showed that liberals can’t handle the truth.
“The Republicans in control of the Tennessee legislature were following the very rules of the state constitution in expelling the two Democrats, the kind of orderly process Meacham advocated but can’t accept when it reminds him of Trump-like wrath,” Baker said in his analysis.
Meacham on Monday’s Morning Joe on MSNBC:
I can’t help, just because of where I’m sitting in Nashville, to bring this up as well. You know, 14 days ago, the children, the teachers, the adults who were murdered at the Covenant School were getting ready for school at this hour. And I bring it up because there are — there’s the issue of reproductive health, there’s the issue of a wildly and, if I may, weirdly expansive view of the Second Amendment, there’s an anti-democratic, lowercase “D” movement because we have a supermajority here. Because Republicans can expel two members, they did.
And these things are connected. It’s a reminder — and imagine a world where we haven’t even mentioned the indictment of a former president and the potential indictments coming — it’s a reminder that what Trump has represented, which is this showmanship, this, “We’re going to own the libs,” is actually of enormous real-world consequence, right? His reality show, which is about his attention and his fundraising and his ego and his narcissism, has an impact on how people live and how the vulnerable live. And people who are vulnerable who don’t even know they’re vulnerable because they’re 9 years old and they’re going to school. And so, the right wing — and, Joe, you alluded to it, you grew up around this, you were elected — the right wing needs to be a fully functioning part of a two-party constitutional system. And they can believe what they want to believe about reproduction and about guns, and that’s all what they’re supposed to do. Then you take it to the people. And when you take it to the people, you then obey the result because that’s what we do. That’s what separates us from chaos.
Think about what the Right is doing here. They’re doing two things: They’re pushing, arguably, too far on these important issues, and then if they get a result they don’t like, they storm a capital, or they throw people out of a legislature. Seems to me you can have the first, but you can’t have the second, and if you insist on having both, then you are not part of this conversation, and we need a conversation that has people of good faith, whether you agree with them or not. These are difficult issues, right? I mean, the definition of life and the Roe system. This isn’t easy.
There are people of enormous goodwill, enormous goodwill, who differ from lots of folks that we’re talking to and about. But you take it to the system, you take it to the Constitution, and if there’s a decision, you respect it, and if the decision goes the other way, you work within channels. You don’t throw people out of legislative bodies.
Baker explains our weekly pick: “A classic example of Trump derangement syndrome, though this time in a droll and low-key manner, yet still an instance of how liberals in the media see everything through a Trump prism. The Republicans in control of the Tennessee legislature were following the very rules of the state constitution in expelling the two Democrats, the kind of orderly process Meacham advocated but can’t accept when it reminds him of Trump-like wrath.”
Rating: FIVE out of FIVE SCREAMS.
■ April 3: Liberal Media Scream: 60 Minutes’ hate list against Marjorie Taylor Greene
(Washington Examiner post)
This week’s Liberal Media Scream features the acid 60 Minutes interview of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene by Lesley Stahl.
In it, the Georgia Republican pushed back hard against Stahl’s trolling interview that included a hater’s list of nasty comments thrown at the lawmaker ever since she first ran for the North Georgia House seat.
For her reporting project, Stahl went on social media to “look up” some of the comments. She read them to Greene, who shrugged, “Looks like the average troll in my Twitter feed, so I don’t really care.”
There was no mention in the televised story of the times Greene has been swatted in several cases where she was worried about becoming a so-called “death by police” victim.
Stahl also couldn’t resist the standard liberal media mantra on the necessity of raising taxes.
On the debt ceiling, Stahl asked, “Would you be willing to vote for compromise? In other words, raise some taxes?” Greene replied: “I don’t think we have a revenue problem in Washington. We have a spending problem.” Stahl sneered, “That’s glib. That’s glib.”
From Sunday’s 60 Minutes on CBS:
LESLEY STAHL: We looked up some words that have been said about you.
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: OK.
STAHL: “Crazy,” “Q-clown,” “Looney Tune,” “unhinged,” “moron.” Pretty ugly stuff.
GREENE: Looks like the average troll in my Twitter feed, so I don’t really care.
STAHL: You’re used to it?
GREENE: I don’t let name-calling bother me or offend me. I just don’t.
…..
STAHL: Would you be willing to vote for compromise? In other words, raise some taxes?
GREENE: I don’t think we have a revenue problem in Washington. We have a spending problem.
STAHL: You know something? That’s glib. That’s glib. That, what does that mean? The two sides have to come together and hammer it out.
GREENE: Cut spending.
STAHL: Both sides.
GREENE: Both sides need to cut spending.
STAHL: Where do you want to cut it?
GREENE: COVID bailout money and a lot of green energy spending.
STAHL: But are you willing to let us go into default?
GREENE: No. I’ve always said I wouldn’t do that.
STAHL: So, would you compromise?
GREENE: It depends.
STAHL: On taxes? You won’t.
GREENE: No, I’m not raising taxes.
Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “The 60 Minutes story was unremarkable in many ways as Stahl painted, as you’d expect from the establishment media, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene as a crazy far-right extremist. But Stahl showed how she and CBS News consider the congresswoman first and foremost to be an impediment to their consistent demand that taxes must be raised. In that respect, to CBS she’s just as awful as any conservative who prefers cutting spending to raising taxes.”
Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.
■ March 27: Liberal Media Scream: Jon Stewart says America all talk on ending discrimination
(Washington Examiner post)
This week’s Liberal Media Scream features liberal activist Jon Stewart claiming that efforts in America to embrace the diversity, equity, and inclusion movement are just an inch deep, a “salve” to make people feel good.
On CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS, the former host of the Daily Show on Comedy Central lumped critical race theory in with DEI and said that despite all the hand-wringing by many to change society’s views on discrimination, it’s mostly just talk.
He pointed to the National Football League as an example. The NFL has the so-called Rooney Rule, which requests that teams interview minorities when a top job comes open, nothing more.
“So here’s what we are going to do,” Stewart said. “We’re going to have to talk to one black guy. ‘Are we good? I think we’re good.’”
Jon Stewart on Sunday’s Fareed Zakaria GPS on CNN:
By the way, all these diversity initiatives and CRT and all those other things are only there because we refuse to actually fix the real problem. The diversity and equity initiatives are a salve. They are to pacify and mollify because we won’t actually do the real thing. We won’t actually dismantle the vestiges of all the systemic racism and all the systemic classism and all the systemic gender issues. We won’t actually dismantle that.
But what we will do is you can have an office in the building. And every few months, we’re going to have to sit and listen to you talk for, like, an hour. “And so we’re good, right?” Like, it’s a country that won’t face — I’ll explain it like, OK, the NFL, right? You know the Rooney Rule? The Rooney Rule in the NFL is because there are so few African American coaches, you have to at least interview, like, one of them. So that’s the rule now, instead of it’s the thing you put in place instead of looking at the owner’s box, and realizing, oh, right, that’s just the legacy of the economic segregation that’s been in our country since its founding.
So we’re never going to deal with that. So here’s what we are going to do. A diversity and equity initiative, we’re going to have to talk to one black guy. “Are we good? I think we’re good.” But that’s what I’m, what I’m trying to say is we don’t — the thing that they’re pointing at is the thing that’s in place because we won’t do the actual thing.
Brent Baker, the vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “To conservatives, DEI is undermining the American ideal of equal opportunity and replacing it with forced equal outcomes that exacerbate racial tensions. Stewart put himself clearly on the Left, contending DEI doesn’t go far enough but complaining it’s ‘in place because we won’t do the actual thing.’ Yet he never explains what that ‘actual thing’ would entail.”
Rating: THREE out of FIVE SCREAMS.
■ March 20: Liberal Media Scream: Joy Reid coddles reporter fired for hostility to DeSantis
(Washington Examiner post)
This week’s Liberal Media Scream turns to the case of an Axios reporter who was fired for describing as “propaganda” a news release dished out by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Instead of backing Axios in her interview with the reporter, MSNBC’s liberal host Joy Reid blamed DeSantis and gave the reporter a chance to blast Axios and claim that the likely Republican presidential candidate bullied Axios into action.
Reid said, “There is a bullying aspect and a lot of trolling” of those who work for DeSantis.
The Tampa-based journalist Ben Montgomery said on Reid’s show, “I feel like what Axios did to me has a chilling effect on the entire news media.”
Here’s what happened, according to the New York Post:
“Journalist Ben Montgomery was fired from the news outlet [Axios] after a staffer in the state Department of Education tweeted out a screenshot of him telling the department’s press office over email, ‘This is propaganda, not a press release’ in reply to a release that highlighted the GOP governor hosting a roundtable on ‘Exposing the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Scam in Higher Education.’”
Oh, and of course, he’s thinking of cashing in with a book.
From the March 16 episode of The ReidOut on MSNBC:
BEN MONTGOMERY: So we have the Florida Department of Education, that’s kind of engaged in, in my view, campaigning for DeSantis for 2024 presidential campaign. So what they are doing is weaponizing these emails that we sometimes send and trying to make us look like lefty activists when really we’re just interested in them serving the people and being true public service and doing the right kind of work that the taxpayers are paying them for.
JOY REID: There is a bullying aspect and a lot of trolling. They do a lot of Twitter trolling. They tried to bully my dear friend and colleague Andrea Mitchell for asking a question not even to DeSantis, to the vice president, Kamala Harris. Did you experience, before this, any kind of bullying behavior from the DeSantis camp?
BEN MONTGOMERY: Look, I mostly write about fluffy kind of things. I cover the news, of course. I’ve been an investigative reporter for a long time but not with this administration. By and large I have not had the opportunity to really do any kind of depth, in-depth reporting on a DeSantis administration. I’m not a person that they should be afraid of, I don’t think.
I’m not writing about them every day. I’m not digging deep, in other words. So yeah, but this was propaganda and it was a waste of my time. That’s ultimately what I was saying to them. It’s wasting my time and it’s done in a clear vein of propaganda. This is objectionably propaganda.
And I read the whole thing because I give them the benefit of the doubt because they work for the people of Florida. And I want to do right by my readers. And so when this wastes my time and it’s just propaganda, I feel like I have a right to say so. And I feel like what Axios did to me has a chilling effect on the entire news media. It’s a very sad thing.
