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The Politico: Rightwing Spin Machine (pt. 3)
Last week, I wrote about how Politico is Trojan Horse "journalism":
Obama stalls in public polling
By DAVID PAUL KUHN | 8/6/08 4:48 AM
He should have a healthy lead. Yet in poll after poll, Obama conspicuously fails to cross the 50-percent threshold.
They pretend to be an inside baseball type news org, but are really closely tied to the Republicans. Their slanted, slanted coverage shows this very clearly.
Well the rightwing GOP mouthpiece Politico is at it again. Their top story today:
7 worrisome signs for Obama
By
GLENN THRUSH | 8/11/08 4:29 AM
In a year where the fundamentals strongly favor a Democrat, their
candidate has yet to pull away. Here are seven reasons for Obama to
worry.
Virginia is tied, a traditional solid red state turned "swing state", yet Obama is the one with worrisome problems??
The big problem is that TPM and other media outlets routinely treat Politico as some independent news organization. It is no such thing.
An astute commenter pointed this out:
"This Washington Post article -- entitled "The Bank of Dad" --
details how Robert Allbritton's entire career was shaped and molded by
his father, who handed him everything (including the money he is now
using to fund The Politico). Joe Allbritton -- who is Texan -- has all
sorts of close ties to key Republican power centers, including the Bush
family:He donated the portrait of Reagan that hangs in the White House.
Former president George H.W. Bush has attended Allbritton's
post-Alfalfa brunch. When George W. Bush's inaugural parade passed the
Riggs branch on Pennsylvania Avenue, he spotted Allbritton and said,
"Hey Joe, how are you doing?"
And Salon.com correctly identified Politico as a rightwing cesspool:
I once thought that Politico would be a pernicious new addition to our rotted media culture. Instead, it actually provides a valuable service by packing every destructive and corrupt journalisticWhen will TPM and other news outlets figure it out: Politico is nothing other than an RNC spin machine. Every single word is propaganda. Quote it only as you would quote Karl Rove himself.
attribute, in its most vivid form, into one single cesspool.
Comments (14)
Using one single article as proof of bias is unwise.
Many Politico articles have highlighted McCain's anger issues, his ineffective campaign, criticism of his ads, etc.
In other occasions, the site praises McCain. Sometimes it praises Obama. You can't tell us that you counted how many pieces were pro-this or that.
Give us a representative sample of not cherry-picked articles before reaching a conclusion.
August 11, 2008 5:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Sometimes it praises Obama."
When exactly? I haven't seen anything amounting to praise of Obama, ever.
I've been reading the site for over a year and it is consistently biased. Glen Greenwald agrees. The financial information cited above points to the reason.
As for "cherry picking" I leave that to the Politico itself which of all the news of the day chooses it's big headline to blast out. And inevitably, always, it is a doomsday report of Obama's troubles and/or McCain's advisor's smearing and blustering.
August 11, 2008 6:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
How's this for a representative sample: Check out their "profile" of John McCain today. They'll be doing one on Obama, and I hope you'll compare them carefully. O, yeah, the McCain prof was written by John Fortier, research fellow at the good 'Ol American Enterprise Institute, so you just know it's Fair & Balanced(tm). Only the Politico would try to pass this blatant bit of GOP fellatio off as "journalism"
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12448.html
yes, I haven't figured out the link function, or the avatar thing yet. If anyone has a link to a good TPM faq, plz lemme know....
August 12, 2008 9:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sadly, like it or not, The Politico has become a major force that has to be taken seriously in American politics. Even international journalists have acknowledged this.
I've been a member of that site since inception, and it's mind boggling the types of rabid nut jobs that pollute their feedback threads. The hoards of global warming deniers and those pushing the Obama as Anti-Christ meme, quoting the book of Revelations; goes from grotesque to nauseating.
Interestingly, every time an article appears that even remotely paints Obama positively, hundreds of these hacks line up the comments section with accusations that the Politico is on the bandwagon for Obama and is anti-McCain.
August 12, 2008 7:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
Excellent point, arias. The readership is probably a clue to the political orientation of the site.
The rabid ultra-rightist illiterates that flock to the Politico boards are almost proof in and of itself of just how crappy the Politico is. (Kordo's example of having an American Enterprise Institute clown write a bio of McCain, and passing it off as "journalism" is case in point)
Maybe we can't make the Politico go away, sort of like Drudge, but we can unmask its rightwing loyalties. No one is under any illusion that Matt Drudge is an impartial independent, or that he has ethical or journalistic standards. At least Drudge doesn't pretend to be a "journalist". Politico is just as much a rightwing parrot as Drudge, yet pretends otherwise.
August 12, 2008 10:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
This is great. Whining has worked so well for Democrats in recent elections.
August 12, 2008 11:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Whining" about so-called "liberal media" has indeed worked great for the rightwing. It's called working the refs.
August 12, 2008 4:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bush's press conference, February 14, 2007:
THE PRESIDENT: Michael. Michael, who do you work for?
MIKE ALLEN, The Politico: Mr. President, I work for Politico.com.
THE PRESIDENT: Pardon me? Politico.com?
ALLEN: Yes, sir. Today.
THE PRESIDENT: You want a moment to explain to the American people exactly what --
ALLEN: Mr. President, thank you for the question.
THE PRESIDENT: Quit being so evasive.
GREGORY: You should read it.
THE PRESIDENT: Is it good? You like it? David Gregory likes it. I can see the making of a testimonial. Anyway, go ahead, please.
August 12, 2008 12:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Politico is about as fair and balanced as Alberto Gonzales. The only thing that separates it from Fox News is that Politico doesn't feature a bevy of big-breasted, large mouthed blondes for visual impact.
August 12, 2008 12:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
If it walks like a duck and talk like a duck it is a duck. I thought Politico was right wing neocon now I am sure of it. I stopped linking in several months ago. I am now glad I did. I and a lot of blogers tend to inadvertently promote sites by simply sharing articles. Politico has not been around too long--they have now revealed their real motive-"GET McCain Elected".
August 12, 2008 12:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wide stances, fraud and lies seem to work well with Republicans, and we can not forget computer sex with little boys. THE MORAL MAJORITY
August 12, 2008 1:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
I remember posting somewhere waayyyyy back that I did not trust politico. It was around 04, and I just didnt like how CNN had someone from politico on alllllll the time and of course I found myself shouting at what ever pundit they had on most of the time.....
August 12, 2008 2:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Mike Allen's a wanker.
August 12, 2008 3:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
To be clear, the quote cited from my post was a quote from Greenwald. I recommend reading and then linking the entire Greenwald article across the blogosphere, it is damning on several levels.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/05/04/politico_funding/index.html
Politico makes the usual feints towards evenhandedness and a few of their writers serve as “Colmes” to Allen’s Hannity. But it will become clearer as we get into October that they specialize in propagating right wing smears. They got off the ground by getting most of their traffic via links at Drudge. What does that tell you? Read the Greenwald article, all of it.
August 12, 2008 5:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
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