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The New York Times' refusal to publish John McCain's rebuttal to Barack Obama's Iraq op-ed may be the most glaring example of liberal media bias this journalist has ever seen. But true proof of widespread media bias requires one to follow an old journalism maxim: Follow the money. Even the Associated Press — no bastion of conservatism — has considered, at least superficially, the media's favoritism for Barack Obama. It's time to revisit media bias. True to form, journalists are defending their bias by saying that one candidate, Obama, is more newsworthy than the other. In other words, there is...

Barack Obama’s recent global tour may have been a media sensation abroad, but back home it was a punch line. “There was a huge reception for Barack Obama in the Middle East this past weekend,” quipped Jay Leno. “People were screaming, chasing him, hanging on his every word — and that was just the U.S. press corps.”

The Democratic candidate is putting together a team to prepare him for taking office in January should he win the Nov 4 election. It is headed by John Podesta, Bill Clinton's chief-of-staff when he was in the White House. A senior adviser travelling with Mr Obama on his global tour told Atlantic.com: "Barack is well aware of the complexity and the organisational challenge involved in the transition process and he has tasked a small group to begin thinking through the process. "Barack has made his expectations clear about what he wants from such a process, and the establishment and execution...

The professional odds-makers favor Barack Obama two-to-one to win the election. It's no wonder. Americans overwhelmingly believe the country is on the wrong track. They can't stand the current Republican occupant of the White House. The economy is weak and shows little sign of getting significantly stronger before the election. The country is fighting an unpopular war. And Obama, as he reminds us every time he opens his mouth, is all about "change." So why hasn't Obama closed the deal? Most national polls show Obama ahead -- but by margins so thin it can hardly give comfort to the putative...

Barack Obama concedes that America's troops have contributed to improvements on the ground in Iraq, but he still stands by his vote against the surge. Why not just admit that he was wrong? Come on, senator, this is a lot easier than changing churches. Say: "As a proud American, I'm delighted that the surge has worked so we can move forward with my timetable for withdrawal. Look, if I'd known how successful it was going to be, I would have voted for it. At the time it didn't seem like a good bet, but prognosticators go broke in wartime." See,...

The original draft of John McCain’s speech at the Livestrong Summit Thursday evening made no mention of his own struggle with cancer. The text made a jab at Barack Obama, emphasized the need for improved health care and vowed to take on the tobacco industry — but excluded all references to the Arizona senator’s bout with melanoma.

Sen. John McCain will have his own international summit -- of a sort -- tomorrow when he meets with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama is the keynote speaker at a three-day seminar at the Aspen Institute in Colorado that will bring together scholars, teachers and others to explore Tibet's history and culture. McCain already had a speech scheduled in Denver, and will then fly to Aspen for a private meeting with the leader.

CONCORD – A federal judge dismissed Thursday a Nashua man's legal challenge that Republican presidential nominee-to-be Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., was ineligible because he was born in the Panama Canal Zone.

I'm optimistic that in this election we are choosing between two good and uniquely qualified individuals seeking the job with a least a more inherent civility, let alone grasp of history, than we've experienced in the last eight years. This can only be a good thing. I like John McCain. I wouldn't walk across the street to shake George Bush's hand, but I'd walk a country mile, barefoot, to shake McCain's.

The McCain campaign is slamming Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., over a decision to cancel a visit with U.S. troops in Germany. The German magazine Der Spiegel is reporting online that Obama has “cancelled a planned short visit to the Rammstein and Landstuhl U.S. military bases in the southwest German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The visits were planned for Friday.” “Barack Obama will not be coming to us,” a spokesperson for the U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl told Der Spiegel. “I don't know why.” Obama senior adviser Robert Gibbs told ABC News in a statement, “During his trip as part of the...

This site is a pretty good resource for compilations of polling data. There is also a mock election where votes are tallied on a per state basis. You can reach the mock election by clicking on the link in the middle of the page. Registration may be necessary to participate. Also note that the red/blue electoral college designations are reversed. As you will see, Obama has a pretty good lead, so we do have some work to do! Election Atlas

As Barack Obama travels abroad, Americans seem to think most members of the media are in line with his message, according to the latest FOX News poll. Nearly 7/10 Americans (67%) say they believe most in the media want Obama to win the November election - while a scant 11 percent think the media are pulling for John McCain. ... When asked to rate the objectivity of media coverage of the campaigns, Americans feel Obama gets more of a positive spin by a better than 7-to-1 margin...

