"I'm Shocked To Find That Gambling Is Going On In Here!"

The ombudsman for the Washington Post acknowledges that the paper's coverage was biased toward Barack Obama.  Key graphs from the column:

The Post provided a lot of good campaign coverage, but readers have been consistently critical of the lack of probing issues coverage and what they saw as a tilt toward Democrat Barack Obama. My surveys, which ended on Election Day, show that they are right on both counts.

The count was lopsided, with 1,295 horse-race stories and 594 issues stories. The Post was deficient in stories that reported more than the two candidates trading jabs; readers needed articles, going back to the primaries, comparing their positions with outside experts' views. There were no broad stories on energy or science policy, and there were few on religion issues.

The op-ed page ran far more laudatory opinion pieces on Obama, 32, than on Sen. John McCain, 13. There were far more negative pieces (58) about McCain than there were about Obama (32), and Obama got the editorial board's endorsement. The Post has several conservative columnists, but not all were gung-ho about McCain.

Stories and photos about Obama in the news pages outnumbered those devoted to McCain. Post reporters, photographers and editors -- like most of the national news media -- found the candidacy of Obama, the first African American major-party nominee, more newsworthy and historic. Journalists love the new; McCain, 25 years older than Obama, was already well known and had more scars from his longer career in politics.

But Obama deserved tougher scrutiny than he got, especially of his undergraduate years, his start in Chicago and his relationship with Antoin "Tony" Rezko, who was convicted this year of influence-peddling in Chicago. The Post did nothing on Obama's acknowledged drug use as a teenager.

Sadly, this "news" comes a little too late.  It will be interesting to see if some of the other MSM outlets come clean.

Update on Saturday, November 8, 2008 at 11:21AM by Joe

I just read Ed Morrissey's commentary on the Washington Post's Claude Rains moment.  Ed makes an insightful observation about the way the paper's ombudsman framed the coverage of Sarah Palin.  Rather than contrast how Palin was covered compared to Joe Biden, the ombudsman should have scorched the paper for its dogged investigations into Sarah Palin and its seeming indifference to anything resembling investigative journalism where Barack Obama was concerned.  From Ed's post:

The hell with Joe Biden.  Howell never answers the real issue here — why did the Post, and the rest of the national media, go on the attack with Sarah Palin and not with Barack Obama?  The two candidates had a similar amount of time in politics, and Palin had more executive experience than Obama.  Obama ran for the top job, while Palin ran for VP.  And yet the national media parachuted dozens of reporters into Wasilla and Juneau looking for dirt and scandal, coming up with a tanning bed in the governor’s mansion (which Palin bought herself) and the Troopergate story that turned out to be a nothingburger and was already known prior to her nomination.

Where were the Post reporters doing the same thing in Chicago?  Why didn’t the Post want to look at the files of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, Barack Obama’s only executive experience prior to his run for the presidency? The media never bothered to make a hundredth of the effort on Obama that they did with Palin, and they had two years to do it.

That’s the issue Howell should have addressed in her column.  We already know that the Post gave imbalanced coverage of Obama and McCain, as did most of the rest of the media.  And now Howell gives the mea culpa in her first column after Election Day, when it’s far too late to do anything about it.  Where was Howell during the last three months?  Why wait until the election is over to speak up?  That’s an answer in itself.

Ed's upset, and I don't blame him one bit.

McCain Warned Congress About Fannie and Freddie

It turns out that one presidential candidate predicted the fallout from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and actually tried to do something to prevent it.  That candidate is John McCain.

Back in 2005, Senator McCain co-sponsored legislation know as the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005.  Senator McCain's statement at the time indicated his concern with "illusions," "scandal," and "manipulation" on the part of management.  He also expressed concerns with an insufficient regulatory structure.  Senator McCain stated the following back in 2005:

If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole.

Despite his urgings, the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act didn't garner enough support to pass out of committee.

Senator McCain also spoke on the harmful and destructive role of lobbyists in corrupting Fannie and Freddie:

The OFHEO report also states that Fannie Mae used its political power to lobby Congress in an effort to interfere with the regulator’s examination of the company’s accounting problems.

Ahh, those pernicious Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lobbyists.  Could they be the same lobbyists who gave Senator Obama $126,349, making him the second largest congressional recipient of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac money between the years 1989-2008?  That's a pretty hefty amount of money considering Obama has only been in the Senate for four years!

Accepting huge amounts of money from entities regulated and bailed out by the Federal government sure doesn't sound like the kind of change for which we've been waiting.

Obama Campaign Confirms Account of Iraqi Foreign Minister

In a shocking development, the Obama campaign has confirmed that Senator Obama tried to undermine negotiations between the Bush administration and the Iraqi government over military force levels. 

Obama Campaign Again Floods Chicago Radio Station With Protest Calls

Once again, the Obama campaign has sicked its minions on WGN radio to try and disrupt last night's interview with David Freddoso.  Freddoso is the author of "The Case Against Barack Obama."

Barack the Underminer?

The Obama campaign, caught up in a series of recent stumbles and gaffes, now has to answer the accusation made by the Iraqi Foreign Minister that Senator Obama unsuccessfully tried to undermine troop withdrawals negotiated between President Bush and the Iraqi government.  There's a hole in the Obama campaign's boat, and the vessel is rapidly taking on water.

If the account of Obama's meddling is true, the contrast is clear.  Senator McCain equals "Country First," while Senator Obama equals "Me First."

The following statement on the matter comes from the McCain campaign:

At this point, it is not yet clear what official American negotiations Senator Obama tried to undermine with Iraqi leaders, but the possibility of such actions is unprecedented.  It should be concerning to all that he reportedly urged that the democratically-elected Iraqi government listen to him rather than the US administration in power.  If news reports are accurate, this is an egregious act of political interference by a presidential candidate seeking political advantage overseas.  Senator Obama needs to reveal what he said to Iraq's Foreign Minister during their closed door meeting.    The charge that he sought to delay the withdrawal of Americans from Iraq raises serious questions about Senator Obama's judgment and it demands an explanation.

Obama Called Upon To Make Statement On Illinois Ethics Reform

Both the Chicago Sun-Times and the head of an organization supportive of political reform have called on Senator Obama to intervene in a battle between the Illinois General Assembly and the Governor over an ethics reform bill. 

In summary, the issue is over whose version of ethics reform is better.  The Illinois General Assembly sent an ethics reform bill to Governor Blagojevich that would prohibit certain political donations to constitutional officers (read: Governor) that are made by entities regulated by the State.  The Governor used his amendatory veto power to broaden the bill to apply the same contribution prohibitions to legislators and political committees. 

He went a few steps further by including language to prohibit non-elected government employees from membership in the Illinois General Assembly.  In particular, the Governor has been very critical of legislators who work for the City of Chicago or Cook County while holding seats in the General Assembly.  The Governor believes that these legislators amount to nothing more than toadies for Mayor Daley and Cook County Board President Todd Stroger. 

The Governor's amendatory veto also requires disclosure of any lobbying activities conducted by state legislators and candidates for the General Assembly.  Finally, the re-write also changes the way salaries are determined for public officials. 

Some believe that the Governor's changes are nothing more than a tactic to make the bill so unpopular among members of the Illinois political class that the entire bill ends up going down in flames.  That could very well happen.

The House has already overridden the Governor's amendatory veto of HB 824. 

The argument made by the Sun-Times for an Obama intervention is as follows:

While Barack Obama left an imprint on two major ethics packages as a state senator, he ducked a plea Thursday to use his influence to safeguard landmark state legislation barring big government contractors from making campaign contributions.

And why should Senator Obama have a horse in this race?

A top government watchdog group that worked closely with Obama during his Springfield years urged the Illinois senator to intervene at a time he is trying to make his reform credentials a cornerstone of his presidential campaign.

"As a presidential candidate, this is small potatoes. But as Illinois' U.S. senator, this is a place he could come in and quickly clean up some of the damage and serve his state," said Cindi Canary, director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, which has pushed for the donation restrictions for three years.

Canary said the senator has an obligation to weigh in against the governor's changes in order to ensure the original "pay-to-play" measure survives and to prod Jones into allowing a vote before the election.

"A 30-second phone call to the Illinois Senate president could yield huge dividends to this state," she said.

And what has the response been from the Obama campaign?

Obama's campaign refused to tell the Sun-Times whether the senator supports either version. And a spokesman ducked questions on whether Obama would speak with Jones, as Canary suggested.

Why is the self-proclaimed candidate of hope and change sitting on the sidelines when he has a chance to shape the outcome of major ethics reform in his home state?

In the middle of a simmering Statehouse ethics battle is Obama's "political godfather," Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago), who triggered questions Thursday about whether he may allow the legislation to die after the Nov. 4 election.

If Senator Jones does nothing, the entire ethics reform package dies.  I guess it's more important to Senator Obama that he not prematurely take a position that might box in or offend his "political godfather," even if staying quiet undermines ethics reform in Illinois.

H/T:  Capitol Fax Blog

Joe Klein On American Myth

Joe Klein has articulated exactly why the Democrats don't consistently connect with American voters, but its not for the reason he believes.

The left has a difficult time winning elections because they continually assess their election defeats as more fluky than legitimate.  In 2000, they argued that Bush stole the election.  In 2004, John Kerry was "swift boated."  The latest example of this kind of analysis is Joe Klein.   This time, it's going to be that the GOP pulled the wool over the eyes of the electorate by turning the election into a "nostalgia referendum."

Klein published a piece in Time Magazine on the appeal that Governor Palin has on American voters.   In keeping with his worldview as a man of the left, Klein concludes that, by nominating Governor Palin, the Republicans might have put themselves in a position to fool American voters once again.  His basic premise is that, since Reagan, the GOP has been successful with the electorate because it has aggressively tapped into the power of myth and nostalgia about an America that never really existed.  Here is the myth as defined by Klein:

She embodies the most basic American myth — Jefferson's yeoman farmer, the fantasia of rural righteousness — updated in a crucial way: now Mom works too. Palin's story stands with one foot squarely in the nostalgia for small-town America and the other in the new middle-class reality. She brings home the bacon, raises the kids — with a significant assist from Mr. Mom — hunts moose and looks great in the process. I can't imagine a more powerful, or current, American Dream.

This is the typical kind of worldview we get from the left.  Those of us who live in rural, or even suburban settings are a bunch of unsophisticated rubes who are easily duped by the craven Republican spin machine.  Egads -- now we're falling for it again!

What about poor Barack Obama?  According to Klein, Senator Obama is himself a victim of the "America that was" myth that is exploited so well by the GOP:

The Republican Party's subliminal message seems stronger than ever this year because of the nature of the Democratic nominee for President. Barack Obama could not exist in the small-town America that Reagan fantasized. He's the product of what used to be called miscegenation, a scenario that may still be more terrifying than a teen daughter's pregnancy in many American households. Furthermore, he has thrived in the culture and economy that displaced Main Street America — an economy where people no longer work in factories or make things with their hands, but where lawyers and traders prosper unduly. (Of course, this is the economy the Republican Party has promoted — but facts are powerless in the face of a potent mythology.) Obama is the precise opposite of Mountain Man Todd Palin: an entirely urban creature. He lives within the hilarious conundrum of being both too "cosmopolitan" and intellectual for Republican tastes — at least as Rudy Giuliani described it — while also being the sort of fellow suspected of getting ahead by affirmative action.

