The Associated Press led the way nationally in dishonest reporting on the riot in Toledo, Ohio, Saturday, Oct. 15.. Below is a screen capture of the false headline and subhead from the AP story, copied by ABC News:

Using a screen capture was necessary, because both the Associated Press and ABC News have now changed the title to the accurate statement that "Anti-White Supremacists" were the ones who rioted. The truth is, as the first sentence stated, that the riot was conducted by hundreds of protestors against the neo-Nazis. (The neo-Nazis numbered some two dozen people, and did not conduct their rally because the local police could not "guarantee their safety.")

So, contrary to the lede, the event was not "allowed." And contrary to the head and subhead, the riot was entirely conducted by black protestors, not white supremecists. Presumably John Seewer, AP reporter, actually attended the event and saw what happened. So, the question is a very simple one:

With The recent Iraq election turning out to be better than anyone had expected, the Associated Press has decided to do its best to drag everyone back down to reality. The only problem here for the AP is the reality they seek to push is their own.

One only has to go to the line under the headline of the story, "Iraq Constitution Seems Headed for Approval" to begin to see the AP's attempt to downplay any good whatsoever coming out of Iraq.

ABC’s Andrea Canning on Sunday's “Good Morning America” did a report on Divorce Parties. That’s right, married women having a party to celebrate their divorces. In fact, Canning in her report referred to the party as “Part celebration, part exorcism.”

At this party, they play games like throwing the wedding ring into the toilet, as well as with voodoo doll figurines of the former husband.

Of particular note, the report made no mention of ex-husbands having such parties. Quite the contrary, the only person in this piece who wasn't celebrating was a divorced man: "I don't find anything about divorce to be funny at all. I find the whole experience rather tragic."

What follows is a full transcript of this report.

In the midst of the recent controversy surrounding Harriet Miers' political leanings, the media seems to have come to its own comfortable determination that Miers is a suitable candidate for the Supreme Court.

In this story by Donald Lambro for the Washington Times, several Republican chairmen are quoted as saying they believe their constituents support Miers. What I want to know is the last time a party chair said, "Yeah, my constituents agree, our president doesn't know what he's doing." This is news? And what about the conservative megasite, Townhall.com's recent poll, that said 86% of the site's viewers don't like Miers? I'm not great at math, but something isn't adding up.

National Black Justice Coalition president and gay activist Keith Boykin was prevented from speaking at yesterday’s Millions More Movement March in Washington, DC. As Boykin was walking to the podium, he was at the last second turned away.

Oddly, this controversy has gone largely unreported. A Google-search suggested the only mainstream outlet that covered this was the Washington Post, though they buried the article on page A16.

At the heart of the conflict is Rev. Willie F. Wilson, the march’s national executive director who apparently made some disparaging remarks about lesbians this summer.

Boykin had this to say about the snubbing:

“This is what happened today. After I arrived at the VIP tent shortly after 8 in the morning, my colleague Donna Payne spoke directly to Rev. Willie Wilson backstage, and he informed her that no one from the National Black Justice Coalition would be speaking today. Donna told Rev. Wilson that he was violating our agreement, and Wilson replied that the agreement was void because the Coalition had not responded by Friday. That was not true.”

For those unfamiliar with Boykin, this is a Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School graduate who was part of President Clinton's trade delegation to Zimbabwe in 1997 along with Rev. Jesse Jackson, Coretta Scott King, and Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater.

A New York Times article placed prominently on the front page of Sunday’s print edition, written by Dexter Filkins and John F. Burns, played down the success of Saturday’s vote in Iraq concerning that nation’s constitution, and suggested that turnout was lower this time than during January’s elections:

“On Saturday in Baghdad, streets were noticeably bare of pedestrians, polling centers were less busy, and voters exhibited little enthusiasm.

“‘I sense that the turnout will be lower this time,’ said Zainab Kudir, the chief poll worker at the Marjayoun Primary School in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad. ‘People feel their needs have not been met. There is no security. There are no jobs.’"

Yet, after many other media outlets reported that turnout was going to surpass January’s final tally, Filkins and Burns posted this at the Times website just moments ago:

Regular readers of my threads at FR know that Julian Phillips of Fox & Friends Weekend has been a favorite target for my barbs.

Fairness therefore dictates that I salute him when he gets something right, as he did this morning.

The topic was the planned neo-Nazi march in Toledo, OH and the violence it sparked among largely black protesters.

Co-host Alisyn Camerota teed up the issue: "the question always arises, do you let the neo-Nazis or other groups, like the KKK, march?"

Phillips' answer was unequivocal and spot-on: "my answer is you let them march." While making clear that he understandably takes strong issue with such groups' positions, he repeated: "this is America. You let them march."

Good on you, Julian.

On Friday’s Washington Week on PBS, Washington Post reporter Michael Fletcher informed the panel that “the little bit we know about” the “record” of Harriet Miers “indicates kind of a, you know, bridge-builder, moderate” and “so there's deep concern among conservatives, some of whom have called for her to withdraw." That prompted befuddled fill-in host Michel Martin, of ABC News, to seemingly presume moderation and consensus-building should be higher values than conservative ideology: "Is that a dirty word, 'bridge-builder,’ 'moderate,’ consensus builder? I'm sorry. I wasn't aware that those were epithets." Gwen Ifill is the usual host of the show. (More complete transcript of the exchange follows.)