Good evening morons.

Does the National Enquirer Deserve a Pulitzer for Breaking the John Edwards Baby Daddy Scandal?
Probably, but they'll never get one. According to the book Game Change Edwards' affair with Rielle Hunter was common knowledge among his campaign staff. So it seems clear that the MSM press could easily have broken the story if they had had the slightest interest. Everyone likes to mock the Enquirer but they are actually quite careful with their sourcing and haven't been successfully sued in decades. Plus they have the added distinction of actually making a profit which puts them above most of the MSM.
Update: The Enquirer was also the only paper to cover Bill Clinton's affair. And again in this case the media's non-coverage wasn't due to lack of resources or information - the story was basically sitting in their laps - it was purely a case of self-censorship. No such consideration was given to John McCain when the NYT couldn't wait to print an entire article based on mere suspicion of an affair^*.

*_{And note the weasily note they tacked on a year(!) after the original article denying that they implied an affair. At that point their boyfriend was president so a walk back cost them nothing.} more...

Posted by: Open Blog at 05:45 PM | Comments (724)
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Your offer is accepted in principle.

And it gets better:

My spy passes along word that Coakley herself fired up the crowd with this inspiring line: "If I don't win, 2010 is going to be hell for Democrats... Every Democrat will have a competitive race."

Her defeat was also described as "Waterloo for health care."

Trampling the Press: Well, knocking them down, at least.

Better Vid Added: First one is better. more...

Posted by: Ace at 04:31 PM | Comments (217)
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DSCC kicks in.

The DSCC will launch ads on behalf of AG Martha Coakley (D) as she battles to preserve DemsÂ’ 60-seat majority in the Senate.

The DSCC has purchased $567K in ads in the Boston and Springfield markets, a source tells Hotline OnCall.

The move is the most overt DC Dems have made so far in shoring up their candidate in the race against state Sen. Scott Brown (R), demonstrating the partyÂ’s worry that Brown is gaining ground ahead of next TuesdayÂ’s election.

Earlier, the MA Dems, in concert with CoakleyÂ’s campaign, launched a 2-day ad blitz in the same 2 markets at a cost of $288K.

SEIU kicks in another $685,000, in a totally legal, non-coordinated sort of way.

Union plans major ad buy for Coakley
January 12, 2010 06:43 PM

A major national union supporting Democrat Martha Coakley is taking out a massive TV ad buy that slams her Republican rival, Scott Brown, for his positions on abortion and climate change.

The ad taken out by the Service Employees International Union, will begin airing statewide tomorrow. The buy size is $685,000, one of the largest of the election.

And look at that, Scott Brown's donation button still works.

Also on the front page: Doug Flutie endorses.

Thanks to TopSecretK9.

Posted by: Ace at 04:16 PM | Comments (64)
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For commentin' and such.

Posted by: Ace at 04:10 PM | Comments (126)
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As if they don’t already have enough misery to deal with.

No casualty reports yet but it has been preliminarily measured as a 7.0, so it's likely going to be awful.

The largest earthquake ever recorded in the area shook Haiti on Tuesday, collapsing a hospital where people screamed for help. Other buildings also were damaged and scientists said they expected "substantial damage and casualties."

With communications disrupted there were no reports of deaths or injuries soon after the quake, as powerful aftershocks shook the country.

The earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 7.0 and was centered about 10 miles (15 kilometers) west of the capital of Port-au-Prince, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It had a depth of 5 miles (8 kilometers). It was the largest quake recorded in the area, said USGS analyst Dale Grant, and the last major one since a magnitude-6.7 temblor in 1984.

An Associated Press videographer saw the wrecked hospital in Petionville, a hillside Port-au-Prince district that is home to many diplomats and wealthy Haitians. Elsewhere, a U.S. government official reported seeing houses that had tumbled into a ravine.

Haiti's ambassador to the U.S., Raymond Joseph, said from his Washington office that he spoke to President Rene Preval's chief of staff, Fritz Longchamp, just after the quake hit. He said Longchamp told him that "buildings were crumbling right and left" near the national palace. He said he has not gotten through by phone to Haiti since.

I had a friend who did some missionary type work with kids in Haiti. She loved the country and the people but every time she came back she was just crushed by the poverty and living conditions.

Seems things found a way to get worse.

Posted by: DrewM at 03:23 PM | Comments (115)
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I'm baffled why small businesses might think the government is doing stuff to hurt them. Really, I got nothing. Its a total puzzler.

