By Tom Blumer | February 24, 2012 | 3:52 PM EST

On Thursday, over 40 hours after the Pacific Institute's Peter Gleick (pictured here) revealed that he stole documents from the Heartland Institute by posing as one of that organization's board members, Seth Borenstein at the Associated Press finally broke the ice and filed a related three-paragraph "this is boring, you don't need to read it" dispatch. Two hours later, the AP science writer extended it to 500-plus words, but kept the headline as uninformative as possible -- "Scientist admits taking, leaking think-tank papers."

The "clever" failure to describe Gleick as a "climate scientist" (which he is) will dissuade many of those who see the headline from clicking through or reading further. By contrast, the headline at Borenstein's report on February 16 after Gleick (whom Borenstein did not name) disseminated the documents was: "INFLUENCE GAME: Leaks show group's climate efforts." In his longer item, Borenstein (or is it now "Boring-stein," Seth?) posits the howler that what Gleick did "mirrors" the Climategate email revelations which occurred in late 2009 and 2011. In your dreams, pal. The initial item plus excerpts from the longer one are after the jump.

By Tom Blumer | February 21, 2012 | 12:11 PM EST

The Associated Press's Seth Borenstein, his wire service, and most of the globaloney-advocating establishment press have a problem relating to development NB's Iris Somberg noted a short time ago.

Peter Gleick, described in a related UK Guardian story as "a water scientist and president of the Pacific Institute," said last week that he "obtained" documents from the Heartland Institute about its strategy to, in part and in Borenstein's words (from his 1,000-word dispatch), "teach schoolchildren skepticism about global warming." Now, Gleick has admitted that he stole them (Gleick's description: "I solicited and received additional materials directly ... under someone else’s name"). Oops. It get worse for Borenstein and the wire service on at least two levels.

By Tom Blumer | January 23, 2012 | 9:49 PM EST

A frequent emailer saw a silver lining in Rand Paul's detention this morning in Nashville by the Transportation Safety Administration which prevented him from speaking at today's March For Life rally in Washington: "Best way to get the MSM to mention pro-life rally."

Well, that's largely true. The local Nashville TV station video posted at Real Clear Politics mentions Paul's prolife purpose up-front, as does a commentary by James Fallows at the Atlantic (who incidentally described the rally as "mammoth"). But my emailer underestimated the lengths to which reporters at the Associated Press would go to keep anything pro-life out of a story. In their 750-word report (saved here for future reference, fair use and discussion purposes), Erik Schelzig and Eileen Sullivan completely misstated why Paul wanted to get on the flight he was not able to board -- which also means that their story's headline is incomplete:

By Tom Blumer | May 10, 2011 | 9:34 PM EDT

Just when you consider cutting the Associated Press a break for doing something right, they pull this.

Most people know that in the interest of "not spiking the football," the Obama administration has decided that it will not release photos of Osama bin Laden's dead body.

Shortly after the decision was announced, AP filed a Freedom of Information Act request for said photos. According to John Hudson at the Atlantic (HT to Jim Taranto at the Wall Street Journal's Best of the Web), the AP's Michael Oreskes claims that "This information is important for the historical record" and "It's our job as journalists to seek this material." So far, so good.

But you just knew they'd figure out a way to potentially ruin it. Here's Oreskes as quoted by Hudson:

By Noel Sheppard | March 20, 2011 | 8:02 PM EDT

The far-left in America are having a collective conniption fit over President Obama's decision to attack Libya.

Included in the wolf pack is the Atlantic magazine's Andrew Sullivan who despite his preposterous claims of being a conservative appeared on "The Chris Matthews Show" this weekend and said, "I don’t know why anybody voted for Obama in the primaries...[now] we have this politicized Clintonian mess" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

By Noel Sheppard | February 1, 2011 | 1:09 PM EST

Only ten days after her idiocy-laden appearance on HBO's "Real Time," MSNBC's resident Rhodes scholar Rachel Maddow once again made a fool of herself on national television.

In a segment bashing various conservatives for their views about the growing Egypt crisis, Maddow went after Sarah Palin loaded with quotes from a well-known satirical website urging the former Alaska governor to call for an invasion of the beleaguered Middle East nation (video follows with transcript and lots of commentary):

By Noel Sheppard | January 16, 2011 | 5:48 PM EST

National Review's Reihan Salam this weekend demonstrated exactly why it should be required that there be at least one conservative present during televised political discussions.

