Media

You know what's actually intriguing is that gas prices are at record-high levels and it seems as though (thanks to the media with a Democrat in the White House) we have grown accustomed to $3- to $4-per-gallon gasoline.

We have also (again thanks to Obama's media PR machine) grown accustomed to sluggish economic growth and 8-plus-percent unemployment. In addition to this, we no longer seem to be alarmed by our rapidly declining international stature.

It's time for the media and politicians to stop using selective phrases to attack their opponents.
 
By nitpicking these phrases for a political attack or a story, the meaning of these phrases is distorted and exaggerated. They are so distorted and exaggerated by the end of the day that these attacks hold little truth.
 
Take Romney’s observation on Obama’s latest statement, for example.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (Ala.), the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, explains in better terms than I can muster why Obama’s campaign claim that his budget plan would pay down the debt is 10 Pinocchios false.
 
Here’s what Sessions said recently in the weekly Republican address:

Pat Caddell is a fixture on Fox News and routinely presented as a Democrat who cut his teeth doing polling for Jimmy Carter, before that George McGovern; and, after that, Walter Mondale, Gary Hart and Joe Biden; in other words, Caddell’s resume puts him solidly left of center. 

I’ve watched him scores of times on Sean Hannity’s show, and he agrees with Hannity almost all the time.

Caddell is back in the news as one of the lead people behind a group called SecureAmericaNow, which is running an ad in Florida, targeted at Jewish voters, and featuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning that the world sleeps as Iran develops nuclear weapons. “The world tells Israel, 'Wait. There’s still time.’ And I say, 'Wait for what? Wait until when?' ... The world needs American strength, not apologies.”

All I can say after Tina Brown's slanderous and scandalous attack on Barack Obama, written by Niall Ferguson, bannered on the cover of Brown's now-disfigured remnant of what was once a great weekly news magazine, is: Poor Tina. Poor Newsweek. Poor journalism. My guess is things ain't going so great with subscribers, advertising and revenue at Newsweek. In a previous incarnation of failure, Newsweek ran a cover of Sarah Palin in short pants, in a pathetic marketing play for the far right. Now Brown resorts to the old standby: Obamahate. What will she think of next week? Perhaps a beefcake shot of Paul Ryan while he attacks Medicare and a woman's right to choose.

If President Obama visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Poland, and the The Daily Caller's Neil Munro shouted a question to him about his alleged "gaffes" — would the media and Democrats defend Munro? (Romney did not commit gaffes, by the way.) Would the slams and barbs be directed at Obama for not answering the question?

The media have made quite an ordeal over Romney's statement that there could be some problems associated with security as Great Britain hosts the Olympic Games. Obviously, his comment wasn't meant to demean Great Britain; he simply wanted to say that in today's world, security is needed at any event where there are a large number of people and where much media attention is focused. As Romney becomes more skilled in dealing with the nitpicking press, he will learn to more artfully state his case. He has moved on to Israel and will be going to Poland today, where his reception has been and will be extremely warm, primarily because the Obama administration is not perceived in a positive light in either of those places.

Sam Donaldson would be rolling over in his grave if he weren’t still alive. The foghorn-voiced broadcaster who boomed questions after fleeing presidents never shied away from asking the tough ones.

What a difference a generation makes.

The penned White House media have allowed this administration to turn them into props representing the Fourth Estate without actually acting like it.

Neil Munro might have changed all that.

One of the great things about Steve Jobs is that he gave the world the iPod, iPad and Apple TV so that when the political reporting herd becomes completely ridiculous I can create my own albums of Edith Piaf, Charles Aznavour and Yves Montand to complement my selection of Frank Sinatra, Hank Williams and Bob Dylan. Instead of spending unhealthy time listening to what passes for political commentary, one can enjoy the finer things in life. (If anyone is interested in these things, please advise, I would love to do an iPod and Apple TV piece.) In the meantime, it is a 50-50 election, and the media herd jib-jab that is now piling on Obama is far out of control.

Headline on Drudge this afternoon: “Obama Lit Agent Shocker: ‘Born in Kenya and Raised in Indonesia and Hawaii.’ ” It links to a story in Breitbart showing a full photo of President Obama in a brochure by Acton & Dystel, said to be a literary agency, printed in 1991. Beneath Obama’s picture it states: “Barack Obama, the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review, was born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii.” The brochure was advancing a book, apparently by Obama, titled Journeys in Black and White.

According to the report, other clients of Acton & Dystel included Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, Ralph Nader and New Kids on the Block.