Campaigns & Elections

Here's something I discovered in the course of preparing a column which will appear elsewhere. It appears to speak to the lengths to which Barack Obama's administration and his campaign went to avoid having any kind of bad economic news appear before the fall elections. By July of last year, the increase in food stamp program participation in the 42 months since Obama took office exceeded the…

Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker made a couple of predictions on Sunday's syndicated Chris Matthews Show that are guaranteed to raise eyebrows on both sides of the aisle. First, in a discussion about whether Hillary Clinton will run for president in 2016, Parker said she wouldn't as "ultimate revenge" on husband Bill who "wants her to run more than anyone else" (video follows with…

It's not very often that a federal judge begins a ruling by saying that "Sometimes even a person with excellent vision does not see the forest for the trees." That happened yesterday in a case involving former First District Democratic Congressman and sore loser Steve Driehaus, whose district mostly comprised the western two-thirds of Cincinnati's Hamilton County. Yet it's not news at Gannett's…

File this under "careful what you wish for." In 2012, with a Democrat in the White House, union membership declined, not only as a percentage of the workforce, but in absolute numbers. Even though the related report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that the number of employed wage and salaried workers increased by almost 2.4 million, union membership fell by just under 400,000.…

Leave it to Obama-boosting MSNBC to carry water for the Obama administration over the terrorist attack on our consulate in Benghazi.  Speaking with Congressman Chris Smith (R-N.J) on her MSNBC program Wednesday afternoon -- prior to Smith's committee's hearing with Clinton but following this morning's Senate hearing -- Ms. Mitchell spouted off numerous White House talking points to excuse…

On Wednesday's CBS This Morning, John Dickerson stood by his Friday column for Slate where he concluded that President Obama "can only cement his legacy if he destroys the GOP." Dickerson answered conservative critics of his piece by claiming that he "wasn't trying to give advice. I was trying to highlight, in a very stark way, what seems like an impossible-to-avoid conclusion about this second…

Joe Scarborough often riles up conservatives for his continual trashing of his fellow Republicans, but his most recent claim might be a new low for the MSNBC conservative.  Appearing on Morning Joe on Wednesday January 23, Scarborough insisted that he was not a Republican-in-name-only (RINO), but instead is more conservative than most in Congress. Scarborough, who NewsBusters has repeatedly…

Remember then-obscure Senator Barack Obama's speech to the 2004 DNC? All the no blue state, no red state stuff?  Fugedaboutit.  Now, he's all about killing—figuratively of course—his political opponents. Ed Schultz sees Obama for what he is: and applauds him for it, of course.  On his MSNBC show tonight, Schultz repeatedly claimed--polls notwithstanding--that America is a center-left,…

For four years (and really going back further when you consider former President George W. Bush's halting attempt to reform Social Security in the middle of last decade), Barack Obama and his party have paid lip service at best to the idea of entitlement reform while refusing to provide any specifics about what they would do to fix Social Security and Medicare, both of which are unsustainable…

After years of downplaying ideological labels for Barack Obama, ABC has seemingly accepted the idea that the President is a "progressive" and a "liberal." While recapping the inauguration, Good Morning America's journalists used the terms four times in just two minutes and 45 seconds. Yet, when Obama was a Democratic primary candidate in 2007, the networks deployed the L-word just twice– in the…

In an exchange with former Secretary of State and prominent Obama supporter Colin Powell during NBC's live inauguration coverage on Monday, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams urged Powell to go after Republicans: "General, there's just flat-out hatred out there, too. There's nastiness out there in the land. There's nastiness between these two parties....Let's especially go to the Republican…

Chris Matthews, infamous for throwing out outrageous attacks against Republicans, has chosen President Obama’s second inauguration as a perfect opportunity to slam the GOP as a party of cheaters.  Speaking with the all-liberal MSNBC inauguration panel, Matthews suggested that in future elections, the only way Republicans can win election is if they rig them in their favor.  Matthews’ rant…

Decades ago, to demonstrate the leftist biases of most establishment press reporters, one needed to study their body of work over time. Many of them didn't make their political beliefs totally obvious until they retired or went elsewhere (e.g., Walter Cronkite, Tom Brokaw). These days, we usually don't have to wait too long for reporters' biases to show. Over the weekend at Slate, CBS…

CBS’s John Dickerson has once again used violent imagery to describe President Obama’s relationship with congressional Republicans in his second term.  Speaking prior to President Obama’s second inauguration ceremony on live network coverage shortly after 10:30 a.m. Eastern Monday, Dickerson insisted that, “only aggression will get deals made.” So much for "changing the tone" in Washington or…