Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist

Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Md Troopers Assoc #20 & Westminster Md Fire Dept Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Showing posts with label Pres 2008 election Truth Lies Media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pres 2008 election Truth Lies Media. Show all posts

Sunday, November 23, 2008


Running on empty – What a difference an election makes

November 23, 2008 by Kevin Dayhoff


By the end of last week the prospect of an auto bailout was running on four flat tires.

However, with the backdrop of the economy continuing to remain at the forefront of the media spotlight, the “Detroit Three,” General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, continue their tours de force beg-a-thon performance in the media with a great deal of support coming from the Democrat Party.

What a difference an election makes. If you will remember, during the election campaign, the Democrats railed about the increase in the national debt, increased spending, and failed economic policies.

And of course, earlier in the 2008 presidential campaign, when the price of oil and gasoline spiked, it was President George W. Bush’s fault. After the price of gas fell precipitously, the Democrats and their media sycophants fell strangely silent.

Moreover, on Election Day, when the Wall Street rallied, the media credited the prospects of the election of presidential candidate Illinois Sen. Barack Obama with the reasons for the uptick in the stock market.

The day after the election the stock market had the largest percentage drop in history on the day after an election. The media was silent – as in crickets chirping…

Many credited the election victory of Senator Obama on the chaos in the economy. Of course, the great paradox is that the very same foxes, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., House Financial Services Committee chair Barney Frank, D-Mass., and Senate Banking Committee chair Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., who caused the chaos in the financial henhouse have now been rewarded and are now in charge of protecting and fixing it. (See It’s the Congress, Stupid!, Congress and the Rattlesnake – Part 1, Congress and The Rattlesnake – Part 2, Congress and The Rattlesnake – Part 3.)

Now these very same folks want to work their magic on the automobile industry in the United States – with taxpayer money, of course. They want to further raise the national debt by bailing out the Detroit Three – which is the focus of my “The Tentacle” column this week: Rewarding Bad Behavior

As an aside, speaking of changing his tune, you will notice that President-elect Obama has been eerily silent about Iraq, Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, and other aspects of his war on the Bush Administration’s national security polices now that he has been given a number of national security briefings.

Nevertheless, there remains a nagging concern that international terrorists are still plotting to kill Americans and we are still fighting two interminable ground wars overseas. The Iranians and North Koreans are still playing with their nuclear erector sets. Somali pirates are seizing ships in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes outside of the Gulf of Aden.

And in spite of the predicted outbreak of the Age of Aquarius as a result of the recent election, we find ourselves in economic chaos which continues to escape appropriate hyperbole and reactionary rhetoric.

Congress and our critical financial conglomerates have behaved so badly that their behavior raised the specter that the United States and the world would revisit the joys and riches of the Medieval Ages if something was not done.

Yet last week, the financial bailout had the look and feel of a circular firing squad as Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson stood before the nation, and said something to the affect: “You know, about that initial bailout strategy… Well nevermind, the facts have changed and we now have a new and improved pyramid scheme to sell you.”

His performance had all the reassuring aspects of a snake oil salesman from the 1890s as he sketched-out a new approach to encourage consumer confidence, borrowing, and get American families back in the mood for opening their pocketbooks.

No word as to how many Google searches occurred for “economic feudalism” last week as Americans started to feel like feudal serfs being sacrificed as a result of the lack of leadership of the overlords.

If this were not enough of a witches brew, many Americans – and the stock market – continue to feel morning sickness in a pregnant pause of anxiety over president-elect Obama’s election rhetoric to revisit free trade agreements, raise taxes, and unleash a new social-welfare system upon the nation that would make President Franklin D. Roosevelt green with envy.

Intellectual, morally and economically, a glance at Washington these days indicates that it not only the Detroit Three that is in trouble these days, the American taxpayer is more at risk than ever as a result of Congress running on empty.

####

20081119 Running on empty (752 words)

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Bill Ayers – in his own words: “What a long strange trip it has been”


What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been Friday 07 November 2008 by: Bill Ayers, In These Times

Truthout

Upon the end of a surreal campaign season, Bill Ayers speaks out. (Photo: Chris Walker / The Chicago Tribune)

Bill Ayers looks back on a surreal campaign season.

Whew! What was all that mess? I'm still in a daze, sorting it all out, decompressing.

Pass the Vitamin C.

For the past few years, I have gone about my business, hanging out with my kids and, now, my grandchildren, taking care of our elders (they moved in as the kids moved out), going to work, teaching and writing. And every day, I participate in the never-ending effort to build a powerful and irresistible movement for peace and social justice.

In years past, I would now and then - often unpredictably - appear in the newspapers or on TV, sometimes with a reference to Fugitive Days, my 2001 memoir of the exhilarating and difficult years of resistance against the American war in Vietnam. It was a time when the world was in flames, revolution was in the air, and the serial assassinations of black leaders disrupted our utopian dreams.

These media episodes of fleeting notoriety always led to some extravagant and fantastic assertions about what I did, what I might have said and what I probably believe now.

It was always a bit surreal. Then came this political season.

