Tag Archives: Rachel Maddow

Rachel Maddow Reveals More Scandalous Details About IRS Tea Party Targeting

Mediaite

Rachel Maddow tonight highlighted another potential problem in the growing IRS targeting scandal plaguing the Obama administration this week. The tax-collecting agency provided private tax information about several conservative groups, including ones whose applications had not been fully processed yet, to the website ProPublica. Maddow said that strictly speaking, this was illegal, and will only make things worse for the IRS.

Maddow claimed that the Tea Party now suddenly “wants to be back on the wings of the IRS scandal,” and said that things are awkward politically because essentially everyone else agrees with them on this scandal. She acknowledged the “improper scrutiny” being given to conservatives groups that seemingly eluded their liberal counterparts.

Maddow highlighted how the same IRS Cincinnati office involved in the targeting scandal released documents to ProPublica for the site’s series of posts on groups misleading the IRS about their political activities. Documents were provided for a number of conservative groups, even from nine that were not approved yet by the IRS, which is technically illegal because “it’s supposed to be secret” if an application has not been approved.

When ProPublica attempted to find out why exactly they were given the documents, Maddow said the IRS’s response was basically “We shouldn’t have done that!” She admitted that the agency “screwed up here” and could end up making its level of scrutiny worse after this week.

Watch the video below, courtesy of MSNBC:

 

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Rachel Maddow – Formerly fringe conspiracy theorists find voice in congressional GOP

When I saw this show last night I had hoped that the You Tube video would be available online so that I could share Rachel’s genius for explaining anything with wit and intelligence beyond any newscaster on TV today.

This particular opening segment of the Rachel Maddow Show expounds on my Think Progress post from a couple of days ago…

Democratic Underground

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Tuesday Blog Roundup – 5-7-2013

Background Checks Bill

No, the gun fight is not over

Online Sales Tax Bill Passes Senate

And in America, the religious wars go on

The NRA moves dangerously far to the right

Three Women, Gone for Years, Found in Ohio

Is South Carolina ready to take Mark Sanford back?

The real Benghazi story: The dogs that aren’t barking

Bank of China Closes Account of Key North Korean Bank

Rachel Maddow talks to Joe Stiglitz, Frank Rich about income inequality (video)

Air Force Officer Tasked With Preventing Sexual Assault Arrested For Sexual Battery

 

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Tuesday Blog Roundup – 4-23-2013

A Moment in Boston
The stories of the runners, spectators and others in an image from the first explosio..

The Wages of Bamboozlement
Background check double-talk catches up with Sen. Flake (R-AZ).

Dem: Bombings being exploited
Partisan tempers flared at a Senate immigration hearing on Monday as top Democrats ac..

Anthony Weiner Returns To Twitter
ABC News’ Michael Falcone reports: It was a sexually-explicit tweet that forced Antho..

In Memoriam: Richie Havens 1941 – 2013
Folk singer and guitarist Richie Havens passed away Monday morning from a sudden hea..

Rupert Murdoch Defends the New York Post
News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch has weighed in on his tabloid’s decision t..

Video: Young science minds impress at White House
Rachel Maddow shares highlights from the White House Science Fair, include a mechani..

Video: ‘Whoever came in alive, stayed alive’ after Boston bombing
Rachel Maddow salutes the thorough, professional, and remarkably successful performa..

As Bush library opening puts his presidency back in the spotlight, his..
George W. Bush will return to the spotlight this week for the dedication of his pres..

What Chris Christie’s support for gun control says about GOP
The Senate gun control compromise failed, but that hasn’t stopped individual states f..

 

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Maddow: Republicans still trying to intrude into your bedroom

Maddow: Republicans still trying to intrude into your bedroom (via Raw Story )

Friday night on “The Rachel Maddow Show,” host Rachel Maddow pointed out that in spite of whatever attempts the GOP is making at the national level at rebranding itself, the party is lost without its “bedroom intrusion agenda.” Even as national Republicans like Olympia Snowe come out in favor…

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Tuesday Blog Roundup – 4-2-2013

South Korea warns North
The South Korean president on Monday warned North Korea that any provocative moves wi..

