One of the Old Media’s favorite ways of attempting to hide the ideological track of a story is to somehow forget to mention to which party someone in the news hails or owes fealty to. In this case it is what they don’t report that misleads. This week we find a classic what-they-don’t-say story concerning the judge that blocked sections of South Carolina’s new immigration law.

For those unaware, U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel temporarily blocked segments of South Carolina’s new immigration laws because he claimed that some of its provisions impinged on federal prerogatives, things over which the state has no jurisdiction.

The South Carolina law was opposed in court by Obama’s left-wing, activist Department of Justice headed by Eric “Fast And Furious” Holder and a gaggle of civil rights groups and Judge Gergel agreed with these attackers issuing an injunction to stop implementation of the provisions in question.

The Old Media reported a lot of details in the story, of course. We learned all about who opposed the provisions, who scoffed at the injunction, in what District Judge Gergel hailed, and in some of the reports we even get to hear what Republican South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley had to say about it all. But one thing few of these news outlets seemed to report might help readers understand the decision better.

Judge Richard Mark Gergel is an Obama appointee.

So we have an Obama appointee — Eric “Fast And Furious” Holder — attacking a state trying desperately to deal with the illegal immigration problem that other Obama appointees won’t deal with and an Obama appointee — Judge Gergel — agreeing with Obama appointee Holder that the struggling state needs a rebuke.

Yet, the Old Media doesn’t see any need to tell us that Obama appointees are agreeing with Obama appointees against a Republican Governor, here? The fact that Judge Gergel is an Obama appointee isn’t relevant?

Imagine that.

Yes, it somehow slipped Politico’s notice that Gergel is an Obama appointee. The Associated Press made the little oopsie, too. Oh, and Reuters must have given their editors the week off for Christmas or something because they missed this fact. AFP missed it, too. Oh, and Bloomberg forgot to mention Gergel’s Obama connection. Naturally The New York Times didn’t bother with this little fact. Shockingly, the L.A. Times somehow neglected the fact that Gergel was an Obama man. It slipped right past the steely eye of the Atlanta Journal and Constitution. Even Fox News missed it.

Did anyone note that Judge Gergel was an Obama man? At the time I wrote this only some SC political blogs and a site called the International Business Times bothered to let its reader know that Gergel is an Obama appointee.

Now, we all know that every time we have a Republican president and one of his appointees turns in a judgment that opposes the liberal mindset, the fact that the judge is a GOP appointee is always prominent in the story.

But, gosh darn it, the fact that Judge Gergel is an appointee of the most liberal president in American history just didn’t seem relevant to the Old Media today.

It’s just a little Merry Christmas present to the Old Media’s President Obama.

Ho, ho, ho.

Every now and again I like to play “name that party.” This is the fun parlor game where you read a story about a politician that has either been indicted, arrested, or imprisoned and try to guess by the story from which party he hails. If you read the story and no political party affiliation is mentioned, 99 out of 100 times you can be sure that the troubled pol is a Democrat. However, if it is a Republican that is going to jail or to court his party usually makes the first paragraph if not the headline itself.

Well, today we have yet another edition of “name that party” going on in the Old Line State where Prince George’s County Executive Jack B. Johnson and his wife Leslie have been arrested and charged with tampering with a witness in connection with a criminal offense and destruction of evidence in a federal investigation. Johnson is a Democrat, not that the news helps you learn that little factoid.

As this is breaking news, the story has popped up on the AP, the Washington Post, Reuters, and several other sources. The stories are filled with all sorts of details about the case, what the charges are, the particulars of the crime, the names and offices of those accused, their ages, where they live… all these things fill the various stories that announce the arrest. But one tiny little detail seems to have escaped many of the news stories: the fact that Johnson is a Democrat. It seems like they just plum forgot to mention his political party.

You are shocked, I am sure.

First off, the Washington Post featured the story on its Breaking News Blog. Lots of details of the story are reported there but that one little ol’ detail concerning Johnson’s party seems to have missed the editor’s attention. That bit was mysteriously absent from the tale. The Post has another posting of updates on the story, too. It also does not mention the man’s party.

The Associated Press has a short story out on the arrests. No party mention there. Its little longer treatment also does not mention Johnson’s political affiliation.

Not surprisingly, Reuters also somehow forgot to mention that Johnson is a Democrat.

Similarly, the Maryland Gazette seemed to have a small slip in its coverage by not mentioning that Johnson is a Democrat.

So what about CNN? You guessed it. They forgot, too.

WUSA Channel 9 also forgot to mention that old “D” word.

Not every news agency “forgot” to mention that Johnson was a Democrat, to be sure. USA Today remembered it. The Baltimore Sun did, too.