Appearing on the syndicated "Chris Matthews Show," Salam had a spirited and at times contentious debate with the Atlantic's Andrew Sullivan about conservatism, Sarah Palin, and the Tea Party (video follows with transcript and commentary):

By Kyle Drennen | January 13, 2011 | 1:26 PM EST

At the top of Wednesday's CBS Evening News, anchor Katie Couric lamented: "The President tries to comfort a nation in mourning, but even on a rare day of unity, politics and controversy intervene." A clip was then played of Sarah Palin's Facebook video reaction to the Tucson shooting and media finger-pointing: "Journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel."

Later, correspondent Chip Reid reported that in his speech at the memorial service for the victims, "one thing we're told he [President Obama] will not do is get into the political battle that's developed over this tragedy." Reid then added: "a battle that became even more heated today when Sarah Palin joined the fray."

By Rusty Weiss | January 6, 2011 | 2:40 AM EST

The New York Times ran a rather serious report on Tuesday, regarding former Vice-President Dick Cheney and the new mechanical heart pump he received in July.  The addition of the new pump means that Cheney’s heart will never again beat at full strength, and leaves him with a daunting decision whether or not to have a full heart transplant.

Naturally, juveniles in the liberal media have had a blast with the news.

Political Wire, a supposedly non-partisan political blog led off a post about the heart transplant with this gem:

The New York Times confirms what many of his political opponents always assumed: Dick Cheney has no pulse.

And there’s more...

By Matt Hadro | January 4, 2011 | 5:31 PM EST

Tuesday's "Morning Joe" panel on MSNBC played the class warfare card, highlighting tension between the American middle class and the richest Americans who profit from the global economy. Impassioned co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski gave credence to middle class frustration at the widening gap between them and the ultra-rich.

The Atlantic magazine's editor-in-chief James Bennett referenced a poll touting that 60 percent of Americans advocate higher taxes for the wealthy as the best solution to the budget crisis. "I think part of that is a response to the sense that they're being left behind by these people," Bennet explained.

Bennet pointed out top hedge fund managers making over a billion dollars a year, and suggested Americans would like to see more of that money back. "You'd think," huffed Mika Brzezinski. "Good luck getting it from them," Joe Scarborough warned. Scarborough was a critic of the recent tax deal between Obama and the GOP, arguing that millionaires did not need the tax cuts as much as the country needed their tax revenue to pay down the deficit.
 

By Brad Wilmouth | December 5, 2010 | 11:59 PM EST

 Appearing as a panel member Sunday on the syndicated Chris Matthews Show, Andrew Sullivan of the Atlantic charged that Republicans are "trying to keep this economy bad" to hurt President Obama as the group discussed extension of the Bush tax cuts. He then tagged the GOP as "the most irresponsible political party I’ve seen."

Sullivan began his rant against Republicans as he jumped into the conversation: "Can I just point out the fantastic irony that we’ve just gone through an election in which the Republicans campaigned day in and day out about the debt, and now we find after the election that they’re the least willing to tackle it?"

When host Chris Matthews asked him to "explain," Sullivan continued: "Pure, utter cynicism. All they’re doing is trying to keep this economy bad and keep nailing that in Obama - by the way, who’s not responsible for most of it - and so that they can get back in power. They have no interest in solving this country’s debt problems and fiscal problems. They’re the most irresponsible political party I’ve seen in (INAUDIBLE)."

Moments earlier, John Heilemann of New York magazine had also argued against the extension of the Bush tax cuts. Heilemann:

By Kyle Drennen | December 2, 2010 | 6:15 PM EST

In an article on CBSNews.com's Political Hotsheet blog, Lauren Seifert described a Thursday interview with political consultant Fred Karger who claims to be considering a run for the Republican nomination for president in 2012: "Karger insists he has strong Republican credentials....What's interesting is that this longtime Republican is openly gay and may also run for president in 2012."

Karger announced his possible White House run while talking to CBS chief political consultant Marc Armbinder on for the CBSNews.com webcast 'Washington Unplugged.' Armbinder is also a writer for the liberal magazine 'The Atlantic.' Karger explained his political involvement over the years: "I've worked for President Reagan as a senior campaign consultant in 1980 and 1984. I've supported President George H. W. Bush. I've worked on nine presidential campaigns and this would be my tenth." Beyond that, it wasn't clear why he would be serious contender or why CBS would treat him as such.