Ben Jacobs

Daily Beast Attempts to Paint Iowa Republican Joni Ernst as Nullification Nelly
By Ken Shepherd | July 28, 2014 | 7:00 PM EDT

Recent polls show a tight contest in the Iowa Senate race to replace retiring liberal Democrat Tom Harkin (D), so leave it to the Daily Beast to hype a video clip it recently unearthed to insist that it is evidence that Republican nominee Joni Ernst as a nut who betrays a "shocking ignorance" [see image below page break] about constitutional law regarding the Tenth Amendment and state nullification of federal law.

That's how Ben Jacobs painted the military veteran and Republican state senator, suggesting her answer to a question posed to her at a September 13, 2013 event was an endorsement of state legislatures issuing nullification proclamations against federal laws:

Wendy's Woes Mount: Texas Dem Padding Dismal Fundraising Report, Daily Beast Reports
By Ken Shepherd | July 17, 2014 | 6:02 PM EDT

Texas State Senator and MSNBC heroine Wendy Davis is not doing that hot in the fundraising race as she pursues her shot for governor of the Lone Star state, the Daily Beast reported today.

"As if things weren’t going badly enough for Wendy Davis, the Texas gubernatorial candidate got caught inflating her campaign’s finances this week by counting a Willie Nelson concert as a contribution," reporter Ben Jacobs noted in the lead paragraph of his July 17 story, "Wendy Davis's Fundraising Fiasco." You can read the full story here, but here's an excerpt to give you a taste (emphasis mine):

Daily Beast Bellows 'Boehner Blocks Equal Rights' by Opposing ENDA
By Ken Shepherd | November 4, 2013 | 4:35 PM EST

By virtue of his concerns about the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is standing in the way of "equal rights" for gay and lesbian Americans in the workplace, the Daily Beast groused today. "Boehner Blocks Equal Rights," complained a teaser headline on DailyBeast.com.

"The path towards the Employment Non-Discrimination Act or ENDA becoming law took one step forward on Monday morning but two steps backward when Speaker of the House John Boehner came out against the measure," Beast staffer Ben Jacobs complained in his Nov. 4 story, "ENDA Hits Obstacle In House." Jacobs noted that:

Daily Beast Lies About Cuccinelli's Appeal of Sodomy Case, Scoffs at Notion He's Generally Libertarian
By Ken Shepherd | October 31, 2013 | 1:35 PM EDT

If you're a real libertarian, what should matter to you most of all is sexual freedom, all other issues be damned. That's the insulting subtext to Ben Jacobs's October 31 story at The Daily Beast, "Ken Cuccinelli's Libertarian Love Affair."

"Can the anti-sodomy candidate be the standard bearer for libertarians?" Jacobs asked in his lead paragraph, adding, "Ken Cuccinelli sure hopes so." Jacobs then misled -- and arguably lied -- to readers by charging that:

Daily Beast: 'Journalists Don't Retire, They Just Join the Obama Administration'
By Ken Shepherd | September 13, 2013 | 11:44 AM EDT

"These days, journalists don’t retire, they just join the Obama administration," quipped Ben Jacobs of the Daily Beast in his September 13 post, "From Rick Stengel to David Axelrod, All of the President’s Journalists."

But rather than see a problem with the liberal media-Democratic administration revolving door, Jacobs's story was decidedly matter-of-fact. Indeed, he portrayed it more as the president "reaching out to journalists" rather than servile liberal scribes clamoring to jump aboard the Obama train and being received happily by the administration. What's more, as an excuse that "both sides do it," Jacobs closed by noting that the late Tony Snow is an example of the politics-journalism revolving door being a centuries-old bipartisan tradition: