Nothing is deadlier to a campaign than a rumor that a candidate might be dropping out. But NBC has seen fit to suggest that Rudy Giuliani might be withdrawing from the presidential race based on what it itself calls "speculation" in the blogosphere.

NBC Nightly News weekend anchor Lester Holt interviewed John Harwood on this evening's edition.

LESTER HOLT: Let's turn to Rudy Giuliani. He's had a health scare, he's had a drop in the polls. You've seen it in the blogosphere: a lot of speculation as to whether he'll stay in this race. What do you think?

View video here.

Despite what former President Bill Clinton and most Democrats think, Fox News's Chris Wallace really is the epitome of fair and balanced.

In case you had any doubt, his interview Thursday with WOR radio's Steve Malzberg was a perfect example of why Wallace is the most impartial of all the Sunday talk show hosts.

To give you an idea of just how unbiased he is, during this extraordinary segment, Wallace strongly disagreed with Rush Limbaugh's recent remarks concerning Hillary Clinton's aging appearance, and actually came to her defense.

Later, Wallace supported media's questions concerning Mitt Romney being a Mormon even though Sen. Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) belief in this faith is totally ignored.

On the flipside, Wallace ridiculed MSNBC's David Shuster for some of his recent comments about Fox News, and mocked those that find water-boarding so deplorable.

Here are some of the highlights of this absolutely spectacular interview (15-minute audio available here, readers are cautioned to prepare themselves for an almost astounding level of candor from someone regularly depicted as a GOP mouthpiece):

President Bill Clinton listens to his wife Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton speak during a fundraiser in Washington, DC.

As 2007 comes to a close, one has to wonder just how much further the press are willing to go printing Democrat talking points in order to get the candidates of their choice elected next year.

Throughout 2006, the biased media told the citizenry that all their problems would be solved if they kicked Republicans out of office, and elected enough Democrats to take over the Senate and the House.

Now that the first year of the 110th Congress has ended with key Democrat campaign promises not having been fulfilled, it's all the Republicans' fault.

Despite the absurdity of such a claim, that's exactly how the Associated Press depicted the situation in an article published moments ago, while making the case that if readers want Congress to accomplish more in the future, they had better vote for Democrats in 2008 (emphasis added throughout):

The current column at the NY Times Opinionator blog, Huckabee and the Democratic Ideal, wonders "where’s the Democratic Mike Huckabee?" It answers its own question by approvingly citing David Seaton, an American expatriate blogger living in Madrid, who writes thusly [emphasis added]:

Democrats could learn a lot by studying Huckabee. I have no idea what is really behind Mike Huckabee’s friendly facade, but he is making some interesting and nuanced noises for a southern populist and I think Democrats should take note of these nuances and make some of the same noises.

The mainstream media is once again reporting the story of New York banker and ex-GOP voter Jeff Volk who claims to have been rescued by Hillary Clinton from the harrowing conditions of a New Orleans Hotel during Hurricane Katrina. Only now the details of that ordeal have evolved as have a few other elements of the story that the mainstream media seems to have glossed over in their rush to report about a defecting GOP voter.

Few of the reports indicate that Mr. Volk was a Hillary Clinton fundraiser that raised nearly $100,000 for Senator Clinton's re-election campaign in 2006, that the Clinton campaign released a video featuring statements by Mr. Volk in support of Hillary Clinton or that Mr. Volk's political contribution records tell a slightly different picture than that being reported in the press today. Less surprising is the fact that the latest version of Volk's story differs markedly from the original WaPO report.

It certainly won't come as any great surprise to most Americans that morning personalities Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa have absolutely nothing of importance to say even though millions actually watch their program on a daily basis.

Yet, what is interesting is that the two know this to be the case, and even celebrate it.

Rather than being disgusted by such a revelation, one might instead wish - especially during the holiday season - that more folks on television - for instance, Rosie O'Donnell, Keith Olbermann, Joy Behar, and Bill Maher just to name a few - would admit the irrelevance of their blathering rather than feign superiority when it comes to understanding the complex issues of the day.

Then, viewers would know they were just being entertained - hopefully, that is! - and wouldn't take anything uttered by such nattering nabobs seriously.

