Overnight Howler at the NYT's 'Room For Debate': 'Default Is Impossibl

April 20th, 2011 1:13 AM
On Monday, the New York Times assembled a panel of alleged experts in its Room For Debate section. Each weighed in on Monday's ratings agency outlook downgrade by Standard and Poor's in an item entitled "Is Anyone Listening to the S.&P.?" (Don't ask me why "the" is there. It shouldn't be; the item is about the firm Standard and Poor's, not "the" Standard and Poor's stock index.) One of…

Bozell Column: David Brooks, You're Fired

April 19th, 2011 10:37 PM
Conservatives who really wanted to see at least a spending “haircut” for NPR or public broadcasting in the underwhelming budget deal for 2011 might have suggested at least some symbolic victory for conservatives. Here it is: Fire David Brooks as the alleged conservative or Republican “counterpoint” on PBS and NPR on Friday nights. We could hire Donald Trump to announce it from the boardroom.…

NY Times Celebrates Murdered Pro-Hamas Activist on Front Page, Almost

April 19th, 2011 3:11 PM
After relegating to page A16 the stabbing slaughter of five members of a family of Israeli settlers on March 12 at the hands of Palestinians, the New York Times mustered front-page sympathy for Vittorio Arrigoni, a pro-Palestinian activist murdered in Gaza by a fringe Islamic group. Fares Akram and Isabel Kershner reported from Gaza for Saturday’s front page, “Killing of Pro-Palestinian…

NY Times Leaps on Gov. Christie's Mild 'Violent Imagery,' Ignores Hars

April 19th, 2011 10:38 AM
On Saturday, New York Times metro reporter Richard Perez-Pena treated as a serious breach of decorum a relatively mild metaphor New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie used in front of reporters in “This Time, Christie’s Tough Talk Draws a Wave of Criticism From Democrats.” The text box: “The governor uses violent imagery while talking to reporters about a state senator.” Yet the Times has…

CBS Highlights Tea Party Rallies, But Also Plays Up Bad Poll Numbers

April 18th, 2011 5:56 PM
CBS's Jan Crawford spotlighted the Tea Party movement on Monday's Early Show, but also played up how it might present a "challenge" for potential Republican presidential candidates due its apparent unpopularity: "Recent polls show 47% of Americans have an unfavorable view of the movement. So candidates looking for Tea Party votes have to be careful not to alienate moderates." Midway through…

NYT Editor Keller Claims He Doesn't Take Stands on Wars, But Said Iraq

April 18th, 2011 4:20 PM
New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller’s latest Sunday magazine column, “Team America,” asks in the subhead: “Less than a decade after invading Iraq, the U.S. has rediscovered its missionary spirit. Should we be troubled by this?” Keller is not completely on board with Obama on what’s shaping up as “regime change” in Libya. But he also claimed that as editor he doesn’t take stands for or…

The New York Times Just Keeps Getting the Max Cleland Ad Wrong

April 18th, 2011 3:58 PM
In her Sunday off-lead New York Times story on bipartisan senators looking for budget compromise, “‘Gang of Six’ In the Senate Tackles Debt – A Bipartisan Effort to Build a Budget, Jackie Calmes furthered the Times’s long-standing legend about the “nasty” campaign ad by Republican Saxby Chambliss that helped him defeat Democratic Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia in 2002. Once again, the Times…

MRC’s Notable Quotables: Evil Republicans Making War on the Poor

April 18th, 2011 2:07 PM
This week’s edition of MRC’s Notable Quotables newsletter is chock full of liberal media quotes showing reporters’ slanted approach to the tax and budget issues now at center stage. In fact, there’s so much bad material, we had to add an extra page to our usually three-page newsletter (you can view/download the PDF here). The whole issue is up over at www.MRC.org. Here’s a baker’s dozen of…

NYT: Republican Policies Will Cause Destruction

April 18th, 2011 9:50 AM
Days before his 2012 budget was released, Congressman Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) predicted that he and it would be demagogued by the Left. Doing its part is the New York Times which began its editorial Monday, "Six months after voters sent Republicans in large numbers to Congress and many statehouses, it is possible to see the full landscape of destruction that their policies would cause — much of…

N.Y. Times Opposes Fines for F-Bombs -- Unless the Gay F-Bomb Is Invol

April 15th, 2011 7:20 PM
Back in 2007, The New York Times was delighted when the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the TV networks and against FCC fines for fleeting profanities on broadcast TV. "If Bush Can Blurt Curse, So Can Network TV," the Times wrote in its Page One headline. But in 2011, when gays are outraged that NBA star Kobe Bryant was caught on television during a game mouthing the "gay F-…

Krugman: Obama's Deficit Reduction Plan 'Really Serious'; Ryan's Is 'A

April 15th, 2011 9:47 AM
It certainly isn't a surprise that Nobel laureate Paul Krugman was far more pleased with the deficit reduction plan proposed by Barack Obama this week than the one unveiled by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) last week. In Friday's New York Times column "Who's Serious Now?" the unabashed liberal declared the President's proposal "really serious" and the Congressman's "a sick joke":

Tax Me Please, Says NY Times Columnist Kristof, While Calling for Defe

April 14th, 2011 2:15 PM
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof joined the “tax me, please,” brigade in his Thursday column that is sure to win him new fans the day before tax day: “Raise America’s Taxes.” President Obama in his speech on Wednesday confronted a topic that is harder to address seriously in public than sex or flatulence: America needs higher taxes. That ugly truth looms over today’s budget…

CA Gov. Calls for Tax Hikes, State's Democratic Ballot Process Suddenl

April 14th, 2011 2:01 PM
L.A.- based Adam Nagourney covered California’s budget impasse for Thursday’s edition, “Standoff in Sacramento as Brown and G.O.P. Lock Horns Over Taxes.” New Gov. Jerry Brown wants to put tax hikes in front of the voters through California’s initiative and referendum process. While the paper’s previous California budget writer Jennifer Steinhauer showed her displeasure with direct democracy…

NY Times: Obama Will 'Spare,' 'Reduce the Growth' of Medicare, But GOP

April 14th, 2011 1:21 PM
Thursday’s New York Times led with Obama’s partisan budget speech, “Taking On G.O.P., Obama Unveils Debt Relief Plan – Calls for Spending Cuts and Tax Increases but Spares Medicare and Medicaid,” and once again did a double-standard dance around the politically inflammatory issue of changes in Medicare spending when proposed by a Democratic president. While previous attempts at reform of…