The national and battleground state polls are all showing tremendous momentum for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney since the first debate.

Despite this, with the absence of conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer, the entire panel of PBS’s Inside Washington Friday – comprised of the Washington Post’s Colby King, PBS’s Mark Shields, Politico’s Evan Thomas, and NPR’s Nina Totenberg – unanimously stated that if the election were held today, President Obama would win (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

Since September 2, NewsBusters has been showcasing the most egregious bias the Media Research Center has uncovered over the years — four quotes for each of the 25 years of the MRC, 100 quotes total — all leading up to our big 25th Anniversary Gala next week.

Click here for blog posts recounting the worst of 1988 through 2003. Today, the worst bias of 2004: CBS’s Morley Safer eulogized Ronald Reagan by saying “I don’t think history has any reason to be kind to him;” the New York Times asks George W. Bush if he feels “personal responsibility” for 9/11; and Dan Rather finds “exclusive” documents regarding Bush and his Vietnam-era service in the National Guard. [Quotes and video below the jump.]

A calendar that compares Barack Obama to Jesus Christ may not get too much media play. It could be an uncomfortable reminder of the time when journalists, such as Evan Thomas, compared the President to "God." 

One of the hottest selling items at the Democratic National Convention is a 2013 calendar titled "Keep the Dream" that features 16 flattering photos of the First Family and their dogs. In honor of the President's birth month, a picture of Obama's birth certificate was used for August. The caption read "Heaven Sent" and proceeded to quote John 3:16 underneath, as if he were the actual Messiah.

Appearing as a panel member on Friday's Inside Washington on PBS, Politico's Evan Thomas brought up the term "death panels" as he advised that America will some day have to stop "spending so much money" on people who are near death. As he brought up a few examples of reforms for American health care, he ended up proposing:

[Update: 2012-07-27 19:04: Newsweek's Tina Brown has sent a notice to staff: "Barry Diller would like to make it clear that he did not say on the earnings call as reported that Newsweek is going digital in September. He made the uncontroversial, industry-wide observation that print is moving in the direction of digital."]

According to an announcement on Wednesday, Newsweek magazine will "likely" go digital and switch to an online presence. Despite hemorrhaging money for years, the publication has been a steady voice of liberalism, both in the magazine and when contributors and editors appeared on  television. On June 9, 2009, managing editor Evan Thomas famously told Hardball anchor Chris Matthews: "[Barack] Obama's standing above the country, above — above the world. He's sort of God." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

As the magazine's circulation plunged, the publication became even more shrill. A January 23, 2012 cover story wondered, "Why Are Obama’s Critics So Dumb?" In 2010, liberal editor Tina Brown took over and Newsweek merged with the Daily Beast. Appearing on the July 6, 2011 edition of Morning Joe, Brown compared conservative Republicans blocking tax increases to "suicide bombers."