MRC's Baker Misleads About Iraq War Coverage Topic: NewsBusters
An Aug. 21 NewsBusters post by Brent Baker purports to detail how "The peaceful departure of the last U.S. combat forces from Iraq this week was another milestone towards the successful end of a war that many liberal journalists declared lost four years ago." Baker adds, "Since early 2009, the war in Iraq has been a relatively low priority for the national press, which has focused on decrying the war in Afghanistan and cheerleading the Obama administration’s aggressive domestic agenda."
Baker is careful to avoid one notable question: If the war was so successful as a Republican venture, why did Fox News largely refuse to cover the withdrawal of the final combat unit from Iraq?
The Associated Press reported that while MSNBC "devoted its entire prime-time footprint to the story" on Aug. 19, Fox News "devoted just under 10 minutes to the story, much of it during Shepard Smith's 7 p.m. newscast."
As we've previously noted, MRC's studies of Iraq war news coverage largely have avoided any examination of Fox News, presumably because its war coverage isn't any better, and may actually be worse, than other news outlets.
The so-called liberal media isn't the only outlet for which war coverage became a "relatively low priority." Just don't expect Baker or the MRC to admit that.
AIM's Kincaid: Gay = Treason Topic: Accuracy in Media
Accuracy in Media's Cliff Kincaid keeps up the goofy crusade of equating homosexuality with treason with his Aug. 20 column attacking Bradley Manning, suspected of leaking classified war documents to WikiLeaks.
"In addition to being openly gay, he was a humanist and atheist," Kincaid writes, adding, "The new information adds to the case, made by Accuracy in Media, that the much-criticized “Don’t ask, Don’t tell,” homosexual exclusion policy was not being strictly enforced under the Obama Administration." Kincaid goes on:
It is truly unbelievable. Who in the Army decided to make Manning, who was openly flouting the law on homosexuality, an intelligence analyst with access to classified information? There has been no follow-up from the liberal or conservative media on this sensitive point.
See? For Kincaid, gay = treason. Perhaps instead of examining Manning's childhood for the " lack of a father figure in his life," Kincaid should examine what makes him such a hateful, bitter man.
Newsmax's Last-Minute Attacks on Rick Scott Topic: Newsmax
Newsmax has already skewed its news coverage of the Republican primary for the Florida governor's race around its endorsement of Bill McCollum over Rick Scott, so it's no surprise that as election day neared, Newsmax gets in a few more licks of bias:
An Aug. 17 article highlighting an ad attacking Scott, followed by an Aug. 18 article highlighting a different anti-Scott ad.
An Aug. 18 article by Jim Meyers touting McCollum's lead over Scott in one poll.
An Aug. 20 article by Meyers headlined "Rick Scott Wants Subpoena Quashed."
An Aug. 20 interview with Dick Morris, who explained "why he thinks Bill McCollum will win not only the Republican primary against Rick Scott on Tuesday, Aug. 24, but also the general election."
An Aug. 21 article headlined "Rick Scott Took 5th Amendment 75 Times."
An Aug. 22 column by Steve Forbes headlined, "You Can't Trust Rick Scott."
An Aug. 22 endorsement of McCollum by Mike Huckabee.
An Aug. 23 article attacking an ad by Scott, headlined, "Scott's Ad Distorts Truth About McCollum and Greer."
The election is today; we'll find out soon enough what effect Newsmax's biased coverage had on the race.
Joseph Farah Is Morally Superior To You Topic: WorldNetDaily
Joseph Farah returns to the WND-Ann Coulter imbroglio by asserting his moral superiority over us lowly folks and even his fellow evangelicals. Why? Because we don't hate gays as much as he does, of course.
After starting his Aug. 23 column by saying that "I don't have any intention of beating to death my personal dustup with Ann Coulter," he declares that some of the email he has received on the subject "requires further exploration." That would be how some evangelicals aren't as anti-gay as they should be:
It's true that much of the church is lacking the moral discernment it should receive from the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Much of the church is as blind to right and wrong as the world is. That's alarming.
