No Neutrality

Mark Penn Gives Away the Game

Does this mean that in the past, the media decided for the voters?

What happened here very clearly is that the controversy over Palin led to 37 million Americans tuning into a vice-presidential speech, something that is unprecedented, because they wanted to see for themselves. This is an election in which the voters are going to decide for themselves. The media has lost credibility with them.

CBS News

One of the First Lines of Attack Against Palin

Will be the fact that Sarah Palin was raised in a Pentecostal church in the "backwoods" of Alaska. (As if Wasilla really represents the "backwoods" for anyone that's lived in AK.) The same line of attack was used against John Ashcroft as well. "It's a theocracy! Voltaire, come quickly!"

All You Need To Know

 This is it in a nutshell:

WASHINGTON - It's a Senate showdown that could pit the three presidential candidates against each other in a fight for dominance.

Sens. John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are all pushing for the perfect sound bite; for that singular moment that will define their campaigns' stance on the Iraq war.

And it happens on Tuesday. That's when General David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker will report to Congress in two Senate hearings. They’ll give progress reports on the war and offer strategy going forward.

Does it strike you as the least bit odd or uncouth that the link to this article on the main MSN web site is "Candidates set to grill Petraeus on Iraq"? Call me crazy, but my understanding was that the good general was to give a report on the status of the war effort in Iraq, particularly since the "surge" has been implemented. Since when are war time military leaders "grilled" for their testimony, much less by presidential candidates? Is the assumption now that the general is a liar and must be cross-examined like a slippery witness on the stand?

It's nothing but pure madness to use the testimony of a man engaged in trying to fight a war as theater for your presidential campaign.

Things have come to a pretty pass indeed.

The Most Biased Article Of the Year Award Goes To...

Matt Spetalnick? Well the year is just begun so we'll have to wait and see, but the winner will have a tough time overcoming this doozy:

Seeking to reassert himself on the world stage in the twilight of his term [and how does the writer know what Bush is seeking?], Bush will press NATO for more troops in Afghanistan, try to keep up momentum in the alliance's eastward expansion and attempt to ease strains with Russia.

But with Bush even more unpopular overseas than at home, he could have a hard time swaying world leaders at this week's Bucharest summit as they look to whomever will succeed him in January 2009.

"Many of them are looking forward now to the next president in Washington and are already thinking about what the 2009 summit will bring," said Julianne Smith, a Europe analyst at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies. [Ahh, the old quote from ONE ANALYST at some think tank somewhere...]

Lame-duck status will not be Bush's only obstacle as he ventures abroad for the first in a series of international conferences marking his final year in office. [But wait, there's more!]

Overhanging his travels will be the 5-year-old Iraq war, which has damaged America's credibility with friends and foes alike. [Really?? As far as foes, why would we care about "credibility" if they are truly foes? And friends? Which ones? And in what way do we lack "credibility"]?The latest spike in fighting has increased doubts [Among whom? And exactly how? Many conflicts experience a "spike" in fighting just before the end as the enemy gives a last rousing attempt] of further drawdowns of U.S. forces before Bush leaves office.

He will also be trailed by a financial crisis at home that has roiled global markets and sharpened criticism of his economic record [Bush's economic record??? He wasn't the one that initiated the sub-prime debacle!!], once seen as a bright spot of his legacy [Really?? All I've EVER heard is constant gloom and doom since the day Bush darkened the door of the Oval office. Links, please!!].

I've highlighted where I think the writer leaves "straight news" and heads directly into undisguised bashing. This is a real piece of work. No wonder Conservatives tend to despise the so-called "mainstream media."

HT Free Republic

I Guess I Shouldn't Be Shocked

It truly is PATHOLOGICAL now. I said earlier today: "How long before the press starts finding other disgraced political figures--Republicans--to 'compare' with Spitzer? I give it 3 weeks before another scandal hits--a Republican, of course--but until then, look out for the 'Hmm. That's just like so-and-so...you know, the REPUBLICAN GUY that <insert dirty activity here>.'"

Well, I didn't even have to wait a day!

This AP story "helpfully" grabs some poli sci professor to talk about recent scandals and of course, it HAD to include a Republican. They can't just talk about the guy under question by himself--no, that would focus too much attention on him, so they have to take the heat off Spitzer by bringing in a GOP offender. But in the course of doing so (this is just amazing even though I expected it), they actually had the GALL to not mention the political affiliation of two of the three scandal-wracked people mentioned in the article, but managed to slip in the Republican's party affiliation! These people are just UN-BE-LIEV-ABLE.

Did you see any such treatment of Republican Congressman Larry Craig? Did they ever bring up Gary Studds as a helpful comparison? Gary Hart? BILL CLINTON? Pffft! Stop it already! This is the AP and the rest of the mainstream media we're talking about here...

Another tri-state governor in scandal - Yahoo! News

McCain Stands By Pastor

Here we go with the standard Democrat/Leftist approach of trying to make standard Biblical stances of 50 years ago "hate speech," e.g., condemning homosexuality as sin, and theological and political differences with the Catholic Church. They tried the same thing with Franklin Graham. Funny how the same people so ready to denounce Hagee for saying God judged New Orleans with Katrina have no problem overlooking the multitude of prominent Democrats that blamed Katrina on Bush.

"Hagee's hate speech has no place in public discourse, and McCain's embrace of this figure raises serious questions about John McCain's character and his willingness to do anything to win," said Tom McMahon, executive director of the Democratic National Committee.

The attempt to quell any voice that disagrees with the conventional "civil religion" is only picking up steam. Already in Canada it's considered "hate speech" to condemn homosexuality in Biblical terms. Yet personal attacks on the sitting president of the United States as complicit in the death of those killed on 9/11, as personally engineering the deaths of black people during Katrina, and, of course, as singlehandedly responsible for the deaths of "hundreds of thousands" of Iraqis pass without comment.

Also, it’s telling how the Catholic League and Catholic United can somehow mustered themselves up to decry Hagee (is it really “hate speech” or news when a Fundamentalist Christian thinks the Catholic church is a false church?? News Flash! It’s called “Protestantism”!) but they can’t seem to present a united front to decry the rabid abortion cult that DOMINATES in the Democrat party.

When the American Catholic church starts calling out prominent Catholic politicians for their support of the murder of babies, and when the average Catholic parishioner starts voting i accordance with the teaching of their church, I might have some sympathy for their complaints about Hagee.

It seems to me, supporting the wholesale slaughter of innocents in the womb is quite a bit more grievous a sin than accusing the Catholic Church of WWII for helping the Nazis.

Breitbart.com

A Bona Fide Traitor

And this is one of the key Democrats that Senator Lindsey Graham says that the GOP can work with to get things done?? 

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called Marine Gen. Peter Pace, the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, "incompetent" during an interview Tuesday with a group of liberal bloggers, a comment that was never reported.

I confess, we're all sinners, and I am the chief of sinners, but as a national leader, Harry Reid is disgrace. He's a coward and a fool. He voted to confirm Gen. Petraeus (whom he also calls a "incompetent" in the same article) and yet when things are perfect in mere weeks, he calls him incompetent behind his back.

Of course, you won't see this prominently featured by any of the mainstream media...

H/T - The Corner on National Review Online

It's Becoming A Formula

 They note in this article that Nancy Pelosi is a Democrat, but only in the captions to the pictures that are on the sidebar do they mention Jefferson's party affliliation (and then only with a "D-LA"). They saw fit to attribute Pelosi when she speaks as if taking a tough stand against the offender. Never mind that the guy has been under investigation and was incontrovertibly caught with 90k in his freezer well before Pelosi appointed him to his Committee position:

"If these charges are proven true, they constitute an egregious and unacceptable abuse of public trust and power," said Pelosi, D-Calif. "Democrats are committed to upholding a high ethical standard and eliminating corruption and unethical behavior from the Congress."

But of course, when Duke Cunningham was convicted, you had only to get to the 8th sentence of the AP article to find out unequivocally that he was a Republican.

 

Source: Rep. Jefferson indicted in bribery probe - Yahoo! News

Challenging The Status Quo - Part 1

The folks over at Power Line blog are promoting a film that takes on Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth.

Here's Part 1: 

Technorati Tags: global warming, science, hysteria

Business As Usual

Ahh, but Sandy Berger and Rep William Jefferson don't need much investigation or attention. I see. As always, only when it's a Republican and/or Conservative do we really need to get to the bottom of things: 

WASHINGTON - FBI agents have searched the home of Republican Rep. John Doolittle (news, bio, voting record), who is under scrutiny over his ties to convicted GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Doolittle's attorney said Wednesday.

Source: Yahoo News

Technorati Tags: hypocrisy, bias, republican, democrat, investigation