During the primary, the blogosphere was full of chatter about my relationship with President-elect Barack Obama. We had served together on the board of the Woods Foundation and knew one another as neighbors in Chicago's Hyde Park. In 1996, at a coffee gathering that my wife, Bernardine Dohrn, and I held for him, I made a $200 donation to his campaign for the Illinois State Senate.

Obama's political rivals and enemies thought they saw an opportunity to deepen a dishonest perception that he is somehow un-American, alien, linked to radical ideas, a closet terrorist who sympathizes with extremism - and they pounced.

Sen. Hillary Clinton's (D-N.Y.) campaign provided the script, which included guilt by association, demonization of people Obama knew (or might have known), creepy questions about his background and dark hints about hidden secrets yet to be uncovered.

On March 13, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), apparently in an attempt to reassure the base,- sat down for an interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News. McCain was not yet aware of the narrative Hannity had been spinning for months, and so Hannity filled him in: Ayers is an unrepentant "terrorist," he explained, "On 9/11, of all days, he had an article where he bragged about bombing our Pentagon, bombing the Capitol and bombing New York City police headquarters. ... He said, 'I regret not doing more.'"

McCain couldn't believe it.

Neither could I.

[…]


Read the rest here: What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been

20081107 Bill Ayers What a long strange trip it has been

Monday, November 10, 2008

Doug Ross: Did media bias just save America?

Doug Ross: Did media bias just save America?

Doug Ross nailed it…

Sunday, November 09, 2008 A love story for the ages: the press and Barack Obama

Even foreign journalists were stunned by
the love affair between the press and Obama:

[…]

Only a day or two late, the Washington Post helpfully admitted it was in the tank for Barack all along. Today Post Ombudsman Deborah Howell
issued a half-hearted apology.

[…]

At least the Post 'fessed up. Blithering idiot Will Bunch of the
Philadelphia Daily Birdcage-liner says that media bias just saved America.

[…]


Mr. Ross’ entire post is a must read. And the cartoon is right on. Please find it here: A love story for the ages: the press and Barack Obama

Cartoon: Chuck Asay. Hat tips: YWL and Larwyn. Linked by: Gateway Pundit. Thanks!

Mr. Ross’ labels: Democrats, MSM, Obama

20081109 Doug Ross: Did media bias just save America?

Saturday, November 08, 2008

A Few Things You'd Have to Believe to Believe What McCain Staffers Say About Sarah Palin

A Few Things You'd Have to Believe to Believe What McCain Staffers Say About Sarah Palin by Mary Katharine Ham on November 6, 2008

Related:
Sarah Palin on "Small and Bitter" McCain Aides Trashing Her The Blog home page Obama's White Evangelical Outreaching

Let's add some context to the
Carl Cameron and Newsweek airing of rumors from anonymous McCain/Palin staffers. The most controversial claims, all of which come without names attached because the purveyors are apparently determined to stick around to undermine future campaigns and candidates, are that Palin didn't know that Africa was a continent as opposed to a country, and that she didn't know who the members of NAFTA were.

Let's start with NAFTA. If folks want to believe Gov. Sarah Palin did not know even the most basic facts about NAFTA, they have to believe a couple other improbable things.

Before she became governor, Palin's husband Todd's commercial fishing business on Bristol Bay accounted a decent percentage of the family's income. The couple reported about $46,000 from the business last year on a license Todd purchased from his grandfather in the 1970s. He has been a lifelong commercial fisherman and she has often been his partner both in the business and literally on the boat.

Surely while the two were working in the commercial salmon fishing industry in post-NAFTA Alaska, they would not have missed the effect farmed-salmon imports from Canada had on the industry, causing the number of fisherman, the size of the harvest, and the value of permits to go down significantly in Alaska. According to a 2003 AP article:


Read the rest of Mary Katherine Ham’s blog post here: A Few Things You'd Have to Believe to Believe What McCain Staffers Say About Sarah Palin

20081106 M K Ham In order to believe what McCain Staffers Say About Palin

NY Daily News: Palin scapegoated in tales of shopping spree

NY Daily News: Sarah Palin scapegoated in tales of shopping spree, says aide

BY BILL HUTCHINSON DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Friday, November 7th 2008, 2:18 PM

Sarah Palin greets supporters on her return to Alaska Wednesday Nov. 5. An aide defended her, saying she was being made a scapegoat for the McCain campaign's missteps.

A top aide of
Sarah Palin insisted last night that Sen. John McCain's running mate is being unfairly made the scapegoat for the campaign's missteps.

Meg Stapleton lashed out at anonymous critics inside the now defunct McCain-Palin team, saying they were distorting facts about the Alaska governor's infamous $150,000 shopping spree to cover up misdeeds.

Stapleton, a longtime aide to Palin, charged that campaign officials gave a
New York stylist a blank check and a mission to make Palin look presidential.

READ ALSO:
ECONOMY, NATIONAL SECURITY, PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCE - OBAMA IS DADDY IN CHIEF

She said Palin tried to object to wearing a $3,500 outfit but was told by campaign staff, "Here's your people, here are your clothes."

Palin was directed to buy her fancy wardrobe before Sept. 4 in order to bill it to the
Republican National Convention, Stapleton told ABC News.

READ ALSO:
WHAT FOR 'SNL' NOW?

"They said, 'Bill the convention, under "wardrobe," ' so that the cost could be hidden," Stapleton said. "And then they realized and they were told that's illegal.

"Then they said, 'Okay, how do we make this legal and appropriate?' So they had somebody pay for it and then the RNC [
Republican National Committee] would reimburse them."

PHOTOS:
ELECTION WINNERS AND LOSERS

Reacting to another leak that Palin didn't know
Africa was a continent, Stapleton chalked it up to a "human mistake" the governor made during a briefing session.

"She knows it's a continent," Stapleton said.

whutchinson@nydailynews.com

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/11/07/2008-11-07_sarah_palin_scapegoated_in_tales_of_shop-1.html

Lieberman jumps into bed with the GOP

Edgar: GOP threatened by loss of Hispanic voters

Left out in the cold? Alaskan homecoming could be bumpy for Sarah Palin

Oh, please let me keep my post, Lieberman begs

Krauthammer: The economy beat John McCain

What will 'Saturday Night Live' do next?

20081107 NY Daily News Palin scapegoated in tales of shopping spree

Sunday, October 26, 2008

McCain the Stalwart by Charles Krauthammer Friday, October 24, 2008


Related: My endorsement for the Arizona Sen. John McCain for president can be found here in The Tentacle: McCain for America – First by Kevin E. Dayhoff:

Election Day is less than two weeks away. On November 4, I will be voting for the Republican Party nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain and his vice presidential running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Read my entire column here: McCain for America – First

Meanwhile Dr. Charles Krauthammer has also endorsed Senator McCain here - McCain the Stalwart by Charles Krauthammer:

WASHINGTON -- Contrarian that I am, I'm voting for John McCain. I'm not talking about bucking the polls or the media consensus that it's over before it's over. I'm talking about bucking the rush of wet-fingered conservatives leaping to Barack Obama before they're left out in the cold without a single state dinner for the next four years.

[…]

First, I'll have no truck with the phony case ginned up to rationalize voting for the most liberal and inexperienced presidential nominee in living memory. The "erratic" temperament issue, for example…

[…]

McCain the "erratic" is a cheap Obama talking point. The 40-year record testifies to McCain the stalwart.

Nor will I countenance the "dirty campaign" pretense. The double standard here is stunning.

[…]

The case for McCain is straightforward. The financial crisis has made us forget, or just blindly deny, how dangerous the world out there is. We have a generations-long struggle with Islamic jihadism. An apocalyptic soon-to-be-nuclear Iran. A nuclear-armed Pakistan in danger of fragmentation. A rising Russia pushing the limits of revanchism. Plus the sure-to-come Falklands-like surprise popping out of nowhere.

Who do you want answering that phone at 3 a.m.? A man who's been cramming on these issues for the last year, who's never had to make an executive decision affecting so much as a city, let alone the world? A foreign policy novice instinctively inclined to the flabbiest, most vaporous multilateralism…

[…]


Read Dr. Krauthammer’s entire column here: McCain the Stalwart by Charles Krauthammer

20081024 Charles Krauthammer: McCain the Stalwart

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

TimesWatch Tracker for October 20 2009

TimesWatch Tracker for October 20 2009

Documenting and Exposing the Liberal Agenda of the New York Times

TimesWatch Tracker: Our Latest Analysis Monday, October 20, 2008

Conservatives Brook No Dissent While Ignorant Evangelicals Ruin Movement

Why the conservative crackup? Reporter Patricia Cohen cites evangelicals: "...the disillusioned commentary of credentialed conservatives like Mr. Will, Mr. Buckley and Mr. Krauthammer may be the sound of a movement splintering at its foundation -- a movement whose intellectuals have long been uneasy with, for example, the rising power, in the Bush years, of evangelicals, with their categorical faith in creationism and distrust of scientific reason."

Columnist Blow Would Bet His Life on Obama Win

Charles Blow (pictured) is mightly confident in a Barack Obama victory: "If I'm wrong, I'll take my crow with a six pack of Liquid-Plumr."

Public Editor Admits Times Reporters Are More Liberal...

..but Clark Hoyt then cited a report saying "a link between reporters' political beliefs and news coverage has never been convincingly established."

NYT Trolls Teens on Facebook for Hit Piece on Cindy McCain

Reporter Jodi Kantor aimed for a hit piece on Cindy McCain, but fawned over Michelle Obama.

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20081020 TimesWatch Tracker for October 20 2009

Monday, October 20, 2008

Newsweek: “Kill Him” rumors false

Newsweek: “Kill Him” rumors false

Monday, October 20, 2008

Many of us – especially those of us who have served in public office or have suffered indignities while campaigning – were upset to learn that folks at the Democrat presidential nominee Illinois Senator Barack Obama’ rallies were saying things such as “Kill Him,” or “terrorist.”

If you do not support Senator Obama, that’s fine, vote against him; vote for the Republican presidential nominee Arizona Senator John McCain; wave a McCain sign or whatever – but leave the threatening epitaphs at home or better yet, flush it.

Now we hear, according to a post on Townhall by Matt Lewis that “Newsweek Debunks "Kill Him" Rumors; Obama Knew They Were Bogus Before Debate.”

Newsweek reports that not only were the reports that folks attending a McCain rally yelled "kill him" likely false -- but also that Obama knew these reports were false before using them in last week's debate:

"During a heated moment in his final presidential debate with Sen. John McCain, Sen. Barack Obama noted the anger of some supporters at rallies for McCain's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. "All the public reports suggested," Obama said, that people shouted "things like 'terrorist' and 'kill him'."

[…]

This, of course, is merely the latest example of Obama's willingness to inaccurately portray himself as a victim and flagrantly gin up sympathy votes, while simultaneously,
ignoring the really, really objectionable behavior his own supporters engage in (viewer discretion advised).

Read Mr. Lewis’ entire post here: “Newsweek Debunks "Kill Him" Rumors; Obama Knew They Were Bogus Before Debate.”

And if you decide to check out the latest in Palin Derangement Syndrome here: ignoring the really, really objectionable behavior his own supporters engage in (viewer discretion advised). Trust me, before you go there, please understand that it is quite offensive.

Perhaps the Obama campaign may want to denounce this approach…

20081019 Newsweek: Kill Him rumors false

Friday, October 03, 2008

Illinois Senator Barack Obama’s statement on last night’s vice-presidential debate


Illinois Senator Barack Obama’s statement on last night’s vice-presidential debate

Oh, my apologies. This was a New York Times The Vice-Presidential Debate editorial published: October 2, 2008

We cannot recall when there were lower expectations for a candidate than the ones that preceded Sarah Palin’s appearance in Thursday night’s vice-presidential debate with Joseph Biden. After a series of stumbling interviews that raised serious doubts even among conservatives about her fitness to serve as vice president, Ms. Palin had to do little more than say one or two sensible things and avoid an election-defining gaffe.

By that standard, but only by that standard, the governor of Alaska did well. But Ms. Palin never really got beyond her talking points in 90 minutes, mostly repeating clichés and tired attack lines and energetically refusing to answer far too many questions.

Senator Biden did well, avoiding one of his own infamous gaffes, while showing a clear grasp of the big picture and the details. He left Ms. Palin way behind on most issues, especially foreign policy and national security, where she just seemed lost. It was in those moments that her lack of experience — two terms as mayor of a tiny Anchorage suburb and less than two years as governor — was most painfully evident.

[…]

One can argue (and her supporters will) that Ms. Palin is a newcomer and can’t be expected to know all of the wonkish details, that what matters is the image she projects. Except, anyone who is running for vice president in these very dangerous times needs to have detailed knowledge.

[…]

In the end, the debate did not change the essential truth of Ms. Palin’s candidacy: Mr. McCain made a wildly irresponsible choice that shattered the image he created for himself as the honest, seasoned, experienced man of principle and judgment. It was either an act of incredible cynicism or appallingly bad judgment.


20081002 The Vice Presidential Debate

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/03/opinion/03fri1.html?em

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

MonkeyCrash: Katie Couric Interview with Sarah Palin

MonkeyCrash: Katie Couric Interview with Sarah Palin

September 26, 2008

I could not agree more with “Bryan” of MonkeyCrash... Someone please tell Kathleen Parker

By Bryan at MonkeyCrash:

We have decided not to post the Katie Couric interview with Sarah Palin. We are sickened by the obvious liberal agenda that the media (Couric included) continues to force on the American people. They refuse to examine and grill Obama in the same fashion that they do with McCain and Palin. ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and MSNBC are nothing more than propaganda machines for the liberals. Journalism is dead in 2008. Long live the “New Media.”

UPDATE: 9/26/08 –

[…]

The media was once a non-biased news source and has become an agent of the democratic party and liberals. They need to be honest with Americans and let it be known that their intent is to present the news as to gain liberal converts and promote their agenda.

[…]

Couric is a tired media hack and is not worth the time.


MonkeyCrash is Your Source For Conservative Opinion

http://monkeycrash.com/2008/09/26/katie-couric-interview-with-sarah-palin/

20080926 MonkeyCrash Katie Couric Interview with Sarah Palin

The Parker Problem

The Parker Problem

September 30, 2008

In case you missed it, conservative columnist Kathleen Parker published a column last Friday in which she expressed misgivings about the qualifications of Republican vice-presidential candidate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

For sure, Kathleen Parker is to be respected for her opinion. She is knowledgeable, committed to her cause, and for the most part, completely, and totally wrong.

I’m amazed that she could draw any conclusions from Alaska Governor Sarah Palin based solely on her interviews with bias, arrogant, elitist, and condescending hacks the likes of Charles Gibson and Katie Couric.

If anything, if the objective observer were to conclude that Gov. Palin did not present well with the likes of Mr. Gibson and Ms. Couric – that is a plus for Gov. Palin and all the more reason to vote for her.

