Michael,

Does that mean that Min­nesota isn’t gen­er­ally a par­tic­u­larly cold state?

Hey!  We’re not cold, we’re cool!  And this summer we’re not even that, although, relative to the hell that most of the west and southwest are enjoying this summer, you may not think so.  But the dew point at this instant is in the mid-60s, which is uncomfortable, and the temperature is pushing 90.

You know, of course, that in any change there are winners and losers.  Minnesota is predicted to get a somewhat moister, more temperate climate.  Which will be nice in the winter, and I won’t miss those days when the temperature doesn’t rise to 15 below, but it carries a penalty: we’re seeing pests we haven’t had problems with.  I expect the boll weevil any day to show up and start going after the cottonwood trees…

Yeah, I like tan­gi­ble examples.…random stud­ies just doesn’t cut it.

Tangible examples, however, are useless as evidence of a trend. If I say it’s cold in Minnesota, you can point to literally dozens of days a year that indicate that every city in Minnesota is much warmer than, say, San Francisco. Does that mean that Minnesota isn’t generally a particularly cold state?

Romney makes a birther joke in Michigan this morning. Freepers are thrilled.

Sane people, not so much.

What a baffling bonehead, unforced error. This is a guy who never, ever fails to step in the doggy-doo, even when his handlers are trying to steer him around it.

As if the convention coverage wasn’t already going to be overwhelmed with “legitimate rape” and “no exceptions” talk. Now it’s going to be seething with birtherism, too. Maybe Romney is trying to drive his personal approval numbers down far enough to match Congress?

A total headshaker. Wow.

“See there, now that’s the rgb I’ve always been so fond of”

Amazing what happens when you don’t insult people. I suppose “liberal media” is a reflexive defensive mechanism, just like “raaaacist” is for the left. When in doubt, its always a good goto.

“The prob­lem as I see it is that pol­i­tics par­tic­u­larly in the US has truly descended to the level of a sport­ing event,”

Well,I figure if thats what it takes to get people interested,maybe its not all bad. Comedy is also a big medium for politics, but hey if people get their news by watching the Daily Show, maybe its better than nothing.  Course it offends us purists.

@rgb… I agree that many have got­ten reflex­ive with the “lib­eral media”
charge. CNN for instance seems to have improved. I thought peo­ple
rip­ping on Candy Crow­ley for mod­er­at­ing the debates was way out
of line.

See there, now that’s the rgb I’ve always been so fond of. 

The problem as I see it is that politics particularly in the US has truly descended to the level of a sporting event, where the guys on the other team are all nasty cheating bums and thugs, while the guys on our side are gentlemanly princes with a Tebow-style direct line to the Almighty (and He incidentally wears a team jersey.)

This kind of rabid partisanship leaves little room for even-handed examinations of media fairness, or thoughtful objective analysis of any kind.

I almost expect to see attendees at the conventions with painted faces, beer cans in hand and hairy bare bellies tattooed with donkeys or elephants. 

accus­ing shoot­ers of being Teapartiers.

Wow. A single mass shooting, in which there was speculation by a handful of people for perhaps a couple of hours that maybe the shooter had right-wing tendencies, and you try to make that into an example of liberal bias. Meanwhile, there still are nutcakes out there pushing the birther meme, for years, and media outlets, as often as not, report it as “New questions have surfaced…” rather than “Yet another insane nutbat speaks out…” which would at least be accurate.

Here are some examples of media bias. We’re hearing a lot about the sequester of military funds that is scheduled to kick in come January 2013. The number $55 billion has been mentioned a lot. Do you know how much military spending is actually going to be cut on Jan 1?

And a second part of that — This sequester of military funds is only half the story. What’s the other half? How often do you hear about it?

Third question, for bonus points — Why is the sequester happening? Romney and Ryan are claiming that it’s a case of President Obama cutting the military budget. Is that accurate?

And here’s another question, unrelated to the first three (it’s a two-parter) — From what you hear in the media, has President Obama raised taxes during his first term, or lowered taxes? and … Has federal spending increased or decreased during President Obama’s first term?

Thanks Fili for an actual thoughtful response. Yeah, I like tangible examples.…random studies just doesn’t cut it. I guess conservative bias just comes in different forms than liberal bias. Booking more conservative guests vs. say accusing shooters of being Teapartiers.

I agree that many have gotten reflexive with the “liberal media” charge. CNN for instance seems to have improved. I thought people ripping on Candy Crowley for moderating the debates was way out of line.

Quite frankly, I would RATHER NOT resort to insults. But when you post comments that are so easily disproved with a couple of keystrokes, when you spout talking points, when you constantly ask OTHERS to do research that you should do, when you make claims similar to what fili just chided you about, AND you do it consistently, then you are insulting the good folks here who DO act in an honest and deliberate manner, putting some originality and thought into what they write.

I, and others, have BEGGED you to do the same and quit the lackadaisical comments for a LONG time. But you travel the same road in spite of the pleas. 

As I have told Mule, you choose the path on which we walk.

@rgb… sorry, dear. We truly don’t mean to insult you. In fact, we all love you… your posts probably generate more interesting responses than anybody else at the blog.

But you must realize it’s terribly frustrating when you say stuff  like this…Again,you need to pro­vide spe­cific evi­dence, else your just on
another “cor­po­ra­tions are evil” rant. Most con­ser­v­a­tives point to
spe­cific inci­dences when they refer to media bias.

Don’t you see, that’s the whole problem! Pointing to a ’”specific incident”… like when Rachel Maddow says something mean about Reince Preibus, whom she enjoys mocking.… is not an indicator of pervasive media bias. A real indicator of media bias is the study I linked to which shows, using charts, graphs and references, that Republicans are quoted in the media 44% more often than Democrats… or that negative references to Romney are reported significantly fewer times across all media than similar negative references to Obama.

THAT is a confirmation of conservative media bias. “Specific incidents,” OTOH, mean exactly… well.. bupkus.

Don’t worry, rgbact, it’ll be a LONG time before liberals catch up to you guys. Mud still has a favorite slinger. (I’ve now got this image in my head of Paul Ryan dressed as a cowboy and pulling a handful of mud from his holster. Too bad the Golden Age of Mudslingers is still with us. Do we need a real showdown at the Not-OK Corral?)