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George Bush

• November 24 -- Americans "At Best Ambivalent" About Bush's Plans
No honeymoon for Bush's second term: "At a time when the White House has portrayed Mr. Bush's 3.5-million-vote victory as a mandate, the poll found that Americans are at best ambivalent about Mr. Bush's plans to reshape Social Security, rewrite the tax code, cut taxes and appoint conservative judges to the bench."

• November 23 -- Bush Should Squeeze Congress, Says Suddenly Supportive Times
Suddenly, the Times favors Bush pressuring Congress: "A number of Congressional Republicans and members of the Sept. 11 commission….said that Mr. Bush, who has vowed to revive the bill, also needed to put pressure on a handful of House members aligned with the Pentagon who defied the president over the weekend and blocked a final vote on the legislation."

• November 16 -- Maureen Feeling Mobbed by "Vengeful" Bushies
Maureen Dowd hasn't quite gotten over Bush's victory: "I'm getting more the feel of a vengeful mob -- revved up by rectitude -- running around with torches and hatchets after heathens and pagans and infidels."

• November 16 -- Burying Vote Fraud Accusations -- And Digging Them Up Again
On Friday, reporter Tom Zeller debunked Internet allegations of anti-Kerry vote fraud. But two days later, a Times editorial lent credence to those same left-wing accusations: "The blogosphere, in particular, has been full of questions: Why did electronic voting machines in Ohio add nearly 4,000 phantom votes for President Bush, and why did machines in Florida mysteriously start to count backward?"

• November 9 -- Hard Cheese for Krugman After Bush's Win

• November 9 -- What Can Save the Democrats Now?
Dean Murphy speculates on what it will take for the Democrats to regain power: "History suggests several possibilities for a major reshaping event -- a national calamity, a deep schism in the ruling party, the implosion of a social movement under the excesses of its own agenda or the emergence of an extraordinary political figure."

• November 8 -- "A More Imperial President"
Elisabeth Bumiller: "It is too early to tell if victory will lift what critics call the chip on [Bush's] shoulder and make him more magnanimous -- or whether it will simply create a more imperial president."

• November 5 -- Krugman Celebrates Voters -- Before the Election, Anyway
Columnist Paul Krugman sounds bereft: "President Bush isn't a conservative. He's a radical -- the leader of a coalition that deeply dislikes America as it is….thanks to a heavy turnout by evangelical Christians, Mr. Bush has four more years to advance that radical agenda." But just last week he was smitten with the dignity of voting and "choked up" over the heavy turnout.

• November 5 -- Bush Wins Big, But Faces Pressure from Christians
Richard Stevenson notes Bush's "decisive win" but wonders if he can withstand "pressure" from the evangelical Christians who helped him win reelection.

• November 5 -- Will Bush Now Tone Down the Rhetoric?
David Sanger is unusually generous toward Bush in the afterglow of victory, but soon reverts to form: "One of the biggest questions hanging over his second term is whether he will tone down the rhetoric and actions that play so badly abroad."

• November 5 -- A Specter Looming Over Bush's Sunny Week
The Times takes a step back from the election with broad-based, mostly respectful stories on how values-oriented voters put Bush over the top. But the paper doesn’t miss a chance to stir controversy, fronting a story on Republican Sen. Arlen Specter comments on abortion.

• November 4 -- California Dreaming of Stem Cell Success
Dean Murphy repeats the optimistic Democratic line on stem cell research -- but is it accurate?

• November 4 -- Nagourney: Bush to Push "Conservative Agenda"
Adam Nagourney weighs the state of politics after Bush's convincing triumph: "[Bush] positioned himself and his party to push through a conservative agenda in Washington over the next four years."

• November 4 -- Overdosing Again on "Conservatives"
David Kirkpatrick continues his label-happy conservative beat reporting.

• November 4 -- "Blunt" Cheney Claims Mandate for Bush
Richard Stevenson doesn't see much of a second-term honeymoon for the president and seems to question how a "blunt" Cheney could take cheer from an "often vituperative" campaign.

• November 4 -- No Marines for Bush?
Robert Worth talks with Marines near Falluja: "Some of the marines clearly had strong views about the presidential race and the way it would affect the military, though they have been instructed not to share those with reporters. Others seemed not to care much, saying the election seemed too far from their everyday lives to make much of an impression." Worth doesn't mention polls showing most troops support Bush.

• November 4 -- Beware Bush's Supreme Court Nominees
The Times talks of "strict conservative" nominees to the Supreme Court.

• November 4 -- How Ever Did He Win?
Todd Purdum admits Bush won decisively, while suggesting his actual policies have failed: "Surveys of voters leaving the polls found that a majority believed the national economy was not so good, that tax cuts had done nothing to help it and that the war in Iraq had jeopardized national security. But fully one-fifth of voters said they cared most about 'moral values' -- as many as cared about terrorism and the economy -- and 8 in 10 of them chose Mr. Bush."

• November 4 -- Bush's "Code Words" to Christians
Bush's successful reelection strategy was based partially on transmitting "code words" to evangelicals, says Elisabeth Bumiller.

• November 3 -- Kerry Wins! Says Media Types
Frank Bruni blogged the Campaign 2004 coverage and noted some of his media colleagues were predicting a Kerry win early on: "By an extremely significant margin -- OK, five to one -- my news media colleagues, a.k.a. drinking buddies, said their readings of the signs, couple with their instincts, pointed toward a victory for Senator John Kerry."

• November 3 -- Wednesday Morning Quarterbacking NYT's Pro-Dem Hints
Some of the Times' more optimistic pro-Democratic stories didn't pan out.

• November 3 -- Will the Times Take Its Own Advice?
From the Times' post-election, pre-concession lead editorial: "When a victor is finally, officially announced, it is important for the entire country to accept him as the rightful president." But will Bill Keller?

• November 3 -- Who Won The Election, Anyway?
Kerry conceded, but someone reading Adam Nagourney's pre-concession story would think it was Kerry, not Bush, on the verge of victory.

• November 3 -- Bush "Most Polarizing President" Since Nixon
Post-election "news analysis" from Todd Purdum: "Already, through his aggressive handling of terrorism and foreign policy, he has made himself not only the most polarizing president since Richard M. Nixon but also guaranteed himself a prominent place in the history books, and historical debate, for years to come."

• November 2 -- Final Pre-Election Cheap Shots from the Times
Frank Rich bizarrely conflates two bogus anti-Bush scandals, while an editorial uses Cheney's trip to Hawaii to accuse Republicans of "questionable ethnic gestures."

• November 2 -- "Deceptively Cherub-Faced" Rove
A home-stretch profile of "bombastic" Karl Rove, the "man Democrats love to hate."

• November 2 -- More Conservative Christian Conservatives
David Kirkpatrick files two stories on conservative Christians and dredges up Pat Buchanan's Republican convention speech from 1992.

• November 2 -- Emotional Kerry Wowed by Crowds, While Bush Aides Are "On Edge"
An emotive Kerry ("John Kerry was halfway through his stump speech under a driving rain in Milwaukee on Monday when he stopped and surveyed his drenched but dauntless crowd") is pitted against nervous Bushies ("Bush's aides, after asserting for weeks that they were confident and calm, finally admitted in the last marathon stretch that they were on edge").

• November 1 -- Bush "Bulge" Rumor Takes Hold in "Dark Corners" -- Like the NYT?
Matt Bai laments in the Sunday Magazine: "A rumor that the president somehow cheated in the televised debates -- was that a wire under his jacket? was he listening to Karl Rove on a microscopic earpiece? -- flies across the Internet and takes hold in dark corners of the public imagination." And in the New York Times.

• November 1 -- "Nail Biting" Angst at Bush Rallies
Dean Murphy uncovers tension in the Bush camp: "There is a good deal of nail biting going on at the mostly picture-perfect campaign rallies held for President Bush." He then ponders anti-press hostility at Bush rallies.

• November 1 -- Pushing Bush's Alleged Lack of Legitimacy
The NYT files its final poll, emphasizing doubts about Bush's legitimacy: "The anxiety appears to be a legacy of the disputed election of 2000: half of respondents in this latest poll said they did not think Mr. Bush legitimately won the presidency in 2000, compared with 45 percent who considered the outcome legitimate."

• November 1 -- Bush's "Façade" vs. "Relaxed, Playful" Kerry
The Times on Bush's campaign style: "Any crack in the façade could be fatal at the polls." The Times is more affectionate with Kerry: "Relaxed, playful and workmanlike, and hopelessly superstitious."

• October 29 -- "Louder, Longer" Cheers for Kerry; "Nervousness" from Bush Camp
David Halbfinger and Elisabeth Bumiller show enthusiasm for Kerry's campaign: "With Bruce Springsteen singing Mr. Kerry's praises and his campaign theme song, 'No Surrender,' the Democratic candidate told huge crowds, who may have traveled to see the rocker but cheered longer and louder for the candidate, that he was impatient to relieve Mr. Bush of his 'hard work.'" The article's tone became more negative when turning to Bush: "The assault on Mr. Kerry reflected the nervousness in the Bush campaign five days from what is widely expected to be an exceptionally close election."

• October 28 -- MRC in the NYT
MRC is featured in a Jim Rutenberg story on media criticism.

• October 28 -- Safire Throws Waters on "Explosives" Story
Times columnists William Safire casts some doubt on the origins of the paper's "explosives" story: "I'm a little suspicious of any last-minute charge. First of all, we have to find out, is this true. Second, why, if we knew about it or if it was known for 18 months since it began, why did it suddenly surface the last week of the election campaign. And third, what was the motive of whoever leaked it."

• October 28 -- "Legitimate" Concerns About NYT Bias
The Times reminds us things are still going badly in Iraq, with a front-page story by Edward Wong worrying once again about the "legitimacy" of the upcoming U.S.-sponsored elections there.

• October 28 -- Bush "Abandoning Rational Analysis" for "Iron Certainty"
Concerns about Bush's Christian faith on the Times' op-ed page.

• October 28 -- Passing Along Democratic Complaints from Florida
A front-page story from Florida by Adam Nagourney and Abby Goodnough lends credence to Democratic charges of bad faith among Republican officials.

• October 28 -- How's Our Anti-Bush Scoop Playing Out?
The lead story from Elisabeth Bumiller and Jodi Wilgoren on the Al Qaqaa controversy skips fact-finding in favor of a meta-analysis over how the Times' suspiciously timed story is playing between the two campaigns.

• October 27 -- The NYT's "Base" Instincts
In the homestretch, "Conservative Base" Leads "Liberal Base" 18-2.

• October 27 -- Sanger Still Pushing Explosives Scoop
David Sanger tails Bush through the Midwest and manages to work in his "explosives" scoop.

• October 27 -- "Explosive" Scoop: Firecracker or Fizzle?
The Times tries to rebut the White House counterattack to its dubious "missing explosives in Iraq" story.

• October 26 -- Polarizing Bush, Secretive Cheney
George W. Bush: "On issues, Mr. Bush reaches out sparingly." 
Dick Cheney: "Democrats argue that Mr. Cheney is one of the most divisive figures in American politics."

• October 25 -- More Hard-Luck Stories from Guantanamo Inmates
Tim Golden has two huge front-page stories on the military and diplomatic struggles over the inmates at Guantanamo Bay: "Many of the detainees sent to Guantánamo turned out to be low-level militants, Taliban fighters and men simply caught in the wrong place at the wrong time." Not until the last four paragraphs does Golden note some released prisoners are now fighting American troops in Iraq.

• October 25 -- Bush Out to Break with The Great Society
David Rosenbaum and Robin Toner insist Bush is out to break with the Great Society: "Mr. Bush would, in important ways, break with the underpinnings of the New Deal and the Great Society that have directed the government's domestic policies for generations."

• October 25 -- "Hard-Line," "Strident" Bishops for Bush
Ian Fisher employs some loaded labels to describe the reaction of some Catholic bishops to Kerry's pro-abortion stance.

• October 25 -- Bush, the One-Syllable Man
Roger Cohen on Bush's stump speech: "It was a typical line from a president who likes words of one syllable."

• October 22 -- Bush's Judicial Philosophy Based Purely on "Reaping Political Benefit"?
Neil Lewis' front-page story on Bush's federal puts a cynical spin on the president's judicial philosophy: "There could have been no clearer signal that Mr. Bush intended to follow the pattern set by his father and President Ronald Reagan of shifting the courts rightward and reaping the political benefit of pleasing social conservatives."

• October 22 -- Over 300 Electoral Votes for Kerry, Says Krugman
Kerry's on track for a convincing Electoral College victory, says Paul Krugman.

• October 22 -- Pro-Kerry Speculations as Undisputable "Facts"
David Rosenbaum's latest "Fact Check" defends Kerry's health plan, but his "Facts" are quite disputable.

• October 21 -- Sanger Frames Bush's Foreign Policy Message
David Sanger frames Bush's foreign policy message as an attempt to change the subject: "It is artfully crafted to get his audiences to look beyond the daily headlines of beheadings and suicide bombers, of an insurgency that has defied American military might…."

• October 21 -- "Soldiers…Show Quiet Support for Kerry, Too."
Very quiet support, judging by the surveys.

• October 21 -- New Respect for Pat Robertson
How can an evangelical conservative get a respectful hearing in the New York Times? Criticize Bush.

• October 21 -- "Why Taxes Have to Go Up"
Credit the Times editorial page for candor.

• October 20 -- Bush's "Privatization Plan" for Social Security
The Times places a liberally loaded description on top of Bush's Social Security reform plan: "Mr. Bush rarely if ever discusses the costs of his privatization plan," and take on Bush over the flu vaccine fiasco.

• October 20 -- "Inattentive, Arrogant" Americans
Sarah Lyall's report on a backlash to an election-year ploy by a British newspaper includes this gratuitous slam: "Some of the letters from the States seemed to bolster the widespread European view that Americans, whether because of inattention or arrogance, do not care much about the world beyond their own borders."

• October 20 -- A Ridiculous Rant on Bush's "Outright Assault" on the Press
Columnist Frank Rich argues the Bush administration is engaging in a scary, Nixonian type campaign of press intimidation and gives ten examples -- none of which hold up.

• October 19 -- Kerry Hurt by Lesbian Comment?
Adam Nagourney argues Kerry's "strong performance" in the debates may have been jeopardized when he brought up Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter and insists Bush "dodged" a question on whether homosexuality was a choice.

• October 19 -- Down the Stretch With Bush and Kerry
Adam Nagourney and Janet Elder summarize the paper's poll showing Bush and Kerry basically tied.

• October 19 -- Pro-Kerry Commentary in the Corrections Box
A Times correction goes beyond fixing the error to include pro-Kerry editorial commentary.

• October 19 -- Rebutting Bush So Kerry Doesn't Have To
David Sanger and Jodi Wilgoren accuse Bush of "a far more incendiary characterization" of Kerry and helpfully disputes Bush's characterizations of Kerry's positions.

• October 19 -- The Times Nails Kerry's Anti-Bush Exaggerations
The Times fact-checks Kerry.

• October 18 -- Optimism for Kerry, Part II
Adam Nagourney spreads pro-Kerry optimism from Iowa.

• October 18 -- The Suspense Is Over: NYT Endorses Kerry
Surprise!

• October 18 -- Bush's "Intolerance of Doubters"
The Times' Sunday Magazine features a cover story by Bush antagonist Ron Suskind: "Bush's intolerance of doubters has, if anything, increased, and few dare to question him now. A writ of infallibility -- a premise beneath the powerful Bushian certainty that has, in many ways, moved mountains -- is not just for public consumption: it has guided the inner life of the White House."

• October 18 -- Elisabeth Bumiller, Left-Wing Conspiracy-Monger
White House reporter Elisabeth Bumiller again treats a left-wing Internet-driven conspiracy theory as news: "The bulge -- the strange rectangular box visible between the president's shoulder blades in the first debate -- has set off so much frenzied speculation on the Internet that it has become what literary critics call an objective correlative, or an object that evokes large emotions and ideas…In the last two weeks, the bulge has taken on a life of its own to become a symbol to Mr. Bush's critics of all that is wrong with his presidency."

• October 15 -- The Pro-Kerry Truth Squad Rides Again
The Times again defends Kerry from a Bush criticism. After Bush accused Kerry of having a "global test he would administer before acting to defend America," Elisabeth Bumiller and David Halbfinger riposte: "Mr. Kerry's actual words in the debate in Tempe were these…."

• October 15 -- Fact-Checking Bush's Tax Cuts from a Liberal Angle
David Rosenbaum's economic fact-check purports to hit both Kerry and Bush for misleading statements, but as usual Bush comes off worse.

• October 14 -- Post-Vacation Tom Friedman, Rested and Rabid After Bush
Columnist Thomas Friedman, rested and rabid after his vacation: "By exploiting the emotions around 9/11, Mr. Bush took a far-right agenda on taxes, the environment and social issues -- for which he had no electoral mandate -- and drove it into a 9/12 world. In doing so, Mr. Bush made himself the most divisive and polarizing president in modern history."

• October 14 -- Taking Time to Defend Kerry
Adam Nagourney and Robin Toner's post-debate rush job makes one attempt to weigh the competing claims in the debate -- in Kerry's defense.

• October 14 -- Bush's "Rock-Hard" Positions vs. Clinton's "Mushy Middle Ground"
Bill Clinton, abortion moderate?

• October 14 -- More Misleading on Bush's Tax Cuts
David Rosenbaum uses two pro-Democratic groups to allege Bush misled on taxes during the final presidential debate.

• October 14 -- Times Leads With Kerry's Loaded Lesbian Comment
Surprisingly, the Times' front-page debate coverage includes undecided Iowa voters reacting with disapproval to Kerry's invoking of Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter.

• October 14 -- Debates Were "Rough Passage" for Bush -- Kerry a "Plausible Alternative"
Todd Purdum on the debates: "They were a rough passage for Mr. Bush, who saw his September lead over Mr. Kerry slip away as the Democratic nominee established himself as a plausible presidential alternative." He again sees Bush as defensive.

• October 12 -- How About Those Pro-Kerry Polls?
Another campaign story embraces recent poll findings -- now that they show Kerry doing better: "But Democrats, buoyed by a week of developments that undercut Mr. Bush's claims of vigorous job growth and his main justification for invading Iraq, said they would not lose the momentum heading into the final debate."

• October 12 -- Bush's "Hang Tough" Decision Echoes Vietnam
David Sanger tries to make a stark campaign issue out of Bush's alleged refusal to admit to mistakes, asserting the decision "has come to look far riskier than it did in the flush of handing Iraq back to Iraqis….Bush's decision to hang tough has echoes of the strategy used by another president from Texas. In the 1968 campaign, Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey began edging back from the Johnson Administration's plan to admit no fault with its policy in Vietnam."

• October 12 -- Still Hunting Fox News
Frank Rich's latest "arts" column features an attack on Fox News viewers: "If you limit your diet to Fox and its talk-radio and blogging satellites, you may think that the only pressing non-Laci Peterson, non-Kobe, non-hurricane stories are 'Rathergate' and the antics of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth."

• October 12 -- Bullying, Brazen Bush?
"Challenging Rest of the World With a New Order" parrots the usual charges of Bush the unilateralist: "It is a characterization of Mr. Bush's foreign policy style often heard around the world: bullying, unreceptive, brazen. The result, critics of this administration contend, has been a disastrous loss of international support, damage to American credibility, the sullying of America's image and a devastating war that has already taken more than 1,000 American lives."

• October 11 -- More Fact-Checking of Bush on the Trail
Elisabeth Bumiller helps Kerry out by fact-checking Bush on the stump: "In truth, Mr. Kerry essentially voted for one large tax increase, the Clinton tax bill of 1993, which mostly imposed additional income taxes on the wealthy but did include an increase in taxes on Social Security benefits for middle-income retirees. Mr. Kerry also supports middle-class tax breaks, but voted against them in 2001 as part of an overall tax bill that he opposed."

• October 11 -- The NYT: Your Source for Left-Wing Conspiracy Theories
After ignoring a similar rumor on Drudge about John Kerry, the Times helps spread a left-wing rumor that Bush was "wired" for his first debate: "What was that bulge in the back of President Bush's suit jacket at the presidential debate in Miami last week? According to rumors racing across the Internet this week, the rectangular bulge visible between Mr. Bush's shoulder blades was a radio receiver, getting answers from an offstage counselor into a hidden presidential earpiece….Ms. Devenish could not say why the 'rumpling' was rectangular."