Ever since Gov. Palin burst upon the national spotlight the elite media and partisan hacks have waged an all-out war to marginalize and trivialize her as a rightwing bimbette ideologue without a mind of her own. A mantra that is not consistent with how she has governed.

Ms. Parker’s column begs for one key and important question. As a result of her misgivings about Gov. Palin, are we relegated to vote for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and Delaware Sen. Joe Biden?

Both are arguably good people, but will Sen. Obama’s naive positions on foreign policy make us safer? Will Sen. Obama’s positions on economic policy empower the economy or tax so much capital out of the nation’s finances that it will cripple the nation?

Of course, in the long run, one wonders when the elite media will ask Senators Obama and Biden the same condescending gotcha questions of which Gov. Palin has been subjected. Last but not least, how would Senators Obama and Biden fare if they had been unfairly subjected to the same intense scrutiny?

Individually all four candidates have their strengths and weaknesses. In the end, we are faced with voting for the team with the least number of weaknesses.

The Palin Problem Kathleen Parker Friday, September 26, 2008

[…]

Some of the passionately feminist critics of Palin who attacked her personally deserved some of the backlash they received. But circumstances have changed since Palin was introduced as just a hockey mom with lipstick -- what a difference a financial crisis makes -- and a more complicated picture has emerged.

As we've seen and heard more from John McCain's running mate, it is increasingly clear that Palin is a problem. Quick study or not, she doesn't know enough about economics and foreign policy to make Americans comfortable with a President Palin should conditions warrant her promotion

[…]

Finally, Palin's narrative is fun, inspiring and all-American in that frontier way we seem to admire. When Palin first emerged as John McCain's running mate, I confess I was delighted. She was the antithesis and nemesis of the hirsute, Birkenstock-wearing sisterhood -- a refreshing feminist of a different order who personified the modern successful working mother.

Palin didn't make a mess cracking the glass ceiling. She simply glided through it.

[…]

Read the rest of Ms. Parker’s column here: The Palin Problem Kathleen Parker

20080926 The Parker Problem by Kathleen Parker

Gwen Ifill is an appalling choice to “moderate” the upcoming vice presidential debate


Gwen Ifill is an appalling choice to “moderate” the upcoming vice presidential debate

October 1, 2008

Gwen Ifill is an appalling choice to “moderate” the upcoming vice presidential debate. How do decisions like this get made?

Perhaps Cindy Sheehan or Keith Olbermann were not available.

Look up “liberal bias” in the dictionary and Ms. Ifill can be seen jockeying her way to the front of a photograph with her colleagues from the New York Times, NBC, MSNBC, and the like.

Meanwhile, Ms. Malkin points out quite correctly: “Can you imagine a right-leaning journalist writing a book about the "stunning" McCain campaign and its "bold" path to reform timed for release on Inauguration Day -- and then expecting a slot as a moderator for the nation's sole vice presidential debate?”

A Debate "Moderator" In the Tank for Obama by Michelle Malkin

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

[…]

… there is nothing "moderate" about where Ifill stands on Barack Obama. She's so far in the tank for the Democratic presidential candidate…

[…]

In an imaginary world where liberal journalists are held to the same standards as everyone else, Ifill would be required to make a full disclosure at the start of the debate. She would be required to turn to the cameras and tell the national audience that she has a book coming out on Jan. 20, 2009 -- a date that just happens to coincide with the inauguration of the next president of the United States.

The title of Ifill's book? "The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama." Nonpartisan my foot.

Random House, her publisher, is already busy hyping the book with YouTube clips of Ifill heaping praise on her subjects, including Obama and Obama-endorsing Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick. The official promo for the book gushes:

"In 'The Breakthrough,' veteran journalist Gwen Ifill surveys the American political landscape, shedding new light on the impact of Barack Obama's stunning presidential campaign and introducing the emerging young African American politicians forging a bold new path to political power. … Drawing on interviews with power brokers like Sen. Obama, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Vernon Jordan, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and many others, as well as her own razor-sharp observations and analysis of such issues as generational conflict and the 'black enough' conundrum, Ifill shows why this is a pivotal moment in American history."

Ifill and her publisher are banking on an Obama/Biden win to buoy her book sales. The moderator expected to treat both sides fairly has grandiosely declared this the "Age of Obama." Can you imagine a right-leaning journalist writing a book about the "stunning" McCain campaign and its "bold" path to reform timed for release on Inauguration Day -- and then expecting a slot as a moderator for the nation's sole vice presidential debate?

[…]


Read her entire column here: A Debate "Moderator" In the Tank for Obama by Michelle Malkin

20081001 A Debate Moderator In the Tank for Obama by Michelle Malkin

http://townhall.com/columnists/MichelleMalkin/2008/10/01/a_debate_moderator_in_the_tank_for_obama?page=full&comments=true

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Timeswatch Tracker for September 29 2008

Timeswatch Tracker for September 29 2008

TimesWatch Tracker Documenting and Exposing the Liberal Agenda of the New York Times

TimesWatch Tracker: Our Latest Analysis

Friday, September 26 2008

Did McCain Call for Tougher Regulation of Fannie and Freddie? Yes, But...

