Free Republic

Howard Schultz, the former Starbucks CEO, has hired three ex-journalists as he prepares for a third-party presidential campaign. The shadow campaign includes former senior Washington Post editor Rajiv Chandrasekaran, who joined forces with Schultz, 65, four years ago; Erin McPike, a consultant and former reporter at CNN, RealClearPolitics, and National Journal; and Joanne Gordon, a former Forbes journalist. Chandrasekaran and Gordon have co-authored books with Schultz, a billionaire openly weighing a centrist third-party bid, rejecting both President Trump's agenda and ascendant Democratic policies, such as ending private health insurance in favor of a government system.

July 2, 2004 -- IRAQ veterans often say they're confused by U.S. news cover age, because their experience differs so greatly from what journalists report. Soldiers and Marines point to the slow, steady progress in almost all areas of Iraqi life and wonder why they don't get much notice — or in many cases, any notice at all. Part of the explanation is Rajiv Chandrasekaran, the Baghdad bureau chief for the Washington Post. Chandrasekaran's crew generates a relentlessly negative stream of articles from Iraq. Last week, he had a Pulitzer-bait series called "Promises Unkept: The U.S. Occupation of Iraq." The...