Blue Spot

How Obama can win the campaign? Ask the media | csmonitor.com

If Obama campaign honchos David Axelrod and David Plouffe are worried about the next steps for their candidate, help is on the way.

With 51 days to go and polls showing that Republican nominee John McCain is either slightly ahead or tied with Barack Obama, there is plenty of advice this Sunday morning specifically geared to help the Democratic nominee.

Willie Brown, former Mayor of San Francisco, tells Obama to knock off the jokes.

And forget the comedy, Barack. You are not naturally funny and you do not speak “street.” You speak like a professor. And you do not know how to set up a joke. That “lipstick on a pig” line clearly backfired.

If you had said, “As John McCain said about Hillary Clinton’s health care … lipstick on a pig is still a pig,” at least you would have had a frame of reference to fall back on.

You didn’t, you left yourself left wide open and you got nailed. Now everything you say will be double-examined for sexism.

Columnist Errol Lewis over at the New York Daily News says forget about Sarah Palin - focus your energy on John McCain.

Every day, in every speech, Obama needs to hammer home the Bush administration’s record of failure and remind voters that “McSame” has presented an astonishingly thin plan for rescuing the American middle class from lower wages, rising tuition prices and falling home values.

Obama’s message to swing voters infatuated with Palin should be: Sure, you like her, and why not? But teaching abstinence isn’t going to lower your taxes, help with your kid’s college tuition or save your job from being outsourced - and I have a plan that will. Take a look.

Columnist Frank Rich at the New York Times says the Obama campaign needs to follow the advice of Karl Rove in dealing with Palin.

How do you run against that flashy flimflam? You don’t. Karl Rove for once gave the Democrats a real tip rather than a bum steer when he wrote last week that if Obama wants to win, “he needs to remember he’s running against John McCain for president,” not Palin for vice president. Obama should keep stepping up the blitz on McCain’s flip-flops, confusion, ignorance and blurriness on major issues (from education to an exit date from Iraq), rather than her gaffes and résumé. If he focuses voters on the 2008 McCain, the Palin question will take care of itself.

Joan Vennochi at the Boston Globe says don’t forget Senator Clinton.

Today, Obama needs Clinton. He needs her to repeat often what she said to her supporters in Denver: “I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me?”

Labels: General Election 2008, Media

NYT Issues Retraction - Real Clear Politics - Elections 2008 - TIME More fuel for the right-wing's claim of left-wing media bias.

ST. PAUL -- Yesterday the McCain camp hit back hard on this front-page NYT story by Elisabeth Bumiller reporting that Sarah Palin had been a member of the Alaska Independence Party in the 1990s. Today, the paper writes:

A front-page story in The New York Times on Tuesday and articles in other news media reported that Ms. Palin was a member of the Alaska Independence Party for two years in the 1990's.
The information in the Times article was based on a statement issued Monday night by Lynette Clark, the party's chairwoman, who said that Ms. Palin joined the party in 1994 and in 1996 changed her registration to Republican.

On Tuesday night, Ms. Clark said that her initial statement was incorrect and had been based on erroneous information provided by another member of the party whom she declined to identify. The McCain campaign also disputed the Times report, saying that Ms. Palin had been registered consistently as a Republican.

After checking the party's archives, Ms. Clark said that she could find no documentation that Governor Palin had been a member of the party. She said Ms. Palin attended the party's 1994 and 2006 conventions and provided a video-taped address as governor to the 2008 convention.

However, Bumiller, according to Howard Kurtz today, remains "completely confident about the story."

To which McCain blogger Michael Goldfarb responds:

She is completely confident in the word of a single source who has since retracted her claims? What kind of operation are the editors at the Times running?

Labels: Gov. Sarah Palin, Media

MSNBC's meltdown - War Room - Salon.com

Then came perhaps the biggest blowup of the entire week, a nearly 10-minute exchange Tuesday during which Scarborough and David Shuster yelled back and forth. Scarborough concluded the discussion by calling Shuster "Rip Van Shuster" and saying, "Shuster, I have no idea what you're talking about ... Have you been sleeping the past couple months? ... Do you never watch this show? ... You usually sleep through this show because you didn't show up three times in a row ... Somebody got into some bad acid at the protests and this conversation turned terribly wrong."

Not to be outdone, Chris Matthews then got into the act Tuesday. While House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer waited to be interviewed, first Matthews yelled to someone off-camera that he would "wrap in a second." Then, after Olbermann introduced Hoyer, Matthews went after his coanchor, saying, "You made that sound, Keith. I can do the same to you. That's what I thought and I said it."

Finally (at least for now), Wednesday night, after Republican pundit Mike Murphy opined that he believed Hillary Clinton would vote for John McCain, Olbermann said loudly, "Let's wrap him up, all right?"

Add to these incidents MSNBC's horrible decision to position its outdoor set in front of Denver's Union Station, so that both train whistles and screaming protesters frequently interrupt its broadcasts, and you have a television meltdown on your hands. And it comes at an awful time -- right in the middle of one of the network's most important spans of coverage for the entire year.

The Politico and the Wall Street Journal have documented the on-air grudge matches in articles over the past two days. The Politico quotes an anonymous "high-ranking MSNBC journalist" as saying, "The situation at our channel is about to blow up." And the Wall Street Journal quotes former MSNBC host and "CBS Evening News" coanchor Connie Chung, who said, "My reaction to that is: 'Grow up!' They have to just grow up."

Despite all the attention the spats have received in the media, however, MSNBC president Phil Griffin doesn't seem worried. "Look, I want honest, authentic people on our air. I don't want phonies. So if the price of that is every once in a while one of these bubbles up, I'm not concerned," he told the Wall Street Journal. And Griffin told the Politico that "this is our team. They've served us well. We love 'em, and we're going to be at the Republican convention, and it's going to be great. And I don't have any hesitation."

And what about MSNBC's ratings? While it has improved on the ratings front during the convention, it still trails CNN and Fox News overall for convention coverage.

Labels: Chris Matthews, Clueless Pundits, Joe Scarborough, Media, Media bias, Olbermann

The Associated Press: Poll: Nearly half hearing too much about Obama

WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama may be the fresh face in this year's presidential election, but nearly half say they're already tired of hearing about him, a poll says.