Grudging acknowledgement that John McCain called for more regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: "Senator John McCain is correct: He warned two years ago that Congress should rein in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac...and Senator Barack Obama did not. But Mr. McCain overstates the role he has played..."

Discovering the Sarah Palin Rape-Kit "Scandal'

A Times editor arrives two weeks later to a left-wing rumor: "When Sarah Palin was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, the small town began billing sexual-assault victims for the cost of rape kits and forensic exams...."

Times Goes After Obama's "Misleading Attacks" on McCain

Rectifying the paper's pro-Obama tilt, the Times takes Obama to task in a front-page story on his campaign's misleading ads.

Times Watch Quotes of Note -- Obama Voters "Better Educated and More Diverse"

Plus: Clarence Thomas, Self-Hating Conservative Black?

Palin's "Foreign Policy Tutorials" -- But Obama Didn't Need Any?Kate Zernike: "Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska completed Day 2 of her foreign policy tutorials on Wednesday..."

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20080926 Timeswatch Tracker for September 29 2008

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

The New York Times: “A Partisan Paper of Record” by Michael Goldfarb

The New York Times: “A Partisan Paper of Record” by Michael Goldfarb

Posted at www.johnmccain.com/ 1:57 AM on 9/24/2008 by Michael Goldfarb

A Partisan Paper of Record

Today the New York Times launched its latest attack on this campaign in its capacity as an Obama advocacy organization. Let us be clear about what this story alleges: The New York Times charges that McCain-Palin 2008 campaign manager Rick Davis was paid by Freddie Mac until last month, contrary to previous reporting, as well as statements by this campaign and by Mr. Davis himself.

In fact, the allegation is demonstrably false. As has been previously reported, Mr. Davis separated from his consulting firm, Davis Manafort, in 2006. As has been previously reported, Mr. Davis has seen no income from Davis Manafort since 2006. Zero. Mr. Davis has received no salary or compensation since 2006. Mr. Davis has received no profit or partner distributions from that firm on any basis -- weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual -- since 2006. Again, zero. Neither has Mr. Davis received any equity in the firm based on profits derived since his financial separation from Davis Manafort in 2006.

Further, and missing from the Times' reporting, Mr. Davis has never -- never -- been a lobbyist for either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Mr. Davis has not served as a registered lobbyist since 2005.

Though these facts are a matter of public record, the New York Times, in what can only be explained as a willful disregard of the truth, failed to research this story or present any semblance of a fairminded treatment of the facts closely at hand. The paper did manage to report one interesting but irrelevant fact: Mr. Davis did participate in a roundtable discussion on the political scene with...Paul Begala.

Again, let us be clear: The New York Times -- in the absence of any supporting evidence -- has insinuated some kind of impropriety on the part of Senator McCain and Rick Davis. But entirely missing from the story is any significant mention of Senator McCain's long advocacy for, and co-sponsorship of legislation to enact, stricter oversight and regulation of both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- dating back to 2006. Please see the attached floor statement on this issue by Senator McCain from 2006.

To the central point our campaign has made in the last 48 hours: The New York Times has never published a single investigative piece, factually correct or otherwise, examining the relationship between Obama campaign chief strategist David Axelrod, his consulting and lobbying clients, and Senator Obama. Likewise, the New York Times never published an investigative report, factually correct or otherwise, examining the relationship between Former Fannie Mae CEO Jim Johnson and Senator Obama, who appointed Johnson head of his VP search committee, until the writing was on the wall and Johnson was under fire following reports from actual news organizations that he had received preferential loans from predatory mortgage lender Countrywide.

Therefore this "report" from the New York Times must be evaluated in the context of its intent and purpose. It is a partisan attack falsely labeled as objective news. And its most serious allegations are based entirely on the claims of anonymous sources, a familiar yet regretful tactic for the paper.

We all understand that partisan attacks are part of the political process in this country. The debate that stems from these grand and sometimes unruly conversations is what makes this country so exceptional. Indeed, our nation has a long and proud tradition of news organizations that are ideological and partisan in nature, the Huffington Post and the New York Times being two such publications. We celebrate their contribution to the political fabric of America. But while the Huffington Post is utterly transparent, the New York Times obscures its true intentions -- to undermine the candidacy of John McCain and boost the candidacy of Barack Obama -- under the cloak of objective journalism.

The New York Times is trying to fill an ideological niche. It is a business decision, and one made under economic duress, as the New York Times is a failing business. But the paper's reporting on Senator McCain, his campaign, and his staff should be clearly understood by the American people for what it is: a partisan assault aimed at promoting that paper’s preferred candidate, Barack Obama.


Statement by Senator John McCain, May 25, 2006:

Mr. President, this week Fannie Mae's regulator reported that the company's quarterly reports of profit growth over the past few years were "illusions deliberately and systematically created" by the company's senior management, which resulted in a $10.6 billion accounting scandal.
The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's report goes on to say that Fannie Mae employees deliberately and intentionally manipulated financial reports to hit earnings targets in order to trigger bonuses for senior executives. In the case of Franklin Raines, Fannie Mae's former chief executive officer, OFHEO's report shows that over half of Mr. Raines' compensation for the 6 years through 2003 was directly tied to meeting earnings targets. The report of financial misconduct at Fannie Mae echoes the deeply troubling $5 billion profit restatement at Freddie Mac.

The OFHEO report also states that Fannie Mae used its political power to lobby Congress in an effort to interfere with the regulator's examination of the company's accounting problems. This report comes some weeks after Freddie Mac paid a record $3.8 million fine in a settlement with the Federal Election Commission and restated lobbying disclosure reports from 2004 to 2005. These are entities that have demonstrated over and over again that they are deeply in need of reform.

For years I have been concerned about the regulatory structure that governs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac--known as Government-sponsored entities or GSEs--and the sheer magnitude of these companies and the role they play in the housing market. OFHEO's report this week does nothing to ease these concerns. In fact, the report does quite the contrary. OFHEO's report solidifies my view that the GSEs need to be reformed without delay.

I join as a cosponsor of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, S. 190, to underscore my support for quick passage of GSE regulatory reform legislation. If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole.

I urge my colleagues to support swift action on this GSE reform legislation.

http://www.johnmccain.com/mccainreport/Read.aspx?guid=74063c9d-7cb5-47c9-acf6-53c0c2d88376

20080924 The NYT A Partisan Paper of Record by Michael Goldfarb

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Charlie Gibson's Gaffe By Charles Krauthammer

Charlie Gibson's Gaffe By Charles Krauthammer

For whatever reason, the matter of the “Bush Doctrine” continues to resurface in conversations about the gotcha Charles Gibson interview with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin almost two week’s ago.

Of course, had Mr. Gibson been interviewing Illinois Sen. Barack Obama or Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, we could be certain that his tone and mood would have been considerably less arrogant and condescending.

Let’s face it; Gov. Palin does not come from the elite ranks of Washington, the East Coast or New York. She’s actually someone to which many of us can relate. The elite media and many Democrats have come unglued that a PTA Mom from a small town in Alaska could possibly – gasp – become vice president.

On September 13, Charles Krauthammer weighed into the fray:

Charlie Gibson's Gaffe By Charles Krauthammer

Saturday, September 13, 2008; A17

"At times visibly nervous . . . Ms. Palin most visibly stumbled when she was asked by Mr. Gibson if she agreed with the Bush doctrine. Ms. Palin did not seem to know what he was talking about. Mr. Gibson, sounding like an impatient teacher, informed her that it meant the right of 'anticipatory self-defense.' " -- New York Times, Sept. 12

Informed her? Rubbish.

The New York Times got it wrong. And
Charlie Gibson got it wrong.

There is no single meaning of the Bush doctrine. In fact, there have been four distinct meanings, each one succeeding another over the eight years of this administration -- and the one Charlie Gibson cited is not the one in common usage today. It is utterly different.

He asked Palin, "Do you agree with the Bush doctrine?"

She responded, quite sensibly to a question that is ambiguous, "In what respect, Charlie?"

Sensing his "gotcha" moment, Gibson refused to tell her. After making her fish for the answer, Gibson grudgingly explained to the moose-hunting rube that the Bush doctrine "is that we have the right of anticipatory self-defense."

Wrong.

I know something about the subject because, as the
Wikipedia entry on the Bush doctrine notes, I was the first to use the term. In the cover essay of the June 4, 2001, issue of the Weekly Standard entitled, "The Bush Doctrine: ABM, Kyoto, and the New American Unilateralism," I suggested that the Bush administration policies of unilaterally withdrawing from the ABM treaty and rejecting the Kyoto protocol, together with others, amounted to a radical change in foreign policy that should be called the Bush doctrine.

[…]

Presidential doctrines are inherently malleable and difficult to define. The only fixed "doctrines" in American history are the Monroe and the Truman doctrines which come out of single presidential statements during administrations where there were few other contradictory or conflicting foreign policy crosscurrents.

Such is not the case with the Bush doctrine.

Yes,
Sarah Palin didn't know what it is. But neither does Charlie Gibson. And at least she didn't pretend to know -- while he looked down his nose and over his glasses with weary disdain, sighing and "sounding like an impatient teacher," as the Times noted. In doing so, he captured perfectly the establishment snobbery and intellectual condescension that has characterized the chattering classes' reaction to the mother of five who presumes to play on their stage.


The rest of Mr. Krauthammer’s commentary is a must read: Charlie Gibson's Gaffe By Charles Krauthammer

Related: 20080912 ABC’s Bungles by Kirsten Powers

20080918 Charles Gibson’s Palin Double Standard

20080912 Obama’s Race to lose and he might by Charles Krauthammer

20080911 Palin Derangement Watch by Blake Dvorak

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/12/AR2008091202457.html

20080913 Charlie Gibson's Gaffe By Charles Krauthammer

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Why Doesn't McCain Use a Computer?

Why Doesn't McCain Use a Computer?

September 14, 2008 10:59 AM

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. introduced a new TV ad his week that paints Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., as out of touch for being, when it comes to technology, shall we say a touch "old-school."

"1982, John McCain goes to Washington," the narrator says. "Things have changed in the last 26 years, but McCain hasn't. He admits he still doesn't know how to use a computer, can't send an e-mail, still doesn't understand the economy, and favors two hundred billion in new tax cuts for corporations, but almost nothing for the middle class. After one president who was out of touch, we just can't afford more of the same."

STILL : Barack Obama campaign ad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-ae409tJEI


[…]

Assuredly McCain isn't comfortable talking about this -- and the McCain campaign discouraged me from writing about this -- but the reason the aged Arizonan doesn't use a computer or send email is because of his war wounds.

I realize some of the nastier liberals in the blogosphere will see this as McCain once again
"playing the POW card," but it's simply a fact: typing on a regular keyboard for any sustained period of time bothers McCain physically.

[…]

Read Mr. Tapper’s entire article here:
Why Doesn't McCain Use a Computer?

Political Punch: Power, pop, and probings from ABC News Senior National Correspondent Jake Tapper,

Jake Tapper is ABC News' Senior National Correspondent based in the network's Washington bureau. He writes about politics and popular culture and covers a range of national stories.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/why-doesnt-mcca.html

20080914 Why doesnt McCain use a computer by Jake Tapper for ABC News

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Wired Blog Network: McCain Campaign Deploys 'Palin Truth Squad' By Sarah Lai Stirland September 09, 2008


Wired Blog Network: McCain Campaign Deploys 'Palin Truth Squad' By Sarah Lai Stirland September 09, 2008


John McCain's campaign on Tuesday unveiled a new squadron of politicians whose duty will be to battle perceptions that are quickly forming about the Republican party's vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska.

The Republicans seem to have been fighting the battle since the moment that McCain announced his pick. Like Barack Obama, whose personal background and history were relatively unknown at the beginning of the presidential campaign, Palin has become the victim of multiple online whispering campaigns, and of partisan bloggers who have been ginning up stories about her record.

There's been so much flying around the internet within the past week and a half that the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center
published a long list of rebuttals Monday against many of the e-mails and blog postings about Palin.

The post was titled "Sliming Palin." The bullet points address Palin's record on funding education in Alaska for special needs children, her record (or lack thereof) on 'censoring' books in Wasilla's library, whether she has an affiliation with the Alaskan Independence party, and several other subjects.

[…]

For example, there are various photoshopped pictures of Palin making the rounds on the internet. One of them is of someone in a bikini holding what looks like a rifle. Palin's face has been superimposed on the picture.


While the Obama campaign can try to debunk rumors about his religious faith, it's hard to imagine that the McCain campaign is going to put up a web page saying that Palin has never posed for a photograph semi-naked with a rifle.


Maybe they can just point people to the urban legend debunkers at Snopes.com.

Read the entire article here: McCain Campaign Deploys 'Palin Truth Squad'

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/09/mccain-campaign.html

20080909 Wired McCain Campaign Deploys Palin Truth Squad

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Palin Derangement Watch by Blake Dvorak Real Clear Politics

Palin Derangement Watch by Blake Dvorak Real Clear Politics

September 11, 2008

It's not exclusive to the fever swamps.

Wendy Doniger,
Newsweek: "Her greatest hypocrisy is in her pretense that she is a woman."

Dan Payne,
Boston Globe: "She's got a Taliban-like tolerance for beliefs unlike her own."

Cintra Wilson,
Salon (warning: extreme profanity on the clickthrough): "What her Down syndrome baby and pregnant teenage daughter unequivocally prove, however, is that her most beloved child is the antiabortion platform that ensures her own political ambitions with the conservative right."

(ht to
Geraghty for the Payne quote, which, Geraghty notes, comes on a pretty bad day for Taliban comparisons.)

http://time-blog.com/real_clear_politics/2008/09/palin_derangement_watch.html

20080911 Palin Derangement Watch by Blake Dvorak

Monday, September 01, 2008

Examining Gov. Sarah Palin

Examining Gov. Sarah Palin

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2008/aug/29/truth-o-meter-welcomes-gov-palin/

PolitiFact

By Amy Hollyfield Published on Friday, August 29th, 2008 at 06:55 p.m.

SUMMARY: John McCain's surprising choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential nominee gives PolitiFact a fresh face. We start by digging into her resume.

John McCain ended his veepstakes Aug. 29, 2008, by selecting Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. The 44-year-old first-term governor is the mother of five and a far cry from a Washington insider.

"She's exactly who I need. She's exactly who this country needs to help me fight the same old Washington politics of 'Me first and country second,' " McCain said, introducing Palin at a rally in Dayton, Ohio.

McCain could have done us a favor by picking
Mitt Romney, whose many attacks on McCain during the Republican presidential primary kept us busy.
But we're happy to welcome Palin to the Truth-O-Meter. In Dayton, she introduced herself to the crowd and we got started fact-checking. Here are two claims we checked:


Read more here: Examining Gov. Sarah Palin

20080929 Politifact Examining Gov Sarah Palin