Today's Washington Post carries a story by Dan Eggen that is rife with inaccuracies that paint the 9/11 Commission in a far better light than recent news would suggest. The article is headlines "Sept. 11 Panel Explores Allegations About Atta". Here are the first two paragraphs:

Staff members of the Sept. 11 commission are investigating allegations by a Republican congressman that lead hijacker Mohamed Atta had been identified as a potential threat by a highly classified Defense Department program a year or more before the attacks occurred.

Commission officials confirmed a report in yesterday's New York Times that two staff members interviewed a uniformed military officer, who alleged in July 2004 that a secret program called "Able Danger" had identified Atta as a potential terrorist threat in 1999 or early 2000.

During the panel segment on tonight's (Thursday) Special Report with Brit Hume on FNC, Fred Barnes recalled Joe Wilson and Bill Burkett as he wondered, "is there any left-wing publicity hound who the media won't build up?” Zeroing in on Cindy Sheehan, Barnes criticized both her and the media's treatment of her:

“This woman wants to go in and tell the President that the war is about oil because the President wants to pay off his buddies. She's a crackpot, and yet the press treats her as some important protestor.”

The constant coverage of recently indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff is less based on interest regarding his activities and more in the interest of slimy-ing House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and other Republicans.

The AP release about the indictement gives some detail about Abramoff, but also less-than-subtly throws in a few other names. (Questions that linger: Was Abramoff connected to Democrats?)

After dropping a DeLay mention in the very first sentence, the article later continues:

"DeLay has asked the House Ethics Committee to review allegations that Abramoff or his clients paid some of DeLay's overseas travel expenses. DeLay has denied knowing that the expenses were paid by Abramoff, whom he once described as 'one of my closest and dearest friends.'

On last night's Hardball David Gregory questioned a Republican candidate’s viability but enthusiastically asked a losing Democratic candidate if he’ll run again. Gregory invited Rep. Katherine Harris and Democratic loser Paul Hackett on the August 10th show. The following is just a sample of the dispiriting questions to Harris:

Gregory: "Isn`t it true, isn`t it true that the White House and even the President`s brother, the Governor of Florida, have discouraged you from entering this race?"

Gregory: "One, one of the issues that I have detected from my own reporting at the White House is that the view within the White House is that you are simply too polarizing a figure in Florida to win."

Gregory brought up one of the left's favorite but tired talking points, about a possible fixing of the 2000 election when he asked: "Does the President owe you? Do you expect him to, to campaign with you down the stretch?"

While it should be a new low in television entertainment, it probably isn't. On tonight's (Thursday) episode of the FX cable network's sit-com, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, we'll see this, as described by the show's Web site: “Mac becomes more serious about pro-life causes when he realizes his passion for this viewpoint might get him laid. Dennis sinks to an equally low level as he uses an abortion rally as a forum for meeting chicks.”

One of the more maddening aspects of the Cindy Sheehan story is the implicit argument that her virulent anti-Bush, anti-war attitudes represent a lot of military families, and perhaps even the secret views of soldiers themselves.

But during last year’s election campaign, the Annenberg Public Policy Center (definitely not part of the VRWC), polled members of the military and their families. While the October 16, 2004 press release (written by NYT alumnus Adam Clymer) stressed issues where service members and their families disagreed with the President, there was this gem back in the data tables:

No bias directly from Al Roker this morning but he did let a guest's guffaw-inducing remark pass without comment. Esquire's Fashion Director Nick Sullivan was on to promote his magazine's Second Annual Best Dressed List. At approximately 9:40am this morning Roker asked Sullivan about one of the winners, Bill Clinton:

Al Roker: "When it comes to fashion what can we learn from somebody like, like Bill Clinton?"

Nick Sullivan, Fashion Director for Esquire: "Well Bill is one of those politicians that, politicians fall into two camps. Either they dress so that nothing about them gets noticed because they don't want to detract from it or they dress in a quietly elegant way which underlines their trustworthiness if you like. This is true of Kofi Annan and it's true of Bill and it's true of Tony Blair who made the list last year. There's something about it that's, that says, 'I'm serious about business.'"

