Blatant hit piece on Democrats from the AP

[brentspeak]

Has Rupert Murdoch or Jack Welch taken over AP, as well? Besides the obvious editorializing within a supposedly "news" article, the piece appears to be written by a high school journalism student who's going to receive a "D" in his class: notice that the author (Andrew Taylor) flouts journalistic procedure and doesn't even provide any direct quotes from Obey.
..................................................................................................

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070603/ap_on_go_co/congress_pet_projects_3

Democrats hide pet projects from voters

By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer
13 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - After promising unprecedented openness regarding Congress' pork barrel practices, House Democrats are moving in the opposite direction as they draw up spending bills for the upcoming budget year.

(snip)

Obey insists he is reluctantly taking the step because Appropriations Committee members and staff have not had enough time to fully review the 36,000 earmark requests that have flooded the committee.

What Obey is doing runs counter to new rules that Democrats promised would make such spending decisions more open.

[madrchsod]

1. seek and ye shall find

http://www.gop.com/News/Read.aspx?ID=6950
GOP.com | Republican National Committee :: $2,900,000,000,000 Budget Buster....ya a mouthpiece

[originalpckelly]

7. Yeppo, all those articles from this "Andrew Taylor" are featured on the website...

anyone else getting the Jeff Gannon vibe?

[Captain Hilts]

2. I've noticed a lot of editorializng in AP articles, liberal and conservative. Not good.

It's not 'news'. It's opinion.

[Lobster Martini]

3. From the same writer on April 17

First paragraph: “Under pressure from GOP conservatives, the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee announced new rules Tuesday to overhaul the way lawmakers send taxpayer dollars to their districts and states.”

GOP conservatives oppose pork! They are saving your tax dollars!

Second paragraph: “The move by Appropriations Chairman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., came as conservatives including Sens. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and Tom Coburn, R-Okla., increased the pressure to change the much-criticized, often secretive way in which "earmarks" are inserted into appropriations legislation.”

Conservative Republicans want openness and accountability! Bully for them!

Paragraphs 3-11: “Blah, blah, blah…”

Paragraph 12: “Earmarks blossomed under GOP control of Congress, much to the dismay of conservative stalwarts.”

What? Please don’t tell me that fiscally responsible conservative Republicans only grew a spine when Democrats took control of the Oscar Mayer wieners! That would be so disheartening! Thank god it was buried in the 12th paragraph, giving me time to balance my chakra energies.

[brentspeak]

4. LOL! Oscar Meyer wieners!

:thumbsup:

[AX10]

10. Good find!

:thumbsup:

[Red Zelda]

5. You can't spell crap without AP

... and too many even moderate newspapers don't even notice this shit because their desk editors just want to get the paper out and go drink.

[Oeditpus Rex]

17. More accurately

Copy desks nationwide have been flayed to the bone (copy editors are the least-valued employees in most newsrooms), so there are fewer people on wire desks to make the same deadlines.

If the paper has a universal desk, forget it. It's what a friend at the Wichita Eagle calls "the page factory." You just crank 'em out because there's no time to do otherwise.

[The Count]

6. What? You missed their articles on Dem debates in 2003? Dem candidates?

This is hardly new - whomever it is that owns them had a political agenda that is anti-dem - like all MSM has.

[originalpckelly]

8. Even if this is true, I still don't trust "Andrew Taylor" to tell me.

Andy has been out there making some wild accusation about our party for a while now, and I think it's about damn time we look into this son of a bitch, this stuff is right in line with RNC talking points.

This needs to get around to the blogs, because I think we might find out this is a Jeff Gannon situation if we dig into it, this may be an example of infiltration of the AP by the RNC.

[Toots]

9. Maybe Democrats deserve to be "hit" on this subject...

You like the fact that 36000 hidden "earmarks" are to be included in the budget? Doesn't make it any better to say Republicans did it too. There needs to be openness in Government and let us know about the "bridges to nowhere" before they actually get inserted into the budget. Democrats promised "open government" and at first opportunity they meet behind closed doors. Tell me again how Nader was wrong....

[originalpckelly]

11. I agree, if this is real, I'm going to be pissed. But have you heard this from anyone else?

I know I haven't heard it in any other MSM news outlets.

I also happen to know that the writer of this piece has repeatedly made shit up about us, and when he didn't it was an over dramatization, like his pre-election article about the scary liberals who would take over Congress. He's been quoted by the RNC pretty regularly.

All of that would be OK, if his stuff wasn't being peddled as straight news, but this is obviously biased work, it doesn't say where it's sources are, even if it is going to quote anonymous sources, the work should give a generalized description of those sources.

Usually, when someone who's a real reporter quotes anonymous sources, they say "a capitol hill staffer close to Obey" or a "white house staffer" or something to that effect, this report didn't do that.

That's why I'm wondering if this wasn't a totally fabricated story.

[Toots]

12. I have seen several posts on DU about this subject both in LBN abd GD

I suspect it is indeed a fact and a very uncomfortable one at that. I have not seen it on MSM myself but then again I rarely watch any..

[originalpckelly]

13. I haven't heard anything about it yet, and considering that I know to be suspicious of the source...

I will not trust the author's work and claims until more documentary evidence can be provided, and that could even be a corroboration by other sources.

I will have no hesitation in criticizing the Democrats in Congress if this is true, because if it is, it definitely goes back on their word.

But like I said, this is not a trustworthy source, this particular author has been suspected of being an RNC for a long while now, it isn't necessarily connected to this story, there is a long history of as least rightwing biased if not more specifically RNC biased material being produced by that author.

[brentspeak]

14. You "suspect" it's true...based on what? Some anonymous DU posts???

Well, that does it then. It must be true.

:eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :crazy: :freak: :freak:

[RushIsRot]

15. Wasn't Andrew Taylor sheriff of Mayberry a while back? nt

[originalpckelly]

16. I know, now he's a rightwing asshole.

:rofl:

I think we definitely have a Jeff Gannon situation on our hands here.