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Obama Aides See Need For More Troops In Afghanistan

August 31, 2009 by 1 Comment

Reuters

afghanistan map SC Obama aides see need for more troops in Afghanistan

Many of President Barack Obama’s top advisers on Afghanistan agree with military commanders that more troops are needed to reverse Taliban gains in the country’s east and south, U.S. officials said on Monday.

But there is wariness within the White House to another large-scale increase at a time when public support for the eight-year-old war against a resurgent Taliban is eroding, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Military commanders and administration and congressional leaders have held preliminary discussions about future troop options, including sending a second 5,000-member Marine Regimental Combat Team to southern Afghanistan, a Taliban stronghold, participants said. This would boost the number of Marines in the country to 15,000-18,000 from just over 10,000.

The debate is expected to intensify after Monday’s long-awaited assessment of the war by U.S. Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

McChrystal called for the United States and its allies to change strategy, laying the ground for a likely request for more troops later, officials said.

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What If Obama Is Ineligible?

August 31, 2009 by 1 Comment

Barack Obama speech 7 SC What if Obama is ineligible?

I’ve been asked the question dozens and dozens of times recently: “What if Obama is ineligible, then what? What would it mean for the country? Could the nation withstand the shock and the upheaval of unseating the first black president?”

What the questioners are talking about is not the constitutional procedure for removing an ineligible president from office. They are talking instead about the real-world ramifications. Often, there is the suggestion that there would be race riots in major cities.

When I first encountered this question, I dismissed it as irrelevant, speculative, placing the cart before the horse.

But the more I run into it, the more I realize this nagging thought might indeed be the root of much of the resistance to a full examination of the facts.

I don’t know what would happen across America if Obama were to be found ineligible.

I don’t know, and, in a sense, I don’t really care.

Read More: By Joseph Farah, WorldNetDaily

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Kennedy Coverage Not Made For Prime Time

August 31, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Ted Kennedy SC Kennedy Coverage Not Made for Prime Time

Political pundits on both sides of the aisle (and the radio dial) lauded the legislative accomplishments of Sen. Edward Kennedy, with some, including conservative columnist George F. Will, calling him “the most consequential” Kennedy.

With the news breaking after most went to bed Tuesday night, morning news shows were the first source for many to learn of Mr. Kennedy’s death, and cable news networks went wall-to-wall with coverage. And perhaps most remarkably for a non-presidential passing, two networks, CBS and ABC, devoted an hour to a senator’s personal and professional life.

But beyond the Beltway and Midtown media organizations, how did the Kennedy coverage play? Ratings reflect that while Americans surely caught the coverage in some capacity, most still use prime time to escape the world’s woes, including the death of the senate’s most influential member.

Read more: by John Rash, Advertising Age

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Newsstand Magazine Sales Drop 12 Percent

August 31, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Newsweek cover SC Newsstand magazine sales drop 12 percent

More bad news for the print media world, as newsstand sales of magazines have dropped 12 percent over the past year.

The AP, looking at today’s statistics released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, also breaks down total circulation among the country’s top magazines, where both Time and Newsweek went down a bit.

Time, dropped 0.5 percent to 3.372 million copies, while Newsweek — which underwent a major redesign this year — dropped 3.3 percent to 2.646 million copies.

Read More: By Michael Calderone, Politico

Photo Credit: barackmagazines (Creative Commons)

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President Obama, The Media’s Sweetheart

August 31, 2009 by Leave a Comment

When Brian Williams, NBC anchor, gently bowed his head to President Obama, in his special package, “Inside the Obama White House” millions of viewers witnessed mainstream media take presidential coverage to a new level—an extreme state. What forced a well-known anchor to bow in reverence to a man younger than he? Could it be that all the media attention has made Barack Obama into some kind of saint?

media in love 2 President Obama, the medias sweetheart

What other president has personalized chia pets, underwear, pajamas, dolls, can openers, cereals, ice cream favors, a wife that has appeared on the cover of more than a dozen magazines, and daughters fashioned into Beanie Babies? The last time I checked the President of the United States was not a celebrity; but, a general, a commander-in-chief, a man tirelessly fighting for our nation, shying away from the limelight and Hollywood buzz.

A new Rasmussen poll reports that sixty percent (60%) of American’s think there is too much personal coverage on the Obama family. I think it’s fair to say, “Enough already media. Get a life.”

