Campaigns & Elections

It seems reasonable from their coverage in anticipation of the Census Bureua's release of income and poverty statistics this week that Hope Yen and Liz Sidoti of the Associated Press have a roof over their heads and aren't particularly worried about where their next meal is coming from. If so, good for them; may those circumstances continue. What's remarkable, though, is how a government report…

CNN's David Gergen gushed over Barack Obama during CNN's coverage of the President's press conference on Friday, but was unimpressed by his performance: "He impresses everyone with his competence....The subtlety of his mind I think is very impressive. At the same time, I thought it was...boring." Minutes later, Roland Martin replied to Gergen by rushing to Obama's defense: "He's not an…

Whenever President Barack Obama defends what his presidency to date, specifically on economic issues, he'll speak of inheriting a bad economy from the previous administration, and then assures listeners of his intention to make the economy his top priority. So why hasn't he done it? Why have there been other distractions like cap-and-trade, ObamaCare, bailouts, etc. and not a push for a real…

Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos on Thursday trumpeted his exclusive interview with Barack Obama and rewarded the President with 16 minutes of air time, just as the midterm election season kicks off.Stephanopoulos served up several softballs during the four part interview. Speaking of the pastor in Florida who intends to burn a Koran on 9/11, he sympathized, "I wonder what this must…

Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos on Wednesday quizzed House Minority Leader John Boehner about his tan, dismissing, "...I have to note that if you do win and you do become Speaker, you will probably have the deepest tan of any Speaker in American history." He also wondered if this was something the Republican would have to "overcome." The former Democratic operative turned journalist…

It's interesting, and more than a little frustrating, to see how inflammatory words in speeches delivered by liberal and leftist politicians that might cast them in a bad light don't seem to make much news. One such example occurred in a speech yesterday at Cincinnati's Coney Island, on the occasion of the AFL-CIO's huge annual picnic there. At that event, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland lashed out…

At the New York Times, Republican ploys to get ringer candidates on the ballot are front page news. Attempts by Democrats to do the same thing - on a larger scale - are not worth covering at all."Republican Runs Street People on Green Ticket" blares the headline on the front page of today's Times. Arizona GOP operative Steve May has recruited three "street people," as the Gray Lady calls them, to…

The Washington Post doesn't avoid the bad news for Democrats on Tuesday's front page, but it noticeably tried to hide the worst of it. The headline on the new ABC/Post poll was "Republicans making gains ahead of midterm elections; parties nearly even on trust; Obama's overall rating is at new low, poll finds." There is no graphic illustration of any poll result -- unlike their misleading GOP-…

Over at stopnetregulation.org, Seton Motley reports that if the Democrats can't ban books, they'll try to ban book promotion. Democrats are furious that the conservative Threshhold imprint of Simon & Schuster (a corporate cousin of CBS) published a book by three House Republicans titled "Young Guns," and included a promotional video:   That was too much free speech for the Democrat…

Obama administration Labor Secretary Hilda Solis (pictured at right with what I would guess is her ideal car of the future) shamelessly used Labor Day weekend as an opportunity to score political points. In a presentation that was more a political stump speech than an informative presentation, Solis recited a litany of alleged accomplishments. Many of them have no relationship to what her…

In a post at National Review Online's Battle '10 blog last night, Mytheos Holt commented on a report seen at the Huffington Post: HuffPo Panics about GOP Sweep of Ohio Looks like the Huffington Post is buying into the “As Ohio goes, so goes the nation” meme this election cycle, based on a story out today. The HuffPo item is by Liz Sidoti. But Sidoti is a national politics writer for the…

A recurring rubric at James Taranto's Best of the Web Today column at the Wall Street Journal online is "We Blame George W. Bush," for tongue-in-cheek blaming of the former prez for things palpably beyond his purview. Let's add another item to the list.  Dem senator Russ Feingold has blamed his tough re-election race on, yes, W.Let's think about that. If Bush were such a bad president.  If…

Yesterday the Gallup organization released a poll showing that Americans trust Republicans over Democrats on most major issues heading into the general election season. Today the same polling outfit released a poll that found a large number of Americans blame George W. Bush for the faltering economy. Guess which one Gallup partner USA Today hyped?Here's how USA Today staffer Susan Page began her…

Talk about an in-kind contribution. In a short item about a Democratic Governors Association election complaint about Ohio GOP gubernatorial candidate John Kasich, the Associated Press's Julie Carr Smyth showed that she is willfully ignoring Buckeye State reality, or has been living a hermit's existence for the past few months. In describing Kasich's standing against Democratic incumbent…