Opinion

Politico Watch: The Most Biased Items Of The Week

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Will Ricciardella Social Media Strategist and Politics Writer
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The Daily Caller News Foundation has compiled a weekly list of examples exposing bias in Politico’s daily email newsletter that briefs subscribers on the most important news of the day.

Politico Playbook’s writers, Anna Palmer, Jake Sherman, and Daniel Lippman, include tidbits ranging from highlighting a quote calling the president’s chief strategist as his “henchman,” to leaning left of The New York Times in a headline, to conducting completely unverifiable fact-checks.
Below are the most egregious examples from the past week:

 

1. A fact check of Trump that’s not a fact check:

FROM THE WHITE HOUSE — @realDonaldTrump at 6:19 a.m. : “My son Donald did a good job last night. He was open, transparent and innocent. This is the greatest Witch Hunt in political history. Sad!” … at 6:32 a.m.: “Remember, when you hear the words ‘sources say’ from the Fake Media, often times those sources are made up and do not exist.”

— ACTUALLY, THIS IS NOT TRUE. We don’t know any reporters who make up sources. We don’t make up sources. And Trump’s White House often asks to be quoted on background — which means identifying a source by a vague title, like “White House aide” or “administration official.” And this story about the president’s son is not based on a “source.” It’s based on emails that Donald Jr. sent and later released.

2. Overwrought book excerpt on Steve Bannon:

JOSH GREEN with an excerpt from his new Bannon book in NYMag, “Attack, Attack, Attack:  Bannon is less ‘The Great Manipulator’ than Trump’s indispensable henchman, the man he turns to when everything’s going to hell. Bannon is astute enough to discern Trump’s desires and heedless enough to carry it out.”

3. Extending further to the left than the NYT on this headline:

New York Times headline: Neomi Rao, the Scholar Who Will Help Lead Trump’s Regulatory Overhaul

Playbook headline: TRUMP’S WHITE HOUSE — “The Scholar Who Will Help Lead Trump’s Assault on Rules,” by NYT’s Steve Eder: “When George Mason University changed the name of its law school last year to honor Antonin Scalia, the late conservative Supreme Court justice, the tribute rankled many liberal faculty members and students. … One outspoken advocate for the name change was Neomi Rao, an associate law professor who had come to know Mr. Scalia while serving as a clerk for Clarence Thomas, another conservative member of the court. … [Q]uietly, Ms. Rao also worked to win over liberal critics. In a public relations coup, she helped secure an endorsement for the name change from Ruth Bader Ginsburg, one of the Supreme Court’s most liberal justices and a longtime friend of Mr. Scalia. …

“Ms. Rao’s ability to work both sides of the ideological divide, emblematic of her career in academia and government, is about to be tested anew. On Monday, the Senate is expected to approve Ms. Rao’s nomination to lead an obscure but powerful White House agency called the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs – placing her at the heart of President Trump’s politically contentious agenda to overhaul government rules and regulations.”

4. Abandoning neutrality on Reince Priebus: 

BY THE WAY … Say what you want about Reince, but he has nothing to do with the scandals engulfing this administration. His job is literally impossible: he has to impose order on a president who thrives off chaos.

5.  Certainty and urgency amount to confusion:

CONFUSION AT 1600? Here is what the White House has asked the Hill to do immediately: 1) Pass a repeal of Obamacare before August recess. 2) Lift the debt ceiling before August recess. 3) Agree on the outlines of a broad-based overhaul of the nation’s tax code before the August recess. 4) Clear outstanding executive and judicial branch nominations.

 UHH, GUYS … There are 13 legislative days scheduled until the August recess. Obamacare repeal is in a tough spot. Congress is extremely unlikely to lift the debt ceiling before the August recess. And we can’t see any agreement on the horizon on tax reform.

Follow Will Ricciardella on Twitter and Facebook

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