War Room
Washington Times updates style guide
With a new editor, the paper -- a conservative stalwart -- has made a shift toward using some more neutral terminology, and some on the right aren't happy.
Topics: The Washington Times, War Room
When the Washington Times, the conservative newspaper founded and run by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, changed its top leadership recently, observers expected that more change would be coming. They weren’t wrong — with the replacement of executive editor Wes Pruden by John Solomon, who has extensive experience at more mainstream media outlets, we’ve already seen one small but meaningful change to the paper’s coverage. The Times has altered several elements of its style guide, telling staffers to use more neutral terminology instead of the doctrinaire wording and scare quotes favored by the previous editorial regime. In an e-mail memo that has been widely circulated now, one editor wrote:
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Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon. More Alex Koppelman.
The Obama campaign’s annoying spin
Sorry, but he's not in better political shape now than he was four years ago
Topics: War Room
There’s nothing wrong with a campaign trying to rally its troops in the face of bad news or discouraging numbers. But the Obama campaign’s response to Mitt Romney’s improving poll position and, presumably, to last Friday’s dismal jobs report really is too much.
Not everything campaign manager Jim Messina says in the four-minute video released today is objectionable. He makes a strong case for the importance of grass-roots organizing and the strengths the Obama campaign has on that front. Fair enough. But the overall story he tells about where the race stands reeks of spin.
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Steve Kornacki writes about politics for Salon. Reach him by email at SKornacki@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @SteveKornacki More Steve Kornacki.
A dangerous time for context
Bleak jobs numbers make it even more urgent for Obama to erode Romney’s economic credibility – and harder too
Topics: War Room
The Obama campaign is continuing its assault on Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts record with a new ad that shows him making the same basic promise to Bay State voters in 2002 that he’s making to all Americans today: “I speak the language of business. I know how jobs are created.”
As the one-minute spot makes clear, Massachusetts on Romney’s watch was not exactly a jobs-creating superpower, ranking 47th in new job growth. His heavy reliance on regressive fee hikes to bring the budget into balance and statistics about the erosion of the state’s manufacturing base and outsourced state jobs are also hyped. The idea, obviously, is to force swing voters to view Romney as something other than a generic, suitably qualified alternative to Obama.
Steve Kornacki writes about politics for Salon. Reach him by email at SKornacki@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @SteveKornacki More Steve Kornacki.
Testing the Big Dog’s muscle
Can Bill Clinton push two underdogs, one in Wisconsin and the other in New Jersey, over the top next Tuesday?
Topics: War Room
Bill Clinton in Wisconsin on Friday. (Credit: AP/Jeffrey Phelps) Next Tuesday is shaping up as a fascinating test of Bill Clinton’s political clout. The former president is spending today campaigning on behalf of two underdogs, each in need of a late jolt of momentum, and if either of them ends up prevailing, the Big Dog stands to reap a lot of credit.
A short while ago, Clinton rallied the faithful in Wisconsin, framing the recall of Gov. Scott Walker as a necessary step toward healing the bitterly divided state.
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Steve Kornacki writes about politics for Salon. Reach him by email at SKornacki@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @SteveKornacki More Steve Kornacki.
The price of tribal betrayal
Former GOP Rep. Bob Inglis talks to Salon about the mindset that drives the Obama-era GOP
Topics: War Room
Bob Inglis (Credit: AP/Richard Shiro) When Donald Trump hijacked the news this week with his latest birther ravings and Mitt Romney refused to repudiate him, Bob Inglis could only sigh.
“It really damages our credibility to not deal in facts,” the former South Carolina congressman told Salon. “The fact is the president is an American. The fact is the president is not a socialist. He’s left of center – he’s way left of me. But he’s not a socialist. There’s a difference.”
The prevailing theory is that Romney, who shared the stage with Trump at a fundraiser Tuesday night, bit his tongue for fear of offending a Republican base that contains more than a few voters who are sympathetic to Trump’s views. Inglis knows all about that kind of pressure: He may be the signature victim of the intraparty revolt that has defined the Obama-era Republican Party, a one-time rising star with a deeply conservative voting record who was nonetheless defeated in a 2010 primary – by 42 points.
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Steve Kornacki writes about politics for Salon. Reach him by email at SKornacki@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @SteveKornacki More Steve Kornacki.
The history of the 1990s, revised
Imagine if conservatives had been this excited about Bill Clinton’s presidency when Bill Clinton was president
Topics: War Room
(Credit: Reuters) (updated below)
Pretty much from the moment Barack Obama became the likely Democratic nominee four years ago, the right began creating a revisionist history of Bill Clinton’s presidency.
When it actually played out in the 1990s, Republicans challenged Clinton’s legitimacy, obstructed his agenda, belittled his character, forced a government shutdown and impeached him. This wasn’t that surprising; it’s just how the right tends to respond when Democrats claim the White House. This was as true under John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson in the 1960s as it is today under Obama.
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Steve Kornacki writes about politics for Salon. Reach him by email at SKornacki@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @SteveKornacki More Steve Kornacki.
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