Showing posts with label MSM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MSM. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Thought Experiment o' the Day


Did you catch Sarah Palin's latest gaffe? Check out the screen-cap I grabbed from Faux News, knowing full well the Rethuglicans would pull it down!

Gawd, how embarrassing!

She has, like, no experience! Versus Obama, who has, like, way more executive experience! Way more!

What? Dude! No Way!

You say it was Biden, and not Palin who screwed up?

And Biden just contradicted Obama on whether they support clean coal?

And Biden just contradicted Obama on whether they support the AIG bailout?

And Biden just did his best impression of Hillary Clinton when he told a harrowing tale of snipers forcing his chopper down in Duke Nukem, Level Six?

* * *

Thought experiment: care to imagine the reaction of Charlie Gibson, Katie Couric, the New York Times and Keith Olberdunce if Palin had pulled any of these classic Biden blunders?

Monday, September 22, 2008

Palin Smears: Orchestrated by Obama's Campaign?


Dr. Rusty Shackleford at The Jawa Report has the must-read story of the week. It would appear that several federal election laws have been broken and that none other than David Axelrod appears to be behind an "astroturf" campaign against Sarah Palin. Read the whole thing (Dan Riehl has the executive summary).

Extensive research was conducted by the Jawa Report to determine the source of smears directed toward Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Those smears included false allegations that she belonged to a secessionist political party and that she has radical anti-American views.

Our research suggests that a subdivision of one of the largest public relations firms in the world most likely started and promulgated rumors about Sarah Palin that were known to be false. These rumors were spread in a surreptitious manner to avoid exposure.

[Ed: also known as "Astroturfing"]

It is also likely that the PR firm was paid by outside sources to run the smear campaign. While not conclusive, evidence suggests a link to the Barack Obama campaign. Namely:

* Evidence suggests that a YouTube video with false claims about Palin was uploaded and promoted by members of a professional PR firm.

* The family that runs the PR firm has extensive ties to the Democratic Party, the netroots, and are staunch Obama supporters.

* Evidence suggests that the firm engaged in a concerted effort to distribute the video in such a way that it would appear to have gone viral on its own. Yet this effort took place on company time.

* Evidence suggests that these distribution efforts included actions by at least one employee of the firm who is unconnected with the family running the company.

* The voice-over artist used in this supposedly amateur video is a professional.

* This same voice-over artist has worked extensively with David Axelrod's firm, which has a history of engaging in phony grassroots efforts, otherwise known as "astroturfing."

* David Axelrod is Barack Obama's chief media strategist.

* The same voice-over artist has worked directly for the Barack Obama campaign.

Using the same research tactics they've employed in tracking terrorist supporters online, the Jawa team deconstructed the professionally organized campaign of lies aimed at destroying Sarah Palin's candidacy.

A related note: on 9/2, I noted that the same Palin slime chain mail had been posted in hundreds of forums simultaneously. It was an obviously orchestrated campaign.

Gosh, I wonder who could've been behind that sort of thing? Could it have been hopey, changey-type folks?

Linked by: Gateway Pundit. Thanks!

Saturday, September 20, 2008

The Peculiar Case of the AP's Missing Paragraphs


When an article by Beth Fouhy of the AP actually made it to the funny papers, it was curiously missing several paragraphs critical of Barack (name redacted) Obama. Compare and contrast the original with the version that hit the streets.

Key: I've colored the paragraphs that went missing in purple for the slower-witted liberals progressives out there. And I've bolded Fouhy's advertorializing for the Obama camp.

McCain says Fed should stop government bailouts By BETH FOUHY

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Republican John McCain said Friday the Federal Reserve needs to stop bailing out failed financial institutions. The Republican presidential hopeful said the Fed should get back to "its core business of responsibly managing our money supply and inflation" and he laid out several recommendations for stabilizing markets in the financial crisis that has rocked Wall Street and commanded the dialogue in the presidential campaign.

McCain made little mention of the massive proposal being crafted by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson that could amount to a $1 trillion taxpayer bailout of the mortgage industry. McCain said simply that leaders should put aside partisan differences and "any action should be designed to keep people in their homes and safeguard the life savings of all Americans."

The Fed engineered an $85 billion takeover of insurance giant AIG this week after seizing control of housing giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. McCain said that to help return the U.S. to fiscal solvency, the powerful central bank should instead focus on shoring up the dollar and keeping inflation low.