With Election Day still three months away, 48 percent said they're hearing too much about the Democratic candidate, according to a poll released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center. Just 26 percent said the same about his Republican rival, John McCain.

Obama, the 47-year-old Illinois senator who would become the first black president, has dominated political news coverage much of the year. According to an ongoing Pew study, Obama has appeared in more news stories this year and more people say they have heard more about him than McCain, the longtime Arizona senator who also ran for president in 2000.

Two-thirds of Republicans and about half of independents said they've heard too much about Obama, as did a third of Democrats, a significant number.

At the same time, nearly four in 10 said they've been hearing too little about McCain — about four times the number who said so about Obama. About half of Republicans, four in 10 independents and even a quarter of Democrats said they've not heard enough about the GOP candidate.

The poll was conducted from Aug. 1-4 and involved telephone interviews with 1,004 adults. It had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Labels: Media, Obama

Netroots Try to Label Fox News as Opinion - The Caucus - Politics - New York Times Blog

It may be the blogosphere’s equivalent of the scarlet letter, and the organizers of Netroots Nation, a gathering of liberal bloggers that is taking place this week, say they will be more than happy to pin it on Fox News.

Planners of the conference want to force representatives of the cable news network to wear credentials identifying them as opinion media rather than providing them with the regular press passes other news outlets will receive.

“Fox News calls itself fair and balanced, but it’s not,” Josh Orton, political director for Netroots said in an interview. He accused the network, which is popular among conservatives, of misrepresenting itself.
The Netroots, however, may not get their way.

A spokeswoman for Fox News said the network would not be sending anyone to cover the four-day conference that kicked off in Austin, Texas, on Thursday.

But if anyone from the network shows up, Mr. Orton said they would have to wear a press pass with the words “Opinion Media” printed on it. The credential would not restrict Fox’s ability to cover the conference, but Mr. Orton said that journalists from other media organizations like Air America, the liberal radio network, and the National Review, a conservative journal, would receive regular credentials. The difference, Mr. Orton said, is that those outlets are “explicitly progressive or explicitly conservative. They don’t have a branding problem.”

Fox News has long been a lightning rod for liberal criticism, especially in the opinion-charged world of blogs, and the move by organizers to, as they put it, re-brand Fox News is just another sign of continuing friction. The idea to label Fox journalists as opinion media is, in fact, not a new one. It’s been tossed around on blogs, and MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann also floated the idea on his show last summer.

Labels: Fox propaganda, Media, Media bias, Netroots, Olbermann

Breaking News: Tony Snow dies; ex-Bush press secretary was 53 | Top of the Ticket | Los Angeles Times

After a long, candid and public battle with colon cancer, former White House press secretary and television-radio host Tony Snow died early this morning.

Snow died about 2 a.m. Eastern in Georgetown University Hospital. Snow was 53 and is survived by his wife Jill Ellen Walker and their three children. Kendall, Robbie, and Kristi.

Snow previously served as chief speechwriter for President George H.W. Bush and as a frequent host on the Fox News Channel on 'Fox News Sunday,' 'Weekend Live' and 'The O'Reilly Factor.'

He also guest-hosted for Rush Limbaugh and had his own radio talk-show.

Last September after 17 months in the White House job, Snow retired as President George W. Bush's third press secretary, saying with his cancer he needed to earn more for his family than the job's $168,000 salary. He was succeeded by Dana Perino.

He said he left the press secretary job with regret, calling it "the most exciting, intellectually aerobic job I'm ever going to have."

In an early morning statement issued from his weekend retreat at Camp David, President Bush said he and Laura were "deeply saddened."

"America has lost a devoted public servant and a man of character," the president said. "It was a joy to watch Tony at the podium each day. He brought wit, grace, and a great love of country to his work."

Popular and inevitably cheerful, even during his draining chemotherapy treatments, Snow was well-liked among the White House press corps and with the smooth practice of a broadcaster seemed to genuinely enjoy the public sparring with media and explaining his boss's positions.

Labels: Media, White House press

McCain campaign gets greedy - War Room - Salon.com

With the assistance of a press corps willing to play along, the McCain campaign scored a hit Monday, feigning outrage and manufacturing a controversy out of Wesley Clark's questions on John McCain's presidential qualifications. It involved twisting the words of a four-star general a bit, and a pliant press corps willing to redefine the word "attack," but the McCain/GOP spin machine was in high dudgeon and it got precisely the result it was looking for.

Labels: General Election 2008, McCain, Media, Media bias, Obama supporters

Happy Father's Day to all. Farewell to the great Tim Russert. I was sometimes a critic, but I never missed his show.

Labels: Journalists, Media

Labels: Hillary-haters, Media, Media bias, sexism

Get used to saying it because the Democrats have just chosen the wrong nominee. Obama will not win in November. Not unless him and his supporters do some major damage control with Clinton supporters, which would mean reaching out to them in a way they seem incapable of.

The Obama supporters who think Clinton played dirty, haven't seen anything yet. Obama's empty record will finally be in the spotlight. He will have to be much clearer on how he intends to bring change, especially to the voters in middle and rural America. He will now have to puth forth credible, detailed plans rather than rely on lofty themes and buzz words. Good plans, what a concept!

There are already millions of Clinton supporters who have vowed not to vote for Obama. Some of them will not vote for him even if Hillary is on the ticket. There has been too much damage done by his surrogates, his supporters, the media and himself. Obama has a lot of work to do to win over Clinton's army. Whatever he does now will probably be received as disingenuous and way too late.

McCain has some work to do as well. If he can recapture the same spirit of his 2000 campaign then it will be no contest. This is doubtful. He's alligned himself to Bush way too many times since then. However, if he can win over many of Clinton's supporters and enough of the more conservative independents, he will be our next president.

If Hillary is picked as Obama's running mate, then it's hard to see how he loses. However, I hope to God she doesn't choose to go this route if she is offered the spot. I think there are better opportunities ahead for her, and she would be far more effective in a different role.

So for all the pundits and Obama supporters trashing Hillary for not conceding tonight, I say, fuck off already and get used to saying it, "President McCain."

Labels: Election 2008, Hillary, Hillary-haters, McCain, Media, Media bias, Obama, Obama supporters

On Sunday's "This Week w/George Stephanopoulos," Howard Dean blasts the main stream media on the "enormous amount of sexism in this campaign." He adds that there has been major networks that have featured "numerous, outrageous comments, that if the words were reversed and the comments were about race, the people would have been fired."