Obama's damp squib speech today to 50,000 Germans (yes, that's all that was actually there, despite the free food, free drink, and the concerts) started off with Obama recounting to the Germans their own history. They must have loved that. There's nothing better than being told something you already know and was very personal to you by someone who wasn't there and had no part of it. It crossed my mind as he droned on, just what would have Obama done had he been in the Senate when the Berlin Airlift was proposed? Would he have supported it or would...

Editor’s Note: Newsmax Editor Christopher Ruddy is visiting Israel this week and met with Natan Sharansky. The former Soviet dissident spent more than a decade in the communist Gulag. He emigrated to Israel after his release in 1986, became a Knesset member and served in four successive Israeli governments, including time as deputy prime minister. In 2006, he resigned from Israel’s Knesset, but he remains active in the country’s political discourse. He has just authored his latest book “Defending Identity: Its Indispensable Role in Protecting Democracy.” Jerusalem — An Israeli businessman I met described Natan Sharansky as having an “inner...

++ Visit to US Military Bases Cancelled ++ 1:42 p.m.: SPIEGEL ONLINE has learned that Obama has cancelled a planned short visit to the Rammstein and Landstuhl US military bases in the southwest German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The visits were planned for Friday. "Barack Obama will not be coming to us," a spokesperson for the US military hospital in Landstuhl announced. "I don't know why." Shortly before the same spokeswoman had announced a planned visit by Obama.

U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo sent an open letter to Sen. John McCain criticizing his recent meeting with Hispanic leaders where he reportedly pushed his amnesty agenda.

The National Rifle Association is putting the election-year squeeze on conservative Democrats, demanding that they buck their leadership to support a bill to erase more of the District of Columbia’s gun laws. Democratic gun rights supporters will risk losing their A-plus rating if they don’t sign a discharge petition to be filed Wednesday bringing the gun-rights bill directly to the floor. It will be the first time in more than 20 years that the NRA has “scored” a discharge petition in determining the grades it gives lawmakers before the November election, said spokesman Andrew Arulanandam. “We’re making this a priority....

Squeezing his thumb and forefinger together in the back of a Manchester bar last night, Libertarian presidential nominee Bob Barr told a crowd of 80 that when it counts, there's that much difference between the Republicans and Democrats. Americans, he argued, are looking for something new. "The definition of throwing your vote away is to go into that voting booth and vote for one of two parties that will not change the direction this country's going in," Barr told a crowd of about 80 at Murphy's Taproom. "And that's the Republicans or Democrats."

John McCain and Barack Obama have both changed positions in this campaign. That's OK. Voters understand that politicians can and, sometimes, should change their views. After all, voters do. Witness the wide swings in their answers to opinion polls. But before accepting the changes, voters typically ask themselves three questions: Does the candidate admit he's shifting? What's the new information that altered his thinking? Does the change seem reasonable and not calculating?

Washington - In a campaign week dominated by Barack Obama's trip abroad, the pro-John McCain camp has made headlines by complaining about coverage of Senator Obama's trip abroad. For Senator McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, crying foul on the news media represents a double-edged sword. On the plus side, he plays into the longstanding narrative that asserts reporters are rooting for Obama, the likely Democratic nominee, to win in November. Hillary Rodham Clinton played that card during the primaries, to some effect, but ultimately unsuccessfully.

The media already have gone over the top with their coverage of Sen. Barack Obama's international man-of-mystery tour. The endless photo sessions with the troops, foreign leaders, waving crowds -- it's just the most contrived pack of junk I've ever seen. But shame on the folks running the McCain campaign. They knew this week of endless glory for Obama was coming. Their response? They tell McCain to attend a baseball game, hold another boring town-hall meeting, have his photo taken with another Bush, and visit an oilrig. Sounds like the work of strategists bound and determined to destroy their candidate....

