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See below for some of the worst political analysis by the media prior to the 2022 elections. And yes, as Soledad O’Brien, Eric Schultz, Mehdi Hasan and others have pointed out, it’s very important that there be accountability for these irresponsible, almost-always-wrong political reporters and pundits. Because to date, there really hasn’t been…they just publish their wildly wrong analysis, forecasts, etc. and move on, with zero consequences. So here’s a short list:
- POLITICO Playbook: Breaking down the GOP’s midterm momentum (Politico’s was relentlessly bad on political analysis leading up to the 2022 midterm elections)
- Red tsunami watch (If you see a byline by Josh Kraushaar of Axios, you should pretty much ignore it or, better yet, take the exact opposite!)
- The bottom is dropping out of the 2022 election for Democrats (Quite possibly THE WORST political “analyst”/pundit out there, consistently for years now, is CNN’s Chris Cillizza. Why does anyone read this guy or take him seriously? Why does he get paid big bucks by CNN?)
- At Campaign’s End, Democrats See Limits of Focus on Abortion (The NY Times’ political coverage, at least of this country, is really, really bad.)
- Democrats, on Defense in Blue States, Brace for a Red Wave in the House (More complete crap from the NY Times, which claimed two weeks before the elections, “Reality is setting in” that Dems were dooooomed.)
- Jesse Watters: We are looking at a historic massive red wave coming (It goes without saying that nobody should ever watch Fox “News,” and certainly nobody should ever take it seriously in any way/shape/form. Complete trash.)
- Midterm Predictions: The ‘Red Tsunami’ Comes into View Once More (This really says it all: “National Review was founded in 1955 by William F. Buckley Jr. as a magazine of conservative opinion. The magazine has since defined the modern conservative movement and enjoys the broadest allegiance among American conservatives.”)
- Why Republicans Are Surging (It’s completely mind boggling why David Brooks, who at best is just really dumb, has a prominent perch at the NY Times, also on the Friday evening PBS NewsHour roundup. WHY??? He’s so, so lame and so, so wrong all the time!)
- Why Republican Insiders Think the G.O.P. Is Poised for a Blowout (Godawful by Benjamin Wallace-Wells in the New Yorker, just repeating Republican talking points uncritically.)
- How the impending red wave could become a tsunami (Be very cautious if/when you read “The Hill,” which leans strongly to the right. Also, be VERY cautious about anyone who’s a “former Democratic Party consultant turned Fox/Newsmax commentator”)
- The Hill’s Morning Report — Red wave likely in House as GOP gains crucial edge (More typically horrendous coverage from The Hill, this article on 10/26)
- Tom Sherwood of WAMU’s “The Politics Hour with Kojo Nnamdi” on 11/4 confidently predicted, “The big picture in the country is the Republican wave is going to significantly change congress.” Nope!
- Three Va. congresswomen try to survive possible red wave (The Richmond Times-Dispatch basically just regurgitated media “conventional wisdom” about the supposed “red wave” that was supposedly coming.)
- Virginia midterms could be early sign of whether GOP can match ‘megawave’ hype (The Virginia Mercury put the word “megawave” in one of its pre-election headlines. Alrighty…)
- The red wave is building (Obviously, the Washington Examiner if hard right, but…just a reminder.)
- Three realities powering a Republican sweep (Why does the WaPo publish right-wing propagandist Hugh Hewitt, given that he’s almost always wrong? It’s really f’ed up.)
- Echoes of Youngkin as another parental revolt stirs in Virginia (Wrong again by George Will, who is pretty much always wrong. Yet the WaPo gives him a prominent perch on its editorial page. Why?)
- My predictions for the 2022 midterm elections (The WaPo editorial page strikes again, this time with conservative Henry Olsen’s brilliant prediction on 11/7 that “Republicans are likely to have a massive victory this year, allowing them to take both the House and the Senate.” That followed his previous column, “Sorry, Democrats. Your House majority is probably cooked.” Brilliant.)
- Editor’s Notebook: Fearless prediction time! (On a more local note, the Arlington Sun Gazette, whose editor is a right wingnut extraordinaire, predicted that Democrat Matt de Ferranti would squeak by in his County Board reelection race by just 10 points, 50%-40%; in fact, de Ferranti ended up winning in a 33-point landslide, 61%-28%. Niiiice.)
This could go on all day, and I’m sure there are many more examples (please let me know, in the comments section, if you find any good ones, particularly about Virginia!). But the bottom line is that the political media in this country is badly broken, desperately needs a course correction – and some accountability – but probably won’t get it, sad to say.
