Alexander Burns of Politico offers (link) a textbook example of how the establishment media presents a mainstream, pro-American immigration position as "hard-line". At the same time, Burns presents the corrupt position of Rep. Jeff Flake (running for senate from Arizona) as "moderate".
From "Immigration returns to Ariz. airwaves":
The Arizona immigration furor is back.
Not that it ever really...
... below.
Of this, Glenn Thrush of the Politico says the following (link), thus ushering in the first part of what might be a long series of posts showing how much of a hack Thrush is:
Greg Mankiw, the Harvard professor who serves as one of Mitt Romney’s top economic advisers, has managed to take a shot at two key constituencies – Hispanics and seniors – in a single linked post on his popular...
... link).
In fact, out of the four Politico writers who broke the story, I've discussed three at this site [1], and not in a good light. My goal was to discredit those reporters:
* Kenneth Vogel (six posts, the first over three years ago)
* Jonathan Martin (two posts, the first over three years ago)
* Maggie Haberman (three posts, the earliest in June 2010)
If the teapartiers had helped me with...
... major GOP debate, sponsored by Politico and NBC News and featuring Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, Michelle Bachmann, Jon Huntsman, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum. I'll replace this text with a discussion of the immigration portions of the debate after a transcript becomes available. In the meantime, see each of those links for background information, and feel free to leave comments on...
... Kenneth Vogel and Lucy McCalmont of Politico, link).
* FreedomWorks sponsors Glenn Beck. See their name's link for more, and note that Freedom Works is headed by Dick Armey, a supporter of illegal immigration. They're one of the main tea parties stringpullers, and they've probably played a key role in keeping that group from highlighting immigration; see the last link for all the details. The...
... provides yet more evidence that The Politico isn't a legitimate news source in "Newt Gingrich owed six figures to Tiffany's (link), which starts with this:
Newt Gingrich, a fiscal conservative? Not when it comes to Tiffany’s.
In 2005 and 2006, the former House speaker turned presidential candidate carried as much as $500,000 in debt to the premier jewelry company, according to financial...
... Tau is about as truthful as his Politico colleague Ben Smith, meaning not much. The latest example is provided in "Hawaii's blunders fueled birthers" (politico.com/news/stories/0411/53842_Page2.html). Why the following from the article is misleading will be explained below:
One month before the presidential election, then-state Department of Health Director Chiyome Fukino — a Republican...
... around he's got some help from his Politico colleague Byron Tau.
1. They write "[The Obama campaign] posted Obama’s certificate of live birth on their “Fight the Smears” website and gave a copy to the liberal website Daily Kos." The picture in question is not a certificate; it says right at the top it's a "Certification of Live Birth" ("COLB"). Smith, as with Anderson Cooper, John King, and...
Kenneth Vogel of the Politico reports (link) that conservatives are trying to offer their own alternatives to opposition research groups like Media Matters for America and the Center for American Progress. They certainly might have some short-lived success with it, especially due to Fox News no doubt retailing their reports.
However, along the way they'll also negatively impact U.S. society...
... years ago I posted Ben Smith /Politico keeps lying about Obama certificate issue. Now, over two years later, Smith is still lying about the basic, indisputable facts of the matter.
At [1] he says:
Obama has, as has been reported for years, released the document. Hawaii officials have verified it. The conspiracy theory is crazy. And, having been held at bay by the Republican Establishment for...
Ben Smith of the Politico is finally doing real reporting on an issue about the Birth Certificate. No, not whatever Birth Certificate Barack Obama has: Ben Smith has a habit of lying about that.
Rather, Smith's real reporting involves looking into a certificate of some kind that Donald Trump posted after engaging in "Birther theorizing" (politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0311/...
... Martin and Kasie Hunt of the Politico try to claim (link) that the appeal to Armey and Chocola is due to the claim that Pence "is viewed as a politician who would actually govern as a social and fiscal conservative" and that the "Draft Pence coalition can be best described as a group of insiders that prefers outsiders - and especially those focused on social issues like abortion and gay rights...
... Arizona state police major, told POLITICO Tuesday.
The ACTIC - also known as the "Arizona Fusion Center" is per azactic.gov "a joint effort between the Department of Public Safety, Arizona Department of Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigation and other participating agencies".
