Tim Burton - World-of-Newave.info http://answers.world-of-newave.info/tim-burton.htm Latest news and articles about Tim Burton en-us Copyright (c)2004-2008.§/Newave SARL. All rights reserved. webmaster@world-of-newave.com (Webmaster) Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:08:24 GMT Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:08:24 GMT Newave Lisa XML Engine v1.0 - http://www.world-of-newave.info/about.htm 60 http://www.world-of-newave.info/images/wi8831.gif World-of-Newave.info - Knowledge and Informational Database http://www.world-of-newave.info/ 88 31 {LITERATURE > RSS FEEDS} - Disney Unveils Ambitious Slate http://articles.world-of-newave.info/arts/literature/genres/science-fiction/rss-feeds/disney-unveils-ambitious-slate-20080973935.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/arts/literature/genres/science-fiction/rss-feeds/disney-unveils-ambitious-slate-20080973935.htm Thu, 25 Sep 2008 06:00:00 GMT Walt Disney Co. previewed a sequel to its 1982 SF movie Tron, a 3-D motion-capture remake of A Christmas Carol and a Tim Burton remake of Alice Wonderland, with Johhny Depp as the Mad Hatter, in a presentation in Hollywood on Sept. 24, the Associated Press reported. Scifi.Com Disney Unveils Ambitious Slate {new window}   Www.Scifi.Com - Walt Disney Co. previewed a sequel to its 1982 SF movie Tron, a 3-D motion-capture remake of A Christmas Carol and a Tim Burton remake of Alice Wonderland, with Johhny Depp as the Mad Hatter, in a presentation in Hollywood on Sept. 24, the Associated Press reported.
Published: September 25, 2008, 6:00 am - Indexed: September 27, 2008, 12:42 pm - Page Size: 41KB
Category: Arts > Literature > Genres > Science Fiction > RSS Feeds

]]> Arts > Literature > Genres > Science Fiction > RSS Feeds {NEWS > BREAKING NEWS} - Geek Ink: Comics Fans Show Off Tattoos http://articles.world-of-newave.info/news/breaking-news/geek-ink-comics-fans-show-off-tattoos-20080810624.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/news/breaking-news/geek-ink-comics-fans-show-off-tattoos-20080810624.htm Mon, 25 Aug 2008 05:00:00 GMT : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com All comic book fans dig ink. Some of them just take their superhero obsessions a little further than others. Michael Boyce (left) wears his love of comics on his sleeves. A thirtysomething artist who runs On Comic Ground, a comics shop in San Diego, his arms are covered with tattoos of all the superheroines he grew up with: fightin' females like Wonder Woman, Batgirl, Supergirl and Wonder Girl. "Once I started getting one girl, I had to get 'em all," Boyce said. With flesh forever marked with the comics and sci-fi characters they know and love, geeks like Boyce would give a pack of hard-core bikers a run for their money in the tattoo department. Show us your geek tattoos Are you sporting skin art inspired by comics, sci-fi, horror or even really freaky stuff like math and physics? Send us a photo. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com Wonder Woman struts her stuff on Boyce's right bicep, but his tattoos cover both of his arms. "I want to have arms that look like comic book pages with the girls bursting out," said Boyce, who got the work done over a three-year period by Willie King Clover in Lemon Grove, California. Boyce also wears a wicked Wonder Woman belt buckle. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com When getting Venom's spider logo added to his left calf, Aaron Hamilton went with stark black ink. "I wanted something big and bold that just said, 'This is who I am. This is what I like,'" said Hamilton, 30, of Birmingham, Alabama. He says he got the tattoo done 10 years ago by Justin Kontzen of Aerochild Tattoos in Birmingham. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com Tim Burton's animated movie The Nightmare Before Christmas got Coley Suicide into tattoos. Now it's Halloween every day of the year on her arm, where "Pumpkin King" Jack Skellington, his girlfriend Sally and ghost dog Zero have taken up permanent residence. "I've always kinda been obsessed with Tim Burton," said Suicide, 20, of Long Beach, California. "I figured I'd start out with my favorite." The tattoos took 28 hours, she said, and were done by Nathan Menske in Yakima, Washington. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com Chaos Comics characters Lady Death and Purgatori face-off eternally on the back of Chris "Cybian" Kneeland, 39, of San Diego. "Everything I have (tattoo-wise) is kind of like good and evil," said Kneeland, who works as a website coder and analyst. The back piece, which was done by Bob Vessells at Funny Farm Tattoos in Los Angeles, was started five years ago, with 20 to 25 hours of needling so far, said Kneeland. He's gained some weight in the interim, and swears he'll get the piece finished when he drops the pounds. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com Images of The Thing (pictured), Image Comics' Maxx and other superheroes decorate Sean Brunle's body. The 31-year-old bartender, who lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, says he chose those characters because he "was physically attracted to them." The tattoos, done by Rodney Raines at Ace Custom Tattoo in Charlotte, took 15 or 20 hours to finish, Brunle said. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com X-Men badass Wolverine is another of Brunle's favorites. "They're basically hard on the outside and soft on the inside," Brunle said of the characters indelibly inked on his arms. "Strong men with good hearts, I guess." : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com "Does it ever make sense to us?" asks Jeff Walker, 27, of San Diego. The custodian wears a stark image of a dead bird with a philosophical quote from Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes comic strip on his arm. "I've just always loved the artwork," Walker said by way of explanation. The tattoo was inked by Chris Walkin at Avalon Tattoo II in San Diego. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com Leona the lizard girl from Katherine Dunn's sideshow stunner Geek Love earned a permanent spot on one of Odette Suicide's legs, right next to a living shrine to the Virgin de Guacamole. Suicide, 27, lives in Ventura, California, and calls herself a "baker with brains." She has a bachelor's degree in psychology (and neurons tattooed on her right arm). Leona was inked in nine hours by Tim Kern at Tribulation Tattoo in New York City, she said. Nathan Kostechko did the avocado-faced Virgin. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com Steve Thompson works as a toy designer for Disney, but Sci Fi Channel's rebooted space opera Battlestar Galactica motivated him to get this skin art. He has Starbuck's tattoo on his arm, courtesy of two hours under the needle at Body Electric Tattoo in Hollywood. "I'm just a huge fan of the show," said Thompson, 34, of Los Angeles. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com Shaz Nolan wears the Dark Mark of the Death Eaters from the Harry Potter books on her left forearm. That fits nicely with the 32-year-old seamstress' cosplay role -- she dresses as Bellatrix Lestrange. When she saw the image, she couldn't live without it. "And it's fun," said Nolan, who lives in Fullerton, California. She says the tattoo took one hour at Deep Blue Tattoo in Grover Beach, California. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com "I've been a comic book fan my entire life," said Chad Bacon, 34, of Huntington Beach, California. It shows. On his right forearm, the strip-club manager sports Captain America, done by Vance O'Rourke of 723 Tattoo in Fullerton, California. Bacon's into the "whole patriotic thing," he said. Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Wasp, Spider-Man and Spawn cover other parts of his body, and for extra geek effect, he's got an image of Albert Einstein on his upper left arm. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com Steven Miller has a bold panel from a comic on his right forearm. "I just thought it was cool looking," said Miller, 27, of Los Angeles. The director of Automaton Transfusion said he is working on a movie called Ink about -- what else? -- tattoos. Wired.Com Geek Ink: Comics Fans Show Off Tattoos {new window}   Www.Wired.Com - : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com All comic book fans dig ink. Some of them just take their superhero obsessions a little further than others. Michael Boyce (left) wears his love of comics on his sleeves. A thirtysomething artist who runs On Comic Ground, a comics shop in San Diego, his arms are covered with tattoos of all the superheroines he grew up with: fightin' females like Wonder Woman, Batgirl, Supergirl and Wonder Girl. "Once I started getting one girl, I had to get 'em all," Boyce said. With flesh forever marked with the comics and sci-fi characters they know and love, geeks like Boyce would give a pack of hard-core bikers a run for their money in the tattoo department. Show us your geek tattoos Are you sporting skin art inspired by comics, sci-fi, horror or even really freaky stuff like math and physics? Send us a photo. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com Wonder Woman struts her stuff on Boyce's right bicep, but his tattoos cover both of his arms. "I want to have arms that look like comic book pages with the girls bursting out," said Boyce, who got the work done over a three-year period by Willie King Clover in Lemon Grove, California. Boyce also wears a wicked Wonder Woman belt buckle. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com When getting Venom's spider logo added to his left calf, Aaron Hamilton went with stark black ink. "I wanted something big and bold that just said, 'This is who I am. This is what I like,'" said Hamilton, 30, of Birmingham, Alabama. He says he got the tattoo done 10 years ago by Justin Kontzen of Aerochild Tattoos in Birmingham. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com Tim Burton's animated movie The Nightmare Before Christmas got Coley Suicide into tattoos. Now it's Halloween every day of the year on her arm, where "Pumpkin King" Jack Skellington, his girlfriend Sally and ghost dog Zero have taken up permanent residence. "I've always kinda been obsessed with Tim Burton," said Suicide, 20, of Long Beach, California. "I figured I'd start out with my favorite." The tattoos took 28 hours, she said, and were done by Nathan Menske in Yakima, Washington. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com Chaos Comics characters Lady Death and Purgatori face-off eternally on the back of Chris "Cybian" Kneeland, 39, of San Diego. "Everything I have (tattoo-wise) is kind of like good and evil," said Kneeland, who works as a website coder and analyst. The back piece, which was done by Bob Vessells at Funny Farm Tattoos in Los Angeles, was started five years ago, with 20 to 25 hours of needling so far, said Kneeland. He's gained some weight in the interim, and swears he'll get the piece finished when he drops the pounds. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com Images of The Thing (pictured), Image Comics' Maxx and other superheroes decorate Sean Brunle's body. The 31-year-old bartender, who lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, says he chose those characters because he "was physically attracted to them." The tattoos, done by Rodney Raines at Ace Custom Tattoo in Charlotte, took 15 or 20 hours to finish, Brunle said. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com X-Men badass Wolverine is another of Brunle's favorites. "They're basically hard on the outside and soft on the inside," Brunle said of the characters indelibly inked on his arms. "Strong men with good hearts, I guess." : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com "Does it ever make sense to us?" asks Jeff Walker, 27, of San Diego. The custodian wears a stark image of a dead bird with a philosophical quote from Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes comic strip on his arm. "I've just always loved the artwork," Walker said by way of explanation. The tattoo was inked by Chris Walkin at Avalon Tattoo II in San Diego. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com Leona the lizard girl from Katherine Dunn's sideshow stunner Geek Love earned a permanent spot on one of Odette Suicide's legs, right next to a living shrine to the Virgin de Guacamole. Suicide, 27, lives in Ventura, California, and calls herself a "baker with brains." She has a bachelor's degree in psychology (and neurons tattooed on her right arm). Leona was inked in nine hours by Tim Kern at Tribulation Tattoo in New York City, she said. Nathan Kostechko did the avocado-faced Virgin. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com Steve Thompson works as a toy designer for Disney, but Sci Fi Channel's rebooted space opera Battlestar Galactica motivated him to get this skin art. He has Starbuck's tattoo on his arm, courtesy of two hours under the needle at Body Electric Tattoo in Hollywood. "I'm just a huge fan of the show," said Thompson, 34, of Los Angeles. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com Shaz Nolan wears the Dark Mark of the Death Eaters from the Harry Potter books on her left forearm. That fits nicely with the 32-year-old seamstress' cosplay role -- she dresses as Bellatrix Lestrange. When she saw the image, she couldn't live without it. "And it's fun," said Nolan, who lives in Fullerton, California. She says the tattoo took one hour at Deep Blue Tattoo in Grover Beach, California. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com "I've been a comic book fan my entire life," said Chad Bacon, 34, of Huntington Beach, California. It shows. On his right forearm, the strip-club manager sports Captain America, done by Vance O'Rourke of 723 Tattoo in Fullerton, California. Bacon's into the "whole patriotic thing," he said. Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Wasp, Spider-Man and Spawn cover other parts of his body, and for extra geek effect, he's got an image of Albert Einstein on his upper left arm. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com Steven Miller has a bold panel from a comic on his right forearm. "I just thought it was cool looking," said Miller, 27, of Los Angeles. The director of Automaton Transfusion said he is working on a movie called Ink about -- what else? -- tattoos.
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Published: August 25, 2008, 5:00 am - Indexed: August 26, 2008, 8:57 pm - Page Size: 34KB
Category: News > Breaking News

]]> News > Breaking News {ISSUES > BIAS AND BALANCE} - Citations in Freddoso's anti-Obama book rife with misinformation http://articles.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/citations-in-freddoso-s-anti-obama-book-rife-with-2008083202.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/citations-in-freddoso-s-anti-obama-book-rife-with-2008083202.htm Wed, 06 Aug 2008 02:54:07 GMT The jacket cover for conservative author David Freddoso's The Case Against Barack Obama (Regnery) describes the book as "[s]ober, fair, and thoroughly researched -- and all the more powerful and provocative because of it." As Media Matters for America documented, however, just the first few pages of Freddoso's book are marked by false and misleading assertions about Sen. Barack Obama, accompanied by dubious citations. A review of the endnotes in The Case Against Barack Obama reveals that the rest of the book is little different from these first few pages, as throughout the book, Freddoso misrepresents or distorts his sources and even makes assertions that are actually refuted by sources he cites. 1. On pages 30-31 of his book, Freddoso cites page 124 of Chicago journalist David Mendell's book Obama: From Promise to Power (Amistad, August 2007) in characterizing a piece of ethics legislation Obama passed in 1998 as "relatively harmless," and claiming that the bill merely made Obama "look like a reformer." In fact, Mendell wrote something very different from what Freddoso claims. He did not in any way characterize the bill as "harmless," but instead noted that pushing the bill through the state Senate "was a tough assignment for a new lawmaker, since he was essentially sponsoring legislation that would strip away long-held privileges and perks from his colleagues," and that Obama received opposition from his colleagues regarding the ethics legislation. Mendell further wrote that Obama "worked the issue deliberately and delicately," and that upon its passage, the bill "essentially lifted Illinois, a state with a deep history of illicit, pay-to-play politics, into the modern world when it came to ethics restrictions." Freddoso writes: As [Illinois state Sen. Emil] Jones's political godson, and even long before the conversation about the United States Senate, Obama had the privilege of stealing important bills. Other senators had a name for this practice: "bill-jacking." 17 Mendell records that as early as 1998, Jones had already done such favors at the prompting of Obama's liberal friends. Abner Mikva, a former congressman and federal judge, had recommended to Jones that he give Obama a popular piece of legislation barring political fundraising on state property and barring lobbyists and contractors from giving gifts to legislators. The bill had enough loopholes to be relatively harmless, but it was a step in the direction of reform. Jones gave it to Obama. Obama proposed it. It passed, 52-4.18 The "Friends and Family" man, the old ward-heeler, was even capable of making Obama look like a reformer. From pages 123-124 of Obama: Legislatively, Obama managed to pass a decent number of laws for a first-term lawmaker in the minority party. His first major legislative accomplishment was shepherding a piece of campaign finance reform in May 1998. The measure prohibited lawmakers from soliciting campaign funds while on state property and from accepting gifts from state contractors, lobbyists or other interests. The senate's Democratic leader, Emil Jones Jr., a veteran African-American legislator from the South Side, offered Obama the opportunity to push through the bill because it seemed like a good fit for the do-good persona projected by Obama. Obama was also recommended to Jones by two esteemed Chicago liberals who had taken a liking to him: former U.S. senator Paul Simon and former congressman and federal judge Abner Mikva. Working on the bill was an eye-opening experience for the freshman senator. It was a tough assignment for a new lawmaker, since he was essentially sponsoring legislation that would strip away long-held privileges and perks from his colleagues. In one private session, a close colleague angrily denounced the bill, saying that it impinged on lawmakers' inherent rights. But Obama worked the issue deliberately and delicately, and the measure passed the senate by an overwhelming 52-4 vote. "This sets the standard for us, and communicates to a public that is increasingly cynical about Springfield and the General Assembly that we in fact are willing to do the right thing," Obama told reporters immediately after the bill's passage. The bill was not a watershed event anywhere but Illinois. It essentially lifted Illinois, a state with a deep history of illicit, pay-to-play politics, into the modern world when it came to ethics restrictions. The bill gave Obama a legislative success, but his public criticism of Springfield's old-school politics did not sit well with some of his colleagues, who already considered the Ivy League lawyer overly pious. Indeed, Freddoso goes on to undermine his dismissive treatment of the legislation, describing it as a "real accomplishment" later in the book. From pages 93-94 of The Case Against Barack Obama: Obama's reform record is not a complete wash. His most notable accomplishment in Washington was the bill he co-sponsored with Republican senator Tom Coburn, the conservative junior senator from Oklahoma. The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 -- also known as "Google for Government" -- helped expose to the sunlight the congressional practice of "earmarking," in which members of Congress direct federal spending to parochial projects -- swimming pools, bridges to nowhere -- that often have no national importance or congressional authorization.63 Coburn and Obama's bill, approved over the objection of some of Capitol Hill's worst porkers, really was a small victory for open government and bipartisanship. This was a real accomplishment for Obama in the name of reform -- the second such accomplishment of his career after the Illinois ethics law. 2. On page 61, Freddoso claims that "[o]nlookers faint at his [Obama's] speeches with alarming frequency compared to other campaigns," citing a February 18 item called "The Monday Morning Presidential Briefing," by Boston Herald police bureau chief Jessica Van Sack. But while Van Sack did address fainting at Obama rallies, she made no comparison to other campaigns, as Freddoso claims. Freddoso writes: There is undoubtedly a religious component to "Obamania." The Reverend Jesse Jackson, himself a former presidential candidate, commented that Obama is running a "theological campaign" -- that "[a]t some point, he took off his arms and grew wings." At the University of Texas, crowds sang "Obama-leluja" at his approach.4 Onlookers faint at his speeches with alarming frequency compared to other campaigns. From Van Sack's item, which included this graph under the subhead, "Hot Video of the Week": Attending a Barack Obama rally anytime soon? Don't forget the smelling salts. Obama's enthusiastic young followers are dropping like worshippers at a televangelist mega-sermon, as the video of a string of recent crowd-fainting incidents shows. 3. Freddoso writes on page 83 that Obama "takes all the teeth" out his idea of a "merit-pay program" for teachers by "promising" that "the measure of 'merit' " will be determined "by some yet undiscovered measure to be chosen by teachers' unions." Freddoso's source for this claim is a July 5, 2007, Philadelphia Inquirer article on Obama's speech that day to the National Education Association. The article, however, does not say that Obama's merit pay measure will be "chosen by teachers' unions." Rather, the article reported what Obama said in his speech -- that he will work with teachers unions to develop a system. From page 83 of The Case Against Barack Obama: Obama has acquired an undeserved reputation for reform in education because he offers mild rhetoric about a merit-pay program for teachers. But he takes all of the teeth out of the idea by promising his allies that the measure of "merit" will not be determined by student achievement -- "arbitrary tests" -- but by some yet undiscovered measure to be chosen by teachers' unions.15 Obama's merit pay also comes only in exchange for six-figure teacher salaries. From the July 5, 2007, Philadelphia Inquirer article: Illinois Sen. Barack Obama today endorsed the idea of merit pay for teachers before an audience hostile to the idea, the giant National Education Association, but he softened the blow by telling the union's national assembly that he would not use "arbitrary tests" to link pay to performance. "I think there should be ways for us to work with the NEA, with teachers' unions, to figure out a way to measure success," Obama told a crowd of about 9,000 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. "I want to work with teachers. I'm not going to do it too you, I'm going to do it with you." 4. On page 88, Freddoso writes that "Obama explained that if he took public financing, it might be hard to compete with the outside '527 groups' who will mercilessly smear him," and quotes a June 20 Washington Post article asserting: "No conservative 527 groups have materialized." As Media Matters noted at the time, the Post article ignored the actions of conservative groups, such as the Vets for Freedom political action committee, which had already launched two Internet ads attacking Obama over the Iraq war. Other outside groups such as Freedom's Watch and the National Campaign Fund PAC had also released ads attacking Obama. From page 88 of The Case Against Barack Obama: Obama explained that if he took public financing, it might be hard to compete with the outside "527 groups" who will mercilessly smear him. Of [Sen. John] McCain, he said: "[W]e've already seen that he's not going to stop the smears and attacks from his allies running so-called 527 groups, who will spend millions and millions of dollars in unlimited donations." "No conservative 527 groups have materialized," the Washington Post noted.35 But what if they do? And the groups more favorable to Obama -- MoveOn.org and the labor unions, for example -- might lack the resources to compete with those conservative groups, should they materialize. It should be noted that in 2004, the pro-Democrat 527s outspent the pro-Republican 527s $282 million to $111 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.36 As of mid-year 2008, the Democratic 527s had slightly outraised their GOP counterparts, but then when you throw in the labor unions and pro-choice groups, Obama's 527 army is already better funded than McCain's. 5. On page 116, Freddoso addresses Obama's "present" votes in the Illinois state Senate, citing a December 20, 2007, New York Times article in claiming that "other Illinois senators say" Obama's 130 "present" votes was an "unusually high" number. In fact, the Times article does not quote any Illinois state senators commenting on the frequency of Obama's "present" votes, nor does it report that other Illinois senators considered the frequency of Obama's "present" votes to be "unusually high." Indeed, while neither the Times nor Freddoso provided substantiation for his claim that Obama had an "unusually high" number of "present" votes, PolitiFact.com quoted Christopher Mooney, a political scientist at the University of Illinois-Springfield, saying of Obama's "present" votes: "Everyone I've spoken to who's familiar with this, including lobbyists and people who are engaged in opposition research, say the number of times he voted present on a proportional basis was probably a little less than average." Freddoso writes: If Obama cast many controversial votes in Springfield, he also avoided many controversial votes. An interesting aspect of his career in the state Senate was his habit of voting "present" on controversial legislation instead of voting "yea" or "nay." He did this about 130 times over his eight-year career there, which other Illinois senators say is unusually high.56 As Nathan Gonzales of the Rothenberg Political Report noted, "We aren't talking about a 'present' vote on whether to name a state office building after a deceased state official, but rather about votes that reflect an officeholder's core values." 