Free Republic

During the 3:00PM ET hour of live coverage on MSNBC Friday, co-host David Shuster admitted that racially charged quotes he and other hosts attributed to Rush Limbaugh had not been verified: “MSNBC attributed that quote to a football player who was opposed to Limbaugh’s NFL bid. However, we have been unable to verify that quote independently. So, just to clarify.” Shuster did not formally retract the quote or apologize.

MSNBC contributor Touré on Wednesday continued the network's vitriolic, slanderous attacks on Rush Limbaugh. Discussing the radio host’s bid to buy the St. Louis Rams, the cable commentator smeared, "Several NFL players have already said they would not play for Rush because they know he would love to say he owns a plantation full of black men." [Audio available here.] When Morning Meeting host Dylan Ratigan mock protested, "No, they don't know that," the one-named Touré reiterated, "They feel it." Ratigan gave in and played along, "Okay, they feel that." Despite calls from the Media Research Center, MSNBC has repeatedly...

Limbaugh is going to change the name of the team from the Rams to the Nappy-Headed Hos..Rush Limbaugh might one day own the St. Louis Rams. Hell, sometimes these column thingies write themselves. The only thing that could make this news even more fantastic is if in his first two acts as owner Limbaugh traded for Donovan McNabb and made Jesse Jackson the head coach. Followed by Ann Coulter's hiring as general manager. My head exploded after hearing this Limbaugh news. How exactly will Limbaugh address the team after he purchases them? "I just want to introduce myself and say...

Media Bias: Veteran reporter, author and commentator Bernard Goldberg reports that when CBS News did its fake National Guard story on George W. Bush avoiding service in Vietnam, it knew it was a lie.It's a liberal urban legend that Bush used the influence of his father and his father's friends to land a cushy position in the Texas National Guard to avoid service in Vietnam. The Democrats would run John Kerry as a hero in the war, and CBS News was all too eager to help with Mary Mapes producing a "60 Minutes II" segment in September 2004 charging exactly...

In 2007, Rather filed his $70 million lawsuit against his old company saying he wasn’t allowed to defend his story because the top management of CBS’ parent company, Viacom, wanted to appease the Bush Administration and protect its business interests. Until now, the controversy over the Rather/Mapes story has centered almost entirely on one issue: the legitimacy of the documents – a very important issue, indeed. But it turns out that there was another very important issue, one that goes to the very heart of what the story was about – and one that has gone virtually unnoticed. This is...

With legendary newsmen like Walter Cronkite, Robert Novak, & Peter Jennings, who do you view as today's best anchorman? Katie Couric Charlie Gibson Rush Limbaugh Shepard Smith Brian Williams Stephen Colbert

Here's a story I talked about while recording a guest host spot on Raisin' Hale (for my good friend Tabitha Hale) on RFCRadio.com last night. Michelle Malkin explores it today with some bonus material. The free press in the United States once stood for something. The Constitution ensured its freedom so it could act as a vigilant watchdog for the citizens of this country. The classic modern example is Watergate, of course. An unhinged, dishonest president thoroughly abused his position and would have gotten away with it had it not been for the efforts of two newspaper reporters. That's the...

SAO PAULO, Brazil — In one murder after another, the "Canal Livre" crime TV show had an uncanny knack for being first on the scene, gathering graphic footage of the victim. Too uncanny, say police, who are investigating the show's host, state legislator Wallace Souza, on suspicion of commissioning at least five of the murders to boost his ratings and prove his claim that Brazil's Amazon region is awash in violent crime. Police also have accused Souza of drug trafficking. "The order to execute always came from the legislator and his son, who then alerted the TV crews to get...

You don't have to care about media companies or reporters to care about the state of the news, because if it's in trouble -- and it surely is -- this country is in trouble. That's why, while speaking recently at the Aspen Institute, I called upon President Obama to form a commission to address the perilous state of America's news media. Some might scoff at the notion that a president and a country occupied by two wars and a recession should add the woes of the news media to an already crowded plate. But the way the news is delivered,...

