Monthly Archives: December 2009

Ideology Versus Pragmatism–Again

Once again, the New York Times is setting up a false debate over healthcare policy, contrasting White House-style "pragmatism" with left-wing "ideology." The lead of Sheryl Gay Stolberg's piece today (12/18/09): In the great healthcare debate of 2009, President Obama … Continue reading

Posted in Healthcare | Tagged , | 12 Comments

NBC's Bogus Tea Party Poll

The new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll is getting attention for one rather unusual finding: that the right-wing Tea Party movement is more popular than either the Democratic or Republican parties. The point was made on MSNBC's First Read website and … Continue reading

Posted in Politics, Polling | Tagged , | 18 Comments

Post Mishandles Post Poll

Yesterday's Washington Post (12/16/09) reports that the public isn't sold on healthcare reform. As the headline puts it: Public Cooling to Healthcare Reform as Debate Drags On, Poll Finds The story by Dan Balz and Jon Cohen explains that "there … Continue reading

Posted in Healthcare, Polling | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

Washington Post Softens Israel's Gaza Blockade

The Israeli government's near-total blockade of the Gaza Strip has been roundly criticized by international human rights groups as a harsh form of collective punishment.Some U.N. investigations have labeled it much worse–that Israel's actions amount to crimes against humanity. Back … Continue reading

Posted in International, Israel/Palestine | Tagged , , , | 30 Comments

Can't She Be a Little Nicer, Though?

On Sunday (12/13/09), the New York Times Book Review offered a brief take on Malalai Joya's A Woman Among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Who Dared to Raise Her Voice. Times reviewer Marc Tracy seemed to like the … Continue reading

Posted in International | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Calling Science 'the Left' Is Not Advocating for Science

New York Times' climate change reporter Andrew Revkin is taking a buyout from his employer after a tough year, the Columbia Journalism Review's website (12/14/09) reports. Revkin, whom CJR's Christine Russell describes as "one of the most influential and respected … Continue reading

Posted in Climate Change | Tagged , , | 14 Comments

Kurtz Covers for Post, Palin

The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz spends his Sunday mornings as the host of Reliable Sources, the media criticism show on CNN. Yesterday (12/13/09), one segment concerned the Washington Post's decision to print an op-ed (12/9/09) on "Climategate" by Sarah Palin. … Continue reading

Posted in Climate Change, Washington Post | Tagged , | 4 Comments

GOP: Sauce for the Goose Is Terrible for the Gander

We've noted the corporate media's double standard on Nazi analogies: When conservatives are compared to the Third Reich, however obscurely, it's an outrageous slur, but when leaders of the right charge progressives with Hitler-like tendencies, it's unremarkable political rhetoric. Political … Continue reading

Posted in Politics | Tagged , , , | 12 Comments

Forbes Publishes Fiction on Climate Change Debate

Forbes.com has an article up called "The Fiction of Climate Science" (12/4/09). Thanks no doubt to a link from Drudge, it's currently one of the website's "top rated," "most popular" and "most emailed" items. "Fiction" is a polite word for … Continue reading

Posted in Climate Change | Tagged , | 16 Comments

Dana Milbank and the Church of Obama

The Washington Post's Dana Milbank (12/6/09) thinks there's something wrong with left-wing critics of Barack Obama.As his lead put it: Some parishioners in the Church of Obama discovered last week that their spiritual leader is a false prophet. Milbank startswith … Continue reading

Posted in Barack Obama, War/Military | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

The Mac Is Back (Again)!

Today's Los Angeles Times (12/7/09) gives us a story headlined "The Fight's Back in John McCain." In the subhead we learn that McCain is "Bipartisan No More, Especially on Healthcare." The Timestells us that "the Mac is back" because he's … Continue reading

Posted in Politics | 13 Comments

Joe Klein: Obama No Reagan

Time columnist Joe Klein (12/3/09) was not altogether impressed by Obama's announcement of a 30,000 troop escalation in Afghanistan (an "iffy proposition," as Klein put it). But Klein's main point was that Obama should have justified the war differently: "Once … Continue reading

Posted in Barack Obama, War/Military | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments

New Frontiers in Journalism

Washington Times, the paper of Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, has announced it will be going to free distribution and laying off at least 40 percent of its staff. Which positions won't make the cut? Well, one that's been … Continue reading

Posted in Advertisers, Media Business | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Enter a Parallel World at WashingtonPost.com

Sometimes reading the corporate media is like receiving dispatches from an alternate universe–like the one Washington Post columnist Robert Kagan (12/02/09) lives in, where Obama "bucked overwhelming conventional wisdom" to send more troops to Afghanistan, in the face of a … Continue reading

Posted in War/Military | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Still Upset About Obama's Dithering

A meeting of the minds between NBC host Chris Matthews and Washington Post columnist David Ignatius (Chris Matthews Show, 11/29/09): IGNATIUS: The long period of analysis, very deliberative, robs this of passion. This is–he was going to be a wartime … Continue reading

Posted in Barack Obama, Politics, War/Military | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments