Reporting or Distorting?

Some left leaning, liberal journalists are in dire need of a reality check. They brazenly and shamelessly spin the news to serve their liberal agenda.  Once upon a time journalists and authors were respected for their ability to objectively report the news.  Today they are better known for their ability to distort them.  We suppose that is what annoys us most about today's journalists;  their conceit to believe that they are more intelligent than the public they serve, and that they have the ability to persuade readers and listeners to change their mind.  One prime example of that destructive metamorphosis is the New York Times newspaper.  For reference on the fall of the NYT read Steve Bussey's account  at SteveBussey.com .

Whether journalists, reporters, pundits, etc. can actually influence decisions people make, is really a matter of opinion.  It depends on the mindset of those who receive the information. Comedian Jon Stewart has been elevated to the status of journalist, even though he has had no formal training.  Fox News' logo, "We report, you decide" is appealing and for the most part, their programs do just that.  With a few exceptions, they respect the intelligence of the viewer, and they are notorious for presenting both sides of an issue by having guests representing both sides of an issue, who openly debate, sometimes heatedly, but both points get across.

Then there are the Olbermans, the leg tinglers, the Courics, the Ed Schultz types, who wouldn't know objectivity if it bit them on the right cheek!  They are the ones who give journalism a bad name.

If readers are not familiar with www.newsbusters.org we highly recommend it.  NewsBusters mission is to correct the untruths that are told in the media in the name of reporting.  In all the years we've  been reading them, we have never known them not to report accurately.  They generally back up their stories with videos and facts.  NewsBusters is a project of the Media Research Center (MRC), the leader in documenting, exposing and neutralizing liberal media bias.  Today our focus will be on reports appearing on the NewsBusters website, and  samples of the stories they print to set the record straight.

Newsweek's Eleanor Clift Finds 'Worst Lie' of 2010 Is 'Obama's Policies Didn't Work'

By Tim Graham

December 27, 2010

The McLaughlin Group is still an easy place to identify Newsweek as a liberal rag. Over the weekend, Newsweek's Eleanor Clift offered several liberal howlers as the Group handed out year-end honors and dishonors. On "Worst Lie," Clift insisted: "The worst lie, that Obama’s policies didn’t work -- the recovery plan, the car, the auto-car bailout, and TARP, which began under President Bush – all worked quite well."

Then, when the category was "Person of the Year," Clift unfurled a Worst Lie, that conservatives love Bill Clinton: "President Clinton. He’s the man of the moment, was most in demand on the campaign trail. He’s now strategizing with President Obama on how to move forward with the divided Congress. And he’s a philanthropist around the world. And Democrats love him, even the liberals who had their problems with him when he was in the White House. Everyone loves Bill Clinton. Even conservatives do."

Clift had strong opinions about the female candidates of 2010. For Worst Politician, she declared: "Worst Politician, I'm happy to say it’s one of yours, Martha Angle, who ran against Harry Reid.” Monica Crowley corrected her, and Clift replied: “Whatever, Sharron Angle, my bad. With two Rs. And ran against Harry Reid and Harry Reid was given up for dead and she made it possible for him to win his race. Thank you, Sharron!”

Under the tag Biggest Loser, Pat Buchanan said simply "liberalism" as a new era of austerity kicks in. Clift replied: "Once they start downsizing, watch liberalism come back. The Biggest Losers I have are on the capitalism side and those are the three Republican CEO candidates – Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina, and Linda McMahon -- who spent upwards of $200 million, and lost each of their respective races."

For Turncoat of the Year, Clift raved: "I interpret Turncoat as a positive thing and I give it to Lisa Murkowski, who left the Republican Party, ran as a write-in candidate. She stood up to the Tea Party, and lived to tell the tale."

Bummest rap? Clift said: "That the Islamic Cultural Center in New York is a terrorist threat. Bum rap." (Columnist Clarence Page agreed.)

Under Defining Moment of the Year, Pat Buchanan said the BP oil spill was "Obama's Katrina." Clift replied, "Oh, I don't think it was anywhere near the Katrina level of destruction. Defining moment. The passage of health care. This year, universal health care, it is the president's biggest accomplishment, and it is also put the biggest target on his back, but it will survive."


Under the category of Most Stagnant Thinker, Pat Buchanan said it was the Democrats whining about tax cuts for the rich. Clift shot back: "About 70 percent of the public is caterwauling right along with the Democrats. Stagnant thinker: Sen. John McCain and his opposition to repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell. Even his wife and his daughter have parted with him on that one."

Clift did cite Sen.-elect Marco Rubio as the Biggest Winner, and chose Sarah Palin as Most Charismatic -- but she also chose Palin in the Enough Already! category for the reality shows for both mother and daughter Bristol.

