Wanda Sykes tells Jay Leno what the media really mean when they wonder who the “real” Michelle Obama is. Watch her break down the media and the race issue on last night’s “Tonight Show.”
The anti-Proposition 8 protests were one form of gay rights activism taking place recently around Los Angeles, but a related issue was the subject of a rally led by former Lt. Dan Choi, a West Point graduate and Arab linguist who was discharged from the Army National Guard earlier this month for coming out publicly: Choi wanted to remind the visiting president about his pledge to end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
What was behind The Philadelphia Inquirer’s decision to give torture memo draftsman John Yoo a platform to air his views as a columnist? The paper’s publisher, Brian Tierney, endorses Yoo to WHYY’s “Radio Times” host Marty Moss-Coane, while fellow guest and Philadelphia Daily News journalist Will Bunch offers a different take on George W. Bush’s erstwhile legal adviser.
So, Rush Limbaugh’s got his knickers in a twist about Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, calling President Obama’s pick of a Latina an example of “reverse racism.” This clearly amuses MSNBC’s resident smartypants Rachel Maddow, who’s at the ready with a zinger or two for Limbaugh in this clip from Tuesday morning’s newscast.
Veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan spoke to lawmakers on Capitol Hill this month, giving eyewitness accounts of the horrors of war and the real practices of the military. Amy Goodman devoted Monday’s “Democracy Now!” episode to these testimonials for this Memorial Day. Listen to the soldiers’ stories here.
The “Real Time” host laments the ballot initiative, which, he says, has made his home state ungovernable: “This is why America’s founders wanted a representative democracy, because they knew if you gave the average guy the chance, he’d vote for a fantasy world with no taxes, free beer and vagina trees.”
Former Vice President Dick Cheney has been reasserting himself, for good or ill, in the public sphere this week. President Obama was ready with his own take on torture, aka “extreme interrogation” methods. Is this a media-enabled setup or a legitimate face-off between executive powers past and present?
The Wall Street Journal interviewed veteran actor Edward Asner on his role in Pixar’s new film “Up,” due in theaters May 29. “Because it involves humans, I’m most pleased to be in it,” Asner said. “I loved that it was about two human beings who love each other ... .”
As other news anchors gush over Thursday’s face-off between President Obama and former Vice President Cheney, Jon Stewart enlightens us on the discrepancies in their speeches. While Cheney wooed the crowd with his usual charm, Obama’s rhetoric sounded oddly familiar. Check out this clip from “The Daily Show.”
Former Florida Sen. Bob Graham says the CIA didn’t brief him about the use of waterboarding on suspected terrorists, and he has the records in his personal notebooks to prove it, as he points out during a timely book tour stopover on Wednesday’s “Colbert Report.”
Fox News gasbag Sean Hannity and former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura tackle the state of our nation before and after Bush. Watch them finger-point, talk over each other and play the deficit blame game in their debate on Monday.
Cheney’s back, baby! And he’s here to defend the real America and save us all! Watch as Stephen Colbert educates us about how to solve the problem of relocating Guantanamo detainees. There does, in fact, exist a place outside the laws of physics strong enough to contain those barbarians.
On Monday, Sen. Byron Dorgan took the chamber floor with visual aids to warn of the dangers of luring small children into bad spending habits with colorful credit cards. While we applaud his efforts, he does seem a bit fixated on Hello Kitty.
While the cameras rolled, President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu huddled at the White House on Monday and waxed diplomatic about the usual lineup of regional concerns: Israeli-Palestinian relations, Iran and the possibility of peace in the Middle East.
Will Nancy Pelosi survive the onslaught of scrutiny and criticism in the wake of recent CIA torture-briefing revelations with her House speaker status intact? Is President Obama in over his head, what with all the hubbub over torture photos and military tribunals?
As new information leaks out on the Bush administration’s torture program and as Dick Cheney pumps up his role as the poster child for waterboarding, we can slowly start connecting the dots on the previous administration’s criminal practices. Rachel Maddow and guest author Jane Mayer break down the shaky legal justifications behind the invasion of Iraq and the use of waterboarding—a method now known to produce false confessions—to try to force detainees to reveal a link between al-Qaida and Iraq.
President Obama this week blocked the release of controversial photos of detainees in order to not “further enflame anti-American opinion.” But without the pictures, whatever are we to do with all these frames? Meanwhile, Lt. Dan Choi an Arabic interpreter (for those who give in to harsh interrogation techniques) has been discharged because he is gay. Once again, torture is rendered less intelligible.
Last night, John McCain’s 95-year-old mother Roberta appeared on “The Tonight Show” to talk political punditry. Watch as she bashes Keith Olbermann and responds to Rush Limbaugh’s call to kick her son out of the Grand Old Party. “ ... He does not represent the Republican Party that I belong to,” she said.
Having ignored the whole Miss California brouhaha in recent weeks, Jon Stewart finally succumbed on Tuesday night’s show, and it’s completely worth it—if only for his Donald Trump imitation.
Everyone’s favorite client No. 9 is making the rounds of the cable news shows and is actually dropping some interesting takes on the economy and Wall Street regulation. Check out his two-part interview with Rachel Maddow.
Wanda Sykes gets heat from commentators about her jokes at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. Jon Stewart echoes the critiques and reminds us that bad humor is harmful to the country but torture, well, maybe not so much.
Wanda Sykes stirred controversy at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday, taking a jab at Obama’s nipples, Dick Cheney’s creepiness, and calling for Rush Limbaugh’s kidneys to fail. The White House is now distancing itself from the comedian’s comments. Watch as Wanda brings down the house!
Alert the media—banks need money! Who’s stressed, who’s reassured by the government’s test of the banks’ capitalization? Meanwhile, Pakistan is in serious danger, and Afghanistan is hardly a model of an emerging democracy. Their leaders are in Washington; what will America’s role be?
Stephen Colbert walks us through Sean Hannity’s new symbol for the state of our nation under President Obama: the Liberty Tree. Watch as Colbert traces the journey of a Liberty apple through Joe Biden’s digestive tract.
With Taliban insurgents only 70 miles away from the capital city of Islamabad, Jon Stewart asks: What’s happening in Pakistan? How can we avert nuclear disaster? And why are you still here, President Zardari?
Where Does the Caving End?
