Campaigns & Elections

It's the tale of two attempts at "digital astroturf" or "online grassroots activism" or whatever you want to call it. Regardless of the label, there's an apparent media double standard at work: attempts to rig prominent online information sources for political gain is only worth reporting if the perpetrators are conservatives. The blogosphere - though not the mainstream media - has been…

Four years ago, frustrated with President Bush and the Republican Congress, voters handed over to Democrats the gavels to the House and Senate chambers. Weeks before the 2006 election, the Washington Post matter-of-factly noted that "Outside Groups [Were] Shoveling Cash Into Tight Races." In that 24-paragraph October 3 article, Post staffers noted massive independent expenditures being…

On Monday's CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith interrogated New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino over comments he made in opposition to gay marriage: "But by making a statement like that, 'brain-washed into thinking homosexuality is acceptable.' You must think it's not normal....Do you think it's – that people are gay by choice or by birth?" Paladino explained his…

Well, they did stop short of presenting him with a ceremonial seppuku sword . . . But other than that, MSNBC's Daily Rundown duo of Chuck Todd and Savannah Guthrie did their best to convince Florida Dem Kendreck Meek to get out of the senatorial race to give Charlie Crist a shot against Marco Rubio. Todd tried the cold-hard-numbers route, while Guthrie made an emotional appeal, literally…

Just in case anyone mistakenly believes Obama has heard (or gives a rip about) the loud voice of the American people rejecting his socialism, appeasement, unconstitutional abuses of power and unpresidential combativeness and divisiveness, let me share a few tidbits. --After House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, issued a damning critique of Obama's economic policies, the administration's…

CBS’s Bob Schieffer on Sunday mocked President Obama’s senior adviser David Axelrod for echoing last week’s unsubstantiated charge by a liberal website that the Chamber of Commerce is funneling foreign money to support Republican candidates. “The New York Times looked into the Chamber specifically and said the Chamber really isn’t putting foreign money into the campaign,” said the Face the…

Apparently the political death panel at Newsweek is resigned to the fact that the Democratic Congress is DOA come November 2. Thus braced for the impact of a possible Republican congressional takeover, uber-liberal Newsweek writer Eleanor Clift donned her political strategist cap to openly advise Obama that how, "Just as Clinton did in ’94," he'll need to "reaffirm his relevance and return to…

Eliot Spitzer returned to attacking the Tea Party and their allies on Thursday's Parker-Spitzer, lamenting that people "kind of from the fringe" like Christine O'Donnell "seem to be taking over the Republican Party." Guest Bernard-Henri Levy also joined in the Tea Party bashing, labeling the movement "really crazy" and insulted Sarah Palin as being less "American" than President Obama.The new CNN…

On Wednesday, the far-left blog ThinkProgress unveiled an "investigation" that alleged, without any conclusive evidence, that the Chamber of Commerce was spending funds acquired from foreign-owned companies on political activities in the United States, a crime under U.S. law. ThinkProgress demonstrated that such funds entered the Chamber's general fund, and that money from the general fund…

In a report on Friday's CBS Early Show, senior White House correspondent Bill Plante noted that President Obama hitting the campaign trail for Democrats didn't seem to be helping: "...more than half of the voters say that the President's support for any one candidate would have no impact on their decision." However, he then declared: "Not all Republicans are coasting to victory in 2010."While…

Someone call The Police . . . What were the Parker Spitzer producers thinking?  If there was one guy you'd want to keep at a decent distance from a female co-host, it's Gov. Love Potion #9.  But tuning into the show, for the first time, tonight, I was shocked to see the way the pair had been virtually thrown into each other's laps.A bit of inside TV baseball: I host a local TV show in my…

Despite a new CBS poll showing low approval numbers for President Obama, at the top of Thursday's CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith emphasized weak numbers for the tea party: "...most Americans think President Obama is not living up to their expectations. But, they don't know if the tea party is an answer to the problem." Smith later declared: "...less than a month before the midterm elections…

On Wednesday, Good Morning America co-anchor George Stephanopoulos hosted the Florida Senate debate and on Thursday morning highlighted the attacks against Republican Marco Rubio. Discussing the Tea Party overall, Stephanopoulos dismissed, "Both [Joe] Miller and [Christine] O'Donnell have been called too extreme by their opponents. The same case made here against Rubio." Stephanopoulos, a former…