Read More: By Kimberly Willingham, Examiner

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Kennedy: A Case Study In Liberal Myth-Making

August 31, 2009 by Leave a Comment

The death of Edward Kennedy was undeniably a big political story, but the five days of intense media coverage also exposed how journalists see the Senator’s ardent liberal agenda as an unquestionable good for America, not as controversial policies that fueled high-tax big government at the expense of the free market.

2009 08 26 CBS EN CouricS Kennedy: A Case Study in Liberal Myth Making

Reporters painted Kennedy as Mother Teresa. “Over five decades, Ted Kennedy carried the torch passed on by his brothers, for civil rights, for the poor, and for the sick,” CBS’s Harry Smith opened The Early Show on August 26, just hours after Kennedy’s passing. “For nearly half a century in the Senate, Ted Kennedy spoke for the people who had no voice — the poor and the disabled, children and the elderly,” anchor Katie Couric echoed on that night’s CBS Evening News.

On ABC’s Good Morning America the next day, viewers saw a scrolling list of laws Kennedy worked on. Reporter John Berman touted the Senator’s role: “If you’re in a wheelchair, that ramp is thanks to Ted Kennedy. If you earn the minimum wage, you make more because of Ted Kennedy.”

Read More: By Rich Noyes, Media Research Center

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ABC & NBC Refuses To Run An Ad Opposing Obamacare…

August 28, 2009 by Leave a Comment

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Why won’t ABC and NBC run an ad critical of President Obama’s health care plan? This is the ad by the League of American Voters that won’t make it onto those two national networks.

All right, the group behind that ad wants to know why the networks won’t run it. Their local affiliates have aired it, but the two national networks that we named will not. Why not? Well, ABC, who hosted an hour-long special on health care reform from the White House, says they rejected the ad because its policy is not to sell time for advertising that presents a partisan position on a controversial public issue, while NBC says it will reconsider the ad once the network gets some more information.

And still with us is Dick Morris, the author of “Catastrophe.” He’s also, though, the chief strategist for the organization the League of American Voters. And I’ve done a little research myself, not a lot, but says FOX is in talks about putting it on and CBS has approved.

Read More: Fox News

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Is The Media Telling The Whole Story On Ted Kennedy?

August 28, 2009 by 10 Comments

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Beck Reports On Obama’s Civilian Army

August 28, 2009 by 3 Comments

Barack Obama speech 8 SC Beck reports on Obamas Civilian Army

Glenn Beck is setting the gold standard in investigative reporting, and he is being rewarded in the ratings. His time slot may not be the best on FOXNEWS, but Wednesday’s show was a ratings bonanza. He beat everybody, even longtime ratings leader Bill O’Reilly. I predict if he continues to produce the clear and compelling television that he has offered this week he will be moving up the dial.

Here are some exerpts from his show about Obama’s civlian national security force. Prepare to be shocked.

All week we’ve been asking tough questions — here’s one more, Mr. President: Why do we need a civilian national security force that is “just as strong, just as powerful” as the military?

Here’s why I ask this question: Who are we fighting? Who internally is threatening our security?

It’s clearly not because we feel there is a threat from illegal aliens crossing the border, because anyone who would say that has been deemed a racist. A civilian national security force on the border is called The Minuteman and the attitude from this administration — as well as the Bush administration — is that they were “vigilantes.” So it’s not for the border.

It can’t be a civilian national security force against Islamic extremists, because according to this administration we aren’t even at war against Islamic extremists anymore. Is this administration really going to ask the American people to profile and call-in tips on Muslim Americans who act suspiciously?

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FCC ‘Diversity’ Chief Asked Liberals To Fight Limbaugh

August 28, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Rush Limbaugh arms crossed SC FCC Diversity Chief Asked Liberals to Fight Limbaugh

A top Federal Communications Commission official believes that “progressives” should challenge conservative media moguls like Rush Limbaugh and Rupert Murdoch.

FCC Chief Diversity Officer Mark Lloyd made that argument in a 2007 report he penned for the liberal Center for American Progress, CNS News reports.

The article was titled “Media Maneuvers: Why the Rush to Waive Cross-Ownership Bans?” It discusses the FCC’s decision to allow Chicago real estate kingpin Sam Zell to buy the Chicago Tribune.

Lloyd argues that liberals should follow the tactics that President Franklin Roosevelt used to fight concentration of the media in conservative hands, such as then Tribune publisher Col. Robert McCormick.

Lloyd maintains that Zell could mirror McCormick, by joining other conservative media heavies, including Limbaugh and Murdoch, to work against liberals.

Read More: By Dan Weil, Newsmax

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