Media Madness! Ranking the Worst #FakeNews Stories of 2017

While March is normally the month reserved for madness here in the U.S., since the election of Donald Trump last November, the mainstream media has made losing one’s sanity seem like a year-round occurrence. Journalists have been plagued by an inability to discern fact from fiction when reporting on the new president and his administration, the result being a whole collection of laughable #FakeNews stories which have been debunked over and over again. So which #FakeNews story has been the worst? In keeping with a venerable March tradition, we’ve decided to hold a competition. Below are 8 stories run by

Former Candidates Start to Coalesce Behind Trump

With the Republican primary race all but over, GOP leaders are slowly beginning to unite behind the party’s presumptive nominee, Donald Trump. This includes three of his former rivals for the nomination. Just days following Trump’s significant victory in the Indiana primary, former candidates Scott Walker and Rick Perry announced they would be backing Trump in this year’s presidential election. Walker framed his support as a fulfilling of his pledge last August to support the Republican nominee and stated that he thinks Trump “is clearly better than Hillary Clinton for a variety of reasons.” Perry was even more complimentary, stating

Former Candidates Rick Perry, George Pataki Make Their 2016 Picks

Earlier this month, Sen. Lindsey Graham became the first ex-2016 presidential candidate to make an endorsement when he announced he was backing the candidacy of Jeb Bush. This week, two more former candidates made their picks official. First was Rick Perry, who declared on Monday that he would be siding with his fellow Texan, Sen. Ted Cruz: Citing his record as an Air Force veteran, Mr. Perry said Mr. Cruz was especially able to be a leader of the U.S. military, although he has served less than one term as a U.S. senator and had scant national security experience before

So Long, Rick, We Hardly Knew You

And so there are 16, as Rick Perry effectively ends his campaign (they always say the campaign is “suspended,” in case they can get FEC matching funds down the road).  The JV debate will be even lonelier with Carly going to the show and Rick to pasture (Gilmore, Graham, Jindal, Pataki, and Santorum remain). The demise of Perry is not terribly surprising, but it is nonetheless difficult to fully explain.  Hindsight, in politics as well as sports, is not 20-20; there are too many intangibles in play.  Perry on paper should have been more of a contender.  He is a

Two Warnings from Rick Perry, As He Goes

The 2016 presidential race had its first major casualty on Friday, as Rick Perry made the decision to suspend his campaign amid serious financial struggles and a failure to gain any traction in the polling. Perry did not leave quietly, however.  In a speech delivered to the Eagle Forum in Missouri, the former Texas governor reiterated the principles which had formed the foundation for his campaign and, most strikingly, issued two warnings to Republicans in advance of the rapidly approaching primary season: 1.) “[T]he answer to a president nominated for soaring rhetoric and no record is not to nominate a

Perry Drops Out, Field Reduced to “Only” 16

Former Texas Governor Rick Perry dropped out of the presidential race on Friday, marking the first casualty of the 2016 campaign. Via CNN: The departure of Perry, who had little support in early-voting states or among the GOP donor class, is unlikely to alter the contours of the Republican race. But Perry nevertheless implored his supporters in an email to back a candidate who embodies the principles of conservatism. “The conservative movement has always been about principles, not personalities,” Perry said, before making a not-too-veiled swipe at Donald Trump, the GOP’s current front-runner. “Our nominee should embody those principles. He

Three Candidates We Can’t Count Out. Not Yet.

As we head into the weekend, perhaps we could all use a little perspective. Is Donald Trump the front-runner? Sure. He’s dominating the polls right now. Does Jeb Bush seem to be the establishment’s pick? Based on early fundraising, that appears to be the case. But this race isn’t over. We’re not down to two or three candidates. Far from it. At this point in the 2008 election, Rudy Giuliani was the presumptive nominee. He led every poll and had the general backing of the establishment. Then he lost Iowa. And New Hampshire. And he never recovered. Here are three

The Common Core Report Card: Rick Perry Gets a B

In our Common Core report card, we graded Rick Perry and all of the GOP candidates based on the three following criteria: fighting the Common Core, protecting state and local decision-making on education, and defending child and family privacy. Then we averaged the three grades together for one final grade. What does each grade mean? A … Champions the issue, e.g., offers legislation, makes it a centerpiece issue. B … Professes support, but has not provided leadership or otherwise championed it. C … Has neither helped nor hurt the cause. D … Has an overall negative record on the issue. F … Robustly and consistently works against

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