A lawyer representing The News-Journal Corp. says the newspaper company might consider bankruptcy to keep the publication in operation. The company has hired a lawyer to look into reorganizing its debt as a way to break away from minority partner Cox Enterprises. Bruce A. Hanna, who represents the newspaper, told a federal judge Thursday that the strategy could "potentially allow The News-Journal to continue operating, thereby saving several hundred jobs."

This is an actual sweepstakes and, if you are the grand prize winner, we will fly you and a companion to New York where you will receive a free colonoscopy. You will also be given three nights' accommodation in a suite at the luxurious Loews Regency Hotel, which will include the night before you are "awarded" the colonoscopy. What should you expect if you are the lucky winner? The hardest part is the preparation the night before when you drink a laxative. This laxative is well known for declaring itself at the very moment you have called a relative or...

Yesterday's New York Times featured this story contemplating the very real possibility that there could soon be a major American city with no daily print newspaper. Richard Pérez-Peña discusses the imminent demise of The Seattle Post-Intelligencer's print edition (scheduled to cease next week). The Hearst Corporation, which owns the Post-Intelligencer, has also threatened to close The San Francisco Chronicle, which lost more than $1 million a week last year. The Hearst Corporation...founded by William Randolph Hearst...upon whom the title character of Citizen Kane is not so loosely based. Hmmm. (Cue Twilight Zone music, play video above.) OK, so instead of...

Remember when Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin accused journalist Katie Couric of "exploiting" their disastrous exchange — the one in which Palin couldn’t name some of running mate John McCain’s policies? Couric’s work obviously paid off, because the 52-year-old today received the prestigious Walter Cronkite Award for the exchange. The Baltimore Sun elaborates: "Couric, who weathered one of network TV’s most criticized anchor-desk launches when she took over from interim anchor Bob Schieffer, was named winner of the University of Southern California’s Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in TV Political Journalism for her focused and illuminating interviews with Republican vice-presidential candidate...

Wednesday, February 11, 2009, the Christian Action Network premiered Homegrown Jihad: Terrorist Camps Around the U.S. at Washington, D.C.’s Landmark Theater. The crowd of 160-175 people left the theater with their jaws dropped, only moving their mouths to thank the members of CAN for their hard work. The robust Q&A session brought only positive remarks and constructive questions about the networks of an organization known as Jamaat ul-Fuqra, a group led by a Pakistan-based cleric named Sheikh Mubarak Gilani with at least 35 radical Islamic compounds here in the United States under the name “Muslims of America.” A key feature...

If the White House and Pentagon are going to make wise decisions about what to do with the Guantanamo Bay detainees they are going to need accurate information upon which to base their new policies. Yet the single most cited “fact” last week about the terror suspects - that 61 of the men released from Gitmo have returned to fight against us - is simply not true. The number is far lower than that. And the longer “61” is used as a “talking point” by critics of the administration of President No. 44 the longer it will be before a...

The New York Times is currently putting together a book, named "Obama: The Historic Journey," which features photos and essays depicting US President-elect Barack Obama's life. The book will be published by Riverhead in February 2009. The much-awaited book will talk about Obama's journey, starting from his childhood to his historical win as the 44th President of America, reports Politico.com. The "heavily illustrated book cover[s] Barack Obama's life, from his childhood through his inauguration as the 44th president of the United States, with a final chapter that includes the inaugural address and a 32-page photo essay by 12 New York...

On a recent day, Jim Cahill strolled through the electronics department and perused the CDs at Nebraska Furniture Mart in Kansas City, Kan. Instead of buying the Slim Shady CD, he was out to steal it. Within seconds he had the disc in his pants pocket. He continued strolling through the store, but within minutes he was surrounded by guards. After a brief struggle, he was in handcuffs. But Cahill wasn’t about to head off to jail. He is the loss prevention general manager for the Omaha-based retailer and was leading a training program. Such programs are important to profitability...

