Meet McCain 'birthers': ABC, CBS, NBC, FactCheck, N.Y. Times, more

Many of the same news organizations and research groups today dismissing concerns about Barack Obama's constitutional eligibility were far more eager to cover the issue when Republican presidential candidate John McCain was the subject. An archive search shows the question of McCain's birth certificate and his eligibility to be president was actively pursued by Democratic Party activists and the mainstream media in the run-up to the 2008 presidential election, despite the ridicule now heaped upon those questioning Obama's qualifications under Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution. In an article published Feb. 28, 2008, months before McCain was nominated for...

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Abu Dhabi is the future base of News Corp: Murdoch (Fair and Balanced comes to the Middle East?)

News Corp chief Rupert Murdoch announced on Tuesday that the Gulf emirate of Abu Dhabi is to become the headquarters of his global media empire in the Middle East.

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Runaway Media Hype in Toyota Prius Crash: Despite Media Reports, Cars Never Touched

Every single news agency has turned their attention to a car crash in California involving a Toyota Prius. The driver claimed the accelerator got stuck on a California freeway and Patrol offers had to slow them down. It's a story that makes an instant celebrity, and the media loves to hype it. However: Anyone that has driven a Prius knows that such a car has not the power to 'JUMP' forward no matter how quick and hard you press the gas pedal. Furthermore, the ability to accelerate in a Prius is so modest, not even the most paranoid driver would...

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Is There Too Much Worry About the Debt? (LOL!)

Judging from the noises emanating from some corners of Washington these days, the federal debt has assumed pride of place as the source of national anxiety. President Obama has called for independent commissions to seek ways to reduce spending. The media are filled with talk of America's path of financial suicide; economists warn that the debt crisis in Greece is a dry run for the cataclysm that awaits America and the world as U.S. deficits and debt balloon. The numbers are undoubtedly big, running into many trillions of dollars. The percentages are also daunting, with projections of total gross debt...

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Lies, Damned Lies, and Expert Testimony

Before we get rolling, a pet peeve. Entirely too many reporters are too lazy to check their quotes. Time and again, they will say in their lede that "some wag referred to lies, damned lies, and statistics." No, no, no. That was not "some wag;" that was the greatest of all American humorists, Mark Twain. Twain's Autobiography attributes the quote to the quick-witted British Prime Minister, Benjamin Disreali. But Disraeli's biographers can find no trace of it. Apparently, Twain attributed it to someone else who was conveniently dead, to fend off attacks for using that shameful word, "damned," I've modified...

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Glenn Beck: okay in 2010?

I know many doubt Beck's reliability, and I've only been watching in 2010. What I have seen with my own two eyes has been always rock solid and at times heroic. The history he is teaching strikes me as being exactly what this nation needs.

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Liberal Media Bias: Paul Krugman vs. ... Paul Krugman

The New York Times should move their economics “expert” Paul Krugman to the humor section. James Taranto has this anecdote on Krugman at yesterday’s WSJ Best of the Web Today: Former Enron adviser Paul Krugman takes note in his New York Times column of what the calls “the incredible gap that has opened up between the parties”:Today, Democrats and Republicans live in different universes, both intellectually and morally.“What Democrats believe,” he says “is what textbook economics says”:But that’s not how Republicans see it. Here’s what Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, had to say when...

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Craig Crawford quits MSNBC, tired of being booked to do “boring” hit pieces on Palin

Under different circumstances, I’d take this as a sign that the lefty commentariat’s fascination with mindless Palin-bashing might be starting to wane. But (a) it’s clearly not true, and (b) it’s really not true for the modern-day Murrow, whose program is now apt to feature more mentions of Sarahcuda in a given week than Barack Obama. No foolin’. Take away Palin and their prime time line-up would turn into some sort of hard-left version of “Wake Up and Smile.” “Three months short of my current contract,” he wrote, “I sent the following to the boss, [MSNBC President] Phil Griffin: ‘Phil,...

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Leaked documents reveal GOP plan to use scare tactics to raise money

National GOP leaders are doing damage control today after a Politico scoop lifted the curtain on the party's plan to tap voters' "fear" in the coming campaign season.

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New Media a Key Element in Reagan Legacy

Howard Wolfson, a very savvy Democrat political operative, was recently quoted as frustrated that the ability to blame all of our current economic troubles on George W. Bush is not working for President Obama. He noted that his party was able to run against Republican Herbert Hoover’s Depression-era presidency for 30 years. “That doesn’t seem to be the case here,” he said.

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CNN's Epic Meltdown

Get out the defibrillator quick: CNN is dying. What other conclusion can be drawn from the Nielsen ratings from February, which showed the once dominant news network finishing in fifth place for the first time ever- and now trailing CNBC and Headline News as well as its main competitors, FOX and MSNBC? The numbers are, as you can imagine, pretty stark. Wolf Blitzer's show, The Situation Room, was down 44% in total viewers in February. Campbell Brown, Larry King, and Anderson Cooper all posted their lowest ratings ever in February among total viewers, declining 50%, 55%, and 59%, respectively. The...

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The Media, Extremists and Conspiracies, Part Two

The Politico piece, "Conservatives Target Their Own Fringe," attempts to identify various extremists within the conservative movement, including the "militia" movement. Writer Kenneth P. Vogel suggests that they include the Oath Keepers who helped co-sponsor the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). But Vogel's effort to link this group to the militia movement, which some people associate with the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, is a charge not backed up by any evidence in the article. However, the Oath Keepers do have some explaining to do, such as why they associate with Russia Today television favorite Alex Jones, the prominent 9/11 "truther."...

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