Spinning, Spinning

In what must be the bravest attempt ever by the media  to spin a story that I've ever read, the AP and Yahoo News headlined a story "Foreign policy at forefront is a Romney hurdle."

The disasters in foreign policy of the last week, and it's Romney's hurdle?? Not only the actual events themselves, which highlight the failure of Obama's softness toward Islamic extremism, but then the administration's response(s), which included a veiled condemnation of free speech. Add in the purposeful snub of Israel's Prime Minister at a time when Iran is on the verge of developing and deploying nukes toward that country. (These two aspects go together; if America were still perceived as a strong Israel ally, Iran's bravado might not be as blatant.)   

If anything, this past week should destroy anything that could possibly be perceived as Obama's foreign policy "expertise."  Consequences of his policies and actions ought to matter. Yet AP and Yahoo News spin it 180° so that -- once again -- Obama's blunders are invisible. 

Which is a more apt description, a comparison to "The Emperor's New Clothes" or "Don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining"?

Unemployment and the LFPR*

*Labor Force Participation Rate is the percentage of the civilian workforce that is actually employed or looking for work. On the chart below, notice the absolute crash in this rate since Barack Obama took office.  Although unemployment under Barack Obama has been high, it's actually gotten much worse since he took office, and that fact is not reported in the media.

This measurement is important, because a low participation rate hides a high unemployment rate. Here's an example of how that happens:

Under Bush
Out of 1000 people, 670 are in the workforce. 35 of those are unemployed. Unemployment rate = 5.2%.

Under Obama
Out of 1000 people, 637 are in the workforce (33 fewer than under Bush.) 53 of those are unemployed. Unemployment rate = 8.3%.

The 33 people no longer in the workforce? Although unemployed and able to work, they are no longer looking for jobs. They are no longer "in the workforce." They are simply ignored. They are not counted as part of the "official" unemployment figure. Add them back into the equation, and Obama's real unemployment rate is 15.2%, using the exact same calculation as used under Bush.

A-J Headline Editor Abuse

Apparently, they're putting headlines in alphabetical order at the A-J.  A story about "Avery and the Calico Hearts" had a secondary headline about A&M's attempts to join the SEC.  Let's see how long it stays up. (I'm guessing until just a little after Bill Kerns wakes up.)

(Edit, 11:30 a.m. -- Now we know what time Kerns goes to work.)

Myths About Katrina

The Democrats, with the media's help, have painted Hurricane Katrina as an example of the Bush administration's incompetence and lack of caring (especially about black people.)  Oddly enough, the facts don't always match the narrative.  Several years ago Popular Mechanics ran an article entitled "Debunking the Myths of Hurricane Katrina."  One salient passage:

"...the response to Hurricane Katrina was by far the largest -- and fastest -- rescue effort in U.S. history, with nearly 100,000 emergency personnel arriving on the scene within three days of the storm's landfall." 


Given the recent publicity accompanying the anniversary of the hurricane -- and the accompanying Bush-bashing -- it might be worth a look to get more of the story.

And next Democrat up -- Maxine Waters

Nearly a year and a half ago I wrote about some of the questionable activities of Democrat Congresswoman Maxine Waters of California.  Now, right after Charlie Rangel gets the attention he so richly deserves, Ms. Waters gets hers.

This double barrel of Democrat trouble apparently sets a precedent.  The New York Times writes, "At no time in at least the last two decades have two sitting House members faced a public hearing detailing allegations against them."

The months leading up to the November elections promise to be interesting.  Get ready for a barage of allegations of immorality (not to mention racism) against Republicans.  The mainstream media have to do something to soften the blow for Democrats.

What the — ?

From a Reuters story about Republican Mark Kirk and his chances in the Illinois US Senate race, quoting DePaul University political analyst Michael Mezey:

"...[Kirk]'s a moderate, middle-of-the-road candidate. He's been pro-choice, pro-gay rights, anti-gun."

Moderate? Middle-of-the-road?

That's the media trying to define the center.

25 Most Influential Media Liberals

Forbes.com has an article detailing who it considers the 25 most influential Liberals in the media. Few surprises as to who is included, (Bill Moyers and Jon Stewart, for example,) with a couple of names that I had never heard of before. Notably missing were the movie and television stars such as Tim Robbins, Alec Baldwin and Martin Sheen who always lend their celebrity to Liberal causes.

Why Polls Shouldn't Matter

If you want to find out what people want in dishwashing liquid, bath soap, toilet paper or deodorant, marketing research is the tool to use. Personal preference in items we use in our daily lives is part of our culture. We know what we like.

