Freedom Line Blog

Troy Senik, former presidential speechwriter and Senior Fellow at CFIF, discusses the double standard applied by the media with respect to the Occupy Wall Street rallies versus the Tea Party movement, and the Obama Administration’s double standard regarding presidential war powers.

Listen to the interview here.

Troy’s earlier point about the media creating a false story about presidential candidate Michele Bachmann (R-MN) being a pill-popping migraine sufferer is borne out by reporting from Byron York.  Citing what amounts to a doctor’s note from the resident physician in the House of Representatives (released with Bachmann’s permission), York says:

The doctor says Bachmann has had “an extensive evaluation by both my office and by a board-certified consulting neurologist.”  That evaluation, he continues, “has entailed detailed labwork and brain scans, all of which were normal.”  Monahan says Bachmann’s migraines occur “infrequently,” and that when she does have a headache, she is “able to control it well with as-needed sumatriptan and odasentron.”  Monahan says Bachmann has not needed to take the medication daily.  The two drugs, he adds, are “commonly used therapies.”

With that behind us, let’s get news that really matters, like whether Joe Biden’s botox habit is compromising his ability to advise (or possible succeed!) the president.

Renee Giachino reveals the winners of CFIF’s first annual Lamestream Media Awards, recognizing the most pathetic contributions of the liberal media to our national conversation.

From Charles Krauthammer on the Right to Peggy Noonan in the middle, denunciation of President Barack Obama’s handling of the war in Libya is expected.  But tough talk from a reliable liberal like Eugene Robinson?  Now, that’s progressive.

Robinson has done his best to keep up with Obama’s ever-shifting views on military involvement in Libya.  No more.  Today, Robinson apparently can’t interpret the blizzard of mealy-mouthed talking points flying out the White House press office.  So, he’s asking for a little clarity:

So what the hell are we doing? I realize that President Obama and his advisers have answered this question many times, but I feel it’s necessary to keep asking until the answers begin to make sense.

What’s that you say, Mr. Robinson?  Obama isn’t making sense?  Welcome to the club.

Below is one of the latest cartoons from two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Ramirez.

In an interview with CFIF, Quin Hillyer, senior editorial writer at the Washington Times and senior editor of The American Spectator, discusses how the mainstream media and Eric Holder’s Justice Department are trying to ignore the Black Panther voter-intimidation case. 

Listen to the interview here.

Below is one of the latest cartoons from Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Ramirez.

Below is one of the latest cartoons from Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Ramirez.

View more of Michael Ramirez’s cartoons on CFIF’s website here.

A judge has ordered former John Edwards aide Andrew Young to turn over all copies of an alleged John Ewards/Rielle Hunter sex tape to the court.  As the story goes, Young found the tape in a Hunter hatbox, and Hunter wants it back.

In the public interest (of course), we think all copies should be turned over to the Newseum (preferably the National Enquirer wing) to remind the mainstream media of the story they missed, to remind John Edwards to just go away and to remind the rest of us to always be wary of the personal character of those who seek to lead us.

“Good Evening. This is Walter Crankcase reporting for State News.

“We are unable to report tonight that President Obama is still dithering over the decision to send additional troops to Afghanistan because former Vice President Cheney said it and Fox News reported it first.

“Turning to other news, the Obama family has posed for its official White House portrait. Isn’t that just the cuddliest First Family you ever saw? Robert, leave that visual up for the rest of the broadcast. It’s much better than those boring unemployment numbers and that deficit graph.

“After the break, we’ll be back with an exclusive report on Rahm Emanuel’s Thanksgiving plans, and the ACORN choir will premiere its Christmas carol, “What Will Santa Bring the Hos?”

“Robert, can we leave the First Family portrait up during commercials?”

Clark Hoyt, Public Editor (ombudsman, sort of) of The New York Times, today analyzes the Times’ “slow reflexes” on the ACORN story. 

No bias or ideology there, a bunch of editors told him, they’re just too busy covering “health care, two wars and the deep recession,” in the words of Dean Baquet, Washington bureau chief. 

Managing Editor Jill Abramson, managing editor for news, blamed “insufficient tuned-in-ness to the issues that are dominating Fox News and talk radio,” undoubtedly forgetting that when “the New York City Council froze all its funding for Acorn and the Brooklyn district attorney opened a criminal investigation, there was still [no story].”

