- It’s so bizarre to watch this interview considering how Bill Clinton used the IRS to go after people like O’Reilly. Still, the Clinton survival instinct can make them seem almost likable at times, due to the “enemy of my enemy is my friend” rule. That being said, the one thing you can depend on more than Obama’s arrogance is the Clintons’s backchannel maneuvering to circumvent an Obama presidency. If Hillary had any intent on stepping back into the ring, we’d see Bill distancing himself from the president and Clinton cronies in action. Obama’s selection of Hillary as SOS was “keeping his enemy closer.”

- Seth Godin on journalism:

We don’t need paid professionals to do retweeting for us. They’re slicing up the attention pie thinner and thinner, giving us retreaded rehashes of warmed over news, all hoping for a bit of attention because the issue is trending. We can leave that to the unpaid, I think.

The hard part of professional journalism going forward is writing about what hasn’t been written about, directing attention where it hasn’t been, and saying something new.

- Because the gross Sandusky headlines just won’t quit:

Jay Gray, the NBC News reporter covering the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal in State College, Pennsylvania, was arrested on drunk driving charges after he attended a drunken football-watching party at Sandusky’s lawyer’s house, reports say.

The Pennsylvania State Police arrested Gray just before 2am December 12 during a traffic stop.

He was allegedly at the home of Joe Amendola, the eccentric lawyer defending Sandusky against allegations he molested 10 boys over the course of several years …

According to TMZ, Mr Amendola invited Gray and several other reporters over to his house to watch the New York Giants-Dallas Cowboys game.

The reporters, reportedly, were all vying for exclusive interviews with Sandusky, who has only further raised public suspicious about himself in two awkward media appearances, says TMZ.

So reporters get drunk with the creepy lawyer of an “alleged” kid toucher in order to impress him and score an exclusive? Yes, please keep lecturing to new media about “ethics,” MSM.

(more…)

Politico’s Ben Smith writes today that Media Matters for America (MMfA) and the Center for American Progress (CAP), both “core institutions” of the Democratic Party, are pushing anti-Israel policies and downplaying the threat of a nuclear Iran.

By promoting views once confined to the extreme left and isolationist right, MMfA and CAP are dividing the Democratic Party and isolating themselves on the margins of American political debate.

Smith notes, for example, that MJ Rosenberg, “Senior Foreign Policy Fellow” at MMFA, “regularly heaps vitriol on those who disagree” with his radical left-wing views on Israel, including liberal pro-negotiation voices such as Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic. In May 2011, Andrew Breitbart noted that Rosenberg had accused supporters of Israel of disloyalty to the U.S. and called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “terrorist.”

Though CAP “tends to walk a more careful line,” Smith notes that CAP policy analyst Matt Duss, who directs the Middle East Progress blog, called Israel’s blockade against terrorist-controlled Gaza a “moral outrage” and likened it to “segregation in the American South.” CAP has also accused pro-Israel organizations, such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), of agitating for war with Iraq and Iran.

Smith reports that CAP chairman John Podesta has faced complaints over “borderline anti-Semitic stuff” about Israel published on his organization’s website: (more…)

Michele Bachmann was the first GOP presidential candidate to demand Eric Holder’s resignation. Last Monday Rick Perry published an op-ed in The Washington Times demanding Mr. Holder’s resignation and yesterday morning Jon Huntsman also remarked that Mr. Holder should resign, yet the majority of the Old Media ignore them and the other congressmen who think Mr. Holder should resign.

There is no excuse from the Old Media we should accept, especially since Mr. Perry’s op-ed appears in The Washington Times. The Old Media can deny it all they want, but we all know if this was a GOP administration they would be contacting every single Democrat politician and reporting anyone calling for the attorney general to resign.

Wait a minute. They already did! Oh yes: Remember my previous articles comparing coverage of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Mr. Holder? That’s right. The Old Media was reporting on Mr. Gonzales so much in 2007 even I was sick of it and that’s when I was still a super liberal.

Politico gave a report on May, 20 2007 when Nancy Pelosi joined in: ”The nation cannot have a chief law enforcement officer whose candor and judgment are in serious question,” Pelosi said. “The president should restore credibility to the office of the attorney general. Alberto Gonzales must resign.” Why hasn’t she said the same thing about Mr. Holder? Of course Politico included the Republicans who thought Mr. Gonzales should go. I can’t imagine how happy that made them.

Look what I found! Then Senator Barack Obama calls for Mr. Gonzales to step down! I think someone should replay this to President Obama because he could apply his answer to Mr. Holder now.

(more…)

CHRIS MATTHEWS:  Tonight, President Barack Obama. Let’s play Hardball.

OBAMA:  Hello, Chris. Hey, you ever see someone about your ADHD problem?

MATTHEWS:  Too busy. Sir, recently I criticized you pretty harshly. You came on anyway. I’d like to kiss and make up.

[from off screen]

MICHELLE:  You keep your distance, buddy boy.  I’m watching.

MATTHEWS:  Yes’m. Sir, rumor is you cut the Asia trip short for clandestine meetings with the Supercommittee.

OBAMA:  Not true, Chris. I returned earlier, but for a more important reason than rescuing our economy: I wanted to save the NBA season, and in so doing show the world I deserve the Nobel Peace Prize.

MATTHEWS:  You’re involved in the negotiations?

OBAMA:  Hush-hush summit at Camp David. Reverend Jackson and Secretary of State Clinton were my lead mediators. Kobe Bryant and David Stern agreed to represent their constituents. (more…)

- Wonder if this occupier will get the Scott Olsen treatment from the media.

Via The Brigade. Click image for credit.

- Regis Philbin says goodbye.

- Fox hires two Democrat contributors, Ed Rollins.

- Hillary Clinton surprised by daughter’s new high profile job with NBC.

- Herman Cain now requires a Secret Service detail due to MSM reporter aggressiveness:

Cain spokesman J.D. Gordon said Thursday night that the campaign asked for the protection after The Washington Post posted an article online that morning detailing a series of physical skirmishes involving journalists at Cain rallies.

The Cain campaign asked for the security and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and congressional leaders approved the request Thursday, said a government official, requesting anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.

From WaPo:

Lately, another common element has emerged from the fever-pitch of the Cain road show: physical skirmishes involving the press.

One incident on Wednesday involved journalists jostling among themselves for position. Another featured a local police officer aggressively blocking a video journalist. In at least two instances, Cain’s own private security guard physically blocked reporters, including one from The Washington Post .

There were two confrontational incidents on Wednesday, prompting Cain spokesman J.D. Gordon to touch base with the reporters involved and also to acknowledge in an interview that the campaign needs to address the issue.

- Setting the record straight on the media narrative “Gingrich left his wife on her cancer deathbead.”

- Meghan McCain tired of being addressed in the manner which she deserves. Meanwhile, most are just tired of Meghan McCain.

(more…)

The media is having a field day right now questioning the late Steve Jobs and his “Reality Distortion Field.” Skipping the fact that the deceased makes for an easy target, I find it hilarious that the media is all that shocked at the concept of reality distortion.

Take this popular statement in its many variations: Occupy Wall Street is just like the tea party. Seriously?  There’s Reality Distortion for ya, right there, by those in the media who have promised to tell us the truth and put it in the proper context. Have they not seen the destruction of property, public nudity, suspected sexual assaults, riots and near riots, numerous arrests for a variety of crimes? Still, they will continue to compare what they are seeing on the streets today with what we saw at tea party rallies? Reality Distortion Field.

I was watching ABC’s Good Morning America recently and George Stephanopoulos was interviewing Joe Biden. They were talking about #OWS and George was making his statement about how similar the protests were to the tea party movement, and while George was talking, the B-roll footage was showing cops arresting OWS protestors. Reality Distortion Field. Let’s give the benefit of the doubt and say he wasn’t looking at his monitor. I know how difficult that can be sometimes with a bunch of different things going on all at the same time, but still, anybody think George hasn’t seen the video of the anarchy and can’t tell the difference between OWS and the tea party?

(more…)

Within hours of the news, the AP reported “Gadhafi’s Death Clears Way for Oil Exports,” gleefully explaining that Gadhafi’s death will result in lower oil prices the world over!  Energy crisis is solved!  Recession ended!

Remember the Left’s incessant ”No Blood for Oil“ smear against President Bush for the ”illegitimate” wars in Iraq?  According to the Left, and rarely challenged by the Make-Believe Media, Bush’s war in the Middle east was only about getting oil.

But it’s now 2011, not 2003.  There’s a new sheriff in town.  Apparently, blood for oil is a good thing now.   The radical leftwing media source The Guardian only reports how Obama has ”chalked up Libya as another foreign policy success to place alongside the killing in May of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden” and, more ominously, that Gadhafi’s bloody assassination signals a “prescription” for actions against other Middle East countries including Syria.  Syrian President Assad may be wondering if he’s on the White House Secret Assassination List. No mention of blood-for-oil. No mention of illegal regime change.

(more…)

Along with their White House pals, the MSM is currently freaking out over the prospect of Obama losing his bid for reelection and nowhere is that more apparent than on the “Today Show” where, out of whole cloth (or not — more on this below), they’ve decided to float a narrative that says Secretary of State Hillary Clinton might be replacing Vice President Joe Biden on the Democrat’s 2012 ticket.

Like the rest of America, the “Today Show” is looking at President Obama’s lousy poll numbers, brewing White House scandals, and one lousy jobs report after another. But unlike, oh, 62% of Americans, the MSM is panicked at the thought of Obama not winning a second term. And since the President has already failed and is unlikely to un-fail over the next 13 months, the MSM is looking for what’s known in the political business as a game-changer.

And so, the charlatans disguised as journalists over at NBC are trying to craft one:

The White House is getting irked about persistent speculation in the media that President Obama might dump Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. as his running mate in 2012 in favor of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

After hosts of NBC’s “Today” show questioned both Mr. Biden and Mrs. Clinton on consecutive days about a possible switch, White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer posted this on his Twitter account Tuesday morning:

“I have noticed a weird @todayshow obsession with faux story of Sec. Clinton replacing @VP…Have asked both about it last 2 days on the show.”

This is also a welcome distraction for NBC. This kind of ginned-up speculation allows the “Today Show” to pretend the biggest political story of the day is anything but Fast and Furious, Solyndra, and another lousy jobs report issued just this morning. MSM-created distractions are a very large part of the MSM’s 2012 gameplan.

But is this really just the desperate MSM acting desperate and is the White House really as put-out over this as they seem?

(more…)

This past Newsweek cover of Presidential candidate, Michele Bachmann, shows the unfair portrayals of female politicians in the media. While Publisher of Newsmax, Christopher Ruddy, reasonably displays Bachmann as a lady of office, Newsweek Editor-in-Chief, Tina Brown’s choice of an unflattering picture depicts Bachmann as an insane politician. As if the photo isn’t weird enough, the article entitled “Queen of Rage,” presents a propagated notion of instability and lunacy, whereas “Heartland Warrior” better describes her candidacy.

Bachmann’s Newsweek scandal is only the most recent of sexist subjections. Rooted in what seems to be the Madonna verses whore syndrome, society continues to allow the media to degrade women without concern. Thankfully, the National Organization of Women declared the cover misogynistic, but where are the rest of the feminists?

The list of unfair projections is growing with every women who steps into the political arena. As soon as a powerful, strong, intelligent woman surfaces as a leader, the media immediately attempts to destroy her reputation. From the 1st Vice Presidential candidate, Geraldine Ferraro, who was thought to have mafia relations, Hillary Clinton, who was portrayed as an unattractive obscene Presidential contender, and Nancy Pelosi, who’s facial features have been criticized, to Sarah Palin, who’s intellect and family life was demoralized, Christine O’Donnell, who was characterized as a promiscuous witch, Meg Whitman, who was unjustifiably called a “whore” by political opponent, Jerry Brown, Jan Brewer, who was  labeled a racist for wanting to protect her state from illegal immigration, and Nikki Haley, who was accused of extramarital affairs during her 2010 campaign – these women have been torn apart on matters unrelated to the real issues they were fighting to solve.

(more…)

Cheers.

For some reason the libs weren’t so outraged when Obaama served $399 bottles of wine at his taxpayer-funded state dinner …

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton raises her glass for a toast during a State Dinner in honor of China’s President Hu Jintao at the White House in Washington, January 19, 2011. (REUTERS/Jim Young POLITICS IMAGES OF THE DAY)

… but Libs today were “stunned” and “outraged” that popular conservative Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) ordered a $350 bottle of wine for dinner in New York.

TPM reported, via Ann Althouse:

When [Professor Feinberg] saw the label on the bottle of Jayer-Gilles 2004 Echezeaux Grand Cru Ryan’s table had ordered, she quickly looked it up on the wine list and saw that it sold for an eye-popping $350, the most expensive wine in the house along with one other with the same pricetag.

Feinberg, an economist by training, was even more appalled when the table ordered a second bottle….

“We were just stunned,” said Feinberg…

She was outraged …. [my emphasis]

Of course, these same hypocrites were silent when it was discovered that Speaker Pelosi’s military travel expenses on Pelosi One cost taxpayers $2,100,744.59 over a two-year period — $101,429.14 for in-flight expenses, including food and alcohol.

(more…)

JIM LEHRER:  Good evening.  In an interview on Chris Matthews’ Hardball last night, President Obama tried to quiet skeptics who believe the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan was a sham staged by the U. S. military.   The President also said he is not awed by the power at his command.  Here’s a clip:

OBAMA: I want to show you something, Chris.  [unwrapping a handkerchief] This is bin Laden’s right ear.  I wanted a finger but they were all gone by the time I requested one.   Look at this closeup of Osama from 1997.   Check the right ear.  OK, now examine the real thing here.  Compare the folds, crevices, and ridges.  Clearly identical, yes?  No two ears are alike, Chris.  The one I’m holding was attached to bin Laden’s head.  Case closed.

MATTHEWS: I’m convinced, Mr. President.  Hey, you gonna eat that?  Ah, just pulling your leg, sir.   Last question: you are the Commander-in-Chief of the mightiest military machine on earth.  Are you humbled by the power you possess?

OBAMA:  Humbled?  [snort] Hardly.  I’ve grown in office, Chris.  The bin Laden raid and Libya have actually eased my mind about the use of force.  I want you to meet someone, Chris, the man with the “nuclear football.”  [gestures to military attaché standing out of camera range] C’mon over here, Captain, Major, whatever.  Open up the briefcase . . . .  I’m giving you an order, soldier.   Now show Mr. Matthews which button I push to take out China.  The red one?  Put your finger on it, Chris.  Go ahead, touch it.  Press it and our world goes poof.  Gives you a little thrill, doesn’t it, Chris?  Makes you feel like a God?

LEHRER:  More of the President’s interview with Matthews later in the program.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  Also on the NewsHour tonight: (more…)

Uh, oh, don’t tell Hillary Clinton.

(more…)

JIM LEHRER:  Good evening.  At his regular briefing this afternoon, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney expressed confidence President Obama was closely monitoring yesterday’s invasion of Taiwan by the People’s Republic of China.

[Carney video clip]

Highly-placed administration sources tell me Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has been in frequent contact with President Obama’s personal aide since the crisis began. I’ll issue a statement soon in the President’s name urging both sides to seek a solution to their differences once hostilities cease.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Also on the NewsHour tonight:

Wisconsin protesters march on state capitol carrying exhumed body of labor icon Cesar Chavez

CIA is reportedly selling suitcase nukes in Afghan bazaars to lure Osama bin Laden out of hiding.

Joint Chiefs Chairman Mullen OKs burqas for Muslim women submariners.