There's much more about this at the link above; while past reports from Kenneth Vogel of The Politico have...
... Renaissance (Maggie Haberman, Politico, link).
A Department of Homeland Security memo quoted by Fox News says the agency is looking into whether Loughner is “possibly linked” to the fanatical group American Renaissance... The group promotes views that are “anti-government, anti-immigration, anti-ZOG (Zionist Occupation Government), anti-Semitic,” the memo says... Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords...
Carrie Budoff Brown of Politico offers "Lamar Smith avoids hard line on immigration" [1]. Because we're dealing with definitions of those who aren't trustworthy (such as Brown), it's difficult to tell whether Smith will be weak on immigration matters or whether he just won't support nonsensical "boob bait for Bubba" policies.
Smith's first two hearings as head of the House Judiciary Committee...
... reporting of Kasie Hunt or of the Politico in general, consider the article "Candidate trips on birther issue" [1]. The article is designed to enforce rightthinking about the Obama citizenship issue and in it Hunt makes this false statement:
Obama has been dogged by questions about his citizenship despite producing a birth certificate that proves he was born in Hawaii.
1. The picture she's...
The Politico has released a poll [1] that asked people to choose from the following two choices (graphic with results below). The second choice is mostly clear-cut, but the first choice - to the extent it makes any sense at all - is open to multiple interpretations. Taken together, the poll question and the results are mostly meaningless:
Q. Which is closest to your views regarding immigration...
... through what he supports.
[1] politico.com/news/stories/0610/39208.html The "reporters" were Ben Smith and Maggie Haberman and, while we're informed what they and Christie had for breakfast, neither of them bothered to call Christie on the downsides of amnesty.
[2] politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0610/Christie_on_immigration.html
... explanation.
* Ben Smith of the Politico
politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0610/Brewer_claim_on_fathers_death_draws_scrutiny.html
He links the AZ Republic interview and the Arizona Guardian story, but fails to do any more reporting than any of the others listed who are open about being partisans.
* Ben Frumin of TalkingPointsMemo
tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/06/
az-gov-my-dad-died-fighting-...
... Marc Ambinder's take here and a Politico report here.
This incident shows a structural problem the GOP has: their leaders are great at cashing checks, but not so great at representing the interests of the American public. They aren't going to change, so if you want to oppose Obama in a smart and effective way you'll have to do it yourself. See the question authority page for a plan (note...
... faux-insider chatter, John Harris of The Politico offers "7 stories Barack Obama doesn't want told" (politico.com/news/stories/1109/29993.html). Except, none of them are all that damaging, and other stories - the ones that sources like the Politico and the MSM would never challenge Obama over - could be far more damaging.
For instance, two of his stories are "Too much Leonard Nimoy" (i.e., that...
... establishment hack Glenn Thrush of the Politico who simply reads what's on the card he's been handed (politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/1109/
Dobbs_2012_presidential_run_not_crazy.html):
Dobbs has become a prime target of Hispanic groups for his fire-breathing pronouncements about illegal immigration - including a discredited claim that Mexicans were bringing leprosy across the border.
First,...
... one of the questions from the Politico report by Carol Lee (link):
"Many Hispanics are offended by the news content of Lou Dobbs’ show and regard him as a demagogue who is helping to create a negative image of Hispanics. Do you agree or disagree with this assessment?"
Those who took part in the poll - almost assuredly among the 90% who agreed with the preceding question - include Sen. Bob...
... issue) and by Ben Smith of the Politico (who's continually lied about this issue), and it discusses the wacky ways of Orly Taitz, the person some call "Queen of the Birthers". For an important note about her, see [2].
While the Esquire article isn't as bad as it could be in the mocking sense, Richardson might consider that being a real reporter is a higher role than simply being a...
... working in some capacity at the Politico. On Glenn Thrush's blog, she offers "So where's your birth certificate, congressman?" (link) in which she asked Rep. Bill Posey and the co-sponsors of his "birther bill" to show their birth certificates. It isn't exactly an example of good journalism; it's more in line with a childish stunt that ThinkProgress (or worse) would pull.
So, maybe McGarr and...
