HillaryWatch: MSNBC Spent More Time on Clinton Than Fox and CNN Combined

CNN has led thus far in Mediaite’s weekly examination of cable news’ coverage of Hillary Clinton — who, once again, holds no office and is not in contention for one.

This week saw the first shift, as MSNBC devoted more time to Clinton and her impending potential hypothetical 2016 campaign than the other two cable networks combined, with 97 minutes devoted to Clinton. (Much of that came from Chris Matthews, who ran several ten-minute-plus segments on Clinton.) CNN still ran the most segments on non-existent Clinton, but spent cumulatively far less time discussing her hypothetical run, while Fox News spent 52 minutes over the course of twelve segments.

Les charts:

Overall, this week’s 185 minutes of attention was down considerably this week from last week’swhopping 410 minutes. Coverage is still being driven largely by comments of Republican figures about whether Bill Clinton’s mid-90s scandals should bear upon Clinton’s campaign, though Fox is much more interested in Clinton’s old papers than the other two networks.

Methodology: The study counted any sustained discussion lasting more than thirty seconds and involving more than a passing reference to Clinton (thus excluding, for instance, any Scott Walker orChris Christie segments that happened to reference her as a hypothetical election opponent); however, any on-screen graphic of 2016 poll numbers citing Clinton automatically counted as a segment. All repeats and show intros were excluded.

Eternal disclaimer: there are 986 days until the 2016 election.

Via: Mediaite.com

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On MSNBC, Daily Beast's Obeidallah: 'Conservatives Hate a Lot of Women'

Appearing as a guest on the Friday, December 27, Hardball on MSNBC, comedian and Daily Beast columnist Dean Obeidallah -- who has also been a CNN contributor -- cracked that "conservatives hate a lot of women" as he recounted that the woman whose face appeared on the ObamaCare Web site had been tagged "the most despised woman in America"  by "some bloggers on the right," whom he failed to identify.

Substitute host Michael Smerconish asked about the background of the woman known as Adriana whose photograph was used for the Web site: "Dean, what was the back story here? She posed in exchange for free photographs or something?"

Obeidallah responded:

For nothing. They paid her nothing, and look what she got in exchange. They said, "We're going to use your photo on some of the rollout." I bet you under their hushed breath, they were like, "You're going to be on the home page."

But they didn't want to say that to her because no one would want to be on the home page of this huge program. And then she was demonized. First, comics made fun of her. Then, some bloggers on the right called her "the most despised woman in America." Which is a pretty high bar because conservatives hate a lot of women.

The comedian then quipped that, if he had gotten his own face on the Web site, it might have landed him a job hosting on MSNBC:

But, on the flip side, is she got really well known, and I wish, for that reason, they would have used me. I would have been happy to be the face of ObamaCare Web site. I would have become better known. Maybe I could have guest hosted Hardball one night, Michael. You never know.

--Brad Wilmouth is a news analyst at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow Brad Wilmouth on MSNBC.

Via: Newsbusters

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Obama dismisses IRS targeting of conservatives: ‘They’ve got a list, and suddenly everybody’s outraged’

President Obama rejected the notion that the IRS’ targeting of Tea Party groups was illegal — or even improper — during his interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews on Thursday.

Obama was at American University to sell his flailing healthcare law to the young people upon which the insurance exchanges heavily rely. As promised, Matthews allowed him to make his pitch with no tough questions or pushback.

But the interview became interesting when the Hardball host asked why Americans were growing increasingly skeptical of government. Obama noted that the media never seems interested in government success stories. “When we do things right, they don’t get a lot of attention,” he said.

OBAMA: That’s not — that’s not something that’s reported about. If, on the other hand, you’ve got an office in Cincinnati, in the IRS office that — I think, for bureaucratic reasons, is trying to streamline what is a difficult law to interpret about whether a nonprofit is actually a political organization deserves a tax exempt agency. And they’ve got a list, and suddenly everybody’s outraged.

MATTHEWS: 501(c)(4) is tricky to begin with, how to define it.

OBAMA: To begin with.

The president even appeared annoyed that liberal commentators once dared to challenge him on the point:

OBAMA: And by the way, Chris, I’ll point out that there are some so-called progressives and, you know, perceived to be liberal commentators who during that week were just as outraged at the possibility that these folks, you know, had — had been, you know, at the direction of — the Democratic Party, in some way — discriminated against these folks.

One of those so-called progressives was Obama himself, who in May called the targeting of conservative groups “outrageous” and “something that people are properly concerned about.” (Related: Obama steps up criticism of IRS targeting)

Also in May, the Obama Justice Department pledged to investigate the targeting of conservative groups by the IRS. As of last week, none of the affected groups had been contacted by any federal investigators. (Related: Federal investigators still not contacting conservative groups targeted by IRS)

President Obama later passed blame for his failures onto his cabinet agencies — claiming that “somebody somewhere at this very moment is screwing something up” — and repeated the nauseating platitude that “government’s not somebody else. Government’s us.”

Via: Daily Caller

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[VIDEO] Chris Matthews to Obama: 'Everyone Knows' Republicans Want to Stop Minorities From Voting

Chris Matthews received his long-desired wish on Thursday, an exclusive interview with Barack Obama. The Hardball anchor didn't exactly live up to the title of his show, wondering about Republican efforts to "make it difficult for minorities to vote" and questioning who was better, Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden?

Talking to the President at American University, Matthews read a question from a viewer via Twitter: "What can we do to stop the GOP, the Republicans, from rigging the states, rigging the votes, state by state, to disenfranchise voters and destroy our democracy?" The host added, "Thirty six states right now led by Republican legislatures have been trying to make it difficult for minority people to vote, especially in big cities and older people. Everybody knows the game." [See video below. MP3 audio here.] Tossing a softball to Obama, he queried, "What's your reaction?" 

At one point, the MSNBC host playfully teased the President, joking, "I have to ask you a little question you may not like to answer." He continued, "It's an essay question. The qualities required of a president. Vice President Joe Biden, Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, compare and contrast."

Smiling at the cozy question, Obama laughed and then responded, "Not a chance I'm going there."

In areas where Matthews wasn't totally sycophantic, he still fell far short of any reasonable definition of playing "hardball." On the subject of ObamaCare, he gently wondered:

CHRIS MATTHEWS: You have a great audience here of-- college age-- people and some graduate students and faculty. There's some resistance out there among young people-- We've seen it in the polls-- to, to enrolling in the-- in the exchanges and to get involved in taking responsibility for their health care. What's your argument why they should do that?

On the issue of faith in government, the anchor sympathized with the President: "I know we had Watergate. We had the Vietnam War, of course, all that together. But what's gonna stop and arrest that decline in faith of you doing the right thing, you being honest, I mean, anybody who's president?"

Via: Newsbusters
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Obama: Young people will realize Obamacare benefits are 'priceless'

President Obama on Thursday urged young people to sign up for Obamacare, telling them they would realize the benefits are “priceless.”

In an interview on MSNBC’s "Hardball with Chris Matthews," the president said he understood why young people have been hesitant to enroll in the new law’s insurance exchanges after the botched rollout. But he insisted that once young people become aware of the benefits from the health law, they will sign up.

"For young people to recognize that it is in their financial interest and their health interest to be able to get on-going preventive care, to be able to get free contraception and, you know, benefits like mammograms that allow them to maintain their health throughout their lives, without fear of going bankrupt or making their family bankrupt if they get sick, that's something that's priceless,” Obama said.

The glitch-filled healthcare.gov website and the millions of Americans who are losing their insurance plans under new Obamacare regulations despite the president’s promises have undercut support for Obama’s signature legislative achievement.

Polls show him at record-low approval ratings, and the public’s opinion of his managerial skills has declined. Young people, who backed the president strongly in 2008 and 2012, are also losing faith in the health care law.

For the law to be a success, the administration must enroll enough young people to balance out older and sicker people in the insurance pools and keep premiums low.

Via: Washington Examiner

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Chris Matthews: 'Vulture' Conservatives Commit 'Verbal Terror' on 'Great' Obama

Chris Matthews appears to have a Mad Libs-style list of the worst insults he hurls at conservative. On Wednesday, he chose "verbal terror" to smear everyone on the right who disagrees with all of the "great things" Barack Obama wants to do. The Hardball anchor opened his show by hyperbolically warning, "Political armageddon!" According to Matthews, the fight between the President and conservatives is not a conflict of ideas.

Rather, "it's a battle between a President who wants to do great things -- extend health care to the tens of millions of working people, many of them poor, ending two wars in Afghanistan" and an "almost totally negative force arrayed and barking against him, a campaign of verbal terror and negativity aimed at denying tens of millions decent health care." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

In the simplistic world of an MSNBC host, "it's a strange, unbalanced battle between a man who wants to do great things and an enemy aimed at ensuring he does not."

Matthews has no problem with using extremist language to demonize his enemies. On July 31, 2013, he labeled Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Mike Lee "terrorists."

On March 2, 2009, the host wondered if then-Health and Human Services nominee Kathleen Sebelius would survive the "terrorism of the anti-abortion people" who opposed her.

Via: Newsbusters

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Unhinged Matthews Sneers at 'So-Called Independent Media' Giving 'Racist' GOP a Free Pass

What world does Chris Matthews live in? The MSNBC anchor worked himself into a frenzy on Monday night, ranting that the "so-called independent media" are just too soft on all the "racist" elements within the Republican Party. Talking to his fellow liberals David Corn and Ed Rendell, the Hardball host balked, "I look at the free ride the media has been giving the Republican Party." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

According to Matthews, it's conservative media bias that causes most journalists to ignore the "40 million people [Republicans] want to commit to the emergency room!" Conservatives "don't want to lift a finger for them!" Yet, "the so-called independent media out there never brings it up!" If the problem is that reporters don't call Republicans racist enough, Matthewscertainly does his part – and continued his cries of bigotry on Monday night.

The cable anchor began by demanding, "...I think it's time for the President to stick it to his enemies." Matthews identified:

CHRIS MATTHEWS: No, his true enemies are the backers and kissing cousins of the birthers, the people like John Boehner, who refuse to stand up to them, who makes common cause with the haters even as he positions himself as not quite one of them, who keep their hands clean even as they benefit from the garbage their birther buddies are throwing out at the latest right-wing feeding time at the zoo.

Via: Newsbusters

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