Mutual admiration society

President Obama yucks it up with the Beltway lapdogs press corps.

100 days means 1360 to go

The New York Post has a retrospective on Obama’s 100 days. They say 100 Days, 100 Mistakes. This is just over the top Obama bashing if you ask me. I read their list and there are no more than 87 legitimate mistakes.

My favorite review of this meaningless, media contrived number is from Reason,

Obama’s Vision Deficit
After 100 days, the new president has revealed himself as an effective salesman of exhausted ideas.

Far from sketching out a truly forward-looking set of policies for the 21st century, as his supporters had hoped, Obama is instead serving up cryogenically tasteless and headache-inducing morsels from years gone by.

On issue after issue, Obama has made it clear that instead of blasting past “the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long,” (as he promised in his inaugural address), he’s moving full speed ahead toward policy prescriptions that already had less fizz than a case of Billy Beer back when Jimmy Carter was urging us all to wear sweaters and turn down our thermostats. Instead of thinking outside the box, Obama is nailing it shut from the inside.

For those who say the media is too Pro-Obama, I say come on. Wake Up. The fourth estate is on the job.

Word!

I hate the Globe, please don’t leave

Last night I was joined in-studio by Jay Fitzgerald of Boston’s most financially stable daily paper, the Boston Herald and the outstanding Hub Blog as well as Todd Hyten, aka Armchair General Savin Hill, for a discussion about the sudden, near-death experience of the Boston Globe specifically, and newspapers in general.

There was a great deal of schadenfreude among the callers who won’t be shedding any tears over the Globe’s demise. I can sympathize and appreciate those feelings, for sure.

The point I tried to make was, for all their liberal leanings and biases, we still need to the Globe to do the kind of reporting necessary to keep an eye on the hacks on Beacon Hill. These people already run unopposed about 90% of the time. The thought of them operating without media coverage is scary.

We need the Globe, not for their liberal world view, but for the reporting on state government. If you think reform is nearly impossible now, what do you think will happen without the Globe around?

For one, Marion Walsh would be making $175K and in her new hack-for-life position. It was Frank Phillips who broke the story and pushed it until we (taxpayers) got a happy resolution (Walsh taking a hike).

What is Pundit Review Radio?

Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening from 8-10 pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.

Speak for yourself MSM, we weren’t fooled

Puppy love can only last so long. The inside the beltway political intelligensia is just now waking up to a few things about Barack Obama that I have been telling you about for two years. He’s not a great public speaker. He’s never been tested. He’s a solid gold plated phony whose words are meaningless.

A liberal friend approached me this week and confessed that some of the things I have been saying on the radio and on the blog about Obama are really bothering them. Not because they were slandering their guy, but because they were true. I jokingly said to them, “The time to get your head out of your ass was before November, but better late than never.”. When it comes to the media it isn’t quite so funny. They simply failed to do their jobs.

March 19, 2009
Politico: Obama struggles as communicator

Of all the pitfalls Barack Obama might face in the presidency, here is one not many people predicted: He is struggling as a public communicator.

June 24, 2008
Pundit Review: Obama the orator: I’m not buying the hype

Sunday night I wondered aloud why Barack Obama has such a great reputation as an orator. I’ll agree that he gives a good speech. He can read a telepromptor. McCain can’t, he’s terrible at it and the comparison between the two is striking. However, speaking off the cuff or in an interview or debate setting, I find Omaba ponderous and indecisive. He’s not a great public speaker, he’s a great speech reader.

March 15, 2009
NY Daily News: Worries grow that Barack Obama & Co. have a competence problem

Which brings us to the heart of the matter: the doubts about Obama himself. His famous eloquence is wearing thin through daily exposure and because his actions are often disconnected from his words. His lack of administrative experience is showing.

His promises and policies contradict each other often enough that evidence of hypocrisy is ceasing to be news. Remember the pledges about bipartisanship and high ethics? They’re so last year.

The beat goes on. Last week, Obama brazenly gave a speech about earmark reform just after he quietly signed a $410 billion spending bill that had about 9,000 earmarks in it. He denounced Bush’s habit of disregarding pieces of laws he didn’t like, so-called signing statements, then issued one himself.

And in an absolute jaw-dropper, he told business leaders, “I don’t like the idea of spending more government money, nor am I interested in expanding government’s role.”

No wonder Americans are confused. Our President is, too.

October 15, 2008
Pundit Review: Words versus deeds

Words are meaningless. Actions are what counts. His words are beautiful and eloquent and no doubt speak to the hopes and dreams of many Americans. The record however, shows something else. It shows that at no time in his short political career has Barack Obama been a reformer. His record on taxes shows, time and again, that he votes to raise your taxes. He has yet to propose a single tax cut where it counts, in the Senate where he works. On social issues, he talks about mainstream values but his record shows he is far to the left of most Americans. On foreign policy, his positions are dangerous and naive. His decades long association with radicals like ACORN, Bill Ayers and Rev. Wright are not things most mainstream Americans find acceptable. That is why he has lied about them repeatedly.

My friends, Sen. Obama talks a good game but his words and his deeds are about as far apart as you can get. How can you trust him when his words and deeds are at such odds?

March 2, 2009
New York Times David Brooks: Obama is not who we thought he was

Those of us who consider ourselves moderates — moderate-conservative, in my case — are forced to confront the reality that Barack Obama is not who we thought he was. His words are responsible; his character is inspiring. But his actions betray a transformational liberalism that should put every centrist on notice.

October 27, 2008
Pundit Review: Ever wonder what Barack Obama sounds like naked?

Barack Obama is a complete phony. His talks like a moderate but acts like a radical in his actions and associations. He talks about cutting taxes but votes to raise them. He talks about bringing people together but hangs with the likes of Rev. Wright and Bill Ayers. He talks of bipartisanship but has no record of it. He talks about uniting people but threatens lawsuits to those who criticize him. Words versus deeds, that is the fundamental problem I have with Barack Obama.

We can’t say we weren’t warned about who the real Barack Obama is. We, apparently, are just choosing to ignore it. Change is coming all right. Good luck with that.

Odds and Ends: Obama Mediagasms

What a pleasure to watch the sustained and repeated mediagasms over the past few days. Imagine how bad it could have been if the media really went over the top,

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - President Barack Obama’s inauguration generated an unprecedented 35,000 stories in the world’s major newspapers, television and radio broadcasts over the past day — about 35 times more than the last presidential swearing-in — a monitoring group said on Wednesday.

Is that all? It felt like more.

Immediately after the election in November there was a spate of handwringing from the MSM about the campaign coverage. Most notably, Time Magazine political editor Mark Halperin said,

It was extreme bias, extreme pro-Obama coverage.

Rob, my producer at WRKO coined this sudden post election honesty “born again journalism”. His point, now that the election was over, journalists would start to take their jobs seriously again, or at least consider it.

Personally, I think Halperin should talk about this with Time Magazine’s Washington bureau chief Jay Carney. Oh, wait a minute. That won’t be possible because Carney has left journalism to become Joe Biden’s press secretary. Never mind. (What does that job require anyway besides issuing apologies and retractions?)

Speaking of Biden, another spouse of a Democrat is spilling the beans and embarrassing their husband on Oprah. George Stephanopoulos’ wife Ali Wentworth is the latest,

We watched everything and George was still doing all the anchoring for ABC and as soon Beyonce said “At Last…” George called me at home and he went, “Honey?” and I said “I know!” and we both started crying.

Somewhere Stephy was saying “Shhhhhhhhhhhhh” at the top of his tiny little lungs. MSM big shots and Democrat operatives are like two peas in a pod. Jay Carney went in one direction (journo to operative) while Stephy went the other (operative to journo). Let me know when Karl Rove is offered to host a network Sunday morning interview show would you please….thanks.