"A strong dollar will reduce energy and food prices," McCain said to applause from the Green Bay Chamber of Commerce. "It will stimulate sustainable economic growth and get this economy moving again."

In the speech and later at a boisterous rally in Minnesota, McCain sharply criticized Democratic rival Barack Obama for ties to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and for advocating tax increases McCain said would "turn a recession into a depression."

Obama has said he would raise taxes on people making over $250,000 a year and would cut taxes on the middle class. McCain restated his claim that Obama had voted to raise taxes on people who make just $42,000 a year — a claim that has been widely debunked by nonpartisan fact check organizations.

McCain noted the Illinois senator had taken large campaign contributions from both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and that the one-time head of Obama's vice presidential search team, Jim Johnson, had received a $21 million severance deal after stepping down as Fannie Mae CEO. McCain's campaign released a new television ad Friday hitting Obama for his connection to Johnson.

The Arizona senator neglected to say that some of his closest advisers had ties to or lobbied for the home loan giants.

McCain is correct when he says Obama is the No. 2 recipient of campaign money from employees of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Obama has collected $126,349 from those sources, according to a compilation by the Center for Responsive Politics, second only to Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who has received $165,400. The ranking covers the period since 1989.

In Minnesota, the mention of Johnson's severance deal brought loud chants from thousands of McCain supporters who filled an airport hangar. "Give it back! Give it back!" they shouted.

Gee, I wonder why they cut out the stuff in purple?

As for the important ties between the Obama camp and the Fannie Mae debacle that threatens to melt our financial system down? How about the two disgraced Fannie Mae CEOs and Obama advisers (who, between 'em, ripped off taxpayers for around $111 million in compensation in six years) Franklin Raines and Jim Johnson?

  • The Washington Post, 7/16/08: “In the four years since he stepped down as Fannie Mae’s chief executive under the shadow of a $6.3 billion accounting scandal, Franklin D. Raines has been quietly constructing a new life for himself. He has shaved eight points off his golf handicap, taken a corner office in Steve Case’s D.C. conglomeration of finance, entertainment and health-care companies and more recently, taken calls from Barack Obama’s presidential campaign seeking his advice on mortgage and housing policy matters.”
  • The Washington Post, 8/28/08: “In the current crisis, their biggest backers have been Democrats such as Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd (Conn.) and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (Mass.). Two members of Mr. Obama’s political circle, James A. Johnson and Franklin D. Raines, are former chief executives of Fannie Mae.

And dont'cha just love the "[McCain] neglected to say that some of his closest advisers..." line?

Don't hold our breath while waiting for this quote in a Beth Fouhy article about the anointed one.

Obama neglected to say that some of his closest advisers were unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers, virulently racist preacher Jeremiah Wright, and former Fannie Mae Chief Executive Jim Johnson. Obama also failed to mention his mentor Frank Marshall Davis, a notorious communist who fled Chicago when the FBI came calling (Obama referred to him only as "Frank" in his autobiography).


Hat tips: Hot Air's Ed Morrissey, Fausta and Larwyn. Linked by: Curmudgeonly & Skeptical. Thanks!

Monday, September 15, 2008

Line o' the day: Scrutiny, with the emphasis on "Scru"


"If Barack Obama's past had been subjected to one tenth the media scrutiny during the full year of his candidacy, to which Sarah Palin has been subjected during the last 11 days, Obama .. would be junior senator from Illinois."

-- The American Thinker's James Pennington (via PrestoPundit).

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Chicago TV in 2000: Obama admits a terrorist launched his career


Barack Obama was interviewed by Bill O'Reilly last week.

BARACK OBAMA: ...on this Ayers thing, which you've been hyping, Bill.

O'REILLY: Not that much.

BARACK OBAMA: This guy did something despicable forty years ago.

O'REILLY: Despicable last week. He said he didn't do enough bombing. That's last week.

BARACK OBAMA: Here's a guy that does something despicable when I'm eight years old. Alright? I come to Chicago. He's working with Mayor Richard Daley, not known to be a radical. So, he and I know each other as a consequence of work he's doing on education. That is not an endorsement of his views ... This guy is not part of my campaign, he's not some adviser of mine.

But on local television in 2000, Obama told a very different story.

Interviewer: One of the criticisms that arises in connection with your candidacy is you simply haven't been in the Senate very long, the State Senate. You have a limited track record in terms of time, what is your argument based on the one term that you've served so far? What makes you prepared for the Congress?

