NewsCommonsense

Manufacturing Controversy

Alas, we’ve come to expect that the mark of journalism today is whether it can find stories that have the three C’s:  Currency, Celebrity, and Controversy.

We’ve heard the stories that Ben Bernanke was in trouble.  There were stories that he might not be confirmed.  So when I saw this headline,

Fed chief Bernanke wins 2nd term in closest vote

By JEANNINE AVERSA and JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writers

I was wondering who the one or two Senators were who put him over the top.

WASHINGTON – Embattled Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke won confirmation for a second term Thursday, but only by the closest vote ever for the crucial post and after withering criticism from lawmakers for bailing out Wall Street while other Americans suffered in recession.

The Senate confirmed Bernanke for a new four-year term by a 70-30 vote, a seemingly solid majority but 14 votes worse than the closest previous vote for a Fed chairman.

No, AP, it wasn’t a “seemingly solid majority”; it was a solid majority.  It was a landslide, a mandate, even if it was closet vote ever for the post, especially in this poisoned partisan environment.

AP: Tabloid, Moi? Non, Non

I love the way the AP justifies its coverage of the Tiger Woods accident by suggesting it is not the AP that is obsessed, only the “tabloids.”

Tiger Woods didn't have to say a word to get Florida troopers off his case. The same strategy may be harder to pull off when it comes to the tabloid media probing his private life.

I feel sure we can count on the AP to keep us abreast of what those nasty tabloids are doing to Woods.

‘Obnoxiously Articulate’?

This is pretty funny.

In short, {AP’s Liz] Sidoti criticized Obama in early September for failing to "articulate his vision" on health care. Obama then gave a nationally televised speech laying out his position on the issue and continued to speak out about health care and other issues in the following weeks. The result? Sidoti suggests that he is "obnoxiously articulate" because he hasn't "stop[ped] talking about his goals." In other words: heads I win, tails you lose.