Clift is, in our humble opinion, delusional, but she's also, except in some liberal circles, inconsequential, even with her caustic tongue, and Newsweek credentials.  On the other hand Bob Schieffer is still on CBS in a prominent position.  He has turned out to be one of the biggest journalistic disappointments for those of us who once believed Journalism to be an honorable profession. 

In Show-Ending Poem, CBS's Schieffer Spins Christmas Classic Into Critique of Tea Party, AZ Immigration Law

By Matt Hadro

December 27, 2010

Ending Sunday's "Face the Nation" in poetic fashion, CBS's Bob Schieffer gave a year-end commentary where he portrayed John Boehner as the flustered "orange-faced" leader of a divided House GOP. Schieffer also snidely criticized the Arizona immigration law.

"His face was bright orange, a sun-tan hall-of-famer. / I knew in a flash – it must be John Boehner," spoke Schieffer, painting the soon-to-be Majority Leader as the head of a herd of reindeer, the House Republicans. "He hollered, cajoled, oh how he did plead, / But the deer wouldn't listen, each wanted to lead."

Composing his end-of-show commentary to verse, Schieffer summarized the 2010 political scene and provided some insight of his own as to how the next two years in Washington will unfold. Though Democrats met a bitter fate this November, Schieffer implied a possible downfall for the GOP with a split between Tea Partiers and incumbent Republicans.

He did not shy away from pigeonholing notable Republicans such as Sarah Palin and John Boehner. "The Left Wing cried foul, said she didn't know nothin'" he said of Sarah Palin's reality show. He called Boehner an "sun-tan hall-of-famer" with a smoking habit, having to control the rebellious Bachmann, Pence, and Cantor. "'Stop Cantor! Quiet Bachmann! Sit down, Mr. Pence! / Line up like a team, please don't jump the fence!'" the imaginary Boehner cried.

Schieffer briefly described the Democrats' downfall and was more-than-content with sending President Obama off to vacation in Hawaii. "To Hawaii they went, why not if they please?" he said of the Obamas.

However, even here Obama faced trouble with Arizona officials looking for his identity papers, Schieffer bizarrely narrated. He seemingly equated Arizona law enforcement with birthers.

"POTUS was out running hard in the tropical sand, / Birth certificate clutched wheel-tight in his hand," he said of Obama's ongoing vacation in Hawaii. "'Can't be too careful,' he told his wife's mother, 'Arizona police may be here undercover'."

A transcript of Schieffer's poem, a segment which aired on December 26 at 10:53 a.m. EDT, is as follows:

 Twas the day after Christmas, 'neath the Capitol dome

It was quiet for a change, Congress finally went home.

They stayed longer than usual, and actually found

Not a lot, to be sure, but some common ground.

The Tea Party hollered, Sarah Palin went huntin',

The Left Wing cried foul, said she didn't know nothin'.

POTUS and FLOTUS were gone with a breeze

To Hawaii they went, why not if they please?

With no stories, reporters have turned to the bars,

The newscasting subs sat in for the stars.

I was just sleepy, needed rest for my brain,

And what happened next I still can't explain.

In my dreaming I saw on the Capitol lawn

A man cracking a whip by first light of dawn.

He was trying to herd some wacky reindeer

Running every which way, first there and then here.

His face was bright orange, a sun-tan hall-of-famer.

I knew in a flash – it must be John Boehner.

He hollered, cajoled, oh how he did plead,

But the deer wouldn't listen, each wanted to lead.

"Stop Cantor! Quiet Bachmann! Sit down, Mr. Pence!

Line up like a team, please don't jump the fence!

You're feeling your oats, and already feel cozy,

But so did that lady named Nancy Pelosi.

"She reached for the sky and wound up in the soup,

So these days she's herding a much smaller group.

Her reindeer still snort that it wasn't their fault.

Whatever it was, they were brought to a halt."

As that scene faded out, Boehner lit up a smoke,

Then I could see Waikiki – and this is no joke –

POTUS was out running hard in the tropical sand,

Birth certificate clutched wheel-tight in his hand.

Can't be too careful, he told his wife's mother,

Arizona police may be here undercover.

It's been a tough year, a difficult trip,

And wouldn't you know, I busted my lip.

My own party against me – will that be my fate?

Or can old Clinton teach me to triangulate?

My dream got confusing, I really was torn

And the old bull still fought, locking horn against horn.

The way they were acting it was sure easy enough

To see no good thing coming from this kind of stuff.

Then I thought of this year and for all the bad talk

Now before it was over the lame duck did walk.

The START treaty was finally beginning to gel,

Taxes stayed even; we can ask, and yes, tell.

That's why I can close this holiday letter

With "Happy New Year to all, it's bound to get better."

Schieffer's poem at the end of the program was beyond biased.  It was purely partisan, offensive, and above all completely unprofessional.  We once respected this man, and we are shocked, and saddened that  he has descended to the depths of childish behavior at his advanced age.