In a post at National Review Online's Battle '10 blog last night, Mytheos Holt commented on a report seen at the Huffington Post:
HuffPo Panics about GOP Sweep of Ohio
Looks like the Huffington Post is buying into the “As Ohio goes, so goes the nation” meme this election cycle, based on a story out today.
The HuffPo item is by Liz Sidoti. But Sidoti is a national politics writer for the Associated Press, and what Holt really read was what AP would like us to believe is a supposedly "objective" analysis of the electoral situation in Ohio right off the wire. Word for word, the item at HuffPo is the same dispatch as found at the AP's main site. The only clue as to its origin, which Holt missed (and it's easy to see how), is the teeny-tiny AP logo where Sidoti's byline appears.
In other words, Sidoti's stridency and Democrat-sympathetic viewpoint are so obvious that she passes the HuffPo zealotry test.
Here are some examples of how Sidoti "successfully" came off as a budding HuffPo pundit:
Dems' prospects threatened by economic woes
Frustrated, discouraged and just plain mad, a lot of people who have lost jobs - or know someone who has - now want to see the names of Democrats on pink slips. And that's jeopardizing the party's chances in Ohio and all across the country in November's elections.
In this big swing-voting state alone, Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland is in a dogfight for re-election. Senate candidate Lee Fisher may be even worse off. As many as six House Democrats could lose their jobs this fall. Recession-fueled animosity is dominating every race, giving Republicans hope of huge victories.
... In Ohio, like almost everywhere else, voters don't much care for Washington, Wall Street or anything resembling the establishment. They grouse about every politician, including President Barack Obama, whom Ohioans played a critical role in electing. They fume over the nation's teetering finances.
... Republicans are hoping to capitalize on voters' economic disillusionment, frustration with Obama and tea party-generated enthusiasm.
Democrats are relying on a financial advantage, a robust get-out-the-vote operation and, mostly, the ghost of George W. Bush to curb an expected Nov. 2 shellacking.
... at Suzzie's Beechwold Diner, Steve Reither epitomizes the Democrats' other big challenge: a fired-up electorate tilting toward the GOP.
A Republican-turned-independent, Reither is sick of both parties and says: "They all talk about change and nothing changes." But he saves his harshest words for Obama, whom he calls a socialist and a liar. This year, he says he'll probably vote largely with the GOP in November - "I'll hold my nose" - simply to fire Democrats.
"This administration and his cronies are running this country into the ground," Reither, 55, says as he finishes his breakfast. The owner of a small auto restoration business, he says he's been struggling for the past two years, and he blames Obama's policies that "hurt the little guy."
Democrats at all levels are sounding a populist tone, casting their races as helping voters on Main Street vs. Republican policies intended to help Wall Street. Republicans, in turn, argue that Democrats - led by Obama - are making a tough economic situation worse with a free-spending, big-government agenda.
Of course Sidoti's work looks like HuffPo punditry, as it's all from the Democrats' "woe is us, these terrible things are happening" perspective. Republicans are seen as the unworthies upsetting the apple cart. And voters? Well, they're just "mad" and full of "animosity."
It's quite instructive to see how an AP report is correctly interpreted as left-leaning output. And sad to say, Liz Sidoti isn't anywhere near the wire service's worst offender.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