6. On pages 174-175, Freddoso claims that Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) was one of the Democrats who was "against Obama on this point" -- a reference to the debate over whether a U.S. president should be willing to meet with leaders of North Korea, Iran, and other countries without preconditions. As evidence, Freddoso quotes from Biden's May 18, 2008, appearance on ABC's This Week: "This is a fellow who I think shorthanded an answer that in fact was the wrong answer." However, the full context of Biden's quote shows that he actually said that he and Obama agreed, saying that Obama's recent statements on the issue "mirrored the statements the rest of us have been talking about." Freddoso writes: For Clinton, there had to be some preconditions -- how else could such a meeting be in the interest of the United States? There had to [sic] an upside. You don't have to take as hard a line as President Bush, she was arguing, but you can't just have a beer with Kim Jong II after he launched seven missiles in provocation during the summer of 2006.12 He must first show some cooperation -- some substantial sign of good faith -- as a precondition. That is how diplomacy works in the real world. In the months that followed, Democrats ranging from moderate to liberal generally sided with Clinton and against Obama on this point. Former congressman Harold Ford of Tennessee, another young, black superstar in the Democratic Party and chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council, was one of the moderates. "I'll concede you cannot meet with foreign leaders -- with terrorists rather -- without some conditions. 13 "This is a fellow who I think shorthanded an answer that in fact was the wrong answer," said Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, the liberal chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. From the May 18 broadcast of ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos: GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (host): So, he's developed that -- BIDEN: I think he has. STEPHANOPOULOS: -- what he needs to know in the nine months on the campaign trail. BIDEN: I think he's focused on -- what we're talking about here is that he has repeatedly, since then, said he would not negotiate unconditionally -- meaning him sitting down alone, right off the bat, with these leaders. He's talked about his secretary of state, his secretary of defense. As a matter of fact, the statements he's using have mirrored the statements the rest of us have been talking about. This is a fellow who I think shorthanded an answer that, in fact, was the wrong answer, in my view, saying I would, within the first year. It implied he'd personally sit down with anybody who wanted to sit down with him. That's not what he meant. That's not what he has said since then for the last year, or thereabouts. And so, I think that he's fully capable of understanding what's going -- and put this in context, the policy that Bush has pursued and McCain will continue, has been an abject failure. We are weaker in the Middle East. We are weaker around the world. Terrorism is stronger than it ever was. Iran is closer to a bomb. Just by any measure -- any measure -- what has their policy wrought? A disaster. It's been an absolute disaster. 7. On page 215, Freddoso cites a June 13, 2007 (wrongly identified in the endnotes as a June 13, 2008, article), Chicago Sun-Times article in claiming that a spokesman for Obama and a lawyer for convicted Chicago businessman Antoin Rezko "say it is simply a coincidence" that Obama wrote letters in support of Cottage View Terrace, one of Rezko's housing projects. In fact, the Sun-Times quoted Obama spokesman Bill Burton stating that Obama supported Cottage View Terrace "because it was going to help people in his district," and Rezko's attorney saying simply that "Mr. Rezko never spoke with, nor sought a letter from, Senator Obama in connection with that project." Freddoso writes: In June, Chicago Sun-Times reporter Tim Novak reported that Obama "wrote letters to city and state officials supporting his political patron Tony Rezko's successful bid to get more than $14 million from taxpayers to build apartments for senior citizens."10 The project, Cottage View Terrace, includes ninety-seven apartments. It is a few blocks outside of Obama's state Senate district. The deal for which Obama helped Rezko get this money also included Obama's old law-firm boss, Allison Davis. He is also a major Obama fundraiser and a developer who has built or renovated 1,500 apartment units in Chicago.11 From the $14.6 million in state funds that Obama requested, the two men would already be expected to profit through their housing business. But Davis and Rezko were also to collect $855,000 of it in "development fees." Obama's spokesman and Rezko's lawyer say it is simply a coincidence that the senator wrote these letters to help two longtime friends, Davis and Rezko, get millions of dollars. From the June 13, 2007, Chicago Sun-Times article: On Tuesday, Bill Burton, press secretary for Obama's presidential campaign, said the letters Obama wrote in support of the development weren't intended as a favor to Rezko or Davis. "This wasn't done as a favor for anyone," Burton said in a written statement. "It was done in the interests of the people in the community who have benefited from the project. "I don't know that anyone specifically asked him to write this letter nine years ago," the statement said. "There was a consensus in the community about the positive impact the project would make and Obama supported it because it was going to help people in his district. ... They had a wellness clinic and adult day-care services, as well as a series of social services for residents. It's a successful project. It's meant a lot to the community, and he's proud to have supported it.'' The development, called the Cottage View Terrace apartments, opened five years ago at 4801 S. Cottage Grove, providing 97 apartments for low-income senior citizens. Asked about the Obama letters, Rezko's attorney, Joseph Duffy, said Tuesday, "Mr. Rezko never spoke with, nor sought a letter from, Senator Obama in connection with that project." 8. In addition, as Media Matters documented, in the introduction to The Case Against Barack Obama, Freddoso writes that, in challenging the eligibility of signatures his opponents collected to get their names on the ballot of the 1996 Illinois state Senate Democratic primary for the 13th district, Obama threw "all of his opponents off the ballot on a technicality." On page 2, however, Freddoso undermines his own claim by quoting a 1996 Chicago Weekend report that some of incumbent Sen. Alice Palmer's signatures were disqualified because the voters who signed lived outside the 13th district -- something more than a mere "technicality." On page 3, Freddoso reproduces a portion of an April 3, 2007, Chicago Tribune article in which one of Obama's opponents in 1996, Gha-Is Askia, referring to Obama's challenge of the signatures, is quoted as saying: "He talks about honor and democracy, but what honor is there in getting rid of every other candidate so you can run scot-free? Why not let the people decide?" That same article, however, also reported that Askia "now suspects" some of the signatures his campaign collected were forged -- a fact Freddoso did not mention, which undermines his "technicality" allegation. On page 5 of The Case Against Barack Obama, Freddoso cites page 109 of Mendell's Obama, in writing that Palmer "was considered the early favorite in this contest," and "collected nearly 1,600 petition signatures in just ten days and submitted them ahead of the December 18 deadline." However, Mendell also wrote on pages 109-110 that "Palmer realized that Obama had called her hand, and she acknowledged that she had not properly acquired the necessary number of signatures" -- another fact Freddoso omitted. From page 3 of The Case Against Barack Obama: One of them was Gha-is Askia. He never had much of a chance of winning anyway, but he had gathered 1,899 signatures, and Team Obama took the time to challenge them as well.6 Askia spoke to the Chicago Tribune in 2007 about it: "Why say you're for a new tomorrow, then do old-style Chicago politics to remove legitimate candidates?" Askia said. "He talks about honor and democracy, but what honor is there in getting rid of every other candidate so you can run scot-free? Why not let the people decide?" From the April 3 Tribune article: Leafing through scrapbooks in his South Shore apartment, Askia, a perennially unsuccessful candidate, acknowledges that he paid Democratic Party precinct workers $5 a sheet for some of the petitions, and now suspects they used a classic Chicago ruse of passing the papers among themselves to forge the signatures. "They round-tabled me," Askia said. From page 5 of The Case Against Barack Obama (Mendell citations in bold): As an incumbent with the backing of the new congressman, Jesse Jackson Jr., Palmer was considered the early favorite in this contest.14 She went out and collected nearly 1,600 petition signatures in just ten days and submitted them ahead of the December 18 deadline.15 She would still need to defeat Obama and two other Democratic challengers, but as an incumbent with the backing of the popular new congressman, Palmer was the early favorite. Until Obama kept her from running, that is. From page 109-110 of Mendell's Obama: So a volunteer for Obama challenged the legality of her petitions, as well as the legality of petitions from several other candidates in the race. As an elections board hearing on the petitions neared, Palmer realized that Obama had called her hand, and she acknowledged that she had not properly acquired the necessary number of signatures. Many of the voters had printed their names, rather than signing them as the law required. 9. On page xii of the introduction to The Case Against Barack Obama, Freddoso claims that Obama's "liberal supporters ... support military strikes within the territory of an American ally without that nation's permission" because "Obama apparently made a slip of the tongue in August of last year and advocated such incursions into Pakistan." Freddoso's source for this was an August 1, 2007, Reuters article on Obama's speech that day at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., in which Obama said: OBAMA: I understand that [Pakistani] President [Pervez] Musharraf has his own challenges. But let me make this clear. There are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3,000 Americans. They are plotting to strike again. It was a terrible mistake to fail to act when we had a chance to take out an al Qaeda leadership meeting in 2005. If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act, we will. As Media Matters noted, however, Obama's comments were not a "slip of the tongue"; they were included in his prepared remarks and were among excerpts the Obama campaign emailed to reporters prior to the actual speech. The Reuters article Freddoso cites does not characterize Obama's remarks as a "slip of the tongue," nor does it suggest that they were in any way inadvertent. Mediamatters.Org Citations in Freddoso's anti-Obama book rife with misinformation {new window}   Mediamatters.Org - The jacket cover for conservative author David Freddoso's The Case Against Barack Obama (Regnery) describes the book as "[s]ober, fair, and thoroughly researched -- and all the more powerful and provocative because of it." As Media Matters for America documented, however, just the first few pages of Freddoso's book are marked by false and misleading assertions about Sen. Barack Obama, accompanied by dubious citations. A review of the endnotes in The Case Against Barack Obama reveals that the rest of the book is little different from these first few pages, as throughout the book, Freddoso misrepresents or distorts his sources and even makes assertions that are actually refuted by sources he cites. 1. On pages 30-31 of his book, Freddoso cites page 124 of Chicago journalist David Mendell's book Obama: From Promise to Power (Amistad, August 2007) in characterizing a piece of ethics legislation Obama passed in 1998 as "relatively harmless," and claiming that the bill merely made Obama "look like a reformer." In fact, Mendell wrote something very different from what Freddoso claims. He did not in any way characterize the bill as "harmless," but instead noted that pushing the bill through the state Senate "was a tough assignment for a new lawmaker, since he was essentially sponsoring legislation that would strip away long-held privileges and perks from his colleagues," and that Obama received opposition from his colleagues regarding the ethics legislation. Mendell further wrote that Obama "worked the issue deliberately and delicately," and that upon its passage, the bill "essentially lifted Illinois, a state with a deep history of illicit, pay-to-play politics, into the modern world when it came to ethics restrictions." Freddoso writes: As [Illinois state Sen. Emil] Jones's political godson, and even long before the conversation about the United States Senate, Obama had the privilege of stealing important bills. Other senators had a name for this practice: "bill-jacking." 17 Mendell records that as early as 1998, Jones had already done such favors at the prompting of Obama's liberal friends. Abner Mikva, a former congressman and federal judge, had recommended to Jones that he give Obama a popular piece of legislation barring political fundraising on state property and barring lobbyists and contractors from giving gifts to legislators. The bill had enough loopholes to be relatively harmless, but it was a step in the direction of reform. Jones gave it to Obama. Obama proposed it. It passed, 52-4.18 The "Friends and Family" man, the old ward-heeler, was even capable of making Obama look like a reformer. From pages 123-124 of Obama: Legislatively, Obama managed to pass a decent number of laws for a first-term lawmaker in the minority party. His first major legislative accomplishment was shepherding a piece of campaign finance reform in May 1998. The measure prohibited lawmakers from soliciting campaign funds while on state property and from accepting gifts from state contractors, lobbyists or other interests. The senate's Democratic leader, Emil Jones Jr., a veteran African-American legislator from the South Side, offered Obama the opportunity to push through the bill because it seemed like a good fit for the do-good persona projected by Obama. Obama was also recommended to Jones by two esteemed Chicago liberals who had taken a liking to him: former U.S. senator Paul Simon and former congressman and federal judge Abner Mikva. Working on the bill was an eye-opening experience for the freshman senator. It was a tough assignment for a new lawmaker, since he was essentially sponsoring legislation that would strip away long-held privileges and perks from his colleagues. In one private session, a close colleague angrily denounced the bill, saying that it impinged on lawmakers' inherent rights. But Obama worked the issue deliberately and delicately, and the measure passed the senate by an overwhelming 52-4 vote. "This sets the standard for us, and communicates to a public that is increasingly cynical about Springfield and the General Assembly that we in fact are willing to do the right thing," Obama told reporters immediately after the bill's passage. The bill was not a watershed event anywhere but Illinois. It essentially lifted Illinois, a state with a deep history of illicit, pay-to-play politics, into the modern world when it came to ethics restrictions. The bill gave Obama a legislative success, but his public criticism of Springfield's old-school politics did not sit well with some of his colleagues, who already considered the Ivy League lawyer overly pious. Indeed, Freddoso goes on to undermine his dismissive treatment of the legislation, describing it as a "real accomplishment" later in the book. From pages 93-94 of The Case Against Barack Obama: Obama's reform record is not a complete wash. His most notable accomplishment in Washington was the bill he co-sponsored with Republican senator Tom Coburn, the conservative junior senator from Oklahoma. The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 -- also known as "Google for Government" -- helped expose to the sunlight the congressional practice of "earmarking," in which members of Congress direct federal spending to parochial projects -- swimming pools, bridges to nowhere -- that often have no national importance or congressional authorization.63 Coburn and Obama's bill, approved over the objection of some of Capitol Hill's worst porkers, really was a small victory for open government and bipartisanship. This was a real accomplishment for Obama in the name of reform -- the second such accomplishment of his career after the Illinois ethics law. 2. On page 61, Freddoso claims that "[o]nlookers faint at his [Obama's] speeches with alarming frequency compared to other campaigns," citing a February 18 item called "The Monday Morning Presidential Briefing," by Boston Herald police bureau chief Jessica Van Sack. But while Van Sack did address fainting at Obama rallies, she made no comparison to other campaigns, as Freddoso claims. Freddoso writes: There is undoubtedly a religious component to "Obamania." The Reverend Jesse Jackson, himself a former presidential candidate, commented that Obama is running a "theological campaign" -- that "[a]t some point, he took off his arms and grew wings." At the University of Texas, crowds sang "Obama-leluja" at his approach.4 Onlookers faint at his speeches with alarming frequency compared to other campaigns. From Van Sack's item, which included this graph under the subhead, "Hot Video of the Week": Attending a Barack Obama rally anytime soon? Don't forget the smelling salts. Obama's enthusiastic young followers are dropping like worshippers at a televangelist mega-sermon, as the video of a string of recent crowd-fainting incidents shows. 3. Freddoso writes on page 83 that Obama "takes all the teeth" out his idea of a "merit-pay program" for teachers by "promising" that "the measure of 'merit' " will be determined "by some yet undiscovered measure to be chosen by teachers' unions." Freddoso's source for this claim is a July 5, 2007, Philadelphia Inquirer article on Obama's speech that day to the National Education Association. The article, however, does not say that Obama's merit pay measure will be "chosen by teachers' unions." Rather, the article reported what Obama said in his speech -- that he will work with teachers unions to develop a system. From page 83 of The Case Against Barack Obama: Obama has acquired an undeserved reputation for reform in education because he offers mild rhetoric about a merit-pay program for teachers. But he takes all of the teeth out of the idea by promising his allies that the measure of "merit" will not be determined by student achievement -- "arbitrary tests" -- but by some yet undiscovered measure to be chosen by teachers' unions.15 Obama's merit pay also comes only in exchange for six-figure teacher salaries. From the July 5, 2007, Philadelphia Inquirer article: Illinois Sen. Barack Obama today endorsed the idea of merit pay for teachers before an audience hostile to the idea, the giant National Education Association, but he softened the blow by telling the union's national assembly that he would not use "arbitrary tests" to link pay to performance. "I think there should be ways for us to work with the NEA, with teachers' unions, to figure out a way to measure success," Obama told a crowd of about 9,000 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. "I want to work with teachers. I'm not going to do it too you, I'm going to do it with you." 4. On page 88, Freddoso writes that "Obama explained that if he took public financing, it might be hard to compete with the outside '527 groups' who will mercilessly smear him," and quotes a June 20 Washington Post article asserting: "No conservative 527 groups have materialized." As Media Matters noted at the time, the Post article ignored the actions of conservative groups, such as the Vets for Freedom political action committee, which had already launched two Internet ads attacking Obama over the Iraq war. Other outside groups such as Freedom's Watch and the National Campaign Fund PAC had also released ads attacking Obama. From page 88 of The Case Against Barack Obama: Obama explained that if he took public financing, it might be hard to compete with the outside "527 groups" who will mercilessly smear him. Of [Sen. John] McCain, he said: "[W]e've already seen that he's not going to stop the smears and attacks from his allies running so-called 527 groups, who will spend millions and millions of dollars in unlimited donations." "No conservative 527 groups have materialized," the Washington Post noted.35 But what if they do? And the groups more favorable to Obama -- MoveOn.org and the labor unions, for example -- might lack the resources to compete with those conservative groups, should they materialize. It should be noted that in 2004, the pro-Democrat 527s outspent the pro-Republican 527s $282 million to $111 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.36 As of mid-year 2008, the Democratic 527s had slightly outraised their GOP counterparts, but then when you throw in the labor unions and pro-choice groups, Obama's 527 army is already better funded than McCain's. 5. On page 116, Freddoso addresses Obama's "present" votes in the Illinois state Senate, citing a December 20, 2007, New York Times article in claiming that "other Illinois senators say" Obama's 130 "present" votes was an "unusually high" number. In fact, the Times article does not quote any Illinois state senators commenting on the frequency of Obama's "present" votes, nor does it report that other Illinois senators considered the frequency of Obama's "present" votes to be "unusually high." Indeed, while neither the Times nor Freddoso provided substantiation for his claim that Obama had an "unusually high" number of "present" votes, PolitiFact.com quoted Christopher Mooney, a political scientist at the University of Illinois-Springfield, saying of Obama's "present" votes: "Everyone I've spoken to who's familiar with this, including lobbyists and people who are engaged in opposition research, say the number of times he voted present on a proportional basis was probably a little less than average." Freddoso writes: If Obama cast many controversial votes in Springfield, he also avoided many controversial votes. An interesting aspect of his career in the state Senate was his habit of voting "present" on controversial legislation instead of voting "yea" or "nay." He did this about 130 times over his eight-year career there, which other Illinois senators say is unusually high.56 As Nathan Gonzales of the Rothenberg Political Report noted, "We aren't talking about a 'present' vote on whether to name a state office building after a deceased state official, but rather about votes that reflect an officeholder's core values." 