Finally, even though its several shorter stories did not contain the dreaded “D” word, the Associated Press did have a full length story that mentioned Johnson’s party. Naturally, the AP employed that well known method of burying it at the end of the piece where fewer readers will see it instead of putting it at the top like they do when they are reporting on troubled Republicans.

I am sure there are others, but this was my little perusal of the media’s treatment of this story.

In any case, you can be sure that if Jack B. Johnson was “Republican Jack B. Johnson” his party affiliation would have led as the first fact of every story you’d have read on his plight.

And there you have the “name that party” game.

One of the many ways that the Associated Press lends its support to Democrats and leftists in its political reporting is often evident in its stories on political scandals. The most common assist the AP gives to Democrats is to somehow forget to mention that a politician in the news because of criminal activity or other scandals is a Democrat. Yet when any pol in the news for scandal is a Republican his party affiliation often leads the story, if it isn’t in the headline, even. Oh, it’s all accidental I’m sure, but it happens so often as to give the suspicion of a concerted effort. And today we have a great example of the AP’s penchant for covering for Democrats.

The writer is AP’s Colleen Long and on June 14 she penned two stories on separate political scandals, both of them occurring in New York. These criminal cases concern political operatives and how Long treated them is telling.

The first of Colleen Long’s stories concerns Hank Morris, a former advisor to Democrat NY State Comptroller Alan Hevesi — a scandalous figure in his own right. Morris is a long-time Democrat operative who faces 123 charges, “including enterprise corruption, securities fraud, grand larceny, bribery and money laundering, according to an indictment.” The feds are also charging him.

Here is how Long’s AP article describe Morris in its second paragraph:

Hank Morris, a once-adviser to former state comptroller Alan Hevesi, has been accused of taking kickbacks and other payments to steer billions of dollars in pension fund investments to favored companies in a “pay-to-play” scheme.

Notice how neither Morris nor Hevesi’s party is identified. This holds true for the entire story. The word Democrat does not appear.

The second story details the travails of one John Haggerty, a Republican operative accused of stealing one million dollars of state funds. Haggerty apparently conceived some scheme to “dupe” Mayor Michael Bloomberg into diverting funds to the state Independence Party, cash that eventually ended up in Haggerty’s pockets.

Here is Long’s very first paragraph.

A Republican operative was indicted Monday on charges he exploited his political reputation to swindle $1.1 million from Mayor Michael Bloomberg, claiming he would use funds to help guard against election fraud but instead buying a house, prosecutors said.

Now, going back to the first story, the one on Democrat Morris, one looks in vain for the word “Democrat” anywhere in the story. Colleen Long never once identifies criminal Morris as a long-time Democrat operative. Yet in the Haggerty story, Long calls out his party affiliation with the very first words of the story. In fact, the headline ids the party; “Republican operative in NY accused of stealing $1M.”

So, the trick is one of party amnesia when it is a Democrat involved in a scandal, but if it happens to be a troubled Republican, why the AP makes darn sure that readers are aware that he is a member of the GOP. This is what we call the “Name that Party” game. Take a story about any troubled pol in which party affiliation is wholly missing and you can be sure that the criminal pol is a Democrat.

The Associated Press covers for Democrats quite well, indeed.

(Originally posted at BigJournalism.com)
(H/T Federal Review)

Twelve-year-old war protester Frankie Hughes was arrested late Wednesday for trespassing after she allegedly refused to leave U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin’s Des Moines office.

Federal security officers told police that Gaunt was on the floor in Harkin’s office. When police went to the office, they also found Frankie sitting in a chair and refusing to leave. (Renee Lynn) Espeland (Frankie’s mother, who was also arrested later) was standing outside the office.

Espeland was told that if Frankie didn’t leave the office, she would be arrested for criminal trespass, according to the police report. Espeland allegedly told police she wasn’t going to tell Frankie to leave, and “felt it was important for her daughter to be arrested for the cause.”

Try searching the entire story. The word “Democrat” does not appear.

Now, the law is the law. When the office is closing, at some point, the protesters have to go. That said, come on, a 12 year old? Just have the police escort her out.

Say, can you imagine the outcry if this happened at the office of a Republican? It would be the lead story on every network and newspaper, instead of just non-front page stories in local newspapers in the area.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach

There isn’t a single mention, for instance, that Stanford lobbied Congress for expanded tax rules spending over $5 million in lobbying fees. There was also no mention that he donated $28,300 to Charlie Rangel’s campaign (D, NY), that he donated heavily to Democratic New York Representative Gregory Meeks, and that he sponsored multiple trips to the Caribbean for Democrat members of Congress. (Details can be found at the Wall Street Journal)

The Antigua Sun newspaper even published a 2008 photo of a beaming Barack Obama standing next to Mr. Stanford.

One has to wonder if this accused swindler had long-standing ties to Republicans if Reuters would have so easily forgotten to mention the cozy relationship to GOP officials in a story on the fellow?

