Bloomberg

At AP, It's 'Heads We Report, Tails We Ignore' For Economic Data, as Mich. Confidence Survey Dives
By Tom Blumer | May 15, 2015 | 10:43 PM EDT

On May 1, the Associated Press's Paul Wiseman was pleased to tell the wire service's readers and subscribing outlets that "The University of Michigan's sentiment index rose to 95.9 from 93 in March," reaching "its second-highest level since 2007." Among other things, the survey's chief economist said that the result reflected "improving prospects for jobs and incomes."

What a difference two weeks makes. Today's preliminary U of M survey for April dropped to 88.6, completely missing expectations of 95.9. Zero Hedge notes that it's the biggest expectations miss on record, and the largest single-month drop since December 2012. Naturally, a search at its national site indicates that the AP prepared no story on the U of M report.

Halperin Lamely Apologizes 'To Those Offended' by His Outrageous Grilling of Cruz
By Tom Blumer | May 11, 2015 | 6:52 PM EDT

Today, Bloomberg TV's Mark Halperin inadequately apologized for his conduct and line of questioning during an April 30 interview of GOP presidential candidate which came off as rude and racist to many who saw it — well, basically because it was.

As Tim Graham at NewsBusters noted on Sunday, and as will be seen in the video following the jump, Halperin engaged in a "prove-you're-a-Cuban" line of questioning, and did so with "a grim visage during these questions, like ... an interrogation, not a friendly chat":

AP's Crutsinger Acknowledges Likely Q1/15 Contraction; Rugaber Ignores
By Tom Blumer | May 5, 2015 | 8:55 PM EDT

It appears that someone might need to schedule an intervention with the Associated Press's economics writers.

In his dispatch published a half-hour after the government's March release on international trade at 8:30 this morning, the wire service's Martin Crutsinger quoted a normally upbeat economist who was singing the blues about the result's effect on previously reported first-quarter economic growth. Now, he said, the economy "undoubtedly contracted slightly in the first quarter" by an estimated 0.3 percent. But about an hour later, the AP's Christopher Rugaber ignored this assessment — and that of many others — in his writeup covering the 10 a.m. release of the Institute for Supply Management's Non-Manufacuring Index. Don't these guys talk to each other?

Foreign Policy: Heilemann Horrified By Huckabee's Ivy League Lack
By Mark Finkelstein | May 5, 2015 | 6:42 PM EDT

For all the good their Ivy League degrees did Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton—when you consider the smoking ruin that is their foreign policy record—you'd think John Heilemann would have the good sense not to make an Ancient Eight sheepskin the sine qua non for a presidential candidate.

But with his MSM elitism on full display,, on today's With All Due Respect Heilemann had the chutzpah to suggest that Mike Huckabee doesn't clear the Commander-in-Chief bar because he lacks a degree from Harvard's Kennedy School or Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School.  Huck has simply picked up some foreign policy talking points from Fox News, huffed Heilemann.

Halperin: By Not Endorsing Hillary, De Blasio 'May Be Playing More Dangerous Game Than He Realizes'
By Mark Finkelstein | April 22, 2015 | 5:55 PM EDT

Serious question: what did Mark Halperin mean when he said that NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio "may be playing a more dangerous game than he realizes" by refusing so far to endorse Hillary?

On today's With All Due Respect, Halperin prefaced his ominous observation by saying that there is "furor in Hillary Clinton's camp" over the matter.  De Blasio's omission certainly is striking, considering that he was Hillary's campaign manager when she ran for Senate from New York. 

Hillary's NH Chair Fails His Boast, Can't Identify Her Stands on Democrat-Dividing Issues
By Mark Finkelstein | April 21, 2015 | 6:18 PM EDT

This was pretty funny. William Shaheen, Hillary's New Hampshire co-chair and husband of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, appearing on today's With All Due Respect, boasted that he knows where Hillary stands on 10 different issues. 

But when hosts Mark Halperin and John Heilemann put Shaheen to the test, asking him where Hillary stands on the Keystone Pipeline and the Trans Pacific trade deal, Shaheen had to sheepishly admit that he didn't know Hillary's view on either issue, despite his boast and having specifically said that he knows where Hillary stands on trade.