[...]
In other words, it's not enough to call yourself a Christian. It's not enough to go to church on Sunday. It's not enough to say some magic words. You've got to be sincere in your repentance and be obedient to His will.
have no doubts that many who call themselves Christians have encouraged Ann Coulter to take this speaking assignment. I can't judge their motives. Maybe they are enamored of her celebrity. Maybe they put their friendship with Ann above giving her what they know in their hearts to be sound advice. Maybe they're afraid of being called names and cast out of impolite conservative company. Maybe they are misguided or immature or carnal Christians. Maybe they are not Christians at all.
I don't get my notion of what being a Christian is or how to be one from other Christians. I get it from the Bible.
And understand what I am saying here: I do not suggest it is wrong for Christians to associate with homosexuals, as some have charged. In fact, if we love them – or, as Ann Coulter suggests, "like" them – we should engage them. We should bring them the truth. We should share the good news of the Gospel. And that, however uncomfortable it is, means confronting them with their sin – just as we would any other sinner.
I believe that's what Jesus meant when He told us to love our enemies. The ultimate demonstration of love for a Christian should be to evangelize the lost.
Farah concludes with another shot at Coulter and his fellow evangelicals:
There is no indication Ann Coulter has ever used one of her paid speaking engagements to do this. In fact, I'm not even sure a paid speaking engagement is an appropriate forum for evangelizing.
Nevertheless, I have heard from a few Christians who compare Coulter's paid speaking gig to Homocon with Jesus sitting down with tax collectors and sinners.
That is not good discernment.
Coulter is a political activist, a pundit, a satirist. She is not Jesus. And she is not an evangelist. No one is likely to get saved at Homocon because Ann Coulter gives a conservative stump speech.
What will happen as a result of her appearance is that a compromise will be made with sin. Sin will be condoned or appeased. A conservative icon will find accommodation with a sin that would undermine the foundations of Western civilization, the Judeo-Christian ethic and the most basic biblical standards of sexual morality.
Perhaps if Farah didn't act so arrogant about his perceived moral superiority (WND's army of lies amply demonstrate that he's not), he might be a little more persuasive.
Pat Boone Calls Obama White House A 'Mosque' Topic: WorldNetDaily
Pat Boone's latest anti-Obama screed, published Aug. 21 at WorldNetDaily, begins this way:
This isn't easy to write. It's not fun to say. It's virtually unthinkable to realize and acknowledge.
While the controversy still rises and rages on, around the proposed "Cordoba House" mosque and Muslim cultural center right on the edge of Ground Zero, where the World Trade Center stood till Sept. 11, 2001 – there is a world-famous building, dedicated by its current residents to similar purposes, in the middle of Washington, D.C.
We call it the White House.
Oh, somehow we're pretty sure Boone had no problem whatsoever writing such a thing, given his factuallychallengedanimus toward the president -- after all, this is the same guy who thinks Obama is a rodent who must be fumigated out of the building.
Speaking of factually challenged, Boone spreads a few whoppers in his column, such as claiming: "One of his close friends took him on a prolonged visit to Pakistan during those years, and the question remains about Obama's passport. If it was American, he would not have been allowed in Pakistan – so what was it?" In fact, as we've detailed, Obama could have easily -- and, accepting the most likely explanation, probably did -- travel to Pakistan on a U.S. passport, since the State Department and the New York Times were advising Americans on how to do it.
Boone also claims that Obama's "support team has spent close to $2 million suppressing all that information." That's not exactly true either; as we've noted, that's the amount of money that was spent on attorneys, and there's no evidence that amount was spent only on birther lawsuits.
And then there's this statement: "On Friday the 13th, ironically, the president hosted his second Ramadan dinner at the White House. He was not the first to do so; Hillary Clinton did the same in 1996, and a Ramadan occasion has become an expected annual affair since." Um, Hillary Clinton was never president, Pat.