Yes, it’s another episode of “Name That Party,” where our contestant is a criminal Democrat in the news that somehow, mysteriously finds the Old Media conveniently forgetting to mention that he is, indeed, a Democrat. This time it’s former Starr County, Texas Sheriff Reymundo Guerra who was handed a five-year sentence for drug trafficking this week. Guerra is the second Starr County Sheriff in a row to go to jail for corruption.

The Old Media dutifully reported this conviction, to be sure. It was reported that Guerra was up on harsher charges, how he had those reduced, it was also reported what criminal drug cartel figures from Mexico he was involved with and that Guerra was sorry for what he’d done.

Only one tiny, little part of the story was left out. Guerra was a Democrat official in a Texas county that has been controlled by Democrats for about 100 years. I guess the fact that a Democrat Law Official turned into a drug dealer isn’t news? Of course, if it should have been a Republican Sheriff turned drug dealer, why the Old Media would have led with that news.

As is always the case in these name-that-party stories, the AP had a short story on Guerra without mentioning he’s a Democrat. It made no stronger effort to set the record straight in its longer story, either.

Not to miss out on the fun, the San Antonio Express didn’t bother to mention the criminal’s party.

Likewise, KRGV TV somehow forgot to mention he was a Democrat and neither did KGBT TV.

So, another criminal Democrat goes to jail yet all the news accounts just happened to miss the fact that he’s a Democrat.

This covering for criminal Democrats happens nearly every week in the Old Media, but it still amazes me every time. The pure arrogance that the Media refuses to identify a criminal Democrat is amazing. In fact, it was just making a hero out of a criminal Democrat… you know, the murderer that just died in Massachusetts? Yeah, that criminal Democrat.

North Carolina State Senator R.C. Soles is a long time fixture in the state house in Raleigh. He is also the subject of many years of rumors and innuendo about child molesting. Recently he’s been accused of just such a crime by a young man that was 15 when Soles supposedly accosted him.

The news is full of all the relevant details of the case. The long whispered history, the warnings given local authorities and the name of the latest accuser. There is something about Senator Soles, though, that didn’t seem to make the news upon the allegations, however. The fact that Soles is a Democrat seems to have missed the attention of the NC media.

In fact, a Google search of the story finds that the media forget to mention that Soles is a Democrat about half the time.

There are also some stories of Soles’ purchase of a house to hush up one victim and allegations of all sorts of wrong doing. Unfortunately, his party seems to be left out quite a lot in these stories.

Of course, if it were a child molesting Republican in question, each story would have led with “Republican Senator accused of child molestation.”

Typical.

And now another episode of Name That Party where the news customer reads a story and tries his darndest to discern from what party a scandal plagued politician hails. We have many times said that one of the main rules of the Name That Party parlor game is that if the Old Media is talking about a troubled Democrat, often times the pol’s party is either not mentioned at all or is buried way down in the story. On the other hand, if it is a troubled Republican, why the party affiliation often leads the story if it isn’t right in the headline itself. Today we have a pair of stories that proves this axiom well.

First up is the mysterious case of Detroit City Council Member Monica Conyers (wife of Representative John Conyers) who the Associated Press reports is “snarled in bribes probe.” All the sordid details about the tale are laid out for us… except one. It seems the AP somehow forgot to mention that Monica Conyers is a Democrat.

Curiously, the AP does give a hint of our Mrs. Conyers’ affiliation by mentioning that her hubby is a Democrat. I guess we are supposed to extrapolate that she is also a Dem?

The AP alerts us to the fact that the feds have fingered Monica Conyers as “Council Member A” in a bribes case involving cash bribes handed over in the parking lots of fast-food outlets around Detroit. Still, no mention that we are dealing with a Democrat here.

In fact, this story mentions nearly half a dozen convicted or indicted Detroit politicians without ever once mentioning that any of them are Democrats. Curious that.

In typical tiresome fashion, Monica Conyers asked for prayers to God to help her in these troubled times. There are no atheists in foxholes, eh?

And now for story two:

Once again we find an AP treatment of a troubled politician in theirs headlined, “Sen. Ensign admits affair with ex-campaign staffer.”

So, how do you think the AP handles to which party our friend Mr. Ensign is affiliated? Well, let us check the very first sentence of the story to see…

LAS VEGAS – Sen. John Ensign of Nevada, a leading Republican mentioned as a potential presidential candidate, admitted Tuesday he had an extramarital affair with a woman who was a member of his campaign staff.

Gosh. It took them all the way until the eighth word of the story to peg Ensign as a Republican.

The AP must be slipping!

“I am not beholden to any party.”
California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, candidate for governor

That must be true given Steve Poizner’s history of political donations. Poizner has given, and generously at that, to both Republican and Democrat candidates for office in addition to several Democrat controlled committees, this based on he and his wife’s publicly reported accounts, anyway. Oddly, Poizner’s wife happens to be a registered Democrat who Poizner has “blamed” for many of the Democrat contributions that have his signature affixed. Such donations include: a $10,000 contribution to the Democratic National Committee on 10/02/00; $1,000 to John Forbes Kerry on 02/15/01; and a $10,000 donation he made to the ‘00 Gore/Lieberman Recount Committee.

In fact, there is quite a lot of chatter out there that seems to point to Poizner’s less than stellar Republican credentials. He has been termed everything but a conservative for the last 5 years.

Poizner himself has been eager to play down his Republican designation. For instance, Poizner once told the San Mateo County Times, “I am a frustrated moderate Republican.” Poizner seems to be a RINO poster child who is frustrated because his billion dollar fortune can’t buy him the stature, no pun intended, of the current Governor. Poizner ran for the State Assembly in a liberal Bay Area district, spent millions of dollars of his own money and still lost. He ran that race as the “model of a liberal GOPer” according to press accounts then. “Poizner’s major donations have gone to candidates who oppose equal pay for women. He has donated thousands of dollars to candidates endorsed by the National Pro-Life Council and then he sends out tons of literature pretending to be pro-choice,” wrote the San Mateo County Times (San Mateo, CA), October 22, 2004.

These days, now that he’s running for governor, he’s suddenly trying to sound more “Republican.” But past associates and his own past statements don’t seem to square well with his new rhetoric.

Here are a few examples:

• Former deputy mayor of Los Angeles and candidate for Insurance Commissioner Gary Mendoza, a moderate and a decent guy, said, “Less than one-one-hundredth of Republican primary voters supported the 2000 Gore-Lieberman recount, as did Steve Poizner, who is really a Democrat.” (The Hotline, September 16, 2005, The Daily News of Los Angeles, June 26, 2005)
• Poizner has been called an “Arnold Republican,” a label that implies moderate social policies compared to the traditional party platform. (The Stanford Daily October 28, 2004)
• “I don’t think either party in Sacramento does a very good job of representing people like me.” (The Stanford Daily October 28, 2004)

All this explains why he has supported several “open primary” proposals (which he now conveniently opposes) in the past. Perhaps he felt there weren’t enough people like him in the party? Does California need more people like him in the GOP? After all, it’s the Republican party – not the RINO party!

California needs a real Republican alternative to Democrats and the Arnold Republicans. Is Steve Poizner a real Republican?

It’s been a little while since we had a good “Name that Party” story, but leave it to corruption plagued Democrats and their willing accomplices in the Old Media to always find some time in their busy schedules to give us an opportunity to play our favorite game. This time it is a former Speaker of the House in Massachusetts who, along with a cadre of his pals, was indicted on corruption charges. Naturally, the party affiliation is mysteriously absent from many of the stories.

It seems that ex-Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, who resigned from the House back in January at the outset of this scandal, and three “Beacon Hill power brokers” have been indicted on corruption charges involving mishandled software contracts. Of course, DiMasi is a leading Democrat in the state, but you sure wouldn’t know that from any of the reports.

Starting out with one of the AP’s short treatments, we find out about the federal indictment, those who are involved, the fact that an email was damning evidence, even that DiMasi sported the nickname “Coach.” But nothing concerning his party is offered. (To be fair, I did find a longer AP story where his party was mentioned but only once.)

UPI also seemed to miss the party mention, just as The New York Times did. Not surprisingly, WBUR, a Mass. NPR station, along with News Channel 10 also missed the party mention.

The Boston Herald did a fairly long story without once finding room to publish DiMasi’s party affiliation. The Herald also had a shorter piece that also neglected to inform readers of the party to which DiMasi belongs.

NECN.com (New England Cable News) also did a few posts without mentioning the fact that DiMasi is a Democrat. (Here is one, and a second.)

The one in the Boston Globe is somewhat ingenious in that it does mention the word Democrat, but never applies it to those indicted. The ingenious thing is that the Globe story uses the word Democrat by connecting it to a Democrat that is saying how he hopes that corruption will soon be eliminated and how his fellows are “95 percent” clean of corruption. As we know it is a Democrat scandal, yet here is the Globe making Democrats out to be the “concerned” party and the party of reform. And when the Globe mentions the Republicans it is to say that they are but trying to make political hay over the issue.

So, according to the Globe, Republicans are just playing politics while a Democrat is positioning himself as the aggrieved party. It’s a pretty outrageous sleight of hand I think!

Finally, kudos to The Wall Street Journal that was able to find room to mention that DiMasi is a Democrat even in its small four paragraph story. If the Journal can fit it into such a small story, why can’t the others?

(Photo credit: masslive.com)