The Media Matters... Not Any More

Despite all the controversy about the value, accuracy, and objectivity of network and cable news, I share the perception that most of the media is politically biased and that the press’s fascination with personal scandals and sensationalism have taken its toll on its credibility.

Do you remember when President Bush (number one) was attending a state dinner function in Japan, got ill, and fell from his seat on to the floor? The press gave its reports minimizing the incident and assuring the public that all was well with our President. I never believed a word of their reports, not for one minute. I figured that I’d wait a few days and get the real story. It would not have surprised me if President Bush had died that night and the news would be shared with the American public as soon as it was “convenient”. As time went by and the president appeared to be well and moving about the country’s business, I realized that I no longer had faith in much of anything that was reported as “news”.

GOP Races to Shelter Rand Paul

Rand Paul

The Obama administration faces growing criticism for not being tough enough on BP for its failure to stop the gushing flow of crude that is fouling Louisiana's ecologically sensitive coastal marshes.

Rand Paul, however, sees things differently. "What I don't like from the president's administration is this sort of, 'I'll put my boot heel on the throat of BP,' " Paul said. "I think that sounds really un-American in his criticism of business."

The "un-American" part is consistent with the campaign by Republican cynics and Tea Party wing nuts to delegitimize Obama's presidency. But the general idea -- that it's wrong to hold private firms strictly accountable for disasters such as the gulf spill -- appears to be something that Paul really believes, since he also dismisses the recent West Virginia mine explosion in which 29 miners were killed.

"We had a mining accident that was very tragic," he said. "Then we come in, and it's always someone's fault. Maybe sometimes accidents happen."

Republican Charles Djou Wins in Hawaii

Republicans scored a midterm election victory Saturday when Honolulu City Councilman Charles Djou won a Democratic-held House seat in Hawaii in the district where President Barack Obama grew up - the latest triumph for the GOP as it looks to take back control of Congress.

Djou's victory was a blow to Obama and other Democrats who could not rally around a candidate and find away to win a congressional race that should have been a cakewalk. The seat had been held by a Democrat for nearly 20 years and is located where Obama was born and spent most of his

Djou won the special mail-in election with 39.7 percent of the vote in the first printout, released at 6 p.m.

The first printout represented nearly all of the 170,312 returned by voters in the district, which stretches from Waikiki and downtown to Mililani.

Democrat Colleen Hanabusa was second at 31 percent, with Democrat Ed Case third at 27.8 percent.

“This is a momentous day,” Djou told a jubilant crowd at state party headquarters. “We have sent a message to the United States Congress. We have sent a message to the ex-governors. We have sent a message to the national Democrats! We have sent a message to the machine.

“We have told them that we will not stand idly by as our great nation is overburdened by too much taxes, too much debt and too much wasteful spending.”

Rand Paul: A Wake-up Call

Tea Party favorite Rand Paul, who defeated Republican establishment candidate Trey Grayson in Tuesday's GOP Senate primary in Kentucky, warned Washington to "watch out, here we come."

Paul said the Tea Party movement has a message, loud and clear.
"We have come to take our government back," he said in his victory speech, drawing thunderous applause from his supporters.

After listening to the Republican candidate for Senator, I could only wonder how Rand Paul's civil-rights views escaped media scrutiny.

The editorial board of Louisville's Courier-Journal didn't mince words following its sit-down with Rand Paul last month. Much of what the Republican Senate candidate supports, it wrote, "is repulsive to people in the mainstream," including "an unacceptable view of civil rights."

Paul's view that the federal government should not have the power to force integration on private businesses — part of 1964's landmark Civil Rights Act — didn't get the attention of the national press until Wednesday, following interviews with NPR's Robert Siegel and MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. Paul subsequently changed his position Thursday, after an intense 24 hours of media fallout.

So if Paul's view is controversial enough to dominate cable news and the political blogosphere all day Thursday, how come it wasn't an issue in the month leading up to Kentucky's primary? The national media focused on the Tea Party’s support of the candidate, who was expected to win, and the possible impact on Senate minority leader Mitch McConnel. It left the public to discover just how conservative, how radical, how extremist Rand Paul is.

Following up on his “private businesses should be allowed to discriminate” remarks, the Republican nominee for the Senate from Kentucky said President Obama’s harsh words for BP “sounds really un-American.” He went on, “I’ve heard nothing from BP about not paying for the spill. And I think it’s part of this sort of blame game society in the sense that it’s always got to be someone’s fault instead of the fact that sometimes accidents happen.”

The moral of this story warns the public about judging 30 second sound bytes and quick and dirty media coverage as a means of determining their voting decisions. It even makes us weary of the voting decisions of voters in other states and cities. We are all affected by every one of these decisions. Better wake up and smell the coffee.

