Talk to any political organizer and they'll tell you the hardest part about pulling off a successful protest rally is building a big enough crowd for the press to show up and cover the festivities. As tax day approaches, conservatives planning anti-Obama "tea party" demonstrations across the country have found a way around this once-daunting organizer's dilemma: Fox News.

That's right. Despite repeatedly claiming its coverage is "fair and balanced," despite its attacks on anyone who dares claim or imply the cable outlet tilts to the right, despite encouraging viewers to "say 'no' to biased media," Fox News has frequently aired segments imploring its audience to get involved with tea-party protests across the country -- protests the "news" network has described as mainly a response to President Obama's economic policies.

The fight for 2012 is here. Beltway media insiders rejoice!

Who's it going to be? Spunky Sarah? Moneyed Mitt? Holy Huckabee? Some dark-horse candidate flying under the radar? One thing is for sure: While the media clamors for every tiny detail in the looming battle for the Republican presidential nomination, the real fight for 2012 is taking place right before their very eyes.

Conventional-wisdom channelers in Washington, wittingly or not, have already been put to use by conservatives so determined to win that few facts remain untwisted. The fight over the 2010 census, which will ultimately dictate how congressional districts are drawn in 2012 and potentially influence party control of Congress for years to come, has already started.

Hey folks, I wanted to share my latest column with everyone here at MyDD. If you like what you see, feel free to recommend this diary and share it with your friends.

-K

It's probably a good thing that cable news generally doesn't draw much of an audience from the 18- to 24-year-old demographic. Otherwise, history professors across the nation could very well be witnessing the undoing of their work to educate students about the dire economic climate the United States faced for much of the 1930s.

Those who have been watching cable news lately have undoubtedly noticed the litany of conservative media figures attempting to rewrite history by denigrating the tremendous successes of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal policies in what amounts to an orchestrated effort to derail the economic recovery plans of President Obama.

Hey folks, I wanted to share my latest column with everyone here at MyDD -- a review of Bernard Goldberg's latest book, "A Slobbering Love Affair: The True (And Pathetic) Story of the Torrid Romance Between Barack Obama and the Mainstream Media". If you like what you see, feel free to recommend this diary and share it with your friends.

-K

That certainly didn't take long. Just shy of a week after Barack Obama took the oath of office, becoming America's 44th president, the nation's foremost right-wing publishing house has released a new tome by Bernard Goldberg that seeks to trash the supposedly liberal "mainstream media" for being in the tank for Obama.

The three-ringed circus of liberal media bias cryptozoology is nothing new for Goldberg. He's been part of this factually challenged freak show for years. This isn't even his first book on the subject -- he wrote 2001's creatively titled, Bias.

This is huge.  I wanted to make sure people saw this memo.  If you feel others should see the ABC "Blackout" Memo, be sure to recommend this diary.

http://mediamatters.org/items/2006103100 10

Karl @ Media Matters

Air America Blacklisted by Advertisers?
ABC Memo Reveals Air America Advertiser "Blackout"

Washington, DC -- An internal ABC Radio Networks memo obtained by Media Matters for America, originally from a listener to The Peter B. Collins Show, indicates that nearly 100 ABC advertisers insist that their commercials be blacked out on Air America Radio affiliates. According to the memo, the advertisers insist that "NONE of their commercials air during AIR AMERICA programming." Among the advertisers listed are Bank of America, Exxon Mobil, Federal Express, General Electric, McDonald's, Microsoft, Wal-Mart, and the U.S. Navy.

To View the Memo, CLICK HERE.

To read more, CLICK HERE.

Tick, tock, tick, tock... November surprise fast approaching.

-Karl

Media Should be Asking How and Why Saddam Verdict Was Set for Two Days Before Midterm Elections

The Bush administration has a long history of timing national security-related actions with the political calendar, and the media should be asking if it has done so again. The verdict of the Saddam Hussein trial, which was originally scheduled to be announced on October 16, 2006, has been postponed until November 5, 2006, just two days before the U.S. midterm elections.

Continue Reading in the Extended Entry...

Paul is calling Sen. DeWine out.  Check out his statement and this great background quote from Schmidt on her first day in Congress, then please recommend this diary so others will have a chance to see it.

UPDATE: Paul with be on Air America's Majority Report at 7:50pm

-Karl

CINCINNATI, OH - Paul Hackett, candidate for U.S. Senate, today called on Sen. Mike DeWine, Ohio's senior Republican in Washington, to join him in demanding that Rep. Jean Schmidt apologize to Rep. John Murtha (PA-12), a Viet Nam veteran, for calling him a coward on the floor of the House of Representatives.

"Congressman Murtha is a hero and deserves the respect he earned on the battlefield. This country is free because of men and women like him," said Hackett.

He continued, "As Ohio's senior Republican official in Washington, Sen. Mike DeWine should join me in calling on Jean Scmidt to apologize for ever questioning John Murtha's honor."

"It's time for Sen. DeWine to show some leadership and help hold his colleagues in Washington accountable for their actions AND their words," Hackett concluded.

On October 24th Paul Hackett announced his candidacy for U.S. Senate. In the 18 days since then he's been hard at work traveling the state talking with voters about the mess in Iraq, our good jobs being shipped overseas and the lack of quality, affordable healthcare among countless other issues.

Check out this video from his first day on the campaign trail and let us know what you think by posting a comment.  Feel free to recommend this diary if you think it warrants other people seeing it.

http://www.HackettForOhio.com/day1

Watch the video, and see for yourself why so many Democrats are energized by Paul's message for Ohio. From his formal announcement to the United Auto Workers' March for Jobs and a County Democratic Dinner it will give you a good idea of the wonderful response he's been receiving.

-Karl