Labels: DNC, Election 2008, Howard Dean, Media, sexism

Labels: Election 2008, Hillary-haters, Media, Media bias, sexism

"Reliable Sources" panel including Carol Costello, Blanquita Cullum and Marie Cocco discuss the media in the mysogony.

h/t Ameican Girl in Italy.

Labels: Hillary-haters, Media, Obama supporters, sexism

Dangerous Liaison Even Obama supporters admit there's a pro-Obama bias at MSNBC. Their reputation is finally becoming mainstream.

And this was only the latest example of the network's undeniable Obama favoritism. David Shuster's comment about the Clintons' "pimping out" their daughter, Chelsea, was clearly boneheaded, but, as Clinton campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson pointed out, it caused such a stir among Clintonites because it highlighted the rest of the network's anti-Hillary coverage. Now, that's not to say that their slant has been bad for business; to the contrary. And it has certainly made for some enjoyable television--Matthews is often supremely engaging (who, after all, does not enjoy watching someone exclaim that seeing Obama speak gives him a "thrill going up my leg"), and however withering he can be, Olbermann is frequently hilarious. But the network's coverage has helped create a bubble around Obama supporters that in the end is neither healthy nor desirable.


In fact, MSNBC's bias has actually hurt the Illinois senator. After all, it was the Obama cheerleading from MSNBC (among others) that helped lead to Clinton's New Hampshire comeback. And even if you think (as I do) that the Clintons have made too big of a deal out of the "sexist" and "unfair" portrayal their candidate has received in the press, if you watch enough MSNBC, you realize that their claim isn't without truth. How could you believe otherwise when Olbermann, with his trademark hauteur, told Hillary that "voluntarily or inadvertently, you are still awash in this filth [of the campaign]," or when Matthews took such self-evident glee in trouncing Clinton in between the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary? Similarly now, by mocking Clinton's decision to stay in the race, Olbermann has only bolstered her argument that "the boys" are trying to push her out. And finally, on a number of primary nights, but most notably in Pennsylvania and Ohio/Texas, MSNBC has become so excited by early exit polls that it has raised expectations that Obama ultimately could not live up to.

The problem here is that when supposedly "straight" news anchors phrase questions in leading ways, and report one campaign's spin as if it were fact, it distorts what is actually going on in the campaign--even for those of us who make a living obsessing over and writing about politics. And when anchormen themselves shill for Obama, the distinction between his talking points and the truth grows even blurrier still. So, as much as I find MSNBC entertaining, their creation of a parallel, pro-Obama universe is the type of thing I'd expect of Fox. That's when I know it's time to change the channel.

Isaac Chotiner is a frequent contributor to The New Republic.

Labels: Election 2008, Hillary-haters, Media, Media bias, Obama supporters

Labels: Election 2008, Hillary-haters, Media, Media bias, Obama supporters, sexism

Media hype: How small stories become big news - John F. Harris - Politico.com

The signature defect of modern political journalism is that it has shredded the ideal of proportionality.

Important stories, sometimes the product of months of serious reporting, that in an earlier era would have captured the attention of the entire political-media community and even redirected the course of a presidential campaign, these days can disappear with barely a whisper.

Trivial stories—the kind that are tailor-made for forwarding to your brother-in-law or college roommate with a wisecracking note at the top—can dominate the campaign narrative for days.

Who can guess what stories will cause the media machine to rev up its hype jets?

Actually, I have gotten pretty good at guessing which ones will. So have many of my colleagues and a generation of political operatives.

This weekend’s uproar over Hillary Clinton invoking the assassination of Robert Kennedy as rationale for continuing her presidential campaign is an especially vivid example of modern journalism as hyperkinetic child—overstimulated by speed and hunger for a head-turning angle that will draw an audience.

The truth about what Clinton said—and any fair-minded appraisal of what she meant—was entirely beside the point.

Her comment was news by any standard. But it was only big news when wrested from context and set aflame by a news media more concerned with being interesting and provocative than in being relevant or serious. Thus, the story made the front page of the New York Times, was the lead story of the Washington Post, and got prominent treatment on the evening news on ABC, CBS, and NBC.

It would be a big story if Clinton said something like this: “Hey, I know it looks bad for me now. But, think about it. Obama could get shot and I’d get to be the nominee after all.”

It is a small story if Clinton said something like this: “Everyone talks like May is incredibly late, but by historical standards it is not. Think of all the famous milestones in presidential races that have taken place during June.”

It seems pretty obvious that the latter is what Clinton meant, and not too far from what she actually said. It was not surprising that the Argus Leader’s executive editor, Randall Beck, put out a statement saying, “Her reference to Mr. Kennedy’s assassination appeared to focus on the time line of his primary candidacy and not the assassination itself.”

Labels: Clueless Pundits, Election 2008, Hillary, Hillary-haters, Media, Media bias, Obama supporters

Clinton wins young voters 18-29 in KY, 54%-41% according to CNN. 30 points worse for Obama than he did in OR. If Obama is the nominee, KY voters will vote 42% for McCain over 33% for Obama. 23% said they would not vote (souce=Bill Schneider, CNN).

A lot of voters are just not jumping on the bandwagon yet.

From MSNBC:
Results from an exit poll conducted in Kentucky's Democratic presidential primary Tuesday and a phone poll during the past week in Oregon's vote-by-mail primary.

Keys to Clinton win in Kentucky
The demographic makeup of Kentucky's Democratic primary electorate was fairly similar to West Virginia's - overwhelmingly white, with substantial numbers of lesser-educated, lower-income voters - and that helped Hillary Rodham Clinton to a comparably lopsided victory over Barack Obama.
Clinton won two-thirds of women and nearly as many men; 7 in 10 whites, who made up nearly 90 percent of Kentucky's electorate; and roughly 60 percent or more of all voters over age 30. Clinton also prevailed among all income and education categories, with particularly large margins among those at the lower end of both scales.

Obama ran nearly even with Clinton among voters under age 30 and may have edged her out among self-described independents, who were about 1 in 10 voters in the Kentucky Democratic primary. He won a majority among those who most valued change as a candidate attribute, but about a quarter cited experience, and Clinton won 9 in 10 of them.

