In recent days, Rush Limbaugh has called attention to the sharp-elbowed way in which the Democratic leadership forced former Marine major and Iraq war veteran Paul Hackett out of the race for U.S. senator from Ohio, installing Cong. Sherrod Brown in his place. On tonight's Hardball, Chris Matthews offered an interesting theory: that Hackett's controversial statements, particularly his unsubstantiated allegations of past cocaine use by President Bush, became too hard for the Dem leadership to defend.

In a set-up piece, MSNBC's David Shuster reported that "Hackett's style began creating waves. On [a past edition of] Hardball, he stood by his allegation that President Bush was once a cocaine user." Shuster rolled tape of Hackett on an earlier Hardball stating that he took such allegations "at face value" and assumed they were "quite factual." In that same earlier Hardball, Matthews was shown grilling Hackett hard: "you know for a fact that Pres. Bush, the Commander-in-Chief, because you're running for the US Senate, was a cocaine user? You know that for a fact?"

After NPR's Mara Liasson relayed on Fox News Sunday how a Time magazine poll "showed 65 percent thought he [Dick Cheney] should have taken immediate responsibility as opposed to waiting," fellow panelist Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard pointed that while Time's press release highlighted that finding, they didn't stress numbers which demonstrated the public doesn't see the hunting accident revelation time line as such a big deal. Kristol cited how by 52 to 42 percent most approve "of how the Vice President handled this and when asked, "Do you think the Vice President is an asset to the President and to his administration or damaging?," by 41 to 37 percent the plurality chose "an asset." Kristol postulated: "Time obviously commissioned this poll desperately hoping 'Cheney's numbers plummet, damaging Bush administration.' They couldn't find a thing like that. So it tells you much more about the press corps than the Vice President, I think." A Sunday NewsBusters posting by Noel Sheppard, “Time's New Cheney Poll Shows Huge Divide Between Public and Media Opinion,” also looked at the magazine's poll. (Partial transcript from Fox News Sunday follows)

On Feb. 12, The Oregonian’s public editor explained to readers his newspaper’s decision on the cartoons (excerpt):

Editors at The Oregonian talked about the issue but gave little consideration to publishing the cartoons that have sparked violence across the world. They reasoned that sharing the cartoon was not necessary for readers to understand the story.

"We have every right and an ability to publish the cartoons," says Therese Bottomly, managing editor for news. "But that doesn't mean it's the right thing to do."

Bottomly says the newspaper could convey the content of the cartoons to readers without also offending readers. She likened it to the newspaper's avoidance of the "N" word; the racial slur can be described without repeating it.

On Feb. 19, Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby told his readers a little more about The Oregonian’s decision(excerpt):

Several have claimed they wouldn't print the Danish cartoons for the same reason they wouldn't print overtly racist or anti-Semitic material.

After a show-opening promo of a segment on frigid winter temperatures, ABC "Good Morning America" co-host Charles Gibson's first words this morning were:

Boy, these are the days when you’re thankful if you have enough money to pay your heating bill. Good Morning, America, good to have you with us.

That's an odd hello, since temperatures recently have been warm for winter and oil prices have slumped a bit in response.

Staff Writer Ted Vaden of the News & Observer hits Rush Limbaugh for reading a "satirical" article about the Dick Cheney shooting. The crux of the argument is that everyone should have known that the article was satirical. Have a look at the article in question for yourself. Do you see "Satire" at the top? Is there a disclosure to note that fake news follows?

Limbaugh read about half the column over the air. But he left out the half that made clear that the N&O columnist was satirizing the Cheney affair. Not quoted, for instance, was this line: "When obstinate countries declare their unwillingness to negotiate with Secretary of State Condi Rice, all we have to do is roll out Deadeye Dick."

So it was that line that was supposed to clue us all in that it was a fake article? It reads just like any other moonbat column to me. 500 people responded to the article, all failing to pick it up as "satire."

Here are some tips for other journalists wanting to practice writing fake news:

• If you print fake news "satire" where truthful facts should reside, don't be surprised when it comes back to bite you.
• If you want to risk the credibility of your newspaper on making a political point, there is no need to ask later what happened to your credibility and subscriber base. 
• You can act like The Daily Show but you won't get their accolades, age group or the ratings that they have, and you aren't even close to being as funny.
• What comes around, goes around.

The front page of the Times Sunday Business section is dominated by reporter Landon Thomas Jr.’s profile of conspiracy-mongering author John Perkins (“Confessions of an Economic Hit Man).”

In “Confessing to the Converted -- How a Book Tries to Tap Into Fears of ‘Corporatocracy,” Thomas begins:

“It is standing room only in Transitions, a New Age bookstore in Chicago, and John M. Perkins, the author of ‘Confessions of an Economic Hit Man,’ is describing to his audience the quandary that faces Evo Morales, the recently elected president of Bolivia. Leaning low into the microphone, Mr. Perkins affects a deep conspiratorial whisper as he sets the scene for the imagined encounter between the new president and the representative of the multinational corporate interests Mr. Morales had vilified during his campaign.”