On 10 August, 2005, the Chicago Sun-Times website published an article which (accidentally) revealed the nature of the new President of the American Bar Association, Michael Greco. The revelation came not from what the article said, but what it did not say. Both the APA President and the reporter should have noticed the holes in the article, entitled "Courts threatened by extremists: ABA leader."

President Greco’s politics are suggested here: "He also asked the Rev. Robert Drinan, a former Democratic U.S. representative from Massachusetts and his mentor at Boston College Law School, to stand." Father Drinan was one of the most far-left members to serve in the House, as political junkies know, but the reporter does not mention.

Greco proposed to send lawyers into schools to teach civics. He was "alarmed" that 40 percent of Americans cannot name the three branches of government and 48 percent cannot explain "separation of powers." Immediately after that, Greco demonstrated that he does not understand those subjects. He said, "Our own courts are under unprecedented attack. They are being threatened by extremists, who would tear down our courts for political or financial gain."

With a little nudge from the White House, Sheryl Gay Stolberg partially corrects her faulty story from yesterday on the John Roberts' nomination.

Congressional reporter Stolberg took quite a bit heat from Rush Limbaugh and others for letting liberal Sen. Rob Wyden of Oregon put words in Robert's mouth regarding the Terri Schiavo case. Stolberg's story on Wednesday let Wyden characterize a private discussion between he and Roberts about the congressional intervention to save the brain-damaged Florida woman, but didn't bother getting the other side's perspective.

Today Stolberg provides the other half of the conversation: "On Wednesday, Ed Gillespie, the chief White House lobbyist for Judge Roberts's Senate confirmation, sent a letter to The New York Times, saying that notes taken by a White House aide during the session reflected a different response: 'I am aware of court precedents which say Congress can overstep when it prescribes particular outcomes in particular cases.'"

At 1:41 EDT, CNN's Kyra Phillips interviewed Brooks Jackson, former CNN reporter and current director of the Annenberg Center's Political Fact Check, on his latest issue of Fact Check, which categorizes the anti-John Roberts ad by NARAL Pro-Choice America currently running on CNN during commercial breaks as patently false. Phillips expressed concern over lack of federal laws against false political attacks ads, but failed to ask Jackson whether CNN bore an obligation to cancel the ads altogether.

Jackson noted that NARAL's ad, unlike most campaign ads his group has analyzed recently, was completely false, not just spun here and there to massage the truth to a particular political viewpoint.

Kyra Phillips: “Well, the ad is airing on CNN and other networks and already has some people crying foul. Brooks Jackson of FactCheck.org took a close look at the ad and the facts. He joins us now from Washington. Brooks, great to see you. Well, let’s talk about the ad. You checked the facts, you say it’s false.”

Brooks Jackson, FactCheck.org: “That’s right, and we don’t characterize things as false very often, more often ads are misleading or twisted or distorted or out of context, but, uh, this one is absolutely false...”

The Associated Press is today repeating a mistake that CBS made in May. The AP story which just went out, Fraud Indictment Expected for Abramoff, focuses several times on GOP House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, and his relationship with lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Federal prosecutors are seeking bank fraud charges against lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a key figure in investigations involving House Majority Leader Tom DeLay
...
DeLay, R-Texas, was not mentioned in any lawsuits involved in the SunCruz deal.

Ken, if there's one thing we know, it's that Michael Powell of the Post is NOT going to be an objective observer of the Clintons. He earned a runner-up award in 2000's Best of NQ collection for shining Clinton's shoes after an apparently masterful press conference:  "It’s not unlike watching a BMW, fully loaded, the sunroof back, the heated seats, the Blaupunkt speakers blasting. No curves, no spin, a 180-kilometer-an-hour purity of performance. It’s December and a press conference in the bowels of the cement box that is the State Department, and up there on the stage, hand jauntily in pocket and press corps in the palm of his hand, the President is wowing ‘em again.

