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The New York Times is still having difficulty dealing with democracy in California -- namely the state's unique ballot initiatives, which sometimes produces results inconvenient to a liberal agenda. First it was last year's surprise passage of Proposition 8, a ban on gay marriage that threw the Times for a loop. This week it was the rejection of five fiscal measures in a special statewide…

"Today" reporter Chuck Todd on Thursday spun the dueling speeches of President Barack Obama and former Vice President Dick Cheney as not "a fair fight." Speaking of the two May 21 addresses on the subject of terrorism, the NBC correspondent proclaimed, "Our latest poll indicates it's the most popular member of the Democratic Party facing off against one of the most unpopular members of the…

At the top of Thursday’s CBS Early Show, co-host Maggie Rodriguez reported breaking news of a terror plot in New York foiled by the FBI: "The FBI busts a home-grown terror plot, arresting four men who planned to bomb synagogues and shoot down aircraft." Later, Rodriguez spoke with terrorism expert and former Bush aide, Juan Zarate, about the failed attack: "There's no question these guys were…

On Wednesday, a California newspaper created an editorial harshly criticizing voters for overwhelmingly defeating ballot initiatives that would have raised taxes to pay for exploding budget deficits.After the Sacramento Bee received numerous complaints in the comments section at its website, the original piece was removed and replaced with one pointing fingers at elected officials.As Doug Ross…

Clarity can come from unexpected places -- even that unlikeliest of sources, MSNBC.Such has been the case with a pair of recent guests on "The Rachel Maddow Show" who made a series of surprising statements -- albeit only in the context of MSNBC. Example one -- Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Colin Powell, appearing on Maddow's show May 12 and criticizing Dick Cheney's assertion that…

A night after ABC's Laura Marquez blamed California's budget deficit on the citizenry's “unwillingness to raise taxes” and a law “mandating an almost unachievable two-thirds vote by the legislature to raise taxes,” on Wednesday's NBC Nightly News George Lewis similarly ignored soaring state spending as he focused on victims of upcoming budget cuts and asserted: “Part of California's problem is…

As has been documented repeatedly, celebrities just don't find much material for humor with Barack Obama.  He's just so thoughtful, so articulate, so bright, so. . . Fill in the blank, as long as it's sufficiently worshipful.With former President George W. Bush, it's just the opposite.  Show biz types can't get enough of poking fun at him.  This is true even at the  National Geographic Bee.  Yes…

Imagine if a couple of women launched a "Hitler Spotting" website and proclaimed that they weren't Nazis but neutral about the morality of the subject. However, at the bottom of of the web page was this quote: "Sieg Heil!"What would you think about the true leanings of the women despite their protestations of political neutrality? Well, change just a few details and we are describing Kelly…

ABC, CBS and NBC all led Wednesday night with the Senate's overwhelming 90 to 6 bi-partisan vote to withhold funding for the closing of Guantanamo and block any detainees from being moved to the U.S., but ABC anchor Charles Gibson was uniquely flummoxed: “What's the problem here?...We have terrorists in U.S. prisons, so why not the guys from Guantanamo?”Gibson alluded, in setting up his question…

Yesterday fundraiser Norman Hsu was convicted of of illegally funneling tens of thousands of dollars to Democratic candidates, including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.  The Wall Street Journal reported:On Tuesday, a jury convicted Mr. Hsu of four counts of campaign-finance fraud after about 2½ hours of deliberations. Each count carries up to five years in prison.The latest example of political…

Protesting a critic's claim of bias, MSNBC's Contessa Brewer insisted earlier today in a tweet that she "criticize[s] anyone who I think isn't making sense.""You're just focusing on one side," Brewer added in her reply to a Twitter user who complained that Brewer trashes Republicans "but [has] nothing else to talk about." The same Twitter user, Carol Reed, urged Brewer to "[w]atch a tape of…

NBC's coverage of a new bill that restricts credit card companies has been riddled with contradictions - first attacking companies for taking advantage of young people, then admitting students need to build credit. On May 14 "Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams said, "graduates enter the world with awful credit card debt" and then reporter Lisa Myers demonized credit card companies for…