Party Labels by the Numbers: Democratic Affiliation Often Ignored by A

ABC News has a photo montage of political sex scandals, featuring both Republicans and Democrats. But a few bloggers have noted that the captions for these photos often ignore the Democratic Party affiliation of Democrats while highlighting the GOP affiliation of Republican.Out of 13 pols featured, there were five Democrats, four of whom (80 percent) were unidentified by party. Of the eight…

CNN’s Costello Focuses on GOP Scandals, Mentions Democrats in Passin

CNN correspondent Carol Costello, in a report on Monday’s "The Situation Room," tried to put the Eliot Spitzer scandal into a better light by focusing entirely on past Republican scandals, and only mentioned two examples of Democrats caught in scandal -- Bill Clinton and Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank -- in passing.Other than Idaho Senator Larry Craig, Costello brought up Republicans who…

Scandal-Ridden 'Hip Hop Mayor' Superdelgate's Dem Power Links

A few days before Eliot Spitzer went down in flames, a highly-connected Barack Obama*  superdelegate was mired in accusations of corruption, bid-rigging and a dead-stripper sex scandal. Usually the media love to report the downfall of party bigwigs, but not in the case of Detroit's youngest mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Much of the media downplayed the mayor's scandals and did not report his party, let…

CBS’s Pelley Grills McCain, Kroft & Couric Chatted With Democrats

On Sunday’s CBS "60 Minutes," anchor Scott Pelley interviewed Republican presidential candidate, John McCain, and the tone of the questions was this: "The United States is going to be in Iraq for years to come. Afghanistan is not going well. Osama bin Laden is at large. And the economy is slipping into recession...How do you make a case for a third Republican term?"Compare that to how Steve Kroft…

Early MSNBC Pundits Defend Spitzer, Lash Out at Prudish America

BBC Removes Initial Democratic Label on Spitzer Story

Update (18:18 EDT): BBC has updated their article to note the Democratic party affiliation in the 3rd graf (link). Our tipster DB informs us that the BBC's North America editor Justin Webb replied to his e-mail with a promise to "try to get it changed." The BBC initially noted Gov. Eliot Spitzer is a Democrat, in an early draft of an online news article. The mention was in the 6th paragraph. But…

CBS’s Smith: Republican Campaign Ads Have Taken ‘Low Road

On Monday’s CBS "Early Show," co-host Harry Smith did a segment on the effectiveness of television ads in presidential campaigns, in which he gave credit to Ronald Reagan’s ‘optimistic’ "Morning in America" ad, which he incorrectly said was run in the 1980 campaign rather than 1984, but he followed quickly by condemning more recent Republican ads: "There's a high road and a low road. Remember…

AP Ignores Spitzer's Democratic Party Affiliation

Update (16:50 EDT): Clay Waters of MRC's TimesWatch informs me the 3rd paragraph reference in a NYT article to Spitzer's Democratic Party affiliation has been removed. Only an oblique reference to his party remains in the 15th paragraph, notes Waters. It's the first major political sex scandal of 2008 (aside from Detroit's Kwame Kilpatrick) and it involves a Democrat. So of course the Associated…

'Today' Pans Hil's Obama-for-VP Ploy: Ignorant, Arrogant, Illogical, C

If Hillary Clinton's latest gambit--floating Obama as her VP--were a play not a ploy, and the Today crew the theater critics, they would have left at intermission to begin penning a blistering pan.Interviewing Tim Russert, Matt Lauer kicked off the kicking around of Hillary's idea.MATT LAUER: Let's talk about this idea. Is it being floated seriously? Is this light-hearted, and who's behind it?…

Oprah Abandoned 'The Hot-Flash Cohort

Look for NOW to be setting up picket lines outside Rush's Southern Command, protesting the way Limbaugh has demeaned mature women, writing them off as the "hot-flash cohort."Outrageous! When will these right-wing men realize we will no longer tolerate their misogynist --What? It wasn't Rush? It was that avatar of elite liberal thought Tina Brown, writing in Newsweek? Never mind.Here's how…

No Party ID for NY Dem Who Stole From Little League, Bought Mistress C

The New York Times reported Democratic NY state assemblyman Brian McLaughlin pleaded guilty to federal racketeering charges on Friday. As usual, no party identification in the headline, picture, caption or article, but there's a twist in this March 8 piece. The NYT also didn't report that he was in office at the time the crimes were committed. In the lede, the Times described McLaughlin as the “…

Al Franken, Just Another Liberal Hypocrite

While the news media concentrates almost all of its attention on the presidential races, one Senate challenger has gotten serious coverage – the silly one. Radio Equalizer, one of the Internet’s funniest Franken-bashing blogs, passes along the latest news of left-wing comedian/Senate aspirant Al Franken failing to live up to the basic government requirements of a businessman. From the Minneapolis…

Anti-Fox News Blog Runs Not One but Two Ads for Fox Biz Network

Update below (18:45 EDT | March 10).It happens from time to time, believe me. You're going over your Web site and what do you see but a product or service advertised that, to be charitable, conflicts with your mission, or otherwise is just plain embarrassing. It's the nature of having third-party advertising arrangements, and usually you can get these things resolved with an e-mail or two to your…

Dean to David: Your Suggestion of Undemocratic Dems 'Complete Nonsense

This is getting entertaining. . . With Hillary firmly in the race after her Texas and Ohio victories, the Dems are setting about forming that circular firing squad for which they're famous.Evidence comes from this morning's Today show. First, goodbye Obambi, hello Rambo-ama. Then, DNC Chairman Howard Dean on the hot seat, snapping at David Gregory, calling his suggestion that a nominee decided…