Campaigns & Elections

Appearing on Monday's CBS Early Show, former President Jimmy Carter came up with his own version of history while remarking on Democratic chances in this year's midterm elections: "...when I was in office at this time, I had a 66% favorable rating and we had a very successful midterm election." In reality, Carter's approval stood at 49% in late October of 1978 and the Democrats lost seats in…

Good Morning America on Monday highlighted the "admission" by Tea Party backed candidate Joe Miller that he opposes the federal minimum wage. Reporter Jon Karl breathlessly related, "In an exclusive interview with ABC News, Alaska's Joe Miller talked about rolling back the power of the federal government further than Republicans have talked about for more than 70 years." An ABC graphic appeared…

At about 3 p.m. Saturday, one version of the reportage from the Associated Press's Philip Elliott concerning the "One Nation" rally in Washington opened as follows (saved here at host for future reference, fair use and discussion purposes; bold is mine): Tapping into the same anger that fuels the tea party movement, a coalition of progressive and civil rights groups marched Saturday on the…

The arrangement described here is so journalistically incestuous I was considering hanging an NC-17 (or worse) rating on this post. You see, the husband of a former longtime ABC reporter held a Democratic National Committee fundraiser at the couple's home Thursday night at which President Barack Obama appeared for 15 minutes. The reporter's husband was on the Obama campaign's national finance…

Government/General Motors saw its total vehicle sales fall in September to 173,031 from 185,105 in August. At the same time, Ford's sales increased from to 157,327 to 160,375. Thus, what was an almost 28,000-vehicle lead for GM in August shrank by more than half to less than 13,000 in September. No one has a crystal ball, of course, but if GM falls and Ford surges by similar amounts in October,…

What do Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, a domestic terrorist who was developing a nuclear weapon, and Tea Party activists concerned about lavish government spending have in common? Nothing, unless you're a newly-minted cable news anchor with a liberal agenda.Interviewing a Time magazine writer who conducted an in-depth investigation into right-wing militias, MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell on…

While liberals complain that Fox News is too helpful in offering its air time for Republican candidates and campaigns, MSNBC continued the recent string of NBC-Universal properties bowing to President Obama with gobs of unchallenged free air time. On Thursday night's Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC offered two large chunks of a speech Obama gave to the DNC's "Gen 44" initiative for young people.…

In my beloved home state of Maryland, this year's governor's race is a rematch of the contest four years ago, and most polls show a close race, with current Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) up a few points over former Gov. Bob Ehrlich (R), but at or below the crucial 50 percent mark. Enter the Washington Post, which two days ago released a poll that shows O'Malley up by 11 points, breaking the 50 percent…

Good Morning America on Friday continued to hype the allegations that gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman knowingly employed an illegal alien, airing the fourth segment on the topic in just two days. As though ABC hadn't played a role, reporter David Wright labeled the controversy "the story that won't seem to go away for Meg Whitman." He added that it was a "major distraction for her campaign as…

"You have to wonder, Sean, what planet our friend Matt Lauer is living on right now," NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell quipped after watching a clip of the "Today" show co-host all but urging President Obama in an interview to be tougher by "pushing back" against Republicans in the remaining weeks before the November midterms."Barack Obama has done nothing but blame George Bush for everything…

As the Democrat-loving media pile on California Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman over the illegal alien status of her former housekeeper, a strange thing happened at the New York Times Friday: columnist David Brooks published a positive piece about the former eBay CEO.In fact, "The Austerity Caucus" never mentioned this new scandal that has most mainstream media members doing…

Earlier this evening, conservative radio host and friend of NewsBusters Mark Levin conducted a nearly 20-minute interview with Gloria Allred, a celebrity attorney who's also known for her liberal politics. [The interview is definitely worth a listen. For the full segment, click here to access the audio.] Allred is representing one Nicky Diaz, an illegal immigrant who worked as a housekeeper for…

"What's the answer to the Tea Party racist question?"Galloping into the 10 p.m. Eastern timeslot as the white knight of truth, MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell, host of "The Last Word," challenged left-wing writer Matt Taibbi on September 29 to answer this incisive question.Eager to discuss the subject of his latest conservative hit-piece, Taibbi imparted the sort of thoughtful analysis viewers should…

Should Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina, GOP candidates for Governor and Senate in California, respectively, be worried by recent CNN/Time poll numbers showing both trailing by sizable margins? In short: no, not really.That's because Time/CNN seem to have stacked the deck by significantly overestimating the number of Democrats likely to vote in this year's strong anti-Obama electorate. According to…