Political reporters have long been obsessed with conflict between presidential candidates and their running mates, at least since the days of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. That's probably one reason why McCain's joke in Detroit last week that Mitt Romney was "doing a better job for me than he did for himself" sparked a wave of news stories speculating that McCain was seriously considering, for the vice-presidential slot, his bitter rival turned loyal surrogate. But while choosing Romney to be his running mate would make Washington journalists happy, it would be nothing short of political suicide for McCain.

The Drudge Report ran a juicy item about the fact that only one reporter showed up to cover Republican John McCain at a campaign stop in New Hampshire the other day. Just one. The lonely print reporter from the Manchester Union Leader stood on the tarmac, waiting for McCain's plane to land. McCain, obviously upset at being dissed by yet another meager media throng, didn't stop to chat. "Did you ever notice that when John McCain is on TV he's always grumpy?" asked a colleague in the cafeteria who whispered, lest others denounce him for Barackian Thought Crimes. "McCain's always...

WASHINGTON -- The competing tax plans laid out by Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain would both add trillions of dollars to the national debt and could add to the tax system's complexity, a nonpartisan tax research group concluded Wednesday in a newly released report. Both campaigns have asserted that their plans to continue many Bush-era tax cuts and offer new reductions would aid the economy without requiring massive new spending. But the Washington-based Tax Policy Center warned that under either candidate, "the debt would likely continue to rise as it has over the past eight years." Obama's plan --...

After Barack Obama's opening day in Iraq this week, the New York Times headline read, "For Obama, a First Step Is Not a Misstep." The story, by Richard Oppel Jr. and Jeff Zeleny, noted, "Mr. Obama seemed to have navigated one of the riskiest parts of a weeklong international trip without a noticeable hitch." That was the big nail-biter: Would Obama, the first-term senator and foreign-policy newbie, utter an irrevocably damaging gaffe? The nightmare scenarios were endless. Maybe he would refer to "the Iraq-Pakistan border," or call the Czech Republic "Czechoslovakia" (three times), or confuse Sunni with Shiite, or say...

Glenn has pretty well covered the imbroglio-inducing statement, but here’s a less-examined claim that really shows how separated from reality Klein has become: Obama, the poker player, has drawn to an inside straight: the Iraqis favor his plan over McCain’s long-term bases. Only the most intellectually dishonest reading of the situation could justify that statement; the WaPo has devoted an entire op-ed to debunking the ridiculous notion that Iraqis would rather see al-Ameriki withdraw on a fixed timetable from Washington without regard to conditions on the ground: But an Iraqi government statement made clear that Mr. Maliki’s timetable would extend...

One day after it was revealed that Sen. John McCain was to hold a closed-door meeting with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican, Jindal said Wednesday that there is no way he will fill the bottom half of the GOP presidential ticket. "I'm not going to be the vice presidential nominee or vice president," Jindal told Fox News. "I'm going to help Sen. McCain get elected as governor of Louisiana." "Let me be clear: I have said in every private and public conversation, I've got the job that I want," Jindal said. It's not uncommon for those being considered for...

Hillary used to go ballistic in frustration at the latest rather shameless incarnation of Obama, and McCain should not fall into the same malady. He understandably is angry because Obama, whose opposition to the surge and erstwhile desire to be done with Iraq by March 2007 would have lost the war, rode the anti-war wave when it was popular, and now, in his current metamorphosis to centrist, has piggy-backed onto the good news in Iraq as if it had nothing to do with the surge — as if McCain's lonely support for it either never happened or was irrelevant. And...

If you want to start worrying about the presidential election this year, you can look at the comparison between 1996 and 2008. John McCain is a similar candidate to Bob Dole--a war hero, running on his experience, but also somewhat past his political prime. The Democrats had the advantage of incumbency in 1996, but of course Bill Clinton had been rebuked by voters in 1994. In July 1996, Democrats only enjoyed a 5.1 percent advantage in generic congressional polls. Yet in late July, Clinton was ahead of Dole in one Harris poll by 22 percent and in a Gallup poll...

