Politico Pair Cry a River of Crocodile Tears Over 'Obama, the Puppet M

Instead of doing the work they were supposed to be doing last night -- i.e., following their publication's mission statement, which is (or maybe was) to "turn ... reporters (i.e., themselves) loose on the subject we love: national politics" -- Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen spent over 1,800 words whining. Their disingenuous complaint: The Obama administration supposedly has insurmountable…

Politico: Jesse Jackson Jr. and His Wife 'Lost Track of the Line Betwe

In anticipation of Jesse Jackson Jr.'s indictment on Friday afternoon, Jonathan Allen and John Bresnahan at the Politico seemed all too willing to hand out sympathy cards to Jackson and his wife, both of whom stand to do time in prison for offenses relating to their raid of the congressman's campaign funds. Specifically, the Politico pair wrote: "It’s a story of a Chicago power couple that…

Jackson Jr.'s Indictment News Light on Dem Party ID and Questioning of

Jesse L. Jackson Jr. was indicted on Friday, February 15, the final day before a three-day weekend, even though the information necessary to indict appears to have been in place for some time. Though it may be out there and I'm certainly willing to stand corrected, from what I can tell, the U.S. Department of Justice made no formal announcement when it filed its charges (10-page PDF). Based on…

Politico Highlights Ted Cruz’s ‘Sharp-Elbowed’ Style In 36 Parag

In his brief time in the United States Senate, Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is already making a name for himself on Capitol Hill, with the February 15 edition of Politico suggesting that his “no-compromise, firebrand style could turn off voters.”  In the 36-paragraph article, Politico’s Manu Raju waited until the 18th paragraph to include any direct quotes from the freshman Tea Party senator. What's…

UPDATED | Senior Defense Dept. Official Disputes Harry Reid's Claim fr

Updated below page break: Politico covers for Reid with an update to their story | Responding to a NewsBusters.org telephone inquiry, a senior Defense Department official reacted to the claim made earlier today by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that at noon today the office of Secretary of Defense would be vacant. Panetta would remain on the job until such time as his successor was both "…

Politico's Thrush Cites Obama's SOTU 'Spending Proposals,' Omits His C

Last night in his State of the Union speech, President Barack Obama claimed: "Nothing I'm proposing tonight should increase our deficit by a single dime." Even considering the inclusion of "should" as a wiggle word, that's a laughable claim. Politico's Glenn Thrush is one among what will surely turn out to be a legion of pundits and reporters who will ignore Obama's deficit promise while…

SOTU Flashback and Fast-Forward: Fort Hood Heroine Now Feels 'Betrayed

Former Fort Hood police sergeant Kimberly Munley, one of two officers who helped stop Major Nidal Hasan's deadly shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas in November 2009, and who was a guest at President Obama's 2010 State of the Union address (something the Politico chose to remind everyone of just yesterday), now says, according to ABC News, that "Obama broke the promise he made to her that the…

AP Fails to Report Biden's 'Legitimate News Media' Comment at Gun-Cont

As Geoffrey Dickens at NewsBusters noted earlier today (HT Washington Examiner), at what a White House blog post described as "a roundtable discussion to talk about the Administration’s plan to reduce gun violence" in Philadelphia yesterday, Vice President Joe Biden said, apparently to the members of the press assembled there, that "To be very blunt with you, we’re counting on all of you, the…

Buzzfeed's Ben Smith: 'Obama Prepares To Screw His (Young) Base' -- As

Buzzfeed's Ben Smith, who used to toil at Politico, must be blind in one eye and can't see out of the other. In what appears to be a sudden revelation in his column ("Obama Prepares To Screw His Base") on ObamaCare's harsh treatment of young people, Smith notes how they "will pay disproportionately for ObamaCare." What this really represents is something which alarmed those who studied the…

Byron Tau Gives Politico Credit For Story on OFA Politicking -- Until

Does the Politico do so little noteworthy original work that it has to make it appear as if it's taking credit for stories it didn't break? It sure looks like it from here. In a story about President Obama's Organizing For Action organization, the not-for-profit lobbying result after Obama and those running the presidential campaign's Organizing For America chose to become a permanent fixture…

Oopsy: 78 Percent of Ed Show Viewers Side Against Ed Schultz In Favor

Politico media writer Dylan Byers reported that Ed Schultz viewers on MSNBC are bigger Obama fans than Schultz fans. While Schultz asserted on Thursday night that "many Americans want to know how the United States can order the killings of American citizens without due process," a phone survey during the hour of his show found 78 percent said they agreed with "the policy of targeted killing of…

Politico's Byers Drags Romney, 13 Years After Leaving Bain Capital, In

Someone needs to tell Dylan Byers at the Politico that the 2012 presidential smear campaign is over, and their guy won. Byers seems not to have gotten the memo, and is still engaged in associating Mitt Romney with the firm he left in 1999 any time it has involvement in decisions relating to layoffs. In the current instance, Bain was engaged as an advisor to a new CEO at Time Inc. -- meaning…

Politico: Amnesty 'Right Thing To Do', But Easy to 'Demagogue

It's a classic MSM tactic: delegitimize opposition to a liberal proposal.  Suggest that there can be no principled objections, only base motives.   Take the current proposals on "the pathway to citizenship"—AKA amnesty—being floated.  On today's Morning Joe, Politico co-founder and executive editor Jim VandeHei proclaimed that it was probably "the right thing to do," but fretted that it…

Politico's 'Quiet Liberal Plans for Entitlements' Are Predominantly Ta

The front-page title at the Politico for David Nather's lengthy write-up on Democrats' alleged ideas for doing something about runaway entitlement programs is "The quiet liberal plan for entitlements; There are some ideas for reining in spending that have been blessed by the left." That gives readers the impression that the left might actually have something specific and potentially palatable…