Need a specific example of how the media works to advance their friends? From Bryon York at NRO,

In 2001, during the confirmation of John Ashcroft to be attorney general, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee forced a one-week delay in the committee’s vote on Ashcroft, saying there had not been enough time to answer all the questions about the nomination. On January 24, 2001, the Washington Post reported the story under the following headline:

Vote On Ashcroft Is Delayed A Week; Democrats Cite Need for More Review

Yesterday, Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee did precisely the same thing for the nomination of Eric Holder to be attorney general. Today, the Washington Post is reporting the story under the following headline:

Republicans Obstruct Holder’s Path to Justice Department

That’s called nuance my friends.

At some point during the next four years, an issue will arise that requires the media to dig into the actions of the Obama administration. When that time comes, most of them will be asking the famous Ray Donovan line,

Where do I go to get my reputation back?

Good luck with that.

I’ve seen this movie before

I woke up at 4am and watched BBC and CNN International coverage of the war in Gaza. I saw Benjamin Netanyahu destroy a female BBC anchor by turning her moral equivalency back at her. Netanyahu basically told her that blaming Israel for civilian causalities is morally wrong because it is Hamas that is using civilians in the Gaza Strip as “human shields” by placing its people and weapons in heavily populated areas. He said the sole purpose of Hamas is to inflict such civilian casualties on Israeli’s every day via rocket attacks. They celebrate civilian deaths while Israel regrets them and does all it can to avoid them. It was great television.

Netanyahu said something similar later in the morning to Reuters, another media audience who needs to hear it,

“I think the international community is right to be concerned about the death of civilians. This is precisely the point. The Hamas is deliberately targeting civilians, deliberately hiding behind civilians. That’s a double war crime in itself, and very different from us. We have tried to minimise civilian casualties. When they fire into Ashdod, one of our biggest seaport cities, or into Ashkelon, another city, they hope to get civilian casualties, they hope to get a kindergarten, they hope to get a school. When we go after the terrorists themselves, we hope not to have any incidental civilian casualties.”

I was reminded of something we did on Pundit Review Radio two and a half years ago when the international media bias against Israel was once again on full display. Rob put a montage together of anti-Israel bias from the BBC and CNN International and tied it together with a riveting live report by blogger and photojournalist Dave Bender. Dave joined us to discuss this incident and you can listen to that here.

I said at the time, “As Dave and the residents of Haifa know, Israeli citizens are under attack. Too bad the BBC and CNN can’t come to term with this. This is a great piece of citizen journalism by Dave Bender, and when put side-by-side with the international media’s work, it is really telling.”

From what I could tell watching TV this morning, nothing much has changed.

One of our favorite guests on Pundit Review Radio is retired Lt. Col. Ralph Peters. He had a great column in the New York Post yesterday,

DAMNED IF THEY DO BUT ISRAEL’S DEAD IF THEY DON’T

DEAD Jews aren’t news, but killing terrorists outrages global activists. On Saturday, Israel struck back powerfully against its tormentors. Now Israel’s the villain. Again.

How long will it be until the UN General Assembly passes a resolution creating an international Holocaust Appreciation Day?

… We may sympathize with the average Palestinian family, exploited by generations of corrupt leaders and now caught in yet another round of violence. But let us never forget that Israel hasn’t fired thousands of blind rockets into Palestinian cities, that Israeli suicide bombers don’t attack Arab restaurants and bus stops, and that Israel seeks to avoid harming civilians - while Hamas seeks to kill as many civilians as possible.

In a world where there are no good answers, Israel just answered as best it could. The world’s response? “How dare Jews defend themselves.”

Humanity doesn’t progress. It just changes clothes.

Read the whole piece.

Some really cool video from Gaza at the Israeli Defense Forces You Tube channel. Yes, the IDF has a You Tube channel.

UPDATE: Seems like You Tube is screwing with the IDF account already. Shocker, I know. Noah Pollack at Commentary has more, and he is asking the right questions,

The rank double-standard that YouTube has applied to Israel is disturbing. YouTube hosts all manner of similar footage — much of it far more gory than the grainy infrared images posted by the IDF — of U.S. air strikes. Why is YouTube capitulating to those who do not wish for Israel to be able to tell its side of the story?

This is not the first time we have mentioned You Tube censorship, remember F-You Tube?

Scientists blast AP’s science “fiction” writer for outright propaganda

Earlier this week, AP science “reporter” Seth Borenstein wrote what should be a career-ending propaganda piece masquerading as a straight news story.

Obama left with little time to curb global warming

WASHINGTON (AP) - When Bill Clinton took office in 1993, global warming was a slow-moving environmental problem that was easy to ignore. Now it is a ticking time bomb that President-elect Barack Obama can’t avoid.

Since Clinton’s inauguration, summer Arctic sea ice has lost the equivalent of Alaska, California and Texas. The 10 hottest years on record have occurred since Clinton’s second inauguration. Global warming is accelerating. Time is close to running out, and Obama knows it.

That is only the intro, it gets worse from there. My friend Bruce McQuain at QandO took exception and highlighted some of Borenstein’s propaganda reporting, including this gem, that global cooling is proof of global warming,

“Ironically, 2008 is on pace to be a slightly cooler year in a steadily rising temperature trend line. Experts say it’s thanks to a La Nina weather variation. While skeptics are already using it as evidence of some kind of cooling trend, it actually illustrates how fast the world is warming.”

Wha? Cool = warm? How does one take AP seriously?

Michael R. Fox, a retired nuclear scientist and chemistry professor from the University of Idaho makes a critical, under-appreciated point about how damaging it can be when activism replaces journalism, especially when it comes from the AP,

There’s very little that’s right about it. And it’s really harmful to the United States because people like this Borenstein working for AP have an enormous impact on everyone, because AP sells their news service to a thousand news outlets. One guy like him can be very destructive and alarming. Yeah it’s freedom of speech, but its dishonest.

Can I get an amen! A geology professor at the University of Oklahoma, David Deming, agrees that Borenstein’s piece is especially awful,

He says global warming is accelerating. Not only is it continuing, it’s accelerating, and whether it’s continuing that was completely beyond the evidence. The mean global temperature, at least as measured by satellite, is now the same as it was in the year 1980. In the last couple of years sea level has stopped rising. Hurricane and cyclone activity in the northern hemisphere is at a 24-year low and sea ice globally is also the same as it was in 1980….Reporters, as I understand reporters, are supposed to report facts. What he’s doing here is he’s writing a polemic and reporting it as fact, and that’s not right. It’s not reporting. It’s propaganda.

Another scientist, James O’Brien, an emeritus professor at Florida State University, a Global Warming supporter, goes on in the article to also slam the AP’s science fiction writer,

“Global climate change is occurring in many places in the world,” O’Brien said. “But everything that’s attributed to global warming, almost none of it is global warming.”

He took issue with the AP article’s assertion that melting Arctic ice will cause global sea levels to rise.

“When the Arctic Ocean ice melts, it never raises sea level because floating ice is floating ice, because it’s displacing water,” O’Brien said. “When the ice melts, sea level actually goes down.

“I call it a fourth grade science experiment. Take a glass, put some ice in it. Put water in it. Mark level where water is. Let it met. After the ice melts, the sea level didn’t go up in your glass of water. It’s called the Archimedes Principle.”

He called sea level changes a “major scare tactic used by the global warming people.”

It sure is. Here is my interview with Chris Horner, author of Red Hot Lies: How Global Warming Alarmists Use Threats, Fraud, and Deception to Keep You Misinformed.

Ed Morrisey at Hot Air has it exactly right,

Unfortunately, that’s been the history of the global-warming cult over the last decade. They accept no challenges, demonize those who question their science, scoff at contradictory data (such as the fact that temperatures have stopped rising), and insist on politicizing their science rather than work from facts. The AP has become the cult’s propaganda arm.

For more coverage of Global Warming Climate Change insanity, click here.