6. On pages 174-175, Freddoso claims that Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) was one of the Democrats who was "against Obama on this point" -- a reference to the debate over whether a U.S. president should be willing to meet with leaders of North Korea, Iran, and other countries without preconditions. As evidence, Freddoso quotes from Biden's May 18, 2008, appearance on ABC's This Week: "This is a fellow who I think shorthanded an answer that in fact was the wrong answer." However, the full context of Biden's quote shows that he actually said that he and Obama agreed, saying that Obama's recent statements on the issue "mirrored the statements the rest of us have been talking about." Freddoso writes: For Clinton, there had to be some preconditions -- how else could such a meeting be in the interest of the United States? There had to [sic] an upside. You don't have to take as hard a line as President Bush, she was arguing, but you can't just have a beer with Kim Jong II after he launched seven missiles in provocation during the summer of 2006.12 He must first show some cooperation -- some substantial sign of good faith -- as a precondition. That is how diplomacy works in the real world. In the months that followed, Democrats ranging from moderate to liberal generally sided with Clinton and against Obama on this point. Former congressman Harold Ford of Tennessee, another young, black superstar in the Democratic Party and chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council, was one of the moderates. "I'll concede you cannot meet with foreign leaders -- with terrorists rather -- without some conditions. 13 "This is a fellow who I think shorthanded an answer that in fact was the wrong answer," said Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, the liberal chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. From the May 18 broadcast of ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos: GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (host): So, he's developed that -- BIDEN: I think he has. STEPHANOPOULOS: -- what he needs to know in the nine months on the campaign trail. BIDEN: I think he's focused on -- what we're talking about here is that he has repeatedly, since then, said he would not negotiate unconditionally -- meaning him sitting down alone, right off the bat, with these leaders. He's talked about his secretary of state, his secretary of defense. As a matter of fact, the statements he's using have mirrored the statements the rest of us have been talking about. This is a fellow who I think shorthanded an answer that, in fact, was the wrong answer, in my view, saying I would, within the first year. It implied he'd personally sit down with anybody who wanted to sit down with him. That's not what he meant. That's not what he has said since then for the last year, or thereabouts. And so, I think that he's fully capable of understanding what's going -- and put this in context, the policy that Bush has pursued and McCain will continue, has been an abject failure. We are weaker in the Middle East. We are weaker around the world. Terrorism is stronger than it ever was. Iran is closer to a bomb. Just by any measure -- any measure -- what has their policy wrought? A disaster. It's been an absolute disaster. 7. On page 215, Freddoso cites a June 13, 2007 (wrongly identified in the endnotes as a June 13, 2008, article), Chicago Sun-Times article in claiming that a spokesman for Obama and a lawyer for convicted Chicago businessman Antoin Rezko "say it is simply a coincidence" that Obama wrote letters in support of Cottage View Terrace, one of Rezko's housing projects. In fact, the Sun-Times quoted Obama spokesman Bill Burton stating that Obama supported Cottage View Terrace "because it was going to help people in his district," and Rezko's attorney saying simply that "Mr. Rezko never spoke with, nor sought a letter from, Senator Obama in connection with that project." Freddoso writes: In June, Chicago Sun-Times reporter Tim Novak reported that Obama "wrote letters to city and state officials supporting his political patron Tony Rezko's successful bid to get more than $14 million from taxpayers to build apartments for senior citizens."10 The project, Cottage View Terrace, includes ninety-seven apartments. It is a few blocks outside of Obama's state Senate district. The deal for which Obama helped Rezko get this money also included Obama's old law-firm boss, Allison Davis. He is also a major Obama fundraiser and a developer who has built or renovated 1,500 apartment units in Chicago.11 From the $14.6 million in state funds that Obama requested, the two men would already be expected to profit through their housing business. But Davis and Rezko were also to collect $855,000 of it in "development fees." Obama's spokesman and Rezko's lawyer say it is simply a coincidence that the senator wrote these letters to help two longtime friends, Davis and Rezko, get millions of dollars. From the June 13, 2007, Chicago Sun-Times article: On Tuesday, Bill Burton, press secretary for Obama's presidential campaign, said the letters Obama wrote in support of the development weren't intended as a favor to Rezko or Davis. "This wasn't done as a favor for anyone," Burton said in a written statement. "It was done in the interests of the people in the community who have benefited from the project. "I don't know that anyone specifically asked him to write this letter nine years ago," the statement said. "There was a consensus in the community about the positive impact the project would make and Obama supported it because it was going to help people in his district. ... They had a wellness clinic and adult day-care services, as well as a series of social services for residents. It's a successful project. It's meant a lot to the community, and he's proud to have supported it.'' The development, called the Cottage View Terrace apartments, opened five years ago at 4801 S. Cottage Grove, providing 97 apartments for low-income senior citizens. Asked about the Obama letters, Rezko's attorney, Joseph Duffy, said Tuesday, "Mr. Rezko never spoke with, nor sought a letter from, Senator Obama in connection with that project." 8. In addition, as Media Matters documented, in the introduction to The Case Against Barack Obama, Freddoso writes that, in challenging the eligibility of signatures his opponents collected to get their names on the ballot of the 1996 Illinois state Senate Democratic primary for the 13th district, Obama threw "all of his opponents off the ballot on a technicality." On page 2, however, Freddoso undermines his own claim by quoting a 1996 Chicago Weekend report that some of incumbent Sen. Alice Palmer's signatures were disqualified because the voters who signed lived outside the 13th district -- something more than a mere "technicality." On page 3, Freddoso reproduces a portion of an April 3, 2007, Chicago Tribune article in which one of Obama's opponents in 1996, Gha-Is Askia, referring to Obama's challenge of the signatures, is quoted as saying: "He talks about honor and democracy, but what honor is there in getting rid of every other candidate so you can run scot-free? Why not let the people decide?" That same article, however, also reported that Askia "now suspects" some of the signatures his campaign collected were forged -- a fact Freddoso did not mention, which undermines his "technicality" allegation. On page 5 of The Case Against Barack Obama, Freddoso cites page 109 of Mendell's Obama, in writing that Palmer "was considered the early favorite in this contest," and "collected nearly 1,600 petition signatures in just ten days and submitted them ahead of the December 18 deadline." However, Mendell also wrote on pages 109-110 that "Palmer realized that Obama had called her hand, and she acknowledged that she had not properly acquired the necessary number of signatures" -- another fact Freddoso omitted. From page 3 of The Case Against Barack Obama: One of them was Gha-is Askia. He never had much of a chance of winning anyway, but he had gathered 1,899 signatures, and Team Obama took the time to challenge them as well.6 Askia spoke to the Chicago Tribune in 2007 about it: "Why say you're for a new tomorrow, then do old-style Chicago politics to remove legitimate candidates?" Askia said. "He talks about honor and democracy, but what honor is there in getting rid of every other candidate so you can run scot-free? Why not let the people decide?" From the April 3 Tribune article: Leafing through scrapbooks in his South Shore apartment, Askia, a perennially unsuccessful candidate, acknowledges that he paid Democratic Party precinct workers $5 a sheet for some of the petitions, and now suspects they used a classic Chicago ruse of passing the papers among themselves to forge the signatures. "They round-tabled me," Askia said. From page 5 of The Case Against Barack Obama (Mendell citations in bold): As an incumbent with the backing of the new congressman, Jesse Jackson Jr., Palmer was considered the early favorite in this contest.14 She went out and collected nearly 1,600 petition signatures in just ten days and submitted them ahead of the December 18 deadline.15 She would still need to defeat Obama and two other Democratic challengers, but as an incumbent with the backing of the popular new congressman, Palmer was the early favorite. Until Obama kept her from running, that is. From page 109-110 of Mendell's Obama: So a volunteer for Obama challenged the legality of her petitions, as well as the legality of petitions from several other candidates in the race. As an elections board hearing on the petitions neared, Palmer realized that Obama had called her hand, and she acknowledged that she had not properly acquired the necessary number of signatures. Many of the voters had printed their names, rather than signing them as the law required. 9. On page xii of the introduction to The Case Against Barack Obama, Freddoso claims that Obama's "liberal supporters ... support military strikes within the territory of an American ally without that nation's permission" because "Obama apparently made a slip of the tongue in August of last year and advocated such incursions into Pakistan." Freddoso's source for this was an August 1, 2007, Reuters article on Obama's speech that day at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., in which Obama said: OBAMA: I understand that [Pakistani] President [Pervez] Musharraf has his own challenges. But let me make this clear. There are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3,000 Americans. They are plotting to strike again. It was a terrible mistake to fail to act when we had a chance to take out an al Qaeda leadership meeting in 2005. If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act, we will. As Media Matters noted, however, Obama's comments were not a "slip of the tongue"; they were included in his prepared remarks and were among excerpts the Obama campaign emailed to reporters prior to the actual speech. The Reuters article Freddoso cites does not characterize Obama's remarks as a "slip of the tongue," nor does it suggest that they were in any way inadvertent.
Media Matters - Citations in Freddoso's anti-Obama book rife with misinformation {...} The first few pages of David Freddoso's book, The Case Against Barack Obama , are marked by false and misleading assertions about Sen. Barack Obama, accompanied by dubious citations. A Media Matters review of the endnotes reveals that the rest of the book is little different from these first few pages, as throughout the book, Freddoso misrepresents or distorts his sources and even makes assertions that are actually refuted by sources he cites. {...}
Published: August 6, 2008, 2:54 am - Indexed: August 6, 2008, 11:15 pm - Page Size: 39KB
Category: Society > Issues > Business > Media > Bias and Balance

]]> Society > Issues > Business > Media > Bias and Balance {RETAIL TRADE > NEWS AND MEDIA} - About Continental, Thrifty, Customers, Lemons and Friends http://articles.world-of-newave.info/business/retail-trade/news-and-media/about-continental-thrifty-customers-lemons-and-20081021610.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/business/retail-trade/news-and-media/about-continental-thrifty-customers-lemons-and-20081021610.htm Sun, 05 Oct 2008 00:06:05 GMT I ordered a cup of tea with lemon when the flight attendant, Tim, asked for my drink order on my pre-dawn flight this morning. A couple of minutes later,... Retailindustry.About.Com About Continental, Thrifty, Customers, Lemons and Friends {new window}   Retailindustry.About.Com - I ordered a cup of tea with lemon when the flight attendant, Tim, asked for my drink order on my pre-dawn flight this morning. A couple of minutes later,...
About Continental, Thrifty, Customers, Lemons and Friends {...}
Published: October 5, 2008, 12:06 am - Indexed: October 5, 2008, 11:56 am - Page Size: 24KB
Category: Business > Retail Trade > News and Media

]]> Business > Retail Trade > News and Media {NORTH AMERICA > RENTALS} - Beautiful new Centex townhouse in Windermere (danville / san ramon) $2690 3bd http://articles.world-of-newave.info/regional/north-america/united-states/california/metro-areas/san-francisco-bay-area/business-and-economy/real-estate/rentals/beautiful-new-centex-townhouse-in-windermere-danville-2008103052.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/regional/north-america/united-states/california/metro-areas/san-francisco-bay-area/business-and-economy/real-estate/rentals/beautiful-new-centex-townhouse-in-windermere-danville-2008103052.htm Sat, 04 Oct 2008 10:15:02 GMT This is brand new and very beautiful Fioli townhouse. 3 spaciouse bedroom/2.5 bathroom with 2113 sqft living area The masterbed has wonderful city and valley view. The swimming pool is just 1 building away. This is one of the best places for raising your kids and enjoy your life. Include new washer and dryer, new refrigerator Excellent San Ramon School Prefer long term lease. If have any question, please call Tim at 925-8580859 Sfbay.Craigslist.Org Beautiful new Centex townhouse in Windermere (danville / san ramon) $2690 3bd {new window}   Sfbay.Craigslist.Org - This is brand new and very beautiful Fioli townhouse. 3 spaciouse bedroom/2.5 bathroom with 2113 sqft living area The masterbed has wonderful city and valley view. The swimming pool is just 1 building away. This is one of the best places for raising your kids and enjoy your life. Include new washer and dryer, new refrigerator Excellent San Ramon School Prefer long term lease. If have any question, please call Tim at 925-8580859
Beautiful new Centex townhouse in Windermere {...}
Published: October 4, 2008, 10:15 am - Indexed: October 4, 2008, 11:50 am - Page Size: 4KB
Category: Regional > North America > United States > California > Metro Areas > San Francisco Bay Area > Business and Economy > Real Estate > Rentals

]]> Regional > North America > United States > California > Metro Areas > San Francisco Bay Area > Business and Economy > Real Estate > Rentals {EUROPE > NEWSPAPERS} - Rev Tim HastieSmith Headmaster with a mission http://articles.world-of-newave.info/regional/europe/united-kingdom/news-and-media/newspapers/rev-tim-hastiesmith-headmaster-with-a-mission-2008104193.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/regional/europe/united-kingdom/news-and-media/newspapers/rev-tim-hastiesmith-headmaster-with-a-mission-2008104193.htm Fri, 03 Oct 2008 20:40:12 GMT After the most hectic few days of his life the Rev Tim HastieSmith is back behind his desk at Dean Close School. Telegraph.Co.Uk Rev Tim HastieSmith Headmaster with a mission {new window}   Www.Telegraph.Co.Uk - After the most hectic few days of his life the Rev Tim HastieSmith is back behind his desk at Dean Close School.
Rev Tim Hastie-Smith: Headmaster with a mission - Telegraph {...} After the most hectic few days of his life, the Rev Tim Hastie-Smith is back behind his desk at Dean Close School. {...}
Published: October 3, 2008, 8:40 pm - Indexed: October 4, 2008, 12:09 pm - Page Size: 47KB
Category: Regional > Europe > United Kingdom > News and Media > Newspapers

]]> Regional > Europe > United Kingdom > News and Media > Newspapers {AUTOS > MAGAZINES AND E-ZINES} - Train 'n Wheels: Caltrain Threatens the Perfect Commute http://articles.world-of-newave.info/recreation/autos/magazines-and-e_zines/train-n-wheels-caltrain-threatens-the-perfect-commute-2008105785.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/recreation/autos/magazines-and-e_zines/train-n-wheels-caltrain-threatens-the-perfect-commute-2008105785.htm Fri, 03 Oct 2008 11:23:38 GMT We love public transportation. We also love bikes. Judging by a recent increase in bike rides to and from public transportation known as "transit trips," American commuters are starting to feel the same way. "Transit trips are way up," Tim Blumenthal, head of the national bike advocacy group Bikes Belong, told Wired.com. "More buses have racks on the front, and more light rail and subways are allowing bicycles on board even during peak hours." According to Blumenthal, the benefits of bicycle transit trips are huge: commuters lose weight while the air gets cleaner, and highways get less crowded while America starts to recover from its oil addiction. San Francisco's Caltrain commuter rail service was one of the pioneers in bringing "bikes on board," dedicating certain cars of each train for bikes and allowing up to 64 bike commuters to ride their own bikes to and from work (video after the jump). The program took off, and also took some cars off the road: 80% of cyclists who started taking Caltrain only did so after they could bring their bikes along. "Caltrain has for awhile now provided exemplary bike service," Andy Thornley, Program Director for the San Francisco Bike Coalition (SFBC) told Wired.com."Other systems have accommodations, but its usually one or two bikes per car." The program was so successful that demand soon surpassed the supply of bike cars, and non-biking passengers began to complain that their train was overrun by a peloton of two-wheeled commuters. "The success of the program is outstripping the system," Thornley said. Now, bike commuters get "bumped" from the train and have to park their bikes at the station, leaving them with a big "last mile" problem. Caltrain becomes a bridge to nowhere without bike access at both ends, and commuters are truly saying "thanks, but no thanks."In an ideal world (or at least in Amsterdam), commuters would live within biking distance of public transportation that would take them to within walking distance of their work. Unfortunately, that isn't how it plays out in Caltrain territory. "Towns have sprawled out along the highway," said Thornley.  "The big employment centers tend to be one, two, or three miles from the train. That sort of trip is really suited to a bike commute." One solution, proposed by Caltrain, would be to have increased parking facilities at each end of the commute. That would allow cyclists to have a "beater bike" parked at both ends like many Dutch commuters. "They roll, they brake, they have fenders," said Blumenthal, who generally likes the idea of rusty Huffys pedaling to and from train stations across the US. Another solution would be to have an integrated bike-sharing system, which Blumenthal said works well in European cities. "There's a ton of potential for a bike loan or bike sharing system like they have in the Netherlands and Germany," he said. "Once you get into the city, there's an automated kiosk and you can drop off the bicycle close to where you work." A system like that is great for some cities, Thornley said, but it would never work on Caltrain because the rented bikes would spend an eight hour workday crammed in a cubicle. "You're not going to an urban center," he told Wired.com. "You're probably going to Oracle in an office park or a biotech firm somewhere. A shared bike works better in some cases where the destination is close to other people, when the density of other users is greater." You can also forget about beater bikes on the streets of San Francisco, where its not uncommon to spend more on a Bianchi or Lemond than a Honda or Toyota. "People tend to customize their bikes for the topography around here and the hills you need to climb. You want to get your bike just right," said Thornley. Those same commuters who work at tech firms -- some of whom Thornley notes are actual rocket scientists -- did their own financial analyses and found that allowing more bikes on board would actually lead to a small financial gain for Caltrain. "We talk to them about taking out seats, which may be beneficial especially because they have trains moving with empty seats. We need to stop and look at rebalancing." We'll see the results of that rebalancing act after Caltrain's board meeting tonight, and we're hoping SFBC can convince Caltrain to let more bikes on board. Photo by Flickr user rui sc, video by YouTube user acnetj. Blog.Wired.Com Train 'n Wheels: Caltrain Threatens the Perfect Commute {new window}   Blog.Wired.Com - We love public transportation. We also love bikes. Judging by a recent increase in bike rides to and from public transportation known as "transit trips," American commuters are starting to feel the same way. "Transit trips are way up," Tim Blumenthal, head of the national bike advocacy group Bikes Belong, told Wired.com. "More buses have racks on the front, and more light rail and subways are allowing bicycles on board even during peak hours." According to Blumenthal, the benefits of bicycle transit trips are huge: commuters lose weight while the air gets cleaner, and highways get less crowded while America starts to recover from its oil addiction. San Francisco's Caltrain commuter rail service was one of the pioneers in bringing "bikes on board," dedicating certain cars of each train for bikes and allowing up to 64 bike commuters to ride their own bikes to and from work (video after the jump). The program took off, and also took some cars off the road: 80% of cyclists who started taking Caltrain only did so after they could bring their bikes along. "Caltrain has for awhile now provided exemplary bike service," Andy Thornley, Program Director for the San Francisco Bike Coalition (SFBC) told Wired.com."Other systems have accommodations, but its usually one or two bikes per car." The program was so successful that demand soon surpassed the supply of bike cars, and non-biking passengers began to complain that their train was overrun by a peloton of two-wheeled commuters. "The success of the program is outstripping the system," Thornley said. Now, bike commuters get "bumped" from the train and have to park their bikes at the station, leaving them with a big "last mile" problem. Caltrain becomes a bridge to nowhere without bike access at both ends, and commuters are truly saying "thanks, but no thanks."In an ideal world (or at least in Amsterdam), commuters would live within biking distance of public transportation that would take them to within walking distance of their work. Unfortunately, that isn't how it plays out in Caltrain territory. "Towns have sprawled out along the highway," said Thornley.  "The big employment centers tend to be one, two, or three miles from the train. That sort of trip is really suited to a bike commute." One solution, proposed by Caltrain, would be to have increased parking facilities at each end of the commute. That would allow cyclists to have a "beater bike" parked at both ends like many Dutch commuters. "They roll, they brake, they have fenders," said Blumenthal, who generally likes the idea of rusty Huffys pedaling to and from train stations across the US. Another solution would be to have an integrated bike-sharing system, which Blumenthal said works well in European cities. "There's a ton of potential for a bike loan or bike sharing system like they have in the Netherlands and Germany," he said. "Once you get into the city, there's an automated kiosk and you can drop off the bicycle close to where you work." A system like that is great for some cities, Thornley said, but it would never work on Caltrain because the rented bikes would spend an eight hour workday crammed in a cubicle. "You're not going to an urban center," he told Wired.com. "You're probably going to Oracle in an office park or a biotech firm somewhere. A shared bike works better in some cases where the destination is close to other people, when the density of other users is greater." You can also forget about beater bikes on the streets of San Francisco, where its not uncommon to spend more on a Bianchi or Lemond than a Honda or Toyota. "People tend to customize their bikes for the topography around here and the hills you need to climb. You want to get your bike just right," said Thornley. Those same commuters who work at tech firms -- some of whom Thornley notes are actual rocket scientists -- did their own financial analyses and found that allowing more bikes on board would actually lead to a small financial gain for Caltrain. "We talk to them about taking out seats, which may be beneficial especially because they have trains moving with empty seats. We need to stop and look at rebalancing." We'll see the results of that rebalancing act after Caltrain's board meeting tonight, and we're hoping SFBC can convince Caltrain to let more bikes on board. Photo by Flickr user rui sc, video by YouTube user acnetj.
