Free Republic

I dedicate the lead of this column to thanking CNBC for displaying its rank liberal bias in last night's GOP presidential debate for all the world to see. In relative terms, "all the world" is not that far off if you consider last night's audience size compared with the network's usually paltry ratings. The more people who saw this charade from the network's alleged moderators the better for America. My first reaction as this spectacle unfolded was muted outrage, shaking my head that this atrophied arm of the mainstream liberal media would show its colors so overtly, without any pretense...

At the Maldives' National Museum, smashed Buddhist statues are testament to the rise of Islamic extremism and Taliban-style intolerance in a country famous as a laid-back holiday destination. On Tuesday, as protesters backed by mutinous police toppled president Mohamed Nasheed, a handful of men stormed the Chinese-built museum and destroyed its display of priceless artefacts from the nation's pre-Islamic era. "They have effectively erased all evidence of our Buddhist past," a senior museum official told AFP at the now shuttered building in the capital Male, asking not to be named out of fear for his own safety. "We lost all...

Newt Gingrich instantly brought the crowd to its feet last night at the last debate before Saturday's all important primary in South Carolina. What was the multitude cheering? Not his stance on tax policy, or on abortion, but rather his acid assault on the “elite media.” Gingrich expressed outrage that moderator John King of CNN would lead off the evening by asking about potentially damaging charges made by the Speaker’s second wife in an interview with ABC News's "Nightline." The audience howled its approval as Gingrich tore into the “destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media…” As...

RUSH: I am starting to sense it. I am starting to see it. When I sense it, when I see it, it probably is true. That's been my track record. I think I detect the media heading into damage control on the Herman Cain story. A lot of media are. This day five now, and still nobody knows what he did. Not a single media outlet can report what he did! Some are even suggesting that The Politico had no business running this story. These are other journalists who are beginning to say this. ... The media is also in...

Internet web sites, pundits, bloggers, commentators and denizens of the “alternative media” who are critical of Barack Hussein Obama beware, as you will now be “officially” in the crosshairs of the Obama White House. As part of his 2012 re-election campaign, the Obama administration this week created an “online rapid response team” tasked specifically with quashing any Internet articles and news critical of Obama. This team is headed by Internet guru Jesse C. LEE, 31 of Tacoma Park, Maryland, who was named the “Director of Progressive Media & Online Response.” Unsurprisingly, this is the first administration in history to ever...

Welcome to the latest use of taxpayer dollars to shove Obama propaganda down your throat, on your dime. The White House has moved a staffer from the White House New Media Department into a position of "rapid media response," with a goal of squashing, or cleaning up negative stories about President Obama on the internet. The Obama administration has created and staffed a new position tucked inside their communications shop for helping coordinate rapid response to unfavorable stories and fostering and improving relations with the progressive online community. "This week, Jesse Lee will move from the new media department into...

The White House has named Jesse Lee to a new position within its communications department titled Director of Progressive Media & Online Response. According to The Huffington Post, Lee will essentially be responsible for building up Obama’s online presence as he prepares for his reelection bid, and squashing any negative stories: The post is a new one for this White House. Rapid response has usually been outsourced to the Democratic National Committee (DNC), if not done on an ad-hoc basis by administration officials. And it signals that the White House will be adopting a more aggressive defense of the president and...

The White House is stepping up its rapid response media operation, creating a communications position to respond to unfavorable stories on the Web, the Huffington Post reports. HuffPo’s Sam Stein writes that Jesse Lee, a member of the Obama administration’s new media department, will take on a new role in replying — at times aggressively — to stories that paint the administration in a bad light. In a preview of what his duties may be, Lee blasted Fox News commentator Glenn Beck in a White House blog post, accusing Beck of lying and engaging in a “partisan attack to boost...

If you want to understand the way prescription drugs are marketed today, have a look at the 1928 book, "Propaganda," by Edward Bernays, the father of public relations in America. (See my breakdown, below)

NEW YORK – The New York Times is looking into the work of one its reporters following accusations that he plagiarized from The Wall Street Journal and other sources. The paper published an editor's note online Sunday and in papers Monday that said reporter Zachery Kouwe "appears to have improperly appropriated wording and passages published by other news organizations." The Times said Journal editors pointed out similarities between a Journal story from Feb. 5 and Times pieces later that day and on Feb. 6. The Times said a search found other similar examples taken from media outlets like Reuters and...

Obama's Test: Win Back A Nation's Confidence Missteps and Poor Timing Have Cast Doubt On America's 'Hologram of Hope' ANALYSIS By Howard Fineman WASHINGTON - One year and one week ago, Barack Obama stood on the steps of the Capitol to give his inaugural address. His challenge then was to re-inspire Americans’ confidence in themselves. Tonight, inside that building, his challenge is to re-inspire their confidence in him. A year into his presidency, we are less sure than ever who he really is — what he believes, what’s in his heart and gut — and whether he has what it...

From the commentary in the mainstream media, I thought there had been a coup d'etat in Washington. The New York Times said what happened "strikes at the heart of democracy." The Washington Post quoted an authority who warned it "threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions across the nation." No, not the Scott Brown victory. The media were upset because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that forbidding corporations and labor unions to spend money on political speech before elections is unconstitutional. A horrendous section of the abomination known as McCain-Feingold campaign-finance "reform" had bitten the dust. It was long...

It’s apparent the George Soros steno pool known as Media Matters for America really didn’t like Glenn Beck’s TV documentary, “The Revolutionary Holocaust.” (full documentary video, transcript) Simon Maloy, who wrote the Media Matters rebuttal to the film, said it’s “insidious in its nature and vile in its character.” He continued The purpose of Beck’s documentary was to link modern progressivism to the abhorrent violence the world saw under communism in the 20th century. Beck’s intention is to undercut the current administration and very idea of progressivism — or at least what he claims is progressivism — by associating them...

Of all the falsehoods and distortions in the political discourse this year, one stood out from the rest. "Death panels." The claim set political debate afire when it was made in August, raising issues from the role of government in health care to the bounds of acceptable political discussion. In a nod to the way technology has transformed politics, the statement wasn't made in an interview or a television ad. Sarah Palin posted it on her Facebook page. Her assertion — that the government would set up boards to determine whether seniors and the disabled were worthy of care —...

Something struck me yesterday when I ran into some leftists I know and they're all in denial about what these hacked emails contain: These emails are everything that the left tried to say that the DSM was. There's a "there" here. But being as their media won't accept reality, most leftists won't accept it either. In the minds of the progressive media and the left, the science is still settled. It's the new dan rather. So it's all fake, so what? It's still accurate!

Random DU comment from 5 years ago: “This may be Bush’s Waterloo!” Kerry points to Bush on vaccine shortage What a difference five years makes on flu vaccine shortage And a letter to the editor of the Kansas City Star [1], Inequity in politics of flu vaccine shortages During the Bush administration, the Democrats seized on the shortage of the flu vaccine to accuse the administration of being unable to protect Americans — from either illness or terrorism. “If you can’t get flu vaccines to Americans, how are you going to protect them against bioterrorism?” Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic...

The headline on this Guardian article is pretty sanitized: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/23/climate-change-emails-uea "Climate change email hacking to be looked into by University of East Anglia" But you don't have to read very far to see that the media has zero interest in investigating the content of the emails. They want the leakers destroyed; as do the scientists.

<p>SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Chronicle says it will become the first newspaper in the nation to print on high-quality glossy paper.</p>

The Nothing-to-see-here media continue to do a grand job. Chris Matthews: We may never know if religion was a factor at Fort Hood. That's almost certainly true in your case, Chris. As for yelling "Allahu akbar" as you open fire, Michael Tomasky, one of the American lefties on the Guardian's payroll, explains it for us know-nothings: The fact that Hassan reportedly shouted the above is meant, I suppose, to imply that he was an extremist fanatic. I'm not sure that it does. My understanding is that it's something Arab people often shout before doing something or other. It's used in...

Here's a transcript of what's said: Unknown voice: "We need to change congress" Friedman: No, we don't need to change congress, excuse me. You know, people have a great misunderstanding about this. People in congress are in the business, they're trying to buy votes. They're in the business of competing with one another to get elected. The same congressman will vote for a different thing if he thinks that's politically profitable. You don't have to change congress. People have a great misconception in this way they think the way you solve things is by electing the right people. It's nice...