The same principle applied to politics is a disaster. I've made no secret of my disdain for polls and how the media use them to generate the stories that they want to promote. A recent study revealed the fruitlessness of polling Americans to ask them their opinion on political matters.

The Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) conducted a survey of 2500 Americans, quizzing them about American civics. The average score of all respondents was 49%. College educators did a bit better, at 55%. Something that may or may not surprise you: political officeholders scored 44% -- lower than the average person surveyed. (Take the quiz yourself here.)

I'm not criticizing anyone who doesn't score high on the quiz -- we each have our own strengths and interests. But the ignorance of Americans that the survey revealed illustrates the worthlessness of polls that ask Americans their "opinion" about something going on in politics. As we saw from the survey of Obama voters, most opinions are based on ignorance.

Pollsters should stick to soap. Everyone else should ignore polls.


(For those who are curious, I scored 93.4% on the quiz.)

Unfairness Part Deux

Two additions to the "Outrageous Media Bias" file today:

1) Regarding Obama's sightseeing trip to the Middle East -- his first -- NBC News substitute anchor Lester Holt referred to the trip as Obama's "tour of duty." That pretty much makes his trip the equivalent of McCain's years as a POW in Vietnam, right?

2) The New York Times rejected an Op-Ed piece from John McCain a week after publishing one by Barack Obama. The Times public response said that McCain (in his article) would have to go into detail about his plans for Iraq before they would accept it. Apparently McCain's real sin was when he pointed out that Obama declared in early 2007 that the troop surge in Iraq would not work -- which turned out to be completely wrong. (McCain supported the surge, which he pointed out in his article.)

Once again, the biggest sin to Liberals is when you criticize Obama by telling the truth. (Detour: A very nice column about what makes Obama angry in this article by Guy Benson.)

Unfairness as a Doctrine

There has been a lot of discussion about what would be the effect on talk radio if the Fairness Doctrine were reimplemented. Political talk radio is overwhelmingly Conservative, anchored by Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Supposedly, the Fairness Doctrine would force radio stations to give as much airtime to Liberal viewpoints as Conservative.
.
Since Liberal radio has proven to be unprofitable -- apparently almost no one wants to listen to it -- radio stations would be forced to either accept lower profits or do away with political talk radio. This would, in effect, silence Conservative talk radio.
.
The mainstream media, on the other hand, which is overwhelmingly Liberal, would not have to provide "balance," because they are supposedly objectively reporting the "news." What they refuse to acknowledge is that their bias is evident in the choice of what stories they choose to cover and the emphasis given to different stories. The preposterousness of their claim is evident as seen in this article discussing Obama's first trips to Afghanistan and Iraq. (These trips will show that he has foreign policy experience, you see.)
.
The anchors of the three main networks are traveling to the Middle East to interview Obama in that context. By giving such emphasis to their coverage they are amplifying the importance of Obama's trip. It takes on much more weight than it really has. Viewers will come away with the message and the image of Obama as an expert in foreign policy because of a single short visit to the Middle East.
.
McCain, on the other hand, has made numerous trips to the Middle East, Afghanistan and Iraq, without the fanfare or press coverage. His foreign policy credentials are solidified by his obligation over a number of years. Yet in the minds of television viewers, with a single short trip Obama will have equaled McCain's experience and expertise.
.
The article also says that Obama has benefited from a huge gap in the amount of media coverage he has received compared to McCain. The media spokesmen shrug it off. "We're just trying to do our jobs," said the president of NBC News.
.
Meanwhile the Democrats are wating until a Democrat is in the White House to reintroduce the Fairness Doctrine. They will legislate away Conservative voices while benefitting from the Liberal media machine's one-sided campaign.
.
All in the name of "fairness."

Hack Journalist vs The Republican Survival Instinct

The Republican Presidential Candidates will debate tomorrow evening (October 9,) and the press is emphasizing the point that it's the first time that Fred Thompson will participate in a debate.

More important, however, will be the behavior of the moderator of the debate, Chris Matthews.

Matthews is the host of MSNBC's "Hardball." At the 10th anniversary party for his “Hardball” show Thursday night in Washington, D.C., Matthews remarked that the Bush administration had "finally been caught in their criminality." He was referring to purported calls from Vice President Dick Cheney's office to MSNBC brass complaining about Matthews' biased comments and coverage on his show.

Another Matthews gem: “God help us if we had Cheney during the Cuban missile crisis. We’d all be under a parking lot.”

MSNBC parent company NBC, which covered the event, refused to release video of Matthews' remarks to the press. They should change their initials to "CYA."