By John-Henry Westen WASHINGTON, DC, July 23, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - LifeSiteNews.com sat down with Brian Johnston, Western Director for the National Right to Life Committee for an interview yesterday, in which Johnston stressed that current Democratic Presidential candidate Barak Hussein Obama is even more radical on abortion than Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton. “Right now at this moment in history the one thing that in the United States of America every citizen can impact is the destiny of our nation,� began Johnston. “And that is through the Presidential race. The next President is likely going to...

....Given her history of humanitarianism, these adjectives might be associated with McCain herself. The election of her husband would also bring to the White House an adventurous, traveled, intriguingly fearless first lady. Over the years, McCain has taken medical services to a Sandinista stronghold after Nicaragua's civil war; set up a mobile hospital near Kuwait City while the oil wells still burned from the Persian Gulf War; helped in Bangladesh after a cyclone. And while in that country in 1991 she found her daughter Bridget in an orphanage -- "She really picked me," McCain insists. Sometimes the desire to save...

"...In Colorado, Barack Obama leads Republican John McCain by seven percentage points, 49% to 42%. However, when leaners are included, McCain is more competitive and pulls to within three points, 50% to 47%..." http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/colorado/election_2008_colorado_presidential_election

As I suggested a few weeks ago, Sen. Barack H. Obama is not going to have an easy time of it. For one thing, Sen. John McCain is a much tougher candidate than has been suspected. Looking over his career, one will note that McCain learned politics before ever entering politics. As a young Navy liaison to the Senate in the 1970s, he worked effectively with Democratic and Republican hawks to reverse the post-Vietnam military decline. He, having managed the largest fighter squadron in the Navy, has management skills of which he can boast, as Sen. Obama cannot -- despite...

There’s an old saying that the only thing wrong with tainted money is that there “taint” enough of it. That might work for universities and other institutions that grace their halls with the names of robber barons, but it’s trouble for political campaigns. The McCain camp recognized that fact of life anew this week. The Washington Post reports that the campaign was stung by its ties to Oregon venture capitalist and political donor Craig Berkman, who was sued by former investors in a fraud case and ordered to pay $28 million in civil damages. Berkman and his wife, the Post...

SPRINGHILL, LA (KSLA) - Governor Jindal will welcome republican presidential candidate senator John McCain to the Bayou State on Wednesday -- a state that political analysts expect McCain to carry without a problem. So the question of where governor Jindal ranks on McCain's list of vice presidential nominees is on the mind of many in Louisiana. The governor answered with a confident no about the possibility of accepting the nomination for the vice presidency. "I'm not going to be VP. I've already got the job that I want. I want to be Governor. I told the people when I was...

The Revolutionary Political Blog has a story on the Barack Obama three point basketball shot at this link: http://www.mikefrancesa.com/wordpress/?p=938 The site claims that a military source revealed that Obama actually missed five three pointers in a row before making the shot that has been broadcast all over the MSM. The video was edited to make it seem like Obama canned the three on his first attempt.

Oh yes there’s trouble! Right here in Obamessiahland! Apparently, quite a few Democrats read up on their party’s nomination rules and they found something that I was saying last month. Barack Obama isn’t the nominee until there’s a vote in Denver at the convention. Those folks aren’t at all happy with the Exalted One and they, in the words of Malcolm Reynolds, aim to misbehave. In response to the grumblings, the former Chair of the Democratic National Committee and its current Secretary sent out an e-mail that basically says that the PUMAs (as the disgruntled ones call themselves) are a...

When American conservatives talk derisively of "Barack Hussein Obama," both Muslim and Christian Arabs think not of Obama's political weakness, but that anti-Arab racism is alive and well in some corners of the American political discourse. 'One Of Us' Said says there is a deep-rooted sentiment here that this son of a black Muslim father and a white Christian mother "gets it" when it comes to racial and religious hatred — and that alone makes many people here eager to see him in the White House. "This 'one of us' mythology can be the man of the poor worldwide, can...

Every Tuesday, I'm generating a map based on pollster.com's running averages of all reported state presidential polls. The map shows the states sized in proportion to their electoral votes.