Boone also makes the baseless claim that "Muslims and homosexual activists have been invitees at the White House more than any Christian or Jewish representatives have." He offers no evidence to support this claim.
A Mediaite article by Michael Triplett examines the New York Times' coverage of gays and related issues, writing that while "few papers cover the LGBT community as extensively as the New York Times, but it is far from perfect"" and concluding, "And, of course, conservative critics of the paper will always contend there is a strong pro-gay bias, not matter the facts on the ground."
How right Triplett is. An Aug. 21 NewsBusters post by Tim Graham quotes from Triplett's article, including the above statement. And what is Graham's headline onhis post? ''So-called Gay Mafia' Adding Bias to the New York Times."
Why, it's as if Triplett was reading Graham's mind. Or, more likely, he was so familiar with right-wing attacks on the Times that he knew that any non-negative coverage of gays is seen by the likes of the MRC as axiomatic of bias.
WND Solves 'Mystery' of Why People Think Obama Is Muslim Topic: WorldNetDaily
An Aug. 20 WorldNetDaily article carries the headline; "Mystery solved! Why Americans think president is Muslim." And what's the solution that WND comes up with, via right-wing writer and radio host Chuck Morse? Obama secretly is Muslim.
No, really:
"It's hard to reasonably explain Obama's cold relationship with Israel, his inaction in the face of Iran obtaining a nuclear bomb, his giving a green light to the building of a mosque near where Islamic fundamentalists hijacked passenger planes on September 11, 2001, and made them into missiles to destroy the World Trade Center in Manhattan," says Morse.
One possible explanation, says Morse, is the Islamic principle of Taqiyya – or the sanctioning of hiding one's Muslim faith.
It's ultimately fear of the president's multicultural background and suspicion about his childhood travels that drives public distrust over the president's religion, reported the Associated Press.
"Obama is the Christian son of a Kenyan Muslim father and a Kansas mother," writes Hillel Italie. "Born in Hawaii, he lived from ages 6 to 10 in predominantly Muslim Indonesia with his mother and Indonesian stepfather. His full name, Barack Hussein Obama, sounds Muslim to many."
The name "Hussein" doesn't just sound Muslim, says Morse. It is "reserved exclusively for Muslims." In addition, Islamic law upholds that children born to a Muslim father are automatically Muslim, says Morse. The president's stepfather, Lolo Soetoro, was Muslim. Obama's school records indicate that in Indonesia he enrolled as a Muslim in Catholic and Muslim schools, and in his autobiography, he acknowledged studying the Quran in Indonesia.
[...]
Morse notes that Obama confessed to converting to Christianity around the dawn of his political involvement, "under the tutelage of the racist anti-American and anti-Semitic pastor Jeremiah Wright," he said.
But leaving Islam, Morse says, is fraught with complications and deadly consequences.
"By converting out of Islam, Obama either became an apostate, a murtadd, in Arabic, or he began engaging in an Islamic-sanctioned deception and thus remained Muslim," says Morse. "If Obama truly left Islam, and actively embraced Christianity, he could be subject to severe penalties under Islamic law including the death sentence. Islamic Shariah law calls for the execution of any Muslim who becomes a murtadd."
[...]
t's conceivable, says Morse, that the president never truly left Islam at all, but professes faith in Christ as a cover for his true beliefs – an allowable offense for Muslims in certain circumstances.
The "Islamic-sanctioned deception," says Morse, remains the only explanation to escaping such punishment.
"The other possibility is that President Obama is engaging in a Taqiyya, which is a lie that is spoken in the greater interest of Islam," says Morse. "There are several quotes in the Quran and the Hadith, the Islamic holy books, that set the conditions under which it is permissible for the Muslim to lie regarding his identity and his intentions when dealing with non-Muslims and the non-Muslim world. Lying is allowed, even encouraged, by the Muslim according to Shariah law, if the lie in some way furthers the agenda of Islam.