One of the few other groups in which Obama was competitive was those who thought Clinton's proposal to suspend the federal gasoline tax this summer was a bad idea.

Kentucky has one of the least liberal electorates out of 33 competitive Democratic primaries in which exit polls were conducted this year - only about a third of voters called themselves liberal - and that, too, worked in Clinton's favor. She ran strongest among conservatives and moderates; Obama tends to do better among liberals.

Ideological extremes
In contrast to Kentucky, Oregon's was among the most liberal Democratic electorates to date, with close to 6 in 10 voters in its vote-by-mail primary calling themselves liberal.

Issue differences
Kentucky continued a recent trend in Democratic primaries with voters overwhelmingly picking the economy when given three choices for the most important issue facing the country. Oregon defied that trend. About two-thirds of Democratic voters in Kentucky said the economy was the top issue, about 20 percent picked the Iraq war, and half as many said health care. In Oregon, fewer than half picked the economy, 3 in 10 said Iraq, and 2 in 10 said health care.
Voters in Kentucky were a bit more likely than in Oregon to say the economic slowdown has affected them and their families a great deal. Kentucky Democrats also were more likely than their Oregon counterparts to say it's a good idea to suspend the federal gas tax this summer - an idea Clinton has promoted and Obama has criticized.

Keeping hope alive ... or not
As Obama has built a daunting lead among convention delegates, his own supporters in Kentucky and Oregon were nearly unanimous in thinking he will secure the Democratic nomination. Many Clinton voters maintained hope for their candidate, but substantial numbers acknowledged Obama as the likely nominee - half of Clinton voters in Oregon and a third in Kentucky said Obama will win the nomination.

Timing is everything
All balloting was by mail in Oregon's primary, and the phone poll asked when people voted or planned to. The survey found Clinton ran stronger among those who voted earlier, while Obama ran better among those who mailed or delivered their ballots closer to Election Day.
In Kentucky, 3 in 4 voters said they made up their minds more than a month ago.

John Edwards
Nearly 2 in 10 Kentucky Democratic voters said John Edwards' endorsement of Obama was a very important factor in their vote, and nearly 3 in 10 said it was somewhat important. The question wasn't asked in Oregon, where the phone poll began before Edwards' announcement.

Democratic potpourri
As usual for this Democratic primary season, Clinton tended to run better in both states among older voters, those with lower incomes and less education, and those in rural areas, while Obama's strengths included the young, urban, wealthier and better-educated voters.

Labels: Election 2008, Hillary, Media, Terry McAuliffe

In case you missed it, here's the first part of the Terry McAuliffe interview on Meet the Press.

Labels: Election 2008, Hillary, Media, Terry McAuliffe

I don't usually find myself agreeing with Leslie Sanchez, but tonight she made some sense. Here she is taking on 2 Dems on how Obama has benefitted from a very generous press. TNR's Michael Crowley, regurgitates the usual Obama talking points. Dem strategist Keith Boykins is his tag-team partner here.

Labels: Election 2008, McCain, Media, Media bias, Obama

It's startling how biased the CNN coverage has been tonight. I know this is nothing new, but tonight CNN has been especially disgusting. It's like watching a panel of juvenile DKos bloggers. From Anderson Cooper ridiculing Lanny Davis to Jamaal Simmons joking about Florida and Michigan, to Toobin's snarky attacks, even questioning whether Hillary actually raised $10 million after the PA victory. Clinton support was limited to Begala and Lanny Davis, who both got limited time to speak.

I think it's time we force CNN to label Brazille and Martin as Obama supporters. Even Campbell Brown called Brazille out tonight for her obvious bias. Here's an interesting and testy exchange between Begala, an admitted Clinton supporter, and closet Obama supporter, Donna Brazille. Begala took exception to Brazille's continual defense of Obama and her insinuation that Obama is more able to bring people together, thus ignoring Clinton's coalitions.

Labels: Clueless Pundits, Election 2008, Media, Media bias

Political Punch

Forgoing for a moment the dirty trick of the doctored clip from “The War Room,” which falsely had Mickey Kantor using a racial slur, the filmmaker behind the documentary has posted the clip on his Web site to clarify that other point of confusion -- what Kantor was referring to when he cursed. (An apparent source of confusion since the movie came out and some newspaper writers thought he was cursing Indianans. See previous post for that.)

Filmmakers Chris Hegedus and D A Pennebaker write: "We would like to respond to some erroneous statements made today about our film, THE WAR ROOM. These statements alleged certain remarks to Mickey Kantor that simply are not true. The transcript of the scene in question confirms this."

Labels: Election 2008, Hillary, Media, personal attacks - mudslingling

Is there anybody on TV right now, more biased toward Obama than Rachel Maddow? Now, I know Keith Olbermann is Obama's biggest mouth piece, but Maddow's reaction toward negative Obama stories is so visceral and over the top, it makes you wonder if she's a pundit or an Obama campaign operative.

Here's an exchange from yesterday's "Race For The White House":

SHUSTER: Rachel Maddow, Jay Carney says he wasn‘t angry enough. I thought he was exceptionally angry, especially when he talked about how Reverend Wright has taken up three or four consecutive days in the middle of this major debate. Was he not angry enough for you.

MADDOW: I thought he seemed angry. As I said before, so far Barack Obama has said—and I‘ve made notes of it as he‘s done it—he vehemently disagrees with him. He strongly condemns him. He categorically denounces him. He rejects him outright. Today we got that he‘s appalled by him, that he‘s outraged by him.

I find it incredible that we‘re all sitting here going, why won‘t the Jeremiah Wright controversy go away. You know what, today, John McCain unveiled his health care plan. We got three different statements, three different policies on gas prices. We got the president of the United States making a huge economic speech and speaking to reporters for 40 minutes. We have got four U.S. soldiers who are announced to have been killed in Iraq yesterday.

What else has to happen in the news to push Jeremiah Wright out of the headlines before we do it for six straight headlines on every politics show in the country? This is all we‘re capable of talking about.

Labels: Clueless Pundits, Election 2008, Media, Obama, Obama supporters

Schism Grows Between Obama and Liberal Bloggers Threat Level from Wired.com

Promising on-air fireworks, the spokesman said that Obama "is going on their Sunday show to take Fox on."