When Dan Rather filed suit against CBS 14 months ago — claiming, among other things, that his former employer had commissioned a politically biased investigation into his work on a “60 Minutes” segment about President Bush’s National Guard service — the network predicted the quick and favorable dismissal of the case, which it derided as “old news.” So far, Mr. Rather has spent more than $2 million of his own money on the suit. And according to documents filed recently in court, he may be getting something for his money. Using tools unavailable to him as a reporter — including...

The Post provided a lot of good campaign coverage, but readers have been consistently critical of the lack of probing issues coverage and what they saw as a tilt toward Democrat Barack Obama. My surveys, which ended on Election Day, show that they are right on both counts. My assistant, Jean Hwang, and I have been examining Post coverage since Nov. 11 last year on issues, voters, fundraising, the candidates' backgrounds and horse-race stories on tactics, strategy and consultants. We also have looked at photos and Page 1 stories since Obama captured the nomination June 4. Numbers don't tell you...

At least one broadcast network and one Web site said Monday that they could foresee signaling to viewers early Tuesday evening which candidate appeared to have won the presidency, despite the unreliability of some early exit polls in the last presidential election. A senior vice president of CBS News, Paul Friedman, said the prospects for Barack Obama or John McCain meeting the minimum threshold of electoral votes could be clear as soon as 8 p.m. — before polls in even New York and Rhode Island close, let alone those in Texas and California. At such a moment, determined from a...

He may be columnist to the world (as Hugh Hewitt describes him each week), but Mark Steyn writes, "I'm not a 'journalist' and have never described myself as one: And, when I give speeches or appear on TV or radio and the organizers or producers send us the biographical intro in advance, my trusty assistants always insist on the removal of the word "journalist". This used to be purely for truth-in-advertising reasons - I wouldn't want audiences to get the false impression that I'd passed rigorous tests and acquired a diploma signed by Professor Miller. But lately it's been for...

It's not exactly "DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN," but some newspaper editors are pondering how to deal with a "Doonesbury" comic strip to be published the day after the election that assumes Barack Obama will win the presidency. Comic creator Garry Trudeau delivered a series of strips for next week's papers showing his characters reacting to an Obama victory. But he offered no such option in the event of a comeback by John McCain, who's trailing Obama in the polls. Trudeau's syndicator is offering papers a series of rerun strips from August. But the Obama story line is forcing some editors to...

Zogby says, "When push comes to shove this will be a landslide. You have a big middle in this election, and a big middle that is unhappy. That middle is going to tilt this election one way or another." Zogby says Obama's 4 point lead is crucial. Both former Democratic candidates John Kerry and Al Gore sharing the same number in previous elections and both lost. But can Obama keep on pace? Dick Lockwood, an Obama supporter, says "They all said it was Hillary's to lose and she lost it. Now I'm afraid to say it's Obama's to lose but...

CBS Poll: Uncommitted Voters Say Obama Won Oct. 8, 2008(CBS) Uncommitted voters named Barack Obama as the winner of the second presidential debate as well, according to a CBS News/Knowledge Networks poll. Immediately after the debate, CBS News interviewed a nationally representative sample of 516 debate watchers assembled by Knowledge Networks who were "uncommitted voters" - voters who are either undecided about who to vote for or who say they could still change their minds. Forty percent of these uncommitted debate watchers said Obama won the debate, 26 percent said John McCain won, and another 34 percent thought it was...

(NEW YORK) They scold us for “being unfair,” remind us to “ask all the candidates the same questions,” and occasionally, they boo us. From Canton to Colorado, some of the tens of thousands of people attending Sarah Palin’s rallies regularly take it upon themselves to give the media a piece of their minds. So I thought it only fair to turn the microphone around, and give a handful of rally attendees a chance to air their grievances about the way in which the media has covered the Republican vice presidential nominee. Watch the video below:

I thought Palin's speech was quite good: well-written, well delivered. And, as I said earlier, I think she's a genuinely engaging person, and comes across very well. There were just a couple of problems. One, which I have seen people notice, but which I suspect won't be a big deal for a lot of voters, is that it had very little substance. The other, which the commenters I saw on TV for some reason neglected to mention, was that she told a lot of lies. A few that stood out for me, or that I spotted in my quick run-through...