Train 'n Wheels: Caltrain Threatens the Perfect Commute | Autopia from Wired.com {...} We love public transportation. We also love bikes. Judging by a recent increase in bike rides to and from public transportation known as transit trips, American commuters are starting to {...}
Indexed: October 3, 2008, 11:23 am - Page Size: 61KB
Category: Recreation > Autos > Magazines and E-zines

]]> Recreation > Autos > Magazines and E-zines {EUROPE > NEWS AND MEDIA} - Video: Stephen Fry in America http://articles.world-of-newave.info/regional/europe/united-kingdom/news-and-media/video-stephen-fry-in-america-2008104625.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/regional/europe/united-kingdom/news-and-media/video-stephen-fry-in-america-2008104625.htm Fri, 03 Oct 2008 10:44:56 GMT Stephen Fry talks to Tim Dowling about his fascination with America and why he simply had to visit all 50 states Guardian.Co.Uk Video: Stephen Fry in America {new window}   Www.Guardian.Co.Uk - Stephen Fry talks to Tim Dowling about his fascination with America and why he simply had to visit all 50 states
Video: Stephen Fry in America | Travel | guardian.co.uk {...}
Published: October 3, 2008, 10:44 am - Indexed: October 3, 2008, 12:19 pm - Page Size: 57KB
Category: Regional > Europe > United Kingdom > News and Media

]]> Regional > Europe > United Kingdom > News and Media {NORTH AMERICA > REAL ESTATE} - Bank Owned -Church Property-5300- Foothill Bl---Lease or Sale (oakland east) $2300 2800sqft http://articles.world-of-newave.info/regional/north-america/united-states/california/metro-areas/san-francisco-bay-area/business-and-economy/real-estate/bank-owned-church-property-5300-foothill-bl-lease-2008103078.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/regional/north-america/united-states/california/metro-areas/san-francisco-bay-area/business-and-economy/real-estate/bank-owned-church-property-5300-foothill-bl-lease-2008103078.htm Fri, 03 Oct 2008 05:28:08 GMT Prime Location at 5300 Foothill Blvd and Fairfix Street with 3,460 Building on 3000 sq/ft land great place for Church-Retail-Warehouse-Office. more information please contact Manager: Tim (510) 472-0100 Lease only $2,300 OR Sale $390,000 Sfbay.Craigslist.Org Bank Owned -Church Property-5300- Foothill Bl---Lease or Sale (oakland east) $2300 2800sqft {new window}   Sfbay.Craigslist.Org - Prime Location at 5300 Foothill Blvd and Fairfix Street with 3,460 Building on 3000 sq/ft land great place for Church-Retail-Warehouse-Office. more information please contact Manager: Tim (510) 472-0100 Lease only $2,300 OR Sale $390,000
Bank Owned -Church Property-5300- Foothill Bl---Lease or Sale {...}
Published: October 3, 2008, 5:28 am - Indexed: October 3, 2008, 12:02 pm - Page Size: 4KB
Category: Regional > North America > United States > California > Metro Areas > San Francisco Bay Area > Business and Economy > Real Estate

]]> Regional > North America > United States > California > Metro Areas > San Francisco Bay Area > Business and Economy > Real Estate {ISSUES > BIAS AND BALANCE} - CBS asserted "Democrats and many in the media" question "Palin's readiness to be president," but not that many questions came from conservatives http://articles.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/cbs-asserted-democrats-and-many-in-the-media-question-2008105622.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/society/issues/business/media/bias-and-balance/cbs-asserted-democrats-and-many-in-the-media-question-2008105622.htm Thu, 02 Oct 2008 23:05:59 GMT A September 29 CBSNews.com article asserted that "[Gov. Sarah] Palin's readiness to be president in the event she and [Sen. John] McCain are elected and McCain becomes incapacitated has been widely questioned by Democrats and many in the media," but did not note that many of those who were "question[ing]" Palin's readiness are conservatives. In fact, as CBS Early Show national correspondent Jeff Glor noted during the September 29 edition of The Early Show, "even some conservatives are concerned, including syndicated columnist Kathleen Parker, who said Palin is 'clearly out of our league' and called for the Alaska governor to leave the race." Earlier, Early Show co-host Maggie Rodriguez stated: "[T]he question a lot of Americans are asking this morning, including some prominent Republicans, is whether Sarah Palin is ready." On September 26, Parker wrote: "As we've seen and heard more from John McCain's running mate, it is increasingly clear that Palin is a problem. Quick study or not, she doesn't know enough about economics and foreign policy to make Americans comfortable with a President Palin should conditions warrant her promotion." Parker later wrote: "Palin's recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity, and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League." She concluded: "Only Palin can save McCain, her party, and the country she loves. She can bow out for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn. No one would criticize a mother who puts her family first. Do it for your country." Numerous other conservative media figures also have expressed concerns about Palin's readiness to be vice president. For instance: As the website Raw Story and others have noted, on the September 28 edition of the NBC syndicated Chris Matthews Show, New York Times columnist David Brooks stated: I admire Sarah Palin for many things. Not many of us put our careers on the line to challenge something. And she put her career on the line to challenge the corrupt Republican Alaska establishment. So, I give her a lot of credit for that. But is she ready to be vice president? Based on what we've seen with the Katie Couric interview, it's embarrassing. It's painful to watch those things. You want to turn them off. And, so, I just think that's the fundamental fact. She is a very talented politician who was brought to the national limelight before she was ready, and it's just a problem. In a September 26 column, National Review editor Rich Lowry wrote: "Does Palin know enough to be a national candidate right now? No, but she can be mostly walled off from the press." Earlier in the column, he said McCain was "making moves that mark him as different, but can be seen as risky or gimmicky, whether choosing Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential nominee or canceling the first day of the Republican Convention during Hurricane Gustav." Additionally, in a September 13 post on National Review Online's The Corner blog, Lowry said of Palin's interview with ABC News' Charles Gibson: "[T]his was a merely adequate performance. The foreign-policy session was a white-knuckle affair. She barely got through it and showed no knowledge more than an inch deep." Lowry later added: "The fact still remains that she very likely didn't know any of the possible definitions of the Bush doctrine. I can't imagine if Obama had picked Gov. Tim Kaine [VA] and he had had a similar moment, conservatives would have rushed to say that the Bush doctrine is just too amorphous and complicated for him to know anything about it. [italics in original]" Lowry added: "Palin seemed weak on economic and budgetary policy too, talking in the vaguest generalities. She was much better, and positively good, on the social issues -- which are dear to her and she's thought about -- and anything having to do with her personally or with her record in Alaska." And he concluded: "I understand how we all want to be protective of her -- I feel the same impulse -- but let's not be patronizing. I believe the truly pro-Palin position is to think she can, should, and will do better than this." In a September 13 blog posting, titled "Sarah The Unready," Ross Douthat, conservative blogger and senior editor at The Atlantic stated of Palin's interview with Gibson: "[S]he seemed about an inch deep on every issue outside her comfort zone." He further stated that Gibson's questions "were all questions that a vice-presidential nominee needs to be able to answer." Douthat added: "There's no way to look at her performance as anything save supporting evidence for the non-hysterical critique of her candidacy -- that it's just too much, too soon -- and a splash of cold water for those of us with high hopes for her future on the national stage." In his September 5 Washington Post column, Charles Krauthammer stated that "the choice of Palin remains deeply problematic." Krauthammer later stated: The vice president's only constitutional duty of any significance is to become president at a moment's notice. Palin is not ready. Nor is Obama. But with Palin, the case against Obama evaporates." George Will stated in a September 3 Washington Post column that "the man who would be the oldest to embark on a first presidential term has chosen as his possible successor a person of negligible experience." He later wrote: "Clearly, experience is not sufficient to prove a person 'qualified' for the presidency." In an August 29 column in the National Post, columnist and former speechwriter for President Bush David Frum asserted that "she [Palin] has zero foreign policy experience, and no record on national security issues." He went on to say that "Mr. McCain's supporters argue that he is more serious about national security than Barack Obama. But the selection of Sarah Palin invites the question: How serious can he be if he would place such a neophyte second in line to the presidency?" He further claims that "if anything were to happen to a President McCain, the destiny of the free world would be placed in the hands of a woman who until the day before Friday was a small-town mayor." Frum concluded his column by stating: "Ms. Palin is a bold pick, and probably a shrewd one. It's not nearly so clear that she is a responsible pick, or a wise one." From the September 29 CBSNews.com article: A month ago, Sally and Chuck Heath's third child, Sarah Palin, a self-proclaimed hockey mom and wildly popular governor of Alaska, was thrust into the national spotlight when John McCain picked her to be his running mate. In the time since, Palin's readiness to be president in the event she and McCain are elected and McCain becomes incapacitated has been widely questioned by Democrats and many in the media. But, in an exclusive interview at their home in Wasilla, Alaska, the Heaths told Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith their daughter is, indeed, ready to occupy the Oval Office at a moment's notice. From the September 29 edition of CBS' The Early Show: HARRY SMITH [co-host]: You bet. Now here's Maggie. RODRIGUEZ: Thank you, Harry. You can bet the vice-presidential candidates will be asked about the bailout during their debate on Thursday. But the question a lot of Americans are asking this morning, including some prominent Republicans, is whether Sarah Palin is ready. Early Show national correspondent Jeff Glor is in Columbus, Ohio. Jeff, good morning. GLOR: Maggie, good morning to you. This is a state -- Ohio -- that could, once again, decide this election. It's one of the reasons why we're here. It's one of the reasons why John McCain and Sarah Palin will be here today as the campaign deals with these continued questions. [begin video clip] GLOR: Sarah Palin has mostly been kept away from reporters, but the interviews she has done are raising eyebrows. PALIN: It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. GLOR: The most recent, with Katie Couric, provoked widespread criticism from liberals on the Web and a lampooning on Saturday Night Live: TINA