video CNBC's John Harwood directed surprisingly strong language today towards progressives who are upset by what they perceive to be compromises in health care reform. Harwood said "if you're a liberal and you want universal coverage in this country, and think that you can do better, that Harry Reid can do better...they ought to lay off the hallucinogenic drugs because we've had a vivid demonstration of the limits of political possibilities on this issue." (more...)

For all of the hoopla about Fox News's partisan bias, what about the rest of cableland? Writing in The New York Times, CNBC correspondent John Harwood makes the point that essentially all cable news networks that aren't Fox have viewerships that tilt substantially to the left, which is very different from how it was eight and even four years ago. It's not just MSNBC: even the likes of HLN, CNBC, and Comedy Central have big Democratic leans.  (more...)

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It's official: Chuck Todd's goatee will remain intact. Todd had a running bet with ABC's Jake Tapper that if the Phillies made it to the World Series, he would either shave off his goatee or donate $1000 to the charity of Tapper's choice. After a tense standoff with a razor-wielding Press Secretary Gibbs on The Today Show, Todd went with charity, much to the disappointment of the Twitter community. (more...)

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President Obama's speech to the gay community on Saturday night didn't promise anyone the moon, but it was nevertheless well-received, and Obama's reaffirmed commitment to end "don't ask, don't tell" was a historic occasion. Less than 24 hours later, the blogosphere is aflame over a set of remarks attributed to an unnamed White House adviser to the effect that the White House views the National Equality March as "part of the Internet left fringe" and not to be taken too seriously. Update: The White House press office has just sent us the following statement via another blog: “That sentiment does not reflect White House thinking at all, we’ve held easily a dozen calls with the progressive online community because we believe the online communities can often keep the focus on how policy will affect the American people rather than just the political back-and-forth.” (more...)

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Politico has nabbed (not so fast! updates below) the video of President Obama's now infamous (image saving?) "jackass" remark. It's a fairly jolly scene! The journalist we heard hooting in the background yesterday, turns out to be John Harwood himself, who thinks the remark in hi-larious. However, any pretense that Obama's remark was reasonably going to be kept on the down-low is done away with when it becomes clear the President is surrounded by cameras and already miked. His look of exasperation at the room's response is nothing if not well-practiced. (more...)