REID: Oh, it 100% does! It does show that bullying works. And that sends a message to every other journalist. You put up a sort of fun tweet after this all happened saying that you made a quiche. What are your next plans?
MONTGOMERY: I was talking to my agent today about whether there was a book in this, and maybe there is. Maybe it’s time that somebody isn’t afraid to stand up to DeSantis, write a true biography of him. So I might be the guy to do that. We’ll see.
REID: Yeah, good luck, he has his military records, people have lots and lots of questions. Maybe you can pull it off. Ben Montgomery, thank you man. Really appreciate you being here, and best of luck in whatever you do next.
Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Montgomery’s attitude betrayed as true what the DeSantis staff saw; he is, despite his denial, a ‘lefty activist,’ just one that a media outlet, in a rarity, held accountable. Reid, of course, saw it all through the prism of her hatred for all things DeSantis and thus treated him as the victim instead of as the one who violated the trust of his readers.”
Rating: THREE out of FIVE SCREAMS.
■ March 13: Liberal Media Scream: MSNBC wants baseball out of Florida over DeSantis
(Washington Examiner post)
This week’s Liberal Media Scream features a new call from an MSNBC anchor for baseball to pull spring training out of Florida over some of the recent social policy moves by likely 2024 presidential candidate and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Anchor Lindsey Reiser compared Florida under DeSantis to the days of Jim Crow as she featured Washington Post sports writer Kevin Blackistone, who had just published a column urging Major League Baseball to respond to “Ron DeSantis’s culture wars.”
She said: “You outlined Major League Baseball’s move out of Florida for spring training in yesteryear — late ‘40s, a state with some of the harshest Jim Crow laws as the league was introducing black players to the league.”
He responded that MLB has already shown a hand, moving the 2021 All-Star Game out of Georgia over voting reform laws that turned out to be a nonfactor in last year’s elections that saw record numbers of people at the polls.
Baseball, he said, “should express if it has some uncomfortableness with the things that are going on in the DeSantis campaign, in the way that he’s run the state of Florida, and in some of the other legislation that has been passed there that they should speak out.”
From MSNBC Reports in the 10 a.m. ET hour, on Friday:
LINDSEY REISER: Back in DeSantis’s home state, his fellow Republicans are pretty busy this week with lawmakers introducing three new bills that would expand on legislation that critics call the “Don’t Say Gay Law,” another that would ban abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, and a proposal to require bloggers who write about Florida politics to register with the state. This all comes just over a month after Gov. DeSantis’s decision to block AP African American Studies from Florida schools, but as Florida sees all kinds of controversy over those proposals, it’s also in the middle of a spring tradition with 15 Major League Baseball teams currently holding spring training and the league and players facing growing calls to speak out against those bills.
Joining me right now, ESPN panelist and sports commentary writer for the Washington Post, Kevin Blackistone. He’s out with a new piece called “Baseball can no longer ignore Ron DeSantis’s culture wars.” Kevin, thanks for being with us. I want to talk to you about the piece. You outlined Major League Baseball’s move out of Florida for spring training in yesteryear — late ‘40s, a state with some of the harshest Jim Crow laws as the league was introducing black players to the league. In 1947, again, Jackie Robinson joining the Brooklyn Dodgers, his team moving spring training to Havana, Cuba. That same year, the Cleveland Indians, the New York Giants moved spring training to Tucson.
KEVIN BLACKISTONE: So baseball reacted, right, and they started to depart from, or certain teams did, from Florida. And that really began the tradition of the Cactus League in Arizona. So that is the through line to what is going on now. And baseball has in the very recent past, right, in 2021, they moved the All-Star Game out of the state of Georgia in protest to some of the election laws that a lot of people in the state of Georgia felt were burdensome on black voters in particular and other people of color and people who were marginalized in that state.
So I just think that, you know, baseball has spoken out on these issues before, and I think it should express if it has some uncomfortableness with the things that are going on in the DeSantis campaign, in the way that he’s run the state of Florida, and in some of the other legislation that has been passed there that they should speak out.
You know, we talked about — and I know this network has — about the review of books for youth in the public schools in the state of Florida and some of those that have not yet been allowed back on the shelves. One of those books happens to be a book about Jackie Robinson, so think about the irony of that. They also temporarily suspended the distribution of books about Roberto Clemente and Hank Aaron, two of the great black stars of baseball.
Brent Baker, the vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “What an incredibly insidious historic precedent to cite, the Democratic Party’s century of enforcing segregation, as a rationale now for punishing the people of Florida over a disagreement with policies pushed by the Republican DeSantis. Nothing DeSantis has ever advocated comes close to the kind of racist, inhumane policies Florida enforced in the 1940s.”
Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.
■ March 6: Liberal Media Scream: Whoopi cheers erasing history she’s ‘not in tune with’
(Washington Examiner post)
This week’s Liberal Media Scream features a feud on the Left about “woke” history rewriting between Bill Maher and Whoopi Goldberg.