Obama: Well, I'm in my second term, but it's true that certainly both Senator Trotter and Congressman Rush have been in elected office longer than I have. I can't deny that. I would argue, though, that my experience previous to elected office equips me for the job. I have a background as an attorney, I've represented affordable housing organizations to build affordable housing, something that's a major issue in the district.

I've chaired major philanthropic efforts in the city like the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, that gave fifty million dollars to prompt school reform efforts throughout the city.

Yet this important qualification in Barack Obama's career has been utterly and completely omitted from the 'official biography' on his website.

In 1995 Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn -- who advocate the overthrow of the U.S government to this very day -- launched Barack Obama's career by hosting a "Meet the Candidate" event in their home.

Ayers, who controlled the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC), then hired Barack Obama as Chairman of the Board of the CAC, even though he had no experience other than as a "community organizer."

Ayers gave a completely unqualified Obama a job in which he administered $50 million (and another $60 or more million in matching funds). This single act helped jump-start Obama's political career, as evidenced by the interview. The question no one is asking: why?

Ayers and Obama also served together on the board of the Woods Fund of Chicago. Among those who received funds from the pair were the Arab-American Action Network, founded by a member of the PLO, and ACORN, a group infamous for vote fraud even to this very day.

Reverend Meeks, Father Pfleger, Reverend Jeremiah Wright and Trinity United Church all received funds from Ayers and Obama.

In return, the mega-churches are alleged to have delivered thousands of votes to Obama.

Summary


While the New York Times crack investigative staff is busily pursuing a 4-H pal of Sarah Palin's, they seem to have missed the biggest story of this election cycle.

Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn are unrepentent terrorists who even today advocate communism and the overthrow of the United States government. They launched and orchesterated Barack Obama's career, providing him with the qualifications necessary to run for major political office.

Repeat: communists and terrorists launched Obama's career. And the fossils at the Times, who are rapidly sinking into financial quicksand, can't bother to report the story.

Update: An important note concerning the Chicago television interview from 2000. NPR had this transcript on its site at one point (via Google), but it has since been expunged! Since NPR doesn't permit caching, the search engines (and the Wayback Archive) don't appear to have copies. I've reproduced the transcript myself, so any errors are my own.

* In April 2008, Ayers wrote:

Capitalism played its role historically and is exhausted as a force for progress: built on exploitation, theft, conquest, war, and racism, capitalism and imperialism must be defeated and a world revolution... must win.

In 2006, Ayers described his life underground while he operated as a terrorist. It doesn't sound too different from his current patter.

In some ways life underground was [in some] ways... extraordinary because we felt that our lives had a serious purpose that we were conscious of and earnest about every day: to end a war and overthrow a system—imperialism—that made war after war inevitable, and to upend centuries of racial oppression and white supremacy creating a society based on equality, justice, and love.

By bombing the hell out of society and robbing and killing the innocent! Way to go, Bill!

Related reading: Roster of Hate: Guide to Barack Obama's Extremist Connections.

Hat tips: Say Anything, Ace of Spades and Larwyn.
Linked by: American Thinker, Just One Minute, PrestoPundit, Sister Toldjah, USS Neverdock, Wizbang and Take Our Country Back. Thanks!

The Atlantic hires Leni Riefenstahl for a Photo Shoot


I thought Leni passed away a few years ago but I was apparently mistaken 'cuz it appears the Atlantic hired her for a McCain photo shoot.

To say Ms. Greenberg's use of this material in this way is "unprofessional" and does the subject (John McCain) and the client (The Atlantic Monthly) a disservice is to vastly understate the case. Not only has Ms. Greenberg exposed The Atlantic to charges of bias it may well have not intended, it turns out she was engaged in dealing with Senator McCain falsely as well. She has, indeed, bragged about it to PDNPulse, a professional photographers' journal. Here, in her own words, are what she did:

When The Atlantic called Jill Greenberg, a committed Democrat, to shoot a portrait of John McCain for its October cover, she rubbed her hands with glee.....

After getting that shot, Greenberg asked McCain to “please come over here” for one more set-up before the 15-minute shoot was over. There, she had a beauty dish with a modeling light set up. “That’s what he thought he was being lit by,” Greenberg says. “But that wasn’t firing.”