Mark Souder: Another One Bites The Dust

Indiana congressman Mark Souder (R) will resign his seat after an affair with a staffer came to light. Souder, 59, and his wife, Diana, have been married for more than 35 years and have three adult children.


The congressman has touted himself as a family values conservative, saying the following on his congressional website: "I believe that Congress must fight to uphold the traditional values that undergird the strength of our nation. The family plays a fundamental role in our society."

Souder joins a succession of Members of Congress embroiled in sex scandals in recent years, including Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.), Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) and Sen. David Vitter (R-La.). Massa resigned, while Ensign and Vitter are still serving in the Senate.

Souder was elected in the GOP wave election of 1994. He represents the Fort Wayne area in northeast Indiana. The revelations regarding Souder come two weeks after he survived a serious primary challenge from car dealer Bob Thomas who spent considerable sums of his own money on the race. Souder won the primary with less than 50 percent of the vote.

AK Senator Opposes Increases in Oil Company Liabilities

Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), a longtime advocate of offshore drilling, became the face of opposition to Congressional efforts at holding oil companies accountable for their spills after blocking a bill on Thursday. The Alaskan Senator blocked a voice vote on a bill by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) that would have dramatically raised the cap on liabilities for oil companies from $75 million, likely a small fraction of the damage caused by the BP disaster, to $10 billion. Meanwhile, the White House, who backs the bill, appears to have a strong hand politically. 42 percent of Americans favor President Obama's handling of the gulf spill, versus 33 percent who disapprove and 21 percent who are neutral, a new AP-GfK poll reports.

Alaska’s senior senator blocked legislation Thursday that would have dramatically increased liability caps on oil companies, in the wake of one of the industry’s biggest disasters.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) objected to a voice vote request by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) on the bill, which would have spiked the maximum liability for oil companies after an oil spill from $75 million to $10 billion. The legislation has significant support from Democrats, and the White House has indicated it backs an increase in liability caps.

But Murkowski said the legislation is “not where we need to be right now” and would unfairly advantage large oil companies by pricing the small companies out of the market. Murkowski did signal that she would be open to "look at the liability cap and consider raising it.” Just not at this moment.

Menendez, speaking to reporters after the bill was halted on the Senate floor, said the opposition indicates that Republicans are on the side of the oil companies, not the American people. There had been no formal floor debate or roll call vote requested on the legislation.

The Country's Anti-Incumbent Surge

Members of Congress face the most anti-incumbent electorate since 1994, with less than a third of all voters saying they are inclined to support their representatives in November, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Dissatisfaction is widespread, crossing party lines, ideologies and virtually all groups of voters. Less than a quarter of independents and just three in 10 Republicans say they're leaning toward backing an incumbent this fall. Even among Democrats, who control the House, the Senate and the White House, opinion is evenly divided on the question.

Still, for President Obama and his party, there are some positive signs in the poll. The public trusts Democrats more than Republicans to handle the major problems facing the country by a double-digit margin, giving Democrats a bigger lead than they held two months ago, when Congress was engaged in the long endgame over divisive health-care legislation. A majority continues to see Obama as "just about right" ideologically, despite repeated GOP efforts to define the president as outside the mainstream.

Those polled also say they trust Obama over Republicans in Congress to deal with the economy, health care and, by a large margin, financial regulatory reform. And the president continues to get positive marks on his overall job performance, with, for the first time since the fall, a majority of independents approving. Disaffection among independents with Obama's policies has been one of the major shifts in public opinion over the past year, making this small movement one to monitor over the coming months.

Bob Bennett’s defeat in the Utah’s GOP Convention clear example of just how much of an anti-incumbent and anti-establishment cycle 2010 has become. His loss will be celebrated as a victory by conservative activists who had painted him as a “Republican in name only” who was too willing to work with Democrats on issues like government financial bailouts and health care.

Bennett’s loss will also be a major victory for the anti-tax group, the Club for Growth, who had put the Senator at the top of its target list this primary season. Bennett became a top target of the Club in the wake of his efforts to help pass the Wall Street Bailout bill in 2008 and the group took a lead role in lobbying delegates to oust the three-term Senator leading to today’s convention. The Club spent heavily on its effort to lobby convention voters to dump Bennett.

The beauty of our American electoral system is that the public always get what they ask for. Cast your vote for your choice, then see how it runs. Sometimes the outcome is as expected and sometimes not. It’s the luck of the draw. However, when you decide not to vote, you let someone else control your destiny.

Sources: The Washington Post; CQ Politics;TMPDC