2012 Presidential Election

Princeton professor and civil rights activist Cornel West, in an interview with Diverse magazine, had some harsh words for MSNBC's Al Sharpton. “Tell the truth about the White House”: “Whoever thought that Brother Al wouldn’t be protesting any administration?” asks West, who served as an adviser to Sharpton’s 2004 presidential campaign. “You watch his show on MSNBC and you want to say, ‘Brother Al, you come out of the Black prophetic tradition like me. Tell the truth about the White House,’ but he won’t say a mumbling word.” West also had some harsh words for Sharpton's MSNBC colleague Melissa Harris-Perry who he brought to Princeton from the University of Chicago: “I have a love for the sister, but she is a liar, and I hate lying,” says West, adding that Harris-Perry later said on MSNBC’s “The Ed Show” that West attacked Obama’s White mother in the interview with Truthdig.com. “I don’t talk about people’s mamas. She’s reinforcing all of the vicious perceptions of me as a racist, and she knows better than that.” Harris-Perry’s scathing critique, West says, has more to do with the fact that the Center for African American Studies unanimously voted against her when she came up for promotion from associate to full professor, adding that her work was not scholarly enough. “There's not of lot of academic stuff with her, just a lot of twittering,” says West, who added that her book Sister Citizen , released last year, was “wild and out of control.” “She’s become the momentary darling of liberals, but I pray for her because she’s in over her head. She’s a fake and a fraud. I was surprised how treacherous the sister was.” Syracuse University professor and social commentator Boyce Watkins agreed with West: West had run off the plantation by speaking freely, not as an enemy of the Obama Administration (he campaigned heavily for the president), but as someone who demanded that we give a voice to the voiceless. But when you have 96 percent of the Black vote, there is almost no incentive to do anything for Black people, especially those who are poor or in prison. It’s much easier to convince Black people to be quiet by using political goons to terrorize any voices of dissent. I can just hear someone at a closed-door meeting making the statement, “The negroes are getting upset, what do we do? Perhaps we should find one of our personal negroes to fight him.” Well, in full overseer tradition, the Democrats have created well-paid African-American attack dogs willing to defend their actions at any cost. Since Harris-Perry and her friends had no legitimate defense to the critiques of Dr. West, they presumed that it would be easier to simply discredit him. You see, if you kill the messenger, you never have to deal with the message itself. Harris-Perry allowed herself to be used by the liberal establishment and their media channels to paint Professor West as irrelevant, petty, and ignorant in his critiques. Watkins concluded: In the Black community, leading Democrats have learned the dictator lesson well: If we hijack a few figureheads in the Black community and convince them to always speak in support of our agenda, we don’t actually have to do very much for Black people themselves. It’s much easier to take care of the Head N*gger In Charge (HNIC) than it is to take care of the people they represent – just give them big media guns and have them aim those guns at any of the field negroes who choose to participate in the rebellion. That’s what makes Melissa Harris-Perry so harmful. Although Watkins didn't address what West said about Sharpton, one could make the same case about the reverend given his claim to 60 Minutes last May. As Lesley Stahl reported at the time, ” Sharpton told us that having a black president is a challenge: if he finds fault with Mr. Obama, he's aiding those who want to destroy him. So he has decided not to criticize the president about anything – even about black unemployment that’s twice the national rate.” Fits Watkins' description to a tee: “In the Black community, leading Democrats have learned the dictator lesson well: If we hijack a few figureheads in the Black community and convince them to always speak in support of our agenda, we don’t actually have to do very much for Black people themselves.” Associate Editor’s note: As you are likely aware, since the financial collapse of 2008, charities and non-profit organizations have seen a sharp reduction in donations. Although the environment has improved, contributions are still nowhere near where they were prior to the recession. Unfortunately, the Media Research Center has not been immune. With this in mind, your support has become more important than ever. With a critical election approaching, the liberal media needs to be monitored 24/7. As we have been predicting for months, the press are willing to do anything to get their beloved politicians elected and/or reelected. As such, we need your help to fight this fight. Any contribution, even $10, is greatly appreciated. Please consider a tax-deductible gift to the Media Research Center to help us battle the liberal media. Thank you.

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Civil Rights Activist Cornel West Scolds MSNBC’s Al Sharpton: ‘Tell the Truth About the White House’

a remedy for the resentful I really enjoyed reading a new take on an old subject this week at The Fiscal Times. Liz Peek takes a look at a subject which is quickly leaving the realm of policy discussion and becoming a full blown campaign theme on Team Obama. We’re speaking, of course, about the now famous Buffett Rule which Read this post

a remedy for the resentful I really enjoyed reading a new take on an old subject this week at The Fiscal Times. Liz Peek takes a look at a subject which is quickly leaving the realm of policy discussion and becoming a full blown campaign theme on Team Obama. We’re speaking, of course, about the now famous Buffett Rule which Read this post

Hint: it’s not the rich We’ve been sounding the alarm since early last year about the risks associated with various EPA regulatory maneuvers, particularly the latest Utility MACT and cross state emissions rules. We are even now seeing the loss of significant energy generation on the grid, and an effective war on coal which reduces energy supply leading to the Read this post

Deaths, guns, whistle-blowers and the highest law officer in the land stonewalling a congressional investigation are the juicy ingredients of a story network news reporters would love to cover – if a Republican were in office. However, when Attorney General Eric Holder testified on Thursday (February 2) before a House oversight committee investigating Operation Fast and Furious, the news was completely ignored by NBC and ABC (there was one full story on Friday’s CBS This Morning ). The virtual blackout of Holder’s testimony continues an overall trend of ABC and NBC burying one of the Obama administration’s biggest scandals, despite continual coverage by their competitors at CBS, CNN and Fox News. MRC analysts reviewed the Big Three network evening and morning news shows and found that while CBS aired 29 stories and 1 brief on Fast and Furious, ABC aired only one brief on the June 15, 2011 edition of Good Morning America . That was still better than what NBC did on their morning and evening news programs, as the gunwalking story has never been mentioned on either NBC Nightly News or the Today show. NBC’s Miguel Almaguer, in a report primarily about a Mexican mother accusing border patrol agents of killing her 17-year old son as he tried to scale a wall, did note that “In December, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed in a shootout with bandits.” However, Almaguer never tied the Terry killing back to the gunwalking scandal. It should be noted Chris Hansen, on the April 17, 2011 edition of NBC’s magazine show Dateline , did report that the ATF “as part of an undercover operation, actually allowed hundreds of guns to be smuggled to the Mexican drug cartels.” However, Hansen never linked Holder to the operation or even mentioned Terry’s name. Hansen’s failure to mention Terry’s name is particularly galling considering his mother, Josephine has repeatedly demanded Holder apologize for her son’s death, most recently after Thursday’s hearing as she called the Attorney General a “coward.” Josephine Terry is not being granted the same cause celeb status that the networks gave George W. Bush harasser Cindy Sheehan. Only one reporter, Sharyl Attkisson at CBS News, has truly cared to cover the story, even in the face of being briefly benched after the White House complained. Attkisson, who broke the gunwalking story back on the February 23, 2011 Evening News, routinely reported the hot stories ABC and NBC wouldn’t touch. The following is a timeline of those key stories and how they were covered by CBS, ABC and NBC: # February 23, 2011 CBS Evening News : SHARYL ATTKISSON: December 14, 2010, the place, a dangerous smuggling route in Arizona, not far from the border. A special tactical border squad was on patrol when gunfire broke out and agent Brian Terry, shown here in a training exercise, was killed….The assault rifles found at the murder, similar to these, were traced back to a U.S. gun shop. Where they came from and how they got there is a scandal so large, some insiders say it surpasses the shoot- out at Ruby Ridge and the deadly siege at Waco. Coverage on ABC and NBC that week: 0 stories # March 3, 2011 CBS Evening News : KATIE COURIC: Making an accusation that could cost him his job, an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms claims the agency has a policy that is actually putting guns in the cartel’s hands. Here’s investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson. … ATTKISSON: …[John] Dodson’s job is to stop gun trafficking across the border. Instead, he says he was ordered to sit by and watch it happen…Now he’s risking his job to go public…Agent Dodson and other insiders say the gun-walking strategy was approved all the way to the Justice Department. Coverage on ABC and NBC that week: 0 stories # March 27, 2011 CBS Evening News : ATTKISSON: ATF sources say they were told the controversial operation called Fast and Furious in late 2009 through January this year was to try to gain intelligence to take down a cartel. President Obama was asked about the case in an interview with Univision Network. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Well, first of all, I did not authorize it. Eric Holder, the attorney general, did not authorize it…. ATTKISSON: But Darren Gill insists somebody in the Justice Department did know. He was the lead ATF official in Mexico when his supervisor in Washington told him Fast and Furious was approved beyond ATF Director Kenneth Melson. Coverage on ABC and NBC that week: 0 stories # June 10, 2011 CBS’s The Early Show : CHRIS WRAGGE: Congress held its first hearings Monday on the gun walker scandal that CBS News first uncovered back in February. Coverage on ABC and NBC of hearings that week: 0 stories

