Campaigns & Elections

Good Morning America on Thursday devoted nine minutes and three segments to the "bombshell" accusations that are "rocking" the California governor's race. After relating the allegations that Republican Meg Whitman knowingly hired an illegal housekeeper, reporter David Wright proclaimed, " The political risk for Whitman? That she comes off at heartless or hypocritical." [MP3 audio here.]"Either…

In their "Pledge to America," House Republicans have promised to "require each bill moving through Congress to include a clause citing the specific constitutional authority upon which the bill is justified." On September 22, Newsweek's Ben Adler denounced that simple pledge as "dangerous even as a mere suggestion," complaining that it intrudes on the constitutional prerogative of the courts to…

In New Mexico yesterday and probably in several other appearances, President Barack Obama criticized the House Republicans' Pledge to America on several fronts. To me, only because I tend to look at the real numbers during most months, his most obviously off-base critique had to do with federal education spending (as carried at Jake Tapper's Political Punch blog at ABC): Obama said the…

Want to see what sort of rationalizations the scary anti-conservative elements of the media use to justify why they hold any opponents of President Barack Obama’s policies in contempt? Check out the treatise on the state of “white America” from the Village Voice’s Steven Thrasher. In a long-winded Sep. 29 piece full of invective, Thrasher contends that the “white brain, beset with worries,…

On this the 24th and final day of his Election Road Trip, Time's Joe Klein availed himself of the opportunity to attack center-left blogger Mickey Kaus and conservative writer Jonah Goldberg for "distort[ing] a striking point" made by a liberal Democrat vineyard owner from California that Klein quoted in a September 27 Swampland blog post. Klein vented most of his spleen at Kaus, a blogger for…

Both ABC and CBS on Wednesday played up Barack Obama's attempt to reignite his Democratic base and defeat surging Republicans. Good Morning America host George Stephanopoulos labeled the President's trip to Madison, Wisconsin a "glory days tour." On CBS's Early Show, Chip Reid used nearly identical language, claiming the President was "recalling his glory days on the 2008 campaign trail." The two…

You know, Mr. President, if things don't work out in 2012, we could open a slot for you on MSNBC at 8 PM . . . It apparently wasn't enough for NBC Universal, little more than a month before the elections, to grant Pres. Obama a half-hour across all its networks to talk about education—while encouraging him to get rougher with Republicans.There I was this morning, innocently watching Morning…

CNN's Jack Cafferty may end up eating more than his words if Sarah Palin is elected the next president in 2012. After outlining how a current poll indicates "Obama's best hope of winning a second term just might be Alaska's dropout governor" on Tuesday's Situation Room, anchor Wolf Blitzer warned him that there's always the chance she may end up being elected. Cafferty replied, "If Sarah Palin is…

MSNBC reporter Luke Russert on Tuesday lauded Democratic Senator Russ Feingold as a "fiscal conservative." During the same segment, he knocked Republican Sharron Angle for making "outlandish, absurd comments."Russert asserted that Feingold is known for "independence during his Senate career, having a lot of moral victories" and for "being fiscally conservative." [MP3 audio here.] The National…

On Monday's Rick's List, CNN's Jessica Yellin leaned against California Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina as she compared one of her ads against that of her opponent, Senator Barbara Boxer. While Yellin acknowledged that Boxer's ad was "negative," she also  complimented it as "very effective." The correspondent went on to label Fiorina's commercial "mean" [audio clips available here].…

At the top of the 8PM ET hour on Tuesday's CBS Early Show, senior White House correspondent Bill Plante touted President Obama's comments about the midterm elections in a recent interview: "[He] told Rolling Stone magazine that for those people not to come out, those so-called 'surge voters,' would be 'inexcusable and irresponsible'....'people need to shake off this lethargy and buck up.'" News…

According to a recent poll, likely voters get their political news primarily from cable television. Among cable channels, 42 percent, a plurality, watch Fox News for its political coverage. Only 12 percent said they watched MSNBC. What's more, most likely voters don't like or have never heard of MSNBC's prime time talent.The poll, conducted by Politico and George Washington University, used a…

With its dwindling readership, Time magazine is fast becoming a museum piece. What better way is there to celebrate than for the publication to bring to its few readers' attention other strange curiosities? Three weeks into his cross-country Election Road Trip, Joe Klein filed a Swampland blog post  shortly after noon Eastern time today from Sebastopol, California, where he found a true rarity, a…

Only Good Morning America's Jake Tapper on Monday highlighted an attack from the liberal Alan Grayson that his Republican opponent "doesn't love this country." CBS's Early Show and NBC's Today have yet to report on the harsh new commercial by the Democratic Congressman. Additionally, none of the networks have discussed an ad where Grayson compares the same Republican to the Taliban. Focusing on…