• October 11 -- "Confident" Kerry, "Defensive" Bush
In Todd Purdum's debate analysis, it was confident Kerry vs. an often-strident Bush.

• October 8 -- Bush's Main Rationale for War Has "Unraveled"
"Mr. Kerry, emboldened by the report's unraveling of the administration's main rationale for going to war, shot back with his sharpest indictment yet…."

• October 8 -- Bushonomics: Ambitious, Divisive, or a "Hoax"?
Richard Stevenson on Bush's economic philosophy: "His assertion that reducing the top income-tax rate is primarily an effort to help small businesses has been challenged by many economists, who say the White House has exaggerated how much tax reductions in the top bracket flow to small-business owners. 'You can fairly say this is a political hoax,' said [anti-Bush author] Kevin Phillips."

• October 8 -- "Bush Pushes Limits on the Facts" on Trail
Only Republicans push the limits of truth, according to Adam Nagourney and Richard Stevenson's "In His New Attacks, Bush Pushes Limits on the Facts," featuring a cameo by liberal bogeyman Lee Atwater.

• October 7 -- Bush "Out of Touch" With Iraq Realities?
Piling on Bush's debate performance and setting up Democratic talking points.

• October 7 -- "Prewar Assertions…Bore No Resemblance to the Truth."
Toning down Douglas Jehl's story on Iraq before it hit print?

• October 6 -- No Outcry Over NBC's "ILIE" -- But Times Smelled out "Subliminal" Message in "RATS" Ad from 2000
The MRC caught an NBC Nightly News graphic showing the letters "ILIE" for 16 seconds next to President Bush's face. The Times ignored it, perhaps dismissing the juxtaposition as inadvertent. But back in 2000, Democratic complaints about a single frame of an anti-Gore ad were front-page news.

• October 5 -- "Valuable Historical Perspective" From a Far-Left Paranoid
A new book by cartoonist/far-left conspiracist Ted Rall (who once wrote about the possibility Bush had Sen. Paul Wellstone assassinated) achieves "some valuable historical perspective," according to staff editor Neil Genzlinger.

• October 5 -- "Standing Ovations" for Kerry on Stem Cells
The Times hypes stem-cell research: "Scientists say that embryonic stem cells hold great hope for medical treatments. But many conservatives and opponents of abortion criticize such research because it involves the destruction of human embryos….Polls show that strong majorities of the public favor an expansion of stem-cell research, and Mr. Kerry is routinely asked about it -- and wins standing ovations for his answers."

• October 4 -- Kerry Doesn’t Flip Flop, He Just "Changes His Emphasis"
Kerry's not a flip-flopper, he just emphasizes different things at different times: "Concerning Iraq, a review of Mr. Kerry's public statements found that his position had been quite consistent. But as the politics changed, Mr. Kerry repeatedly changed his emphasis."

• October 4 -- Reporters Cackled Over Bush's Debate Performance
Jim Rutenberg's front-page story on the post-debate spin game peeks into the mindset of the reporters watching: "The loudest cackles among the reporters covering the first presidential debate broke out at about 9:55 on Thursday night in a vast, mirrored filing center at the University of Miami, where important impressions of the candidates' performance were just beginning to gel. And President Bush was on the receiving end."

• October 4 -- Chafee's "Painful Journey of Political Conscience" to Diss Bush
Sheryl Gay Stolberg throws another softball to a Republican critical of Bush, liberal Sen. Lincoln Chafee: "Pensive and intellectual, he hardly appears suited for the bare-knuckle world of politics and seems to exist on the periphery of things, ambling about the Capitol like an absent-minded professor making a study of its power-hungry inhabitants."

• October 4 -- Swing Voters "Liking What They See" In Kerry
The Times stresses optimism in the Kerry camp and worries among Bush partisans: "If Ms. Curtis and a few other previously undecided Ohioans who came to Mr. Kerry's town-hall meeting here and some new polls are any indication, swing voters are giving Mr. Kerry a second look after his strong showing in the first presidential debate. And they are liking what they see."

• October 1 -- Bush "Unnerved" by Kerry's Vietnam Reference
Alessandra Stanley thinks Kerry put Bush on the defensive: "The cameras demonstrated that Mr. Bush cannot hear criticism without frowning, blinking and squirming (he even sighed once)."

• October 1 -- Still Misquoting Cheney
Adam Nagourney sticks mostly to facts in his rundown of the first presidential debate but works in yet another misleading anecdote about Dick Cheney.

• October 1 -- Kerry Defies GOP's "Worst Caricatures"
Todd Purdum argues Kerry "established himself" in the first presidential debate: "He may well have struck undecided voters as not much like the Republicans' worst caricatures. He spoke plainly, politely, but did not shrink from direct and pointed criticism of Mr. Bush's policies."

• September 27 -- Bush's "Un-American" Campaign
"President Bush and his surrogates are taking their re-election campaign into dangerous territory" is the baleful opening sentence of a Times editorial, "An Un-American Way to Campaign."

• September 23 -- Playing Up Deficits, Not Tax Relief
Edmund Andrews' front-page "Deal In Congress To Keep Tax Cuts, Widening Deficit" paints a tax-cut extension in grim terms.

• September 23 -- A Sympathetic Hearing for an Extreme Bush Hater
The paper's "Public Lives" profile offers more anti-Bush ammo.

• September 23 -- The Times and the "U" Word
News flash: Times reporter uses "unsubstantiated" to refer to something other than the Swift Boat vets.

• September 22 -- "Compelling" Anti-Bush Charges vs. "Unsubstantiated" Swifties
Nicholas Kristof finds the Bush National Guard accusations compelling, but turns his nose up at the "unsubstantiated" Swift Boat vets.

• September 22 -- Mary, Mary, Best be Wary
Is CBS throwing veteran producer Mary Mapes overboard in Memogate's wake?

• September 22 -- No "Surprise" Here: Times Plays Up Bush Guard Story
The Times editorializes: "…it was somewhat surprising that Mr. Bush's National Guard service again became a big topic of debate." Yet the Times put the controversy on its front page twice recently. Plus: The editors finally tackle Memogate.

• September 21 -- Kerry Suffering "For Changing His Mind"
Damien Cave wonders why Kerry is being hurt by such a "ridiculous" term as "flip-flop": "Yet Senator John Kerry seems to be suffering in the polls for changing his mind. Republicans have tagged him a flip-flopper, and the mildly ridiculous term has somehow become a potent weapon."

• September 21 -- Florida Now, Florida Forever for the Times
The Times editorial page still hasn't recovered from Florida 2000, and also accuses Bush of "sweeping aside the Constitution."

• September 20 -- "Tendentious" Fact-Checking at the Times
A "Fact Check" feature on the campaign defends (no surprise) John Kerry. And the online version includes an amusing gaffe never meant for publication.

• September 20 -- Still Picking Over Bush's Vietnam Service
CBS's big "scoop" about Bush's National Guard duty may have blown up in the network's face, but the New York Times is still poking around the ashes: "This year of inconsequence has grown increasingly consequential for President Bush because of persistent, unanswered questions about his National Guard service."

• September 17 -- Bad Labeling Habits on the Trail
Richard Stevenson and Robin Toner indulge in some unhealthy labeling bias while on the campaign trail with Bush.

• September 17 -- Why Should Kerry Have to Denounce Moveon.org Ad?
The Times lets Kerry off the hook regarding a campaign ad from the left-wing Moveon.org--yet the Times repeatedly linked Bush to ads from the Swift Boat Veterans and insisted Bush denounce them.

• September 16 -- Kitty Kelley Finds a Cozy Home at the Times
The Times finds a cute way to put Kitty Kelley's unsubstantiated anti-Bush allegations (or as Frank Bruni would say, "thoroughly researched piece of work") into the paper.

• September 16 -- Burying Burkett's Bush-as-Hitler Line
Ralph Blumenthal profiles possible CBS "memo" source Bill Burkett and doesn't delve into Burkett's previous conspiratorial claims about Bush: "We must examine the ruthless and dictatorial rise of yet another of the three small men--one whose name is not spoken out of fear of reprisal, but his name was Adolf."

• September 16 -- Experts Split on Authenticity of CBS's "Memos"?
The Times (unlike the Washington Post) buries its update on CBS's apparently fraudulent "memos" while again insisting there's still room for doubt: "For every expert who said the documents were patently false, another insisted they could be authentic."

• September 15 -- Bush Opponents "Dragged From Events by Their Hair"
Elisabeth Bumiller harps on a week-old incident: "But on the campaign trail, where the invited crowds are kept friendly because opponents are sometimes arrested for wearing anti-Bush T-shirts or dragged from events by their hair, there is a different President Bush." The Times has yet to comment on an anti-Kerry heckler being attacked at a recent rally in Cincinnati.

• September 15 -- Bush-Blair's "Headlong Rush" to War?
Reviewing a book on Tony Blair, Alan Cowell characterizes Bush and Blair as rushing to war in Iraq and leaves out vital information about a BBC report accusing the government of exaggerating the Hussein threat.

• September 15 -- The Times Digs Deeper Into Anti-Bush "Memos"
The Times' latest story on CBS's "memos" has some interesting new information on the network and its likely source for the discredited documents.

• September 14 -- Anti-War Play "Not Half as Scary as the Real Thing"
Brantley finds the vision of Bush provided by an anti-war play in London disturbing: "But an alarming, unyielding centeredness gradually reveals itself, suggesting that Mr. Bush has found in his born-again Christianity something akin to the divine right of kings."

• September 14 -- More Hot Air on Bush's Environmental Record
A front-page story by Felicity Barringer insists: "For many environmental groups, Mr. Bush's legacy was assured in his first year, thanks to highly publicized decisions that effectively repudiated Clinton administration positions. Mr. Bush backed off a campaign pledge to regulate carbon dioxide and abandoned the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement to reduce heat-trapping gases linked to global warming." But Kyoto was repudiated by the Senate during the Clinton years.

• September 14 -- Catching Up on "Memogate"
The Times follows up on "memogate" in the tamely headlined "CBS Offers New Experts To Support Guard Memos." The story is more skeptical, though not as hard-hitting as one in the Washington Post.

• September 14 -- Room for Kitty Kelley, None for Swift Boat Vets
After ignoring the book "Unfit for Command" by members of the Swift Boat Veterans (now #1 on the New York Times best seller list), the Times greets Bush-hater Kitty Kelley's trashy anti-Bush "biography" with a front-page Arts section review.

• September 13 -- Kerry Vents to Times Reporter
John Kerry calls David Sanger and vents about Bush.

• September 13 -- Safire Hails the Blogosphere
William Safire gives a hat tip to Internet bloggers who first uncovered evidence suggesting memos that aired on "60 Minutes" were forged.

• September 13 -- Bush to Blame for Beslan Massacre?
Does Bush share responsibility for the killings of schoolchildren in Chechnya?

• September 13 -- Poor Old Democrats
John Broder gives credence to an old nostrum consoling to Democrats and the liberal media: Republicans just play rougher.

• September 10 -- Did Bush Get a Bounce? "Yes, but…."
Campaign reporter Adam Nagourney on Friday reluctantly admits the obvious--Bush got a bounce out of his convention.

• September 10 -- "Convincing Case" Made By Left-Wing Paranoids
Anita Gates reviews an obscure left-wing documentary playing in Manhattan's East Village, "Hijacking Catastrophe--9/11, Fear and the Selling of American Empire," and finds it makes a "convincing case." Its premise: Republicans want to take over the world.

• September 10 -- Bumiller All Wet on "Explosive" Cheney Remark
More misleading by the Times regarding a recent Dick Cheney quote on fighting the terror war--plus, a tale of two hecklers.

• September 10 -- Downplaying Doubts on Dubious Anti-Bush Memos
Yesterday the Times put anti-Bush charges on its front page--charges based on memos suggesting Bush got special treatment during Vietnam. Today the Times files a follow-up story casting grave doubt on the authenticity of those memos--on page A17.

• September 9 -- Not-So-Straight Shooters at the Times
Is the assault weapons ban popular or not? Don't ask the Times.

• September 9 -- Taking Anti-Bush Charge Seriously After Dismissing Swifties With Contempt
Katharine Seelye and Ralph Blumenthal treat seriously the new controversy over Bush's Vietnam service--quite a change from how the Times treated the Swift Boat Veterans.

• September 8 -- "Unsubstantiated" Watch
The score is 17-0 so far.

• September 8 -- Republicans "Condemning Gay Parents"
David Kirkpatrick says the Republican platform "condemns gay parents."

• September 8 -- "War Hero" Kerry vs. "Sissy" George Bush
Frank Rich is back from vacation and in full foam: "Only in an election year ruled by fiction could a sissy who used Daddy's connections to escape Vietnam turn an actual war hero into a girlie-man."

• September 8 -- Lauding Left-Wing Convention Disruptors
Diane Cardwell seems to admire a radical left-wing group's successful disruption of convention speeches by Bush and Cheney: "While thousands of demonstrators chanted on the streets, drawing only glancing attention from the Republicans, their members were inside Madison Square Garden night after night, unfurling banners and baring their slogans, forcing even the president to take notice."

• September 7 -- Democratic Heartburn on the Times' Front Page
There's a heaping helping of Democratic angst on Sunday's front page, painting a picture of a disillusioned Kerry camp.

• September 7 -- Dowd Defends Times Against Bush's Quote "Distortion"
Maureen Dowd, of all people, rises to defend the historical honor of her paper by accusing George Bush in his acceptance speech of distorting words from a Times column penned in 1946. Dowd's defense is rather ironic, considering her own history of distorting quotes.

• September 7 -- "Questioning Kerry's Patriotism," Again
David Halbfinger claims Kerry's patriotism was questioned at the Republican convention: "But he returned to the offensive after his character, voting history and even his patriotism were questioned by Republicans in New York this week, and after Democrats faulted him for a hesitant, halting response last month to televised attacks on his military record." Halbfinger also dashes cold water on polls showing Bush with a substantial lead.

• September 7 -- Polls, Schmolls, Says Nagourney: Part II
Adam Nagourney again plays down the apparent success of the Republican convention: "Yet if history is any guide, the contest is far from settled....Polls taken right after a convention offer an inflated sense of a candidate's standing."

• September 7 -- Polls, Schmolls, Says Nagourney: Part I
Adam Nagourney dismisses the latest polls showing Bush with a lead and notes: "Even some Republicans were conceding that Mr. Bush's convention--described by Republicans and Democrats alike as a success--might not ultimately make that much of a difference."

• September 7 -- "Polls on the Move"? More Like: "Clear Lead for Bush"
Bush and Kerry campaigned in Ohio after the Republican convention, leading David Halbfinger and Richard Stevenson to file "With Polls on the Move, Bush and Kerry Take Their Economic Message to Ohio." More accurate would be: "Polls Show Clear Lead for Bush as Candidates Take Their Economic Message to Ohio."

• September 1 -- Beethoven, Anti-Bush Protester
Music critic Allan Kozinn takes in an anti-Republican "collaborative performance piece" in Manhattan and thought one classical piece fit right in: "Beethoven was an idealist who opposed tyranny, and in the context of a discussion about curtailed civil liberties, elective war and a striving toward empire--the subjects of several of the speeches--it seemed entirely at home."

• September 1 -- Showing the Violent Face of Anti-Bush Protest
The Times doesn't hide the violent, ugly behavior of some anti-Republican protesters: "…marauding crowds cursing at delegates in Midtown and the detention of hundreds of protesters near ground zero--created a day of disorder in a convention week already marked by sustained protests against the Bush administration and the war in Iraq."

• September 1 -- Republicans Disrespecting Veterans?
Jim Rutenberg stirs a controversy among Republican delegates: "When speakers at the Republican convention discuss Senator John Kerry's service in Vietnam, they use words like 'respect,' as Rudolph W. Giuliani did on Monday, giving nary a hint of the unsubstantiated charges by a veteran's group that Mr. Kerry lied to get his war medals, which dominated the campaign for two weeks before the convention began."

• September 1 -- Kerry Slow to Respond to "Unsubstantiated" Assaults
David Halbfinger and Jodi Wilgoren hint at changes to come in the suddenly faltering Kerry campaign and again bash charges from the Swifties: "Mr. Kerry was slow to respond to an assault on his Vietnam combat record and character, with largely unsubstantiated accusations, by the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth."

• September 1 -- Stolberg Profiles "Zig Zag Zell"
Congressional reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg departs from her usual laudatory tone in a profile of "traitor" Democratic Sen. Zell Miller, who's giving the keynote speech tonight for Bush.

• September 1 -- The Republican's "Evangelical" Staging
David Kirkpatrick files another label-heavy story about social conservative influence in the Republican party: "Senator Brownback urged a crowd of several hundred in a packed ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria hotel, reprising a theme of a speech by Patrick J. Buchanan from the podium of the 1992 Republican convention that many political experts say alienated moderate voters in that election….at times the staging of the evening resembled an evangelical Protestant church service."

• September 1 -- Context for Kerry Quotes, but None for Bush's "Gaffe"
Elisabeth Bumiller again plays up a Bush "gaffe" to portray Bush on the defensive: But when Bush attacks Kerry in similar fashion, she allows the Kerry campaign to put the quote in context.

• September 1 -- Dick Cheney, Puppet Master
Rick Lyman has an unfavorable profile of Dick Cheney, comparing him to Dan Quayle and letting Democrats gloat: "Kerry campaign officials say that simply by mentioning the vice president or Halliburton, the military contractor he once headed, they can reinforce an image of a Republican administration that has favored the interests of the rich and the powerful…the image persists of Mr. Cheney as the backstage manipulator, the guy who is pulling the president's strings and effectively running the government."

• September 1 -- "Ruthless" Rudy Attacks Kerry
A day late, the Times jumps on Rudy Giuliani's "ruthless" Monday night "pummeling" of John Kerry. One headline: "Loves Dogs, Hates Kerry: A Two-Prong Campaign Tactic." Another line: "The Bush strategy is to vilify Kerry. Compassionately."

• August 31 -- GHWB vs. NYT
Bush Sr. on the NYT: "It's consistently liberal, consistently opposes the president on almost everything editorial….I've given up on them."

• August 31 -- Apple Takes a Bite Out of the Swift Boat Veterans
Long-time campaign correspondent and former Times Washington bureau chief R.W. Apple interviews his old friend Sen. McCain and discusses the Swifties: "The advertisements questioning Mr. Kerry's war record, the work of a 527 group of Swift boat veterans, were largely financed, at least initially, by rich Texas Republicans, some with past links to Mr. Bush."

• August 31 -- Cute Communists and Jerky Anarchists in Manhattan
Charming Commies and violent anarchists on the streets of Manhattan.

• August 31 -- Did Republicans "Cross the Line" on 9-11?
Todd Purdum provides the latest criticism of the Bush campaign for discussing the single-most significant event of his presidency, 9-11: "From morning to night, the Republicans strode proudly, even defiantly, right up to that line--if not over it--and the delegates responded with roaring approval…."

• August 31 -- Over-Excitement Over Bush's Terror Comment
Elisabeth Bumiller gets a front-page story out of a Bush comment on the terror war ("I don't think you can win it") and tries to gin up a controversy.

• August 30 -- Another "Unsubstantiated" Portrayal of the Swifties
A front-page story by Adam Nagourney and Elisabeth Bumiller paints a picture of a plugged-in Bush but continues to characterize Swift Boat Veterans claims as "unsubstantiated."

• August 30 -- Lost in Cambodia
In his story on Bush and Kerry's Vietnam history, David Halbfinger manages to bring up Cambodia without mentioning Kerry's discredited tales of spending Christmas 1968 there.

• August 30 -- Are Swifties Questioning Kerry's Patriotism?
Todd Purdum rehashes an old chestnut of Republicans questioning Democratic patriotism: "But the old culture wars followed [Kerry] into the 21st century, and he now finds himself bombarded by veterans who question not only his patriotism but his honor."

• August 30 -- Republicans "Putting 9/11 Into August"
The Times helps spread the idea of Republicans politicizing 9/11, while puffing up party controversy.

• August 30 -- Boosting Anti-Bush Crowd Figures, Again
The Times again manages to pass along the highest crowd estimates for an anti-Bush rally in Manhattan, the same way it did during the anti-war protests of March 2003, and passes along more "protesters-as-mainstream-citizens" talking points.

• August 27 -- Movie Critic's Urban Liberal Smugfest
Stephen Holden files two favorable, angry, indignant reviews of anti-Bush documentaries, one of which mocks pro-war Middle Americans: "Asked to express their opinions about the war in Iraq, the mostly unidentified subjects of this documentary polemic, 'This Ain't No Heartland,' are only too happy to make fools of themselves. Their fundamental ignorance of the facts, compounded by their disinterest in knowing more, doesn't prevent them from expressing strong opinions and conveying misinformation in bad grammar."

• August 27 -- Bush Bugs Times By Not Bashing Swift Boat Ads
Bush sits down for an interview with David Sanger and Elisabeth Bumiller and bugs them by refusing to specifically condemn the Swift Boat ads.

• August 24 -- More Anti-Swift Bias from a Paper "Calling Itself" Objective
Elisabeth Bumiller and Kate Zernike's front-page story on Bush denouncing outside political ads includes a dismissive description of the Swift Boat Vets. Also: What about the "web of ties" between the left-wing Moveon.org and the Kerry campaign?

• August 23 -- Giving Bush an Art Attack
Three more stories celebrating anti-Bush art.

• August 23 -- The Vanishing Republican Moderate, Again
Carl Hulse employs a standard liberal trope: "But [moderates] worry about their real influence in a party dominated by conservatives at a time when the ranks of House moderates are thinning."

• August 23 -- Objecting to the Bush-McCain Marriage of Convenience
After trying its best to bring Sens. John McCain and John Kerry together, the Times now mocks the pairing of President Bush and McCain.

• August 18 -- Fighting Bush on the Pre-Election Education Front
Diana Jean Schemo pens two front-page stories over two days criticizing Bush-supported education reforms.

• August 17 -- Same Campaign Tactic, Two Different Takes
Both Kerry and Bush hold informal campaign "chats" with friendly supporters--but while Bush "fields softballs from the faithful" that sometimes "aren't even questions at all," Kerry supporters merely "raised hands with questions rather than waving signs with slogans." Result: Bush comes off as cynical, Kerry as "homespun."

• August 16 -- Bush Deregulates As Iraq Burns
Joel Brinkley’s investigation on regulatory policy in the Bush administration takes the liberal line: “Carl Pope, the executive director of the Sierra Club, says he does not think the administration could have succeeded in rewriting so many environmental rules, for example, if the public's attention had not been focused on national security issues.”

• August 13 -- Times Trumpets an "Exhilarating" Evening of Bush-Hating
The Times pushes another anti-Bush art show: "Mr. Dykstra's exhilarating one-man show, which opened last night at the tiny Triad Theater on the Upper West Side, does more than call names." A few lines later, Dykstra comments: "I totally understand assassination now."

• August 12 -- "Mocking" Bush Drowns Out Kerry's Foreign Policy "Nuance"
Kerry's admission he would still vote to give Bush war authority invites a David Sanger story with the loaded headline: "For Now, Bush's Mocking Drowns Out Kerry's Nuanced Explanation of His War Vote." Also: Where's the NYT on Kerry and Cambodia?

• August 11 -- Can Goss Boss the CIA?
Poisoning the well for Rep. Porter Goss, Bush's choice to head the CIA: "…his recent actions…have angered a number of senior C.I.A. officials, which could make it difficult for him to work with many of the holdovers from the Tenet era." Another piece intones: "Mr. Goss has engendered considerable ill will within the very organization he has been tapped to lead."

• August 10 -- Bush-Hating Krugman: "It Scares Me Sometimes How Blind People Are."
Times columnist (and professional Bush-basher) Paul Krugman gives interviews to a couple of left-wing groups--and free reign to his Bush hate.

• August 9 -- David Kirkpatrick's Churchgoing Habit
Another month, another story by David Kirkpatrick on the propriety of conservative churches voicing support for the Bush campaign.

• August 9 -- "In Blow to Bush…."
The online edition of the Times' lead story on disappointing job figures lays it on the line: "In Blow to Bush, Only 32,000 Jobs Created in July."

• August 9 -- Still Harping on Bush's Terror-Warning Timing
Two stories focus on the timing of the latest terror alerts. David Johnston and Richard Stevenson insist: "Among many of the administration's critics and even, to a more limited degree, among some of its allies, Mr. Ridge's performance was seen as fueling disbelief and cynicism," while Eric Lichtblau and Eric Lipton say: "Terrorism experts said the Bush administration may have also hurt its own cause and inspired public skepticism this week in how it alerted the public to the possible attacks."

• August 5 -- Who'd Have Guessed: WV Republicans Still Like Bush
Elisabeth Rosenthal finds some people still support Bush despite "criticism from the Sept. 11 commission, prison scandals in Iraq and a flat economy at home."

• August 5 -- No "W" in Wisconsin
Stephen Kinzer and Todd Purdum find lots of Bush doubters in Kenosha, Wis.: "…many patrons questioned whether the Bush administration was trying to manipulate the terrorist threat for political advantage." As if such cynicism hasn't been encouraged by media skepticism.

• August 5 -- "Terror Alerts" When Bush "Would Have Benefited"
In contrast to a front-page story, a Times editorial keeps its suspicions up regarding Bush's terror-threat timing: "Some of the past terror alerts have seemed aimless and happened when the Bush administration would have benefited from a change in the political conversation."

• August 4 -- Bush Knew of Terror Threat Long Ago?
Adam Nagourney flubs a key fact in an article on the Democratic party's response to terror threats: "…the disclosure that the Bush administration had elevated the alert based on intelligence collected three or four years ago." Nagourney is apparently confusing the age of the terror-related information with the date the Bush administration actually gained the data.

• August 4 -- Bush Playing Politics With Terror?, Part III
David Johnston and Eric Lichtblau: "Senior administration officials said the action was not driven by election-year considerations, but by intelligence reports that described an orchestrated surveillance operation at several large financial institutions. It is now apparent that the information had significant gaps and omissions."

• August 4 -- Bush Playing Politics With Terror?, Part II
Todd Purdum's front-page news analysis recycles charges that Bush is politicizing terror threats.

• August 4 -- Bush Playing Politics With Terror?, Part I
A lead editorial obnoxiously suggests Bush is playing political games with terror warnings: "….it's unfortunate that it is necessary to fight suspicions of political timing, suspicions the administration has sown by misleading the public on security." But a front-page report today, armed with more facts, takes a more sober view of the terror threat.

• August 2 -- NYT Columnist Finds Huge Bias for Kerry Among Reporters
Columnist John Tierney finds enormous liberal bias among reporters at the Democratic convention: "When asked who would be a better president, the journalists from outside the Beltway picked Mr. Kerry 3 to 1, and the ones from Washington favored him 12 to 1. Those results jibe with previous surveys over the past two decades showing that journalists tend to be Democrats, especially the ones based in Washington."

• July 28 -- Selling John Kerry's Foreign Policy
America's "international standing" "now suffers from the wide perception of American arrogance, dishonesty and ineptitude" because of Iraq, according to reporter Roger Cohen's front-page story.

• July 27 -- LBJ-style 'credibility gap' for Bush?
Michael Oreskes sees an LBJ-style "credibility gap" for Bush.

• July 26 -- Sandy Berger, Terror Fighter
More pro-Sandy Berger spin from the Times: "[The 9/11 report] describes how Mr. Berger took the lead in December 1999 in mobilizing the F.B.I. and other domestic agencies to address the so-called millennium plot, in which attacks planned in Jordan and Los Angeles were disrupted." Or was it just plain old luck?

• July 26 -- Giving Bush a Raspberry
Jenna Bush sticks her tongue out. Reporter Katharine Seelye wonders if it could damage her father's image in the war on terror.

• July 23 -- Sandy Berger "Disrupted" Millennium Terror Plot?
After a string of blame-Bush stories in the Times, reporters David Johnston and Douglas Jehl squelch most of the anti-Bush bias in their story on the 9/11 commission's final report. But some misinformation still leaks through.

• July 22 -- The Right's Latest Victim: Linda Ronstadt?
The Times engages in liberal hand-wringing over hostile audience reaction to Linda Ronstadt's in-concert tribute to Michael Moore, in an Arts story and an editorial (yes, an editorial).

• July 22 -- Still Spinning the Berger Burglary
Eric Lichtblau and David Sanger work some anti-Bush spin into their front-page story on the Sandy Berger investigation: "…the campaign accused the White House of deliberately leaking news of the investigation and said that Vice President Dick Cheney was involved in strategies to divert attention from the Sept. 11 report to be issued Thursday." Since getting into legal hot water, Berger's apparently been demoted by the Times.

• July 21 -- Bush Campaign on Defensive (Just Ignore What I Wrote Yesterday)
Adam Nagourney and Richard Stevenson write on Bush's "hard-edged" campaign, suggesting he's "had to campaign in solidly Republican areas, and to stress conservative issues, to maintain the enthusiasm of his base. In contrast, Mr. Kerry appears so confident of support from his base…" But Nagourney's own reporting suggests differently.

• July 20 -- Another Bumiller Scoop: Bush Won't Take Long Vacation
Dog days on the White House beat? Last week, Elisabeth Bumiller made waves with a front-page rumor about Cheney leaving the ticket. Now she has another news flash: Bush won't be taking another long vacation this election year.

• July 15 -- Front-Page "Rumors" of Cheney Resignation
Elisabeth Bumiller tries to stir up some controversy in the Bush camp with a front-page "rumor" that Vice President Dick Cheney is leaving the ticket.

• July 14 -- Nagourney vs. "Fierce" Bush
Adam Nagourney is sensitive to Bush campaign rhetoric: "President Bush swept across three states that he narrowly lost in 2000 on Tuesday with a vigorous defense of his record and a fierce attack on Senator John Kerry….Mr. Bush went to lengths and used often harsh language in trying to discredit Mr. Kerry."

• July 14 -- No Aid for Bush's Liberal AIDS Cause
One would think an administration embarking on an aggressive campaign to fight AIDS in Africa would get support from the liberal media. Nope: "The administration's AIDS effort is under sharp scrutiny because it so big, so unabashedly Washington-dominated and tinged by the administration's political ideology." Then the Times brings up Iraq.