According to the Daily Times of Pakistan (hat tip to the American Thinker), former President Bill Clinton stated to reporters in Islamabad last Friday that the publishers responsible for the Muslim cartoons that have started riots around the world should be convicted. Yet, despite this call by a former president to limit the freedom of the press, America’s media have paid virtually no attention to Clinton’s declarations.

As reported by the Daily Times: “Talking to reporters after meeting Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in Islamabad, Clinton said he disagreed with the caricatures and that the publication was against religious and ethical norms.”

In addition:

Some people may have been wondering if the nine-day old Dick Cheney hunting story would be going away. Don’t count on it. On the February 20 edition of the Early Show, Evan Thomas, assistant managing editor at Newsweek, told Harry Smith that "People who don’t like [Cheney] think this is the dark, Darth Vader type." His analysis coincided with the new issue of Newsweek that features a cover story, written by Thomas, on "Cheney’s Secret World." The online edition features this sub-headline:

"He peppered a man in the face, but didn’t tell his boss. Inside Dick Cheney’s dark, secretive mind-set-and the forces that made it that way." (Italics added)

Mainstream media coverage of Bryant Gumbel's denigrating remark on the racial makeup of the Winter Olympcs has been scant. The host of HBO's "Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel" said:

"Try not to laugh when someone says these are the world’s greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention."

Gumbel's statement on white athletes is more direct than Rush Limbaugh's statement about black quarterbacks in 2003, when discussing black Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb. Said Limbaugh on ESPN:

"The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. There is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn't deserve. The defense carried this team."

Cheney and his strategists seized on what they viewed as a non-hostile forum, figuring every other news outlet would have no choice but to carry excerpts.

Such an approach is hardly unprecedented for public figures on the hot seat. Gary Condit talked to Connie Chung. Monica Lewinsky talked to Barbara Walters. Ken Starr talked to Diane Sawyer. Hugh Grant talked to Jay Leno. Michael Jackson talked to Ed Bradley. Saddam Hussein talked to Dan Rather...

On the February 18th edition of CNN’s In the Money, CNN business contributor Andy Serwer took a cheap shot at U.S. foreign policy during a discussion on lower than expected ratings for the Winter Olympics in Torino. CNN’s resident curmudgeon, Jack Cafferty, pointed to disappointing performances from some U.S. athletes as a possible reason for NBC's woes. This led Serwer to make this comparison:

Andy Serwer: "You know, it kind of reminds me, I hate to say this, but the performance of the U.S. Olympic team kind of reminds me of what we’re doing around the world."

Serwer continued, over the laughter of Cafferty and CNN correspondent Jennifer Westhoven, by calling the performance of the U.S. Olympic team "spotty" and "raggedy,"and made this surprising statement disparaging U.S. wins:

Serwer: "You know, we’ve got some unexpected victories, but, you know, kind of rolling my eyes, right?"

The transcript of the full exchange is behind the cut. (Hat tip: Free Market Project's Ken Shepherd)

Things didn't work out well at the Olympics for Johnny Weir, the flamboyant American figure skater. Favored to take home a medal, he finished a disappointing fifth after a very rugged long program.

But Johnny shouldn't feel too bad. When he hangs up the skates, there could be a promising second career for him . . . as a member of the liberal media.

Interviewed on CBS' Early Show this morning, Weir explained that he knew he wasn't at his best on the day of the long program, and in particular wasn't "feeling pretty." Then, waxing philosophical, he noted that things aren't always perfect. If they were, Michelle Kwan would be skating, and "we wouldn't be in Iraq."

There are moments where you totally miss Sen. Alan Simpson in government when he gets going with the metaphors. This is the Much Ado Over Birdshot exchange of the weekend, from "Fox News Sunday":

ALAN SIMPSON: Let me tell you, those who don't like him have put a big red tail on his bum, and cloven hooves, and horns on his head. And let me tell you, if anybody thinks -- if this had happened to anybody else in America, it would have been like a sparrow belch in a typhoon.

CHRIS WALLACE: Could you be a little more colorful, Senator?

SIMPSON: Well, I don't think I could, because it really is absurd.

Hat tip to the Malkinator. After praising both Bush "41" and Jimmy Carter as wonderful, Simpson returned to firing on the press: "All you get is controversy, crap and confusion." Ah, the three C's. Simpson wrote a book a few years back about "scrapping" with the press, called "Right In the Old Gazoo."

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For those of you that missed it, Sunday’s “Meet the Press” panel discussion between Tim Russert, Maureen Dowd, David Gregory, Paul Gigot, and Mary Matalin was an extraordinary panoply of left versus right. As it’s rare these days to see Matalin on without her husband, James Carville, this was a unique opportunity to watch Mary square off with liberal America’s favorite left-wing diva, Maureen Dowd, and the NBC White House correspondent in the middle of last week’s press corps firestorm, David Gregory.

The first interesting vignette was Gregory apologizing for calling White House press secretary Scott McClellan a jerk: