Unanswered VA Scandal Question: Why Is Even a 14-Day Wait For an Appoi
May 31st, 2014 6:29 PM
An item which appears to be overlooked in the Department of Veterans Affairs scandal is the press's and presumably the public's blind acceptance of the department's goal to reduce its average wait times to 14 days as supposedly "aggressive."
My reaction is that the goal doesn't seem "aggressive" at all, or even borderline acceptable, based on both personal experience and some admittedly…
Despite April Consumer Spending Dip, AP's Crutsinger Likes Sunny Growt
May 31st, 2014 5:23 PM
After investing so much emotional energy in the idea that the weather-impaired contracting U.S. economy of the first quarter is going to give way to a super-duper awesome second quarter and strong rest of the year, it was foolish to think that Martin Crutsinger at the Associated Press, aka the Administration's Press, would backtrack after just one contradictory report on consumer spending,…
Inevitable: Complaints About How Sterling Is Being 'Rewarded' For Raci
May 31st, 2014 4:28 PM
I guess the PC sports press was hoping for a high-tech lyching of sorts, wherein Donald Sterling, the owner in limbo who is soon to be former owner of the National Basketall Association's Los Angeles Clippers, would be frog-marched out of his office and dumped onto Skid Row, never to be heard from again, for his undeniably racist remarks to his now ex-girlfriend about how he didn't want her…
In Covering Shinseki's Sacking, AP's Pace Cites VA's Rising Caseload
May 31st, 2014 9:16 AM
Julie Pace at the Associated Press, aka the Administration's Press, is used to carrying water for the Obama administration. Last year, she proudly reveled in how she and her wire service sat on information it had about secret U.S.-Iran negotiations for eight months. My immediate take was that "They didn't report it until the Obama administration said it would be okay to report it." The AP…
Agenda-Driven Much? CNBC's Dan Mangan, on Kaiser Poll: 'Shut Up About
May 30th, 2014 11:08 PM
In a report at CNBC on Thursday, Dan Mangan covered a "Kaiser Health Tracking Poll" which appears to have been pre-cooked for an administration which would love to have the press give Obamacare even less than the disproportionately low coverage that it has received since a few weeks after HealthCare.gov's diastrous initial rollout.
Mangan eagerly took the bait. His opening sentence: "And the…
Guest On Ronan Farrow Daily Compares Redskins PR to North Korean Propa
May 30th, 2014 5:30 PM
In MSNBC’s view of the world, Twitter hashtag appeals are apparently only acceptable for liberal or politically-correct causes.
On the May 30 edition of Ronan Farrow Daily, the MSNBC host invited Deadspin columnist and GQ contributor Drew Magary onto the show to discuss how the Washington Redskins are pushing back against the incessant pressure campaign for the NFL team to drop its name for…
Low-Info Voter Outreach: USAT Tweets and Makes Excuse For GDP Contract
May 30th, 2014 10:17 AM
In an apparent attempt to reach those who usually don't pay much attention to the economy, USA Today sent out a tweet Thursday afternoon in the wake of the government's report earlier in the day that the U.S. economy contracted by an annualized 1.0 percent — on its weather feed.
The tweet (HT Zero Hedge), plus evidence that the economy has somehow managed to "weather" previous cold and stormy…
Nancy Pelosi: VA Wait List Manipulation Isn't a 'Scandal With Intentio
May 29th, 2014 11:59 PM
Imagine the press letting a Republican or conservative get away with trying to avoid uncondtionally calling something as infuriating and outrageous as the Veterans Administration waiting list scandal a real scandal.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did that on Monday (HT Patterico and Real Clear Politics) in an interview with Vox's Ezra Klein, who naturally let it slide right on by:
CNN Reports 'U.S. Economy Shrinks, But It's Not a Big Deal
May 29th, 2014 1:05 PM
Last month, CNN reported that the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis measured a decrease in the rate of growth of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) to the tune of 0.1 percent. But relax, they insisted, it was merely due to the “winter weather effect.”
Fast forward to today and the Bureau’s downward revision of GDP growth. The feds now tell us the economy contracted one percent in the first…
AP (Naturally) Ignores Widely Noted 'Tepid' and 'Icy' Obama Reception
May 28th, 2014 10:43 PM
Following President Barack Obama's speech today at West Point, the UK Daily Mail reported "tepid applause and a short standing ovation from less than one-quarter of the audience upon his introduction." In a CNN video clip found at Mediaite, Jim Clancy noted that Obama did not sound like a “commander-in-chief speaking to his troops.” He further observed: “You heard the reception; it was icy."…
LAT Reports (Now Corrected) That Plame Was Exposed by Libby, But Still
May 28th, 2014 7:36 PM
Monday afternoon, in an error which made it into the paper's Tuesday print edition, reporter Paul Richter at the Los Angeles Times, in a story on the Obama administration's inadvertent leak of a CIA director's name in Afghanistan, was apparently so bound and determined to include a "Bush did it too" comparison that he went with leftist folklore instead of actual history.
Specifically, Richter…
Ed Schultz Accuses Ben Carson of 'Twisting' VA Tragedy
May 28th, 2014 4:20 PM
While the liberal media was preoccupied spinning Friday’s tragic UCSB shooting to promote their anti-gun agenda, Ed Schultz of MSNBC’s The Ed Show devoted some time on his May 27 program to berating world-renowned neurosurgeon and conservative author Dr. Ben Carson for using the VA scandal to promote his own “anti-Obamacare agenda.”
Schultz blasted Dr. Carson’s efforts to tie in the VA…
Ronan Farrow on Hillary Clinton's Memoir: 'Literature Isn't Dead
May 28th, 2014 10:16 AM
You can take the boy genius out of the Hillary Clinton State Department, but you can’t take the Hillary Clinton acolyte out of the boy.
On the May 27 edition of Ronan Farrow Daily, the former special advisor to ex-Secretary of State treated viewers to a segment devoted to his former employer which lasted over five minutes long, a fairly long stretch of time for an hour-long news program. […
MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry: NBA Is About 'Profit From the Sale of Bl
May 28th, 2014 1:35 AM
Melissa Harris-Perry seems to have a problem with some African-Americans making a lot of money in professional sports, apparently because some other people also make money in the process. Specifically, she seems to believe that the relationship between players in the National Basketball Association and their teams' owners is a form of slavery.
It's hard to conclude otherwise based on…