Catwalk the plank If Mitt Romney is the nominee, he’s going to have some big problems in the general election, as we’ve all heard. Not the least of these is the fact that Barack Obama will be painting him as a super rich guy, out of touch with the man on the street. You know… hanging out with View the video

Catwalk the plank If Mitt Romney is the nominee, he’s going to have some big problems in the general election, as we’ve all heard. Not the least of these is the fact that Barack Obama will be painting him as a super rich guy, out of touch with the man on the street. You know… hanging out with View the video

If you needed more proof of liberal media bias, just look at the orgasms created by Friday's announcement that unemployment in January dropped to 8.3 percent. By contrast, these same folks were practically suicidal as the jobless rate dropped to 5.6 percent when George W. Bush was President in January 2004. Here's how the NBC Nightly News covered the January unemployment report on February 6, 2004: BRIAN WILLIAMS, co-anchor: NBC News IN DEPTH tonight, more on that unemployment report out today. As we mentioned, the rate ticked down to a two-year low. But the number of jobs created, 112,000, was well below what analysts had expected. So what does all this tell us and where are these new jobs coming from? IN DEPTH tonight, here's NBC's Anne Thompson. ANNE THOMPSON reporting: Union Pacific railroad, one of the engines of job creation in this country. It's looking to hire as many as 3500 new workers this year. There's been a surge in retirements and freight loads, its trains carrying more of everything from lumber to grain. Mr. DICK DAVIDSON (Union Pacific Corporation CEO): We absolutely wouldn't be hiring these numbers of people if–if we didn't have some confidence that the economy was coming back. THOMPSON: But that attitude remains the exception in corporate America and one reason why today's jobs report is considered disappointing. Yes, 112,000 jobs were created in January, but that's not enough, economists say, to keep pace with the recovery. Dr. MARK ZANDI (Economy.com Chief Economist): Without more jobs, we're just not going to create enough income to ensure that consumers go out and continue to spend aggressively and allow this expansion to move forward. THOMPSON: And for those who lose their jobs, finding the next one isn't easy. The average search time, according to the government, is now up to five months, the longest in 20 years. Mr. ALEX HOOVER: Just let it flow nice and easy. THOMPSON: After years of being self-employed, Alex Hoover has found a steady paycheck, training to be a Union Pacific brakeman and one day a conductor. Mr. HOOVER: I'm looking for something a little more stable. THOMPSON: CEO Dick Davidson says Hoover and others have found it. Mr. DAVIDSON: These should be long-term jobs, hopefully where somebody will come and work 40 years and then retire. THOMPSON: But they're still rare, economist Zandi says, because tax breaks entice companies to spend on equipment rather than employees. Mr. ZANDI: We have to design policies that make it cheaper for businesses to go out and invest in people. THOMPSON: That means tackling tough issues, finding creative ways to curb rising health care and pension costs… Offscreen Voice: Help bring it to a stop. THOMPSON: …to end this unprecedented cycle of tepid job growth in an otherwise strong economy. Anne Thompson, NBC News, New York. Not a very cheery report despite the unemployment rate dropping to 5.6 percent. But NBC wasn't alone in spreading the gloom. The CBS Evening News was right there with them: DAN RATHER, anchor: It is growing but the US economy isn't producing enough jobs, at least not yet. The government's official figures out today say unemployment in January was running 5.6 percent. While that is down a bit, the decline is largely the result of workers giving up on finding a job and no longer officially listed as unemployed. The economy created some new jobs in January, about 112,000, but economists say that is below predictions and expectations and not nearly enough to meet demand. CBS' Anthony Mason reports tonight on the job market. ANTHONY MASON reporting: Intranets.com in Woburn, Massachusetts, is a small company, just 40 employees, but CEO Rick Faulk has big plans because he likes this economy. Mr. RICK FAULK (CEO, Intranets.com): From our perspective, it's very strong. MASON: Faulk says Intranets, which helps businesses manage their documents through the Web, plans to add 15 employees this year. Mr. FAULK: We measure by Web site traffic, and our traffic is up dramatically. So we've got the confidence actually to go out and hire. MASON: Greg Shenk just landed a marketing job with the company but after a painful job search. Mr. GREG SHENK (Intranets.com): I was looking for work for about 15 months. So a long, long time. MASON: Yes, unemployment dropped in January and payrolls grew at their fastest pace in more than