Like human ancestors emerging from the primordial ooze, the tea parties might be growing a brain. Someone who appears part of that overall movement has started a new campaign called "Operation Embarrass Your Congressman" (link) which is highly similar to my two-and-a-half year old plan outlined in the question authority summary. Since February 2007, I've spent countless hours urging people to go...
Glenn Thrush of the Politico says:
Shocker poll from Kos/Research2000 today... A whopping 58 percent of Republicans either think Barack Obama wasn't born in the US (28 percent) or aren't sure (30 percent). A mere 42 percent think he was... When do we start a serious dialog about the Birther movement being a proxy for racism that is unacceptable to articulate in more direct terms?
The GOP and...
... material?
UPDATE: Chris Frates of the Politico joins in the virtual book burning with "RNC pulls game selling offensive items" (politico.com/news/stories/0709/25069.html). While, unlike AmericaBlog, he points out that the books were coming from Amazon, he doesn't point out that the author of the book listed above was Martin Luther. Nor does he point out that a book called "The Latino Threat" is...
... #14).
* Josh Gerstein of the Politico in "Attacks validate DHS report, some say" (link). He quotes the Southern Poverty Law Center's Mark Potok: "I think this latest round of killing once again shows how ridiculous the criticism from the right of the Department of Homeland Security report was. That whole brouhaha was absurd... Rush Limbaugh and John Boehner can go on until the end of time about...
... mainstream. Kenneth Vogel of the Politico - seen here "debunking" some "myths" in order to assist the Barack Obama campaign - offers "Obama officials gave Bilderberg briefings" (politico.com/news/stories/0509/22957.html):
A handful of high-ranking Obama administration officials this month delivered private briefings at the annual invitation-only conference held by an elite international...
[SEE THE UPDATES]
Judge Sonia Sotomayor is Barack Obama's choice to replace David Souter on the US Supreme Court. Weak GOP talking points are here; Peter Baker and Jeff Zeleny (remember him?) have the New York Times' take here.
Was she selected only because of her outstanding grasp of legal issues? Or, was at least part of the selection due to the fact that she's a woman and a Hispanic? Were...
... to lying hack Ben Smith at the Politico who links to their post at "Your Friday Steele" [1], saying:
What happens on Fridays: Michael Steele guest hosts Bill Bennett's radio show; young staffers at Media Matters and the Center for American Progress listen and compete for the most entertaining sound byte.
And, it's a regular hackfest as Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic raises issues with Steele's "...
... problem that Ben Smith of the Politico has promoted him (politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0509/The_new_Republican_Obama.html), saying he's "possibly the only answer to the Republican Party's scariest, least-addressed demographic problem, its alienation of Hispanic voters."
He's certainly no Tom Tancredo, and there's a fair possibility that he'll turn out to be more like Jeb Bush when it comes down to...
... download a copy of the PDF from politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0509/The_full_Luntz.html (the link at that page isn't marked as a PDF).
I just did a find through the document, and there were no instances of immigr*, which is surprising since any healthcare plan will have to take into account the millions of illegal aliens in the U.S. and the fact that the plan would serve as yet another benefit that...
Patrick O'Conner of the Politico offers "Cantor's strategy: Ambush Democrats" (link) about a plan from House Minority Whip Rep. Eric Cantor in which more experienced legislators take to the House floor to berate less-experienced Democratic House members over various issues:
Can you trust Michael Cohen of the New America Foundation? Read on if you've ever heard of that author of "Live From the Campaign Trail: The Greatest Presidential Campaign Speeches of the 20th Century and How They Shaped Modern America" and want to see whether trusting him is a wise idea or not.
... with John Ward Anderson of The Politico offering "Pot-related questions deluge W.H." (politico.com/news/stories/0309/20526.html). Likewise, Michael Scherer from Time Magazine offers this very good round-up of the "top" questions.
The wastoids from NORML can't figure out how to ask one good question and concentrate on pushing that to the top, but by making obvious to anyone how such systems can...
Gebe Martinez of the Politico informs us (link) that Sen. Mel Martinez (no relation) is initiating an unfocused push to get comprehensive immigration reform:
Kenneth Vogel of the Politico - last discussed here for smearing Jerome Corsi - offers "Bilderbergers excite conspiracists" (link). It's a stock "debunking" article, where mockery replaces any attempt at reporting: