Five ways the mainstream media tipped the scales in favor of Obama
[FoxNews.com]
By Rich Noyes
Published November 07, 2012
Nov. 4, 2012: President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign event at McArthur High School in Hollywood, Fla. (AP)
Fox News and other media outlets have projected that President Obama has been reelected to a second term. If, in celebrating his victory Obama wanted to give credit where credit is due, he might want to think about calling some of America’s top journalists, since their favorable approach almost certainly made the difference between victory and defeat.
Reviewing the 2012 presidential campaign, here are five ways the media elite tipped the public relations scales in favor of the liberal Obama and against the conservative challenger Mitt Romney:
1. The Media’s Biased Gaffe Patrol Hammered Romney: The media unfairly jumped on inconsequential mistakes — or even invented controversies — from Romney and hyped them in to multi-day media “earthquakes.” Case in point: the GOP candidate’s trip to Europe and Israel in late July. A Media Research Center analysis of all 21 ABC, CBS and NBC evening news stories about Romney’s trip found that virtually all of them (18, or 86%) emphasized “diplomatic blunders,” “gaffes” or “missteps.”
Romney: Put Akin on Ice
[Breitbart.com]
Romney To Akin: Step Aside
by John Nolte – August 21, 2012
In a statement just released from the Romney campaign, the new leader of the Republican party has stepped up to lead:
As I said yesterday, Todd Akin’s comments were offensive and wrong and he should very seriously consider what course would be in the best interest of our country. Today, his fellow Missourians urged him to step aside, and I think he should accept their counsel and exit the Senate race.
Ryan Candidacy Puts Debts, Deficits Front and Center
[Breitbart.com]
by Wynton Hall 11 Aug 2012, 4:34 PM PDT
Liberals who are “giddy” at the prospects of Mitt Romney’s selection of Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan are in for a rude and sober awakening when they realize the strategic genius behind the decision.
Team Romney’s strategy? Lure the Obama campaign into attacking Ryan’s “Path to Prosperity” deficit reduction plan as a means to frame the 2012 election as a battle over the economic consequences of debt and deficits. If Obama strategists David Axelrod and David Plouffe take the bait, Mitt Romney will win.
What? ABC Indignantly Chides Romney’s U.K. Trip: Advisers Question President’s ‘Heritage’
[Newsbuster.org]
By Scott Whitlock | July 26, 2012
ABC kicked off Mitt Romney’s visit to London, Thursday, by hyping “controversial” comments from the candidate’s advisers. A Good Morning America graphic adopted the worst possible interpretation for remarks by anonymous Romney aides that the President doesn’t respect the “Anglo-Saxon heritage.” The network graphic blasted, “Romney Takes London: Advisor Quote Questions Obama Heritage.”
Saying that Romney aides “questioned Obama’s heritage” hints at birtherism or other charges that the operatives clearly did not make. Reporter David Muir included the quote from one adviser who suggested that the White House “doesn’t fully appreciate the shared history” Britain and America have. Other remarks, not mentioned by Muir, include attacking Obama as a “left-winger” and promising to return the bust of Winston Churchill. How, exactly, do these comments question Obama’s heritage?
Parroting the Democratic line, Muir quoted a tweet by David Axelrod: “Mitt’s trip off to flying start, even before he lands, with stunningly offensive quotes from his team in British press.”
Perhaps trying to lower Romney in comparison to Obama, Muir reminded viewers of the Democrat’s 2008 tour of Europe: “A trip that will inevitably be compared to then-candidate Barack Obama’s overseas trip four years ago. A thick crowd of two hundred thousand in Berlin.”
Muir has a pattern with this. On July 1, he hyped Obama’s Bain attacks, insisting that the Republican “can’t escape” attack ads.
Romney Breitbart Exclusive – Paul Ryan: We Win, We Repeal
[Breitbart.com]
July 5, 2012 by Joel B. Pollak
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), chair of the House Budget Committee–and potential running mate of Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney–told Breitbart News this week that the party’s leaders are “absolutely” committed to repealing Obamacare.
“It would have been nice for the Supreme Court to repeal it for us,” he said, “but it’s no harder today than it was the day before the decision. We win, we repeal. It’s just that simple.”
Ryan, speaking exclusively with Breitbart News, added that there was no disagreement about repealing Obamacare among the various Republican leaders, or with the Romney campaign. “Not in any of the meetings I have been having,” he said.
Earlier in the week, conservatives criticized apparently conciliatory postures by the Romney campaign and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). McConnell and Romney have since confirmed their commitment to repealing Obamacare as a first priority after the election.
Asked whether Republicans had a plan ready to replace Obamacare, Ryan pointed to several plans that had already been proposed, including his own and that of Rep.Tom Price (R-GA). While there was common agreement on the need for a “patient-centered” system, Ryan said there were “differences of opinion” on the details of an alternative, particularly on the issue of whether to use tax credits to help people buy insurance.
“I don’t think those differences will be resolved between now and the election,” Ryan said. “There will be a cacophony of ideas.” He explained that Republican leaders would introduce reforms one-by-one, following repeal of Obamacare in the 113th Congress.
Obama opens new attack on Romney’s jobs record
[Washington Examiner]
As Mitt Romney’s campaign pounds President Obama’s stewardship over the economy, Obama is trying to flip the argument against his Republican opponent by slamming Romney’s own job creation record as governor of Massachusetts.
The Obama campaign’s new line of attack centers on a single statistic: Massachusetts ranked 47th in job growth when Romney was running the state between 2003 and 2007.
During that time, Massachusetts had a net gain of 39,700 nonfarm jobs, an increase of about 1.3 percent, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was far below the national average of 5.3 percent growth at that time, according to the nonpartisan PolitiFact.com. Only Ohio, Michigan and Louisiana did worse than Massachusetts at the time.
The Romney campaign is not disputing the data. Instead, it’s highlighting a different set of facts: Massachusetts’ overall unemployment rate during Romney’s tenure actually dropped from 5.6 percent in January 2003 to 4.7 percent in January 2007.
Santorum steps up to the plate
[HumanEvents.com]
A big day dawns for the dark-horse conservative candidate.
by John Hayward
February 07, 2012
Tuesday could be Rick Santorum’s big day – his chance to break back into the news cycle with some strong primary performances, and make the case that he’s a better choice than Newt Gingrich for those seeking an alternative to Mitt Romney.
On the national level, it’s really still a fairly close race. An ABC News / Washington Post poll concluded on the eve of this weekend’s Nevada caucuses had Romney in the lead with 38 percent support, but Gingrich, Santorum, and Ron Paul were fairly close together with 24, 18, and 14 percent, respectively. Very few delegates have been assigned by the primaries and caucuses held thus far. There is still plenty of time for the race to change.
It’s the local polling that makes Tuesday exciting for the Santorum campaign. Missouri is holding a “just for show” meaningless primary ahead of its March caucuses, but Santorum is looking very good there. He’s just a hair behind Gingrich, and a bit ahead of Romney, but Gingrich didn’t qualify for the primary, so Santorum has a great opening to win over those march Missouri caucus-goers.
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