Campaign Financing

Piers Morgan and Frank Rich Are Scared Romney Could Buy the Election
By Matt Hadro | April 27, 2012 | 12:58 PM EDT

Liberal journalists Frank Rich and Piers Morgan have teamed up to bash conservatives before, and they raised new fears on Thursday that conservative "rich white men" could buy the election through super PACs. Rich admitted on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight he was "seriously worried Mitt Romney could buy this election," even though to date President Obama has raised more campaign money than Romney.

However, the media also have extraordinary power to influence this election on a daily basis. Liberal media bias may be a non-issue for liberals like Rich and Morgan, but the daily slant on campaign coverage from the three major networks and cable news could have a big hand in tipping the balance toward the Democrats this fall.

WashPost's Hamburger: ALEC Conservative Group with Koch Money; Liberal Critics Simply 'Advocacy Groups'
By Ken Shepherd | April 13, 2012 | 11:32 AM EDT

Using the Trayvon Martin tragedy as their hook, liberal lobby groups have set their sights on the conservative-leaning American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and its corporate donors, blaming the Sanford, Fla., shooting on the Sunshine State's Stand Your Ground law. ALEC supports conservative legislative efforts at the state level such as Stand Your Ground, as well as pro-business legislative priorities of interest to many food and drink companies.

But in reporting on recent victories by liberal groups in pushing companies like PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, and McDonalds to drop their support of ALEC, the Washington Post's Tom Hamburger failed to clue readers into the liberal allegiances of "advocacy groups" attacking ALEC and its corporate donors.

NBC: Most See Prosecution of John Edwards As 'Waste of Taxpayer Money'
By Kyle Drennen | April 12, 2012 | 12:17 PM EDT

Adding to past reports defending disgraced former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards against charges of violating campaign finance laws, on Thursday's NBC Today, correspondent Lisa Myers proclaimed: "Now, for all the dislike of Edwards, the public does seem to have serious doubts about the merits of this case. Most surveyed say they believe this prosecution is a waste of taxpayer money."

Presumably, Myers was referring to a Public Policy Polling survey in North Carolina that she had cited earlier in the report about jury selection beginning in the trial of Edwards: "A new survey by Public Policy Polling shows most North Carolinians have an unfavorable opinion of Edwards and most already think he's guilty of the charges." Then why would they think prosecution of the case would be a "waste of taxpayer money"?

WaPo's Woodward Demands Media Combat Super-PAC 'Poison' With 'Clear-Eyed View' of Candidates
By Kyle Drennen | March 19, 2012 | 3:44 PM EDT

Appearing on Sunday's NBC Meet the Press, Washington Post associate editor Bob Woodward mounted his high horse in condemning the role of Super-PACs in the 2012 race: "...under the Supreme Court decision all of the new 21st century robber barons, let's call them what they are, can put tens of millions of dollars into the campaign. It's negative, it's poison, it's venom..."

Woodward then laughably told viewers who would protect them from the villains: "...we – NBC, The New York Times, Washington Post, the people in the media...we're going to be tested to say can we present a clear-eyed view of who the candidates are and not just have this negative atmosphere." The only problem with that call to action is that the media have acted like the largest Democratic Super-PAC money can buy.

Gayle King Attends Obama Fundraiser; ABC Omits She's a CBS Anchor
By Matthew Balan | March 19, 2012 | 11:51 AM EDT

On Saturday, ABC's Devin Dwyer reported how President Obama gave "a rousing speech to 600 donors in Chicago and closed it with an intimate appeal before 40 'friends' that included...Oprah Winfrey....Oprah was flanked at her table by...longtime friend and companion Gayle King [and] Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett." However, Dwyer failed to mention that King is co-anchor of CBS This Morning.

Though it isn't currently known whether the CBS on-air personality donated to the Obama reelection campaign at this event, she donated $35,800 to the Obama Victory Fund during the third quarter of 2011 - before she started working at CBS - and $30,800 to the Democratic National Committee during the same time period.

Left-Wing Newspaper, SuperPAC Use 'Crazy Rumor' to Attack GOP Governor
By Randy Hall | March 18, 2012 | 6:42 PM EDT

The Portland, Maine, Press Herald and the American Bridge 21st Century SuperPAC are accusing Maine Governor Paul LePage of Operating a vehicle Under the Influence (OUI) even though the GOP official never drives since a state trooper always transports him in a state vehicle.

