This last Sunday on ABC’s This Week, round-table contributor Cokie Roberts said the following:

There was racism that came up during the health care debate with the vilification of John Lewis at the Capitol.

BigGovernment.com has posted numerous videos proving that no racial vilification of Rep. John Lewis occurred at the Capitol during the health care debate.

We kindly request that Cokie Roberts correct the record.

Second place looms large and it is quite an honorable — or maybe onerous — award on our top ten most left-biased working American journalists list. Amusingly our number two guy even graduated from a school that foretold his future work. From the bowels of New York’s exclusive Hackley School comes our number two most left-biased journo, Time Magazine’s Joe Klein.

Klein is another one of those far left writers that imagines himself to be unconventional in his politics when the truth is he is a left-winger all the way down the line without a scoshe of non-conventional thinking.

For instance, in his book, The Natural, of his politics Klein wrote, “… the conventions of journalism prevent me from fitting too neatly into one political niche (although as a columnist for the New Yorker and Newsweek my predilections are obvious).” Far from not “fitting too neatly” into the left’s “niche,” that niche fits him like a glove. For the better part of thirty years, Klein has been revealing his ill-fitting niche to the reading public and we couldn’t be more grateful for his niche-like, nichieness.

So let’s start by finding an example of Klein supposedly being nicheless, shall we? How about in 2007 when Klein attacked the left-wing blogosphere as being too vitriolic. Did that piece show that he was able to criticize his own? Did it show he isn’t just a knee-jerk leftist? (more…)

Number three on our list almost violates the criteria that I set up in the first piece I wrote for this series. I said then that denizens of the Old Media that are too much a “cartoon of journalism” would not be included on my list. Yet despite my dismissal of such Old Media clowns, in the number three slot on the list you’ll find Paul Krugman of The New York Times.

Given today’s revelations about the JournoList, we now know Krugman either participated in a media conspiracy to get Obama elected or at least witnessed it first hand and did nothing to stop it.  Consider this fact merely the latest insight into a man who’s done more consistently left-biased journalism than nearly anyone in America.

Krugman is indeed quite a cartoon of modern liberalism. He is hidebound and far from a new or even a very free thinker. But he makes the list simply because he is not only a Nobel Prize winner but is one of the leading media figures in America today. So, despite that he is not an original thinker and is steeped in liberal orthodoxy, his prominence argues for his inclusion here.

And besides that he is a true liberal loon.

Krugman’s January 17 piece is a perfect example of the nonsense that he tries to pass off as political analysis. In his piece headlined “What Didn’t Happen,” Krugman seriously tried to claim that one of Barack Obama’s biggest failings was that he doesn’t blame Bush enough for his own failings.

Mr. Obama didn’t… shelter himself from criticism with a narrative that placed the blame on previous administrations.

(more…)

Welcome once again to our top ten most left-biased working journalist list and now it’s time for number five in the countdown. As we begin our downward slope to the number one most biased, it is fitting that we come to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Cynthia Tucker as our fifth worst, most biased American journo.

Unlike the other left-wingers that merely hate conservative Americans, Cynthia Tucker seems to hate all of us. That seems true at least if her latest outrageous comment on MSNBC can be taken for granted.

In recent remarks made on Chris “Leg Thrill” Matthews’ MSNBC show, Tucker said that, unlike the Cold War days, today’s American enemy is “us.” Naturally Matthews chipped in with a hearty “exactly.”

Expounding upon her claim that we, each of us, is an enemy to the country, Tucker went on:

And one of the differences between the ’50’s when Sputnik was launched and now, that was a battle against Communism. It’s always much easier to rally Americans against an external threat, an external enemy. In this case, the enemy is us. Americans are addicted to petroleum. We use way too much oil. So it’s a little harder for the president to turn around and call on Americans to sacrifice. You remember what happened to Jimmy Carter when he did that.

Now I happened to think Jimmy Carter was right. Well, if he had done the things that, if we had done the things that Carter called for then, we may not be looking at this huge oil spill now.

Carter? One of the most failed presidents in American history comes in for praise? From Cynthia Tucker he sure does. But she should know. She’s an expert. (more…)

Over at Commentary, the estimable Jennifer Rubin notices that even standard-issue, rank-and-file media apparatchiks like the Washington Post’s Anne Kornblut finally seem to be figuring out that they’ve been had — something the rest of us have known since at least the summer of 2008:

The mainstream media is slowly waking up to the fact that Obama is a bore. No, really. He’s long since stopped saying anything new or interesting, and he talks constantly, at great length. So when he went into a mind-numbing filibuster to a perfectly reasonable question from a woman at a Q&A session in Charlotte as to whether it was smart to throw a load of new taxes into health-care “reform,” not even the Washington Post’s Anne Kornblut could conceal her — and the audience’s — disdain for the Condescender in Chief.

Here’s the spellbinding, electrifying, conspiracy-mongering, commissar-channeling Orator-in-Chief at his finest:

His rhetoric (which to the amazement of many conservatives – who noticed he was largely talking New Age gibberish during the campaign – transfixed a great number of people for a very long time) is now seen for what it is — a smokescreen for bad ideas and an exercise in misdirection. Unfortunately for Obama, he may discover that once the president has lost the interest and trust of the voters, it’s hard to get these precious commodities back.

Your thoughts and comments welcome here.

Duff Wilson of the New York Times should be ashamed of himself.  His March 30 article, “Risks Seen in Cholesterol Drug Use in Healthy People,” is a shameless piece of hysteria masquerading as journalism.  It’s yet another case of an experienced reporter either being too lazy to do his job, or spewing his or the Times’ bias against pharmaceutical companies.

I say it’s the latter.  Mr. Wilson is an investigative reporter.  Guys like him don’t get lazy.

Worse, his irresponsible bias may scare away people who will benefit from this drug. (more…)

Recent revelations about the way that president Obama’s plan to weatherize U.S. homes has gotten off to a less than stellar start symbolize what’s wrong with so-called “green jobs.” Green job programs depend on government subsidies and mandates, require government oversight and, as a result of those two factors, are slightly less efficient than your average Rube Goldberg machine.

One year into the $5 billion program, the government has weatherized five per cent of the target number of homes overall, and less than fifty per cent of what was expected for 2009. The problem? Government rules, believe it or not. Gosh, who could have possibly foreseen that glitch in the plan? But, it seems that it’s difficult to figure out how much to pay contractors, how to protect historic homes and how to solve the nuances of a host of other problems for which government needs to formulate policies and procedures.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was a system in which some responsible party – say, the homeowner for example – could make those decisions and save the United States the time, expense and trouble of having to do so? Wait, I seem to remember that we used to have a system something like that. It was called “capitalism,” or some such. (more…)

Like millions of my fellow Americans, I am outraged, devastated and extremely angry by the Democrats’ unbelievable arrogance and disdain for We The People. Despite our screaming “no” from the rooftops, they forced Obamacare down our throats. Please forgive me for using the following crude saying, but it is very appropriate to describe what has happened. “Don’t urinate on me and tell me it’s raining.” Democrats say their mission is to give all Americans health care. They’re lying. Signing Obamacare into law against both our will and the Constitution is tyranny and step one of their hideous goal of having as many Americans as possible dependent on government, thus controlling our lives and fulfilling Obama’s promise to fundamentally transform America.

I keep asking myself. How did our government move so far from the normal procedures of getting things done? Could a white president have so successfully pulled off shredding the Constitution to further his agenda? I think not.

Ironically, proving America is completely the opposite of the evil racist country they relentlessly accuse her of being, progressives used America’s goodness, guilt and sense of fair play against her. (more…)

There have been accusations of violence flying everywhere since the dreadful healthcare bill was passed on Sunday night. It’s certainly true tensions are running high, just like they have been for an entire year. And for good reason. Many of our freedoms as Americans were stripped away when healthcare passed. But are the threats of violence just a charade to distract Americans from learning about what the massive healthcare bill really does? I think so.

Could you imagine what would happen if someone set fire to, say, Nancy Pelosi’s church? (Does she even go to church?)

Or what if a Congressman who supported healthcare reform was beaten up so badly that he had to have stitches on his eye? How about if a Congressman’s car window was shot out because he opposed healthcare reform?

The same media so excited to rush to protect the “defenseless” Congressmen barely mentioned that someone set Sarah Palin’s church on fire or that private citizens in California were personally harassed and targeted for simply suggesting that there should be a ballot initiative on marriage, or for donating to it. (more…)

When Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) rode in on the proverbial “white horse,” conservatives across the country rose to attention and applauded his authenticity. Americans were astounded by this Democrat who had courage to stand against his own Party. It was truly fascinating. At first there was hope that despite being a Democrat — he would make the right decision, and vote “nay” on Obamacare. In the end — 34 Democrats made that decision, but Rep. Stupak thought he could fix it. He made a deal with President Barack Hussein Obama, the most pro-choice President in American history.

As the predictions said, Obamacare passed, and was signed by the President yesterday. Not only is this an epic, epic failure – this is a history-making failure.

First of all, let’s look at exactly what this deal was: Marjorie Dannenfelser, President of the Susan B Anthony List explained it in her appearance on America Live with Megan Kelly:

It gave me deep sorrow to watch. Congressman Stupak had all the legislative power in his hands to do exactly what he said he wanted to do, which is to undermine, frankly, the Senate position and the President’s position, and put his in legislative language. He had all the power. He gave it away, for a piece of paper that cannot stand legislative, nor judicial muster. And then went on to vote against his own language…

Why would he do this? Is it possible that there may be some *gasp* backroom deal? Oh, of course not. Politicians never do that. Let’s take a look at the man behind the legislator: (more…)

What happens when a journalist asks the right questions and gets a politician a few minutes past their talking points?  Well, sometimes, as Michael Kinsley has pointed out, we get to the truth.  That’s what happened this morning on WLS 890 AM in Chicago.  Bruce Wolf and Dan Proft were filling on the Don Wade and Roma morning show and had Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. on to discuss the Health Care Reform bill.

This is the bill that President Obama has declared will lower premiums, increase benefits and cut the deficit, right?

After wading through Jesse Jr.’s talking points, the interview finally gets to the truth:

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That was Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. saying something that none of us has heard from a Democrat over the past 12 months of debate over the Health Care Reform act: (more…)

The irony would be amusing, were the stakes not so serious. The very day that the United States Congress passed sweeping legislation that will undermine the economy, increase debt and send tax rates soaring, a leading liberal media outlet criticized the elected officials who have been in charge of the president’s home state for repeatedly passing legislation that has: undermined Illinois’ economy, increased Illinois’ debt and sent Illinois tax rates soaring, thus poisoning the business environment and employment prospects in the state. It appears that government’s mission isn’t to tax and spend. Who knew?

It will be hard to believe, but when Illinois Democrats passed all of the legislation that got Illinois into this cesspool of a fiscal crisis, both they and the MSM assured voters that the there was nothing to worry about. These great new programs, they said, will actually make the state more prosperous and, if you disagreed with that proposition, then you were obviously a crabby conservative trying make political hay at the expense of what was obviously the best thing for the people of the state of Illinois. Sound familiar? (more…)

Working in the media for almost 30 years means that I have a lot of good leftist friends. Now that we all keep in touch on Facebook, I end up with a pretty lively page sometimes. We rarely find common ground politically, but when we do, it’s a wonderful thing. I think we’ve made a connection on the “healthcare” issue.

After the bill passed in the House the other night I decided I had had enough and after bantering back and forth for a while on the issue, I decided to agree with them. This bill is a great idea! I told them I would dump by health insurance in the morning (tired of those $500.00 per month payments for my wife and me) and I would look forward to them paying my bill. My post went something like this:

I’m going to dump my health insurance tomorrow and see if my liberal Democrat friends will chip in and foot the bill. Thanks. This is a great idea you cooked up. Where can I pick up the cash? I’ll meet you where ever you’d like. Thanks again! (more…)

A few years ago, the Human Life Foundation’s Defender of Life annual award was given to Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey, and in the brochure noting his accomplishments I learned that the congressman is co-chairman of the bipartisan pro-life caucus. Bipartisan? In amazement, I asked him if there really are pro-life Democrats in Congress. “Oh yes,” he assured me, “about 30.” He went on to name one, but I promised Smith I would not mention the congressman’s name in my column.

I probably have it my notes somewhere and for all I know it might have been Bart Stupak — who has announced tonight he will vote in favor of “health-care reform,” relying on an Obama “signing statement” to allay his concerns over government funding for abortion — but what Rep. Smith’s conversation revealed to me is that the pro-life Democrats do not wear their convictions overtly.

Well, they all had to come out of the closet tonight to vote for their belief in the sanctity of human life but instead they gave their obeisance to the One and his minions from hell. In this video we learn that the so-called pro-life Democrat Stupak never intended to vote NO.

At that same HLF dinner, National Review senior editor, Ramesh Ponnuru, introduced Mr. Smith. In his book, The Party of Death, Mr. Ponnuru makes no bones about which political party deserves that description. (more…)

Nobody has to read the 2,310 pages of the health care bill to know why it will ruin health care in America. You don’t have to go any further than page 49, which marks the end of Subtitle E, “Governance,” to understand what’s coming. Subtitle E creates the office of the “Health Choices Commissioner,” the person charged with putting into effect all of the wonderful regulatory mechanisms that H.R. 4872 demands. But, in the regulatory sense, the Commissioner is not a person. The Commissioner is rather an institution, one that will have powers and responsibilities unprecedented in American history.

Even if Obamacare immediately did all of the things that the president claims it will (which I don’t for a minute believe); even if lowered the deficit, reduced the cost of health care, improved the quality of that care and increased access to it, does anyone who has ever dealt with any of today’s bloated, creeping, undead regulatory agencies of government actually believe that such a happy situation would last? If there is one thing that those of us who deal with government bureaucracy know, it is this: government bureaucracy never gets better, never increases in efficiency and never costs less. Never.

In my business, the environmental industry, the EPA has a position analogous to Health Choices Commissioner: EPA Administrator. Practically everything that the EPA does, on the federal and state levels, flows down from the power granted to the EPA Administrator. A president can appoint a marvelous Administrator, or a terrible one (Obama’s choice, Lisa Jackson, falls into the latter category) but it really doesn’t matter. The choice of the figurehead sitting on top of the pyramid is merely the difference between the thousands of thousands of bureaucrats on the bottom – the people who actually interact with the regulated community – creating a pile of obstacles the size of Mt. Everest to obstruct industry, or a pile the size of Mt. McKinley. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter, because you can’t get over, around, under or through the obstructions. (more…)

I am calling to all of you freedom-loving Americans to come once again to Washington D.C. to gather on the Capitol steps on Saturday, at 12 o’clock noon.

We must come by the thousands.

Speaker Pelosi will stop at nothing to fulfill her corrupt conquests. She will bring all of the corrupt ACORN liars to try to bully all the Democrats that may be having pangs of guilt knowing quite surely what their votes can and will do. If they’re bullied into saying “yes,” it will destroy America.

Join me and Rep. Michele Bachmann in Washington DC at 12 noon EST so we can give all the Democrats who know what the end result will be the courage to say: “No, do not pass this destructive bill.” (more…)

Headline writing has always been an art.  From my earliest days as print newsman, finding the right words to tell a story and fit the allotted space was a routine challenge that often sparked some of the liveliest debates in the newsroom.  Sometimes hilarious, often passionate, headline writing has been and remains a distinct and important craft.

So how does one adequately explain this March 16 item from the CNN website politics page?

Health care foes have 200 no votes in House

Or this March 4 item from the Miami Herald website?

Health care opponents target Utah judgeship in latest salvo

Let’s see a show of hands:  How many health care foes do we have out there today?

Okay, let’s rephrase the question.  All you “health-care opponents” say “aye.” (more…)

Organizing for America (formerly Organizing for Obama) has a Health Reform Action page which encourages members to write a letter to the editor. After typing in your zip code you get a list of local news outlets with radio buttons you can click:

The next page gives you a large comment box to compose your letter and in the sidebar are a list of suggested talking points:

(more…)

The Cato Institute’s Michael Tanner remarks that President Obama’s efforts to force his health-care bill on a very skittish Congress are beginning to look like an arm-twisting scene from “The Sopranos.”

Those who back his proposal receive special favors whereas, as Tanner says, “those who oppose the president can expect the political equivalent of a horse head between their sheets.” Members of Congress are being threatened with ostracism, primary challenges, and the loss of union support. Then, among other examples, there is the orchestrated assault on the ethics of Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), who has been opposing the bill’s endorsement of abortion funding.

The progressive media are ganging up with the president against the bill’s opponents. MSNBC host Rachel Maddow recently cast suspicion on the low rent that a conservative Christian organization charges Stupak for his D. C. apartment. She even mentioned suggestively that scandal-marked South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford stayed at the same building. The Daily Kos has also been hammering away at Stupak, for instance, urging pro-abortion women to “roar back” by sending him a “money bomb” (that is, by donating money to the campaign of Connie Saltonstall, who is challenging him in a primary).

Plus ça change. Media lefties have from the get-go shilled for ObamaCare. For example, as Pamela Geller has noted, last summer ABC gave the president free prime-time to promote his health-care reforms without the nuisance of any opposing views. In addition to staging this “glorified infomercial,” as Geller called it, the network rejected advertisements that offered a free market alternative to Obama’s statist health-care vision. (more…)