Liz Sidoti

AP's Liz Sidoti, Despite Angst Over Obama's 'Credibility,' Still Has Blinders Fully Engaged
By Tom Blumer | June 10, 2013 | 9:06 PM EDT

When last seen at NewsBusters in February, the Associated Press's Liz Sidoti was talking down to the public about its "collective obsession with the trivial" less than a week after AP reporter Ken Thomas wasted 500 words of print and bandwidth on how Florida Sen. Marco Rubio took a sip of water during a speech.

Now Sidoti, who is the AP's National Political Editor, is quite worried -- actually, obsessed -- that the public might waking up and contrasting what President Barack Obama is delivering compared to what he has promised at a most inopportune time, and that "controversies" might overtake Dear Leader's second-term agenda (bolds are mine):

AP's Sidoti Bemoans 'Collective Obsession With the Trivial' as Its Business Reporters Whitewash the Economy
By Tom Blumer | February 18, 2013 | 12:33 PM EST

Liz Sidoti's offering this morning at the Associated Press, which is clearly a serious competitor for Worst AP Item Ever, carries the "column" label. As such, I suppose we're expected to accept the idea that the "analysis" offered is hers alone.

But you would think that the self-described "essential global news network" would have enough business judgment to review a reporter's work to make sure it doesn't talk down to the general public and indict its own reporting on the economy at the same time. You would be wrong, as will be seen after the jump.

AP Editor: We Still Consider Herman Cain A Second-Tier Candidate
By Mark Finkelstein | October 10, 2011 | 11:35 AM EDT

Yeah, Herman Cain won the Florida straw poll, crushing Mitt Romney and Rick Perry.  And OK, a CBS poll recently found him tied with Romney among likely Republican primary voters. Sure, he also scored a resounding victory in another straw poll this weekend.  And Rasmussen just today released the finding that 56% of GOP voters like Cain's 9-9-9 plan.  

So is that enough to make the Associated Press consider Cain a first-tier candidate? Nah.   On MSNBC's Daily Rundown this morning, AP's political editor, Liz Sidoti, sniffed "we still consider him a second-tier candidate."  Video after the jump.
 

Poll-Cooking With AP: Obama Approval at 60% -- With 46-29 Dem-GOP Split
By Tom Blumer | May 11, 2011 | 11:16 AM EDT

The chefs in the kitchens at AP-GfK, a joint effort of the Associated Press and GfK Roper Public Affairs & Corporate Communications, have been working overtime cooking up a scrumptious dish for fans of Barack Obama and the Democratic Party.

After tasting the output this morning, the AP's Liz Sidoti and Jennifer Agiesta could hardly contain their glee (also saved here for future reference, fair use and discussion purposes):

President Barack Obama's approval rating has hit its highest point in two years - 60 percent - and more than half of Americans now say he deserves to be re-elected, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll taken after U.S. forces killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

In March, the same poll had the president's approval rating at 53%. The graphic which follows, obtained from the the poll's "topline" at AP-GfK's web site, reveal that the AP pair enjoy feasting on empty calories:

AP Stumbles Twice With Inaccurate Reporting About Cheney at CPAC
By Jack Coleman | February 14, 2011 | 3:02 PM EST

Words of wisdom from a Greek restaurant owner who employed me in my youth after I messed up an order for moussaka or souvlaki -- once OK, twice stupid!

Associated Press reporter Liz Sidoti might want to take this advice to heart.

In a CPAC roundup story written yesterday and picked up by The Huffington Post, Sidoti wrote this, initially referring to post-Tucson calls for civility --

AP's Liz 'Sore Loser' Sidoti: GOP Counted on 'Lagging Recovery' For Comeback from 2008 Debacle
By Tom Blumer | November 6, 2010 | 9:54 PM EDT

Darn. If only the midterm elections had been held after Friday's Employment Situation Report instead of before, the results might have been very different.

Apparently that's what the Associated Press's Liz Sidoti (pictured at the top right at this post's home page tease) wants us to believe, as she ended her borderline bitter take on the origins of Congressional Republicans' successful electoral comeback and takeover of the House of Representatives four days ago with this sentence:

Ten months later (after Scott Brown's U.S. Senate race victory in Massachusetts -- Ed.), victorious Republicans met to plan their transition to power in the House - just as it was announced that the economy created 151,000 jobs.

As if one good jobs-added number -- even with the unemployment rate stuck at 9.6% -- proves that the economic recovery is finally in high gear. Zheesh.

Amazing: AP Writers Obsess Over Negative Electoral Impact Of Upcoming Census Bureau Poverty Stats
By Tom Blumer | September 12, 2010 | 12:29 AM EDT
APhomelessPhoto041309It seems reasonable from their coverage in anticipation of the Census Bureua's release of income and poverty statistics this week that Hope Yen and Liz Sidoti of the Associated Press have a roof over their heads and aren't particularly worried about where their next meal is coming from. If so, good for them; may those circumstances continue.

What's remarkable, though, is how a government report that the media, especially the AP, has traditionally treated as an indicator of society's alleged failure to take care of its neediest --with the blame often directly aimed at Republicans and conservatives -- is now primarily a political problem for the party in power. Yen and Sidoti engage in a presidential pity party, and in the process come off as indifferent about what the numbers, for all their imperfections (and they are substantial), might mean in human terms -- again, something the press normally obsesses over, especially when a Republican or conservative is president. This time, it seems that if Ms. Yen and Ms. Sidoti had their way, this unfortunate information would be held until at least November 3.

What follows are graphic capture's of the pair's first four paragraphs, followed by paragraphs 12-16:

AP's Sidoti Laments Dems' Prospects in Ohio, Is Convincing as HuffPo Zealot
By Tom Blumer | September 5, 2010 | 8:35 PM EDT
AssociatedPressLizSidoti0810.jpgIn a post at National Review Online's Battle '10 blog last night, Mytheos Holt commented on a report seen at the Huffington Post:

HuffPo Panics about GOP Sweep of Ohio

Looks like the Huffington Post is buying into the “As Ohio goes, so goes the nation” meme this election cycle, based on a story out today.

The HuffPo item is by Liz Sidoti. But Sidoti is a national politics writer for the Associated Press, and what Holt really read was what AP would like us to believe is a supposedly "objective" analysis of the electoral situation in Ohio right off the wire. Word for word, the item at HuffPo is the same dispatch as found at the AP's main site. The only clue as to its origin, which Holt missed (and it's easy to see how), is the teeny-tiny AP logo where Sidoti's byline appears.

In other words, Sidoti's stridency and Democrat-sympathetic viewpoint are so obvious that she passes the HuffPo zealotry test.

Here are some examples of how Sidoti "successfully" came off as a  budding HuffPo pundit:

Media Pile on Pro-Life Stupak, Whitewash Abortion in ObamaCare
By Candance Moore | March 16, 2010 | 9:20 AM EDT

As the House gears up for a final move on ObamaCare, the media are doing everything they can to pressure pro-lifers to accept federal funding for abortion while helping the Obama administration downplay what that means.

Instead of respecting the conscience of a pro-life politician, news outlets have launched an all-out campaign to blame House Democrat Bart Stupak for thwarting ObamaCare. Of course he's not pro-life, he's "anti-abortion," and he's willing to let millions of helpless Americans go without healthcare to satisfy some personal agenda.

The AP's Liz Sidoti set the tone on Saturday with a snarky, pouty article about Democrats who don't go along with what Obama wants. Gone were the days of patriotic dissent as Sidoti blamed obstructionists for trying to kill ObamaCare (h/t LiveAction):

AP Bashes Sarah 'Short On Ideas' Palin With Horrible Photo
By Noel Sheppard | February 7, 2010 | 10:41 AM EST

It was a metaphysical certitude the liberal media would bash Sarah Palin's marvelous keynote speech to the National Tea Party convention in Nashville, Tennessee, Saturday, but what the Associated Press did is inexcusable.

First, it attached to its Sunday piece a tremendously unflattering photo of the former Alaska governor.

Then, it ripped her with the very first sentence (emphasis added, h/t NB reader Joe De Angelis):

AP Bashes Obama: 'Can He Get Any Other Democrats Elected?'
By Noel Sheppard | January 30, 2010 | 11:33 PM EST

If the folks at the Associated Press lose their loving feeling for Barack Obama, his presidency could be in a lot of trouble.

Consider if you will an article the wire service published Thursday shockingly titled "Can Obama Get Any Other Democrats Elected?"

"Barack Obama built a powerful campaign organization and got himself to the White House," Liz Sidoti's piece began.

"Now, as head of the Democratic Party, he's expected to get other Democrats into office, too."

Then came the surprising attacks:

AP's Sidoti Pushes Inevitability of Gay Marriage, 'Ever More' Difficulty for GOP
By Tim Graham | May 3, 2009 | 7:38 AM EDT

AP reporter Liz Sidoti – who writes as if every article is an opinionated "news analysis" – touted on Saturday how softening opposition to "gay marriage" is an opportunity for Democrats. That’s true, but Sidoti went further, pushing the theory that a liberal win is inevitable, and maybe even that moderate Barack Obama will change his stance:

"This is not a sea change. This is a tide that is slowly rising in favor of gay marriage," creating a favorable political situation for Democrats and ever-more difficulty for Republicans, said David McCuan, a political scientist at Sonoma State University in California.

Democrats have a broader base filled with more accepting younger voters, as well as flexibility on the issue. Hard-core liberals support gay marriage, while others, including President Barack Obama, take a more moderate position of civil unions and defer to states on gay marriage.

Here’s one sign of the "inevitable" bias: Sidoti quotes no social conservatives. The only "prominent Republican" in the piece is losing McCain strategist Steve Schmidt, with one of the less offensive snippets of his speech to the Log Cabin "Republicans."