"If Obama is indeed a secret-believing Muslim, as opposed to an apostate, the effects on public policy and on American society would be profound," adds Morse. "Whether Muslim or Christian, Barack Obama is the first 'Muslim president' in the same way that Bill Clinton was the first 'black president.'"
WND has tried to push the secret-Muslim thing at least once before, in a column by Pieder Beeli. And like Beeli, Morse gets the idea of taqiyya completely wrong. As we've previously noted, Hussein Ibish, senior fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine, has said that the idea promoted by people like Beeli that taqiyya "constitutes a carte blanche for all Muslims to lie to all non-Muslims" is false; rather, it permits Muslims to lie about their faith in order to save themselves from imminent harm or death. "If there is a major religion that does not contain a doctrine that might permit someone to recant at the stake or before the axe, I am not aware of it," Ibish adds.
Of course, the fact that right-wingers like Morse and WND love to perpetuate a lie couldn't possibly have anything to do with why people think this about Obama.
WND's Even-More-Anti-Gay-Than-Usual Week Rolls On Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily used its weekend commentary page to issue evenmore anti-gay attacks (not counting its war with Ann Coulter for her refusal to hate gays as much as WND does).
First is a column by the American Family Association's notoriously anti-gay Bryan Fischer, who claims that Coulter and Glenn Beck "have forfeited the right to consider themselves any longer culture warriors" because they don't hate gays as much as he does. Fischer calls Coulter's criticism of WND a "Benedict Arnold impersonation," sneering, "You are taking money from people who want to destroy the U.S. military and destroy the institution of marriage. Good luck getting us to believe that's a good thing." Fischer concludes by expressing hope that Beck and Coulter "will come to their senses in time to return to their posts on the wall instead of giving aid and comfort to the enemy."
This was joined by a column by Sharon Kass lamenting "the refusal of even fellow conservatives to make effective use of ex-gay information." Kass engages in a substantial bit of armchair psychology of homosexuality and its cure:
Concerning the nature, causes, prevention and healing of homosexuality and transgenderism, the basic facts are these: These conditions indicate deep-seated gender self-alienation. This is generally caused by faulty bonding and identification with the same-sex parent figure, starting at age 2 or before. Homosexual feelings are the mind's automatic attempt to heal the same-sex emotional breach. Transgender feelings result from automatic identification with an opposite-sex figure filling the emotional vacuum left by the same-sex figure. Healing is achieved psychodynamically, by getting in touch with buried feelings of shame, anxiety, depression and rage; releasing those feelings deeply; forming healthy, platonic same-sex bonds; and learning to appreciate one's natural gender without caricaturing it.
AIM Decries Accuracy As Not 'Impartial' Topic: Accuracy in Media
You know you're in the ConWeb rabbit hole when Accuracy in Media is attacking accuracy in media.
An Aug. 20 blog post by Don Irvine criticizes the Associated Press' efforts to no longer refer to the "Ground Zero mosque," since it is an Islamic community center, not solely a mosque, and it is located two blocks from Ground Zero, not at Ground Zero itself. "So much for the idea that the AP was an impartial wire service," Irvine writes.
And we thought being accurate was a sign of impartiality...
Coulter, WND Ratchet Up War of Words Topic: WorldNetDaily
The war of words between WorldNetDaily and Ann Coulter over WND dropping Coulter as a speaker at its "Taking America Back" conference, with Coulter denouncing WND on the Aug. 21 edition of Fox News' "Red Eye," calling them "fake Christians trying to get publicity."
In response, Farah issued the following statement: "Coulter called me a 'publicity whore' for my decision. But look who is on television talking about this – throwing mud, name-calling, smearing not only me but my entire staff. I will not engage in the kind of ad hominem attacks that have made Coulter so famous and that are making her even more of a media darling in this age of reckless anger and character assassination for the sake of entertainment. Every day, since we made this decision at WND, I thank God for giving me the clarity of mind and discernment to make the right choice."