Let's hope that journalist Matthews is put and kept in his place by these men who aspire to become the leader of the most powerful nation on earth.

The Media Begins Its Turn on Al Gore

Recently CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano clapped his hands on CNN’s “American Morning” and exclaimed, “Finally,” in response to a report that a British judge might ban the movie “An Inconvenient Truth” from UK schools because, according to the broadcast “it is politically biased and contains scientific inaccuracies.”

“There are definitely some inaccuracies,” Marciano added during the October 4 broadcast. “The biggest thing I have a problem with is this implication that Katrina was caused by global warming.”

Read more here.

Call Him Mjolnir*

"There are scandals that need to be addressed. Republicans address them, Democrats re-elect them." -- Tom Delay

Former House Majority Leader Tom "The Hammer" Delay was interviewed by Matt Lauer on the Today Show recently. Lauer started the interview with a laundry list of Republican scandals -- Mark Foley, David Vitter, the Republicans caught up with lobbyist Jack Abramoff -- and this is how the interview went:

LAUER: So I went through a litany there, and maybe I should start by stepping back. We've got two members out of 49 Republican senators in office right now embroiled in controversy. So do we have a party embroiled in scandal or do we have two bad apples?

DELAY: Well, I hate to say this Matt, but you just showed the problem, the double-standard, and you just participated in it. You listed a whole lot of scandals that involve the Republicans but you didn't mention one Democrat.

LAUER: But you didn't hear me. I also just said do we only have two bad apples or is there a case of an entire party embroiled in scandal?

DELAY: I think in your premise if you had listed all the Democrats that are having problems right now it would have been different. You see the Democrats re-elect the people with their problems; the Republicans kick them out. If you look at what's going on, it's how you handle it as a party and as a political group.

DELAY: The double-standard in the media is amazing. The feeding frenzy, the sharks in the water that's going on right now because of a Republican. Where is the frenzy on Alan Mollohan from West Virginia or William Jefferson from Louisiana?

LAUER: I think you mentioned William Jefferson. There was an awful lot of coverage of William Jefferson when that story broke, congressman. [Note: NBC's "Today" has never once aired an NBC reporter explaining the Jefferson scandal. All that's dribbled out are a few 50-word anchor-read droplets. - kw]

DELAY: Yeah, for just a couple of days and then we went on. In the case of a Republican, believe me I've experienced this, it's day in and day out in the media, and they write this story over and over and over again. We all know the double-standard in the media -- it's amazing.

LAUER: I'm not going to let it, you know, end with that assumption, congressman, because I clearly don't agree with it, but why don't we just say . . .

DELAY: You exhibited it, Matt!

LAUER: You know what, congressman? I think it's unfair. Because I listed a list of problems and then immediately –

DELAY: All Republicans.

LAUER: Well we're talking about the Republican party. You just said, I invited you on to talk about the GOP.

DELAY: Because you don't want to talk about the Democrats.

LAUER: And I also started, congressman, and then said "is this a misperception that there is a party embroiled in scandal when we may just have two bad apples?" That's exactly how I started my first question.

DELAY: No, you started the first question by listing a bunch of Republicans and didn't mention one Democrat.

LAUER: Because we're talking --

DELAY: About the situation that's going on in Washington today and including both Democrats and Republicans. There are scandals that need to be addressed. Republicans address them, Democrats re-elect them.

LAUER: Alright congressman, I'll let you have the last word. It's good to have you on.

DELAY: Thank you.

* For those non-comic book readers and Norse mythology non-experts out there: In Norse mythology, Mjolnir is the magical hammer of Thor, the god of thunder, lightning, wind, and rain.

The Impartial Liberal Media

Republican Senator Larry Craig recently confirmed that he had been arrested in June for "disorderly conduct" associated with soliciting sex from another man in a public restroom.

Senator Craig will soon leave office, either by resignation or being voted out (aka "choosing not to run.") If he acted as accused, then he probably deserves whatever he gets.

The Idaho Statesman newspaper has been the leading force in investigating rumors of Craig's supposed habit of "cruising" public restrooms. They report that they interviewed 300 people in pursuit of their story.

When was the last time you heard of a newspaper expending that much energy in pursuit of a Democrat scandal?

Why They Won't Tolerate Discussion

To get "loads of media coverage...we have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements, and make little mention of any doubts we might have."

-- Dr. Stephen H. Schneider, Professor of Environmental Biology and Global Change at Stanford University and leading proponent of the "manmade global warming" theory, in Discover magazine, October 1989.