With that in mind, consider Wednesday's discussion between Regis and Kelly, and imagine just how much better the world would be if all the ignorant television personalities admitted their intellectual shortcomings so openly and honestly (video available here):

It's Christmas, the surge is undeniably working, and December, 2007, could end up being the least violent month in Iraq since America invaded in March, 2003.

Despite all that, the Associated Press, in an article published Thursday dealing with the top news stories of the year, couldn't restrain its antiwar proclivities, and, instead, chose to put a lump of coal under everybody's tree.

Bah, humbug!

Coming in third place in this unscientific poll of 271 AP members, the Iraq War, with a dash of pessimism only Ebenezer Scrooge could enjoy (emphasis added):

NewsBusters readers are painfully aware of the media's utter disdain for President George W. Bush, and their ad nauseum ad hominem attacks on his intellect, his oratory skills, and his policies.

Since the 2008 presidential campaign began on November 8, 2006, you haven't been able to swing a dead cat without hitting a press report about Republican candidates needing to do everything within their power to distance themselves from Bush.

With that in mind, waking up to the following headline in the Boston Globe Saturday shocked me almost as much as if I caught Santa crawling up my chimney (emphasis added throughout):

For general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: Harry Reid takes credit for the surge working:

The people of this country recognize that the war in Iraq was the worst foreign policy blunder in the history of this country. And we've done everything we can to support the troops. It was us, the Democrats, who realized that parents shouldn't be buying armor and sending it to Iraq for their sons and daughters, so we pushed, and we got body armor.We're the ones that pushed for up-armoring the Humvees and other vehicles.

Rush predicted last week the Dems would eventually try to take credit for the war once we do indeed prevail. Any thoughts?

Finally, please support NewsBusters and its work with a tax-deductible year-end donation. We can provide NewsBusters as free services only because of the thousands of concerned conservatives who support the MRC (our parent organization) financially each year and make possible the unique research operation behind the MRC's ongoing efforts to document, expose, and neutralize liberal media bias. If you contribute $100 or more, we will send you a complimentary copy of MRC President Brent Bozell’s new book, Whitewash: What the Media Won’t Tell You About Hillary Clinton, but Conservatives Will. The book will ship in January.

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Matthew Sheffield asked me to crosspost this.  He said it would be perfect for Newsbusters.  You can listen to the audio of Rush Limbaugh's reaction here.  Following is a roundup of reactions from bloggers.

Wow! Now this is gonna have to sting, at least a bit. There may not be many conservatives in Iowa that read the blogs, but I know there are plenty that tune into talk radio. As Jammie Wearing Fool says:

If you're now a top contender for the GOP nomination, the last man you want to alienate is Rush Limbaugh.

Here is a textbook example of [mainstream] media bias: Reuters' Dana Ford laments the growth of a "tent city" in Ontario, CA, east of Los Angeles, blaming it on housing foreclosures and "wider economic downturn":

Between railroad tracks and beneath the roar of departing planes sits "tent city," a terminus for homeless people. It is not, as might be expected, in a blighted city center, but in the once-booming suburbia of Southern California.

The noisy, dusty camp sprang up in July with 20 residents and now numbers 200 people, including several children, growing as this region east of Los Angeles has been hit by the U.S. housing crisis.

The unraveling of the region known as the Inland Empire reads like a 21st century version of "The Grapes of Wrath," John Steinbeck's novel about families driven from their lands by the Great Depression.

Well this is my first post in the woodshed. Yikes kinda scary in here. The people I would like to call out are the ones that say they are going to stay home or vote for a third party.

Since I have different political views from from many of you, what I say is not biased. I have seen more infighting in this forum in the last two months that the year before that. It is always this guy is not conservative enough, or going to rase taxes and lots and lots of religious battles latley

And your point Oblio? Thanks Blonde:-) The people that are not voting next year because you don't think he is conservative enough, will lose this election. The Democrats have a shot at 30 Senate seats next yr, the Democratic base is unified and they will all support whoever gets the nominationHillary or Obama. They can taste victory. So if the Democrat nominee wins. For the people who did not vote you cannot complain about some of these scenarios when the Dems win

:Reinstating Partial birth abortion

: Free Medical for Ilegals

: Helen Thoma as Press Secretary

: Fainess Doctrine reinstated