Instead, Obama was decidedly non-combative, and calmly addressed all of the issues thrown his way by the show's host. He even highlighted some of his differences with liberal blogs, singling out Daily Kos by name while discussing John Roberts' nomination to the Supreme Court.

"Although I voted against him, I strongly defended some of my colleagues who had voted for him on the Daily Kos, and was fiercely attacked as somebody who is, you know, caving in to Republicans on these fights," Obama told Wallace.

The reaction from the blogosphere was quick, and largely critical.

"To be clear, Obama wasn't obliged to go after Fox," wrote TPM's Greg Sargent. "But a senior adviser said Obama would, as a way of quieting criticism of him. And he didn't.

"This will likely further dismay liberal bloggers who had worked very hard to get Dems to boycott Fox as a way of delegitimizing the network and who already criticized Obama for agreeing to appear in the first place," Sargent continued.

"If you don't like that Obama steps on you, speak out," agreed Matt Stoller of OpenLeft.com. "It was a mistake for us to endorse Obama, just as it was a mistake for us to do nothing against Clinton after she accused Moveon of intimating her supporters at caucuses."

"By going on Fox News, Obama made the right-wing press legitimate," wrote Daily Kos diarist "Bonddad" Sunday morning. "Simply put, I cannot vote or support anyone who participates in this medium."

Some liberal bloggers, though, didn't find fault with Obama's placid approach. "Well, I can't speak for all liberal bloggers, but this one quickly came to peace with Obama's decision," wrote the anonymous blogger behind the Jed Report. "This all is just another reason I'm looking forward to the primary ending -- there's a much bigger fish to fry."

Blogger Jerome Armstrong at MyDD thinks Obama may have highlighted his disagreements with liberal bloggers in order "to make room for the pivot to 'the center,'" and to erase the perception that he's an angry, combative, netroots-endorsed, left-of-left political candidate.

In context, though, Obama's Fox News appearance seems part of a wider plan to cultivate a conciliatory tone, as he faces an ongoing controversy over pastor Jeremiah Wright's combative sermons.

History suggests that's a wise course. Howard Dean lost the presidential nomination in 2004 because of his perceived rage. Voters, it turns out, are turned off by anger, even if bloggers are craving a little ire from their candidate.

emphasis added above

This has got to be the funniest story I've heard all day. It looks like the honeymoon is over. Or at least in trouble. We've been trying to tell those starry-eyed, pinheads over at Kos and the rest of the Obamabots that he was just a politician, like any other politician, and not some divine gift to politics. In the end he will do what is best for him politically. Hey, remember what happened to LaMont in 2006 when he tried to distance himself from the extreme-left netroots. The Daily Kos diarist mentioned above has the whole community in a frenzy with a diary titled, "Obama Lost My Vote By Going on Fox." He's closing in on 400 comments and many of them negative as you can imagine. It's just hilarious to view that whole community in such disarray as soon as one of them says something off script. It's like seeing the Borg trying to re-assimilate Seven of Nine on Star Trek. Check it out for a good laugh.

Labels: Fox propaganda, Media, Netroots, Obama, Obama supporters

Obama's 'mainstream' friends - The Boston Globe

Is this Obama's idea of "respectable" and "mainstream" political thinking? If so, doesn't that tell us something about his judgment and standards?

In Chicago the other day, radio producer Guy Benson discovered video recordings of Ayers and Dohrn speaking at a reunion of antiwar radicals in November 2007. To live in the United States, Dohrn told the group, is to be "inside the heart of the monster" that is such a "purveyor of violence in the world." Ayers denounced America as an imperial warmonger steeped in "jingoistic patriotism, unprecedented and unapologetic military expansion, white supremacy . . . attacks on women and girls, violent attacks, growing surveillance in every sphere of our lives, on and on and on."

Even if Obama doesn't personally believe these things, is it really "tired tripe" to ask why he seems so comfortable in the company of people who do? Is it really "extremely stupid politics" to wonder whether such people might play a role in an Obama administration? Rather than slam the few journalists who raise such questions, might it not behoove others in the media to follow suit?

Labels: Election 2008, Media, Obama, Terrorism

On Hardball, Matthews discusses Bill Moyers' interview with Rev. Wright. That'll be a must-see tomorrow. It seems like Wright is saying that Obama's recent criticism of Wright's remarks was just political rhetoric. There's no way this will go away if Obama faces the GOP as our nominee.

At the end of the clip, Matthews pays tribute to Hillary. Wow...are we looking at a changed man? I doubt it, but if Hillary keeps winning, maybe we'll be seeing more of this.

Labels: Chris Matthews, Cultural issues, Media, Moyers, Rev. Wright

Lou Dobbs, one of the few making at least a little sense in recent days, makes the point that although Clinton had a big victory, many are still calling for her to leave the race, or say she can't win.

Labels: Clueless Pundits, Election 2008, Hillary, Lou Dobbs, Media

Media Matters - For Chris Matthews, misogyny pays Great article from last Wed. with some great examples of sexist behaviour, especially from the pigs at MSNBC.

Matthews has harvested a bumper crop of outrageous remarks during this extended primary season. Specifically, fueled by his obsession with the Clintons (he can't recall attending a single Beltway party where the couple has not been discussed), Matthews has unleashed a flood of sexist commentary.

On that front, of course, the Hardball host has not been alone. This election season, we've seen a cavalcade of white, middle-age men express their deep, personal contempt for the first serious female contender for the White House. Contempt, of course, that has nothing to do with Sen. Hillary Clinton's policies or her beliefs. Instead, it's been an oddly personal disdain dressed up as political analysis.

The way Mike Barnicle on MSNBC said Clinton "look[ed] like everyone's first wife standing outside a probate court." The way Bill Kristol on Fox News said that among the only people supporting Hillary Clinton were white women, and "[w]hite women are a problem, that's, you know -- we all live with that." The way CNN's Jack Cafferty likened Clinton to "a scolding mother, talking down to a child." The way Fox News' Neil Cavuto suggested Clinton was "trying to run away from this tough, kind of bitchy image." The way MSNBC's Tucker Carlson announced that "when [Clinton] comes on television, I involuntarily cross my legs." The way Christopher Hitchens on CNBC described Clinton as being "sort of alternately soppy and bitchy.'"

