Just prior to Super Tuesday, a Rasmussen poll placed John McCain 6 points ahead of Barack Obama. Republican voters then gave McCain enough Super Tuesday victories to drive Mitt Romney out of the race in the belief that McCain was the more electable. John McCain has always positioned himself as the candidate that could most appeal to moderates and independents.

Now that John McCain is virtually assured of the nomination, the polls have reversed themselves, claiming that Obama is six points ahead of McCain. The earlier poll showing McCain in the lead served its purpose. McCain is nearly certain to be the nominee. Mission accomplished.

The polls can now revert to normal and begin giving Obama the early lead so that the "independents" know which way to follow.

The Paris riots have highlighted more than any other issue in recent years not only the bias, but the ignorance of the "old media." Internet readers have studied the situation in Europe for years. Numerous writers, from Mark Steyn to Ba'at Yeor to Debbie Schlussel, have long predicted the decline of Europe and the jihad that we have seen over the past few weeks.

But the "old media" personalities still have no clue as to what is going on. And their reporting and commentary has taken on an almost comical quality as a result.

Years after "new media" readers began to understand the consequences of French policies toward Islamic immigrants, CNN's anchor Carol Lin referred (on November 6th) to some of the participants in the Paris fiasco as African-American (apparently for lack of a better euphemism). Video available: Real Player or Windows Media

The MSM has provided a fair amount of coverage today of the "pirate" attempt to hijack a cruise ship off the coast of Somalia. But most, if not all, of the MSM outlets have refused to identify the "pirates" [and their leader Mohamed Abdi Hassan] as Islamic terrorists.  "Pirate" has joined "bomber," "militant," "insurgent," and "freedom fighter" as a euphemism for "Islamic terrorist." 

With useless media coverage like this, is it any wonder that the Paris riots have taken so many westerners by surprise?

See Debbie Schlussel and the Cassandra Page for details.

Bloggers are beginning to speculate about a new scandal that may effect New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Jon Corzine.  Enlighten-New Jersey writes of an allegedly damaging videotape that may surface within the next few days.  At this point the story involves nothing more than speculation.

Whether or not the story is true, the MSM's silence is significant.  Had this story related to a Republican, every morning talk show would be speculating about it. The MSM had Rove convicted of outing a spy more than two years ago. The same shows have been speculating about secret grand jury proceedings for weeks.

    When it was revealed that conservative columnist Armstrong Williams had received payments for advocating certain positions of the Bush administration, the MSM and the left had a field day. Williams was forced to defend himself on the morning talk shows and was parodied by syndicated cartoons. Most conservatives also rightly criticized Williams.

    But now the Newark city council has awarded a $100,000 no-bid contract for the Newark Weekly News to publish only the good news about Newark and the city government. James Taranto has provided mild criticim, based mostly on the newspaper's amateurish content. Enlighten-New Jersey provides broader context:

How easy is it to turn every issue into a PC propaganda tool for the purpose of setting gender against gender? The Today Show answers that question on a regular basis, and this morning was no exception.

By now, most of us have heard of the communications company executive that allegedly ran up a $241,000 credit card bill at a notorious Manhattan strip club. Upon hearing of this story, was your first reaction to decry the lack of opportunity for female executives to do business the same way? It was if you are Katie Couric.

On this morning's Today Show, Katie Couric introduced a segment devoted to the $241,000 strip club escapade by stating, in so many words, that it is unfair that male executives can entertain their clientele at strip clubs, while female executives don't really have that option. Couric compared this "issue" to male executives that take their clients golfing, thus gaining an advantage over female executives.