According to the Maine Wire website, liberal hedge-fund billionaire S. Donald Sussman recently spent $4 million to purchase an ownership share in the daily newspaper, while the Political Action Committee was founded by Media Matters President David Brock.

CNN's Burnett Lets Axelrod Dodge Question of Giving Back Maher's Million
By Tom Blumer | March 16, 2012 | 12:47 AM EDT

From David Axelrod's Magic Land of the Double Standard: "Cleanup attempt at CNN. Bring the hazmat suits."

Tonight on CNN, as reported by several outlets (Mediaite, Politico, LA Times, but not the Associated Press, which as of 11:45 p.m. on Thursday hadn't done a national story about Maher in 10 days), David Axelrod told Erin Burnett, in the process of dodging a question about whether an Obama Super-PAC would give back Bill Maher's $1 million contribution, said that Maher's outrageous, misogynist comments against mostly conservative women really aren't as important as Rush Limbaugh's one-time, apologized-for hits at Sandra Fluke:

Tavis Smiley: Obama 'One of the Worst Hypocrites in the Country' on Campaign Finance Reform
By Noel Sheppard | March 15, 2012 | 9:38 AM EDT

While virtually all of the Obama-loving, Super PAC-bashing media have given the President a pass for his campaign finance hypocrisy, PBS's Tavis Smiley stepped off the bandwagon Sunday to speak the inconvenient truth.

During his Tavis and West radio show, Smiley said Obama's "one of the worst hypocrites in the country is he now on campaign finance reform" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Mark Shields: 'John Roberts, Sam Alito - Thank You' for 'Absolutely Screwing' Up Our Political System
By Noel Sheppard | March 10, 2012 | 3:50 PM EST

Syndicated columnist Mark Shields on Friday excoriated Supreme Court justices Samuel Alito and John Roberts for "taking our system and absolutely screwing it up completely."

Appearing on PBS's Inside Washington, Shields was complaining about how "these campaigns have been taken over totally by Super PACs" as a result of the Citizens United decision (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Rush Rips AP's Rugaber for 'Intentionally Misleading' in Report on Unemployment Claims
By Tom Blumer | March 8, 2012 | 5:24 PM EST

Earlier today (at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog), I noted the press's ridiculously forgiving coverage of today's reported increase in unemployment claims while concentrating primarily on RTT News's assertion that the unemployment rate should continue to come down as long as weekly claims stay below 400,000. Three years ago, Christopher Rugaber's threshold at the Associated Press, also known to yours truly as the Administration's Press, was 325,000. He has since raised it (including in today's report) to 375,000.

This afternoon, Rush Limbaugh expanded on wire service's knee-jerk defense of mediocre-to-bad economic news, taking particular umbrage at the thoroughly misleading headline at Rugaber's report, as well as his first paragraph, which I will relay first before posting part of Rush's reaction:

NYTimes Again Tries to Get Feds Interested in Probing GOP Fundraising It Doesn't Like
By Clay Waters | February 28, 2012 | 12:43 PM EST

Another campaign cycle, another chance for the New York Times to sic the government on GOP fund-raising groups? The gang from 2010 (Mike McIntire and Michael  Luo, pictured) got back together for Sunday’s front-page story, “Fine Line Between ‘Super PACs’ and Campaigns.”

Luo in particular wrote several articles in 2010 suggesting the IRS and the Federal Election Commission might find it worthwhile to investigate GOP-affiliated groups making campaign ads, with Karl Rove a particular target. The Times’s concern over questionable campaign funding has certainly risen since 2008, when Obama scandals were greeted with nothing-to-see-here headline like this, from October 7, 2008: "G.O.P. Query Involves 1% of Giving to Obama." Sunday's piece is not as explicit (Obama is indulging in Super PAC's as well, as the reporters briefly note) but the implication remains:

Lefty Professor Sachs Hates Being Called Out On Adelson-Soros Double Standard
By Mark Finkelstein | February 22, 2012 | 8:42 AM EST

Sometimes, an image says it all.  Check out the screengrab after the jump of Jeffrey Sachs.  The lefty professor is unabashedly angry at Joe Scarborough.  

Why? Because the Morning Joe host called him out on his egregious double-standard. Sachs had labeled Republican Super PAC funder Sheldon Adelson "completely unlikable" and said he shouldn't be involved in American politics. But when Scarborough asked whose approach he prefers: Adelson's--who gives openly in his own name--or George Soros's--who funnels his money through myriad corporations to hide his influence--Sachs suddenly claimed he wasn't attacking one side or the other. Righhht.  Video after the jump.