As to Coulter's new accusation that she was never even booked for the conference, Farah had this to say: "Coulter agreed to speak. She was retained through her speakers bureau on the basis of a previous fee for an unfulfilled engagement. We promoted her appearance at the event for six months in a high-profile manner with no objections by Coulter. We were just about to pay the balance due on the remainder of the speaker's fee when this bombshell dropped about her keynoting the Homocon event in New York one week after our conference. If Coulter didn't consider herself booked, she had ample opportunity to tell me that during the last six months and during our e-mail conversations. Knowing how quick-witted she is, it would likely have been the first reaction she had, rather than one she had to think about for days. We haven't asked Coulter to refund the money we paid to her for a speech she will never deliver. But, if I were making the charge that I was never booked, I would be more than willing to refund the money I was paid by supposedly 'fake Christians,' 'swine' and 'publicity whores.'"
Farah's sudden disavowal of "the kind of ad hominem attacks that have made Coulter so famous" is laughable considering that Farah has engaged in them so frequently, particularly against critics of WND (as we know all too well). And Farah mentionednothing about ad hominem attacks when Coulter was first announced as a speaker for the WND conference; to the contrary, Farah said that "reading and listening to Ann is always informative, engaging and fun." Apparently, Coulter stopped being "fun" for Farah when he became her target.
WND continues:
Farah said he will deal only with the principles involved in the issues raised by Coulter's appearance at GOProud's Homocon event, the facts behind WND's decision to drop Coulter from the WND's Miami conference Sept. 16-18.
"I have no desire to extend this public debate with Coulter, for whom I have lost so much respect, and I certainly won't trade personal attacks," he said. "The issue for us remains clear: GOProud, a group that supports same-sex marriage and open homosexuality in the U.S. military ranks, should not be embraced or validated by people who accept the biblical and traditional definition of marriage and the understanding that armies and navies have one purpose – to defeat enemies. My position is that homosexual behavior is a sin that should not be affirmed, condoned, encouraged or laughed about."
If WND is so principled about hating gays, why did it hire Matt Sanchez, who once starred in several gay porn videos, to be an Iraq war correspondent? What "principles" were involved there?
WND Baselessly Blames 'Obamacare' for FDA's Shutdown of Climic Topic: WorldNetDaily
An Aug. 16 WorldNetDaily article by Bob Unruh reads a lot like a press release for a Colorado clinic that was shut down by the Food and Drug Administration:
Obamacare has landed in Denver, where doctors at a pain-management clinic have been told they must stop treating patients with a successful process that extracts their own adult stem cells, cultivates them and then reinjects them to stimulate growth in damaged limbs.
The word of the dispute comes from Dr. Christopher Centeno of the Centeno Schultz clinic, whose Regenexx, or Regenerative Sciences Inc., has been successfully treating patients with the process for several years.
Centeno confirms his work provides a much less costly and significantly more convenient alternative to knee or hip joint replacement surgeries, which sometimes require a year or more of recuperation.
But the Food and Drug Administration, in the wake of the adoption of President Obama's plan to nationalize health-care decision making, has ordered the company to halt, because the federal agency views the process as making "drugs."
But Unruh offers no proof, beyond a company representative claiming it, that the shutdown of the clinic has anything whatsoever to do with "Obamacare." Indeed, Unruh contradicts the claim by noting that the FDA's action against the clinic began in 2008.
Unruh basically takes Regenerative Services' side, even repeating anonymous claims supplied by the company praising its treatment. By contrast, he pulls statements from an FDA press release regarding its most recent action, quotes from "a 2008 letter to the company" from the FDA, and a statement that "An FDA spokeswoman provided the announcement to WND but did not elaborate."
