Atlantic

WaPo's Sarah Kliff Defends Gosnell Blackout: 'I Cover Policy for the Washington Post, Not Local Crime'
By Matt Vespa | April 12, 2013 | 12:44 PM EDT

The media's censoring of the Kermit Gosnell murder trial is appalling.  But why, exactly, are reporters failing to cover the Philadelphia abortionist's trial? Mollie Hemingway of the Patheos blog Get Religion thought she'd ask Washington Post staff writer Sarah Kliff, who responded via Twitter that she isn’t writing about it because she “cover[s] policy for the Washington Post, not local crime."

That, of course, is a patently ludicrous excuse.  In an April 12 blog post, Hemingway aptly noted that local crimes are often used to give context to a larger issue in public policy.  The Trayvon Martin shooting sparked a debate about Stand Your Ground Laws.  The murder of Matthew Shepard launched a debate around hate crimes, and awareness of bigotry against gays.  And as for the most recent case of a local crime story gone national, a day after the Newtown shooting, Kliff penned a piece asking, “What would ‘meaningful action’ on gun control look like?” The bottom line is that the Gosnell trial illustrates just how poorly regulated many inner-city abortion clinics are and how that lack of regulation can allow horror stories like Gosnell to happen.

Former New Yorker Staff Writer to Anti-Gun Democrats: 'Stop Fearing Capable, Empowered, Independent-Thinking Individuals'
By Matt Vespa | March 7, 2013 | 4:59 PM EST

So, here’s something that the liberal media will never aggressively pursue:  a liberal Democrat, who is pro-gun.  Why? It ruins their narrative that all gun-owners are right-wing zealots.

But the Atlantic has an excellent interview with Dan Baum, former staff writer for the New Yorker, in which he detailed his road trip across America to give a first-hand account of these rational and responsible Americans, who are vilified by the progressive left and Beltway liberals.

Granted, I don’t agree with everything he says, but the interview, which was conducted by freelance writer Hope Reese, had four great points. 

Atlantic Editor Wonders If Morsi Wants to Be Dictator or Abe Lincoln
By P.J. Gladnick | December 6, 2012 | 2:26 PM EST

Does Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi desire to become a dictator...or another Abraham Lincoln?

Did that question make you burst out laughing? If so, please be prepared for an even bigger laugh when you watch Atlantic editor Steve Clemons expend brain cells while struggling to figure out the answer to that question in his column. So laughable are the efforts of Clemons trying to come up with what to even slightly aware people is the obvious answer that you might need an oxygen mask due to an inability to catch a breath:

MSNBC Hypes 'Brave,' 'Provocative' Thinkers Like Lena Dunham and Michael Bloomberg
By Scott Whitlock | November 19, 2012 | 12:48 PM EST

According to the Atlantic Monthly and the receptive audience at MSNBC, the year's "brave" and "provocative" thinkers include Lena Dunham, who made an ad comparing voting to sex, and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who tried to ban large sodas. [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

Jansing and Co. Guest anchor Richard Lui introduced Atlantic Monthly editor James Bennet by hyping, "The Atlantic Monthly has honored some of American's most provocative thinkers for more than 150 years." Highlighting a liberal actress in liberal Hollywood who bravely spoke out in favor of a liberal president, Lui insisted, "And another woman on your list who is being compared to Woody Allen and Nora Ephron, that is Lena Dunham."

Liberal Media Still Eager to Offer Conservatives Advice
By Ryan Robertson | November 13, 2012 | 3:09 PM EST

With all the gloating the liberal media has been doing since the election, one would think the margin of victory was comparable to that of Ronald Reagan's overwhelming win over Walter Mondale in 1984. From The Atlantic to Politico and various other outlets, there have been an abundance of columns published in the past week urging, as they always do after a rout at the polls, that the GOP must evolve to the left on key issues.

The underlying themes have all been indistinguishable, almost as if they are collaborating with one another. The Republican party is in trouble, and anyone who refuses to accept the reality of this is delusional, they insist. If you can't beat the Democrats at this point, join them wails the chorus of liberal writers -- or at least impose the Fairness Doctrine to get the ball rolling.

'Meet the Press': Liberal Journalists All Agree, Nothing Obama Could Do About Middle East Crisis
By Kyle Drennen | September 17, 2012 | 3:31 PM EDT

In a stunning display of group-think on Sunday's NBC Meet the Press, a panel of journalists all concluded that no American president could have possibly prevented the ongoing crisis in Middle East or responded to it any better than Barack Obama. [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]

The hand-wringing began with The Atlantic's Jeff Goldberg absolving the President of any responsibility for chaos in the region: "There are some very, very deep and troubling things going on in – in the Middle East that have very little to do with what a president does or doesn't do.... so to blame the President for – for an attack on – on these embassies, I think, is a bit much."

Singer Lupe Fiasco Decries Use of Word ‘Bi**h’; Attacked by Critics, Fellow Rapper
By Paul Wilson | September 10, 2012 | 8:33 AM EDT

Editor’s Note: This article contains graphic language.

Rapper and hip-hop artist Lupe Fiasco recently came out with a song decrying the use the word “bitch” to describe women. His stance has won him criticism from critics and anger from one of his peers.

Fiasco’s rap “Bitch Bad” chastised other rappers for using the term “bitch” as a description for women. The theme of the song is summed up by the phrase: “Bitch bad, woman good, lady better.”

Increasingly Shrill Liberal Journalists Attack 'Legitimacy' of Supreme Court Ahead of ObamaCare Ruling
By John Bates | June 25, 2012 | 4:50 PM EDT


As the ObamaCare decision looms large on the horizon, the Left is doing their best to defame the Supreme Court in anticipation of a defeat of the president's signature legislative accomplishment.

In the past two days, liberal journalists Michael Tomasky and James Fallows have published histrionic tirades at their respective publications, the Daily Beast/Newsweek and The Atlantic.

James Fallows Reveals Inner Moonbat: '5 Signs the United States Is Undergoing a Coup'
By P.J. Gladnick | June 25, 2012 | 10:28 AM EDT

James Fallows, national correspondent for The Atlantic, usually presents an image of himself as a "reasonable" liberal. However yesterday he revealed his inner moonbat with an article title worthy of a thread name in the sanity challenged Democratic Underground: "5 Signs the United States is Undergoing a Coup." After a few hours of reflection, Fallows realized he allowed too much of his moonbat side to be displayed to the public so he altered the title with this explanation:

Awesome: Atlantic Carries 1,800-Word Story on John Edwards Trial, Never Tags Him or Author as Dems
By Tom Blumer | April 13, 2012 | 11:55 PM EDT

Jury selection in the trial of two-time Democratic Party presidential candidate and John Kerry's Democratic Party running mate in the 2004 election John Edwards began on Thursday. In the related five-paragraph Associated Press story, Michael Biesecker actually identified Edwards as a Democrat in his fourth of his five paragraphs.

That's not a stellar performance (a Republican or conservative in the kind of trouble Edwards is in would have his or her party identified in either the headline, the first paragraph, or both), but at least the party label is present. As blogger extraordinaire Doug Ross noted earlier this evening, in an 1,800-word item at the Atlantic on Wednesday ("Why the John Edwards Trial Is a Bigger Deal Than You Think"), author and undisclosed former Democratic candidate for statewide office Hampton Dellinger failed to name Edwards's party at all, while figuring out a way to tag something or someone "Republican" five times. Here are the opportunities studiously avoided in his treatise only relating to variations on the word "president" (bolded by me):

CBS News Analyst Blasts ‘Smug’ Scalia as ‘Bully’ for Daring to Doubt Constitutionality of ObamaCare
By Brent Baker | April 7, 2012 | 10:18 PM EDT

Catching up with what The Weekly Standard dubbed “the prize for unhinged emotionalism” in reaction from within the liberal bubble to the Supreme Court’s oral arguments on ObamaCare,  back on Friday, March 30, Andrew Cohen, the “chief analyst and legal editor for CBS Radio News,” wrote on The Atlantic’s Web site:

“The arguments in the Care Act cases may be funny to Justice Antonin Scalia, the bully that he is, but they aren’t funny to the single father who will avoid bankruptcy because of the law.”

Media Continue Anti-Religious Attacks on Tebow
By Paul Wilson | March 27, 2012 | 7:42 AM EDT

Wherever devout Christian quarterback Tim Tebow goes, he is dogged by the hatred of those who cannot stand him or his faith. Tebow was traded from the Denver Broncos to the New York Jets amid much media fanfare, and some sportswriters naturally used the occasion to engage in personal attacks on Tebow, his religion, and his fans.

MSNBC invited Nation sports editor Dave Zirin to give his opinion on Tebow’s move to New York. Zirin bizarrely argued that “there are a lot of LGBT people that live in New York City who are also football fans”and that “the new, possibly, starting quarterback for the New York Jets wants them to move backwards 30 or 40 years.”(The Denver Broncos refused to participate in anti-heterosexual Dan Savage’s “It Gets Better Project” when Tebow was still on the Broncos, drawing the ire of the gay community and the left-wing media.)