Gingrich Tells Young Conservatives that "War on Terror is Phony and We are losing."

Listen to what Newt Gingrich told the Young America's Foundation National Conservative Student Conference:

"Republican political doctrine has been a failure. Look at New Orleans. How can you say that was a success? Look at Baghdad ... We've been in charge for six years and I don't think you can look around and say that was a great success."

"We have got to get beyond this political bologna. I'm not allowed to say anything positive about Hillary Clinton because then I'm not a loyal Republican, and she's not allowed to say anything positive about me because then she's not a loyal Democrat. What a stupid way to run a country."

"How can we tolerate systems more likely to send young Americans to prison than college? Republicans have this maniacally dumb idea of red versus blue. They say Detroit is a blue place, so we're not going to go there."

Then there was this tidbit for the young conservatives regarding Bubble-Boy's "War on Terror":

"None of you should believe we are winning this war. We are in a phony war ... we have not been taking this seriously."

You can read the Salon Magazine story about Gingrich's appearance and the reaction to it by clicking here. Wonder what Fox News will do with this?

Bias at Politico?

If you have ever read the online newspaper Politico, you might find this article by Glen Greenwald in Salon Magazine to be interesting. Greenwald points out that the CEO of Politico is also also the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Not only that, but he worked for Reagan as Assistant to the President. He donated money to George W. Bush. He also works for the company that is financing Politico. Interestingly none of the major mainstream media outlets that reported on the recent Republican Presidential debate that was held last week at the Reagan Library reported on the ties of the Library's Chair to either Politico or to Ronald Reagan.

Now, why wouldn't they report on these facts? Well, maybe because the elephant in the room that readers aren't supposed to comment on is the issue of the political bias of owners of media companies. We are supposed to believe that reporters never worry about what their bosses think and that they will print the truth regardless of the biases of their bosses.

Frankly we don't buy it because reporters, editors, and other people involved in the news business are human. They want to keep their jobs. They know the biases of their supervisors and the owners of the media companies where they work. They know the culture of the organizations where they work. They know how far they can go with their opinions and their writing. This is especially true with organizations where reporters and other staff personnel are not protected by a collective bargaining agreement.

This is not to say that all organizations police the stories of their reporters, but it is to say that such biases are a legitimate subject of discussion. Only that discussion can't take place if news media organizations act as if it doesn't ever happen or demonize those who argue that the media emperor isn't wearing any clothes.