Extramarital Affairs – Now That’s Funny

If only John Edwards had a better sense of humor. Perhaps those pesky sexual trysts would not have ruined his political career. At least, that’s the advice being given by Elizabeth Benjamin of the New York Daily News. In the article, Benjamin hails the comedic styling of Governor David Paterson of New York, who made an off color joke about his past affairs with several women. The headline…
Rusty Weiss

Sarah Palin Open Thread

It's Sarah Palin, folks (photo courtesy RTTNews). For many months, a LOT of NB members have been pointing to her as the best choice. Some of those unhappy with McCain have said that putting her on the ticket would make them vote for him.Clearly, this is a HUGE move to the right for the ticket. How are you feeling about this choice?
NB Staff

Whoopi Whining: Brave Hillary Survived 'Femophobic' Assault

Tim Graham

CNN's Roberts: Palin Too Young and Inexperienced

During the 9 a.m. EDT hour of “CNN Newsroom,” “American Morning” co-anchor John Roberts gave an analysis of Governor Sarah Palin during discussion of Senator John McCain's vice presidential choice. Roberts focused on Palin's lack of experience, saying that a prerequisite for the vice presidency should be the ability to step right into the office, especially because of McCain's age. Roberts stated…
Lyndsi Thomas

Couric, Williams Back Obama’s Economic ‘Turmoil’ By Ignoring Pos

As my colleague Brent Baker noted last night, the August 28 CBS "Evening News" and NBC "Nightly News" broadcasts completely ignored the Commerce Department's upward revision of second quarter gross domestic product growth. The department announced August 28 the economy grew at 3.3 percent in the second quarter of 2008, up from initial reports of 1.9 percent. The revised number exceeded…
Nathan Burchfiel

Noonan Knocks MSNBC's 'Fatuous Suck-upping

Peggy Noonan made a serious point about MSNBC's slanted coverage, and I suppose seriousness compels me to mention it first.  But please do yourself a favor and stay tuned for the description of Peggy's un-PC laugh line that could be the best guilty pleasure of the campaign season. Joe Scarborough opened today's Morning Joe with an ode to the wonderfulness that was Obama last night.  He was…
Mark Finkelstein

Open Thread

For general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: Obama's speech.Was it all it was cracked up to be -- and what fawning media are saying? Or, was it a bit boring and short on specifics as those involved in last night's NB chat felt?Also, as we are within hours of McCain announcing his running mate, news outlets say it's not Romney or Pawlenty. Sarah Palin's numbers are screaming this…
NB Staff

Chicago's WGN Anchor 'Cheering and Applauding' Democrats

Mike Bates

NYT Buries Stadium-Filling Soccer Match in Iraq Inside Unrelated Bombi

What do you do if you're the New York Times and you're faced with having to report on an incident-free soccer match in Iraq that had 40,000 in attendance? Why, you bury it in a totally unrelated story about a bombing, omit any mention of it in the headline, and hope against hope that only a few readers bother to reach the seventh paragraph. Here's how the report by Erica Goode and Stephen Farrell…
Tom Blumer

Journalists Literally Applaud Obama Speech

Chris Matthews is apparently not the only one who gets "inspired" by Barack Obama.Blogging from the convention floor, a reporter for the Hill, a DC political newspaper observed "dozens of men and women wearing green media floor passes chanted along with the crowd" at Obama's speech last night.Is it any surprise given how many elite media journalists are registered Democrats or how Obama's speech…
Matthew Sheffield

Olbermann Slams AP Writer Who Didn't Like Obama's Speech

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann made his support for Barack Obama even clearer Thursday when moments after the junior senator from Illinois accepted his party's nomination as president, the "Countdown" host assailed an Associated Press writer for having the nerve to not be as enthralled with the Messiah's address as he was.In Olbermann's crosshairs on this occasion was Charles Babington who penned an…
Noel Sheppard

TV Journalists Relieved Obama 'Masterpiece' Took on McCain

Television journalists were nearly uniformly enthralled with Barack Obama's Thursday night acceptance speech, relieved he showed the toughness to take on John McCain directly, unlike, in their world view, all too-soft past Democratic nominees. Only FNC offered a contrarian view or mentioned the word “liberal” while David Gergen on CNN trumpeted the address as a “symphony” and a “masterpiece” with…
Brent Baker

Old Media Misses Rising Support for War in Iraq

Some how, the Old Media has missed the good news on Iraq. On August 27, the Rasmussen polling organization published a poll that showed American confidence is at its highest level ever in support of the War on Terror since they've begun tracking in January of 2004. This poll got little notice by the Old Media, of course, but it illustrates an issue that McCain should exploit to his benefit --…
Warner Todd Huston

CNN’s David Gergen: Gore’s Speech Worth Reading, Compares Obama to

CNN senior political analyst David Gergen gushed over Al Gore’s speech at Invesco Field on Thursday evening during the network’s coverage of the Democratic convention as he urged viewers to go back and read the text: I think the Gore speech, he -- while it was way too rushed in delivery, had an awful lot to offer, and was one of the first times anybody in this campaign has spoken seriously to the…
Matthew Balan