• July 7 -- Media Heroine for Interrupting the President
Richard Stevenson fawns over an Irish reporter granted an interview with President Bush which turned testy, and wonders whether American reporters are too soft on Bush.

• July 6 -- Embracing "Weak" Employment Report
Eduardo Porter offers a harsh assessment of a new jobs report: "…until new evidence emerges, the June employment report left a broad impression of weakness." That's no surprise to Times watchers, used to the paper talking up the negative when it comes to the economy.

• July 6 -- Richard Berke's Turkey of an Anecdote
Washington Editor Richard Berke cites an anti-Bush myth as fact: "There are also the manufactured surprises, like Mr. Bush's cloak-and-dagger Thanksgiving trip to Baghdad, which drew praise even from Democrats. (The public relations bonanza fizzled after the press reported that Mr. Bush had posed with a mouth-watering--but fake--turkey.)"

• July 1 -- Bush Ad "Troubling." Nancy Reagan, "Attack Dog"
Alessandra Stanley uses an online exhibition of presidential campaign ads past and present to hit a Bush ad she finds "troubling." Also: Do only Republicans engage in attacks?

• June 29 -- Prominent Conservative Speakers “Mistake” for GOP
Noting how moderate Republicans will have prominent roles at the GOP convention, Adam Nagourney insists Bush has learned a lesson from his father: “The White House appears to be working to avoid the mistakes of Mr. Bush's father in 1992. At that year's convention, in Houston, more conservative speakers were given high-profile spots…."

• June 29 -- Hitler Reappears in Bush Ad?
The Kerry campaign complains about a Bush campaign ad, and reporter David Sanger jumps.

• June 29 -- Sanger Still Singing Blues on Bush and Iraq
Reporter David Sanger never hides his doubts about Bush and Iraq: “The so-far fruitless search for unconventional weapons--the primary justification for invading Iraq--undermined his credibility, making what Mr. Bush described as a war of necessity appear to have been one of choice.”

• June 25 -- Kerry Centering Himself?
A front page story on John Kerry claims: "Kerry Messages Begins Leaning Toward Center," but doesn't provide any evidence of the shift.

• June 22 -- Could Bush & Co. Have "Foreseen" 9-11?
Douglas Jehl again argues the Bush administration missed clues to the WTC attack.

• June 21 -- More Misleading on Iraq-Al Qaeda Ties
Times reporter Tom Zeller challenges liberal conventional wisdom on the idea that the 9/11 report contradicts Bush and Cheney's claims about ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda. Will his colleagues ever do the same?

• June 18 -- Jehl Calls Bush Into Question Over 9-11
Douglas Jehl pens a slanted analysis of Bush and the 9-11 report: "…that panel has called into question nearly every aspect of the administration's response to terror, including the idea that Iraq and Al Qaeda were somehow the same foe. Far from a bolt from the blue, the commission has demonstrated over the last 19 months that the Sept. 11 attacks were foreseen, at least in general terms, and might well have been prevented, had it not been for misjudgments, mistakes and glitches, some within the White House."

• June 17 -- Doubting David Attacks Bush's Iraq Speech
David Sanger reports on a Bush speech and works in his own doubts about Iraq: "Mr. Bush focused on the best news he could find in the 14 days before the handover. He said that thousands of schools had reopened and that electricity had been restored, not mentioning that electricity was being generated far below the levels his own administration set as a goal." But Sanger leaves out a lot.

• June 17 -- Hitting Bush's "Spotty Scorecard" on Iraq Invasion
Richard Stevenson sees trouble for Bush from the 9-11 report: "In questioning the extent of any ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda, the commission weakened the already spotty scorecard on Mr. Bush's justifications for sending the military to topple Saddam Hussein."

• June 17 -- Bush's "Dishonest" War Efforts
An editorial on the 9-11 interim report begins: "It's hard to imagine how the commission investigating the 2001 terrorist attacks could have put it more clearly yesterday: there was never any evidence of a link between Iraq and Al Qaeda, between Saddam Hussein and Sept. 11." The report actually confirms a relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda, but that doesn't stop the editorial page from calling Bush dishonest.

• June 15 -- Reagan and Bush, "Panderers to the Religious Right"
Frank Rich, who's never made a secret of his distaste for the Reagan administration, revels in the former president's "performance chops," if only to make Bush look callow by comparison.

• June 15 -- The Times To Bush: You're No Ronald Reagan
Sheryl Gay Stolberg gets a full anti-Bush story out of a sentence Ron Reagan Jr. spoke at his father's eulogy.

• June 14 -- Making Room for Anti-Bush Barry
David Kirkpatrick pens another unflattering story on Bush and religious conservatives and gives more space to Barry Lynn, who has a steady job supplying anti-Bush quotes to Kirkpatrick.

• June 9 -- Casualties Rise, War Support Falling
Katharine Seelye covers the political import of governors attending funerals of soldiers from their home states: "In all cases, the governors are feeling their way, a delicate task as casualties rise and, polls show, support for the war falls." Predictably, the story works in criticism of Bush for failing to attend soldiers' funerals.

• June 9 -- Laying Blame for Abu Ghraib on Bush
A Times lead editorial, "The Roots of Abu Ghraib," goes all out to link Bush to the Abu Ghraib prison abuse: "Each new revelation makes it more clear that the inhumanity at Abu Ghraib grew out of a morally dubious culture of legal expediency and a disregard for normal behavior fostered at the top of this administration."

• June 4 -- Sanger's Thesaurus
David Sanger's analysis of the surprise resignation of C.I.A. Director George Tenet claims Bush sold the war in Iraq as an "immediate necessity." Hey, what happened to "imminent threat?"

• June 2 -- "More Oversight of Bush" Needed, Says GOP?
Carl Hulse's piece carries the blunt headline, "Even Some in GOP Call For More Oversight of Bush." But does the story deliver?

• May 28 -- Paul Krugman Takes on "Tyranny of Evenhandedness"
Paul Krugman's latest column is a broadside against the "tyranny of evenhandedness" that makes liberal journalists say nice things about conservatives.

• May 27 -- Blandly Regurgitating Gore's Manhattan Meltdown
James Barron listens to Al Gore's extremist anti-Bush rant and the strongest words he uses to describe it are "a broad-gauge attack." Barron also leaves off extreme elements of Gore's speech, as when he accuses the Bush administration of "establishing an American gulag."

• May 27 -- Abu Ghraib "Abuse" Under Both U.S. and Saddam
Elisabeth Bumiller's report on Bush's call to raze the Abu Ghraib prison likens the abuse of Iraqis by U.S. soldiers to the torture and death practiced there by Saddam Hussein.

• May 25 -- More on Bush the Bubble Boy
The theme of Bush as out-of-touch bubble boy returns, courtesy of Elisabeth Bumiller: "Inside the bubble, what is Mr. Bush's level of concern about the turmoil in Iraq? Does he think that the sunny predictions of Vice President Dick Cheney and the deputy defense secretary, Paul D. Wolfowitz, were all wrong? Does he blame them, or himself?"

• May 25 -- Does Bush Get Iraq?
In Richard Stevenson's bleak analysis of Bush's Monday night speech on Iraq, he hints Bush still doesn't understand how "violence and chaos" is threatening to engulf the country.

• May 25 -- Slanted "Lines of Loyalty" on Bush's Iraq Speech
Carl Hulse's review of Bush's prime-time address on Iraq is titled "Distinct Views of Iraq Speech Follow Lines of Loyalty." Hulse's story follows the same lines, slanting responses toward the Democratic side.

• May 24 -- Kristof's Anti-War "Scream" Fest
Nicholas Kristof sticks it to Bush and Rumsfeld: "Donald Rumsfeld has presided over the most foolish conflict since the War of Jenkins' Ear in the 18th century, and he is at the top of a military force that tortured prisoners. " Then he lashes out at the "neo-con ideologues who screamed for war."

• May 19 -- "Patriotic" Michael Moore's "Moving" Anti-Bush Documentary
From the Cannes film festival, movie critic A.O. Scott joins the celebrations for leftist filmmaker Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11."

• May 18 -- Krugman Morphs Into Anti-War Kucinich
Columnist Paul Krugman joins the left-wing cut-and-run brigade in Iraq: "The cries of 'stay the course' are getting fainter, while the calls for a quick exit are growing….lost prestige is better than ruin."

• May 18 -- "Civil Rights Leader" Jesse Jackson
Adam Nagourney and Richard Stevenson, in Topeka for the 50th anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education, call left-wing activist Jesse Jackson a "civil rights leader."

• May 12 -- Bye Bye Bangladesh Thanks to Bush
Times Sunday Magazine contributing writer James Traub comes up with a list of things to be afraid of in the age of terror.

• May 11 -- The Secret of His Success
Sheryl Gay Stolberg files a profile of media hero Sen. John McCain, again basking in attention after his withering critique of Donald Rumsfeld on the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.

• May 10 -- Bush's Tax Cuts Killing Social Programs?
A Times editorial states: "The Bush administration's tax cuts for the well-to-do have taken a heavy toll on the nation's most important social programs for the poor and working class."

• May 10 -- Bush's "Chilling Effect" on Broadcasters
A front-page story by Jacques Steinberg using the emotionally fraught term "chilling effect" to describe the effect the Bush administration is having on broadcasters regarding obscenity, but provides no evidence Bush is behind the F.C.C.'s actions.

• May 3 -- The “Nonpolitical” Democratic Response?
On both Saturday and Sunday, the Times plugged “nonpolitical” National Guardsman Paul Rieckhoff as he slammed President Bush in the Democratic response to the President’s weekly radio address.

• April 29 -- Manipulating the “Sharp” Decline
The Times led the paper Thursday with bad news for President Bush: “Support for War Down Sharply,” from 63 percent saying the war was the “right thing” in December to 58 percent in March to 47 percent in April. But they downplayed that December’s poll numbers were instantly taken after the capture of Saddam Hussein, so the numbers might logically fall “sharply” from that summit.

• April 28 -- Bush Lacks “Visionary” Agenda?
Times reporter Richard Stevenson looked right past the elephant in the room and insisted that Bush’s campaign for a second term, he is “forgoing a visionary agenda.” So, taking the risk of liberating tens of millions of people in Afghanistan and Iraq in the war on terror isn’t bold enough?

