More examples of extreme media bias: Trump and Palin told not to come to funeral, so the media has these bizarre headlines

President Trump and Sarah Palin were bizarrely told not to come to John McCain's funeral. It is one thing not to have someone in the front row, but to tell them not to show up for the funeral is just petty. Sarah Palin has never said a bad word about McCain. What was her crime? So what were they supposed to do? Trump went to play golf.

McCain's career was marked by pettiness. If you feel wronged by someone as McCain obviously is by Trump, take it out on Trump. And McCain did so in pretty despicable ways such as sending an aide to London to pick up the famous dossier filled with fake information and give it to Comey. But out of spite, McCain broke his promise to his voters to repeal Obamacare. That didn't just hurt Trump it hurt all Americans. Where is the honor in that?

The media just can't even try to be slightly balanced. Here are some of the headlines in the media today.

McCain defends Sarah Palin

McCain clearly defends his choice of Palin for his VP pick.

Sen. John McCain last week gave a full-throated defense of his politically risky pick of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate in the 2008 presidential race, suggesting that he may even invite her to Arizona to help him campaign for re-election to a fifth term.

Speaking Thursday at a Phoenix news conference, McCain, R-Ariz., pushed back hard at a new book that claims his campaign's vetting of the little-known vice-presidential prospect was "so hasty and haphazard it barely merited the name." The book, "Game Change," was written by journalists John Heilemann of New York magazine and Mark Halperin of Time.

"It was thorough, and it was complete, and I am so proud that Sarah Palin agreed to be my running mate," he said in response to a question about the vetting. "And the facts are stubborn things, as Ronald Reagan used to say. The fact is that it energized our party. It gave us a very much-needed impetus, and Sarah Palin's popularity continues very strongly to this day. And the hysterical attacks from the liberal left are ample indication of the threat that she poses to the liberal left and especially the feminist, radical-left movement in this country." . . .

John Fund's list of mistakes made by the McCain Campaign

John Fund wrote up this list at the WSJ's Political Diary:

Most everyone will cite the candidate's sudden decision during September's financial crisis to suspend his campaign and rush to Washington, D.C., where he proved an ineffective stage manager for Congressional Republicans leery of the first bailout package.

A survey of Republican strategists and officials yielded the following runner-up contenders for worst campaign failure:

1) Sarah Palin's handling by the McCain staff was abysmal, even if all the stories about her alleged flightiness were true. She was carefully held back from media interviews, then made her debut in a shaky interview with ABC's Charlie Gibson. Then it was decided to have her sit down next with CBS's Katie Couric, whose network was given freedom to edit and promote the interview in such a way as to cause her maximum embarrassment.

2) The McCain campaign never had an effective get-out-the-vote effort. When Republican National Committee officials met with McCain staffmembers in May, they were shocked that McCain aides had little interest in the RNC's vaunted voter contact list. McCain representatives assured RNC officials that the election wouldn't be won with Republicans, but with independents and moderates.

In the end, the McCain campaign stripped away funding for its get-out-the-vote efforts in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania and replaced them with high-cost TV ads. The results were not good. Mr. Obama romped to a solid 55% victory in the Keystone State.

3) John McCain himself took off the table the option of airing TV ads critical of Mr. Obama's association with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Former Democratic consultants Dick Morris and Bob Beckel both agree that Mr. McCain unwisely and artificially circumscribed his campaign. "The Wright issue could have been framed as a judgment issue rather than as a racial issue," Mr. Beckel told me. "But they boxed themselves in only to discover that by comparison with 2004, there were few if any outside groups running independent ad campaigns critical of Mr. Obama's history and record." . . .

"Obama Maintains Overall Swing State Advertising Lead"

McCain waited until right before the election to use his very limited advertising budget. Yet, even still Obama had more money to spend on advertising.

Nielsen just posted an updated analysis of Presidential advertising in the seven key swing states: Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia:

During the final weekend preceding the presidential election, Sen. Barack Obama ran 77% more TV ads than Sen. John McCain (5,947 vs. 3,358) in seven key swing states: Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
McCain, however, showed a much larger percentage increase in TV advertising from the previous weekend (Friday October 24 thru Sunday, October 26) to this past weekend (Friday, October 31 thru Sunday, November 2). McCain bumped his TV ad units up by 76% overall in the seven battleground states Nielsen tracked, while Obama increased his advertising in those states by just 3% over the previous weekend.
To date, both McCain and Obama have advertised most heavily in Florida. Obama ran 24,834 ads in the state between October 6 and November 2, outpacing McCain’s 8,599 ads by almost 189%.
Between October 6 and November 2, Obama placed 135% more ad units (80,504 vs. 34,179) than McCain in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
(Note: this data includes national and local ads seen in these states, as well as syndicated advertising. Local cable ads are not included. Nielsen’s ad unit data shows preliminary commercial occurrences and may fluctuate from day to day, as data is updated.)