That's all taken place in open view. And while a blog swarm did engulf Matthews in January, followed by a forced, pseudo-apology by the host -- and his attacks did prompt some women activists to carry picket signs outside the MSNBC studios -- the openly sexist comments have produced very few condemnations from within the industry and even less soul-searching from the (mostly male) press corps. In fact, in Matthews' case, the sexist outbursts have helped propel his career. That's how he landed on the cover of the Times magazine.

Labels: Election 2008, Hillary, Media, sexism

Clinton, Obama say the other is being negative | Politics | Reuters Of course, if Obama had picked up this endorsement, it would be on the front page along with all the other positive headlines you see about Obama. The lovefest continues.

Clinton, who with her husband former President Bill Clinton were the subjects of many conservative investigations when they first entered the White House in 1993, was endorsed on Sunday by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review whose publisher, Richard Mellon Scaife, funded many of those probes.

The Tribune-Review mentioned Clinton's record and experience in making the choice in the Democratic vote, but also cited her willingness to sit down with the newspaper's editorial board.

"Clinton's decision to sit down with the Trib was courageous, given our long-standing criticism of her," the paper said. "That is no small matter. Political courage is essential in a president. Clinton has demonstrated it. Obama has not."

Labels: Election 2008, Hillary, Media, Pennsylvania

Larry Kudlow on Barack Obama and Tax Policy on NRO Financial

It’s rather amusing watching the liberal media launch a full-scale attack on George Stephanopoulos and Charles Gibson, with General Tom Shales of the Washington Post leading the charge. ABC’s Stephanopoulos and Gibson had the audacity to ask Obama some tough questions during the Democratic debate Tuesday night. Challenge Obama with well-informed questions on tax policy and politics? Wound the media favorite? How dare they?

The fallout is fascinating. With members of the mainstream liberal media lunging at each others throats, it’s kind of like watching Hillary and Obama go at it.

But here’s the deal: During the debate, Obama bungled his answers on tax policy, big time. Period. End of sentence. End of story. To my liberal friends in the media, all I can say is: Get over it. Your guy has a very poor grasp of basic economic principles.

First off, you don’t raise taxes during a recession. That’s a no-brainer. Second, doubling the capital-gains tax rate will affect Americans up and down the income ladder, not just rich hedge-fund managers. In addition, capital-gains tax cuts are self-financing, and they stimulate jobs and the economy. You want to raise budget revenues and spark economic growth? Cut the cap-gains tax rate. That’s what history shows.

The Wall Street Journal’s Steve Moore points out that in 2005, almost half of all tax returns reporting capital gains came from households with incomes under $50,000, while more than three-quarters came from households earning less than $100,000.

Obama also proposed uncapping the payroll tax, another blunder that will hit people up and down the income ladder. While Obama pledges tax hikes only for folks earning more that $200,000 a year, his tax hike on payrolls would actually slam middle-income earners. The cap on wages subject to the payroll tax is presently $102,000. By eliminating that cap Obama will be soaking veteran firemen, cops, teachers, and health-service workers, along with a variety of other occupations.

Labels: Debates, Economy, Election 2008, Media, Obama

A media critic by the name of Gene Weingarten was recently on an NPR episode of On The Media and didn't have anything nice to say about Mr. Olbermann.

BOB GARFIELD: Mm. Now, you identify yourself as a card-carrying liberal in the piece, but the extremity is not confined to the political right.

GENE WEINGARTEN: No. It was mostly confined to the political right, until I had the honor of listening to Keith Olbermann. I only barely knew what Olbermann was up to, but he was as over the top as anyone else in the opposite direction. He was busy calling George Bush a fascist and comparing his stance on this relatively minor issue to the Alien and Sedition Act. He was simply a sputtering lunatic, and I hadn't been ready to expect that.

Labels: Media, Olbermann

Click on image for a larger view of comments (you may have to click on larger pic to zoom).

There's a scathing article by Carl Bernstein posted at ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/04/12/carl-bernstein-what-a-hillary-clinton-presidency-look-like/. My pro-Hillary comment has been in the moseration stage for the last two hours while comments attacking Hillary are going right through. Hmmm...very interesting.

Labels: Clueless Pundits, Election 2008, Hillary, Media

On CNN's Washington Journal a very articulate FL caller addresses Obama's latest remarks and the attempted spin by Obama and the media.

Labels: Cultural issues, Election 2008, Media, Obama

Labels: Election 2008, Grassroots, Hillary, Media, protests

So you're an Obama supporter and say "give me a break...what bias"? Well take a look at this video and you'll see how blatantly sexist and biased the "main stream media" has been.

Labels: Election 2008, Hillary, Media

Chris Matthews - Hardball - Profile - New York Times
An interesting take on the behind-the-scenes relationships at MSNBC. Chris is portrayed as the sexist, pompous jerk that we see on the show, with an inflated sense of self-importance. However, the article is well balanced and touches on the rivalries with the other anchors. In particular, it shows the contrasts between him and the other Hillary-hater, Keith Olbermann.

Whenever Chris Matthews says something he likes, which happens a lot, he repeats it often and at volumes suggesting a speaker who feels insufficiently listened to at times. “Tim Russert finally reeled the big marlin into the boat tonight,” Matthews yelled — nine times, on and off the air, after a Democratic debate that Russert moderated with Brian Williams in late February at Cleveland State University. Matthews believed that Russert (the fisherman) had finally succeeded in getting Hillary Clinton (the marlin) to admit that she was wrong to vote in favor of the Iraq war resolution in 2002. “We’ve been trolling for that marlin for what, a year now?” Matthews said to Russert.

Comparing Hillary Rodham Clinton to a big flopping fish will do nothing to stop criticism — from Clinton’s presidential campaign, among others — that Matthews and his network, MSNBC, have treated the former first lady unfairly. But this didn’t keep Matthews from bludgeoning the marlin line to death in the postdebate “spin room.” “Russert caught the marlin; he got the marlin,” Matthews shouted to a school of downcast reporters who had been hanging on every canned word of Clinton’s chief campaign strategist, Mark Penn.