Treasury Secretary Geithner cites rising gas prices as proof of booming economy.

RAY SUAREZ:  Up first, we interview Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, just returned from Asia, and National Intelligence Director James Clapper.  First question to you, Madame Secretary: the People’s Republic is clearly the aggressor in the Taiwan Strait.  What counsel did you give the President?

HILLARY CLINTON:  I’ll see him at tonight’s White House gala honoring America’s first black mountain man.  I will advise him to honor our commitment to Taiwan by ordering a naval blockade of the Port of Los Angeles.  That’ll hit the Chinese where it hurts, in the pocketbook.  Of course, he won’t agree. (more…)

NYMag:

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez bumped into Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Brazil this weekend at the inauguration of Dilma Rousseff, Brazil’s first female president, and the two shook hands and chatted. “She had a very spontaneous smile and I greeted her with the same effusiveness,” Chavez later explained.

In a new 2011 feature for Big Journalism, you have the opportunity to play spin doctor and repurpose the news narrative in a manner that best serves the progressive agenda. The photo above might give some people pause, considering Chavez is a tyrant, but not when seen through the beer goggles of media bias!

(more…)

"Bad woman. No no."

I’ve made endless fun of Bill Clinton’s non-accusatory knuckle-pointing, but when perusing media imagery I understand why he did it: you look like a snot wagging your finger about in people’s faces. Sure, he messed up the technique from time to time, but he was lampooned because he more often than not did this:

(more…)

Oh, the spirit 0f giving is in the air—

With that thought we take a sneek peek under the tree of those who lead this great nation through perilous times—–gifts deserved, gifts needed.

JANET NAPALITANO- Binoculars. High powered. Aimed at the Arizona border. If you see something, say something.

JOHN BOEHNER- A pack of Marlboros and 2 hours in a tanning bed of your choice (you’ll have to pay the new health care taxes.)

THE TEA PARTY- You have everything you need, just keep it up.

ACTIVIST OLD MEDIA- You have everything you need, just keep it up. You will be irrelevant soon and you will be the last to know.

(more…)

In a recent NY Times Op-Ed titled “The Crying Game”, Gail Collins claims a double standard regarding Speaker of the House-elect John Boehner’s propensity to open up the waterworks and what would happen if outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi did the same:

We will stop here briefly to contemplate what would happen if she, or any female lawmaker, broke into loud, nose-running sobs while discussing Iraq troop funding or giving a TV interview.

If the rest of the piece is any indication, I guess some people would do the exact same thing Collins does to Boehner, as examined below. However, in all honesty, most people would do nothing because most people simply don’t care.

Collins’s victory dance here is understandable considering that she is the author of When Everything Changed, a book about how women have come a long way in the last half century …  after all, a scant 50 years ago most women in America would never have dreamed of being so openly condescending toward an elected official. You’ve come a long way, baby!

Collins then compares Hillary Clinton’s moment of emotion on the campaign trail in 2008 with Boehner’s crying after the midterm election:

Hillary Clinton cries in New Hampshire — is an excellent example of the difference between what men and women can get away with, tear-wise…

With her back to the wall and the presidency on the line, Clinton approached the edge of a sniffle and we are still talking about it. Boehner is driven to great, noisy sobs when he contemplates the fact that as a youth, he mopped the floor at his father’s tavern.

I expected that take to end with “… and nobody is talking about it” … except she is; we are.  I also suspect we will be talking about it in the future if this is the kind of inanity accepted as the status quo in public discourse these days. Collins covers the impending focus on Boehner also: since no righties loved Pelosi, it’s now in vogue to hate the Speaker of the House.  Therefore, get ready, Republicans, because we’re going mock this crybaby and drag him through broken glass.

The rest of the piece deals with how Boehner is in bed with lobbyists, wants to overturn Obama Care, voted against funds to help ill Ground Zero workers … as if the decisions our elected officials must make in the strategic clusterfark that is Washington denies John Boehner the politician the right to be John Boehner the man, for whom any emotional expression is, apparently, illegitimate. (more…)