Zogby Poll Puts McCain ahead by one percentage point

You can find a summary of Zogby's most recent poll here:

Half of Zogby's current national poll average was taken after Obama's infomercial ... and here are his preliminary findings.

No evidence that Obama benefited from the infomercial.
Obama's support dropped 1.1%, McCain's gained 0.8%.
The last day of polling had McCain winning 48% to 47%. Zogby cautions us to wait until tomorrow to see if McCain really has traction.
Pollster John Zogby: "Is McCain making a move? The three-day average holds steady, but McCain outpolled Obama today, 48% to 47%. He is beginning to cut into Obama's lead among independents, is now leading among blue collar voters, has strengthened his lead among investors and among men, and is walloping Obama among NASCAR voters. Joe the Plumber may get his license after all. "Obama's lead among women declined, and it looks like it is occurring because McCain is solidifying the support of conservative women, which is something we saw last time McCain picked up in the polls. If McCain has a good day tomorrow, we will eliminate Obama's good day three days ago, and we could really see some tightening in this rolling average. But for now, hold on."

The GopTrust.com's ads that are running in swing states

These are hard hitting themes. Anyway, you can find more of a discussion of their ads here.

The Campaign and the Gun Control Issue

While Simon is a strong Obama supporter, he might be right a question that I have wondered about. In any case, it is something that I hope the voters understand themselves.

On guns, McCain misses the mark
By Roger Simon
Chief Political Columnist
Politico.com
October 29, 2008

Guns are a potent force in American politics ... But has McCain really exploited this? ... considering that the McCain/Palin ticket is now battling for its life in small town and rural America, you would think the McCain campaign would be out there talking about guns every day.

From the Washington Times.

Gun owners fret Obama White House
Voting bloc has 'deep-seated' concerns
By Jennifer Harper
Reporter
The Washington Times
October 30, 2008
Quoting Richard Pearson
Executive director
Illinois State Rifle Association
"If the economy is down, and gun sales are up, it shows you just how deep-seated the concern is out there about the situation. Most gun owners at least until recently have been misled by Senator Obama. Though he claims to be an advocate for the Second Amendment, his voting record in the Illinois Senate says otherwise. He voted for a bill that would ban nearly every hunting rifle, shotgun and target rifle owned by Illinois citizens ... His campaign has done a good job burying his take on firearms."

So why wasn't the boy's father so embarrassed that he couldn't show up at the neighbor's dorr

I wish that I had a degree in electrical engineering. It would be nice to know who is taking my yard signs.

Shawn Turschak of Chapel Hill was tired of someone stealing McCain-Palin campaign signs from his yard.

So the man with a degree in electrical engineering hooked up a third sign to a power source for an electric pet fence Monday. Turschak also put up a surveillance camera.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reports that Tuesday, a 9-year-old boy with an Obama-Biden sign grabbed the McCain-Palin sign and got a jolt.

The boy's father, Andrew Noble, then showed up at the Turschak's door, upset his son had been shocked. Soon an Orange County sheriff's deputy also showed up at the Turschak's home.

Noble says his son just wanted to see how the sign was put together. Turschak says the boy intended to swap out the signs.

Sheriff Lindy Pendergrass said he doesn't plan to file charges.

Why did Ohio public officials start pulling various records for "Joe the Plumber" after the 3rd presidential debate?

ABC NEWS has this story:

The Columbus Dispatch reports that "state and local officials are investigating if state and law-enforcement computer systems were illegally accessed when they were tapped for personal information about 'Joe the Plumber,'" the nickname of Joe Wurzelbacher.

"Public records requested by The Dispatch disclose that information on Wurzelbacher's driver's license or his sport-utility vehicle was pulled from the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles database three times shortly after the debate. Information on Wurzelbacher was accessed by accounts assigned to the office of Ohio Attorney General Nancy H. Rogers, the Cuyahoga County Child Support Enforcement Agency and the Toledo Police Department. It has not been determined who checked on Wurzelbacher, or why. Direct access to driver's license and vehicle registration information from BMV computers is restricted to legitimate law enforcement and government business." . . .

"In light of all of the allegations that are going on all over the country of voter fraud," Giuliani said, "to have this revelation also it seems to me to be something that is of really great concern to all of us."

"All Joe the Plumber did is ask a question," Giuliani said, giggling. "That should not open American citizens to having -- if this happened -- their private records probed because of some sort of political retribution. And if this is the way an Obama administration is going to conduct itself, the American people should know this before the fact."

Obama outspending McCain on advertising by more than 4 to 1

It is amazing that McCain is still in the race with this large of a difference in advertising.

