Don't let facts stand in the way

Why did no one in the media note the irony that Barack Obama announced his Iraq policy and then went there on a fact-finding tour?

Let him run for president of the European Union

Hundreds of thousands of adoring Europeans turned out to witness Barack Obama's appearance, as if it was some kind of miraculous apparition.

So what?

Obama and the media need to be reminded that the president is elected by American citizens, not Europeans or "citizens of the world." If anything, the European fawning will help McCain by honking off Americans who believe that who we elect president is no one's business but ours.

Obama the Flawless

I'm sitting here watching WTTW-TV's Chicago Week in Review, and the guest reporters all agree that Barack Obama's Middle East and European tour went off without a flaw. None of the guests, at least while I was tuned in, mentioned Obama's cancellation of a visit to wounded GIs in Germany as in any way problematic. I guess that wasn't a flaw.

Obama's campaign staff blames "the Pentagon" for cancellation of the scheduled visit; the Pentagon denies it. The Pentagon said that Obama could visit, but couldn't bring his campaign entourage and the media with him. And so, the wounded GIs were spared being pestered.

Well, there you have it: Obama's tour was flawless.

No Good Reason to Spike McCain's Op-Ed

By Dennis Byrne
RealClearPolitics

As an ink-strained wretch who has labored for decades for three of America's largest newspapers, I truly had hoped that liberal bias did not explain why the New York Times refused to publish an op-ed column from John McCain.

Sadly, though, the accusation is correct. By journalistic standards, the paper should have run the piece, just as Barack Obama's was run earlier. David Shipley, the Times' op-ed editor, his boss (in a later justification of the refusal) and by extension the newspaper blew this one, big, and now deserve the criticism heaped on them.

Read more at RealClearPolitics