three years. The problem is they're still not growing fast enough and some economists are now wondering whether all this hiring that was supposed to happen actually will. That bears repeating: “Payrolls grew at their fastest pace in more than three years.” Yet the world according to CBS was practically coming to an end. For its part, NPR was just as dour: BOB EDWARDS, host: The government's latest unemployment report shows some improvement, but not as much as many had hoped. In January, businesses added just 112,000 new jobs. The overall size of the nation's work force held steady, and the unemployment rate fell slightly. NPR's Jack Speer is here. Good morning, Jack. JACK SPEER reporting: Good morning, Bob. EDWARDS: How should one regard the unemployment report from the government today? SPEER: Well, Bob, I guess you can sort of look at this like a glass half-full or a glass half-empty. In other words, there's reason for both optimism and pessimism when you look at the January jobs report out this morning. On the one hand, we've got the payroll employment figures. They're showing fewer jobs last month than most economists agree are needed just to provide enough positions for all the new workers entering the labor force. And then you've got the other number, the survey the government does of households, and that shows the unemployment rate down a 10th of a percent to 5.6 percent, its lowest level in three years. That bears repeating: “The unemployment rate down a 10th of a percent to 5.6 percent, its lowest level in three years.” Lowest in three years. But no orgasm like what we saw last Friday when the unemployment rate dropped to its lowest level in three years which was 2.7 percent higher than in February 2004. Let's be clear here: There were 8.4 million Americans out of work in February 2004. Today that number is 12.8 million, a 52 percent increase, and our media on Friday celebrated like they had won the Super Bowl. The newspapers eight years ago were just as gloomy. The New York Times participated in spreading the misery with a piece entitled “Job Growth Picks Up But Misses Forecast”: Job creation revived in January after an abrupt year-end slowdown, with employers adding 112,000 jobs last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported yesterday. It was the job market's best performance since the economy started pulling out of recession in 2001. But the growth in employment was well under the 175,000 jobs expected by forecasters, and short of the 150,000 new jobs that economists consider necessary to absorb new entrants into the labor force. So did the Washington Post: The nation's unemployment rate fell slightly last month, and job growth picked up a bit, the Labor Department reported yesterday, indicating that the weak labor market is continuing its slow recovery. The unemployment rate slipped in January to 5.6 percent, the lowest level in more than two years, and non-farm businesses added 112,000 jobs, on a seasonally adjusted basis, boosting their payrolls for the fifth consecutive month. While the movement was in the right direction, the degree of improvement was disappointing to economists and others who keep waiting for what otherwise appears to be a strong economic expansion to fuel a takeoff in hiring. And the signals of progress appeared alongside signs of continuing stress, as the average length of unemployment grew and manufacturing businesses shed 11,000 jobs, for a 42nd consecutive month of declines. The report “displayed only minimal improvement,” said Peter E. Kretzmer, senior economist with Bank of America Corp. “While a healthier result than December's dismal report, it still demonstrated only very gradual job growth, with continued manufacturing payroll declines.” Add it all up, and a 5.6 percent unemployment rate with 8.4 million Americans out of work was disappointingly bad news in February 2004 as George W. Bush was beginning his campaign for reelection. But somehow, eight years later, as a president the media adore seeks his reelection bid, 8.3 percent unemployment with 12.8 million out of work means happy days are here again. Associate Editor’s note: As you are likely aware, since the financial collapse of 2008, charities and non-profit organizations have seen a sharp reduction in donations. Although the environment has improved, contributions are still nowhere near where they were prior to the recession. Unfortunately, the Media Research Center has not been immune. With this in mind, your support has become more important than ever. With a critical election approaching, the liberal media needs to be monitored 24/7. As we have been predicting for months, the press are willing to do anything to get their beloved politicians elected and/or reelected. As such, we need your help to fight this fight. Any contribution, even $10, is greatly appreciated. Please consider a tax-deductible gift to the Media Research Center to help us battle the liberal media. Thank you.

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Media Orgasmic Over 8.3% Unemployment in 2012, Suicidal With 5.6% in 2004

To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, there he goes again. On MSNBC's Hardball Monday, host Chris Matthews said Barack Obama's smile “is worth five to ten points” on Election Day (video follows with transcript and commentary): CHRIS MATTHEWS: And finally, how does President Obama view the nasty Romney-Gingrich nomination fight? Well, in last night’s pre-game interview, Matt Lauer asked the President to size up how the race will affect the general election this November, and he had, Matt had a visual aid to help him. Let’s watch. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MATT LAUER: There's the cover of the New Yorker, the most recent New Yorker, and it has a picture of you watching the big game on TV. And there you are sitting there and up on screen it's not the Patriots and the Giants. It's Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, same team, and they are pummeling each other. And look at the smile on your face there. Is art imitating life here? BARACK OBAMA: Well, you know, look, I've been through these primaries, they're tough…I think ultimately this will be forgotten by the time they make a decision on who their nominee is. And the American people are going to make a decision on my platform and where I want to take the country and where the Republican does. (END VIDEO CLIP) MATTHEWS: I think that smile of his is worth five to ten points in the general. They don't call him “Tingles” for nothing. Associate Editor’s note: As you are likely aware, since the financial collapse of 2008, charities and non-profit organizations have seen a sharp reduction in donations. Although the environment has improved, contributions are still nowhere near where they were prior to the recession. Unfortunately, the Media Research Center has not been immune. With this in mind, your support has become more important than ever. With a critical election approaching, the liberal media needs to be monitored 24/7. As we have been predicting for months, the press are willing to do anything to get their beloved politicians elected and/or reelected. As such, we need your help to fight this fight. Any contribution, even $10, is greatly appreciated. Please consider a tax-deductible gift to the Media Research Center to help us battle the liberal media. Thank you.

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Chris Matthews: Obama’s Smile ‘Worth Five to Ten Points’ on Election Day

To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, there he goes again. On MSNBC's Hardball Monday, host Chris Matthews said Barack Obama's smile “is worth five to ten points” on Election Day (video follows with transcript and commentary): CHRIS MATTHEWS: And finally, how does President Obama view the nasty Romney-Gingrich nomination fight? Well, in last night’s pre-game interview, Matt Lauer asked the President to size up how the race will affect the general election this November, and he had, Matt had a visual aid to help him. Let’s watch. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MATT LAUER: There's the cover of the New Yorker, the most recent New Yorker, and it has a picture of you watching the big game on TV. And there you are sitting there and up on screen it's not the Patriots and the Giants. It's Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, same team, and they are pummeling each other. And look at the smile on your face there. Is art imitating life here? BARACK OBAMA: Well, you know, look, I've been through these primaries, they're tough…I think ultimately this will be forgotten by the time they make a decision on who their nominee is. And the American people are going to make a decision on my platform and where I want to take the country and where the Republican does. (END VIDEO CLIP) MATTHEWS: I think that smile of his is worth five to ten points in the general. They don't call him “Tingles” for nothing. Associate Editor’s note: As you are likely aware, since the financial collapse of 2008, charities and non-profit organizations have seen a sharp reduction in donations. Although the environment has improved, contributions are still nowhere near where they were prior to the recession. Unfortunately, the Media Research Center has not been immune. With this in mind, your support has become more important than ever. With a critical election approaching, the liberal media needs to be monitored 24/7. As we have been predicting for months, the press are willing to do anything to get their beloved politicians elected and/or reelected. As such, we need your help to fight this fight. Any contribution, even $10, is greatly appreciated. Please consider a tax-deductible gift to the Media Research Center to help us battle the liberal media. Thank you.

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Chris Matthews: Obama’s Smile ‘Worth Five to Ten Points’ on Election Day