Conservative voters can only hope that the Democratic establishment continues to view their defeats as resulting from nothing more than opportunistic and shallow manipulations of "average" Americans with traditionalist worldviews.  As long as the Democrats continue to believe their own myths, they won't understand that its their own policies and arrogance that keep the voters from embracing them.

The Obama Campaign's E-Mail Gaffe

The Obama campaign has committed yet another gaffe.  Their latest misstep is particularly insensitive.  To set it up, here's a quote from campaign manager David Plouffe:

"Today is the first day of the rest of the campaign," Obama campaign manager David Plouffe says in a campaign strategy memo. "We will respond with speed and ferocity to John McCain's attacks and we will take the fight to him, but we will do it on the big issues that matter to the American people."

The big issues, huh?  So what did the Obama campaign do right out of the box?  In a childish effort to argue that he is out of touch, they ran an ad slamming Senator McCain for his inability to use a computer and send e-mail.

There's only one problem.  Senator McCain can't type on a keyboard because of his war injuries:

McCain gets emotional at the mention of military families needing food stamps or veterans lacking health care. The outrage comes from inside: McCain's severe war injuries prevent him from combing his hair, typing on a keyboard, or tying his shoes. Friends marvel at McCain's encyclopedic knowledge of sports. He's an avid fan - Ted Williams is his hero - but he can't raise his arm above his shoulder to throw a baseball.

Kind of makes it hard to send an e-mail, doesn't it David.

"And in the Celebrity Game, Novelty is Trump"

This column by Charles Kruathammer sums up why Senator Obama's campaign is imploding as well as anything I've read.

Cartoonish Behavior

It's well known that Joe Biden once plagiarized a speech from former British Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock.  Now we learn that Barack Obama plagiarizes from a cartoonist.

Barack Obama: Gaffe Machine

It was probably just an extremely poor choice of words, but there's no doubt that Barack Obama's "lipstick on a pig" statement is going to leave a mark...and a big one at that.  Very, very stupid utterance by the Senator from Illinois.

On the one hand, Senator Obama's carelessness will alienate scores of female voters who will interpret his statement as a cheap smear of Senator Palin.  On the other hand, Senator Obama will need to spend time defending himself, something a candidate running for the presidency doesn't want to do.  Especially when he defends himself by saying the following in reference to Governor Palin:

"Look, she's new, she hasn't been on the scene, she's got five kids. And my hat goes off to anybody whose looking after five. I've got two and they tire Michelle and me out," he said.

So now, by inference, he's joining in with those suggesting that her family obligations are too taxing for the vice presidency? Doh!

These are just the latest faux pas in a campaign that appears to be melting down right before our eyes.

The train wreck continues as the Obama campaign is now questioning Senator McCain's honor.  Wow!

Update on Tuesday, September 9, 2008 at 08:08PM by Joe

Joe Biden didn't have a very good day either with his suggestion that the McCain-Palin ticket doesn't really care about developmentally disabled children even though Governor Palin's son has Down's Syndrome:

Speaking to voters in Columbia, Mo., Biden said: “I hear all this talk about how the Republicans are going to work in dealing with parents who have both the joy, because there’s joy to it as well, the joy and the difficulty of raising a child who has a developmental disability, who were born with a birth defect. Well guess what folks? If you care about it, why don’t you support stem cell research?”

Biden aides deny that the Delaware senator was talking about Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, who has an infant son with Down syndrome, but McCain aides say Biden’s latest remark scrapes bottom.

Ooofff.

Want Some Cheese With That Whine?

The Obama campaign is really on the defensive these days.  In response to huge polling shifts, particularly a Washington Post poll showing a 20-point swing toward McCain among white women, the Obama campaign has started to whine:

Asked about the findings during a briefing on Monday before the poll was published, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe told a Washington Post reporter, "Well, your poll is wrong."

The polls are wrong, McCain is lying, Republicans are going to try and tell you that I'm a Muslim, Governor Palin would be a backward step for women if elected vice president, lawyer deployments, etc. etc. etc.

I do believe panic is setting in.