Obama, the Democratic candidate, is now running at least four times as much advertising nationwide as his Republican rival, John McCain, according to CMAG, a service that monitors political advertising. That difference is even larger in several closely contested states.

The huge gap has been made possible by Obama's decision to opt out of the federal campaign finance system, which gives presidential nominees a dollar for every dollar they raise but limits to $84 million the amount they can spend between their party convention and Election Day. McCain is participating in the system. . . .

The New York Times goes after "Joe the Plumber"

Supposedly, Joe is neither a plumber nor "Joe." From the NY Times:

Turns out that “Joe the Plumber,” as he became nationally known when Senator John McCain made him a theme at Wednesday night’s third and final presidential debate, may run a plumbing business but he is not a licensed plumber. His full name is Samuel J. Wurzelbacher. And he owes a bit in back taxes. . . .

Note that the NY Times can't even write out his name as "Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher." He also doesn't need a plumber's license until he gets his own shop, but that is what he does for a living, he does the work of a plumber.

Note also how Senator Joe Biden had to also say to Jay Leno that Joe was not a real plumber.

How Obama and McCain run their campaigns

How two campaigns are run. My guess is that the Obama campaign feels that they can get away with a lot because the press cares so much for him, but in any case since Obama says that you can judge his managerial abilities by looking at his campaign, this might be useful to look at.

The Obama aides who deal with the national reporters on the campaign plane are often overwhelmed, overworked and un-informed about where, when, why or how the candidate is moving about. Baggage calls are preposterously early with the explanation that it's all for security reasons.

If so, I would love to have someone from Obama's campaign explain why the entire press corps, the Secret Service, and the local police idled for two hours in a Miami hotel parking lot recently because there was nothing to do and nowhere to go. It was not an isolated case.

The national headquarters in Chicago airily dismisses complaints from journalists wondering why a schedule cannot be printed up or at least e-mailed in time to make coverage plans. Nor is there much sympathy for those of us who report for a newscast that airs in the early evening hours. Our shows place a premium on live reporting from the scene of campaign events. But this campaign can often be found in the air and flying around at the time the "CBS Evening News with Katie Couric" is broadcast. I suspect there is a feeling within the Obama campaign that the broadcast networks are less influential in the age of the internet and thus needn't be accomodated as in the days of yore. Even if it's true, they are only hurting themselves by dissing audiences that run in the tens of millions every night.

The McCain folks are more helpful and generally friendly. The schedules are printed on actual books you can hold in your hand, read, and then plan accordingly. The press aides are more knowledgeable and useful to us in the news media. The events are designed with a better eye, and for the simple needs of the press corps. When he is available, John McCain is friendly and loquacious. Obama holds news conferences, but seldom banters with the reporters who've been following him for thousands of miles around the country. Go figure.

The McCain campaign plane is better than Obama's, which is cramped, uncomfortable and smells terrible most of the time. Somehow the McCain folks manage to keep their charter clean, even where the press is seated.

The other day in Albuquerque, N.M., the reporters were given almost no time to file their reports after McCain spoke. It was an important, aggressive speech, lambasting Obama's past associations. When we asked for more time to write up his remarks and prepare our reports, the campaign readily agreed to it. They understood.

Similar requests are often denied or ignored by the Obama campaign aides, apparently terrified that the candidate may have to wait 20 minutes to allow reporters to chronicle what he's just said. It's made all the more maddening when we are rushed to our buses only to sit and wait for 30 minutes or more because nobody seems to know when Obama is actually on the move. . . .

Presidential Candidate Spending Plans

Here the National Taxpayer's Union estimates for McCain (+$92 Billion/year) and Obama (+$293 Billion/year). A $200 billion difference in spending is pretty big difference.

Economists for McCain

Here is a list of 460 economists who support John McCain (there are apparently 470, but ten names haven't been added yet).

Big Clinton Supporter and Fundraiser explains why She is supporting McCain/Palin

I would like to see CNN interview Obama supporters the same way.

New piece in Philly Inquirer: McCain a Bush clone? These numbers dispute that

Here is the piece that I have today in the Philly Inquirer. It starts like this:

Does John McCain represent a third Bush term? The Obama campaign claims the two are almost indistinguishable. It was the mantra during the Democratic convention, and it is the theme of new ads Barack Obama is running. The ads claim that McCain is "no maverick when he votes with Bush 90 percent of the time."

This week Obama has begun a constant refrain that there is "not a dime worth of difference" between Bush's and McCain's views. It is a consistent theme of Democratic pundits on talk shows.

Is this the same McCain who drove Republicans nuts on campaign finance, the environment, taxes, torture, immigration and more? Where has McCain not crossed swords with his own party?

