AP Pair Lets Obama 'Distance Himself' From Soptic Ad, Despite Known Co
Yesterday, James Taranto at the Wall Street Journal's Best of the Web had this to say about the title of an Associated Press report ("Obama Defends Tenor of His Campaign, Slams Romney") covering President Obama's four-question "press conference" -- "The writer of this Associated Press headline is either witty or clueless."
The underlying writeup by Jim Kuhnhenn and Charles Babington wasn't…
Dem Convention Won't be Mom-friendly, Feminists Charge; 'War on Women
"A number of local chapters of the National Organization for Women are denouncing the DNC convention rules, saying that they unfairly exclude mothers with young children," Byron Tau of Politico reported on Monday morning, going on to quote feminist icon Gloria Steinem as complaining that "Women are the key to a Democratic victory, and sometimes, children are the key to women. It's both right…
NB Publisher Bozell: Media Obsess Over Akin to Distract From Economy
There’s no denying that what Rep. Todd Akin said was completely inappropriate, but for it to receive four times more coverage than the Vice President of the United States’ indefensibly racist gaffe is unconscionable. Todd Akin is a congressman. Joe Biden is one heartbeat from being the leader of the Free World. Once again, the media’s double standard is exposed for all to see.
If Ronald…
AP's Rugaber Cites 'Slowly, But Steadily Improving' Existing Home Sale
In what has become an all too predictable ritual, an AP reporter has tried to make the situation in the economy look like it's on the upswing when it's not.
Today, the AP's Christopher Rugaber read the press release on existing home sales from the National Association of Realtors. As a trade group, NAR will tend to put a good (or at least not as ugly face) on even a rough situation. So it's…
Frenzied Media Give Four Times More Coverage to Akin Flap Than Biden's
A week after giving relatively light coverage to Joe Biden's "chains" smear, the broadcast networks eagerly dove into the Todd Akin controversy, giving over four times more coverage to an uproar involving a statewide (conservative) politician than a controversy involving a national (liberal) politician. NBC, CBS and ABC's evening and morning shows have devoted an astonishing 88 minutes (or 40…
Politico Scrutinizes GOP for Pro-life Language in Platform, Fails to N
"GOP rejects rape exception in platform," blared a Politico headline yesterday. "Even as Mitt Romney sought to quash the furor surrounding Todd Akin’s 'legitimate' rape comments, the Republican platform committee here approved an abortion plank that includes no exemptions for rape, incest or even to save the life of the mother," James Hohmann noted in the lead paragraph of his August 21 story…
NBC 'Reality Check': 'Effective' Obama Ad Paints Romney as 'Mr. Burns
In what co-host Matt Lauer billed as a campaign ad "reality check" on Tuesday's NBC Today, a Romney ad criticizing the Obama administration for gutting Welfare reform was dismissed as ineffective, "too complicated" and "Pants on Fire" false. Meanwhile, an Obama ad slamming Romney over taxes was praised for making Romney look like a cross between wealthy Simpson's villain "Mr. Burns" and an "evil…
David Limbaugh Column: Has Obama Been Divisive?! Let Me Count the Ways
I was on Sean Hannity's show the other night, and the question was whether Obama's statement denying his divisiveness is defensible. It's not.
Obama said, "I don't think you or anybody who's been watching the campaign would say that in any way we have tried to divide the country. We've always tried to bring the country together."
Matthews Smears GOP: 'Some People' 'Have a Problem With a Woman Sayin
MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Tuesday continued the effort to tie the entire Republican Party to the gaffe-prone Todd Akin, smearing the GOP as a party that doesn't believe in the concept of rape. Matthews interrogated former Republican National Chairman Michael Steele: "Is it true or not true that you've got people in your party so far to the right that they have a problem with a woman saying she…
Time's ‘Ideas’ Blog Toys with Notion of Mandatory Voting
Whatever happened to American exceptionalism? Liberal abhorrence of the concept has been well-documented in the past. One of the latest examples can be found at Time Ideas, where Eric Liu has published a case for mandatory voting laws. Liu never outright admits as much, but it’s abundantly clear he feels such a policy would help elect more liberal Democrats to office and hence put the country…
Cal Thomas Column: A Debate About Debates
Dictionary.com defines a "debate" as: "A formal contest in which the affirmative and negative sides of a proposition are advocated by opposing speakers."
That is not what will take place during three exchanges between President Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, or the one vice-presidential exchange between Joe Biden and Paul Ryan.
CBS Morning Show Ignores Obama's False Reply on Campaign's Felony Char
On Tuesday's CBS This Morning, Norah O'Donnell and Gayle King applauded colleague Nancy Cordes for her "great question" to President Obama on Monday about a dishonest ad from a supporting super PAC that blamed Mitt Romney for a woman's cancer death. However, they failed to mention Cordes's earlier question on how Obama's campaign has "suggested that Mr. Romney might be a felon for the way that…
Networks Devote an Enormous 21 Minutes to Obsessing Over Akin, Hyping
The network morning shows on Tuesday devoted an enormous 20 minutes and 53 seconds to obsessing over a gaffe by a Republican congressman, hyping Todd Akin's comments for nine separate segments. NBC, CBS and ABC touted Democratic efforts to link the gaffe-prone representative to the GOP presidential ticket.
Former Democratic operative turned Good Morning America host George Stephanopoulos…
CNN's Banfield Surprised at 'Very Far Right-Wing' GOP Pro-Life Platfor
For CNN's Ashleigh Banfield, complete opposition to abortion equals a "very far right" position, as she insisted on Tuesday about the new Republican Party platform. For context, CNN used the same "far right" label to describe Sikh shooter Wade Michael Page's racist skinhead band.
"[T]he platform, for the most part, was crafted by the very far-right wing of the party and then if you combine…