What was firing was a strobe positioned below him, which cast the horror movie shadows across his face and on the wall right behind him. “He had no idea he was being lit from below,” Greenberg says. And his handlers didn’t seem to notice it either. “I guess they’re not very sophisticated,” she adds - PDNPulse: How Jill Greenberg Really Feels About John McCain

So what we see here is a candidate for President showing up at a photo-session for a cover shot for a magazine he knows is not going to give him an Obama-pass, but still making time for it. Waiting for him is the contracted representative of that magazine, Jill Greenberg, who has literally set a trap for him and then lures him into it. She mocks the McCain staff for not being "very sophisticated" about lighting when, in truth, the lighting used for a professional photo session is very complicated. There are umbrella lights, fill spots, and a raft of others being used at any given time.

I imagine that Ms. Greenberg was in full charm mode with Senator McCain at the same time she was executing her little partisan plot. Indeed, I am certain she was nothing other than sweetness and light to him. What she was doing was quite another thing, a vile thing. Simply put, it was betrayal for a cheap political frisson for her.

That's an understatement.


The Atlantic also discovered this controversial photo of John McCain taken during the Vietnam War

Vanderleun concludes with sound counsel: You see, I no longer write to editors about these frauds and outrages, I write to the advertisers. You should too.

Advertisers include: Philip Morris, P&G, Kraft Foods, Target, Microsoft, RCA, Epson, Polaroid, Dow Jones, Paramount Pictures, MGM, Sony Pictures, HBO, Showtime, Disney, Miller Beer, Anheuser Busch, Pepsi, Coca Cola, and others.

Update: Ace and Newsbusters have more on our modern-day Leni Riefenstahl.

Update II: Like Vanderleun, I did some screen-caps on Leni's website (no link provided, you can type in the URL urlself). Remember, this is what passes for reasonable commentary in the "progressive" community.




Always keep this in mind: they're liberals because they care.

Hat tip: Larwyn.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

The creaking, decrepit hypocrisy of the mainstream media


Just when you think the mainstream media's agenda couldn't be more obvious...

Consider 1984, when the New York Times endorsed the candidacy of Geraldine Ferraro.

On occasion, Americans find it necessary to rationalize this rough-and-ready process. What a splendid system, we say to ourselves, that takes little-known men, tests them in high office and permits them to grow into statesmen. This rationale may even be right, but then let it also be fair.

Why shouldn’t a little-known woman have the same opportunity to grow? We may even be gradually elevating our standards for choosing Vice Presidential candidates. But that should be done fairly, also. Meanwhile, the indispensable credential for a Woman Who is the same as for a Man Who - one who helps the ticket.

Or consider 2006, when Brian Gibson lobbed underhand softballs at the least experienced presidential candidate in history, one Barack H. Obama. Compare and contrast:

Obama interview:

How does it feel to break a glass ceiling?
How does it feel to “win”?
How does your family feel about your “winning” breaking a glass ceiling?
Who will be your VP?
Should you choose Hillary Clinton as VP?
Will you accept public finance?
What issues is your campaign about?
Will you visit Iraq?
Will you debate McCain at a town hall?
What did you think of your competitor’s [Clinton] speech?


Palin interview:

Do you have enough qualifications for the job you’re seeking? Specifically have you visited foreign countries and met foreign leaders?
Aren’t you conceited to be seeking this high level job?
Questions about foreign policy
-territorial integrity of Georgia
-allowing Georgia and Ukraine to be members of NATO
-NATO treaty
-Iranian nuclear threat
-what to do if Israel attacks Iran
-Al Qaeda motivations
-the Bush Doctrine
-attacking terrorists harbored by Pakistan
Is America fighting a holy war? [misquoted Palin]


The Anchoress summarizes the difference in a sentence:

So there, you have it - another utterly insane day in American politics, where “big time professional journalists” ask Presidential candidates how they feel about being so great while drilling vice presidential candidates on Russia.

John Hinderaker hits the walk-off homer.

The truth is that Sarah Palin has been the object of the most vicious and concerted smear campaign in modern American history. But that fact doesn't cause the media (or Howard Kurtz) to get mad.

It's not too hard to diagnose why, as Kurtz correctly says, "the media are getting mad." They're getting mad because their candidate is losing...

They've spent years building him up and covering for his mistakes and shortcomings, and he is such a stiff that he can't coast across the finish line. I'd be mad too, I guess, but I think I'd have the decency not to take it out on Sarah Palin.

Decency and the mainstream media? An oxymoron, as The New York Times is wont to repeatedly prove. Perhaps Pinch can compromise another perfectly legal classified national security program before Bush leaves office.

Update: Deroy Murdock notes how the Obama campaign compensates its female staffers versus males ("How Team Obama Pays Women: Pay equity for thee, but not for me").

Thus, Obama’s average male employee earned $54,397... Obama’s 30 female employees [earn] $45,152, on average.

McCain’s... male staffers [average] $53,936... His... female employees averaged $55,878.

Update II: P. J. Gladnick at Newsbusters examined the ABC transcript and discovered some outrageous editing. And that's no overstatement. Here's just one example (the bolded text was removed from the broadcast by ABC).

GIBSON: Have you ever met a foreign head of state?
PALIN: There in the state of Alaska, our international trade activities bring in many leaders of other countries.
GIBSON: And all governors deal with trade delegations.
PALIN: Right.
GIBSON: Who act at the behest of their governments.
PALIN: Right, right.
GIBSON: I’m talking about somebody who’s a head of state, who can negotiate for that country. Ever met one?

PALIN: I have not and I think if you go back in history and if you ask that question of many vice presidents, they may have the same answer that I just gave you. But, Charlie, again, we’ve got to remember what the desire is in this nation at this time. It is for no more politics as usual and somebody’s big, fat resume maybe that shows decades and decades in that Washington establishment, where, yes, they’ve had opportunities to meet heads of state … these last couple of weeks … it has been overwhelming to me that confirmation of the message that Americans are getting sick and tired of that self-dealing and kind of that closed door, good old boy network that has been the Washington elite.



Linked by: The Anchoress. Thanks! Hat tip: Motoguzzi at Let Freedom Ring True.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Politico's James Kotecki scoops the mainstream media!


News flash!

According to Politico's James Kotecki, Sarah Palin doesn't blink enough.

That's the kind of hard-hitting, incisive analysis we've come to expect from Politico.

Hmmm. We've got a Cat-3 hurricane hitting the most populated region of the Gulf of Mexico... an ongoing war with radical Jihadists bent on the "destruction of Anglo-Saxon civilization"... the most inexperienced presidential candidate in history (with an astounding track record of failure)... an emerging energy crisis as global demand for oil skyrockets... and a burgeoning entitlement crisis related to shortfalls in Medicare and Social Security.

Fortunately Politico is laser-frickin-focused on the important issues.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Obama leaves the No Spin Zone dizzy and battered


Gateway Pundit summarizes the Anointed One's interview with Bill O'Reilly.

Holy False Prophet!... This was awful!
Barack Obama went into the No Spin Zone and came out battered and bloody tonight.
This interview with Bill O'Reilly was a DISASTER!

Obama had nothing -- He could not defend or explain his associations with terrorists, racists, and Leftist nutjobs.

He couldn't defend his decision to appease the Daily Kooks.

He compared Sean Hannity and FOX News to the vile nutroots radicals.

He excused Bill Ayers' terrorist attacks.

He could not name one example where FOX News smeared him.

He could not name one conservative friend.

Obama was so bad that O'Reilly started laughing.

It was horrible.

Maybe it would help if the Obama campaign questioned John McCain's honor. Oops. I guess they already did that.

The Obama campaign took its most personal shot ever at Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Tuesday evening, questioning his honor over a claim in a new TV ad that the Democrat calls "perverse." ...The issue was a new McCain advertisement belittling Obama's record on education, and accusing him of supporting sex education for kindergartners.

...Bill Burton, Obama's press secretary, responded in a statement: “It is shameful and downright perverse for the McCain campaign to use a bill that was written to protect young children from sexual predators as a recycled and discredited political attack against a father of two young girls – a position that his friend Mitt Romney also holds. Last week, John McCain told Time magazine he couldn't define what honor was. Now we know why."

In a talk at Planned Parenthood Obama confirmed his support for sex education for kindergarteners. Kindergarteners?

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Olbermann to Obama: "Have you thought of getting angrier?"


The Washington Post ("MSNBC Bombs in Blogosphere") reports that the official network of the Democratic Party is now getting lousy reviews from the left side of the blogosphere. The reason? Its demotion of Keith "Barack" Olbermann and Chris "Tingle Bells" Matthews.

