Tag: fair and balanced

(from FactCheck)

Summary 

We found some puffery in President Bush’s State of the Union address. He  proposed a 20 per cent cut in gasoline use, which turns out to be only an 11 per cent decrease from current levels. The President claimed to have cut the federal deficit in half, which hasn’t quite happened yet. He trumpeted the 7.2 million jobs created since the worst of the 2003 job slump, ignoring the 2.7 million jobs lost during the first part of his tenure. And once again Bush spoke of “energy independence,” though the nation’s dependence on imported oil has grown steadily since Bush took office despite all the talk and enactment of his energy legislation.

Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia, in a nine-minute response from the Democrats, also chose his data selectively. Trying to put a gloomy cast on a generally upbeat economy, he claimed that worker wages “are at all-time lows as a percentage of national wealth.” Webb would have been more accurate had he said “national income” rather than “wealth,” but it’s true that real wages (after inflation) are rising nicely after a long stagnation.

Can the Democrats’ bill bring lower drug prices? Don’t count on it.

January 17, 2007 

Summary 

Democrats are overselling their Medicare prescription drug bill. They claim it will bring about big price cuts for medication while Medicare experts say it won’t. Republicans have been equally misleading, describing the bill as a system of severe price controls, which it isn’t.

The fact is that the bill would do little more than require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to talk to drug companies about granting discounts. It specifically denies him the bargaining leverage of paying only for some drugs and not others.

(from FactCheck.org)

The Liberal Fucking Media (LFM) is at it again, trying to swerve voters toward the Left. They’re always at it. Always. You have to watch them like hawks. But the truth of the matter is, they don’t even have the courage of their convictions, hiding behind the facade of “fair and balanced.”

Here’s CNN reporting on Voting Machine Error. Notice how they don’t even have the guts to say which way the machines are “erroring.” But they are out to scare Conservative voters! Don’t vote, Conservative Right Wingers! The machines will fuck up and your vote won’t count!

No doubt CNN is pretending to stay fair and balanced by not blaming Democrats for this. After all, we all know who’s responsible for voter fraud. Those cowardly, traiterous Liberals! How dare they pretend to be responsible journalists, trying to remain neutral on this all important day of keeping Republicans in charge of Congress!

Meanwhile, the Homestead of Fair and Balanced, Fox News is reporting THE MUTHAFUCKIN TRUTH Y’ALL! Take a look here where Fox News reports what’s really happening on election day. Here are some quotes:

In New Jersey, Republican Tom Kean Jr.’s campaign office was reportedly vandalized. A chain and padlock was placed on the front door and keys were broken off in the locks at the side entrances.

“It appears the Democrats have already resorted to Election Day dirty tricks,” said Kean campaign manager Evan Kozlow, who said the “desperate ploys” will not prevent the campaign “from informing voters that Bob Menendez is under federal criminal investigation and is unfit to serve in the United States Senate.”

That’s damn right!!! Fox News is tellin’ it like it is! Here’s more!

Graffiti that included a Communist-style hammer and sickle along with the name of Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., was spray-painted on an overpass and a department store outside Springfield. Weldon’s campaign accused backers of Democratic challenger Joe Sestak.

“Sestak supporters have brought negative campaigning to a new low,” charged Michael Puppio, chairman of the Weldon Victory Committee. “This is an affront to local residents who work so hard to keep our community clean.”

Yes!!! Those damn Liberals!!! We know they did it! We have evidence they did it!

And:

In New Jersey, voters in at least seven jurisdictions attempting to vote for Republican Kean and found their machines “locked” for Menendez, according to GOP Committee attorney Mark Sheridan, who called it a “disturbing and developing trend” emerging at the polls.

Goddammit!!! Those damn Democrats! They’re at it again, trying to cheat the machines!!!

At least Fox News was honest enough not to report any kind of mishandling of votes by Republicans! We don’t need any of that kind of influence going out.

And, of course, Fox News is not reporting about those dirty trick Republicans (they aren’t real Republicans; just like Catholics aren’t real Christians) who are handing out fake voting guides for Democrats. All printed up, mailed and pretty. Because, you know, individuals have that kind of money to spend… not political parties.

Nor are they commenting on GOP members intimidating Democratic voters over the phone. Again, these could not be real Republicans.

… hm… I think I’ll start calling them “Catholic Republicans.” Nah, that’ll only make sense to me.

So here again is proof positive that the LFM is at it again. Trying to swerve and spin election day to their favor.

When will they ever learn?

____

Your humble reporter would like to point out that this morning, he did not vote for either Democrat or Republican. He voted Libertarian which means his vote was immediately squashed by the “fair and balanced” Electoral College.

Thank you.

Congressman agreed to pay ex-mistress about $500,000

ALLENTOWN, Pennsylvania: A Republican congressman accused of abusing his ex-mistress agreed to pay her about $500,000 in a settlement last year that contained a powerful incentive for her to keep quiet until after election day, a person familiar with the terms of the deal told The Associated Press.

___

Clinton was impeached for having a mistress.
Where is all that Republican moral outrage now?

(from Fact Check)

Summary

Gauging by the attack ads flowing from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the party’s House contenders are running against Exxon, Pfizer and Bush. The ads tie Republican House candidates to unpopular industries and an unpopular President. Some of these ads are exaggerations.

At times DCCC ads run completely off the rails of factual accuracy. One falsely implies that an Illinois candidate tried to ban Dr. Seuss books from schools. Another correctly states that an Ohio candidate was investigated “for abusing her position,” but fails to mention that the investigation found “no substance” to the allegation. Others claim Republicans voted to “raid the Social Security trust fund,” a bit of misleading nonsense we’ve noted previously.

What follows is our analysis of 143 ads from the DCCC that have appeared since Labor Day, nearly all of them attack ads. For our take on ads from the DCCC’s counterpart, the National Republican Congressional Committee, see the article we posted Oct. 27.

Keith Olbermann gives us a real demonstration of “waterboarding” as demonstrated by military personnel.

Now, here’s the deal. Waterboarding is not allowed by the US Military Code. It is not allowed by Federal Law. It is not allowed by International Law.

Except the President just signed a bill that says he defines what torture is and he believes that waterboarding does not fall under his definition of “torture.”

Watch the video. If you can honestly say “that isn’t torture,” then I don’t know what else can be said to you.

For a longer video on the subject (as well as context to all of this), click below.

(from Fact Check)

Summary

Democrats get no points for originality on this one, and demerits for lack of honesty. In half a dozen ads they accuse a number of GOP House incumbents of voting repeatedly to “raid the Social Security Trust Fund.”

That line was bunk when Republicans used it against Democratic candidates in the past, and it’s bunk now. One leading Social Security expert called it “nonsense” as far back as 1999, and that still holds.

The ads refer to votes that don’t directly affect Social Security at all. They turn out to be votes in favor of annual budget resolutions setting targets for revenue and appropriations. Current Social Security benefits aren’t affected, and the trust fund builds up binding IOUs just the same whether the overall budget is in deficit, balanced or in surplus.

(from FactCheck.org)

Summary

Well over a dozen Democratic ads claim incumbent GOP lawmakers voted against benefits and funding for the nation’s military.The Republicans are accused variously of opposing a $1,500 bonus, expanded health care, trauma care, and job assistance for troops. Some of the ads are false. The rest are true, but don’t tell the whole story.

The ads stop short of telling voters that National Guard and Reservists already get the same healthcare coverage as active-duty troops while they are on active duty and for a considerable time before and afterward. They also fail to mention that the maximum death benefit for troops had already been doubled the previous year, that the increase proposed in trauma care would have been only a small boost to an already significant funding amount, and that job assistance for troops already exists.

Here is Fox News anchor John Gibson talking to two members of our government. The first is a Democrat and the second is a Republican. Watch both, compare them. Compare how many times Gibson interrupts and attacks the Democrat and then watch how many softball questions he tosses to the Republican.

Compare the questions. Compre the tone. Compare the interruptions.

And when you are done, tell me that Fox “NEWS” is Fair and Balanced.

Democrat:

Republican:

Summary
(from Fact Check)

Former President Bill Clinton says California’s Proposition 87 will help “save the planet” and Al Gore says it’s the one thing the state can do to “free us from foreign oil.” One ad urging a “yes” vote says it will bring “cheaper fuels for our cars, trucks and SUVs.”

On the other side, a campaign financed mostly by oil companies says it would mean more foreign oil, higher gasoline prices, and fewer tax dollars going to pay for firemen and other public safety officials.

Both sides are overselling. Stripping out the hype and hooey, we find the measure would impose an additional $4 billion in taxes on the state’s oil producers over an uncertain number of years, with uncertain results. The measure would set aside the money for research and development of alternative energy and for consumer subsidies. The results, however, can’t be guaranteed, or even foreseen with any certainty.