Talk Box: Cable-News Prefers Profiling to Pat-Downs in TSA Debate

This is what Jon Stewart was talking about
By Edward Copeland To paraphrase the old Clinton campaign battle cry, "It's the media, stupid." When the whole TSA media explosion began, it was one of those rare stories where all sides of the political spectrum seemed to agree from the likes of Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake to an assortment of conservative talking heads. It even had its own variation of "Don't tase me, bro" with "If you touch my junk, I'll have you Arrested" before true horror stories came out of passengers who had colostomy ...

If you object to being groped at the airport, MSNBC's Ed Schultz thinks it's because you are a racist (video)
Don't want to be irradiated in a naked scanner or have some TSA agent fondling your junk? Well, you must be a Racist according to loony left-wing talker Ed Schultz and his guest. That's right. According to Schultz, this isn't about your Privacy or 4th Amendment rights. It's about the Racist right's hatred of President Obama and desire to push Racial Profiling. “They’re using this to push racial profiling, I can’t believe the American People are buying this garbage. Why do all ...

Ana Marie Cox Bites Hand That Feeds Her
Not surprisngly, Ana Marie Cox is all caught up in the storm of nothing over Salon‘s Alex Pareene ‘s Hack 30 List. It’s Salon‘s take on who are the worst pundits in America. Cox says over Twitter that she’d like to be #31. This morning she went on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” in a jumper to promote a GQ story she wrote on Admiral Mike Mullen . But before that, this week she nominated “the cast of Morning Joe” for the Hack list — right, t...

Parker/Spitzer Nowhere Near Competitors In Poor Showing Monday
Cable news Ratings, November 22, 2010: •Another disturbingly poor performance from CNN’s Parker/Spitzer, which came in fourth among viewers 25-54 on Monday night, less than half the audience of HLN’s Nancy Grace, and barely 15 percent of the audience of Bill O’Reilly on Fox. •CNN’s Larry King had a good night, besting MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow among viewers 25-54 for more than 22,000 viewers. Here’s the full scoreboard: TV NEWS RATINGS: 25-54 DEMOGRAPHIC (L +S...

Breaking: Keith Olbermann Is Still Not A Fan Of Fox News
Here’s a shocker for you: Keith Olbermann is taking issue with Bill O’Reilly’s proclamation that Fox News “is the Most Powerful media agency in the world.” On Countdown tonight, the MSNBC host took a few minutes to dissect that claim—though his comments didn’t exactly have the effect he intended them to have. Here’s what Olbermann had to say in response to a clip of O’Reilly’s FOX boast: “Interestingly, the thing O’Reilly think...

Keith Olbermann Calls For Fox To Dump Judge Andrew Napolitano Over 9/11 Comments
Judge Andrew Napolitano has taken his firebrand Libertarian show, Freedom Watch, to the big leagues, anchoring the Most Expensive Real Estate on the Fox Business Network- and it took less than a month of Free Market values and government distrust for Keith Olbermann to be calling for his dismissal. The issue? Napolitano really doesn’t trust the government, whether it comes to taxes, social programs, or, uh, who was really behind 9/11. Napolitano visited Controversial radio host Alex ...

TSA Chief Defends Scanners, Pat Downs As Holiday Travel Week Begins
TSA Chief John Pistole made the rounds on the network News shows this Morning, urging passengers-and Cable News hosts-to bring some “common sense” back into the discussion of increased Airline Security as the country moves into the Holiday flying Season. Telling MSNBC’s Morning Joe that he’d been through an “enhanced pat down,” the procedure richly parodied in a fake TSA ad on SNL over the weekend, which was also noteworthy for Secretary of State H...

Ed Schultz: TSA Controversy Is Just Racist Right Wingers Wanting To Promote Racial Profiling
I’ve often said that Ed Schultz is less a serious political commentator than the pundit equivalent of a professional wrestler. He’s not really trying to analyze political issues for our edification, just as professional wrestlers aren’t really competing with one another. He’s there to put on a show by getting red faced and shouting and blaming everything on “right wingers” and “tea baggers.” Case in point, the TSA Controversy. This has actually bee...

