Basically, Republicans are attacking Obama where he is least vulnerable and at a time when they have minimal credibility. It isn’t working. By trying to turn everything into a scandal rather than saying Obama’s policies are wrongheaded—and rather than fixing their own image problems with minority, female, younger, and moderate voters—Republicans are focusing on attacking a guy whose name will never again appear on a ballot.Polling guru and political analyst Charlie Cook, explaining why Republicans’ attacks on President Obama may ultimately fall flat. Despite the media feeding frenzy over the three concurrent scandals to hit the Obama White House, the President’s approval rating has hardly suffered at all: In general, it’s hovered around 51%, with one poll even showing an uptick since April. Meanwhile, a recent CNN poll showed the Republican Party with the highest negative ratings—59%—that either party has received in more than 20 years. “Americans may not be ecstatic about President Obama and his policies,” Cook writes, “but compared with the Republicans, they think Obama doesn’t look so bad.” source
Gary Pruitt, in his first television interviews since it was revealed the Justice Department subpoenaed phone records of AP reporters and editors, said the move already has had a chilling effect on journalism. Pruitt said the seizure has made sources less willing to talk to AP journalists and, in the long term, could limit Americans’ information from all news outlets.
Pruitt told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that the government has no business monitoring the AP’s newsgathering activities.
“And if they restrict that apparatus … the people of the United States will only know what the government wants them to know and that’s not what the framers of the Constitution had in mind when they wrote the First Amendment,” he said.
A lawsuit has not been ruled out, but next moves haven’t been decided as of yet.
There can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters. These records potentially reveal communications with confidential sources across all of the newsgathering activities undertaken by the AP during a two-month period, provide a road map to AP’s newsgathering operations and disclose information about AP’s activities and operations that the government has no conceivable right to know.Associated Press President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Pruitt • In a letter, sent to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, denouncing the Justice Department’s decision to acquire the phone records of AP journalists as well as a number of the wire service’s offices over a two-month period. The move came as a result of a 2012 AP story which leaked the news of a foiled attack on the anniversary of Osama bin Laden’s death. The move, which followed the Obama administration’s general policy of trying to shut down leaks, nonetheless was disowned by the White House. “We are not involved in decisions made in connection with criminal investigations, as those matters are handled independently by the Justice Department,” said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney. “Any questions about an ongoing criminal investigation should be directed to the Department of Justice.” The move has been condemned by many journalists.
The AP’s erroneous tweet about explosions at the White House today, the consequence of their account being hacked, had more effect than simply fear going viral, as demonstrated above — it also caused the Dow Jone Industrial average to plummet over 100 points, only to right itself minutes later when the explanation came out. The Syrian Electronic Army, a group in favor of Syria’s ruling Assad government, has claimed responsibility for the hack via their own Twitter. (Image from Bloomberg) source
Today, the AP ran a sponsored tweet. Here’s the backstory about the tweets, which the Associated Press will run throughout the week, as part of Samsung’s pitch during the Consumer Electronics Show.
Both had a couple of dings.
The Associated Press has created an impressive embeddable interactive graphic to go with the Sikh temple shooting. It explains everything you need to know about what happened. Click above to check it out. (more here)
Please, immediately, stop taunting on social networks about CNN and others’ SCOTUS ruling mistake and the AP getting it right. That’s not the impression we want to reflect as an organization. Let our reporting take the lead.Associated Press Central U.S. regional editor David Scott • In a memo to their reporters and editors, asking them to stop taunting other media organizations that got it wrong.
Now you’re just messing with us, AP.
Where does this leave us vegetarians? Are they going to do a follow-up story about how awesome Quorn is?
Over the last 90 days, the Digg...
#FMMDI (at 30 Rockefeller Plaza)
Thanks. I guess my thoughts are as follows:
1. I think...
Two Months Ago I set out to interview the principal cast...
This guy’s name is Gen. Keith...
“I love the one non-NSA story that made it on the...
It’s easily conceivable that TI-84 and iPod Touch prices could meet at $150 in the near future, and there’s no defensible excuse for that. One machine is thousands of times more capable than the other.BuzzFeed’s John Herrman • Noting how graphing calculator makers, despite a low amount of innovation in them within the past decade, have managed to artificially keep prices absurdly high, largely due to standardization forced by the College Board, which does not allow calculators with QWERTY keyboards, stylus inputs or connections to cell phones. But let’s face it, Herrman insists — it’s a strategy that can’t last. All that we know was that, way back in 1998, our TI-82 was the first portable device we ever jailbroke.
However, AP and CNN have not projected for D.C. as of yet. The polls close in Wisconsin at 9 p.m. Keep up over here with Politico’s livestream.
BREAKING: AP and CNN declare Ohio for Mitt. In other news, Dennis Kucinich just lost his primary.
By the way, here’s what the Associated Press logos looked like over the years. Kinda have an affinity for the 1945 one … well, if they actually bothered to kern it. (By the way, there is an error in the graphic; it says “Current (2011).” This is the AP’s error, as this is from their branding document.)
Copyright 2009-2013 Ernie Smith • Ask us stuff! • E-mail us • Follow us on Twitter • Follow us on Facebook