But five days before Unruh's article was published, the FDA's Law Blog went into detail about the agency's action against Regenerative Sciences, which Unruh made no mention of. Thus, Unruh fails to report one key element of the FDA's action: that "Regenerative manufactures a biological product (stem cells) that is adulterated because it is not manufactured according to current good manufacturing practices ('cGMP') while using components that are shipped in interstate commerce."
Further, while Unruh writes that "Centeno told WND his company will fight," the blog states that "Regenerative has agreed to discontinue production of the Regenexx Product while this case is pending."
In an Aug. 20 interview with Newsmax, Dick Morris said regarding the Nevada Senate race between Harry Reid and Sharron Angle:
On primary day, Angle was about nine ahead when she got the nomination. Then Reid dumped a million dollars in negative media,lying about her record, taking a quote from her saying "I want to phase out Social Security and Medicare" and said, "See? She wants to eliminate Social Security and Medicare." Now, with that ad, she fell to nine -- seven behind. And you know what Churchill said, a lie can make it halfway around the world before the truth gets its shoes on in the morning. So what happened was after Reid had done that, I went out and was very active in raising money for an independent expenditure for Angle, and we raised $400,000, and we put on the facts, which was the full quote, which was, "I want to phase out Social Security and Medicare" and said, "See? I want to phase out Social Security and Medicare's method of financing, so the Democrats can't raid the money and use it for their budget deficit." So when people saw the truth of what Angle had dsaid, they turned against Reid, andnow Angle is three points ahead of Reid. The published polls have them tied, but my own poll has Angle ahead. So now we've answered -- and when you ask people who's telling the truth about Angle's position, Angle beats Reid by 20 points on that now. So now we can go over to the offense. First you deny the allegation, then you shoot the allegator.
Newsmax interviewer Ashley Martella sycophantically adds, "Dick Morris, the truth detector."
But Morris isn't telling the truth. As we noted the last time Morris told this lie, Angle did in fact flatly claim that she wants to phase out Social Security and Medicare without qualification. It was only after she won the primary that she modified her position to the one Morris is now pushing.
Klayman Complains It's Too Hard to Remove A President He Hates Topic: WorldNetDaily
The litigious Larry Klayman writes in his Aug. 20 WorldNetDaily column:
With a system of government that does not allow for a rapid transfer of power when justified, we are now stuck with someone who is by deed and word a terrorist sympathizer in the Ramadan Inn for at least the next two and one half years. Christians and Jews, not Muslims, are feeling a greater and greater sense of alienation, if not anger– and they are the overwhelming majority of our population. The economy appears to be taking a dive into an even greater abyss, and the American people are still suffering. Overseas, the Iranian mullahs – true believers in their Muslim faith – are on the verge of constructing nuclear bombs, and the rest of the world is going to hell in a hand basket.
And, what makes matters even worse, the opposition party – the Republicans – continue to just play games, only maneuvering for the fall elections. Even a turnover of the House of Representatives, or the Senate, will not be able to remove Obama and prevent more harm to our country and its values and heritage.
That's why however radical it may sound, we need a constitutional amendment, at a minimum, to create a legal mechanism other than impeachment that can peacefully and quickly remove a renegade president who has and is abusing his great powers at the expense of the nation and the world. This mechanism should not be based simply on the president having committed high crimes or misdemeanors, but based on him or her having desecrated the principles of our nation. Having played a role at Judicial Watch in the impeachment of Bill Clinton (who was never convicted), I am all too painfully aware of this having turned into a dog and pony show for Republicans to conduct a public-relations campaign designed only to wound the Democratic Party and Al Gore in time for the 2000 elections. It actually caused harm to the nation, since as Republicans played games on Capitol Hill, Osama bin Laden had other things in mind.
Ofcourse, the reason is so difficult to remove a president is to prevent a litigious partisan like Klayman from trying to force a removal for elevating mere policy differences into so-called "desecrated principles."
