NB Staff's blog

Today's starter topic: Platform bungling. Thanks to poor management by President Obama, the Democratic National Committee approved changes to its platform nixing any mention of God and also removing an affirmation of support for Israel.

What ought to have been a minor tempest in a tea pot turned into an embarrassment as the presidential campaign decided to reinsert itself into the story instead of just getting things fixed:

Will you be tuning in to tonight's Democratic National Convention finale? If so, consider joining fellow NBers right here to discuss the event and the media coverage of it.

Note: You will need a web browser that has the Flash plugin in order to participate.

People have long known that President Obama's plan to increase income taxes on higher-earning individuals is a budgetary nonsense as there simply are not enough people making more than $200,000 and families making more than $250,000 to bring the deficit down in a meaningful way.

In an important followup to this point, the Wall Street Journal looks at how the only way for the federal budget to even begin to move away from deficits is through either spending reductions (anathema to the left) or tax increases. There is no alternative to raising taxes on the middle class if the budget will not be reduced:

Earlier today, our colleagues at MRCTV decided to hand out parody t-shirts bearing the message "Journalists for Obama" to passers-by at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte.

As you can see in the video below, they were very well received!

Will you be watching the Democratic National Convention tonight? If so, check in here starting after 7pm ET where fellow NBers who are tuning in will be commenting on the speakers.

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For decades the liberal media have enjoyed poking fun at conservative politicians for their public gaffes, real or imagined. Dan Quayle, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Sarah Palin -- these are just a few of the many conservatives parodied by the press. Vice-President Joe Biden is set to address the Democratic National Convention Wednesday evening. There will be many interviews conducted with him during this time. So in the interest of fair play -- the news media are fair, aren't they? -- NewsBusters's parent organization the Media Research Center (MRC) -- has compiled a list of ten questions the media should pose to Joe Biden.

Questions we wish the liberal media would ask Biden:

On the final day of last week's Republican National Convention in Tampa, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky sat down with NewsBusters to discuss amongst other things our favorite topic - liberal media bias.

In the course of our lengthy discussion, McConnell addressed Chris Matthews's claim that Republicans are being racist when they accuse President Obama of engaging in Chicago-style politics (video follows with transcript, Matthews section at minute 8:30):

Live chat with NB members about the RNC, day three. Please click through below the fold

Live chat with NB members about the RNC. Please click through below the fold

Jim Pinkerton of Fox News Watch says the MSM has a problem: groups like NewsBusters are paying attention and "nailing them" when they let their liberal bias show.

Pinkerton made his comment in an interview with NewsBusters at the RNC today.  The subject was a story NewsBusters broke this morning regarding Yahoo's Washington bureau chief David Chalian, who was caught on a hot mike saying that Mitt and Ann Romney were "happy to have a party with black people drowning."  Chalian was fired not long after the NewsBusters story broke. View the Pinkerton video after the break.

TAMPA, Florida | FreedomWorks president Matt Kibbe said Tuesday that the success of the Tea Party has the media in a bit of a panic.

Speaking with NewsBusters at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Kibbe also said press attacks on the Tea Party will probably end “the day after the election” (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

TAMPA, Florida | American Values president Gary Bauer said Tuesday, "I have never seen a media so deeply in the tank for the left and for the Democratic Party and for Barack Obama. Never."

Speaking with NewsBusters at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Bauer added, "They don’t even try to look like they’re unbiased anymore...They look like they’re a division of the Democratic National Committee" (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

Geraldo Rivera on Monday praised the fairness of Fox News and NewsBusters while not being so kind about how the mainstream media will cover the Republican National Convention in Tampa.

Speaking with NewsBusters about how the press will report the event, Rivera said, "We’ll be fair, you’ll be fair – we’ll leave them to their own just deserts" (video follows with commentary):

Jonathan Karl would clearly rather ask others about their politics than answer questions about his own.  In an impromptu interview at the RNC this morning, asked by NewsBuster Noel Sheppard what his politics are, an apparently uncomfortable Karl answered: "I would say fair and balanced: how about that?"  When asked in a follow up whether he thinks he is indeed fair and balanced, Karl sarcastically replied: "No. What do you think?"

Karl and his producer also seemed none too thrilled to be caught on camera by NewsBusters.  View the video after the clip.

Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann had some very kind words for NewsBusters at the Republican National Convention in Tampa Monday.

