Plame Lawsuit Against Cheney Et Al Dismissed, Will Media Care

Valerie Plame was dealt another setback Tuesday when a U.S. court of appeals upheld a federal judge's decision to dismiss her lawsuit against members of the Bush administration.Given the media's fascination with this former CIA operative who has claimed for years she was illegally outed by the White House for political reasons, it will be interesting to see just how much attention this ruling…
Noel Sheppard

CBS: People Stealing Manhole Covers In Tough Economy

If any further evidence was needed to prove that the country is in a recession, the CBS Early Show found it, as co-host Maggie Rodriguez declared: "Coming up this morning, during hard times in some U.S. cities, they're as good as gold. Manhole covers being stolen and sold for scrap." Co-host Harry Smith later introduced the segment on this desperate trend: "Across the country thieves are stealing…
Kyle Drennen

Bozell Column: Our Sick Edwards-Excusing Media

You know there are some in the liberal media who have simply lost touch with reality when the headline reads "John Edwards Cheats on Wife With Cancer" and they ask with great detachment whether he'll be able to run for office again soon. These people's morality is so bizarre that they showed more outrage at John McCain featuring a picture of Paris Hilton in a commercial for two eye-blinks than…
Brent Bozell

Actor Ernest Borgnine: America 'an Amazing Country

Veteran actor Ernest Borgnine, still acting at age 91, does not represent the mainstream ideology of the Hollywood elite, or even a potential first lady named Michelle. Borgnine, unlike most of his fellow Hollywood elitists, believes America is "an amazing country" and that one has to "prove" one is "a good American by being an American."Appearing on the August 12 edition of "Good Morning America…
Justin McCarthy

CBS’s Rodriguez: Edwards Mistress ‘A Fatal Attraction-Like Woman

Surprisingly, the CBS Early Show continued to report on the John Edwards scandal on Tuesday, as co-host Maggie Rodriguez talked to a friend of Edwards’s mistress: "Edwards claims it was a brief liaison, but that's not how a friend of [Rielle] Hunter's remembers it." At one point in the interview, Rodriguez asked that friend, Pigeon O’Brien, about media characterizations of Hunter: "She's been…
Kyle Drennen

La. Sen. Landrieu Not Hosting Obama Fundraiser; AP Not Curious As to W

It's a bit early for politicians to be creating distance between themselves and their party's presidential candidate, is it not? Whether it's because of a (cough, cough) "clerical error" or an exercise in political self-defense, Louisiana Democrat Senator Mary Landrieu has done that. But in a report early this afternoon, Associated Press writer Melinda Deslatte was curiously incurious (saved at…
Tom Blumer

Alterman's Got Boca on the Brain

From a non-Jew, it would smack of anti-Semitism.  From Eric Alterman? You be the judge.The author of the Altercations column at Media Matters has a running complaint:  Rick Klein, editor of The Note at ABC News, pays too much respect to the work of other Jewish pundits. Jennifer Rubin, one of the chief bloggers at Commentary's "Contentions" blog, was Alterman's first target, in his August 1…
Mark Finkelstein

Post Drills Through Arguments Against Offshore Oil

Editor's Note: This post originated on our sister publication BusinessandMedia.org.It's not often that you can point to The Washington Post as the voice of reason, but the paper has its moments. One such was the August 12 oil drilling editorial that debunks three major "‘truths' masquerading as fact" about offshore drilling.The piece, headlined "Snake Oil," showed how groups like the liberal…
Nathan Burchfiel

Post Drills Holes in Arguments Against Offshore Oil

Editorial tackles three 'myths' used by groups like NRDC to oppose American energy.
Dan Gainor

CNN’s Alina Cho: Mrs. Edwards ‘One of the Most Beloved Women in Am

CNN correspondent Alina Cho gushed over Elizabeth Edwards, the cancer-stricken wife of the former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, during a top-of-the-hour breaking news segment about possible new details in the John Edwards affair story on Tuesday’s American Morning: "Now, [John] Edwards, as many people know, has admitted he made a ‘serious error in judgment’ when he had the…
Matthew Balan

AP Continues to Ignore Kwame Kilpatrick's Party Affiliation

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's party registration as a Democrat is hardly a state secret, yet rarely does the Associated Press mention the indicted politician's party affiliation.The AP continued its tradition of shielding Democratic pols in trouble with the law in its August 12 article, "Detroit Mayor Wins Round in Court."(excerpt below): (AP) A judge ruled Tuesday that Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick…
Ken Shepherd

Is Iraq War Over But Media Aren't Telling Us

Besides a complete withdrawal of American troops, what would have to occur for the media to think the war in Iraq is over?Such seems an important question as hostilities in the embattled nation continue to decline, as do American casualties.In fact, on Tuesday, a former Reagan administration official named Bing West wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal with the compelling headline "The War…
Noel Sheppard

NYT: Evan Bayh 'Has Compiled a Moderate-to-Conservative Record

Yesterday's New York Times carried the story, "Indiana Senator Offers Obama Risks and Rewards." The article focuses on Democratic Senator Evan Bayh, described as "one of the leading candidates to be the running mate of the presumed Democratic presidential nominee, Senator Barack Obama."The article notes:
Mike Bates

Open Thread

NB Staff