Geraldo Rivera and Juan Williams Argue For Ethnic Profiling On Airplanes
Chalk up Geraldo Rivera and Juan Williams as two more Fox News pundits without any aviation security credentials to argue that what we really need to keep us safe and flying more comfortably is ethnic profiling of Muslims. It was to be expected from “I get nervous when I see Muslims in traditional garb on airplanes” Williams. But Rivera? He seemed most interested in making sure that people like himself didn’t have to go through the trouble of enhanced screening. Then, in an app...

Americans united on scanners, divided on pat-downs, profiling
(CNN) - When it comes to new Airport Security screening for passengers, Americans agree that full-body scanners are okay, but split over when additional measures cross the line, according to two new polls. A majority of Americans surveyed in two new polls released this week support the Transportation Security Administration's use of full-body x-ray machines that use new technology to highlight outlines of the human body in an effort to detect hidden weapons. According to a Washington Post-ABC Ne...

MSNBCs Special Ed: Racist Right Using TSA Controversy to Promote Racial Profiling
And guess what Sergeant, 70% of the American public would support it. What’s the IQ threshold to get your own show on MSNBC? I’m guessing no higher than 80… “They’re using this to push Racial Profiling, I can’t believe the American People are buying this garbage. Why do all of us have such a problem with skin color?  Racial profiling, it doesn’t work” H/T:Pam Key Tweet ...

Williams signs new contract with Fox News
Rodeo girl wrangles with Cancer — and wins! Matt Lauer, co-host: Now the fallout over National Public Radio 's decision to fire news analyst Juan Williams over a remark he made on another network. He says he was just speaking his mind. NBC 's Norah O'Donnell is in Washington with the latest. Norah , good morning. NORAH O'DONNELL reporting: Hey, good morning, Matt. NPR is now under fire for dumping Juan Williams after his comments about Muslims on Fox News and the right has declared war o...

Bart Simpson, scourge of 'No 1 network for racists'
Used to hectoring real-life public figures for views he considers Unpatriotic, right-wing US television presenter Bill O'Reilly has expanded his range of targets to include America's most beloved family, the Simpsons. The host was not amused when the popular cartoon included a scene in which a Fox News Helicopter is shown bearing the slogan "Not Racist, but #1 with racists". Since The Simpsons goes out on FOX, the joke struck O'Reilly as misplaced. "Pinheads? I believe so," he said. "Continuin...

Midday Overnight Open Thread - Bad Timing Edition [Rajiv Vindaloo]
BREAKING: Cha-Ching! Maffei concedes; NY-25 another pickup for the Republicans! (h/t Bomber© in the comments.) So there I was, all set to compose and post my first awesomeish weekday MOOT, but then Comcast was all like and I was stuck all day peering through the window instead of attending the party. Story of my life, let me tell you. I mean, I love you guys, but not enough to hand-code 175 lines of HTML on an iPhone. Anyway, speaking of great timing: The Elections are over, the thrill is gone...

Rush Limbaugh suggests Presidents children should be groped
How can any conservative condone his words and still call themselves a conservative. This was sick, and he just keeps on doing what he’s doing, and the so-called Conservatives sit with one hand under their bottoms and the other hand covering their mouths. This is not the first time the Limbaugh has gone after the President’s Children. And he has also made racial remarks about the Presidents wife Michelle, and as we all know he has injected his Racist views toward the President ever s...

Parker/Spitzer Outperforms Larry King, Anderson Cooper Friday Night
Cable news Ratings, November 19, 2010: •The usually underperforming Parker/Spitzer didn’t come anywhere near winning their 8 p.m. timeslot Friday, coming in fourth-but the show’s 140,000 viewers 25-54 was a bigger number than both Larry King Live, with 124,000 and Anderson Cooper 360 with 127,000. •Rachel Maddow had an unusually poor showing Friday night, with her show on MSNBC attracting a bit better than half of Keith Olbermann’s numbers for Countdown. Here’s ...