It's usually a bad idea for one democratic country to meddle in another democratic country's election. But the boost Prime Minister Maliki of Iraq just gave to Senator Obama in the American campaign has to be one of the most stunning pieces of political nerve in memory. It could have been a disastrous visit by the Democrat to Baghdad. Mr. Maliki could have left his meeting with Mr. Obama and said, "If America does what Mr. Obama wants and announces to our enemies when it will leave Iraq, Al Qaeda will regain the ground it has lost here, my country...

Republican Sen. John McCain will take his presidential bid to the symbolic heart of liberal America next Monday, making a stop in San Francisco's swank Fairmont Hotel for a fundraiser. The ticket? Up to $100,000 per person. The event is at least McCain's third fundraising pit stop in the city. Back on the last day in January - only days before the state's presidential primary, which he won resoundingly - McCain hosted a fundraiser at the Four Seasons hotel.

Cannot post due to copyright issues: http://www.vanityfair.com/online/politics/2008/07/is-the-media-trying-to-elect-obama.html

Democrats' single most important domestic proposal — universal health insurance — may blow up in Barack Obama's face when voters are exposed to the deadly details. Obama has said, proudly and often, "I am going to give health insurance to 47 million Americans who are now without coverage." But are they "Americans?" That 47 million statistic includes illegal immigrants, who virtually all lack insurance. In fact, about one in four of those lacking insurance is here illegally. And they are, by far, the group most in need of health insurance. About 15 million of the remaining uninsured are eligible for...

Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) said “Iraq” when he apparently meant “Afghanistan” on Monday, adding to a string of mixed-up word choices that is giving ammunition to the opposition. Just in the past three weeks, McCain has mixed up Iraq and Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan, and even football’s Packers and Steelers. Ironically, the errors have been concentrated in what should be his area of expertise - foreign affairs.

WASHINGTON - Mitt Romney is a shrewd businessman, known for his cautious approach to the nerve-rattling takeover business. Romney's colleagues even came up for a name for what happened when Romney's inner worries began to ruffle his carefully groomed appearance - "pitting," for when the armpits of his expensive blue shirts would start to darken from perspiration.

Darned curious. The last time McCain was confronted about this, he professed not to know of any controversial statements made by Hernandez while cheerily pledging to “look into it.” Does this mean he’s looked into it and decided to keep him on, albeit gagged? Or is he still getting around to “looking into it”? Sure sounds like someone knows they have a Hernandez problem.

It's one thing to want to be President. It's another thing to run for President. It's a totally different thing to act like you are President when you are not. Especially, it's dangerous when you accidentally set foreign policy while you're pretending. Barack needs a time out from running the world until he's actually elected. While the mainstream media has just about done that, the rest of us would like a chance in November to actually cast a vote. In the meantime, Barack should back off on the "New World Dawning" tour and let the guy who got us in...

You heard it here first. John McCain will scuttle his campaign. Don’t know how, where or when, but all signs point to a health issue. That’s just a hunch. Something, however, is wrong. The man can’t seem to put it together. He’s shrinking by the minute and getting invisible. Barack Obama will have this match handed to him by disqualification. The opponent could not answer the bell. Or, the GOP, in emergency session, will have to step in to provide a candidate that is new, improved and lucid. As Obama sizzles over there, McCain fizzles over here. The man is...

The Sen. John McCain campaign launched a new Web video titled "Obama Love" that takes a swipe at the perceived media bias towards Barack Obama. According to the campaign e-mail, the video "highlights the media's love affair with Barack Obama -- or as MSNBC's Chris Matthews says, that thrill going up my leg." Played to the tune of Frankie Valli's "Can't take my eyes off of you" -- one of Valli's most popular songs. Perhaps, it will turn out to be a hit for McCain as well.

MANCHESTER – "Mac" is back. Sen. John McCain returned to New Hampshire last night, flashing an "OK" sign at an aide as he stepped out onto an airport tarmac in Manchester. The Arizona Republican will be in Rochester today. He is slated to speak at the Rochester Opera House at noon. Campaign staffers said McCain will take questions during the event, which is open to the public. No tickets are required. A spokesman, Jeff Grappone, said other events may be announced today. "John McCain will continue to talk about the issues that matter most to New Hampshire voters," Grappone said,...