Even America's liberal elites concede that Obama's Presidency is crumbling By Nile Gardiner World Last updated: September 8th, 2010  Democrats in Congress are no longer asking themselves whether this is going to be a bad election year for them and their party. They are asking whether it is going to be a disaster. The GOP pushed deep into Democratic-held territory over the summer, to the point where the party is well within range of picking up the 39 seats it would need to take control of the House. Overall, as many as 80 House seats could be at risk, and fewer than a dozen of these are held by Republicans.Political handicappers now say it is conceivable that the Republicans could also win the 10 seats they need to take back the Senate. Not since 1930 has the House changed hands without the Senate following suit.Is this a piece from National Review, The Weekly Standard, The Wall Street Journal or Fox News.com, all major conservative news outlets in the United States? No. It’s a direct quote from yesterday’s Washington Post, usually viewed by conservatives as a flagship of the liberal establishment inside the Beltway. The fact The Post is reporting that not only could Republicans sweep the House of Representatives this November, but may even take the Senate as well, is a reflection of just how far the mainstream, overwhelmingly left-of-centre US media has moved in the last month towards acknowledging the scale of the crisis facing the White House.To its credit, The Washington Post has generally been ahead of the curve compared to its main competitors such as The New York Times in reporting President Obama’s travails, but its striking front page coverage of the “Democrats’ plight” and talk of a possible GOP Senate win (regarded as…

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 Appeasing the Google Gods By Howard Kurtz I can no longer file a story in our computer system without filling out a box, a small gray square that may well determine the future of serious journalism.

The box is supposed to contain words and phrases that will help me reel you in. Search has become a journalistic obsession on the Web, and with good reason. Most people don't read publications online, patiently turning from national news to Metro to Style to the sports section. They hunt for subjects, and people, in which they're interested.

Our mission -- and we have no choice but to accept it -- is to grab some of that traffic that could otherwise end up at hundreds of other places, even blogs riffing off the reporting that your own publication has done. If you appease the Google gods with the right keywords, you are blessed with more readers. So carried to a hypothetical extreme, an ideal headline would be, "Sarah Palin rips non-Muslim Obama over mosque while Lady Gaga remains silent."

Every newsroom in the country grapples with these questions, and The Washington Post is no exception."There's news we know people should read--because it's important and originates with our reporting--and that's our primary function," says Katharine Zaleski, The Post's executive producer and head of digital news products. "But we also have to be very aware of what people are searching for out there and want more information on...... If we're not doing that, we're not doing our jobs."

In a recent interview, Politico Editor-in-Chief John Harris said he tries to serve the site's "core audience" rather than "chasing a huge number...I'm not expecting a reporter who covers an essential policy subject or covers lobbying in Washington to be among our huge traffic drivers."
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 Frank slams foe's 'Hitler' remarkRep. Barney Frank assailed his primary opponent in debate for comparing Obama to Hitler.Read Article      

 Hillary Clinton condemns 9/11 Koran burning A Florida church's threat to burn copies of the Koran to mark the September 11 attacks called "disrespectful" and "disgraceful" by Secretary of State.  Read Article