When Democrats contemplate the apocalypse these days, they have visions of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton slugging it out à la Ted Kennedy and Jimmy Carter at the 1980 convention. The campaign's current trajectory is, in fact, alarmingly similar to the one that produced that disastrous affair. Back then, Carter had built up a delegate lead with early wins in Iowa, New Hampshire, and several Southern states. But, as the primary season dragged on, Kennedy began pocketing big states and gaining momentum. Once all the voting ended and Kennedy came up short, he eyed the New York convention as a...

Some 50 delegates were reportedly poised to unite behind Barack Obama if he had won by even 1 point in Texas. He lost the popular vote by 100,000 ballots, and now we learn that 100,000 Republicans voted for Hillary Clinton, probably not because of some change in party allegiance but because they thought she would be the easier candidate to beat. This kind of strategic voting often backfires (think Ralph Nader). The Texas crossovers are winners. By helping to prolong the Democratic race, they can claim credit for weakening the eventual nominee, whoever it turns out to be. Obama has...

The Early Show did its best this morning to help Barack Obama climb out of the hole he's dug for himself with his close association with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. In a set-up segment, CBS's Dean Reynolds rhetorically asked: "the question is whether the rhetoric is so remarkable, because in African-American churches pastors often seek to rouse their congregants to self-reliance by speaking harshly about the country's troubled racial past and the need to overcome it." Nice try, but how does accusing the US government of introducing AIDS and giving black people drugs equate to a call for self-reliance? Reynolds...

I'm dancing on the top deck with a 71-year-old feminist and psychotherapist whom I've come to think of as the Twirler. We've spent two days attending seminars on The Nation magazine's Alaska cruise; we've talked about the Bush presidency and prison reform and single-payer health care. Now, at almost midnight, my fiercely intelligent and opinionated new friend is putting all the heady political talk behind her by bodily twirling. "If I start to get dizzy, then I twirl in the opposite direction," Charlotte tells me as the live band revs up its throbbing Motown beat. "I won't fall." "Good, please...

Hillary Clinton ceased to be the Democratic front-runner weeks ago, humiliatingly enough for her formerly inevitable campaign. But it was only after her drubbing in the Wisconsin primary that she became an inconvenience, the superfluous woman of Democratic politics. Among elected Democrats and the press, there is a palpable impatience with Hillary’s continued presence in the race: Won’t this lady ever leave so we can consummate our love affair with Barack Obama? Hillary’s bulwark was to be the Democratic establishment, but here was the party’s immediate past presidential nominee, John Kerry, an Obama supporter, shooing her off the stage. On...

Former CBS anchor Dan Rather has accused those he called "corporate overlords" at CBS of "working in secret collusion with the powers in Washington" to intrude into television newsrooms. Rather made the remarks as he returned to a courtroom in New York to demand that CBS release documents by a private investigator hired by the network to look into claims made in Rather's story about George W. Bush's Texas Air National Guard service. The story led to Rather's dismissal from the anchor's post and eventually from the network. CBS has claimed that the same documents will reinforce its own position...

CNN has fired producer Chez Pazienza after the network brass realized he had been blogging at his own left-wing site and several others over a period of years: In a phone interview this morning, Mr. Pazienza, 38, said he joined CNN as a senior producer in January 2004 and has consistently received positive performance evaluations of his work. He spent his first year at CNN at the network’s headquarters in Atlanta, then moved to New York to work on “CNN Daybreak,” which has since been canceled, then “American Morning,” which is shown Monday through Friday, from 6 to 9 a.m....

CONTEMPLATING the Clinton-Obama racial war, some Republicans were so excited you’d have thought Ronald Reagan had risen from the dead to slap around a welfare deadbeat. Never mind that the G.O.P. is running on empty, with no ideas beyond the incessant repetition of Reagan’s name. A battle over race-and-gender identity politics among the Democrats, with its acrid scent from the 1960s, might be just the spark for a Republican comeback. (As long as the G.O.P.’s own identity politics, over religion, don’t flare up.) Alas, these hopes faded on Tuesday night. First, the debating Democrats declared a truce, however fragile, in...