The CBS Evening News on Wednesday devoted a second segment to promoting the vigil of Bush-hater Cindy Sheehan. Bill Plante noted the obvious as he provided more publicity: “She's gotten a lot of media attention by camping out on the road that leads to the President's ranch.” He pointed out that she “understands that it's very difficult for the White House to dismiss anyone in her position” and touted how “she also knows she's not alone. One recent poll shows that one out of three people now say it's time to bring all the troops home." Anchor Bob Schieffer ridiculously asked: "I wonder why the President doesn't meet with her." Plante replied that “you'd think it would be an easy thing to do,” but noted that would lead to him having to “meet with a lot of people.” Plante did point out that Sheehan did meet Bush last year, but “she says that wasn't a satisfying meeting." Plante didn’t note her praise then for Bush.

Full August 11 CyberAlert item follows. For today's MRC CyberAlert, click here.

Newsbusters's own Vinny Fiore yesterday relayed how the New York Times took some hits at New York Republican Senate hopeful Jeannine Pirro, conveniently failing to remind readers of incumbent Senator Hillary Clinton's ethically-tainted, disbarred husband, while raising Albert Pirro's 11-month prison term for tax fraud. Today the Washington Post followed suit in a piece by staff writer Michael Powell.

But Pirro, 54, comes with her own issues, not least her
husband -- Albert Pirro -- who is a convicted felon, having served 11
months in prison for hiding $1 million in taxable income. He was
accused of claiming dozens of luxury items, from his Ferrari and her
Mercedes-Benz to the salaries of employees who care for their pet pigs,
as business expenses.

There's an old joke about the New York Times that goes something like this; if the world were ending, the headline in the Times would read "World To End," with a sub-head reading "Women And Minorities Hardest Hit." Today's front page calls that to mind, as the center of the front page is devoted to a story on Entrenched Epidemic: Wife-Beatings in Africa...

Has something gotten into the water at The Today Show? Yesterday, as reported here, Katie Couric's thesis was that W's poll numbers on the economy were unfairly low. This morning, Matt Lauer gave surprisingly deferential treatment to Bernie Goldberg and his book, '100 People Who are Screwing Up America,' which focuses on liberals and the cultural elites as the root of our societal ills.

Lauer began by asking "who is this book for?"

Goldberg: "Anybody who cares about the culture they are living in. There is a tremendous disconnect between regular, ordinary Americans who live in the middle of the country and what Tom Wolfe calls the 'blue parentheses' on both coasts Culture has gotten too angry, mean and vulgar."

Matt observed: "Not a lot of conservatives on this list. Are more liberals than conservatives screwing up America?"

Matt Drudge linked to an article recalling the last ten years of the internet. 2004 was called the "year of the blog."

2004: YEAR OF THE BLOG

Although the term "weblog" was coined in 1997, 2004 is the year the blog achieves critical mass. Salam Pax, the "Baghdad blogger", becomes popular during the Iraq war, while in the US, Fox news anchor Dan Rather resigns after bloggers discredit one of his stories. AOL begins to include blogging tools in the latest versions of its software, while Microsoft launches its MSN Spaces blogging service. Today there are an estimated 14.7 million blogs, with a new one created every 7.4 seconds.

I found an interesting article by Laura King of the LA Times a few days ago. Apparently, being a reporter wasn't her first job choice. She'd rather be writing short stories, preferably about Israel's illegal occupation of the Gaza strip.

Excerpt:

"Moments later, a young woman, her long skirt grazing the ground, approached the same soldier, speaking in gentle tones. 'You are my brother,' she told him. "How can you even think of tearing us away from our homes? Don't help do this…. Refuse orders. Refuse."

"The soldier, sweat sliding down his face in the noonday heat, stood his ground at the dust-choked, flyblown main checkpoint leading into the Jewish settlements of the Gaza Strip."