...In reporting that its small business optimism index fell for the second straight month in December, the National Federation of Independent Business Tuesday said members' No. 2 reason for not expanding payrolls was the prospect of government policy initiatives.

Twelve percent said it was not a good time to expand because of the political environment. Over the next three months, 15 percent said they plan to reduce employment, while eight percent plan to create new jobs.

"We're hearing it more and more from our membership," says Bill Rys, the NFIB's tax counsel. "At the federal level, there's uncertainty about tax rates, health care costs, energy costs. You also have what's going on at the state and local levels, with new fees and taxes. They're reluctant to jump back in." ...

Looks like Ace and I pounced on this within a few minutes of each other...so its kinda a double-posty extra-special newsey kinda thing. In the interests of limiting post fratricide, I'd suggest people defer on this one and direct their comments at Ace's post directly below this one.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 01:39 PM | Comments (61)
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Are you not stimulated?

Job openings fell sharply to 2.42 million in November from 2.57 million in October, according to the department's Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey.

That may sound like a lot, given the depths of the recession, but it's the lowest number of job openings since July 2009 and the second-lowest since the department began tracking the data in 2000. It's also about half the peak level of 4.8 million, reached in June 2007.

The decline shows that even as layoffs are slowing, hiring hasn't picked up. The economy lost 85,000 jobs in December, the department said last week, an improvement from the average job cuts of 691,000 per month in the first quarter of last year. The unemployment rate was 10 percent, the same as in November.

Many economists expect the improving trend will continue and the economy will likely add jobs in the first quarter of this year. But with so many people out of work, the unemployment rate is forecast to top 10.5 percent later this year.

Small businesses are still reluctant to hire, according to a monthly survey by the National Federation of Independent Business. Eight percent of small companies plan to add jobs in the next three months, the NFIB said Tuesday, while 15 percent plan to reduce employment, little changed from the previous month.

And the real unemployment rate is 22% and will go higher as well.

Double-dip? I think most likely, yes.

He also faulted Obama and Democratic lawmakers for not doing more to create jobs.

Donohue criticized a separate tax on banks floated by the administration on Monday, and said that the rationale for any tax increases would be increased spending, not lowering huge budget deficits exacerbated by the recession.

“We are talking about a massive tax increase in a very weak economy — a tax increase whose clearly intended purpose is not to reduce the deficit, but to pay for more spending,” he said.

He also promised the Chamber would be more involved in the 2010 midterm election than it has been in any other before, and will hold accountable lawmakers who vote against the group's priorities.

I remember an insight Megan McArdle gleaned from reading about the Depression, I think maybe from Amity Shale's book.

At the beginning of the Depression, the public mood was relatively cheerful. They knew things were bad, but expected a quick recovery.

What changed the public's mood -- and put the actual depression into the Great Depression -- was the unending grind of it, the way things would seem to improve and then get worse, etc.

That's probably going to happen, too.

Posted by: Ace at 01:35 PM | Comments (80)
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Guys? This is going to happen.

I've already decided the Globe poll was nonsense and that of course the Democratic Party's own poll is worth doodley squat.

So now we have one poll showing a one point Brown lead, and this one showing a two point deficit.

It's going to happen.

Woot: AHFF Geoff notes without leaners included (who may not vote, after all), Brown's really one point ahead.

And on Twitter, Slublog points out something astonishing: Among likely unaffiliated voters, Brown leads 71-23.

Of course, he's going to need that sort of lopsided split to offset the massive, massive Democratic advantage. But I'm pretty sure a lot of Democrats will be voting for him.

More: Via Allah's mighty Twitter feed -- even internal Democratic polls only show Coakley ahead by five.

Cratering: Same internal poll, down from 15 a week ago to 5 now.

Thanks to enoxo.

Panic Button: From Coakley's call to donors...

“It’s a little frightening how much traction he’s been able to get so quickly,” Coakley said on the call, which I was able to listen in on this afternoon, adding that he’d successfully used terror and joblessness to stoke voter fears.

Coakley also pleaded with donors to come through with last-minute funding for what she said would be an extremely pricey home-stretch. “It’s astounding how expensive this is,” Coakley said, saying additional TV ads are on the way. “We can’t stress enough how urgent it is. We need $400,000 in additional TV, $325,000 in getting out the vote mailings, and $80,000 in robocalls.”

Thanks to LoopyD of Spitfire Murphy.

Posted by: Ace at 01:07 PM | Comments (331)
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Martha Coakley - Catch the Fever! more...

Posted by: Ace at 01:04 PM | Comments (51)
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Too awesome:

Posted by: Ace at 12:44 PM | Comments (59)
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