NY Times Disputes Validity of Pollster Showing Close Mass. Senate Race
January 8th, 2010 2:42 PM
On Friday, New York Times reporter Abby Goodnough described the surprise struggles of Mass. Democrat Martha Coakley, once considered a shoo-in to fill the Senate seat of the late Ted Kennedy, but now facing a strong challenge from Republican Scott Brown: "In Massachusetts, Surprise Anxiety for Favored Democrats." Goodnough's hook was a Rasmussen Reports poll showing Brown within nine points of…
NYT's Mark Leibovich Mines Florida Tea Party for Paranoia, Racism Anec
January 7th, 2010 4:37 PM
The Times dispatched its political personality profiler and snarkster-in-chief Mark Leibovich to Florida to report on the hot race to replace retiring Republican Sen. Mel Martinez. In the course of his report, Leibovich ran into a conservative in a parking lot who showed "contempt" for the New York Times. (Wonder why?)Moderate Gov. Charlie Crist looks set to battle insurgent conservative Marco…
Dowd Wishes Homeland Security Could Be More Like 'Avatar
January 7th, 2010 4:27 PM
New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd really wants a national security system that looks really nice and has lots of fancy bells and whistles, but is, beneath the shiny exterior, quite mediocre and extremely expensive.Dowd implied as much when she asked Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano in a New Years Eve interview, "Why is it so hard for those charged with keeping us safe to be as…
On Failure To Reduce Deficit, NYT Writer Blames Everyone But Obama
January 6th, 2010 2:07 PM
In the eyes of many in the liberal media, President Obama can do no wrong. If he does, it's not his fault; he is simply a victim of circumstance, or he made the best decision he could given the options. One can tell news items portraying Obama in this light by their descriptions of problems in the passive voice.Take yesterday's New York Times article by Jackie Calmes, for instance. The piece…
How Tiny a Protest Is 'News'? N.Y. Times Publicizes a Four-Person Mar
January 5th, 2010 8:02 AM
A “march” from Miami to Washington on behalf of illegal immigrants consisting of a grand total of four marchers somehow merited a 780-word New York Times article by reliably pro-amnesty reporter Julia Preston, “To Overhaul Immigration, Advocates Alter Tactics.”By contrast, a massive anti-Obama rally that attracted over 100,000 people to the Capitol on September 12 resulted in virtually the same…
Politico's Calderone Compiles a Quality 2009 Media Blunder List -- And
December 31st, 2009 11:04 AM
Michael Calderone,Doing it Right UPDATE #2 - ALSO BELOW THE FOLD. UPDATE BELOW THE FOLD - THE ESTEEMED MR. CALDERONE RESPONDS. ------------- CORRECTION: I said the Washington Post was on the hook twice on Calderone's list. H/t to NBer Dean who pointed out it's three - #s 2, 7 & 10. A thousand apologies, and thanks to The Man from the People's Republic of…
Has the Media Finally Figured Out that Anwar Al-Awlaki is More than Ju
December 30th, 2009 9:56 PM
Representative Pete Hoekstra recently indicated that the attempted bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 should be a clue that helps the Obama Administration ‘connect the dots' on terrorism.While that remains unlikely with an administration more obsessed with right-wing extremists, man-caused disasters, and the impeccable success of our counterterrorism systems, perhaps it's time to start…
Flight 253: Media Ignoring Two-Day Gap Between Preliminary AQ Linkage
December 30th, 2009 5:38 PM
UPDATE, Jan. 1, 2010: This post at BizzyBlog shows that the there was recognition of likely Al Qaeda involvement in two separate press reports based on sources in a position to know on Christmas evening. Thus, the administration's delay in acknowledging that reality was actually three full days.In their initial December 26 report ("Passengers’ Quick Action Halted Attack") on the attempted…
Times Watch's Top Ten Lowlights of the New York Times in
December 30th, 2009 2:07 PM
2009 began as a year of smiles at the Times, with rapture over the "historic" Obama administration. Reporters showered partisan praise on Obama's Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor and first lady Michelle Obama. Meanwhile, the Times resolutely buried emerging left-wing scandals over ACORN and Obama adviser Van Jones. But the smile curdled into a defensive snarl during the long hot summer of "…
NY Times: Michelle Obama ‘a Woman Not to be Contended with So Much a
December 30th, 2009 9:12 AM
Fawning over First Lady Michelle Obama has been over-the-top, but considering her a "deity" a "goddess," and "a woman not to be contended with so much as worshiped from afar," is a bit much. Those are the labels Cathy Horyn, the NY Times fashion critic, bestowed upon the First Lady in her Dec. 27 look at the year in fashion. Horyn compared the straight-forward, "businesslike" style of…
Giuliani-Hostile NYT Reporter Delivers Backhanded Praise to the 'Savon
December 28th, 2009 1:51 PM
The New York Times's veteran New York-based reporter Michael Powell, who suggested Rudy Giuliani played the race card as mayor in a Sunday front-page story in July 2007, abruptly admitted that many of the attacks on the former New York mayor and 2008 Republican presidential candidate were “caricatures.” Powell’s admission and other bits of backhanded praise came, conveniently enough, in a…
The New York Times Eulogizes an 'Eminent Politician
December 27th, 2009 1:10 PM
How does someone qualify for description as an "eminent politician" by the New York Times? Being very, very liberal seems to help.Today on its Web site, the newspaper reports "Percy Sutton, Eminent Politician, Dies at 89." Mr. Sutton maintained a long list of liberal bona fides. In a book last year he was quoted:"I like the fact that my family was a family of protesters. I like the fact that…
Relief Without Limits: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Get Blank Checks; NYT P
December 27th, 2009 9:42 AM
On Thursday, the Treasury Department issued a press release, called "Update on Status of Support for Housing Programs." Its fourth paragraph reads as follows: At the time the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) placed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into conservatorship in September 2008, Treasury established Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements (PSPAs) to ensure that each firm maintained a positive…
Guess The Missing Word In NY Times Report On Attempted Plane Bombing
December 26th, 2009 8:23 AM
Imagine that there had been a series of three incidents in which members of a [invented for present purposes] fanatical Jewish sect had attempted to bring down airliners from Arab countries. In reporting on the latest attempt and describing the previous ones, do you think the New York Times might have mentioned the religion of the perpetrators? So do I.But with the legerdemain required to…