Larry Grossman, a former president of NBC News, said that MSNBC has "been doing very well as the liberal antithesis to Fox, everyone knows that," he said. "But at some point standards and journalistic integrity have to take over."

Grossman questioned whether Gregory's new assignment is a good fit: "If he's presiding over what is an avowedly liberal network, will it in effect tarnish his reputation for being a perfectly straight shooter?"

Olbermann's show is the most popular on MSNBC. In a strikingly friendly interview with Obama that aired last night, Olbermann asked the Democratic nominee whether he should use "more exclamation points," adding: "Have you thought of getting angrier?"

If that isn't a window into the lunacy that is Keith Olbermann, I'm not sure what is.

First I thought Air America's ridicule of Olbermann would have been the last straw for the demented faux newscaster but, lo, I was wrong.

Now even lefty blog MyDD says that Christy and Olbermann deserved their sackings.

I can't help but think that we'll soon see a homeless, mumbling Olbermann wandering the streets pushing a shopping cart filled with garbage bags.

And what a tragedy that would be.

Shocker: Newsweek helps to debunk the Palin sleazemongers


To it credit, Newsweek has republished Factcheck.org's analysis of the many Palin rumors transiting the series of tubes that make up the Internets.

We've been flooded for the past few days with queries about dubious Internet postings and mass e-mail messages making claims about McCain's running mate, Gov. Palin. We find that many are completely false, or misleading.

Palin did not cut funding for special needs education in Alaska by 62 percent. She didn't cut it at all. In fact, she tripled per-pupil funding over just three years.

She did not demand that books be banned from the Wasilla library. Some of the books on a widely circulated list were not even in print at the time. The librarian has said Palin asked a "What if?" question, but the librarian continued in her job through most of Palin's first term.

She was never a member of the Alaskan Independence Party, a group that wants Alaskans to vote on whether they wish to secede from the United States. She's been registered as a Republican since May 1982.

Palin never endorsed or supported Pat Buchanan for president. She once wore a Buchanan button as a "courtesy" when he visited Wasilla, but shortly afterward she was appointed to co-chair of the campaign of Steve Forbes in the state.

Palin has not pushed for teaching creationism in Alaska's schools. She has said that students should be allowed to "debate both sides" of the evolution question, but she also said creationism "doesn't have to be part of the curriculum."

Gee, I wonder who could've spread all of this bogus filth? I wonder if their campaign rhymes with Nobama?

Mitch Wagner's feeble apologia for the New York Times


Mitch Wagner, writing at InformationWeek's PoliticalTech blog, has an interesting job. Last week, he wrote about the odd interplay between blogs and the mainstream media.

In this case, an Internet site reported that the child Sarah Palin claimed was her own was actually her teen-aged daughter's, and the elder Palin was lying to cover up her daughter's pregnancy. Journalists started digging into the report to find out whether it was true, which led to the McCain campaign issuing a statement: The child is, indeed, the elder Palin's.

Bob Evans, a senior vice president at TechWeb (and Wagner's "boss's boss's boss") complimented the coverage but added:

...it was okay for the drive-by media to savage a 17-year-old because...well...why was that okay again? And then, several paragraphs later, you mention that the very same drive-by media ignored reports--for eight months!--that a Presidential candidate had impregnated a staffer while having an affair with her. I would think, Mitch, that your analysis of this complex situation would have touched on the stunningly different approaches taken by the drive-by media in these two cases. Why did they immediately and brutally and relentlessly tear into the life and behavior of a 17-year-old who had only a marginal connection to the presidential campaign, yet totally ignore for eight months---eight months!---the lies and deceit and *relevant* story involving John Edwards? ... Why did the NY Times run three --- THREE!! --- cover stories on Tuesday about Bristol Palin, but has said next to nothing about Barack Obama and Bill Ayers, or Barack Obama and Tony Rezko, or Barack Obama and how he’ll make the oceans fall and the sick heal?

Markos Moulitsas, publisher of the blog Daily Kos, which drove the Bristol Palin story into the national spotlight, "addresses that point pretty well" (at least according to Wagner):

Her daughter's pregnancy *is* relevant in the context of her mother's opposition to sex education and her vetoing of funding for a shelter for pregnant teens. And, Republicans can't complain about families being drug into the national debate when they've been virtually pimping their Iraq-bound son. Either family is all in, or all out.

Put in polite terms: horses***. Furthermore, Kos actually erased diaries and banned authors from its site when they mentioned the Edwards affair. Free speech, eh?

As for "her mother's opposition to sex education"? An utter and complete fabrication as reported by the Los Angeles Times: "The Republican vice presidential candidate says students should be taught about condoms."

Wagner goes on to offer a feeble apology for the Times', eh, selective coverage.

...The Times screwed up by failing to report the Edwards story. They admit it. And now, faced with another story of how a candidate in the Presidential election handles a family-values issue, should the Times have backed off of that story? ...Bob also wants to know why mainstream journalists have given Obama a free ride on his links to Ayers and Rezko.

Here, Mitch puts words in Evans' mouth. Bob didn't ask why mainstream journalists had ignored Ayers and Rezko; he asked why The New York Times had suppressed the story. After all, the Times represents the sine qua non of the print media.

The Times gave up the ghost years ago. That's why it's stock chart looks like a ski jump ramp.

Monday, September 08, 2008

New York Times Career Path


January 2004


October 2004


January 2005


February 2005


April 2005


June 2005


August 2005


December 2005


January 2006


January 2007


April 2007


January 2008


February 2008


August 2008


September 2008

MSNBC punts on Olbermann, Matthews for election coverage


In an apparent, last-ditch effort to salvage some shred of credibility, cable "news" station MSNBC announced that unhinged leftist Keith Olbermann and moronic tingle-boy Chris Matthews will no longer be covering the election.

Word has it that the Assclowns Union is up in arms. Charles Johnson provides the details:

The most openly hostile, openly crazed partisan hack on television (and his leg-tingling friend) will no longer be anchoring MSNBC’s election coverage: MSNBC Takes Incendiary Hosts From Anchor Seat.

After months of accusations of political bias and simmering animosity between MSNBC and its parent network NBC, the channel decided over the weekend that the NBC News correspondent and MSNBC host David Gregory would anchor news coverage of the coming debates and election night. Mr. Olbermann and Mr. Matthews will remain as analysts during the coverage.

The change — which comes in the home stretch of the long election cycle — is a direct result of tensions associated with the channel’s perceived shift to the political left.

“The most disappointing shift is to see the partisan attitude move from prime time into what’s supposed to be straight news programming,” said Davidson Goldin, formerly the editorial director of MSNBC and a co-founder of the reputation management firm DolceGoldin.

Olbermann has no business being associated with “news” at all. He’s a disgrace. Hopefully, this is the first step toward tossing him out on his ear.

Dare to dream.

Smoking Obama image credit: Mrs. Satan.

Friday, September 05, 2008

Lines o' the day: Steyn, Giuliani, Romney


The real anointed one (Mark Steyn), writing at The Corner:

I would like to thank the US media for doing such a grand job this last week of lowering expectations by portraying Governor Palin - whoops, I mean Hick-Burg Mayor Palin - as a hillbilly know-nothing permapregnant ditz, half of whose 27 kids are the spawn of a stump-toothed uncle who hasn't worked since he was an extra in Deliverance.

How's that narrative holding up, geniuses? Almost as good as your "devoted husband John Edwards" routine?

And from the RNC speeches, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney:

GIULIANI: [Obama] ran for the state legislature, and he got elected, and nearly 130 times he couldn't make a decision. He couldn't figure out whether to vote yes or no. It was too tough. He voted, he voted "present"! I didn't know about this vote "present" when I was mayor of New York City. Sarah Palin didn't have this vote "present" when she was mayor or governor. You don't get "present." It doesn't work in an executive job. For president of the United States, it's not good enough to be present.

ROMNEY: Is a Supreme Court decision liberal or conservative that awards Guantanamo terrorists with constitutional rights? It's liberal! Is a government liberal or conservative that puts the interests of the teachers union ahead of the needs of our children? It's liberal. Is the Congress liberal or conservative that stops nuclear power plants and offshore drilling, making us more and more dependent on Middle Eastern tyrants? It's liberal! Is government spending putting aside inflation, liberal or conservative, if it doubles since 1980? It's liberal! We need change all right. Change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington.

Thursday, September 04, 2008

As Palin's speech begins, CNN zooms in to...


The first spectator CNN chooses to zoom to... twice...




Yep, it's the soon-to-be father of Sarah Palin's granddaughter.

These old media dinosaurs just can't help themselves, can they?.

And, put in simple terms so the "progressives" can understand, She hit it out of the park.