FEY: Katie, I'd like to use one of my lifelines. AMY POEHLER: You don't have any lifelines. FEY: Well, in that case, I'm just gonna have to get back to you. GLOR: But even some conservatives are concerned, including syndicated columnist Kathleen Parker, who said Palin is "clearly out of our league" and called for the Alaska governor to leave the race. ALEX BURNS [Politico reporter]: I think there are a small number of people who will publicly say that they're worried about her abilities as a candidate. I think there's a larger number of people who privately express kind of muted criticism and concern. GLOR: McCain himself was asked about the chatter on Sunday. McCAIN: I'm so excited about the reaction that Sarah Palin has gotten across this country -- huge turnouts, enthusiasm, excitement. She knows how to communicate directly with people. They respond in a way that I've seldom seen. [end video clip] GLOR: Palin will be interviewed again today by Katie Couric -- which you can see on the Evening News -- and then Palin is off for a couple of days of debate preparation in Arizona before Thursday's much anticipated vice-presidential debate in St. Louis. Maggie. RODRIGUEZ: CBS' Jeff Glor in Ohio. Thank you, Jeff. Mediamatters.Org CBS asserted "Democrats and many in the media" question "Palin's readiness to be president," but not that many questions came from conservatives {new window}   Mediamatters.Org - A September 29 CBSNews.com article asserted that "[Gov. Sarah] Palin's readiness to be president in the event she and [Sen. John] McCain are elected and McCain becomes incapacitated has been widely questioned by Democrats and many in the media," but did not note that many of those who were "question[ing]" Palin's readiness are conservatives. In fact, as CBS Early Show national correspondent Jeff Glor noted during the September 29 edition of The Early Show, "even some conservatives are concerned, including syndicated columnist Kathleen Parker, who said Palin is 'clearly out of our league' and called for the Alaska governor to leave the race." Earlier, Early Show co-host Maggie Rodriguez stated: "[T]he question a lot of Americans are asking this morning, including some prominent Republicans, is whether Sarah Palin is ready." On September 26, Parker wrote: "As we've seen and heard more from John McCain's running mate, it is increasingly clear that Palin is a problem. Quick study or not, she doesn't know enough about economics and foreign policy to make Americans comfortable with a President Palin should conditions warrant her promotion." Parker later wrote: "Palin's recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity, and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League." She concluded: "Only Palin can save McCain, her party, and the country she loves. She can bow out for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn. No one would criticize a mother who puts her family first. Do it for your country." Numerous other conservative media figures also have expressed concerns about Palin's readiness to be vice president. For instance: As the website Raw Story and others have noted, on the September 28 edition of the NBC syndicated Chris Matthews Show, New York Times columnist David Brooks stated: I admire Sarah Palin for many things. Not many of us put our careers on the line to challenge something. And she put her career on the line to challenge the corrupt Republican Alaska establishment. So, I give her a lot of credit for that. But is she ready to be vice president? Based on what we've seen with the Katie Couric interview, it's embarrassing. It's painful to watch those things. You want to turn them off. And, so, I just think that's the fundamental fact. She is a very talented politician who was brought to the national limelight before she was ready, and it's just a problem. In a September 26 column, National Review editor Rich Lowry wrote: "Does Palin know enough to be a national candidate right now? No, but she can be mostly walled off from the press." Earlier in the column, he said McCain was "making moves that mark him as different, but can be seen as risky or gimmicky, whether choosing Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential nominee or canceling the first day of the Republican Convention during Hurricane Gustav." Additionally, in a September 13 post on National Review Online's The Corner blog, Lowry said of Palin's interview with ABC News' Charles Gibson: "[T]his was a merely adequate performance. The foreign-policy session was a white-knuckle affair. She barely got through it and showed no knowledge more than an inch deep." Lowry later added: "The fact still remains that she very likely didn't know any of the possible definitions of the Bush doctrine. I can't imagine if Obama had picked Gov. Tim Kaine [VA] and he had had a similar moment, conservatives would have rushed to say that the Bush doctrine is just too amorphous and complicated for him to know anything about it. [italics in original]" Lowry added: "Palin seemed weak on economic and budgetary policy too, talking in the vaguest generalities. She was much better, and positively good, on the social issues -- which are dear to her and she's thought about -- and anything having to do with her personally or with her record in Alaska." And he concluded: "I understand how we all want to be protective of her -- I feel the same impulse -- but let's not be patronizing. I believe the truly pro-Palin position is to think she can, should, and will do better than this." In a September 13 blog posting, titled "Sarah The Unready," Ross Douthat, conservative blogger and senior editor at The Atlantic stated of Palin's interview with Gibson: "[S]he seemed about an inch deep on every issue outside her comfort zone." He further stated that Gibson's questions "were all questions that a vice-presidential nominee needs to be able to answer." Douthat added: "There's no way to look at her performance as anything save supporting evidence for the non-hysterical critique of her candidacy -- that it's just too much, too soon -- and a splash of cold water for those of us with high hopes for her future on the national stage." In his September 5 Washington Post column, Charles Krauthammer stated that "the choice of Palin remains deeply problematic." Krauthammer later stated: The vice president's only constitutional duty of any significance is to become president at a moment's notice. Palin is not ready. Nor is Obama. But with Palin, the case against Obama evaporates." George Will stated in a September 3 Washington Post column that "the man who would be the oldest to embark on a first presidential term has chosen as his possible successor a person of negligible experience." He later wrote: "Clearly, experience is not sufficient to prove a person 'qualified' for the presidency." In an August 29 column in the National Post, columnist and former speechwriter for President Bush David Frum asserted that "she [Palin] has zero foreign policy experience, and no record on national security issues." He went on to say that "Mr. McCain's supporters argue that he is more serious about national security than Barack Obama. But the selection of Sarah Palin invites the question: How serious can he be if he would place such a neophyte second in line to the presidency?" He further claims that "if anything were to happen to a President McCain, the destiny of the free world would be placed in the hands of a woman who until the day before Friday was a small-town mayor." Frum concluded his column by stating: "Ms. Palin is a bold pick, and probably a shrewd one. It's not nearly so clear that she is a responsible pick, or a wise one." From the September 29 CBSNews.com article: A month ago, Sally and Chuck Heath's third child, Sarah Palin, a self-proclaimed hockey mom and wildly popular governor of Alaska, was thrust into the national spotlight when John McCain picked her to be his running mate. In the time since, Palin's readiness to be president in the event she and McCain are elected and McCain becomes incapacitated has been widely questioned by Democrats and many in the media. But, in an exclusive interview at their home in Wasilla, Alaska, the Heaths told Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith their daughter is, indeed, ready to occupy the Oval Office at a moment's notice. From the September 29 edition of CBS' The Early Show: HARRY SMITH [co-host]: You bet. Now here's Maggie. RODRIGUEZ: Thank you, Harry. You can bet the vice-presidential candidates will be asked about the bailout during their debate on Thursday. But the question a lot of Americans are asking this morning, including some prominent Republicans, is whether Sarah Palin is ready. Early Show national correspondent Jeff Glor is in Columbus, Ohio. Jeff, good morning. GLOR: Maggie, good morning to you. This is a state -- Ohio -- that could, once again, decide this election. It's one of the reasons why we're here. It's one of the reasons why John McCain and Sarah Palin will be here today as the campaign deals with these continued questions. [begin video clip] GLOR: Sarah Palin has mostly been kept away from reporters, but the interviews she has done are raising eyebrows. PALIN: It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. GLOR: The most recent, with Katie Couric, provoked widespread criticism from liberals on the Web and a lampooning on Saturday Night Live: TINA FEY: Katie, I'd like to use one of my lifelines. AMY POEHLER: You don't have any lifelines. FEY: Well, in that case, I'm just gonna have to get back to you. GLOR: But even some conservatives are concerned, including syndicated columnist Kathleen Parker, who said Palin is "clearly out of our league" and called for the Alaska governor to leave the race. ALEX BURNS [Politico reporter]: I think there are a small number of people who will publicly say that they're worried about her abilities as a candidate. I think there's a larger number of people who privately express kind of muted criticism and concern. GLOR: McCain himself was asked about the chatter on Sunday. McCAIN: I'm so excited about the reaction that Sarah Palin has gotten across this country -- huge turnouts, enthusiasm, excitement. She knows how to communicate directly with people. They respond in a way that I've seldom seen. [end video clip] GLOR: Palin will be interviewed again today by Katie Couric -- which you can see on the Evening News -- and then Palin is off for a couple of days of debate preparation in Arizona before Thursday's much anticipated vice-presidential debate in St. Louis. Maggie. RODRIGUEZ: CBS' Jeff Glor in Ohio. Thank you, Jeff.
Media Matters - CBS asserted "Democrats and many in the media" question "Palin's readiness to be president," but not that many questions came from conservatives {...} A CBSNews.com article asserted that "[Gov. Sarah] Palin's readiness to be president ... has been widely questioned by Democrats and many in the media." The article failed to note, however, that many of those "questioning" Palin's readiness are conservatives. In fact, CBS Early Show correspondent Jeff Glor noted, "even some conservatives are concerned, including syndicated columnist Kathleen Parker, who said Palin is 'clearly out of our league' and called for the Alaska governor to leave the race." {...}
Published: October 2, 2008, 11:05 pm - Indexed: October 3, 2008, 12:04 pm - Page Size: 25KB
Category: Society > Issues > Business > Media > Bias and Balance

]]> Society > Issues > Business > Media > Bias and Balance