James Patterico

Cruz Pushes Back Against Politifact 'Fact-Checker'; Democratic Party IS Shrinking
By Tom Blumer | November 16, 2015 | 11:58 PM EST

In a Facebook post on Sunday, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz pushed back against a "ridiculous" Politifact post which labeled his true claim that the Democratic Party is shrinking as "mostly false."

Politifact's Emma Hinchliffe had to go back 11 years to a now-irrelevant time period to unsuccessfully attempt to refute Cruz's inconvenient truth, citing Gallup poll figures from 2004. Nobody cares about 2004, Emma. What Cruz said is that the party "is shrinking," and it has been for the past 6-7 years, falling from 38 percent to 29 percent as Americans have seen how a Democratic President and his party have governed and behaved when in power.

Politico Hack: 'The GOP Is Dying Off. Literally'
By Tom Blumer | May 20, 2015 | 11:19 AM EDT

Daniel J. McGrow, who describes himself as a "writer and recombobulator" at his Twitter account, got seriously discombobulated in public on Sunday.

His headline at Politico is meant to reassure leftists who don't read on that "The GOP Is Dying Off. Literally," and that Democrats have an incredible advantage going into the 2016 elections. Those who do read his column should be able to recognize that he based his claim on an historically faulty assumption:

At LA Times, Matt Pearce Joins Parade of Brown-Wilson Evidence Distorters
By Tom Blumer | January 4, 2015 | 11:59 PM EST

In the final three paragraphs of a "Year in Review" item at the Los Angeles Times on December 31 (HT Patterico), reporter Matt Pearce joined the long list of journalists who have failed to properly characterize the evidence in Michael Brown's death in Ferguson, Missouri in August.

You had to know that distortions were coming based on the rest of the article content which preceded it. The most obvious giveaway was Pearce's description of Eric Garner's death on Staten Island. He wrote that Garner "died after an altercation with police; the officer accused of putting him in an unauthorized chokehold was not indicted." The officer involved was "accused" of the act, but he didn't commit it. In August, former NYPD detective Bo Deitl indicated that "it was a headlock, not a chokehold," and that the non-choking action was not the cause of Garner's death. Well, if Pearce couldn't get Garner right, it was a near certainty that he'd seriously botch his description of the Brown situation, which he proceeded to do (bolds are mine):

AP Refuses to Name Already-Known Weiner Sexting Partner Who 'Just So Happens' to Be a Liberal Obama Activist
By Tom Blumer | July 24, 2013 | 10:46 PM EDT

A very misleading sentence appeared in David Caruso's story this evening at the Associated Press about Nik Richie, the blogger who broke the story of disgraced former congressman and now-New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner's latest sexting escapade at his "The Dirty" web site. It certainly supports the notion that tagging the wire service with its "the Administration's Press" nickname is not at all out of line.

Note that the time stamp on Caruso's story is 7 p.m ET tonight, a mere three hours ago. Here is the deceptive statement: "Richie declined to reveal the woman's identity or put her in contact with the Associated Press, saying he had agreed to protect her anonymity." What rubbish. Her name is already known. Caruso and the AP are deciding on their own to withhold it, for obvious reasons which will be revealed after the jump.

Brett Kimberlin and 'SWATting': Where Is the Establishment Press?
By Tom Blumer | May 28, 2012 | 12:19 AM EDT

As the clock in the Eastern time zone officially tells me that it's Memorial Day, it occurs to me that the men and women we honor today did not fight and die so they would see their country become one where a person could be hounded from their home, see themselves and/or loved ones lose their jobs, worry about the safety of their kids, or be visited by police with guns drawn as a result of a false anonymous tip -- all of which has "just so happened" to occur in close proximity to having blogged about the activities of a certain person or his associates.

It also occurs to me that part of the way of life these men and women died to preserve had to do with defending the rights of the press (which at the time of our Founders was understood to be anyone "down" to the level of a pamphleteer) to conscientiously do their jobs, and that part of the reason why what is happening as described in the first paragraph goes on may be because those involved know that they often won't be called out by the local, regional, or national press -- virtually no matter how egregious their offenses. 

Imagine That: Obama Favored Legalizing Same-Sex 'Marriage' Without Qualification in 1996
By Tom Blumer | May 12, 2012 | 11:23 AM EDT

President Barack Obama's allegedly "historic" support for same-sex "marriage" apparently has "prehistoric" roots -- at least as "history" is seen by the establishment press, which has acted as if all relevant history relating to Barack Obama began with his 2004 Democratic convention speech.

A Friday Los Angeles Times puff piece ("President Obama's influence on gay marriage will be tested") on the potential impact of President Barack Obama's decision to publicly support same-sex "marriage" -- supposedly for the first time -- caused blogger and longtime LAT nemesis Patterico to remind readers that Obama was a proponent of same-sex marriage without qualification during those "prehistoric" times -- in 1996 (links are in original):

Media's Assassination Double Standard: Obama Plot vs. Thwarted Bush Attempt
By Ken Shepherd | October 28, 2008 | 6:36 PM EDT

Blogger Patrick "Patterico" Frey yesterday devoted a blog post to the difference between how the media are reporting a thwarted assassination attempt against President Bush versus the recent arrest of some skinheads plotting harm to Sen. Barack Obama.

Patterico noted that the Bush conspirators were farther along in their plans than the skinheads targeting Obama, and yet there was no discernible mainstream media attention to the plot, wherein the principal conspirator pleaded guilty and was slapped with a 5-year sentence:

Guest blogger DRJ earlier posted about the alleged assassination plot against Barack Obama. As I always say when charges are made, charges are just charges, and have to be proved by the prosecution. But if these charges can be proved, then these men should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

But it got me thinking: this story is being reported everywhere, including in my beloved Los Angeles Times. I suspect it will be on front pages everywhere tomorrow morning.

But remember when I posted in July of this year about an attempted plot against President Bush?