Criticizing the President Topic: Newsmax
In a Sept. 19 article, NewsMax leaves the false impression that George H.W. Bush has never said a bad thing about Bill Clinton.
The article noted that in an appearance on Monday Night Football (which, of course, is the ideal venue to discuss political issues), "Bush Sr. declined to say a single negative word about his successor" even though Clinton "bashed and trashed his son on everything from his handling of the Hurricane Katrina crisis to the Iraq war."
Anti-Bush = Anti-American Topic: Newsmax
NewsMax is trying to get a new meme started: If you oppose the Iraq war, you're anti-American.
A Sept. 22 article called Cindy Sheehan an "anti-American war protester," a description approved by Rush Limbaugh. A Sept. 25 article on anti-war protests in Washington described what it called "the distinct anti-American attitude and unbridled hatred that emanated from much of the crowd."
But the examples NewsMax cites of "anti-American" statements by Sheehan and other protesters are, in fact, merely anti-Bush statements. It also quotes Sheehan as saying "This country is not worth dying for" and suggesting she was talking about America, when there is evidence Sheehan was talking about Iraq.
If criticizing the president is "anti-American," what does that make NewsMax, which poured forth a constant barrage of criticism of President Clinton (which continues to this day)?
The paper declined, however, to dispute the authenticity of a videotape showing a copy of the Able Danger chart, which was displayed by Rep. Curt Weldon during a May 2002 speech to the Heritage Foundation.
It's not until later in the article that NewsMax quietly admits that its claim that a 2002 video is proof that something happened in 2000 is "circumstantial."
Style Violation Topic: CNSNews.com
In a Sept. 22 CNSNews.com article on the Senate Judiciary Committee's vote on John Roberts' Supreme Court nomination, Melanie Hunter departs from CNS style of using negative terms like "pro-abortion" to describe liberal groups and refers to the National Abortion Federation as an "abortion rights group."
Will Hunter be disciplined for her use of accurate language?
While the Publisher and Editor of The New York Times earn $2 million and $650,000 respectively, for entry level journalists they pay below the poverty level (should the worker have a family of five.)
While newspapers are notorious for the meager pay of their journalists (a trend I was on the receiving end of), Ombud's "family of five" disclaimer illustrates the hilarious extremes that some will go to attack journalists. I defy Ombud to come up with an example of an "entry level" journalist at the Times with a non-working wife and three children.
When it's not being unintentionally funny, Ombud seems to be calling for more unionization of newsrooms. Why is that appearing on a anti-union conservative website?
Another Missing Fact At CNS Topic: CNSNews.com
In a Republican-fluffing Sept. 22 CNSNews.com article, Randy Hall once again fails to include pertinent facts in his story.
Reporting Rep. Tom Davis' remarks regarding the joint House-Senate committee to investigate the response to Hurricane Katrina, Hall devotes nine paragraphs to Davis' defense of the commission but just part of one paragraph to Democratic criticism of it -- quoting House minority leader Nancy Pelosi calling it "a partisan 'whitewash' and a 'sham'" -- and, more importantly, no explanation of why exactly Democrats oppose the commission.
Nowhere in his article does Hall note that the committee will be controlled by Republicans and that Democrats will have no subpoena power. Nor does he note that, unlike the Republicans, Democrats have sought an independent commission to investigate.
New Article: NewsBusted Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center starts a blog -- which is just as biased and questionably sourced as the regular MRC stuff. Read more.
Bogus Poll Watch Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily's man on the meaningless-poll beat, Joe Kovacs, trumpets the results of yet another silly opt-in poll as important news.
Of course, if the results didn't make President Bush look good, Kovacs wouldn't be doing this article.
The Daily Les, 9/21 Topic: The Daily Les
After another long break, Les Kinsolving returns to the White House briefing room. For some reason, he has stopped copying-and-pasting from the transcript; his WorldNetDaily article is written like a regular story (or, at least, what passes for one at WND). Which is too bad, because he actually asked a good question: "Scott, a two-part. First, do you recall when the last time the President vetoed any bill?"
The second part of that question, alas, is vintage Kinsolving; Apparently, even he was so ashamed for asking it that there is no mention of it in his WND article:
KINSOLVING: Publisher Pinch Sulzberger, of The New York Times, which is now laying off 500 more people after laying off 200 more people earlier this year announced that they "will continue to provide journalism of the highest quality." And my question: What does the President believe that claim says about the 700 they're getting rid of? And wouldn't it be better to get rid of Sulzberger, who tried for so long to save two editors who refused to fire that monumental liar, Jayson Blair, from Maryland?
McCLELLAN: They're not decisions the President of the United States makes.
Why make a big deal about Jayson Blair being from Maryland? Is Kinsolving subliminally telling us that like Blair, he too is a "monumental liar from Maryland"?
Wonkette vs. WND Topic: WorldNetDaily Wonkette notes WorldNetDaily's obsession with gays, in particular, its need to name today's meaningless poll question on the subject of "Corporate America's move to become 'gay'-friendly": "Bending Over Backwards."
An Eyebrow-Raiser Topic: CNSNews.com
In a Sept. 21 CNSNews.com article, Randy Hall leaves out one important fact regarding New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.
While Hall accurately notes that Nagin "was a vice president and general manager at Cox Communications before leaving the cable company to join the New Orleans mayoral race in 2002," Hall failed to note that Nagin was also a Republican until just before entering the New Orleans mayoral race.
That missing fact undermines Hall's claim later in the article that "Nagin raised eyebrows across the state" when, in the 2003 governor's race, he endorsed Republican Bobby Jindal over Democrat Kathleen Blanco. Given that Nagin had been a Democrat for only a year or so before that endorsement, we suspect that fewer eyebrows were raised than Hall thinks.
Quote of the Day Topic: WorldNetDaily
"When 75 percent of New Orleans residents had left the city, it was primarily immoral, welfare-pampered blacks that stayed behind and waited for the government to bail them out."
-- Jesse Lee Peterson, Sept. 21 WorldNetDaily column.
And as a bonus, Peterson also repeats the lie about "2,000 parked school buses, unused and underwater."
Posted by Terry K.
at 10:34 AM EDT
Updated: Wednesday, September 21, 2005 10:40 AM EDT
The Article WND Won't Be Writing About Topic: WorldNetDaily
In using a Sept. 20 article to regurgitate a U.S. News & World Report item on disgraced ex-FEMA director Michael Brown, WorldNetDaily overlooked a much more interesting item in that same U.S. News report: that the Republican National Committee used e-mails and a "daily conference call to about 80 pundits, GOP-leaning radio and TV hosts, and newsmakers" to forward "insider info" promoting John Roberts' nomination to the Supreme Court.
We suspect that WND wasn't in on those conference calls, given WND editor Joseph Farah's opposition to Roberts. But will anyone else in the ConWeb admit to it? Given the ConWeb's reluctance to tell the truth about themselves (i.e., NewsMax's long-awaited admission that it's funded by Richard Mellon Scaife), we're guessing not.
Kincaid vs. Newsweek (and Self-Dealing) Topic: Accuracy in Media
Accuracy in Media's Cliff Kincaid once again obscures the truth to bash Newsweek over that Koran-in-the-toilet story -- and engages in some undisclosed self-dealing in the process.
In a Sept. 20 column, Kincaid once again paints the entire Newsweek article as "false," even though the Pentagon has indeed confirmed allegations of Koran abuse (just not in the manner the Newsweek article described). He also insists that Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Richard Myers never absolved the Newsweek article of sparking riots in Afghanistan that killed several people. But he ignores the views, relayed by Myers, of Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, commander of Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan, that the violence was "not at all tied to the article in the magazine."
Kincaid also fails to disclose his personal interest in the topic: The little organization he heads, America's Survival Inc., has been agitating to extradite Newsweek's Michael Isikoff to Afghanistan over the deaths purportedly caused by the article.
Kincaid needs to tell his readers why he is using his position at AIM to promote views designed to benefit an organization he heads.
