Nation Writer: ‘Wisconsin Badgers Deserve Better Than Scott Walker'
In a Tuesday post, The Nation blogger Dave Zirin argued that it’s politically unseemly for Gov. Scott Walker to root publicly for certain Wisconsin sports teams, including the University of Wisconsin basketballers, who came up just short in last night’s men’s national title game against Duke.
Zirin claimed that it’s “almost flagrantly irresponsible” for the media to publicize Walker’s support of…
AP Finally Admits: Economy 'Has Been Flagging For Months'
Chickens came home to roost yesterday at the Associated Press.
The AP, the economy's most consistent cheerleader when a Democrat is in office, has not only been ignoring and downplaying the significance of disappointing and negative reports for several months, pinning its claim that all is well on the streak of seasonally adjusted 200,000-plus job gains seen during the past 12 months. It has…
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Reid: No Regrets Lying About Mitt's Taxes Because 'Romney Didn't Win'
So Harry Reid knew he was lying about Mitt Romney not paying taxes for ten years when he made the claim in 2012 from the lawsuit-free zone known as the floor of the U.S. Senate, but didn't care.
That's what one must conclude from Reid's response to CNN's Dana Bash about that statement. Asked on the network's New Day program if he regrets what he said, Reid responded: "Romney didn't win, did he…
NYT: Opponents of Amnesty for 'Undocumented' Are Like Racist Granddad
Adam Davidson of National Public Radio lumped people who oppose illegal immigration with racists and homophobes (like his grandfather) in the New York Times magazine:
When I was growing up in the 1980s, I watched my grandfather -- my dad’s stepdad -- struggle with his own prejudice. He was a blue-collar World War II veteran who loved his family above all things and was constantly afraid for them…
Consumer Spending Disappoints; Bloomberg, AP Both Blame Weather
The government's report on consumer spending released this morning was another disappointment. Seasonally adjusted spending increased by just 0.1 percent, falling short of modest expectations of a 0.2 percent jump, following 0.2 percent declines in both December and January.
The opening paragraphs of coverage at Bloomberg News and the Associated Press contrasted sharply. Longtime readers can…
Chicago Trib Excuses Emanuel's Ignorance on Origins of Airports' Names
In Chicago, incumbent Mayor and longtime Democrat fixture Rahm Emanuel floated the idea of renaming one of its airports after President Obama. After all, according to Emanuel, both of Chicago's major airports, O'Hare and Midway, are "named after battleships." No they're not, as will be seen after the jump.
The Chicago Tribune's Bill Ruthhart failed to recognize Emanuel's startling gaffe until…
Lefty Writer: Is Francis Catholic? Yes (Unlike Some Recent Popes)
In a Sunday blog post on the New York Review of Books site, historian Wills, who’s written extensively about both the United States and Catholicism, rebuked conservative Catholics who’ve “suggested that [Pope Francis] is not truly Catholic,” asserting that such critics of the pope “are right to be in a panic. They are not used to having a pope who is a Christian. They call Francis a radical…
President Michael Moore Would Cut Pentagon Budget By 75 Percent
Many people fantasize about what they’d try to accomplish if they were president of the United States. Some even write it down, and a few publish their thoughts, as Moore did earlier this week in the 150th-anniversary issue of The Nation. A few of the ítems on Moore’s list of twenty seem to be meant humorously (e.g., “free HBO for everyone”) but he’s serious about the clear majority of them,…
AP Fantasy: U.S. Economic Growth Has Been 'Really Durable'
The latest wet kiss from the business press thrown the Obama administration's way came from Martin Crutsinger at the Associated Press, aka the Administration's Press, late this afternoon.
Crutsinger, continuing to richly earn the "Worst Economics Writer" tag he received from National Review's Kevin Williamson two years ago, absurdly characterized the mediocre, pathetic economic peformance of the…
As Durable Goods Deterioration Continues, AP Hides the Decline
The Census Burau's February Durable Goods report, released at 8:30 a.m. today, "unexpectedly" (Bloomberg did the U-word honors) came in with a seasonally adjusted 1.4 percent decline compared to the 0.2 increase analysts expected. Additionally, January's increase was revised down to 2.0 percent from 2.8 percent. Not adjusting for inflation, unadjusted (i.e., actual) February orders came in 2.3…
Nation Columnist: Right-Wing Pundits Seek to ‘Undermine Our Democracy'
The left-liberal magazine The Nation has just published its 150th-anniversary issue, which includes Alterman’s piece on the state of American conservatism. Alterman makes two main points. One is that conservatives are ideologues, whereas liberals are pragmatists. The other is that prominent righty pundits routinely spew nonsense not because they’re dumb, but because extremist plutocrats control…
Former NYT Reporter Egan Goes Full Marxist on GOP Class 'Traitors'
Timothy Egan, liberal New York Times reporter turned left-wing Times columnist, made Friday's paper accusing some conservative Republicans born disadvantaged as being "Traitors to Their Class." Egan's columns are typically online only, but the paper liked this one enough to feature in print. One can see why; it has the easy, superior mockery of Republicans who grew up poor but have the audacity…
'Intentions Are Pure'? Starbucks-USAT Race Test Demonstrates Otherwise
The Associated Press's most recent story on the controversial Starbucks USA Today "Race Together" campaign came out Wednesday evening.
In that story, AP Food Industry Writer Candice Choi quoted Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz at his company's annual shareholders' meeting predicting that "Some in the media will criticize Starbucks for having a political agenda," but that "Our intentions are pure."…
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Harris-Perry Guest: NCAA Tourney 'Organized Theft of Black Wealth'
Bracket busted? How about a nice Marxist critique of the NCAA tournament? Call it the theory of surplus value in high-tops . . .
On Melissa Harris-Perry's MSNBC show today, David Zirin, sports guy at the far-left Nation mag, called the NCAA tournament nothing less than "the organized theft of black wealth."