The spin room is a modern political-media marvel whose full-on uselessness is perfectly conveyed by its name, but Matthews appeared in his element. He wore a dreamy smile, walking around, signing autographs. As he went, Matthews seemed compelled to give his “take,” which is how he describes his job each night at 5 and 7, Eastern time, on “Hardball” — “giving my take.”

Labels: Clueless Pundits, Media

Go to http://www.hillaryclintonforum.net/ for more info. See you there!

Labels: Election 2008, Grassroots, Local, Media

h/t to Fleaflicker @ NO QUARTER

This is must-see! Lou Dobbs really nails it and highlights non-partisan evidence of bias against Hillary and Lanny Davis points out the double standard applied to the campaign.

Labels: Clueless Pundits, Election 2008, Hillary, Lou Dobbs, Media

Well it looks like your're hearing it all over the place now. I just heard this garbage on ABC. To Hillary supporters, all I can tell you is that this is just a full-force blitz by Obama supporters to suppress the turnout in PA (thus preventing a blowout) and the rest of the remaining contests. Here's an incredible example of what some groups are trying to do. A group headed by Michael Fisher and calling itself the "afrosphere's" Committee to Unite the Democratic Party has started an online petition calling for Hillary to "concede defeat and support the democratic presidential ticket". Among some of the reasons they list on their web page:

(1) The Democratic Party base has spoken. The delegate count shows that Senator Hillary Clinton cannot win the nomination on the strength of earned delegates, based on the will of the voters.

(3) This divisiveness is regrettable because, via the presidential candidacy of Senator Obama, the vast majority of African-Americans stand united with millions of white Americans and Americans of all colors, genders, ethnicities and religious backgrounds, erasing divisions to implement a program of Democratic change.

(6) Mrs. Clinton must wholeheartedly support the winner of the nomination, who has earned the most delegates, and devote herself honestly and enthusiastically to defeating Republican electoral hopes in 2008, not attacking Democratic politicians and Democratic constituencies.

(7) Should the Democratic Party leadership nullify the people's votes by giving Mrs. Clinton the nomination, despite the popular will as represented by earned delegates, we would then call upon African-American voters and all Democratic Party constituencies and supporters to withhold their support from a Hillary Clinton candidacy in November. We have survived eight years under President Bush and, if compelled to do so, we will survive four years under a President McCain. However, we cannot and will NOT survive the nullification of our most hard-won right - our votes.

Labels: African-American issues, Clueless Pundits, Comment, Election 2008, Hillary, Media, MLK

She might have misspoke about the trip but the clip below of a CBS report from exactly 12 years ago, sheds a little light on the trip and shows the political dynamics at play back then. As you see in the video, it wasn't exactly a safe place to be.

Check out NO QUARTER for more.

Labels: Election 2008, Hillary, Media

ABC News: Civil War: Split Decision Divides Democrats

It didn't take long for bloggers to render their verdict when 11,000 pages of Hillary Clinton's White House schedules were made public this week.

The veneer has been torn off, and the brazen dishonesty is finally on display," a blogger named David Sirota wrote. "Why doesn't she just get the hell off the stage? Enough is enough!" a poster chimed in.

Added another: "These people and their $50 million in personal sleaze wealth, along with their using any segment of the electorate for power, must be thrown out of the party."

Was this a Republican Web site? A discussion group for conservatives?

It was one of the most influential blogs on the political left, Daily Kos, and the posters were liberals enraged at Hillary Clinton and her husband, the former president.

Labels: Election 2008, Kos, Media

Friday night's AC 360 panel discusses the Rev. Wright remarks. Some good points from Tony Perkins, of all people.

Labels: Cultural issues, Election 2008, Media, Obama, Race

Great conversation on last night's Live With Dan Abrams. Finally somebody making the point I've been saying for weeks, which is that if the Obama campaign is complaining about the "kitchen sink" tactics by Hillary's campaign, how are they ever going to withstand a full force GOP attack if he becomes the nominee? He's just showing how weak he really is. And why is it dirty to ask people who they think would be more prepared to handle a crisis? I cant beieve how many Obama-maniacs there are at MSNBC. You have a well documented Hillary-hater in Matthews providing most of the coverage, but I'm especially disapponted with Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow & Eugene Robinson who I always suspected were drinking the Obama Kool-Aid but thought they would at least be fair to Hillary. As this clip shows, Maddow has an almost outright disdain for Hillary.

Labels: Election 2008, Hillary, Media

Dana Milbank - Ask Tough Questions? Yes, They Can! - washingtonpost.com

SAN ANTONIO It took many months and the mockery of "Saturday Night Live" to make it happen, but the lumbering beast that is the press corps finally roused itself from its slumber Monday and greeted Barack Obama with a menacing growl.

Reporters from the Associated Press and Reuters went after him for his false denial that a campaign aide had held a secret meeting with Canadian officials over Obama's trade policy. A trio of Chicago reporters pummeled him with questions about the corruption trial this week of a friend and supporter. The New York Post piled on with a question about him losing the Jewish vote.

Labels: Election 2008, Media, Obama

Labels: Election 2008, Hillary, Media, SNL

Why bother going through with the elections? At least, that's what the media would have you believe.

Labels: Election 2008, Media

Matthews' Hillary hatred is becoming very obvious. This is a clip from yesterday's "Morning Joe" when everybody still thought Obama had a lock on NH. Matthews claims the "establisment press...can't wait to write that fawning piece, Here Come the Clintons Again. Dan Rather who was also on the panel quickly disagreed.

Labels: Election 2008, Hillary, Media

On Moyers, an excellent report on how the FCC is enabling the consoldation of media companies. An important FCC vote is coming up on Tuesday, Dec. 18th. This is way before the full Senate would take any action on S.2332, which would make it a requirement to do more research before any changes are made.

Labels: FCC, Media, Moyers, Murdoch, Senate

Keith Olbermann interviewed by Bill Moyers, discusses the country's "Bush Fatigue" and partisan politics.

Labels: Media, Moyers, Olbermann

Suit: News Corp. sought to protect Giuliani - The New York Times- msnbc.com

Judith Regan, the book publisher who was fired by the News Corporation last year, asserts in a lawsuit filed today that a senior executive at the media conglomerate encouraged her to mislead federal investigators about her relationship with Bernard B. Kerik during his bid to become homeland security secretary in late 2004.