But just wait, conservatives.  Abramson and Executive Editor Bill Keller have now appointed an editor to “monitor opinion media and brief them frequently on bubbling controversies.”  The editor will be anonymous, so he doesn’t get, in Keller’s words, “a bombardment of e-mails and excoriation in the blogosphere.”

We have one point:  Most conservatives just want newspapers that cover news (like when the local district attorney opens a criminal investigation of a major national organization) with factual, unbiased reportage, not more he said/she said babble on “bubbling controversies.”  The bubbling controversies already have outlets (such as Fox News and talk radio), which seem to be doing a lot better than the Times.

We have one question:  Is an anonymous editor anything like an anonymous source?  It’s just a journalistic concept with which we are unfamiliar.

Yesterday there was this Joint Economic Committee hearing on “The Future of Newspapers:  The Impact on the Economy and Democracy.”

So how many of the 20 House and Senate members showed up?  Three, according to Joseph Curl of The Washington Times, including the Chairwoman, Representative Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), who wasn’t even there part of the time.

Maloney and Senator Benjamin Cardin (D-Md) have introduced a bill to allow newspapers to become non-profits, since most of them can’t make a profit, having run off most of their subscribers.  No vote has been scheduled.

In a Sacred Heart University poll of attitudes about the media (mentioned on this blog yesterday, in another context), “70.4 percent said they believe the national news media are not responsive to ‘consumer preferences and market desires.’  Nearly 68 percent said they agreed with the statement: ‘Old-style, traditionally objective and fair journalism is dead.’”

What would it take to resuscitate it?  We doubt if it is possible, because most of those running today’s newspapers are too arrogant to think the opinions of readers are of value.

Yesterday, we remarked briefly and pointedly on the paranoid delusional loon who is the (appropriately) deposed former President of Honduras, one Manuel Zelaya.   By President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (not to mention the Organization of American States), the tiny country has been threatened with economic ruin if it does not return the guy to power.

But what of the mainstream media that also supported Zelaya’s return.  Well, at least the Washington Post read that Mr. Zelaya now claims to have been “bombarded with radiation and toxic gases by ‘Israeli mercenaries.'”

So what does good old WaPo write now?  “Such behavior ought to deter any responsible member of the Organization of American States – starting with Brazil – from supporting anything other than a token return by Mr. Zelaya to office.  The Obama administration has backed such a restoration (as have we)…”

We’re much too busy to go back and parse words, but we just can’t seem to remember the emphasis on “token” by any of the aforementioned in the past.

Based on some pretty solid understanding of the Honduras Constitution and the circumstances of Zelaya’s removal by people who actually know something about the country, we think he was removed from office legally and by the book.  And now we also know, from his own mouth, that he’s certifiable.

Would a “token” return to office be in a straight jacket with Nurse Ratchet on duty?

Ben Smith of Politico.com, reporting on the resignation of Yosi Sargent (former NEA Communications Director who organized and participated in call enlisting artists to support Obama programs):  “The White House has sought to downplay the story, which has gotten little mainstream media attention, despite heavy coverage on the right.”

Perhaps that would explain the latest poll findings on  national attitudes toward the media, conducted by Sacred Heart University:  “A large majority, 89.3 percent, suggested the national media played a very or somewhat strong role in helping to elect President Obama.  Just 10.0 percent suggested the national media played little or no role.  Further, 69.9 percent agreed the national news media are intent on promoting the Obama presidency while 26.5 percent disagreed.  Some, 3.6 percent, were unsure.”

This week, the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press released one of its periodic assessments of public attitudes toward news organizations.

It’s major findings:  “The public’s assessment of the accuracy of news stories is now at its lowest level in more than two decades… Just 29% of Americans say that news organizations generally get their facts straight, while 63% say that news stories are often inaccurate….

“Similarly, only about a quarter (26%) now say that news organizations are careful that their reporting is not politically biased, compared with 60 % who say news organizations are politically biased.  And the percentages saying that news organizations are independent of powerful people and organizations (20%)  or are willing to admit their mistakes (21%) now also match all-time lows.”

Strangely, only a handful of major news organizations reported the Pew Study.

The entire Pew study can be read here.