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AP speaks super-secret code words: “divisive stands”

By: Bill S (Diary)  |  January 24th, 2009 at 03:15 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

As fellow contributor Warner Todd Huston has demonstrated several times, the Associated Press is hardly the textbook example of an unbiased media source. Today the AP again showed their Obama-slanted bias with an article titled “Obama breaks from Bush, avoids divisive stands”. But unsurprisingly, in the AP’s alternate universe, “divisive stands” is defined as “conservative positions”.

The AP piece begins:

Barack Obama opened his presidency by breaking sharply from George W. Bush’s unpopular administration, but he mostly avoided divisive partisan and ideological stands. He focused instead on fixing the economy, repairing a battered world image and cleaning up government.

Certainly Obama made some statements on the economy, but can we consider signing executive orders to close Gitmo, restore overseas abortion funding and updating the whitehouse.gov web site to slam President Bush and shill for pro-abortion causes as “avoid(ing) divisive partisan and ideological stands”? I think not.


The AP “journalist” continues:

He largely avoided cultural issues; the exception was reversing one abortion-related policy, a predictable move done in a very low-profile way.

Abortion is not a cultural issue? Please. And “a very low-profile way” – interpreted: he signed the EO at 5pm on a Friday, when no one was watching. In other words, he tried to avoid the conservatives’ criticism. “Partisan and ideological” is precisely how that action should be described. It was not “avoided.”

Later in the article, the author states “Certainly, some Republicans are griping about Obama’s economic stimulus plan…” “Griping”? A loaded word, without a doubt. The author makes no mistake about her bias here. Later, she mentions the reading of the Executive Orders:

In one Oval Office ceremony, Obama went through each executive order as he signed them, reading parts of each and methodically explaining them. He even halted a few times to ask for clarification from his White House counsel. That sort of deferral to someone else in a public setting and admission of a less-than-perfect command of the facts was never Bush’s style.

Here we find the obligatory Bush-bash, and the authoress does not bother to point out that perhaps the issue was that Obama didn’t even bother to READ the EOs ahead of time, and was simply ignorant of what they actually said. Nope, couldn’t be. The O is omniscient.

I suppose it’s good that they’ve thrown off any pretense of unbiased reporting so we can read an AP story while fully aware that we will be getting the Obamatized version of the story and nothing that we could trust as reporting actual, you know, news.

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  • Scope

    Obama has a meeting with Republicans to review the GOP alternate Stimulus Plan, he disagrees with Canotr on one of the tax cuts, and then tells him “I won, so I think I trum you” and that is not partisan and divisive?

    I really loved the part where Obama is working on cleaning up the Government. I’m not sure that even one of his appointments or nominations is not corrupt. Then again, apparently Obama understands a different meaning of the word corrupt. If it applies to a Republican, it means dirty shady underhanded dealings. If it applies to a Democrat it means qualified.

  • Bourbeau

    He could have finished off the Iraq War, by signing an EO to have the troops withdrawn immediately. Nothing terribly unstabilizing there. After all; we’re on the road to becoming a nation run by BHO fiat, and it’s just the first week. Oh well, that whole legislative process was getting boring anyway; it’s just the Dems doing whatever the hell they want, and the Republiscans with the deer in the headlight looks. Bring on the fiats.

  • angryred

    I am reading Coulters book, Guilty, and am getting depressed. Maybe it’s my pregnant hormones talking, but are we ever going to get anywhere as long as this bias is present in the msm???

    I’m starting to feel like being a republican is a lost cause, unless I really enjoy slamming my head against the wall repeatedly.

    Any hope?

  • Scope

    I really believe that he promised McCain he wouldn’t withdraw from Iraq immediately if McCain supported him with some very contentious legislation coming up such as Immigration and the Global Warming debacle. Since the American death toll is minimal at this point, he didn’t give up much, but, McCain stupidly did. I believe the Bush administration already made a deal with the Iraq leaders which would pull our troops out at about the same time line that Obama had promised on the campaign trail.

  • icbm

    According to AP, Obama wants to clean up government.

    His first legislative initiative is hardly an example. It’s mainly a collection of pork to pay off core constituencies and buy votes, and most of the funds won’t even be used in the next year or two.

  • http://jeffemanuel.net Jeff Emanuel

    The SOFA and Strategic Framework Bush and al-Maliki signed keeps US troops in Iraq until *at least* 2012. Please explain to me the base mathematics you’re using to make that equal Obama’s 16 month promise.

    As far as McCain goes, you’re kidding, right? He already supports moderate to liberal AGW and immigration policies; what would there be for Obama to gain by actually conceding on Iraq and striking a personal agreement? Leave the conspiracy theories at home and try facts on for size; you might be surprised how well they wear.

  • 6eorge Jetson
  • icbm

    n/t

  • EagleWatcher

    Let’s see. It’s only day 4 of the Obama Era and we are already being called “divisive”.

    That was quicker than I thought.

    I’m not surprised by this. Look at the remark yesterday that “bipartisanship has its limits” and you get a sense that all the unity talk is just talk. The “We are one” concert means if your not one with on our terms then you are “divisive”. That’s how leftist governments think and work.

    God save our country…

  • EagleWatcher

    Whenever a liberal crybaby tells you about Global Warming just put your finger to your mouth and shush them. Tell them that Obama wants us to choose “Hope over fear?” and they are just spreading that Global Warming Fear. Choose Hope and not the oppressive Global Warming FEAR!!!

    :0)

  • Scope

    If you will please look back at my post, I began with “it is my opinion”. You also closed your comment with “your opinion.” I ask you respectfully to please explain to me what you mean by “What would there be for Obama to gain by actually conceding on Iraq and striking a personal agreement?” Also, I ask again respectfully what in my comment could even remotely be considered a “Conspiracy Theory”? I do not buy into conspiracy theories and take your comment as an unsubstantiated claim.

    As far as the pull out of American troops in Iraq, maybe as a former military person and then Iraq reporter you have inside information that is not published for all of us to see. Also, you do not take into account that there have been many reports maybe factual and maybe not that put the SOFA agreement in question as to pull out dates. As I said, you may have some inside info on the subject, but, I can only go by what I read that is available to me.

    http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/12/04/iraq.security/index.html?eref=rss_world

    http://nypost.com/seven/11212008/postopinion/opedcolumnist/pullout_treaty_a_win_for_Iraq_139982.htm

    Again, my OPINION only, Obama can do whatever he pleases. He is the current President rather than Bush. Somehow, I don’t give the Iraq Government alot of credit yet, as there was alot of dissention in order to get the SOFA Laws written and approved. I hold their position as fragile as the purple finger votes were.

    Hey, rather than admonishing me in your post, are you opposed to correcting anyone in an educational way, rather than posting with the same arrogance that Obama seems to display?

  • http://jeffemanuel.net Jeff Emanuel

    If you will please look back at my post, I began with ?it is my opinion?.

    “I really believe” strikes me as a touch stronger than “in my opinion,” but fine, revise and extend away.

    I ask you respectfully to please explain to me what you mean by ?What would there be for Obama to gain by actually conceding on Iraq and striking a personal agreement??

    Sure. McCain, as I said, is already a supporter of AGW legislation and immigration “reform.” You claim to believe that Obama horse-traded a longer stay in Iraq with McCain in exchange for the latter’s support on AGW and immigration legislation; my point is that it would be an absurd waste of time and political capital for Obama to trade anything for something he’s going to get from McCain anyway.

    Also, I ask again respectfully what in my comment could even remotely be considered a ?Conspiracy Theory??

    Obama agrees to stay in Iraq as part of an underhanded, secret deal with the man he beat for the office of President, in exchange for that man’s direct legislative support on issues you don’t want legislated. Forget the fact that JohnnyMac was going to support them anyway; the only way your theory (sorry — “opinion”) could be more of a Conspiracy Theory would be if it included black helicopters.

    I do not buy into conspiracy theories and take your comment as an unsubstantiated claim.

    Fair enough. In the immortal words of Ron Burgundy: “Agree to Disagree.”

    As far as the pull out of American troops in Iraq, maybe as a former military person and then Iraq reporter you have inside information that is not published for all of us to see. Also, you do not take into account that there have been many reports maybe factual and maybe not that put the SOFA agreement in question as to pull out dates. As I said, you may have some inside info on the subject, but, I can only go by what I read that is available to me.

    How about just reading the SOFA and SFA yourself, instead of relying on third-party sources to inform (and make up your mind for) you?

    Here; I’ve even done the legwork and found them for you:

    SOFA (try page 20 there)

    Strategic Framework

    Again, my OPINION only, Obama can do whatever he pleases. He is the current President rather than Bush. Somehow, I don?t give the Iraq Government alot of credit yet, as there was alot of dissention in order to get the SOFA Laws written and approved. I hold their position as fragile as the purple finger votes were.

    You’re entitled to your opinion. I’d love, though, to know what “dissention” (sic) you saw “alot” (sic) of in the process of “get[ting] the SOFA Laws written and approved” (it’s a formal agreement between states, not a set of “laws,” by the way), considering the only group that opposed it was the 30-member Sadrist bloc of parliament, which showed themselves to be utterly ineffective in the attempt.

  • Neil1030

    …is about as divisive an issue as you can get! Because the policy is the opposite of what Bush did, somehow it is not divisive? Of course we expected this kind of slavish devotion to Obama from the news media. When I say “news” I use the term sparingly.

    Besides this item he also then goes out of his way to insult and antagonize Republicans and GWB. This proves all the nice sounding words about moving beyond partisanship are total bull. So he will prove to be far more divisive than Bush, but the elite opinion makers will say he is a unifier so that settles it.

  • Right_Again

    Thanks for posting on this bs. I just noticed this AP article as the lead story on Yahoo! Journalists seem certain that we are all idiots. They say Obama’s actions are not divisive, so they must not be.

    To this AP writer ‘not devisive’ obviously equates to ‘liberal’. How does this stuff pass an editor’s, an ombudsman’s, or a news chief’s scrutiny?

    \stops banging head…

  • phred

    I guess the Vatican’s image has moved up a notch to just criticizing the US. Alienating the pro-life in general, not to mention 1bn Catholics. Of course, Venezuela’s Chavez has warmed up to Obama. I guess Chavez will put in a good word for us with Cuba, Iran, and Russia. All and all it’s been a banner short week for Obama. Next week he’ll have a full 5 days to repair the battered image of the US.