Listen to this audio from a 1995 interview where Obama says a blatant race baiting statement implying that whites don't want to pay taxes to inner city children for them to go to school.  The interview is full of defense on Obama's socialistic views on taxation, and other controversial remarks. 

It took the "new media" and blogs to dig this information up.  This would have never seen the light of day if it were left up to the mainstream media.  Now that it has been brought into the light, will the media pick up their fumbled ball and run with it?  I doubt it, but perhaps if enough blogs report on it they can be shamed into doing so.  They won't report on this unless they have to.

CNN investigative correspondent Drew Griffin appeared on Thursday’s Newsroom and Situation Room programs to explain how "in no way did I intend to misquote" from a recent article by National Review’s Byron York: "This exchange aired just once in the 6 pm hour, and as soon as the National Review brought it to our attention at 7:05, we immediately realized the context could be misconstrued. We cut that portion of the interview. It never aired again." Griffin also mentioned how he had "since called Byron York and his editor Rich Lowry, explained what happened, and told them both that I regret any harm this may have brought."

In an interview excerpt aired on Tuesday's Situation Room (NB post with video), Griffin had told Sarah Palin: “The National Review had a story saying that, you know, 'I can't tell if Sarah Palin is incompetent, stupid, unqualified, corrupt, or all of the above.'” In fact, York was mocking media coverage of Palin: “Watching press coverage of the Republican candidate for Vice President, it's sometimes hard to decide whether Sarah Palin is incompetent, stupid, unqualified, corrupt, backward or -- well, all of the above."

Griffin first appeared seven minutes into the 2 pm Eastern hour of Newsroom. Anchor Kyra Phillips asked the correspondent about the criticism he had received over the misquotation. He played a clip of the question, and explained the impression he had of the interview overall. He then played the initial exchange he had with Governor Palin over the "botched" quote, and most of her answer.

Time’s Joe Klein interviewed Barack Obama again for the November 3 print edition, and hailed his utter lack of drama and his steadiness. Left unasked: isn’t it easier to appear calm and steady when your interviewer doesn’t want to upset your no-drama image? Klein went on an extended exploration of how Obama showed great respect for Gen. David Petraeus, but made no mention (and as far as a reader can tell, hurled no question) about his supporters at MoveOn.org taking out an ad skewering the general as "General Betray Us." Likewise, he praised Obama’s deftness in handling the "black-nationalist sermons" of his minister Jeremiah Wright, but never seemed to press the candidate on any of the contradictions in his I can’t dissociate myself/oh yes, I can routine last spring.

In an article helpfully titled "Why Barack Obama is Winning," Klein began by describing Obama as a superior commander-in-chief to President Bush already:

UPDATE AT END OF POST: Todd admits to making this all up.

Not surprisingly, some skepticism is being expressed concerning Ashley Todd's assertion that she was mugged by an Obama supporter who cut a "B" into her face Wednesday night when he discovered that the Republican volunteer had a McCain-Palin bumper sticker on her car.

Most prominently, the Associated Press seemed less than convinced with the veracity of the gruesome story NewsBusters shared with readers Thursday about a McCain campaign worker's fateful encounter with a mugger at an ATM in a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, suburb.

The AP made its skepticism clear with the headline, "McCain Volunteer Claims Attacker Cut 'B' Into Face," (photo courtesy Ace):

What should be front page news informing and warning Americans is going entirely unnoticed by the MSM. It couldn’t be any more obvious the media are in the tank for Obama. Stanley Kurtz asks, “where's the press”?

In “Something New Here,” I laid out Barack Obama’s ties to the far-left New Party. Blogger Trevor Loudon, of New Zeal, did the pioneering work on this issue. Today, Loudon has posted good quality scans of New Party documents and pictures confirming Obama’s membership. We’ve seen most of this information before (although only recently), but never so clearly.

In the second excerpt of his interview with John McCain and Sarah Palin, NBC's Brian Williams continued, for the second night, to challenge the premises of the McCain-Palin campaign as he pushed back at describing William Ayers as a “domestic terrorist” since “it give it a vaguely post-9/11 hint” by associating terrorist with “domestic crimes,” so “is an abortion clinic bomber a terrorist?” Instead of prodding McCain about why he hasn't cited Jeremiah Wright when Obama had a long-time close relationship with the fount of anti-American and racial rants, Williams sought assurance Wright will remain off the table: “Are you going to keep your promise not to involve Reverend Wright in the campaign?”