According to CNN's fancy map of South Carolina, Fred Thompson is sapping votes away from Mike Huckabee in the socially conservative north. If that's the case, Thompson probably has a smile on his face. Thompson's distaste for Huckabee has been apparent throughout the campaign. Thompson often pushes back against Huckabee at debates and regularly sends emails critiquing Huckabee's stances on immigration and taxes. Persona-wise, Huckabee is everything Thompson isn't—charming, funny, and self-effacing. Most importantly, Huckabee possesses the start power that many Republicans hoped Thompson would have in the race. Huck is bizarro Fred. Most importantly, Huckabee has stolen Thompson's base...

1. We expect promises of change from Democratic candidates, but it's disappointing to watch certain Republican candidates yield to that superficially seductive sound bite, too. It's like the global-warming freight train, which few politicians have displayed the guts and character not to board. 2. It's disappointing to watch candidates from both parties accept the premise that criticizing your opponents' records and pointing out their inconsistencies and lies is engaging in dirty politics. It is not dirty but obligatory to draw distinctions between you and your opponents. Dirty politics is distorting one's record or spreading lies about a candidate. Why do...

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - It doesn't matter to South Carolina state Republican David Hiott's colleagues that he's an avowed Fred Thompson supporter - his phone keeps ringing with pleas for him to get ready to jump ship. Hiott says he will be with Thompson "until the bitter end" of his presidential campaign. Hiott and other Thompson supporters in the early voting state say Statehouse colleagues for months have been trying to snare their support for other Republican candidates. But they're sticking with the former Tennessee senator and actor. They say Thompson's conservative credentials and foreign policy experience will gain traction...

Politico.com an upstart (but seemingly well-funded) political blog has been sticking it to Fred Thompson for weeks. So Friends of Fred are Sticking it to Politico (dot com). Please visit the site.

Former Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn, accused some of my colleagues of "journalistic malpractice" just now on Fox News Sunday. He's referring to coverage implying that Thompson said he's "not particularly interested in running for president," like this story. As our awesome ABC News off-air reporter with the Thompson campaign advised us last night, and as Jim Geraghty at National Review points out that may not be the fairest characterization of Thompson's complete remarks. The larger point Thompson seems to have been trying to make is that he's not interested in the process of running for president, but he wants to...

Confederate Yankee catches Roger Simon of the Politico making a Fred Thompson visit to an Iowa firehouse sound like it went much worse than it did. Simon describes Thompson's "sour expression" on his face, and suggests that Thompson offended the firefighters when he mentioned his "silly hat" rule. CBS News - you know CBS News, that longtime friend of bloggers - offers video, that shows a lot of laughter and good spirits all around. Come on, man. Thompson apparently makes a reference to this botched story in his latest little video from the road: "Remember, we don't raise our hands...

In this long election cycle, we may be learning as much about media bias as about the candidates. PJM’s Bob Owens has more on the questionable characterization of Fred Thompson by The Politico’s Roger Simon. Fire Chief Dan McKenzie cast more doubts on The Politico’s chief political correspondent Roger Simon’s version of events at McKenzie’s Waverly, Iowa fire station in Simon’s article “Fred Thompson: Lazy as charged.” Questions had been raised about Simon’s article based on a video of Thompson’s appearance, which seemed to show the candidate behaving in a radically different manner from the one described by The Politico...

According to The Politico, New York Post columnist and FOX News contributor Dick Morris has been secretly advising former client Mike Huckabee on his Presidential campaign. Morris claims he is acting in an entirely voluntary capacity by simply offering free advice. Keep in mind that nationally syndicated columnist George Will was pilloried by the media when it became public that he had secretly and voluntarily helped Ronald Reagan prepare for his Presidential debates in 1980. A prominent national GOP insider tells Politics1 that he believes Morris -- despite his claims to the contrary -- is paid for his services through...