April Fools’ Day In 100 Seconds
April Fools’ Day, cable style: Full-size version

Frum: Clinton 2016 would be mistake
Parties have good reason to not reach back the last election’s runner-up. When they d..

Marco Rubio joins the “slow down” caucus
Even as the Sunday shows were alive with predictions that a deal is close on immigrat..

Fox thinks poverty in America is too sexy
Fox News has a discussion about how America has so many poor because it’s too “comfor..

Video: Epic voting lines will live on in Virginia
Rachel Maddow talks to Virginia State Senator Donald McEachin about a voting law rej..

Video: April Fools! Love, the Internet…and Fox News?
Rachel Maddow reports on some of the best April Fool’s jokes of the day from YouTube..

Minister Blasts the Religious Right at Easter Service
“With President Obama and his family in the pews for Easter Sunday worship, the Rev. .

Brilliant blending of photos of Paris from 1914 & 2013
A brilliant photography project that could easily be replicated in your city. .

Caroline Kennedy may be next U.S. ambassador to Japan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama is leaning toward picking Caroline Kenn..

 

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Rachel Maddow Blasts Fox News For Skipping President Obama Medal Ceremony In Israel

Mediaite

On Thursday night in the Jerusalem residence of Israeli President Shimon Peres, American President Barack Obama received the Medal of Distinction, the highest honor that Israel’s government can award a civilian (and also a hunk of hardware that looks like it could be murder on the ole sciatica). As Rachel Maddow noted on Thursday night’s The Rachel Maddow Show, however, only some cable news viewers got to see that ceremony live: all of the cable news viewers who weren’t watching Fox News.

One of the most important functions that a news program can perform, and perhaps the most basic, is to inform the viewer. While technically a so-called “opinion” program, this short segment of The Rachel Maddow show was packed with information. For example, I already knew that Republican deity and former President Ronald Reagan never visited Israel, nor did George H.W. Bush, and that George W. Bush didn’t make the trip until late in his second term. However, I did not know that the Medal of Distinction/Dothraki Battle Shield was the highest honor the Israeli government can give to a civilian, or that President Obama is the only U.S. President ever to receive it. Information.

Viewers of the Maddow show who had missed news of the President’s trip would also have been informed of several events of the day, such as the heckler who interrupted President Obama’s speech to a group of students, or the weird robot snake he checked out, or clips from the speeches he gave that day.

One of the other ways that news programs inform viewers is by bringing them live video of newsworthy events, such as the first American president to be awarded the Medal of Distinction. It was the middle of the afternoon in the U.S., and both CNN and MSNBC carried the event live. As Rachel noted, though, Fox News had other business to attend:

Fox was running a commercial about how Sean Hannity thinks President Obama is strengthening Israel’s enemies. When I saw the Maddow segment, I sus[ected there might be more to the commercial (sorry, Rachel), that there might be some part at the end that sort of redeemed it, like “But they gave him a medal!!” But I checked, that was the whole thing.

I also checked the President’s schedule for Thursday, and as expected, the dinner and the award ceremony were covered by the White House traveling press pool. That means that whether or not Fox News aired the video of the first ever American president receiving Israel’s highest civilian honor, they paid for it.

Much has been made, recently, of a Pew study that compared the ratio of “opinion” to “straight news” among the three major cable networks, but it didn’t really take into account the quality of the programming. Rachel Maddow’s show, while containing heavy doses of commentary, also fulfills journalism’s duty to inform.

The study also made the assumption that “opinion” can’t also be news, an assumption belied by recent events (Robert Gibbs made news on several MSNBC opinion shows with a revelation about the drone program), and by one of the more pivotal moments in the 2012 presidential campaign. Mitt Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom made his now-infamous “Etch-a-Sketch” remark during an interview segment that Pew would have counted as “opinion.” The question was asked by comedianJohn Fugelsang.