• April 20 -- "Controversial" to Claim Alger Hiss a Spy?
Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Felicia Lee report on a controversy over Bush's nominee for U.S. archivist Allen Weinstein: "He has long been controversial among historians, in part because of his conclusion in his 1978 book, 'Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case,' that Hiss was indeed a Communist spy." Actually, the only "controversy" about Hiss' guilt these days is among left-wingers.

• April 15 -- The Return of Incurious George
A sensible editorial is marred by eagerness to reduce Bush to a cartoon figure: "Americans knew George W. Bush was an incurious man when they elected him, but the hearings of the 9/11 investigating commission, which turned yesterday from the F.B.I.'s fecklessness to the C.I.A.'s blurred vision, have brought that fact home in a startling way."

• April 14 -- Why Won't Bush Apologize for 9/11?
At Bush's press conference Elisabeth Bumiller demanded: "Do you feel any sense of personal responsibility for September 11th?"

• April 14 -- "Political Peril" for Bush?
David Sanger's front-page analysis of Bush's Tuesday-night press conference raises the stakes for Bush: "Facing a moment of political peril unlike any in the more than one thousand days of his presidency…." Sanger also frets over Bush's refusal to admit mistakes.

• April 13 -- The Adams' Family Bias
Adam Nagourney paints a Bush press conference as a defensive move and cements his point with quotes from former Times reporter Adam Clymer--who's not exactly a "major-league" Bush supporter.

• April 12 -- Where "PDB" Means "Pin Damage on Bush"
The Times uses the August 2001 "President's Daily Briefing" to hit Bush for allegedly missing clues to 9-11--despite the memo's lack of detail.

• April 8 -- As St. Johnsbury Goes…So Goes St. Johnsbury
With the recent upsurge of fighting and fatalities in Iraq, the Times runs a timely compendium of citizens feeling less confident about Bush and the war, featuring the results of an online poll from....the Caledonian-Record newspaper of St. Johnsbury, Vermont?

• April 7 -- Frank Rich's Ill Humor
Frank Rich contrasts Richard Clarke's 9-11 "apology" with Bush's light-hearted performance at an annual correspondents' dinner: "A nation of viewers that had watched a public servant mourn the unnecessary loss of American life on 9/11 now saw the president make light of the rationale that necessitated the sacrifice of an additional 500-plus Americans (so far) in the war fought in 9/11's name."

• April 7 -- Bin Laden Capture Would Be No Boost For Bush?
Adam Nagourney tries to tamp down any boost Bush gets from a hypothetical capture of bin Laden: "And what if the capture of Mr. bin Laden brings with it disclosures that the United States had missed opportunities to seize him earlier, a finding that might lend some heft to Mr. Clarke's criticisms." Does Nagourney know something we don't?

• April 5 -- "Fears Remain" Despite Job Numbers
At the Times, behind every silver lining lies a dark cloud for Republican election prospects.

• April 2 -- Terror Reactions: "Upbeat" Bush, Somber Clinton
David Sanger writes: "It can be a bit jarring to move from the images of grisly American deaths to the invariably upbeat message of the Bush campaign…The contrast with some of his predecessors is notable….when American soldiers were killed in Somalia in an incident that many recalled on seeing the Falluja photographs, President Clinton declared that he was sending reinforcements." One contrast Sanger failed to mention--Clinton never visited the WTC after the 1993 terror attack.

• March 31 -- An "Embarrassing" Win for Bush Tax Cuts
Poor Bush. Even when he wins, he loses. Yesterday Bush notched another "embarrassing" win, according to Richard Oppel: "House Republican leaders avoided an embarrassing setback on Tuesday, barely defeating a nonbinding resolution favoring new restrictions on future tax cuts that are the centerpiece of President Bush's economic program."

• March 25 -- Clinton "Distracted" from Terror "By Threat of Impeachment"
The Times blasts the "lack of urgency" of the Bush administration's pre-9/11 terror efforts in an editorial on Richard Clarke's testimony--and offers a lame excuse for Clinton's inaction.

• March 24 -- Richard Clarke, "Unbowed"
The Times profiles the anti-Bush brigades' newest star Richard Clarke, portraying him as standing "unbowed" against attempts by the Bushies to "discredit" him.

• March 17 -- "Greater Scrutiny" of Bush After Madrid, From….?
Nagourney teams up with Richard Stevenson for a lead story placing the Bush campaign on war footing, with a subhed claiming: "President's Foreign Policy Faces Greater Scrutiny After Madrid Attack." Yet the actual article hardly mentions Spain.

• March 17 -- Burying Pro-Bush Poll Results?
Did the Times bury the real news in its story on a CBS/NYT presidential poll--the part showing a pro-Bush uptick?

• March 16 -- Rich on Bush, "The Divider"
Frank Rich laments Bush has "turned out to be as much a divider as a uniter."

• March 10 -- When Bushies Attack
While Adam Nagourney questions Bush's "fierce campaign of attacks" on Kerry, Jodi Wilgoren uncritically repeats John Kerry's own attacks against Bush.

• March 4 -- Haitian Conflagration Not Clinton's Creation?
Another editorial slams Bush for moving too slow in Haiti (after months of lamenting his "rush to war" in Iraq), adding: "After intervening to restore Mr. Aristide, the first democratically elected president in Haitian history, to office in 1994, Washington failed to do enough to help develop strong institutions, like an independent police force and judiciary, to sustain democratic rule." Remind us again: Who was president in 1994?

• March 2 -- Marriage Defenders and the Return of George Wallace
Frank Rich hooks gay marriage to the civil rights movement--and compares marriage defenders to Southern segregationists.

• March 2 -- Bigots and Bashers, Oh My!
The Times passes along "moderate" worries that Bush "might look like a gay basher."

• February 25 -- Rejecting Bush's Marriage Proposal
A lead editorial distorts Bush's position on a gay marriage amendment: "The president's speech was a call for taking rights away from gay Americans."

• February 25 -- Married to the Conservative Label
Robin Toner's analysis of Bush's gay marriage amendment announcement mentions "conservative" 17 times and suggests a constitutional amendment may alienate centrists. Yet the Times own poll shows such an amendment has centrist appeal.

• February 19 -- Spinning Left-Wing Straw Men Into Anti-Bush Gold
A left-wing activist group's rehash of old reporting is transformed into an anti-Bush news story by science reporter James Glanz.

• February 18 -- Still Pushing the Guard Non-Story
Richard Stevenson trails Bush to Louisiana and twice brings up the National Guard issue.

• February 17 -- Bush's Costly Tax Cuts
David Sanger helpfully reminds readers of the deficit and pins it on Bush's tax cuts: "Mr. Bush said nothing of the long-term cost of making those cuts permanent. Neither the White House nor many in Congress want to dwell on additions to a deficit projected to hit $500 billion this year."

• February 17 -- "Mounting War Casualties" Put Spotlight on Bush's Guard Record
David Barstow makes a shaky link between casualties in Iraq and questions on Bush's Guard service: "...with Iraq casualties mounting, with angry Democrats coalescing behind a decorated Vietnam veteran and with credibility questions dogging Mr. Bush, the broad-brush defense has been abandoned."

• February 16 -- What Do They Want From Bush?
White House reporter Elisabeth Bumiller is still not satisfied: "Friday night brought a final tidal wave of paper, much of it highly repetitive and already released in previous years, that once again offered no new proof that Mr. Bush had turned up for duty in Alabama."

• February 13 -- Bush's "Cult of Personality"
Krugman asks: What the heck is wrong with you people?

• February 13 -- Globe Bashes Burkett's Anti-Bush Story: Will the NYT React?
The NYT-affiliated Boston Globe disputes allegations by Bill Burkett on Bush's National Guard record. The Times found Burkett sufficiently credible to use as the basis for a 1,000-word anti-Bush story Thursday. With Burkett's credibility now in question, will the Times follow up?

• February 12 -- "Conservatives" and "Others"
"Two kinds of senators at the Times."

• February 12 -- Old Anti-Bush Whine in New Bottle
The Times squeezes 1,050-words out of old allegations about Bush's National Guard service from a source who last year wrote on Iraq: "I feel sickness that today another massive group of people, held worthless by this anointed king, will be trampled upon like grapes. But their blood will not be rendered into wine."

• February 11 -- Natl. Guard Queries Fair Game for "Posturing" Bush
Bush releases payroll records from his National Guard stint, but an editorial keeps the controversy alive: "Mr. Bush himself also made the issue of military service fair game by posturing as a swashbuckling pilot when welcoming a carrier home from Iraq." Vietnam-avoiding Bill Clinton would have never done such a thing--right?

• February 10 -- Nixonian Politics of Fear Rears Ugly Head (Says Gore)
Katharine Seelye lets Gore compare Bush to Nixon: "[Gore] recalled that President Richard M. Nixon had used 'the politics of fear' to make his father, Albert Gore Sr., out to be unpatriotic and an atheist….He said he recalled that defeat because 'the last three years we've seen the politics of fear rear its ugly head again.'"

• February 4 -- Bush's "Threats To Our Way of Life"
Nicholas Kristof claims Bush fiscal policy poses the real threat to the American way of life and applauds the fiscal conservatism of Bill Clinton.

• February 4 -- "Striking Contrasts" Between Bush and Kerry
As Sen. John Kerry piles up Democratic primary victories, "Military Service Becomes Issue in Bush-Kerry Race" frames a potential Kerry-Bush contest to Kerry's advantage.

• February 3 -- Gay Marriage Ban "Discrimination"
Frank Rich calls a gay marriage ban "discrimination."

• February 3 -- Deep Cuts in a 2.4 Trillion Budget?
Elisabeth Bumiller wonders if Bush can survive the political fallout from his new budget that "forces him to cut so deeply."

• January 29 -- "Conservatives" vs. Democrats, Part XI
New topic, same labeling bias from reporter Robert Pear.

• January 28 -- No One to Blame but Bush?
David Sanger pens "Bush Backs Away From His Claims About Iraq Arms," but fails to note other countries believed the same thing about Iraq--and so did John Kerry.

• January 27 -- Beware of Bush Unbound
A rundown of seven anti-Bush books makes the cover of the Times Book Review: "Three years into the presidency of George W. Bush, many people here and abroad fear and loathe our country, its power, its policies, its pride. Is America an evil empire?"

