Frank Rich: Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin Are 'Re-enacting Stalinism
October 31st, 2009 10:40 PM
"The battle for upstate New York confirms just how swiftly the right has devolved into a wacky, paranoid cult that is as eager to eat its own as it is to destroy Obama. The movement’s undisputed leaders, Palin and Beck, neither of whom have what Palin once called the 'actual responsibilities' of public office, would gladly see the Republican Party die on the cross of right-wing ideological purity…
NYT's Zeleny Again Involved in Obama Story Scrub
October 31st, 2009 1:50 AM
Bloggers and their readers have "joked" about the New York Times being the official house organ of the Obama White House. Maybe it's not a joke. Earlier this month (as seen at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog), several bloggers caught the Times making significant changes to its initial coverage of Chicago's humiliating loss of its bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, and of President Obama's…
Anemic Newspaper Circulation Numbers Due To Obsolete Strategies
October 30th, 2009 12:54 PM
The latest newspaper circulation numbers, measuring copies sold from April through September of this year, show a 10.6 percent decline in daily newspaper sales, the first double-digit drop in circulation ever. Newspaper readership is now at its lowest level since before World War II.The biggest losers during this six-month period, as reported by NewsBusters's Tom Blumer, were the San Francisco…
Influential NY Times Editor Tanenhaus: Nixon, Reagan, and Bush 'Commit
October 29th, 2009 4:32 PM
Did Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush "probably" commit "impeachable offenses"? That's what influential New York Times editor Sam Tanenhaus thinks. On Wednesday night, the influential editor of both the "New York Times Book Review" and the "Weekend Review" sections again appeared on Charlie Rose's late night PBS chat show to discuss his no-longer-new book "The Death of Conservatism." Times Watch…
MSNBC's Maddow Hypocrisy: Bashes Opinion Journalist John Stossel for A
October 29th, 2009 1:59 PM
Over the past few weeks, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow has had a serious fascination with the grassroots advocacy group Americans For Prosperity (AFP) and how a "news organization" should be defined when it comes to press policy at the Obama White House. But Maddow, on her Oct. 28 show, was able to merge the two topics in an attack on Fox Business Channel's John Stossel. Stossel recently came from…
Alan 'GOP Wants You To Die Quickly' Grayson 'Apologizes' a Month Later
October 29th, 2009 12:14 AM
In late September, Florida Congressional Democrat Alan Grayson earned attention and apparently fawning support from the far left by describing the Republican Party's health care plan, as "1. Don't get sick; 2. And if you do get sick, 3. die quickly." Grayson's supposed apology for these over-the-top remarks on the House Floor -- remarks that would surely have earned him censure and relentless…
NYT Dowd's Anti-Catholic Piece is Riddled With Errors, Deceptions
October 28th, 2009 9:33 PM
The New York Times's Maureen Dowd spent some time in Catholic school as a youth, but judging from her latest rant/column, she didn't learn too much about actual Catholicism.Dowd's anti-Catholic screed reveals that of someone who knows almost nothing about the Catholic faith. She also deceives her readers about a number of topics, including a 2004 letter issued by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger before…
Imus Rants About His Fox Critics; Calls Obama 'A Whiny Little Titty Ba
October 28th, 2009 5:01 PM
Ever since long-time radio talker Don Imus inked a deal with the Fox Business Network to simulcast his morning radio program, he said he has been getting pushback from several acquaintances. And as he explained and showed on his Oct. 28 program, he's not particularly pleased with the reaction about his deal with Fox News. "I get this email and the e-mail says, ‘Sorry to see you've sold out to…
Disgraced NYTer Jayson Blair to Address Journalism Ethics Institute
October 28th, 2009 10:16 AM
Disgraced former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair will be addressing a Journalism Ethics Institute in Virginia next month.As amazingly reported by Mediaite Tuesday: Hard as it may be to believe, one of this decade’s biggest disgraces has been asked to present a speech on the very subject that was his downfall...Blair will travel to Washington and Lee next Friday to give a speech entitled “…
Top 25 Newspapers' Year-Over-Year Circ Drop Is 'Largest in Decade
October 27th, 2009 3:10 PM
It's a variation on the old riddle, "What's black and white, but read all over?" If you change one word and add two others, the answer to the resulting question -- "What's still mostly black and white, but red all over?" -- would be, based on just-released information about their daily circulation, "all but one of the nation's top 25 newspapers turning in comparative numbers." The figures come…
NY Times's Frank Rich Finds Anti-Bush Argument in Balloon Boy Saga
October 26th, 2009 3:30 PM
One could almost predict the desperately "current" New York Times editor/columnist Frank Rich would devote his Sunday column to try and make Balloon Boy an anti-Republican symbol of something or other, and he doesn't disappoint. The result, "In Defense of the ‘Balloon Boy' Dad," is even more silly than Rich's usual fare, playing devil's advocate for storm-chasing father Richard Heene. Rich found…
Unlike Predecessor, Obama As Golfer Gets Mostly Favorable Drops from t
October 26th, 2009 2:21 PM
This wouldn't be particularly important if not for the fact that the press made a point of criticizing our previous president for overindulging in exercise and recreation and supposedly "vacationing" too often at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. But they did, so a Tweet from CBS White House correspondent Mark Knoller is worth noting: Politico's Click blog picked up the story and put this twist on…
'I'm Sure Rahm Emanuel Waiting For Baby Shower Invites He Wasn't Getti
October 26th, 2009 2:17 PM
Slam dunk, or nothing-but-net three-pointer? Either way, with a line he got off today, Chuck Todd has surely scored some points in the battle over Pres. Obama's all-male White House basketball games.The NBC News political director/chief WH correspondent took his shot while discussing the issue with Andrea Mitchell—whose sympathies were clearly with the distaff side—during the 1PM hour slot on…
Clever Analogy: Cal Thomas Likens White House Attacks on Fox News to S
October 24th, 2009 11:25 PM
There's little doubt that at hand is an ongoing effort by the Obama White House to marginalize the Fox News Channel - especially after the administration attempted to leave Fox out of the White House pool last week. That is something conservative columnist Cal Thomas said is eerily comparable to Cold War tactics of the old Soviet Union. On the Fox News Channel's Oct. 24 "Fox News Watch," Thomas…