On the flip-side, your straight news is only as good as the news you’re reporting. If you can’t get your facts straight, or you select which stories not to air based on something other than established news practices, then it doesn’t really matter how straight it is.

 

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Filed under Fox Nation, Fox News

Friday Blog Roundup – 3-22-2013

How to Handle a Heckler
President Obama smoothly dealt with a heckler at a speech in Israel today.

What was behind Reid’s sidestep? 
Depending on whom you ask, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid’s decision to scuttle…

Did Global Warming Spark The Syrian War?
Maybe .

Paul Ryan Budget Passed By House Republicans
WASHINGTON — House Republicans have passed a budget plan that would bring the feder..

Immigrants detained again weeks after release
After months in an immigration detention facility, Hector Adame was so surprised when..

What The Media Need To Know About CPAC 2013
The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) bills itself as an event co

Tuition Assistance no longer a sequestration victim
Getty Images We learned a week ago that sequestration cuts, in addition to all their..

Obama in West Bank: Palestinians ‘deserve a state of their own’
President Barack Obama spoke critically of Israeli settlement activity in Palestinian..

Video: New Colorado gun laws embolden assault weapon ban backers
Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut talks with Rachel Maddow about Senator Har..

Chris Christie undecided on therapy to “cure” gays through homoerotic ..
GOP NJ Governor, and presidential hopeful, Chris Christie is unsure if therapy to “cu..

 

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Saturday Blog Roundup – 3-16-13

Quote of the Day

CPAC 2013: Pictures and notes

An Interview with Chris Hayes

Maryland Bans The Death Penalty

10 Crazy Gun Laws Introduced Since Newtown

Elizabeth Warren Goes After NRA, Big Banks, GOP

Video: Sen. Portman changes stance on same sex marriage

Catholic cardinal says that pedophilia is not a ‘criminal condition’

Rachel Maddow and Bill Maher: proposed Ryan budget is ‘laughable’

Top GOP Senator: We Lost On Obamacare, But We’re Going to Keep Trying To Repeal It Anyway

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MSNBC’s Chris Hayes to replace Ed Schultz

MSNBC’s Chris Hayes

Personally, I’m quite pleased with MSNBC’s programming decision…

Politico

MSNBC’s Chris Hayes has been tapped to replace outgoing host Ed Schultz in the 8 p.m. weeknight slot, according to network sources.

In just a year and a half, Hayes has generated a cult following as host of the weekend program “Up with Chris Hayes,” which takes a progressive policy wonk’s approach to the news. He will now host a show directly ahead of his mentor Rachel Maddow, MSNBC’s marquee name, and, at age 34, will be the youngest primetime host in cable news television.

The move, first reported by Brian Stelter of the New York Times, was confirmed by sources for POLITICO. MSNBC is expected to make a formal announcement later today, and would not reply to a request for comment.

Schultz announced on Wednesday night hat he would be ending his weeknight program and moving to a two-hour slot on Saturday and Sunday evenings. Schultz, a talk radio personality, has served as an MSNBC primetime host since 2009, and became best-known as an advocate for unions, labor and the middle class. His new show will air on weekend nights from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. — a relative no-man’s land for cable news programming.

Like former MSNBC host Dylan Ratigan, Schultz suggested that the move was his choice and that he wanted “to get out with the people and tell their stories.” Sources at MSNBC told POLITICO that Schultz was more likely pushed out to make way for new — and younger — talent. By tapping Hayes, MSNBC is continuing its push to bring cable news to a younger demographic.

Hayes has long been seen as a primetime host-in-waiting at MSNBC, given his rapid success, though in Nov. 2012 he told POLITICO he’d be “reluctant” to give up the freedom and autonomy that comes with hosting a two-hour weekend show.

Hayes’ replacement on Saturday and Sunday mornings has yet to be named. Sources had long speculated that Ezra Klein might get Schultz’s primetime spot, so it is conceivable that he could take over on weekend mornings.

UPDATE (10:00 a.m.): And now it’s official.

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Filed under Ed Schultz, MSNBC