The lawsuit asserts that the News Corporation executive wanted to protect the presidential aspirations of former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mr. Kerik’s mentor, who had appointed him New York City police commissioner and had recommended him for the federal post.

Ms. Regan makes the charge at the start of a 70-page filing that seeks $100 million in damages for what she says was a campaign to smear and discredit her by her bosses at HarperCollins and its parent company, the News Corporation, after her project to publish a book with O.J. Simpson was abandoned amid a storm of protest.

Labels: Fox propaganda, Giuliani, Kerik, Media

Rupert Murdochs New York Post Slammed for Anti-Gay Cartoons

Although the Post's anti-gay cartoons appear shocking and offensive to many, this is not a surprise. The paper is owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch, head of the News Corp. behemoth, which owns conservative outlets such as FOX and hundreds of others across seven distribution categories.

The board of Dow Jones now supports Murdoch's $5-billion takeover of Dow Jones, which owns The Wall Street Journal. The deal now is in the hands of the Bancroft family, which controls 64 percent of the shareholder vote.

Murdoch-owned FOX streamlines bias on a regular basis and uses Murdoch's bully pulpit to advance his political agenda, which includes donating money to dismantle affirmative action. (See also: Do They All Look Alike? FOX News Shows Wrong Black Congressman Indicted and Who Is Paying to End Affirmative Action?)

Prior to Murdoch's purchase of the Post, it had been viewed as a politically liberal publication. That changed during the "Murdoch years." Murdoch purchased the Post in 1976 but was forced to sell it in 1988 in accordance with federal regulations limiting media ownership. Political friends orchestrated a buy-back in 1993 that granted Murdoch a waiver from the cross-ownership rules.

Labels: Financial, Fox propaganda, Media

Michael Moore fires back at Wolf Blitzer after CNN aired an attack piece on Moore's new movie, "Sicko." Moore did a great job of reminding Wolf of what a poor job was done by his network and the rest of the MSM of holding the administration accountable for their WMD claims before the war. BTW, what you don't see at the end is Lou Dobbs putting his two cents in as usual comparing Moore to Hugo Chavez.

Labels: Healthcare, Iraq War, Media, Michael Moore

A look back at the pre-war media that enabled the administration to go to war.

Labels: Fox propaganda, GOP Hypocrisy, Iraq War, Media

Bill Moyers on the Wall St. Journal purchase and the Rupert Murdoch empire.

Labels: Fox propaganda, Media

For those who constantly say they don't here the good news coming out of Iraq, Lara Logan reports on US & Iraqi troops that rescued starving orphans who were being neglected at a government run orphanage for children for special needs.

Labels: Iraq War, Media, Poverty

Looks like even Chris' dad thinks he's a sell out. Mike asks Chris to give his answer to the accusation, but why would he even bring it up if he didn't believe it?

Labels: Fox propaganda, Journalists, Media

C4 accused of falsifying data in documentary on climate change - Independent Online Edition > Media

The makers of a Channel 4 documentary which claimed that global warming is a swindle have been accused of fabricating data by one of the scientists who participated in the film.

The Great Global Warming Swindle was broadcast on 8 March and has been criticised by leading scientists for errors, distortions and misrepresentations.

The film has also been referred to the regulatory watchdog Ofcom which is considering a complaint from 37 senior scientists that the programme breached the broadcasting code on the misrepresentation of views and facts.

Now even a climate sceptic whose dissenting views were used by the film- makers to bolster their claims about the "lies" and "swindles" of global warming has accused the documentary of promulgating falsehoods.

Labels: Climate change, Global Warming, Media, World news

Bancroft family opposes sale of Dow Jones - CNBC TV - MSNBC.com

The Bancroft family that holds a majority stake in Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, is opposing a $5 billion, all-cash offer from News Corp., the giant media company controlled by Rupert Murdoch.

Dow Jones Tuesday confirmed receiving News Corp.'s offer. But late in the day, Bancroft family trustee Michael Elefante indicated that more than 50 percent of the voting shares of Dow Jones would vote against the transaction.

Labels: Media

Bill Moyers on how the media enabled the Bush administration's case for war.

Labels: 9-11, Dissent, Fox propaganda, Iraq War, Journalists, Media

"US Reps. Don Manzullo (R-IL) and Jay Inslee (D-WA) today introduced bipartisan legislation to protect Internet music Web casters from unfair government regulations that threaten to put them out of business and end the access to music over the Internet..." Savenetradio.org wants you to call your representative to ask them to co-sponsor this bill.



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Labels: Internet, Media

MSN - News - Simmons Says 3 Epithets Should Be Banned

NEW YORK -- Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons said Monday that the recording and broadcast industries should consistently ban three racial and sexist epithets from all so-called clean versions of rap songs and the airwaves.

Currently such epithets are banned from most clean versions, but record companies sometimes "arbitrarily" decide which offensive words to exclude and there's no uniform standard for deleting such words, Simmons said.

The recommendations drew mixed reaction and come two weeks after some began carping anew about rap lyrics after radio personality Don Imus was fired by CBS Radio and NBC for referring to the players on the Rutgers university women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos."

Expressing concern about the "growing public outrage" over the use of such words in rap lyrics, Simmons said the words "bitch," "ho" and "nigger" should be considered "extreme curse words."

Labels: Media, Race

Elinor Tatum, Editor in Chief-The Amsterdam News speaks at the National Action Network.

Labels: Media, Race

Neal Boortz, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter, and Michael Savage prove that racism, sexism and bigotry exist in our media on a daily basis. Why isn't there the outrage over their comments? Why aren't they fired?

Labels: Imus, Media, Race

American Prospect Online - Stop the Presses | Matthew Yglesias

When our country's top news organizations cover campaigns, providing readers with relevant information isn't even on the agenda.

Labels: Election 2008, Media

Larry Johnson, former Fox analyst collects a wall of shame of screen caps of Fox lies (Libby innocent, is Civil war a good thing? etc)



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Labels: Media

"News" outlets pick up the swiftboating efforts of the neocon pundits and report that Al Gore's energy bills are high because he lives in a big house, giving the false impression that he doesn't live up to his own standards of environmental conservation. As usual, the neocons and media get it wrong and Americablog gets it right.



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Labels: Al Gore, Green/Energy related, Media