Chris Mooney

After the finale of CBS’s hit reality TV series Survivor drew some 51 million viewers last week, a number of conservative commentators felt compelled to wade into the treacherous waters of American popular culture to critique the show. Most drowned. Almost across the board, conservatives treated the show as an excuse to play […]

September 13, 2000 September 13, 2000 TO: The Austin Powers and the GOPundit Squad FROM: George W. Bush RE: Talking Points on RATS Hey y’all! In the past few days, pretty much every one of us here has had to deal with this subliminable message debacable. To tell you the truth, I’m […]

Following George W. Bush’s first official policy speech to Congress, most conservatives were exultant. They remarked on Bush’s conspicuous lack of verbal blunders (apparently the only mistake he made, quickly corrected, was calling education “not my top priority”). They marveled at his shrewdness in pitching his tax cut as a Following George W. Bush’s first […]

Bill O’Reilly, the loud and combative anchor of Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly, the loud and combative anchor of Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor, refers to himself as “a forlorn and misunderstood journalist.” Not that you’d know it from his book sales: The print The O’Reilly Factor spent ten weeks as the nation’s number one bestseller. […]

The piling on has begun. Last week Washington Post media reporter Howard Kurtz broke a front page story about CBS anchor Dan Rather’s speech at a Democratic Party fund-raiser in Texas. Considering that Rather is, as Kurtz puts it, “the longest-serving and most outspoken of the major network news anchors,” this has, of course, thrown […]

As the chattering begins over George W. Bush’s upcoming judicial appointments, much attention has been devoted to the so-called Federalist Society, the rightist legal organization that has been recommending candidates. Launched two decades ago by a clutch of conservative law students — including current Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham — the Society has since colonized […]

The media bashing is starting to get unnerving. Apparently it’s not just conservative mudslingers like Michelle Malkin: Yesterday the Los Angeles Times reported that though the public antagonism hasn’t yet attained Vietnam-era levels, “‘treasonous’ and ‘traitor’ are words aimed at the news media with increasing frequency these days.” Each time newspaper correspondents file I-was-there pieces […]

Post September 11 flying-off-the-handle has already derailed the career of one previously unaccountable female GOP pundit — Ann Coulter. In an apparent fit of rage, Coulter infamously wrote of those celebrating the World Trade Center attacks abroad: “We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.” The comment eventually resulted in […]

“It is scandalous that a few hijackers with knives were able to hold scores of airline passengers at bay. As a good first step towards making commercial airplanes dangerous for hijackers, pilots should be issued handguns…..Cabin stewards who wish to carry concealed weapons should likewise be authorized to do so….And passengers? Forty years ago, sportsmen […]