Williams next snidely demanded to learn from Palin “what is an elite? Who is a member of the elite?” before pressing her: “Governor, are you a feminist?” (Last month, CBS's Katie Couric posed the same question: “Do you consider yourself a feminist?”)

Setting up the interview excerpt on Thursday's NBC Nightly News, Williams highlighted how “Sarah Palin's day today was spent prepping for tomorrow when Sarah and Todd Palin will be deposed under oath in that so-called Trooper-gate case” and: “The deposition, along with yesterday's revelation of that new $150,000 wardrobe and her struggle earlier this week to define the job of Vice President, have all brought a lot of unwelcome attention to the Palin side of the campaign.”

I just noticed that tonight there is a listing for Saturday Night Live Thursday Weekend Update. It is billed as "political humor". I am wondering if they just figured having one show a week wasn't quite enough to solidify their base, so they are trying to catch the very popular demographic after The Office now.

"Nightline" anchors Martin Bashir and Terry Moran sarcastically investigated "the Palin problem" on Wednesday's edition of the program. And while Moran did offer Sarah Palin some positive analysis, he often mixed that with snarky, condescending remarks about her falling poll numbers. At one point, the ABC journalist asserted, "The hockey mom, a woman dubbed the killa' from Wasilla, and then the blunda [sic] from the tundra, she just might be here to stay." After playing a clip of General Colin Powell claiming the Republican vice presidential nominee isn't qualified, Moran opined, "Ouch!"

Moran, who just last week asked Senator Joe Biden if Palin's rhetoric made him concerned about his safety, pronounced the candidate's downfall: "When McCain nominated her, she was just incandescent and it looked for a while like it was one of the most brilliant and daring political moves in recent times. Now, well, not so much."

UPDATE AT END OF POST: Todd admits to making this all up.

A truly gruesome attack occurred in a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, suburb Wednesday evening, and given the political overtones, it's going to be very interesting to see how this disgusting incident gets reported by Obama-loving media.

A 20-year-old female McCain campaign volunteer was mugged at an ATM by an unknown assailant who got very angry when he noticed that her car had a McCain-Palin bumper sticker on it (photo courtesy Hot Air).

According to CBS4.com that's when things really got ugly (h/t NBer mattm, KDKA CBS TV News video report embedded below the fold):

I posted this elsewhere on the NB site, so forgive me if you've read it before, but I thought it might be a good Forum topic.

In my conversations lately, I'm hearing a word I never thought I'd hear in 2008, with regard to what some might consider if the socialist Obama is elected to the Presidency of the United States of America.

That word is "secession."

From the United States of America.

Anybody else hearing people talk about this? 

--Mike

www.thebrattonreport...

Is Chris Matthews so excited to pounce on any perceived Sarah Palin controversy that he can not get his facts straight? As NewsBusters previously reported, Matthews, in mocking Governor Palin’s alleged ignorance on the role of the vice president, stated incorrect facts on the history of the vice presidency. A further investigation finds that Chris Matthews mangled his facts over the HBO miniseries, "John Adams," as well. First his quote to McCain adviser Nancy Pfotenhauer on the October 22 edition of "Hardball."

"Either she’s right about the vice presidency or I’m wrong. I say the role of the vice presidency, under the Constitution, is limited to breaking ties in the U.S. Senate. It has nothing to do with policy making, nothing to do with Senate leadership on either side of the aisle. There is no policy role whatever for the vice president. If you’ve even watch ‘John Adams’ on television a few months ago, you would know that going in to the very beginning of our democracy. The vice president has a formal role only. She believes somehow that the vice president of the United States has some sort of commanding policy development role and can lead the U.S. Senate. Where does she get this from?"

“Voters overwhelmingly believe that the media wants Barack Obama to win the presidential election,” a Pew Research Center for the People and the Press survey released Wednesday discovered. Specifically: “By a margin of 70%-9%, Americans say most journalists want to see Obama, not John McCain, win on Nov. 4. Another 8% say journalists don't favor either candidate, and 13% say they don't know which candidate most reporters support.”

The question (PDF of questionnaire): “Who do you think most newspaper reporters and TV journalists want to see win the presidential election -- Barack Obama or John McCain?” Unsurprisingly, 90 percent of Republicans recognized how journalists hope Obama is victorious, yet so did 62 percent of Democrats and independents.