The initial focus is Maher’s defense on CNN of former President Abraham Lincoln, who ended slavery, and an apparent reference to the Washington, D.C., Emancipation Memorial that featured what many believe is a thankful former slave at his feet.
“Abraham Lincoln was not a controversial figure among liberals. We liked him. Now they take his name off schools and tear down his statues. Really, Lincoln isn’t good enough for you?” said Maher on CNN.
Enter Goldberg, a critic of the statue, who slammed the woke movement, claiming she and other black people have always been “woke” to undercurrents of racism.
“And this idea of woke, I’ll say it again: Most of y’all were asleep,” she said on The View, drawing a look from co-host Joy Behar.
From ABC’s The View on Thursday:
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Maher also had some criticism for the other side of the aisle, claiming the Left lost the definition of the term “woke.” Huh? OK. Take a look.
BILL MAHER: Democrats sometimes can take it too far. You know, I would categorize liberal as different than woke. Woke, which started out as a good thing, alert to injustice — who could be against that? But it became sort of an eye roll because they love diversity except of ideas. Abraham Lincoln was not a controversial figure among liberals. We liked him. Now they take his name off schools and tear down his statues. Really, Lincoln isn’t good enough for you?
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Well, that statue was not good enough. Because it showed a slave down at Lincoln’s feet. And if we’re tearing down statues that are really not in tune with where we are as a nation, or at least where we were a couple of months ago, yeah, you got to take it down. That’s why they removed stuff. That’s why people are moving stuff around. And this idea of woke, I’m going to say it again: Most of y’all were asleep.
JOY BEHAR: Who are you speaking to?
GOLDBERG: I’m talking to all those folks that use that word “woke” all the time. Y’all were asleep. We were never asleep. We had to stay awake watching you. So, you woke up and you thought, “Oh, my God, there’s lots of women running amok doing things they’re not supposed to be doing and drag queens everywhere and oh, my God, people of color!”
You know, you always talk about the snowflakes — look in the mirror. Y’all can’t seem to handle anything. You can’t seem to handle competition from Democrats to Republicans. You can’t seem to handle the discussions of why people feel the way they do. Your idea is to get rid of everything. So, stop calling us snowflakes.
Brent Baker, the vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “One wonders if Goldberg will be so pleased when the calls come to take down statues of Martin Luther King and remove his name from roads and schools. After all, like her argument with Lincoln, ‘he’s really not in tune with where we are as a nation’ since, by 2023 standards, he was homophobic and transphobic.”
Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.
■ February 27: Liberal Media Scream: Hollywood says banning filming plastic bottles will save the world
(Washington Examiner post)
This week’s Liberal Media Scream is going a little off beat to highlight a new Hollywood claim that movie studios and actors are saving the world and the environment with an honor system to ban plastic bottles “on camera.”
It came from Fran Drescher, the president of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the star of The Nanny, a hit sitcom in the 1990s, as she addressed the SAG Awards show last night.
To a smattering of applause, Drescher said that Hollywood’s effort to stop showing plastic on camera was the industry’s biggest effort “to save the planet since World War II.”
Drescher, during the SAG Awards carried live Sunday night on Netflix’s channel on YouTube, said:
“I am very proud to say that SAG-AFTRA and MPAA has forged Green Council, the biggest joint effort of stars and studios to save the planet since World War II. Mission No. 1: an honor system to eliminate single-use plastic on camera, behind the scenes, and leverage star power to challenge audiences around the world to do the same. You may notice this year on your tables, they’re all glass bottles.”
Brent Baker, the vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Nothing better encapsulates out-of-touch Hollywood celebrities than the hubris displayed by Drescher to describe actors not using single-use plastic on camera as key to the greatest effort ‘to save the planet since World War II.’ That’s ludicrous, and even her own union members realized that, hence the very minimal applause in the room. Many viewers watching at home were likely laughing at her absurdity. Perhaps she should be a little more concerned about her members demanding on-set trailers and private jets.”
Rating: FIVE out of FIVE SCREAMS.
■ February 20: Liberal Media Scream: The View hits ‘Ron DeSaster,’ would ‘ban the alphabet’
(Washington Examiner post)
This week’s Liberal Media Scream features the hosts of ABC’s The View and their escalating screeching about Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and his efforts to have public school lessons conform with state law and what Sunshine State parents want.
Instead of a level-headed discussion about his efforts, the hosts attacked DeSantis as a right-wing social warrior who liberal Republican and never-Trumper Ana Navarro dubbed “Ron DeSaster.” The name-calling included unhinged charges that the governor is so anti-education that he would “ban the alphabet.”
The ranting followed moves by DeSantis to question a new College Board Advanced Placement class on black history. He and some other governors are concerned the liberal class plan teaches critical race theory and other lessons banned in the state.
“I think he’s going to ban the alphabet. Holy hell,” said Navarro.
From ABC’s The View on Thursday, Feb. 16:
ANA NAVARRO: What this is all about getting on Fox News. What this is all about is fanning the flames of grievance, of white grievance. What this is all about is manufacturing culture wars that do not exist so that he can come out like William Wallace, the guy in Braveheart — “Freedom!” Listen, I live in Florida. I live under Gov. Ron DeSaster!
SUNNY HOSTIN: You got to move, Ana.
NAVARRO: Every day, I wake up and wonder what he’s going to be. What’s the flavor du jour today? What’s he going to be against today? He’s against AP He’s against DEI — diversity, equity, and inclusion. He’s against [environmental, social, and governance] this week. He’s against electric stoves.
HOSTIN: Don’t say gay.
NAVARRO: He’s against LGBTQ. I think he’s going to ban the alphabet. Holy hell.
JOY BEHAR: These people, these fascists out there like DeSantis, they think that we’re just going to sit back and let them do whatever they want. No, we’re not. We’ve seen this movie before. OK? Those of us who lived in the ’60s and ’70s, we saw this movie. There were many, many fascist tactics coming down the pike from Nixon and the rest of these fascists; that’s what they are. And we protested and we protested, and we ended a war that was illegal. And we did stuff. And it’s happening again. That’s the good news.
Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “The unhinged reaction to Ron DeSantis says something about who the left is most afraid of running for president. The stars of The View can’t have an honest discussion about his policies and ideas, so they rant and rave and call him a ‘fascist’ and make other ridiculous accusations. It may entertain liberal viewers, but it should be embarrassing to ABC News, which produces the daily gabfest.”
Rating: FIVE out of FIVE SCREAMS.
■ February 13: Liberal Media Scream: Stephanopoulos demands GOP investigate Trump family
(Washington Examiner post)
Armed only with a Washington Post story about Saudi links to Kushner and Trump, Stephanopoulos asked Rep. James Comer (R-KY), chairman of the panel, “Will you be investigating that as well?”
Comer called for strict ethics disclosure laws, which Democrats have resisted, but that wasn’t good enough for the media star and former Clinton White House aide. “To be clear,” he said, “you believe that this should apply to Kushner and Trump as well as the Bidens at this point?”
The exchange on Sunday’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos on ABC:
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me ask you more about your oversight responsibilities. You made it clear you are going to be looking at Hunter Biden and his financial entanglements with foreign countries including China. I want to put up a front-page story from the Washington Post this morning detailing Jared Kushner’s ties to the Saudis. “After helping the prince’s rise, Trump and Kushner benefit from Saudi funds.” A $2 billion investment in Kushner’s funds from the Saudis. We know the president, former President Trump, has also received funds related to the Saudi golf tour. Sen. Ron Wyden says these entanglements deserve investigation. Will you be investigating that as well?
REP. JAMES COMER: I think everything’s on the table. Look, we’re investigating Joe Biden. We know that Joe Biden said during the presidential campaign that he had no knowledge of his son’s business interests. He wasn’t involved. He didn’t benefit from them. We have evidence that would suggest otherwise, and this is very concerning. …
The Democrats complained about Kushner’s foreign dealings. Republicans are certainly complaining about the entire Biden family’s foreign business dealings. We need to know what is allowable and what isn’t allowable. We need to have strict ethics laws, and we need to significantly increase the disclosure laws in America. So I think this investigation is going to be very important to fix a problem before it gets out of hand.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But to be clear, you believe that this should apply to Kushner and Trump as well as the Bidens at this point?
COMER: I believe that when we talk about passing legislation to set a line as to where you can be with relatives of high-ranking government officials with respect to doing business with adversaries overseas, then it would apply to everyone. We need to fix this before it gets worse in the next administration.
Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “If only the Washington press corps were as eager over the years to jump on stories about Hunter and Joe Biden getting money out of China as they have consistently been to promote every new allegation against anyone in Donald Trump’s orbit. It’s almost as if Stephanopoulos is trying to deflect from Joe Biden, to apply his own version of ‘both-siderism’ to undermine the impact of Congressman Comer’s upcoming hearings on the Bidens.”
Rating: THREE out of FIVE SCREAMS.
■ February 6: Liberal Media Scream: Reporters beg for Biden to get ‘credit’
(Washington Examiner post)
This week’s Liberal Media Scream shows how desperate some in the media are for President Joe Biden to get “credit” for his efforts at a time when polls show that 62% do not believe the Democrat has accomplished much.
The top cheerleader is NBC reporter Andrea Mitchell who said on Meet the Press that the president isn’t getting the thanks he deserves.
“He’s not getting credit for the economy, and should be,” she told host Chuck Todd.
From Sunday’s Meet the Press on NBC:
ANDREA MITCHELL: And he’s not getting credit for the economy, and should be. Look at it, you know, I think the danger of recession is receding. It’s not altogether gone. We see a big jobs market. It’s a problem for Jay Powell [chairman of the Federal Reserve] because now they do have to keep tightening. But, you know, wage growth is moderating.
CHUCK TODD: I tell you, people don’t–
MITCHELL: Layoffs are only in a few sectors, they’re not universal.
TODD: There’s no doubt–
AMY WALTER: Manufacturing is building.
TODD: –but people still feel like this economy’s just not–
MITCHELL: That’s right, because inflation’s stable.
TODD: It still feels wobbly.
CORNELL BELCHER: Mid-summer, mid-summer – let’s, let’s check in on that.
TODD: That’s fair.
Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “How nice it must be to be a Democratic president so you have leading members of the Washington press corps spinning talking points in your favor, days before your big speech, about how you ‘should be’ getting more credit. Mitchell’s contentions about Biden’s record are better suited for someone from the White House press office than someone who is supposed to be a dispassionate journalist.”
Rating: THREE out of FIVE SCREAMS.
■ January 30: Liberal Media Scream: Hammer time: Speaker McCarthy pounds media bias and double standards
(Washington Examiner post)
Last week, for example, when a reporter didn’t like McCarthy’s answer to a question, the speaker said: “Let me be very clear and respectful to you. You asked me a question. When I answer it, it’s the answer to your question. You don’t get to determine whether I answer your question or not, OK?”
Then, on Face the Nation, he bristled when host Margaret Brennan criticized his appointment of “election deniers” to committee posts. Noting that she didn’t complain when Democratic deniers of former President Donald Trump’s election got good committee seats, he said, “If you want to hold Republicans to that equation, why don’t you also hold Democrats?”
From Sunday’s interview on CBS’s Face the Nation:
Margaret Brennan: I want to ask you about some of the makeup of your caucus.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy: Yes.
Brennan: According to CBS records, 70% of the House GOP members denied the results of the 2020 election. You put many of them on very key committees: Intelligence, Homeland Security, Oversight. Why are you elevating people who are denying reality like that?
McCarthy: Well, if you look to the Democrats, their ranking member [Jamie] Raskin had the same thing, denied Trump or Bush was in there. Bennie Thompson —
Brennan: Did you see those numbers we just put up there? Seventy percent!
McCarthy: Did you also be fair and equal where you looked at Raskin did the same thing, Bennie Thompson, whose a ranking member and was a chair? These individuals were chair of the Democratic Party.
Brennan: I’m asking you, as leader of Kevin McCarthy’s House, why you made these choices? These were your choices.
McCarthy: Yeah, they’re my choices, but they’re the conference choices. But I’m also asking you when you look to see just Republicans — Democrats have done the same thing. So maybe it’s not denying. Maybe it’s the only opportunity they have to have a question about what went on during the election. So if you want to hold Republicans to that equation, why don’t you also hold Democrats? Why don’t you hold Jamie Raskin? Why don’t you hold Bennie Thompson? When Democrats had appointed them to be chair, I never once heard you ask Nancy Pelosi or any Democrat that question when they were in power, in the majority. When they questioned —
Brennan: You’re talking about things going back to 2000, which was a time, I didn’t have this show back then, which is why I’m asking you now about your leadership.
McCarthy: No, no! They were in power last Congress. So why —
Brennan: You’re talking about questions from the 2000 election.
McCarthy: You’re asking me about questions that happened to another Congress.
Brennan: About these choices you just made, just made. This is your Congress.
McCarthy: These are members who just got elected by their constituents, and we put them into committees. And I’m proud to do it.
Brent Baker, the vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “It’s always refreshing to see a politician push back against a liberal media storyline the journalist presumes is beyond questioning, especially when the journalist is someone so oblivious as Brennan is to her bias.”
Rating: FIVE out of FIVE SCREAMS (CHEERS).
■ January 23: Liberal Media Scream: MSNBC’s Joy Reid says DeSantis likes only ‘happy slaves’
(Washington Examiner post)
This week’s Liberal Media Scream highlights the latest cable TV attack on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s war on woke policies in what is likely to become a regular media pattern as the top Republican rival of former President Donald Trump steps closer to a 2024 bid.
The attack came from MSNBC’s Joy Reid, enraged that DeSantis scuttled a pilot AP black course in state schools. But it’s not that simple, despite her spin.
According to the DeSantis administration, the new course offered by College Board violates Florida’s new anti-“woke” law because it is favorable to critical race theory.
“As submitted, the course is a vehicle for a political agenda and leaves large, ambiguous gaps that can be filled with additional ideological material, which we will not allow,” said Bryan Griffin, the governor’s press secretary. “As Governor DeSantis has stated, our classrooms will be a place for education, not indoctrination.”
Reid, however, smeared DeSantis as a racist for his administration’s actions. “I’m not saying Ron DeSantis is racist, but to quote [former Tallahassee Mayor] Andrew Gillum, I think the racists might think he’s racist.”
She added that DeSantis wants only happy history taught in schools, “the history of slavery as happy slaves, good slave masters.”
Plus, watch as she twists the other AP history classes taught in Florida as she bashes the “book-banning wannabe president.”
From Thursday’s The ReidOut on MSNBC:
Joy Reid: The [Stop Woke Act] is aimed at eradicating the teaching of history, gender identity, and sexual orientation in favor of curriculum that centers and lionizes people who look like Ron DeSantis. Just take a look at what AP courses are deemed educationally valuable in the state of Florida per the book-banning wannabe president. European history, of course. Along with courses on the history and language of Italy, where DeSantis’s family hails from, Germany, and Japan, which happened to be the Axis countries the U.S. fought during World War II. Now, whether Ron would consider fascist Italy to have been a bad guy in that war, well, that’s up for debate. …
So, what DeSantis is essentially saying is that the only valuable Advanced Placement class for a Florida student are classes that are about Europe or the other Axis countries. That’s it. African-American studies is not deemed valuable, and it’s not that he’s saying you can’t teach black history, but here’s the evidence. It’s how you teach black history that he’s got a problem with.