Bill OReilly Asks Whoopi About The View Walkout And The Muslim Problem
Before Juan Williams-gate and Keith Olbermann-gate, there was Joy and Whoopi-gate—when Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg stormed off the set of The View after a comment made by guest Bill O’Reilly rubbed them the wrong way. Though both hosts have spoken out about the incident since, both on their own show and elsewhere, neither has sat down with O’Reilly himself to discuss what happened—until now. Whoopi was Bill’s guest on tonight’s installment of The O’Reilly Fact...

Playing with Poop: Meltdown with Keith Olbermann, Part 54
Jon Stewart’s setting himself up as the new standard of reasonable may be a bit of a stretch; but you’ve got to admire how he rattles Keith Olbermann. However, the fact that this worries Keith makes the case that Stewart is primarily on the left side of the spectrum- even if he is an honest liberal.  What worries Olby most is that Stewart is the most influential voice in Keith’s target audience. Lately, Keith has been freaking out that Stewart has been equating MSNBC ...

OReilly: Fox News Is The Most Powerful Media Agency In The World
Forget the usual sniping about MSNBC-Bill O’Reilly wants you to know Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow simply don’t rate in one key area: global power domination. “There is no power at MSNBC to do anything. Here at Fox, we have emerged-and correct me if you think I’m wrong-but I think Fox News is the Most Powerful media agency in the world. Not just the country, but the world.” That bold claim may not be as surprising as the reaction from Bernie Go...

FOX News sucks, so support FOX News
Here's an ad submitted by the Palm Center, a Santa Barbara-based research center that produces research and conferences on Don't Ask, Don't Tell: The ad was rejected by Fox News. Here's Palm Center Director Aaron Belkin: "I am surprised that Fox News would reject an ad featuring allied Generals, given that host Bill O'Reilly and guest contributor Liz Cheney have both expressed support for open gay service. This is an important time for input from all sides on this issue, and I hope Fox will ...

Resentment News (and More Blondes Per Square Foot): Explaining What Fox News Channel Is
Not sure whether I will continue to do these things, but I recorded my second Late Night with PressThink video. It tries to explain “what Fox News actually is, which really means explaining it to myself…” The original is here if you wish to embed. Some of the key concepts: On FOX, the news exists in order to generate Controversy. And controversy exists in order to generate resentment. And the resentment is what generates Ratings. So this is my most concise idea about Fox: ...

Bernie Goldberg Warns Fox News About Its Bias
In a discussion about Fox News’ power, Fox News’ media critic Bernard Goldberg offered up a startling admonition to Fox. “If Fox champions causes, if Fox likes one Candidate or treats them differently than another, then you know what, it’s blowing an opportunity to be the important voice in broadcasting.” Goldberg’s statement came in the middle of a segment in which he and Bill O’Reilly largely agreed, with predictable statements, about the so-called ...

Countdown Introduces Michael Moore to the Health Care Voldemort Who Came in From the Cold
In what could have been called “Wendell Potter and the Death Panel Hallows,” Countdown’s Keith Olbermann arranged a first-time introduction between Health Insurance Whistleblower Wendell Potter and Sicko director Michael Moore . The subject was Potter’s participation in an industry effort to discredit Moore’s universal healthcare opus, and while the exchange promised to be riveting, the result was rivetingly awkward. The most fascinating aspect of this is that Moore...

Scarborough had Kitts on air without disclosure
Even before Joe Scarborough was suspended from MSNBC for making political donations, his $4,200 donation to his former Staffer, Derrick Kitts, in 2006 had been widely reported. MSNBC spokesman Jeremy Gaines told Politico at the time of Keith Olbermann’s suspension that that donation had been made in accordance with MSNBC’s policy, since Scarborough cleared it with his bosses first. Yesterday, The Village Voice’s Wayne Barrett pointed out that Scarborough then had Kitts on his...

Some Israelis doubt their airport security travels
By Dan Williams Tel Aviv | Wed Nov 24, 2010 12:18pm EST Tel Aviv (Reuters) - As Americans fume at ever more intrusive airport patdowns and screenings, some are looking to Israel for answers on how to make aviation security both strict and streamlined. The possibility of adopting Israeli security methods has become a hot topic in the U.S. media as millions prepare to travel by air for the Thanksgiving holiday this weekend. But while Israelis may enjoy the resulting prestige and commercial payo...