"Good to see you guys here. I read you guys all the time (video follows with commentary):

"I think there’s some real journalism left, but it’s a dying breed.”

So said ABC's Sam Donaldson during an impromptu interview with NewsBusters at the Republican National Convention in Tampa Monday (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

Since Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan was announced as Mitt Romney's running mate, the situation in the various states seems to have changed a bit. Ryan's home state of Wisconsin has tightened up quite a bit, moving from solid Obama to a tossup. Mitt Romney's birth state of Michigan has also become more competitive:

"These are two of the most moronic statements I have ever heard," NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell, himself a practicing Catholic, complained after watching video of MSNBC host Martin Bashir and MSNBC contributor Jimmy Williams attacking Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) as championing an "unbiblical" budget that doesn't comport to Catholic social teaching.

"Consider that one of these morons is saying that Paul Ryan's budget is unbiblical?! I mean, what book of the Bible dealt with Paul Ryan's budget?" the Media Research Center founder asked on the August 23 "Media Mash" segment, going on to note that seeing as that the Catholic Church is suing the Obama administration over the religious liberty-infringing contraception mandate, it's laughable to suggest that Joe Biden is a better Catholic. [watch the full segment below the page break]

Today's starter topic: How much credence do you give this report that President Obama is pressuring European countries to keep heavily indebted Greece in the Euro zone until after Election Day so as to not put his own re-election at risk? Would he do such a thing? And would booting Greece from the euro really have any effect on politics in this country?

A new poll by Rasmussen shows that 51 percent of voters think the media will, for the most part, attempt to help reelect President Obama rather than work to accurately and fairly report on the campaign. Only 9 percent of respondents believe the media are in the tank for Romney. That same poll found 59 percent of likely voters "believe Obama has received the best treatment from the media so far."

Filling in for Bill O'Reilly last night, conservative radio host Laura Ingraham discussed this poll and other evidence that the American public are wary of the media's liberal bias with NewsBusters senior editor/Media Research Center research director Rich Noyes. You can watch the full segment below the page break.

MRC Research Director and NewsBusters senior editor Rich Noyes appeared on FNC's The O'Reilly Factor Friday night to talk about the so-called "mainstream" media's lack of interest in news that a volunteer at D.C.-based gay group walked into the Family Research Council's offices and opened fire, wounding a security guard.

Guest host Juan Williams branded the lack of coverage "outrageous." Noyes described how if the reverse had happened -- a Christian conservative volunteer invading a liberal headquarters with 50 rounds of ammo -- the same networks that barely touched the FRC shooting would undoubtedly have provided far more intensive coverage.

Video below the jump.

Paul Ryan is radically anti-woman, anti-senior citizen, and if he and Mitt Romney are elected and ObamaCare is repealed, people will die! That, in a nutshell, is the liberal media's spin about Gov. Romney's pick of the Wisconsin Republican as his running mate, with the latter claim being made recently by MSNBC political analyst Jonathan Alter, formerly of Newsweek.

"That sleazeball did exactly accuse Romney of murder!" NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell exclaimed on the August 16 Hannity program, adding that by Alter's logic, it would be the majority of Americans who voted for Romney's presidency who would be complicit in "murder." "Where is that talk... where is the discussion of civility? Where are those high-minded people talking about civility now?" the Media Research Center founder asked. [watch the full "Media Mash" segment in the video embedded below]

One of the persistent themes on the campaign trail for many liberals is the idea, best exemplified by President Obama's "you didn't build that" remark and also the anti-capitalist rants of Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren, that people who work hard for a living somehow are undeserving of their success. That attitude likely originates from the mistaken belief that cronyism, collusion between private industry and government, is capitalism.

Unfortunately, more cronyism is the inevitable product of the expansion of the regulatory state. The more power bureaucrats and politicians have over business, the more likely business is to become interested in synergy with the government. Below the fold is a video from the Crony Chronicles, a new website which looks to spread awareness of this growing problem.

While the media "are treating him as a serious and substantive person," they are erroneously tagging Romney running mate Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) "as a budget slasher," which is patently false, NewsBusters senior editor Tim Graham told Fox Business Network's Stuart Varney this morning.

"There isn't any slashing [in the Ryan plan]. There's a reduction in [the rate of] growth" of government, the Media Research Center director of media analysis noted. [watch the full segment below]