DeSantis, when he was a high school history teacher — this is the quote from one of his former students. He was a high school history teacher at a private school in Georgia. ‘Mr. DeSantis was mean to me and hostile toward me,’ said Miss Pompey, who graduated in 2003. ‘Not aggressively but passively because I was black.’ She recalled DeSantis teaching, this is the important part, Civil War history in a way that sounded to her like an attempt to justify slavery. So, when I add that to the fact he’s going after the National Hockey League because they dare to recruit nonblack people, essentially saying you may recruit white people and continue to keep a very white league white, but you may not try to recruit minorities. You know, I’m not saying Ron DeSantis is racist, but to quote Andrew Gillum, I think the racists might think he’s racist. …
It’s the Daughters of the American Revolution, the pro-Confederate groups who insisted that we can only teach the history of slavery as happy slaves, good slave masters. If you’re doing that, I promise you an AP class that taught that, that slavery was good, because it seemed at least per his former students, Dr. [Steve] Gallon [member of the Miami-Dale school board] that he wanted to teach history of slavery as sort of gallant slave owners who were kind to their happy slaves.
He’s cool with that. And if the AP course said that, he’d be fine with it. I also think that you’ve seen the revelation of what this is really about. A guy named Stanley Kurtz claims he read the story, that he read the curriculum, and he said, ‘The larger danger here is that these courses, if they’re approved, will see the college board devise AP courses in women’s studies, gender studies, transgender studies, Latino studies, environmental studies, a full panoply of polarized studies that have Balkanized and politicized higher education.’ Dr. Gallon, in your view, is this an attempt to shut down the teaching of not just black history but any history but the Hallmark card of white and European history?
Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Reid’s vitriol shows DeSantis must be succeeding in making inroads to undercut institutions, such as the education establishment, as vehicles for liberal indoctrination of students. So, DeSantis must be discredited with over-the-top invective before he gains any traction in a presidential race. But Reid’s hatred toward him will only elevate the admiration for him amongst conservatives and many independent voters.”
Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.
■ January 16, 2023: Liberal Media Scream: In Chuck Todd’s ‘facts,’ Sen. Ron Johnson sees bias
(Washington Examiner post)
This week’s Liberal Media Scream raises an interesting question in today’s partisan Washington. Why do Republicans talk to liberal journalists if they know that they are going to be insulted?
That was the case Sunday on Chuck Todd’s Meet the Press when Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WY) appeared, knowing he was holding the short end of the stick no matter what he said. Johnson even said so: “This is pretty obvious to anybody watching this, is you don’t invite me on to interview me. You invite me on to argue with me.”
The host, of course, was having none of it. In between his favorite authority openings of “Look” and “So,” he got the last insult in when he said, “You can go back on your partisan cable cocoon and talk about media bias all you want. I understand it’s part of your identity.”
From Sunday’s Meet the Press:
CHUCK TODD: I’ll take it at your word that you’re ethically bothered by Hunter Biden. I’m curious, though. You seem to have a pattern.
SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI): Are you not? Are you not?
TODD: I’m a journalist. I have to deal in facts. I deal in facts, so senator, my question to you is, I have skepticism of both parties. I sit here with skepticism of a lot of people’s work.
JOHNSON: So do I.
TODD: And I’m curious, are you — were you at all concerned — your Senate Democrats want to investigate Jared Kushner’s loan from the Qatari government when he was working in the government, negotiating many things in the Middle East? Are you not concerned about that? I say that because it seems to me if you’re concerned about what Hunter Biden did, you should be equally outraged about what Jared Kushner did.
JOHNSON: I’m concerned about getting the truth. I don’t target individuals —
TODD: You don’t? You’re targeting Hunter Biden multiple times on this show, senator. You’re targeting an individual.
JOHNSON: Chuck, you know, part of the problem, and this is pretty obvious to anybody watching this is, you don’t invite me on to interview me. You invite me on to argue with me. I’m just trying to lay out the facts that certainly Sen. Grassley and I uncovered. They were suppressed. They were censored. They interfered in the 2020 election. Conservatives understand that. Unfortunately, liberals in the media don’t. And that’s part of the reasons our politics are inflamed is we do not have an unbiased media. We don’t. It’s unfortunate. I’m all for a free press, and it needs to be more unbiased.
TODD: Senator, look — go to partisan — Senator, look, we’re trying to do issues here and facts. Look, you can go back on your partisan cable cocoon and talk about media bias all you want. I understand it’s part of your identity.
Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Chuck Todd, in all his obnoxious glory. Kudos to Sen. Ron Johnson for taking on Todd’s obvious bias and hostility to the concerns of conservatives, even if he is obvious to his own ‘cocoon.’ Pot meet kettle.”
Rating: FIVE out of FIVE SCREAMS.
■ January 9, 2023: Liberal Media Scream: James Comer nails Chuck Todd’s biased views
(Washington Examiner post)
This week’s Liberal Media Scream is the first proof that there is a new sheriff in town, a House GOP majority that is eager to point out the biased and often hypocritical views in the media.
In our spotlight is Rep. James Comer (R-KY), incoming chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, invited on to Chuck Todd’s NBC Sunday show, Meet the Press. He faced the typically biased questions and views of the host, such as when Todd suggested the GOP would be holding votes on legislation it knows President Joe Biden won’t sign, as if Democrats never held “show” votes.
Todd also sneered at Comer’s investigation agenda, suggesting it was just political theater.
But instead of taking it, the lawmaker pushed right back, calling out the biased media.
When Todd dismissed Republican plans to hold votes on term limits and a balanced budget as “show votes,” Comer countered, “A lot of times, as you know, Chuck, you have to take bills through numerous sessions of Congress before they finally become law.”
And when Todd hit GOP plans to probe the Biden administration as “more partisan than professional,” Comer said, “I think the only people that see this as a partisan investigation are the media and the hardcore Democrats.” And for good measure, he added, “Are you kidding me!”
Two of the exchanges from Sunday’s Meet the Press on NBC:
CHUCK TODD: I‘m curious, those two things you mention, those are show votes. They’re not going to pass. They have no chance of passing. Some of them might need to be constitutional amendments, and you know how arduous that process is. What’s the point of passing a bill that basically, you get to put a press release out on, but it doesn’t get enacted?
REP. JAMES COMER: A lot of times, as you know, Chuck, you have to take bills through numerous sessions of Congress before they finally become law.
TODD: Let me ask you this. You’re going to do a lot of oversight. You’re going to have a lot of subpoenas. Many people look at what you’re doing, and they see that it looks more partisan than professional. Tell me how you’re going to try to departisanize an investigation? Or do you expect it to be partisan?
COMER: Well, with all due respect, Chuck, I disagree with that. I think the only people that see this as a partisan investigation are the media and the hardcore Democrats. Look, at the same moment that the Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee released Donald Trump’s taxes, they then moments later turned around and said, “Comer’s investigation of the Biden family influence peddling is a revenge hearing.” I mean, are you kidding me?
Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Comer is off to a great start, recognizing the news media are his enemy just as much as Democrats. It was refreshing to hear an elevated Republican leader take on Todd for his multiple hypocrisies, suddenly concerned, now that Republicans are in charge in the House, about the partisanship of an investigation and the futility of votes on two conservative agenda items that will embarrass Democrats. As if Democrats have never had ‘show votes,’ to put Republicans in a bad light, which most journalists found admirable.”
Rating: FIVE out of FIVE SCREAMS (CHEERS.)
■ January 2, 2023: Liberal Media Scream: MSNBC calls GOP the party of il Duce
(Washington Examiner post)
This week’s Liberal Media Scream features MSNBC doing its best to become the network of the crackpot Left, talking itself into irrelevance for just about everyone else.
Not satisfied with its record of attacking Republicans and conservatives as MAGA crazies, the cable channel rolled out a host and guest who dismissed the party as fascists. And not just simple fascists such as World War II-era Italian leader Benito Mussolini.
How about “neo-fascist,” “proto-fascist,” and “semi-fascist?” Now that’s got to hurt.
The name-calling came Saturday when Mehdi Hasan hosted Yale University philosophy professor Jason Stanley on Velshi on MSNBC.
Stanley, who authored a book titled How Fascism Works, warned, “I think ‘semi-fascism,’ ‘fascism,’ ‘neo-fascism,’ these are accurate descriptions. We need to drop talk of populism, drop these misleading descriptions that hide what we’re actually facing.”
From Saturday’s Velshi:
MEHDI HASAN: Jason, the GOP is back in power again, at least in the House of Representatives, which means there will be a fair bit of normalizing of them again by the media. In your view, is it fair to describe the modern GOP as ‘neo-fascist’ or ‘proto-fascist’ or, to quote Joe Biden on the MAGA movement, ‘semi-fascist?’
JASON STANLEY, Yale University: There’s certainly within the modern GOP, as the scapegoating of LGBT citizens demonstrates, a fascist movement rising. We — and, to talk about this as some kind of European thing is a confusion since fascism is Jim Crow with a foreign accent. So we have a native, we have multiple native far-right extremist movements: Christian Nationalism, we’ve got, sort of, heritage of Jim Crow. We’ve got an anti-democratic business establishment. And this is a structure, a grouping, that’s going to bring people to vote for an authoritarian party. And that’s what we have, that’s what the modern GOP is increasingly looking like — as Ruth [NYU history professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat] said, an anti-democratic party. I think ‘semi-fascism,’ ‘fascism,’ ‘neo-fascism,’ these are accurate descriptions. We need to drop talk of populism, drop these misleading descriptions that hide what we’re actually facing.
Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “Quite the multiple-choice, a range which says more about the narrow thinking of MSNBC hosts and guests trying to discredit Republicans than it does about anything to fear from Republicans. Hasan dreads ‘normalizing’ Republicans because it’s a lot easier to demonize them than to take on and seriously address views with which you disagree.”
Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.
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