Rothschild fails to give credit where credit's due for conservatives' victories

In today's Lawrence Journal-World, liberal activist/reporter Scott Rothschild asks, "Who wins, loses if Senate shifts to right?"

Here is the second paragraph from this article:

"Public schools, middle class families and women are in for a rough ride, according to Democrats as they assessed the political landscape after a slew of moderate Senate leaders were defeated in last week’s Republican Party primary, courtesy of a combined effort from Gov. Sam Brownback, the billionaire Koch brothers, Kansas Chamber of Commerce and Kansans for Life."

Rothschild used similar words in an August 7 article:

"Gov. Sam Brownback, the billionaire Koch brothers, Kansas Chamber of Commerce and Kansans for Life combined to help defeat a slew of moderate Republican Senate candidates on Tuesday."

Notice one group missing from the list of those who worked to defeat the so-called moderates? Rothschild failed to credit the voters.  

Lawrence Journal-World publishes cartoon with discredited information

On May 26, the Journal-World published a Mike Luckovich cartoon that claims spending has gone up just 1.4% on President Obama's watch.

Luckovich's cartoon is based on an article by Rex Nutting, of MarketWatch, titled, “Obama spending binge never happened.” The liberal Washington Post has assigned Nutting's article three "Pinocchios." According to the Post, Nutting's was able to say spending has increase just 1.4% under Obama because he took much of 2009 out of Obama's column and assigned it to George W. Bush.

The Post also notes that Obama has proposed to spend MORE each year that he has been president than Congress ultimately approved.

Rothschild portrays left-wing group as "non-partisan"

In the May 9 edition of the Lawrence Journal-World, statehouse reporter/political activist Scott Rothschild writes, "One day before a potential vote on a mammoth tax-cut endorsed by Gov. Sam Brownback, a national tax study group said the proposal would increase taxes on many low- and middle-income Kansans." Rothschild then writes that the group, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), "is a non-profit, non-partisan group that works on state and federal tax policy, focusing on tax fairness."

However, a quick look at ITEP's board of directors shows us that the group is dominated by leftists:

• Robert Kuttner: The American Prospect. According to its mission statement, the American Prospect was founded as "an authoritative magazine of liberal ideas." According to Wikipedia, Kuttner's "most recent book, Obama's Challenge: America's Economic Crisis and the Power of a Transformative Presidency, presents a vision of Barack Obama's opportunity to transform American politics."
• Iris Lav: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Lav was associate director of public policy for the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees. She also served as deputy director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which Wikipedia describes as a "left of center think tank."
• Robert Reich, Brandeis University: Bill Clinton's secretary of labor. He was appointed a member of President-elect Barack Obama's economic transition advisory board. He is also chairman of Common Cause, which Rothschild ridiculously claimed was a public watchdog group last year.
• Dean Tipps, Service Employees International Union: SEIU spent $28 million supporting Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election, making it the "organization that spent the most to help Barack Obama get elected president."

Smearing Brownback

In today's Lawrence Journal-World, letter writer Phil Minkin writes the following:

"After an unfavorable tweet by an 18-year-old high school senior, a Brownback henchman, whose job it must be to monitor social media, sniffing out criticism, contacted the girl’s high school principal seeking some retribution."

This is factually incorrect. As the Journal-World also noted today, "When the governor’s office saw the tweet during monitoring of social media comments, it was reported to Youth in Government officials." News reports over the weekend also noted that the governor's office contacted the Youth in Government program.

There is no indication that Brownback's staff ever contacted the student's principal. There is also no indication that the staff pressured the Youth in Government program to contact the student's principal, which it did. The only person who attempted to punish the student was the principal. If the Brownback staff sought retribution against the student, it seems to me that they would have contacted the principal themselves. They did not.

While the purpose of a letter to the editor section is to allow readers to express their opinions, those opinions should be based on facts. In this case, Mr. Minkin's opinions were not based on facts, and the Journal-World was fully aware of what the facts were.

Journal-World publishes canned letter--twice

This morning, the Lawrence Journal-World published the following letter to the editor, purportedly written by Sammie Locke of Lawrence:

"The divisiveness in Washington is costing American jobs. Over three weeks have passed since President Obama sent his American Jobs Act to Congress, but the Republicans refuse to even look at it.

"President Obama’s American Jobs Act is exactly the type of solution that we need: a bill full of ideas that both parties support. It is a deal that creates jobs by lowering taxes and investing in our future. And, the best part: It is fully paid for.

"We need relief for the middle class now. It’s time for our politicians to get over politics and put America back to work."

It seemed to me that I had read this same letter before. Why, yes, I did--two days ago in the Lawrence Journal-World! The J-W published this letter by Mike Lawrence on October 10:

"The divisiveness in Washington is costing American jobs. Over three weeks have passed since President Obama sent his American Jobs Act to Congress, but the Republicans refuse to even look at it.

"President Obama’s American Jobs Act is exactly the type of solution that we need — a bill full of ideas that both parties should support. It is a deal that creates jobs by lowering taxes and investing in our future. And, the best part: It is fully paid for.

"We need relief for the middle class now. It’s time for our politicians to get over politics and help put Lawrence, northeast Kansas and America back to work."

Did Sammie plagiarize Mike? Not quite. The same letter has been published throughout the country. Here are two other examples:

http://www.nwfdailynews.com/opinion/jobs-44312-american-act.html

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/letters/chi-111011butler_briefs,0,6044589.story

Yael Abouhalkah gets caught in lie

Yesterday, The Kansas City Star's Yael Abouhalkah offers a blog item entitled "'Occupy' movement is pro-American, anti-Republican." According to Abouhalkah, "I know the Occupy movement is having some effect, because ultra-conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh called the Americans involved in the group 'idiots,' 'clowns' and other names Monday."

Of course, anyone who actually listened to Limbaugh's program on Monday knows Limbaugh had a guest host, Mark Davis.

Scott Rothschild's biased article on the Koch brothers, American Legislative Exchange Council

I found liberal activist Scott Rothschild's July 24 hit piece on the Koch brothers and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) quite biased. While he painted the Kochs and ALEC as being motivated by ideology, he presented the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) and Common Cause--two groups critical of the Kochs and ALEC--as "public watchdog groups."

Those familiar with CMD and Common Cause know that both groups have very liberal/progressive agendas. CMD was founded by liberal environmentalist writer and political activist John Stauber. Stauber's books include titles such as Banana Republicans, The Best War Ever: Lies, Damned Lies and the Mess in Iraq, and Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq.

Bob Edgar, a former Democratic congressman, heads Common Cause. Its chairman is Robert Reich, who served as Bill Clinton's Labor Secretary. Reich's anti-conservative views are well-known.

Both CMD and Common Cause have received financial support from the Open Society Institute, headed by liberal financier George Soros. Soros, you may remember, spent nearly $25 million in a failed effort to defeat President Bush in 2004.

Rothschild is the Lawrence Journal-World's "statehouse reporter," which means he is supposed to be engaged in objective reporting. If he cannot report both sides, perhaps the Journal-World should make him an op-ed columnist.