Mario Cuomo in 1984: High on Passion, Low on Accuracy

January 2nd, 2015 7:29 AM
Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo, who died on Thursday, is predictably being lionized today by USA Today's Aamer Madhani "as (a) giant in political rhetoric," and by others elsewhere in similarly glowing terms. Madhani goes on to characterize the three-term Empire State chief executive's 1984 Democratic Convention speech in San Francisco as "what is widely considered one of the finest pieces…

Stop the Presses: Jackson Said Something Sensible — On Immigration

December 31st, 2014 5:10 PM
Call the Ripley's Believe It or Not people. Have smelling salts available. What follows will surely be one of the more unusual things you've seen or heard this year. In the midst of his otherwise odious Silicon Valley race-hustling shakedown effort, Jesse Jackson said something that made sense — so much sense that the rest of the press, which usually hangs on every word of his nonsensical…

LAT Laments How Mega-Donor Steyer Was Not Decisive in 2014 Midterms

December 31st, 2014 4:09 PM
Chris Megerian at the Los Angeles Times, in a report first published online on Tuesday, had a difficult time trying to downplay the fact that Democrat and leftist mega-donors outspent their Republican and conservative couterparts by an overwhelming margin during the past election cycle. But Megerian made the best of it, giving readers the impression that David Koch, of the supposedly evil Koch…

De Blasio Pressured Pols to Condemn Police; Will Media Ignore?

December 31st, 2014 2:04 PM
Let's say that a Republican or conservative governor or big-city mayor (yes, there actually are quite a few) was in a heated dispute with his state's or city's police union. Let's further say that this official decided that his or her best method for whipping up support was to order the staff to (ahem) "ask" GOP legislators or council members to issue public statements of support while bashing…

NYT 'Year in Pictures' Puts Liberal Illogic on Illegals on Display

December 31st, 2014 12:05 PM
Although many of the images are striking and well worth viewing, there's also a dose of the liberal politics of the New York Times on display in its "Year in Pictures" in today's paper.  The very first photo sets the Times' tone, depicting a Ferguson demonstrator with hands up confronted by a heavily-armed phalanx of police. But it is the commentary accompanying another photo that really gives …
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At CNN, Brittany Maynard Is One of '11 Extraordinary People of 2014'

December 31st, 2014 11:04 AM
If CNN is searching for reasons why its ratings are at an all-time low, it doesn't need to look any further than one entry in its group of "11 extraordinary people of 2014" published on December 5. Aside from the inanity of publishing such an annual list almost four weeks before year's end — as if no extraordinary people or extraordinary acts ever take place in December — the network's fourth…

NY Times Attacks Cops and Indulges Protesters — Just Like de Blasio

December 30th, 2014 10:59 PM
Earlier this evening, Clay Waters at NewsBusters noted the New York Times Editorial Board's blistering attack on Gotham's finest. The Times editorial insisted that the NYPD has "squandered" its presumptive respect in its treatment of Mayor Bill de Blasio since a bi-racial grand jury's December 3 decision not to indict officers on the scene in July when Eric Garner died on Staten Island. This is…

Really, AP? Wire Service Covers Tiny Group Nostalgic for Ceausescu

December 29th, 2014 10:02 PM
What is it with the establishment press and communism? The earth's most murderous political philosophy and its most murderous practitioners still get undeserved and occasionally even complimentary attention, while their crimes against humanity get brushed aside, ignored, or downplayed. A Christmas Day item from Romania at the Associated Press illustrates the point. The first six of its eight…

Media Embarrassment: Lionized Ferguson Protester Confesses to Crimes

December 28th, 2014 9:52 AM
In St. Louis County, police have arrested 19 year-old Joshua Williams and charged him (HT Gateway Pundit) with committing "1st degree arson, 2nd degree burglary and misdemeanor theft" at the QuikTrip convenience store in Berkeley, Missouri on Christmas Eve. Williams "has confessed to the crimes." The St. Louis Post-Dispatch gets today's prize for most absurd headline, as seen after the jump (…
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Rangel Denies NYC Marchers' 'Dead Cops' Chants, Then Brushes Them Off

December 27th, 2014 10:18 AM
As I noted almost two weeks ago, hundreds of protesters in Manhattan repeatedly shouted "What do we want? Dead Cops! When do we want it? Now!" during that city's version of the so-called "Justice For All" marches which took place in several locations around the nation on December 13. The New York Times failed to report the protesters' rants in its original coverage of the marches. The fact that…
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Gruber Before Vermont Failed: Single-Payer Must Succeed in States

December 26th, 2014 10:28 AM
Earlier this morning, I posted on Vermont's abandonment of its attempt to impose and implement a "single-payer" (i.e., government-controlled) healthcare system, and on how muted the press coverage has been. It's difficult to overstate how devastating the Green Mountain State's blowup is to the left's oft-stated long-term goal of imposing single-payer, occasionally referred to a "Medicare for all…

Vermont Abandons Single-Payer Health Care; Press Coverage Muted

December 26th, 2014 7:23 AM
President Barack Obama, soon to be former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, former Congressman Barney Frank, and many other prominent Democrats and leftists have over the past several years declared that their ultimate goal is turn the U.S. healthcare system into a "single-payer," i.e., completely government-controlled, enterprise. That likely explains why the reaction to Vermont's abandonment…

NY Official Bans Fracking to Protect 'Child,' 'Family' He Doesn't Have

December 20th, 2014 9:59 AM
In discussing a statewide ban on hydraulic fracturing announced Wednesday, the New York Daily News carried comments made by Howard Zucker, the state's Health Commissioner, about fracking's impact on public health. Zucker asked two rhetorical questions: "Would I live in a community with (fracking) based on the facts I have now?" and “Would I let my child play in a school field nearby or my family…

Reporting on New York's Fracking Ban Ignores Awful Upstate Economy

December 20th, 2014 7:49 AM
The establishment press is virtually giddy over New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's cowardly, self-serving decision to ban fracking in New York. It's cowardly because Cuomo is publicly pretending that he's only deferring to his environmental and health commissioners, when everyone with an ounce of sense knows that he's getting the recommendations he wanted. It's self-serving because it enhances his…