Time's Duffy and Tumulty declare Republicans lost, in part, for "spending like drunken Democrats"
In a November 8 Time magazine online article, "It's a Good Morning for the Democrats," Time reporter Michael Duffy and national political correspondent Karen Tumulty, while reporting on the results of the midterm election, wrote that "the Republican Revolution that began in 1994" came to "an end," in part because the Republican Party "found itself spending like drunken Democrats." Read more
Disregarding flat reversal, conflicting explanations, O'Donnell called Bush move to replace Rumsfeld "decisive"
Despite the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld coming less than a week after President Bush pledged to keep Rumsfeld on until the end of his presidency, MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell opined: "This president, whether you love him or hate him, is decisive." Read more
Ignoring widespread agreement on core issues, media suggested wins by "conservative Democrats" will cause intraparty strife
Media figures have attributed Democratic gains in the House and Senate in the midterm elections to the number of wins by conservative or moderate Democratic challengers and have suggested that because the party's victory in the House was purportedly "built on the back of more centrist candidates," the incoming Democratic majority will be sharply divided. However, a Media Matters for America survey of the policy positions of 27 victorious House candidates found that they all agree on a core set of issues, including raising the minimum wage and protecting Social Security. Read more
Dems win big, progressive policies enjoy broad public support -- but Wash. Post declares nation "right of center"
Despite the apparent Democratic capture of both houses of Congress and a gain of six governorships in the November 7 midterm elections, The Washington Post's lead article about election results asserts that the United States is "a nation that leans slightly right of center." Read more
Matthews: "[S]ome men" say Sen. Clinton's voice sounds like "fingernails on a blackboard"
Discussing the victory speeches of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (CA) during MSNBC's special election coverage on November 7, co-anchor Chris Matthews told Republican pollster Frank Luntz that Clinton gave a "barn-burner speech, which is harder to give for a woman; it can grate on some men when they listen to it -- fingernails on a blackboard." Matthews then noted that Pelosi, who will likely be elected House speaker now that the Democrats have gained control of the U.S. House of Representatives, will "have to do the good fight with the president over issues" such as the minimum wage and prescription drugs. He then asked: "How does she do it without screaming? How does she do it without becoming grating?" Matthews later returned to criticizing Clinton, when, during a conversation with co-anchor Keith Olbermann and with a clip of Clinton's victory event playing in the background, Matthews stated that Clinton's "clapping" was "not appealing" and that "it's Chinese or something," as Salon.com's weblog The War Room noted. Matthews added that former President Bill Clinton, who was standing behind Sen. Clinton at the podium, was a "gigantic guy behind her and he's just there," adding: "It's a strange sight." Read more
Before midterms, media downplayed potential Dem gains in House and Senate, touting GOP's "formidable" and "stunning" get-out-the-vote campaign; will they revisit?
In the weeks and days preceding the November 7 midterm elections, numerous media figures downplayed predictions of Democratic gains in the Senate and House of Representatives, stating that the Republican get-out-the-vote (GOTV) efforts were superior to those of Democrats. Many labeled the GOP's alleged "72-hour, get-out-the-vote plan" as "formidable" and "stunning." While polling regularly showed that a strong majority of Americans would cast their ballots for Democrats in the congressional elections, some media figures still claimed that the Republican Party held "the mechanical edge" with their GOTV campaign, while others said they were in "awe" of the party's "great turnout machine," and that the "foot soldiers are marching [in] battlegrounds." However, when asked about interpreting the election results during his November 8 press conference, President Bush pointed to the Democrats' "very strong turnout operation" in Pennsylvania, where Republican incumbent Rick Santorum lost, and in New York. In light of Bush's comments and election results showing that Democrats have retaken control of the House by at least 28 seats and have gained at least five seats in the Senate, will these same media figures revisit the strength of the Republicans' so-called "GOTV machine"? Read more
Wash. Times reported McCain "gain[ed] political capital in elections," but offered no explanation
The Washington Times reported that "Sen. John McCain [R-AZ] emerged from yesterday's elections as one of Republicans' only winners as Democrats made solid gains and both parties turn an eye toward 2008," but offered no explanation to support the claim. In fact, there are indications that the opposite might be true -- issues and candidates supported by McCain were repudiated by voters in the November 7 election. Read more
In reporting Rumsfeld reversal, will media note that Bush has been caught in apparent lie about Cabinet switch before?
During a November 8 press conference, President Bush announced that Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld was resigning. Bush's remarks came less than a week after he pledged that he would keep Rumsfeld on as defense secretary until the end of his presidency. When asked about the dramatic reversal by a reporter at the press conference, Bush claimed that he had said Rumsfeld was staying on because he "didn't want to inject a major decision about this war in the final days of a campaign," and later asserted that at the time of the November 2 press conference in which he expressed his support for Rumsfeld, he hadn't yet decided to replace Rumsfeld because he had not yet met with his eventual replacement, former CIA director Robert Gates. Read more
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