Pew noted how “in recent presidential campaigns, voters repeatedly have said they thought journalists favored the Democratic candidate over the Republican,” but “this year's margin is particularly wide.” By comparison:

Academics at Washington State University have discovered something that may not be very profound. Celebrities are quite successful in persuading young people to turn out and vote.

The survey found that get-out-the-vote pitches by celebrities in the 2004 election cycle helped create an 11 percent increase in voting by people between the ages of 18 and 24, compared to the 2000 election."It suggests that we can make use of celebrity culture to get students engaged," said Erica Austin, a co-author of the study and dean of the school. "They want to be like celebrities."

Austin’s team found that "celebrities have the power to motivate civic engagement regardless of their own grasp of the issues at hand." It’s easy to question the political savvy of musicians like P. Diddy or Christina Aguilera. Oprah Winfrey’s big primary push for Barack Obama gushed through the news and spilled over at the ballot box, even if her speeches on his behalf vaguely touted him as "The One" and sounded like a goopy New Age chat. He was "an evolved leader" and "we're all here to evolve as human beings."

CNBC's Maria Bartiromo on Thursday excitedly told viewers that an intra-day rally which had brought the Dow Jones Industrial Average from down about 275 to up over 170 was caused by rumors that the presidential race had tightened.

I wonder if these rumors will get reported by Obama-loving press members.

With about fifteen minutes to go in the trading session, the camera found a suddenly happy Bartiromo on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange gleefully saying the following (file photo):

If the Conservatives Steal the Election,

Her moves are just what her boss, John McCain, needs, her
long practiced-in-the-mirror smile the perfect accessory for this inanely dumb
broad who would start a nuclear war with America and God’s enemies with as much
restraining consideration as she gives to her hilarious misunderstanding of the
duties of the day job she is waggling her tongue and butt vivaciously to be
elected to. She is our Caribou Barbie robo-doll with the brain function
removed. There is a reason that the RNC, as directed from Crawford, Texas by
the fellow with the real power to steal the election, insisted she speak to
NBC’s Brian Williams only with uncle John sitting beside her to run
interference, for on a bad day, which she seems to have a lot of, semi-sweet
Sarah is not able to tell a moose call from a duck quack. So better that we not
be complacent about the efforts the power mad conservatives will make to steal
this election and bleed, if we have to, to get out the vote for Obama and protect,
with as large an army of poll watchers as we can muster, against every form of
deceptive ballot disqualification the sneaky rat conservatives will employ.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported today that former Republican Governor Arne Carlson (Minn.) has endorsed Democratic Sen. Barack Obama's presidential bid. Carlson heralded himself as a "Republican maverick" and hailed Obama as a potentially "truly great president." Tribune staffer Mike Kaszuba failed to label Carlson's ideology, but suggested in the second paragraph of his October 23 article that Carlson saw himself in the lineage of "the moderate philosophies of past Republican leaders such as Ohio Sen. Robert Taft and President Dwight Eisenhower."

Left unmentioned by the Tribune's Mike Kaszuba was that Carlson -- who was governor from 1991 to 1999 -- had a left-of-center record, particularly early in his tenure when he hiked taxes and pushed government-run health care.

From the libertarian Cato Institute's January 1994 Fiscal Policy Report Card, wherein Carlson was given a failing grade of "D" (emphasis mine):

As NewsBusters has been reporting since we were at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has been a strongly outspoken critic of how the mainstream media have covered Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin since she was first announced as John McCain's runningmate.

On Wednesday, appearing on Fox News's "On the Record," Gingrich called recent press reports involving the Republican vice presidential candidate "factually wrong, intellectually dishonest, totally biased, worthy of the Polish state news media attacking Lech Walesa back in the 1980s."

Moments later, he put an exclamation point on his criticism: "This is like watching Pravda. This is a one-sided, vicious, unending and dishonest campaign." 

What follows is a partial transcript of this delicious exchange (video embedded right):

When Politico revealed the Republican National Committee spent $150,000 outfitting Sarah Palin and her family after she was picked as John McCain's running mate, one would assume it would be worthy of a brief, snarky story buried on the New York Times's "Caucus" page, filled mostly with anonymous Republicans griping about campaign spending priorities.

But Patrick Healy and Michael Luo's "$150,000 Wardrobe for Palin May Alter Tailor-Made Image" made the front page Thu