After watching the national media’s performance since the party conventions, one can only hope that journalism students are out on summer safari or some Third World Peace Corps mission. Anything to avoid this mess of a profession. Sean Hannity is right. The establishment news media are dead. Whatever remains has only one standard. If it helps Obama, it’s “news.” If it doesn’t, reporters should move on; there’s nothing worth covering. Our media don’t just report “news” unfavorable to Romney. They obsess over it, complete with repetitive and thoroughly unnecessary incantations that Romney’s campaign is hopeless. On September 17, perhaps not... continue reading
The “enlightened” who claim a firm grip on the steering wheel of Western civilization see the future through a lens in which man becomes ever more perfectible as outdated religious creeds fade away. And thus the irony. For all the contempt these cosmopolitans show for religion, there is one faith beyond public rebuke. Call it Islamic exceptionalism. Public Enemy #1 right now is the man who made a ridiculously shoddy YouTube video titled “The Innocence of Muslims.” This man and his so-called “film” have been blamed with a very broad brush for every riot and protest across the Mideast. It... continue reading
On September 14 at Andrews Air Force Base just outside the Washington Beltway, President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton welcomed home the remains of four Americans killed at our consulate in Benghazi, Libya. It was a moment of national mourning. The president was presidential; Mrs. Clinton dignified. But for some journalists, it was, quite strangely and inappropriately, something to view only through the tacky lens of politics. On “Hardball,” Chris Matthews was tingling away. It was an “amazing ceremony,” he insisted. After an Obama clip, he said “there was a moment in American history right there. Last week, when... continue reading
Veteran reporter Sharon Waxman knew she’d found a new low. Reporting from the Toronto Film Festival, she revealed the viewpoint of director Nick Cassavetes, which she summarized in a headline: “Who Gives a Damn? Love Who You Want.” The topic was incest. Hollywood’s march to tear down – to obliterate, really -- every boundary of sexual decency should compel even the harshest accusers of social conservatives like Rick Santorum to apologize profusely. They were wrong to mock conservatives for warning of the extremes, as we’re lurching so quickly and easily into the darkest “love who you want” extremes of the... continue reading
The conventions have come and gone, but as always, the TV network “news” coverage of Tampa and Charlotte demonstrated once again that these people have no intention of trying to be equally positive or equally aggressive with the two major parties. Their obvious but unstated agenda is to drag Obama over the finish line to re-election. Always on pins and needles for his man Obama, NBC anchor Brian Williams told top Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett at the convention season’s end that they will need the "tall order" of "nothing but positive coverage" over the next 60 days. People like Williams... continue reading
Some hateful stereotypes never die in Hollywood. The cover of the September 7 edition of Entertainment Weekly featured the 63-year-old actress Jessica Lange, smirking in a nun’s black habit, holding a big, punishing cane in her hands. Lange is returning for a second season on the FX series American Horror Story , but this time with an entirely new plot and characters. Nuns are now a thing of horror. “Jessica Lange returns, this time as a terrifying nun,” promised the magazine’s cover. They eagerly hyped a new storyline that’s “a macabre mashup of nuns, Nazis, aliens, a serial killer named... continue reading
Within minutes of Paul Ryan concluding his convention speech in Tampa, the media attacks were launched. Why, the man is loose with the facts! He only spews vitriol and nonsense! DNC political director Patrick Gaspard quickly sent out a fundraising appeal: “Paul Ryan's speech to the Republican Convention tonight wasn't grounded in reality.” It was impossible to tell where the Democratic Party ended, and the “news” media began. Liberal arrogance often reveals itself in the smug certitude that its globe-encompassing enlightenment trumps all. For decades, the liberal media have ripped at conservatives as hopelessly ignorant. From Dan Quayle to Sarah... continue reading
I watch some commercials on television and am amazed that the corporate sponsor really signed off on the product. Think about the expressions on the faces of the dark suits in the executive boardroom when they were presented with some of the commercials running on TV right now. Take Jack In The Box. “Jack Box,” the fast-food chain’s mascot – a man wearing what looks like a ping-pong-ball head or a snowman getup with a clown hat – is sitting playing a game much like Scrabble with a beautiful blonde. He lays out the non-word “swavory,” selling a waffle breakfast... continue reading
The Republican convention was delayed by a day on Monday. It’s not a problem: the national media’s pre-convention spin was timed perfectly, almost as if it was on automatic pilot. In Monday’s New York Times, longtime political writer Adam Nagourney regurgitated the same old, tired political spin that the Republican Party is too conservative and exclusionary on “social issues,” and that their divisive stands will hurt them with “mainstream” voters. 1976. 1980. 1984. 1988. 1992. 1996. 2000. 2004. 2008. Will they ever stop saying this? The absurdity of this is stunning, considering that on these same “social issues,” there is... continue reading
As easy as it might be to forget them in the cobwebs of the AM radio dial, the liberal pretenders to the Rush Limbaugh throne are still broadcasting, and they're often utterly, shamelessly ridiculous. Case in point: Even Al Sharpton lamely used his radio show to defend Joe Biden's anti-Republican "they want to put y'all in chains" race baiting in front of a black audience. Another case in point: Liberal radio hosts adore Harry Reid for making utterly unsubstantiated ugly charges that Mitt Romney evaded taxes for a decade. Bill Press has routinely declared his love for the tactic —... continue reading