New York Times Columnist David Brooks Falls Victim to the Damp Squid
May 20th, 2011 12:48 PM
New York Times columnist David Brooks, considered by his Times colleagues as a Republican that Obama can do business with, has the persona of a sophisticate who may well admire the cut of the president’s jib (whatever that means).
But Brooks (or his copy editor) fell victim to the dreaded "damp squid" in his Friday column "The Big Society." The correct phrase is "damp squib," a Britishism…
NYT Set Up Obama's Speech by Pitting 'Unyielding' Netanyahu vs. 'Reaso
May 20th, 2011 12:00 PM
President Obama’s much-hyped speech Thursday on the Middle East called for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians and endorsing Israel’s pre-1967 borders as the starting point for the negotiations. The New York Times’s lead story Thursday morning by Helene Cooper and Ethan Bronner, "Focus On Obama As Tensions Soar Across Mideast," set the table by sharpening the focus on…
NYT's Gail Collins Rips GOP for Sexual Hypocrisy, Lauds 'How Much Ever
May 19th, 2011 2:18 PM
Gail Collins, the New York Times’s editorial page editor (2001-2007) turned feminist columnist, went on Rachel Maddow’s MSNBC show on Tuesday night to discuss the revelation that California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger having a child with a long-time domestic servant. Although Schwarzenegger, the former bodybuilder and actor, hardly has a reputation as a social conservative, Collins nonetheless…
Boston Who? Establishment Press 'Colleagues' Virtually Ignore WH Shuto
May 19th, 2011 12:03 PM
Imagine if the Bush 43 administration had decided to exclude a newspaper's reporters from full access to presidential events--regardless of the ostensible reason. Does anyone believe that the New York Times or Associated Press would have ignored the story?
Well, in a thoroughly predictable but nonetheless sad development, that is what has happened since the Boston Herald's Hillary Chabot…
New York Times Employs Same Loaded 'Big Oil' Terminology as Liberal De
May 18th, 2011 2:58 PM
Senate Democrats failed to push through a proposal that would have deprived the five leading oil companies of tax breaks, New York Times reporter Carl Hulse reported Wednesday. Hulse’s headline writer, meanwhile, used the same ideologically loaded "big oil" terminology a liberal Democrat used in Hulse’s story: "Senate Refuses to End Tax Breaks for Big Oil."
The phrase "Big Oil," redolent of…
NYT Corrects 'Fracking' Story: 'Few' Cases of Water Contamination, Not
May 18th, 2011 12:53 PM
People who approach an issue with certain beliefs are generally less likely to check claims that comport with those beliefs. It's called confirmation bias. Observe: Tuesday's New York Times carried this correction, highlighted by John Hinderaker at Powerline:
An article on May 7 about the Obama administration's appointment of a panel of experts to find ways to make hydraulic fracturing safer…
NYT's Matt Bai: 'Racial Element' to GOP Attacks on Obama Harken Back t
May 18th, 2011 11:22 AM
New York Times political reporter Matt Bai still hasn’t forgotten the "overtly racist" Willie Horton ad and sees "a racial element" in just about every attack against President Obama, no matter what the issue. His latest "Political Times" column, "Race and Republican Attacks on Obama," posted online Tuesday, pivoted from Newt Gingrich’s latest press drubbing to the matter of racism and the G.O.…
Speaking of 'Tasteless'...New York Times Likens Lilac-Painted Baghdad
May 17th, 2011 2:10 PM
After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the downfall of the Soviet Union, the New York Times and other liberal media outlets often produced stories suggesting a bright side to the fallen dictatorships. The trend was notoriously encapsulated in a February 12, 1992 Times headline marking the release of the last political prisons of the Soviet era: "A Gulag Breeds Rage, Yes, but Also Serenity."…
Former NYT Reporter Egan Opines on GOP's 'Need for Greed' to Pass Ryan
May 17th, 2011 1:14 PM
Tuesday’s New York Times featured a rare excursion into print by Timothy Egan, liberal Times reporter turned leftist nytimes.com blogger, excoriating Republicans like Rep. Paul Ryan and the "Tea Party political illiterates" as greed-heads for wanting to reform the bankrupt Medicare system: "The Need for Greed."
The bet was audacious from the beginning, and given the miserable, low-down tenor…
Notable Quotables: Thrilled by Obama's ‘Almost Biblical’ Success
May 16th, 2011 4:24 PM
Rounding out the news of the past couple of weeks, the media elite struck two contradictory themes — with journalists saluting the “courage,”“guts” and “cool hand” of Barack Obama in ordering the mission that killed Osama bin Laden, even as the liberal media were “repelled” and “appalled” by the “vulgar” and “idiotic” celebrations of everyday Americans to the news of the terrorist leader’s…
The New York Times: Woe to the Marital Woes of the (GOP) Candidates
May 16th, 2011 3:30 PM
Sex scandal double standards?
New York Times Washington reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg managed to write an entire story about the marital woes of potential Republican presidential candidates yet only vaguely glanced over President Bill Clinton, whose proven adultery and allegations of sexual harassment almost brought down his presidency and led to his impeachment.
A marital crisis in the…
Moderate Sen. Lugar's Struggles With Tea Party Mark 'Identity Crisis
May 16th, 2011 3:23 PM
The New York Times’s biased Tea Party reporter Kate Zernike profiled Indiana’s veteran moderate Republican Sen. Richard Lugar, one of the Times’s favorite Republicans, on Sunday’s front page: "Running on Moderation in Immoderate Times."
With Sen. John McCain making conservative noises on illegal immigration, Lugar may be the best bet for the Times to foster its dream of a moderate (i.e.…
Krugman: Republicans Are Holding America Hostage
May 16th, 2011 10:21 AM
When an admittedly liberal Nobel laureate in economics thinks trying to balance the budget is holding America hostage, one has to wonder if there are any adults remaining on the left side of the aisle.
Consider what New York Times columnist Paul Krugman wrote Monday:
Krugman: Democrats Should Risk Debt Default and Not be 'Blackmailed' b
May 15th, 2011 12:54 PM
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman said Sunday that Democrats should risk a debt default to avoid being blackmailed by Republicans that are holding a bomb "over our head" in the form of serious budget cuts.
This came moments after FDIC chair Sheila Bair told ABC's "This Week" panel, "I think maybe there's a little too much testosterone in this debate. It’s too much about winning and losing…