Hillary's Original Bio Indicated That She Has 'Fought (For) Children and Families' — For Over 80 Years!
By Tom Blumer | April 15, 2015 | 12:19 AM EDT

Hillary Clinton's campaign rollout has been the gaffe machine that keeps on giving. One gaffe in particular was so obvious that it masked an even more ludicrous one.

On Sunday, several people, including yours truly, the Twitter curators at Twitchy, David Knowles at Bloomberg, but almost no one else in the establishment press, noticed that Mrs. Clinton's campaign announcement press release told America that "she's fought children and their families all her career." That gaffe was so glaring that a far worse one which would have led readers to believe that she has fought for them even longer than she has been alive has, from what I can tell, been completely ignored.

Bloomberg, AP Sharply Differ in Evaluating Ominous March Retail Sales Report
By Tom Blumer | April 14, 2015 | 10:51 PM EDT

Today, the Census Bureau reported that retail sales in March increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.9 percent. While that was the first such positive figure in four months, it was less than the 1.1 percent increase analysts expected, and did little to calm fears that the economy contracted during the first quarter of 2015.

An unbylined report at Bloomberg News and a dispatch from Josh Boak at the Associated Press had sharply differing takes on what the result meant. Longtime readers probably won't have a difficult time guessing who had the bigger set of blinders on. 

Oops: Bloomberg Falls for Fake Report that Nancy Reagan Endorsed Hillary for President
By Tim Graham | April 13, 2015 | 10:54 AM EDT

Bloomberg Politics published a report claiming Nancy Reagan had endorsed Hillary Clinton for president. They fell for a fake news site called NationalReport.net. An editor’s note was added: “This story has been retracted. We fell for a hoax. Apologies.”

Hadas Gold at Politico noted Bloomberg Politics Executive Editor Mike Nizza said in a tweet "very very stupid mistake, and one we take very seriously. Simple as that."

Bloomberg's Henneberger: GOP Candidates 'Can't Possibly' Match Hillary on Foreign Policy
By Mark Finkelstein | April 9, 2015 | 9:04 PM EDT

Are we talking Frequent Flyer Miles, Hillary's record of "success" in such places as Benghazi, Syria and Yemen, or just what?

On today's With All Due Respect, Bloomberg's Melinda Henneberger claimed that when it comes to foreign policy, none of the Republican presidential hopefuls "can possibly come up to the level of the former Secretary of State."  Host John Heilemann had teed up the question by citing Hillary's "huge resume" in the area. Heilemann also indulged in some classic Upper West Side snobbery, saying that when Scott Walker goes abroad, he's either "selling cheese or buying cheese."

Halperin-Heilemann: Rand's Wife Kelley Good, But No Michelle Obama
By Mark Finkelstein | April 7, 2015 | 8:44 PM EDT

Let's be clear: on today's With All Due Respect, Mark Halperin and John Heilemann were very complimentary about Kelley Paul's performance today in introducing her husband Rand at his presidential announcement speech.  They described her as a big asset and anticipate seeing a lot more of her on the campaign trail.

That said, the duo said something that boggled my mind, claiming that as good as she was, Kelley was "not at Michelle Obama's level."  Back in April, 2008, a full year later in that campaign cycle, this NewsBuster wrote about Michelle's shockingly angry performance on the stump [view the item and above all the video here], and asked if the MSM would report it.  Of course they didn't. As I recall, Michelle was "disappeared" from big public appearances for some time after that fiasco. IMHO Kelley is light years ahead of Michelle at this stage.

Bloomberg Columnist: Tina Fey, Jon Stewart More Universal Than the Pope
By Mark Finkelstein | April 6, 2015 | 6:16 PM EDT

I hadn't before seen Will Leitch, the Deadspin creator who now writes on politics for Bloomberg, in action.  But on today's With All Due Respect, I found him funny and affable.

Even so, he made one left-leaning assertion so absurd it was too much even for show host John Heilemann.  Running parallel with the NCAA tourney, Bloomberg has been running a bracket of 64 non-presidential candidates.  In the Final Four, Jon Stewart defeated the Pope and Tina Fey took out Warren Buffett.  Asked to explain the results, Leitch alleged that Fey and Stewart have a "universality that maybe not everybody has, frankly including the Pope."