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 29 (OneWorld) - U.S. war veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan have announced they're planning to descend on Washington, DC this March to testify about war crimes they committed or personally witnessed in Iraq. "The war in Iraq is not covered to its potential because of how dangerous it is for reporters to cover it," said Liam Madden, a former Marine and member of the group Iraq Veterans Against the War. "That's left a lot of misconceptions in the minds of the American public about what the true nature of military occupation looks like." Iraq Veterans Against the...

It was the Republican presidential candidates' turn to take questions from the great unwashed, and they didn't seem to have as much fun as the Democrats did. And it's not just because there was no talking snowman or Jackie Broyles and Dunlap. --snip-- Marc Ambinder (3) graded the candidates, and he proved to be pretty generous. "McCain's mix of resigned sighs, sober mien and sense of humor went over well with a crowd that seemed predisposed to be wary of him. ... Giuliani had a an 'eh' to 'poor' night. He seemed deflated. A little defensive. ... Thompson: He gets...

Remember the gay retired brigadier general who chastised Republicans for their stance on gays in the military at Wednesday's CNN/YouTube debate? Turns out Keith Kerr was packing a partisan sword. He's served as a member of an advisory team on gay and lesbian issues to the Sen. Hillary Clinton Campaign. In the words of CNN's debate crew: D'oh! And here's Anderson Cooper falling on his nonpartisan sword. So how did this slip under CNN's radar? Maybe CNN could have checked its own website. Instead, they paid for Kerr's airfare and hotel to St. Petersburg for the debate. This is a...

A while back, the L.A. Times tried to make Fred Thompson's record as a Prosecutor in Tennessee look bad. They wanted the public to get the impression that he was incompetent or that he had a bad record. Since that time, I was doubtful, but since I could not prove things one way or the other, I had to live with my doubts. Well, someone finally took the time and looked into Fred's record to see how his record really stacked up and determined that he was actually quite successful as a prosecutor. My suspicions on the accuracy of the...

There is an old hymn written by Fanny Crosby, sung at generations of camp meetings, which exclaims: "Crown Him! Crown Him! Prophet, and Priest, and King!" Since the emergence of evangelicalism as a cultural force in the 1950s, three approaches to politics, represented by three personalities, have emerged. They are the prophet, the priest and the kingmaker. The prophet has been psychologist James Dobson, who dispenses child-rearing advice on the radio from his Colorado ministry, Focus on the Family. On family issues, Dobson's counsel is moderate and broadly appealing. On politics, his tone sharpens. He rails against compromise on social-conservative...

In September, I posted another vanity (linked below) in which I observed that the historical trends in this election favored Fred Thompson. Since then, his RCP average has dropped from about 22% to 16-17%. In the more volatile Rasmussen daily tracking poll, he has also dropped to 16%, about a 10 point drop from his post announcement high. In light of the above poll numbers, is it time for me to issue a mea culpa? No. This is not at all inconsistent with the hypothesis of my previous post. Neither of the successful insurgent candidates in modern times, Reagan or...

NEW HOWARD KURTZ BOOK STIRS CONTROVERSY... DEVELOPING... WHITE HOUSE FROZE OUT COURIC FOR FIVE YEARS... PRESIDENT MISTAKENLY SHARED CLASSIFIED INFO WITH NEWS ANCHORS... DAN RATHER VOWED TO LEAK BUSH GUARD DOCS TO NEW YORK TIMES -- IF CBS SPIKED...

DAN RATHER is not riding quietly - or gracefully - into the sunset. The former CBS anchor had a long career of many highs and a few strange turns during more than a quarter century at the network. One of the most admirable qualities of Rather is the reporting credentials brought to the anchor chair. But Rather's ego sometimes got in the way of his judgment - and it did once again, last week, when he filed a $70 million lawsuit against his former employer. Rather's lawsuit alleges that he was unfairly blamed and maligned by CBS for what proved...