Media biased against Trump?
Two recent studies have reported what you already knew: The network broadcast media has hardly been fair to new President Donald Trump.
Nonpartisan Media Tenor said its analysis showed only 3 percent of reports on nightly news coverage by NBC and CBS have been positive about the president compared to 43 percent that were negative and 54 percent neutral. That 54 percent were judged neutral is somewhat surprising in itself but welcomed.
Fox News, accused by the left of being unashamedly conservative in its news reports, was found to be only 12 percent positive in its coverage of Trump, 25 percent negative and 63 percent neutral.
Media Tenor's analysis was based on 370 news stories about the president between Jan. 20 and Feb. 17.
In contrast, the same organization found 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton received 49 percent positive reports after she gained enough delegates to clinch her party's nomination last year.
Meanwhile, Media Research Center, a conservative media watchdog, judged overall media coverage of Trump from his inauguration to mid-February as being nearly 90 percent negative. During that time, ABC, CBS and NBC dedicated more than half of all their coverage to Trump and his staff and three hours over the same period to coverage of his temporary immigration order.
The media watchdog's analysis was based on statements from reporters, experts and average citizens but did not include utterances by partisans.
When 'ever' doesn't mean ever
In the days of social media, it's much more difficult to say "I never said " and "I didn't say " because somewhere out in cyberspace, you probably did.
Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., found herself in that position last week when she joined in the chorus of Democrats criticizing U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions for talking with Russian officials before the election. McCaskill, of course, knew there was nothing wrong with a senator talking to an official of another country, but she nevertheless thought it was wise to get in her two cents' worth.
"I've been on the Armed Services Com[mittee] for 10 years," she tweeted. "No call or meeting w/Russian ambassador. Ever. Ambassadors call members of Foreign Rel[ations] Com[mittee]."
Well, let's just say she forgot a few.
National Review produced two, one in which she tweeted she was "off to meeting w/Russian Ambassador" about a decision to end U.S. adoptions" and another tweet which referred to "calls with British, Russian, and German Ambassadors re: Iran deal."
It's doubtful fellow Democrats will want to kick up dirt about her Russian ties, though.
Beshear terror
It was bad enough for those on the left who despise the new president that Donald Trump's speech to a joint session of Congress last week received high marks from observers on both sides of the political aisle, but the Democratic response became the subject of mirth and merriment.
Delivered by former Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, 72, it was made in a coffeehouse in front of an almost all-white group of motionless individuals that many dubbed "the walking dead."
Strategically, the response was to be given by the former governor because he once represented a working-class state with people of the type Democrats need to gain back to better their majorities in Congress. But, according to tweeters and others, the setting was a little awkward.
"I think Beshear is talking in front of a green screen," one tweeter said, "because those people are not moving." "Can someone pls rearrange the cardboard cutouts behind Beshear," another said. And a third, based on Beshear's infomercial-type delivery, wondered, "Is Steve Beshear going to sell us a reverse mortgage as part of the Democratic response?"
It was, to say the least, the Democratic Party's worst night since Nov. 8.
Aunt Maxine at it again
U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., has been stunningly off the mark on many issues during her congressional career, but she's often good for a laugh.
Last week, in a speech describing "the recent fight that I've engaged in because of this new president, and trying to get my colleagues to understand how dangerous he is," she recalled the time when she was a millennial. That struggle, she said, has afforded her "a really new and huge relationship with young people."
Waters, 78, told those gathered that on the internet young people refer to her as "Aunt Maxine" and are teaching her "all kind of new words." She also referred to "the tweets I've been in."
"Our millennials," she said, "are a force. I recognize it. And I was a millennial once. No longer, of course. But I love what you are doing."
She ended her speech by raising a clenched fist and uttering, "Stay woke!"
Millennials, of course, generally were born in the period 1982-2004. Waters was born in 1938.