As it's being used, the 90 percent figure, from Congressional Quarterly, is nonsensical. As Washington Post congressional reporter Jonathan Weisman explained, "The vast majority of those votes are procedural, and virtually every member of Congress votes with his or her leadership on procedural motions."

Obama might want to be a little careful with these attacks, as the same measure has him voting with Democrats 97 percent of the time.

Fortunately, a number of organizations on the left and right provide useful evaluations on how congressmen and senators vote each year. These conservative and liberal groups pick the votes they care about most and figure out how often lawmakers match up with their positions. . . .

Brit Hume's Special Report lead with a story on my piece during his "Political Grapevine" segment.

My piece made it to the top section of Google News today (see highlighted line in blue).

The piece was the most emailed article in the Philadelphia Inquirer on Friday.

It was the second most viewed article in the newspaper and the most viewed in the opinion section.

This is pretty funny: Obama outraged

From the Politico:

Obama outraged at being accused of not supporting something he doesn't support
Obama, on the trail in New Mexico, had this to say of McCain:

"And today he accused me of not supporting what the Treasury and the Federal Reserve Bank did with AIG despite no evidence whatsoever that that’s what I had said."

To recap, when I wrote earlier today that Obama supported the bailout, I quickly was instructed by his staff that this was not the case. He just didn't oppose it, I was told.

Now he's so adamant about not opposing the Fed's move that he's complaining about McCain's portrayal.

Where, I wonder, is the line between not opposing and, ya know, supporting.

Obama Campaign Out of Control on Completely Outrageous Ad to Hispanics

Will the media roundly condemn this outrageous ad? Will the media condemn it as fanning the flames of racism? This from ABC:

Obama's ad features a narrator saying: "They want us to forget the insults we’ve put up with…the intolerance…they made us feel marginalized in this country we love so much."

The screen then shows these two quotes from Limbaugh:

“…stupid and unskilled Mexicans”
—Rush Limbaugh

"You shut your mouth or you get out!”
—Rush Limbaugh

The narrator then says, “John McCain and his Republican friends have two faces. One that says lies just to get our vote…and another, even worse, that continues the policies of George Bush that put special interests ahead of working families. John McCain…more of the same old Republican tricks.”

First of all, tying Sen. McCain – especially on the issue of immigration reform – to Limbaugh is unfair.

Limbaugh opposed McCain on that issue. Vociferously. And in a larger sense, it’s unfair to link McCain to Limbaugh on a host of issues since Limbaugh, as any even occasional listener of his knows, doesn’t particularly care for McCain.

Second, the quotes of Limbaugh’s are out of context.

Has Obama gone too far?

Obama's new ad states:

"[McCain] admits he still doesn't know how to use a computer, can't send an e-mail"

Seems kind of damning doesn't it? The person who might be the next president of the US can't use email. Well, it turns out that there is a good reason why he can't:

McCain gets emotional at the mention of military families needing food stamps or veterans lacking health care. The outrage comes from inside: McCain's severe war injuries prevent him from combing his hair, typing on a keyboard, or tying his shoes.

Or this:

At 63, he is the oldest of the bunch and because of his war injuries, he is limited in his ability to wield a keyboard.

This interview in the NY Times makes it look like he can use the mouse if not the keyboard.

Q: What websites if any do you look at regularly?

Mr. McCain: Brooke and Mark show me Drudge, obviously, everybody watches, for better or for worse, Drudge. Sometimes I look at Politico. Sometimes RealPolitics, sometimes.

(Mrs. McCain and Ms. Buchanan both interject: “Meagan’s blog!”)

Mr. McCain: Excuse me, Meagan’s blog. And we also look at the blogs from Michael and from you that may not be in the newspaper, that are just part of your blog.

So it appears as if Obama is not only attacking someone who is crippled from old war injuries but it is also wrong because he does have some knowledge of the web.


UPDATE: I just did a Google news search on all this at 1:40 PM EDT. Using the terms "Obama ad McCain computer" produces 4804 hits over the last day. Using the terms "Obama ad McCain computer vietnam" produces 256 hits.



Howard Kurtz has a discussion here. The LA Times blog mentions the issue here, with a note about McCain's war injuries.

Dems starting to worry about the November Elections

Some amazing quotes in the Financial Times:

Democratic jitters about the US presidential race have spread to Capitol Hill, where some members of Congress are worried that Barack Obama’s faltering campaign could hurt their chances of re-election.

Party leaders have been hoping to strengthen Democratic control of the House and Senate in November, but John McCain’s jump in the polls has stoked fears of a Republican resurgence. . . .

“There is a growing sense of doom among Democrats I have spoken to . . . People are going crazy, telling the campaign ‘you’ve got to do something’.” . . .