Joseph Farah's arrogant lecture of Ann Coulter on how "homosexuality literally destroys societies" is not the only entry in today's edition of WorldNetDaily's even-more-anti-gay-than-usual week. Alan Keyes also joins in the gay-bashing fun:
As I understand it that old expression refers to the maxim that, though the Great Deceiver can appear in many alluring human disguises, the discerning can see through them because he must always have a place to hide his tail. It's his "tell," as the poker players might say. I was reminded of that when I read of Joseph Farah's reason for dropping Ann Coulter from the list of speakers at WND's Taking America Back National Conference. Of course, it also came to my mind as I read of Glenn Beck's careless belittling of the "gay marriage" issue during an interview on Bill O'Reilly's show. (By the way, O'Reilly's "tell" is his so called "pro-choice" position on the unalienable right to life.) For Coulter, Beck and other acclaimed so-called conservatives, the gay agenda is their political "tell."
As I pointed out in a recent blog post, "It is no accident that the elite forces seeking to overturn government of by and for the people are using issues like homosexual marriage and abortion to challenge and overturn the American people's assertion of the God-endowed right to sovereignty over the Constitution. These are issues that involve the assumption that a right is an arbitrary exercise of freedom which in no way depends for its existence on respect for God or the natural law arising from His will as our Creator." (On my blog I have written extensively on the corrosive effect the acceptance of "gay marriage" must have on the foundations of America's constitutional, democratic republic. I have collected these writings in the series "Free to be Slaves" for the benefit of readers who want to explore the subject further.)
[...]
One last observation: Beck's display of contempt for the "gay marriage" issue is clear evidence that he has no respect for the political authority of God. Is it just a coincidence that it comes shortly before an event meant to promote him as a pious and principled advocate of the Constitution? The "Restoring Honor Rally" is clearly meant to cement his MSM-scripted role as the spokesman for that majority of tea-party patriots, who sincerely revere God's place as the author of all unalienable right. The MSM will undoubtedly tout attendance at the event as evidence of support for his patently false view that promotion of "gay marriage" poses no threat to our Constitution, sovereignty and liberty; that the majority of Americans are willing to allow the legal abandonment of the natural family and a redefinition of rights that makes them figments of government power rather than authoritative assertions of God's will for justice.
MRC Back to Hating Supermarket Tabloids Again Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center's latest love affair with supermarket tabloids is apparently over.
In an Aug. 20 NewsBusters post (and TimesWatch item), Tim Graham huffed that it was "shocking" to see the New York Times "spreading the latest headlines from the Globe supermarket tabloid" in a story about misperceptions that President Obama is a Muslim:
This must be more publicity for a Globe tabloid concoction than you'd see out of Fox News or the Rush Limbaugh program. But it's used to illustrate how the president is bedeviled by lies. Stolberg didn't seem to consider that the Globe and other supermarket tabloids also published stories about Laura Bush divorcing President Bush, of Bush is "back on the bottle," and so on. But that didn't seem to outrage the New York Times.
This is a change from two years ago, when the various MRC operations were touting tabloids for exposing John Edwards' extramarital affair; Graham himself complained back then that the media was "ignoring the National Enquirer’s tale of John Edwards visiting what the tabloid claims is his mistress and the mother of his child."
The ConWeb, including the MRC, has flip-flopped on tabloids for years, promoting them when they attack liberals and denouncing them when they stop being useful by highlighting conservative scandals.
Further, as Media Matters' Jamison Foser notes, Graham's complaint that the media didn't express concern about tabloids that "published stories about Laura Bush divorcing President Bush" ignores the fact that the media repeated similar tabloid stories about the Clintons. Foser adds: "Would [Graham] be happy if the Times had responded to Globe reports of a coming Bush divorce by devoting 2,000 words to tallying up the number of nights the couple spent apart? Of course not: He’d have denounced it as evidence of “liberal bias,” and he’d still be doing so for years to come."
