Campaigns & Elections

Time's Joe Klein is giddy. Convinced Sen. Barack Obama is barreling down the straightaway towards the electoral finish line with Sen. McCain choking on his dust, Mr. Anonymous is cheering the promise of big government and wealth redistribution, seeing an Obama victory as a mandate for LBJ-like big government activism. From his October 16 "Swampland" blog entry (emphasis mine):[McCain] spoke in…

Spreading the WordAs we reported earlier, in an interview for the upcoming New York Times's Sunday Magazine, and again in last night's Presidential debate, Illinois Senator Barack Obama singled out the Fox News Channel for scorn for how he feels they are covering his campaign. Excerpted Sen. Obama quotes from the Times Sunday Magazine: "I am convinced that if there were no Fox News, I might…

Joe the Plumber, aka Joe Wurzelbacher the Ohio man that has suddenly become the face of the presidential campaign, told ABC's Diane Sawyer Thursday that Barack Obama's tax plan to spread the wealth is "a very socialist view, and it's incredibly wrong."Predictably, Sawyer defended Obama's position by saying it's only a three percent tax increase that people making over $250,000 would be required…

Apparently the Washington Post thinks it has an ethics violation to hold against Cindy McCain, wife of GOP presidential candidate John McCain. The Post is trying to claim that Cindy McCain somehow illicitly got a portable cell tower delivered to her remote Arizona ranch so that their phones would work there. The truth is, however, the Secret Service ordered up the portable cell tower, not Cindy…

Imagine that Chris Matthews was interviewing the former head of the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee, someone who helped engineer the election of a Republican House member after the incumbent Dem had been caught in a sex scandal.  Now imagine that same Republican was currently stuck in a sex scandal of his own, and just that afternoon a credible report emerged that he might drop out of…

CNN anchor John Roberts complained in an October 15 interview to Media Life magazine about the "Media Research Council" (he meant Media Research Center) giving him an award in 2001 for being one of the most liberally biased journalists during George W. Bush's first 100 days in office. In the interview, Roberts labeled himself an "equal opportunity holder of feet to the fire," and lamented that "…

Wednesday’s CBS Early Show began to declare the presidential race over as co-host Julie Chen touted new CBS News/New York Times poll numbers and proclaimed: "Obama surge. As the candidates head to the final showdown, Barack Obama opens up a 14-point lead. Can John McCain turn his campaign around in the final debate?" Co-host Harry Smith followed up with: "A lot of people say this is John McCain's…

All three morning shows on Wednesday failed to cover a front page Washington Times story asserting that Senator Joe Biden has paid over $2 million in campaign money to family members and their businesses. Washington Times reporter Jim McElhatton wrote in the October 15 edition of the paper that "the money largely flowed from the coffers of Mr. Biden's failed presidential campaign during the past…

One-Time NPR Commentator Mumia Abu-Jamal The Chicago Tribune caught up with William Ayers at his university office yesterday. While Ayers refused to comment for the reporters he told them from his door, "What could I possibly add? Life happens."The Tribune notes that the door or William Ayers is decorated with pictures of celebrated cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal and murderous Cuban revolutionary Che…

For the second time in three days, a major network program has showcased the story of a 106-year-old nun in Rome who is voting for Senator Barack Obama. On Wednesday's "Good Morning America," reporter Jim Sciutto highlighted Sister Cecilia Gaudette, an elderly woman who has caught "election fever" for the Democrat. The journalist featured Gaudette gushing, "I think he's the man, really. I think…

Rather than deliver a single revelation, the 24-hour cable news channel coughed up a reheated, overwrought and misleading story that seemed designed to yoke Sarah Palin and her husband to the most extreme secessionists in Alaska.That's how Los Angeles Times's James Rainey characterized an October 14 effort by CNN's Rick Sanchez to portray Gov. Sarah Palin as a shady secessionist who would like…

We are approaching halftime of Round Two of the MRC's Sweet-On-Obama Sixteen Media Bias Tournament. If you haven't yet cast your ballots from among the Enamored Eight, it's time to do so. And if you have, check back often to keep tabs on your picks.We now proudly unveil on NewsBusters.org the trophy that we will present to the Media's Most Valuable Partisan (MVP) -- the winner of the Sweet-On-…

Tony Dokoupil, who once asked "is journalism ready for a black president" in the Columbia Journalism Review -- he also excerpted it in a blog entry at Huffington Post -- gave Newsweek readers a look at what the presidential candidates' neckties say about the men who wear them.You may scoff now, but Dokoupil sure finds it a knotty problem (emphases mine):So what does the knot say about today's…