Think Progress

In comments first reported in the New York Observer, Sen. Joseph Biden (D-DE) said Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) is “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.” Biden’s insensitive remarks were roundly criticized, and he has since apologized. The Chicago Tribune explained:

Note to Biden. Well-spoken black people hate it when white people call them “articulate.” It’s the modern-day version of what white people used to say back in the day when they thought that by saying “He’s a credit to his race” they were saying something that ...   more »

Think Progress

Sens. Carl Levin (D-MI) and John Warner (R-VA) have reached agreement on a compromise bipartisan resolution opposing President Bush’s Iraq escalation policy. Levin and Warner had co-sponsored competing anti-escalation resolutions, both of which risked failing to garner enough votes to break a conservative filibuster.

CNN’s Dana Bash reported moments ago, “What is going on as we speak, behind the scenes, Wolf, is Democrats and Republicans who oppose sending more troops to Iraq are trying to figure out how to join forces, come up with one single resolution that can get them the 60 votes that they need in ...   more »

Think Progress

“Molly Ivins, whose biting columns mixed liberal populism with an irreverent Texas wit, died at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at her home in Austin after an up-and-down battle with breast cancer she had waged for seven years. She was 62.” From her final column, published January 12, 2007:

We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war. Raise hell. Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous. Make our troops know we’re ...   more »

Media Matters for America

On the January 30 edition of his nationally syndicated radio program, Rush Limbaugh responded to a story reported by the British tabloid The Sun, and repeated on the Fox News website, about a British prison changing the direction of its toilets to accommodate religious Muslim inmates who are forbidden to face or turn their backs on their direction of prayer while using the bathroom. Limbaugh asked: "What do they do on an airplane? Go to the cockpit and say, 'I got some box cutters, and if you don't turn this airplane 45 degrees for ...   more »

News Hounds

Not even pretending to practice journalism anymore, John Gibson on The Big Story today 1/31/07 speculated some more on just how bad the Berger case could have been. Unfortunately for his fantasies, the Bush Justice Department and the 9/11 Commission consider the case resolved. Today's segment was a rehash of the same non-story trumpeted three weeks ago.

So what "new details" did the Big Story uncover in the childishly-named and captioned "Sandy Burglar" case? Gibson asked "Could (he) have destroyed key hand-written notes from original documents?" That's exactly what his guest, John Fund of the Wall Street Journal, ...   more »

News Hounds

As expected, The Big Story 1/31/07 is making a big deal over Joe Biden's remarks about Barack Obama's candidacy. In what is becoming a familiar scenario, former Democratic Strategist and current FOX political analyst Kirsten Powers was brought on to give the appearance of balance, but she and Gibson were once again on the same Democrat-scolding page.

Calling the comments an "outrageous statement" Gibson said it was "probably inevitable that the motormouth Biden would stick his foot in his mouth, but this one was really bad." The chyron read "Biden Blunder" and "Joe Biden calls Barack Obama a ...   more »