• January 21 -- Not Bad For a Dumb Guy
Alessandra Stanley offers backhanded praise for Bush's reading skills.

• January 21 -- Bush "Rudely Ignoring" U.N Procedures
An editorial rips into Bush for going to war "without reliable intelligence, real international backing, legitimate United Nations authority or serious postwar planning," then hits him for being rude to the UN.

• January 21 -- War? What War?
David Sanger wonders if America is still at war.

• January 21 -- Terrorism? What Terrorism?
Elisabeth Bumiller and Richard Stevenson offer this odd spin on Bush's State of the Union: "Mr. Bush offered no specific evidence to back up his more general and much less disputed statement that 'terrorists continue to plot against America and the civilized world.'"

• January 20 -- The "Sinister" Judge Pickering
Paul Krugman goes even further than the Times editorial page in linking Judge Charles Pickering with racism.

• January 19 -- Karl Rove, Evil Genius
Elisabeth Bumiller parrots Democratic spin on Bush adviser Karl Rove, "the man who told Republicans they should use the war on terrorism for partisan advantage."

• January 15 -- "Love Story," Starring Paul O'Neill
Times editor Andres Martinez likes Paul O'Neill's book and "Bill Clinton's fiscal discipline," dislikes the Bush administration's "shoddy, if not dishonest, decision-making."

• January 15 -- "Civil Rights Leaders" Tell Bush: Stay Away from MLK Day
Jeffrey Gettleman and Ariel Hart find anti-Bush racial animosity in Atlanta: "Many of Atlanta's civil rights leaders are outraged about Mr. Bush's planned visit to commemorate Dr. King's 75th birthday….It seems to have lifted the lid on long-simmering anger many blacks feel toward Mr. Bush. Some Bush policies, including tax cuts mainly benefiting those with higher incomes and cutting back on welfare-type programs, have alienated black voters, analysts say."

• January 7 -- Jesus Christ, Big-Government Liberal
Nicholas Kristof takes Cheney, Dean and Bush to task for abuse and ignorance of religion--then cites Jesus to argue against Bush's tax cuts.

• January 6 -- Balanced Campaign Coverage? Times Batting 0-for-'04
Two sets of headlines offer an ominous preview of the presidential campaign. On the left: "Clark and Kerry Offering Plans to Help Middle Class….Gearing proposals to appeal to everyday Americans." On the right: "Bush Pushes Education as Election Year Opens….Defending Programs that Democrats say he underfinanced."

• January 2 -- Krugman Warns Dems: Don't Be Mean to Dean
Columnist Krugman's pro-Dean "advice" to Democrats has the clammy feel of an indoctrination session: "First, while it's O.K. for a candidate to say he's more electable than his rival, someone who really cares about ousting Mr. Bush shouldn't pre-emptively surrender the cause by claiming that his rival has no chance….More important, a Democrat shouldn't say anything that could be construed as a statement that Mr. Bush is preferable to his rival." Krugman doesn't bring up actions by Dean himself that strike some Democrats as disloyal.

• January 2 -- Saddam's Capture: OK, But What About Those Funerals?
Editor Richard Berke puts the best anti-Bush spin on the good news out of Iraq: "But before Saddam was caught, not long ago, we were talking about casualties. We were talking about a situation where the president did not want to go to the funerals of a lot of the--the--the killed soldiers in Iraq, because why bring attention to the tragedy of--that was going on day after day there."

• December 18 -- The Times Misfires (Again) on Bush's "Imminent Threat"
The Times puts one of its favorite anti-war myths back in circulation in Richard Stevenson's snidely titled "Remember 'Weapons of Mass Destruction'? For Bush, They Are a Nonissue."

• December 17 -- Bush's Poll Numbers: Nice, But What About Those Funerals?
The Times front page gives Bush his due regarding his rising approval ratings--but a couple of the paper's poll questions suspiciously conform to its crusade on Bush's non-attendance at soldiers' funerals: "There was also clear public disapproval about some ways that Mr. Bush has responded to the war at home."

• December 16 -- After Saddam's Capture: Beating Around the Bushes
Todd Purdum personalizes the capture of Saddam Hussein as the Bush family settling scores with an ancient enemy (Dana Carvey is cited). Spying a potential wedge between the Bushes, Purdum takes up Bush Sr.'s side: "There were ample reasons for the first President Bush not to go after Mr. Hussein."

• December 15 -- Frank Rich's Exquisite Timing
Columnist Frank Rich equates the war in Iraq with the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy--and truly breaks a leg: "In the final installment, the pre-eminent heavy of the first two parts, the evil wizard Saruman has vanished--as out of sight, if not mind, as Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein." Readers who had the TV on that morning knew otherwise.

• December 5 -- Bullying Bush Backs Down
David Sanger paints Bush's lifting of steel tariffs as akin to a bully wincing from being hit back: "For the first time in his nearly three years in office, the president, who has often reveled in the exercise of American power, finally met an international organization that had figured out how to hit back at the administration where it would hurt."

• December 4 -- Kyoto: Russia Balks, But Bush Blamed
Russia is having second thoughts about ratifying the environmental decree known as the Kyoto Protocol, but instead of pinning the "blame" on Russia, a Times editorial finds a more appealing bogeyman: "Indeed, it can be argued that Russia would not be having second thoughts about the Kyoto accord had Mr. Bush himself decided not to bail out."

• December 2 -- Bush's "Top Gun" Landing a Real Turkey
John Kifner tees off on the photo of Bush holding a Thanksgiving turkey in Baghdad, segueing quickly to another famous Bush image: "The so-called 'Top Gun' landing had clearly been designed as a triumphal image that would play a prominent part in the president's re-election campaign. Instead, it now seems a symbol of the naïve, almost willful, optimism that has marked the administration's plan to overthrow Saddam Hussein."

• December 1 -- Bush in Baghdad: OK, But What About Those Funerals?
Adam Nagourney tosses cold water on Bush's Thanksgiving appearance in Baghdad: "The trip came at a time of rising criticism of the president for not attending the funerals of the returning war dead." Criticism driven by the Times itself.

• November 21 -- Just Your Average Everyday Communists
Lizette Alvarez attempts to mainstream the anti-war protestors who greeted Bush in London: "...a broad cross-section of people turned up for the march, organized by the Stop the War Coalition, which also mobilized a mass protest in February. Grandmothers with canes, parents with children in strollers, high school students, women in business suits, as well as button-bedecked antiwar demonstrators gathered elbow to elbow in Trafalgar Square to voice their disapproval of Mr. Bush and his administration's foreign policies." Alvarez ignored the organizing presence of the far-left Socialist Workers Party.

• November 20 -- A Bush "Setback" and More Nonsense on Niger
David Sanger personalizes the decision of an international nuclear watchdog group as a "setback" for Bush and issues a new version of the old "Uranium from Niger" canard.

• November 20 -- Warren Hoge Goes Deep for Anti-War Bias
Warren Hoge's dispatch from London "deeply" exaggerates the unpopularity of the war in Britain.

• November 18 -- Sanger Sings the Blues over Bush in Iraq
David Sanger on Bush and Iraq: Hubris, electoral cynicism and floundering.

• November 18 -- George Bush, Oil Tool
As George Bush prepares to go to London, Sunday's report by Alan Cowell describes in loving detail the European anti-war laundry list of anti-Bush particulars, and even gets Vietnam into the mix.

• November 14 -- With Friends Like These…
Citing Sen. Chuck Hagel, reporters Steven Weisman and Carl Hulse see a potential Republican crackup over Iraq. But Hagel is hardly an administration supporter on Iraq, and the Times knows it.

• November 14 -- Warren Hoge's Rogue Attack on Bush
Times correspondent Warren Hoge: "America is now something of a rogue state, a pariah nation….It is quite amazing to think where we were the day after September 11 and how much of that goodwill has been squandered."

• November 13 -- Bush, Panderer to the Panhandle
Could Bush actually favor the travel ban on U.S. travel to Cuba on principle? The thought doesn't occur to Christopher Marquis, who portrays Bush as pandering to Cuban-Americans: "[His] allies in Congress quietly eliminated a widely supported provision easing restrictions on American travel to Cuba from a major appropriations bill to save him from embarrassment over his political designs in Florida…."

• November 12 -- Dead Poets Society Takes Bush on Over Iraq
Adam Cohen salutes World War I poet Wilfred Owen in order to scorn Bush's conduct of the Iraq war: "Owen was right that an honorable approach to war requires both ably leading troops on the battlefield, and reporting honestly what occurs there. The Bush administration, however, is resisting this honorable approach….He avoids mentioning the American dead...”

• November 11 -- “Right-Wing Bloviators” Pressured “Craven” CBS
Editor Frank Rich notes approvingly that the TV movie on Jessica Lynch portrays the rescued POW “as a lowly pawn of larger, mysterious forces operating in the shadows, whether in Baghdad or Washington” and lambastes “craven” CBS for caving to “right-wing bloviators” on the Reagan miniseries.

• November 7 -- Ignorant Mississippians for Bush
Paul Krugman accuses Republicans of racial tactics: "White Mississippi voters, unlike their counterparts up north, are still responding to Republican flag-waving--and it's not just the American flag that's being waved."

• November 6 -- The Republican's He-Man Woman Haters Club
Richard Stevenson on Bush's signing of the partial-birth abortion ban emphasizes: "Before calling onto the stage with him the bill's main Congressional supporters, all men…"

• November 4 -- More on Bush's Terrible Tax Cuts
David Leonhardt spells out the problems a surging economy poses for Democratic candidates, but then blames the deficit on Bush's tax cuts.

• October 30 -- Bush's "Radical Conservatism" a Problem in Iraq
Pro-war columnist Thomas Friedman wonders if Bush can succeed in Iraq, given his radical conservatism.

• October 30 -- Dowdy Old Anti-War Talking Points
Columnist Maureen Dowd stumbles through the liberal anti-war litany.

• October 28 -- Krugman on the Defensive
Columnist Paul Krugman gets touchy in print over criticism of his recent column on Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, which even liberals saw as a too-easy dismissal of Mahathir's hateful anti-Jewish remarks.

• October 27 -- Republican Party "Most Extreme" Ever
Contributing writer James Traub rationalizes the Bush-bashing tomes taking over the best-seller lists: "Our political culture has not been infected by some virus from outer s