GET ME REWRITE: Yet more evidence that pollsters and New York Times reporters are talking to the wrong people

Top headline:  New York Times, 5/25/2025
Bottom headline:  Nation, 5/20/2025

John Nichols reports in the Nation about the lack of pearl-clutching and handwringing at the grassroots level:

Twenty twenty-five has already been a good year for Democrats at the ballot box. No doubt the chaos, cruelty, and incompetence of the Trump administration have helped renew Democratic fortunes after the party lost the White House and the Senate in 2024. But you can’t simply rely on the other side’s failures to win elections. You need to seize the moment yourself. And there is mounting evidence that Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin, who has never made his enthusiasm for grassroots organizing a secret, is doing just that. 

The DNC’s recently elected chair is big on the notion that “there are no off years,” as he told me this week. With that in mind, Martin and DNC deputy executive director Libby Schneider have responded to this intense moment in US political life with a little noted [hello, New York Times!] but highly effective strategy that has already got 16,000 volunteers in the field nationwide—and that promises to increase the numbers dramatically in an off-year election cycle that will set up the definitional midterm voting of 2026.

Two of the many things that Shane missed.

But the Times is determined to plow ahead with this manufactured narrative.

And so The New York Times is beginning an occasional series of articles about the Democrats and their predicament: how it got so dire, what comes next and who could lead the way.

When it comes to political reporting, there's plenty that's wrong with the New York Times.

May 2025

Taking normalizing and sanewashing of Trump to a new low.  (5/24)

March 2025

Jess Bidgood is way out of her element as managing correspondent of "On Politics".  (3/30)

The Right is riding high with Trump because US corporate media is not doing its job. They’re paving the road to authoritarianism.  (3/25)

Welcome to fill-in-the-blanks journalism:  How a conspiracy theory about went viral!  (3/24)

Headline writer provides Trump political cover.  (3/10)

What happens when legacy media normalize and sanewash First Felon Donald Trump for 10 years.  (3/9)

"Man on the Street interview: Chance for New York Times reporter Kellen Browning to brush up on his transcription skills".  (3/6)

January-February 2025

Normalizing and sanewashing First Felon Donald Trump continues unabated.  (2/26)

PBS gives cowering New York Times a lesson in headline writing. (2/25)

Trump and Musk take a wrecking ball to democracy while the New York Times revives silly 1960s-era "man on the street" interviews.  (2/18)

Mistaking energy for incompetence that leads to chaos and confusion.  (2/6)

New York Times goes all in to normalize latest round of Trump chaos and confusion.  (2/5)

The GOP is coming for your birth control and Louisiana is leading the way.  (2/1)

Trump administration unleashes first volley in Project 2025 attack on public broadcasting and the New York Times is asleep at the wheel. (1/31)

November 2024

The election is over and they're still searching out and cataloging disengaged (NOT undecided) voters.  (11/13)

Getting back to the business of normalizing the Trump Cult.  (11/7)

October 2024

Jess Bidgood struggles to find her mojo as contributor to "On Politics" newsletter.  (10/21)

Trump goes bonkers in campaign's final stretch.  (10/19)

Headline sanewashes Trump's Nazi rhetoric.  (10/10)

Framing its political coverage with stale, silly sports metaphors.  (10/10)

Sanewashing Demented Donald Trump rallies.  (10/9)

New York Times headlines mash-up of VP debate:  Vance 'made Trumpism sound polite, calm and coherent' with a cascade of false and misleading statements. (10/6/2024) 

Majority of 13 writers charmed by the smarm of JD Vance.  (10/2)

September 2024

Mindblowing, sanewashing dissonance of headline and lede.  (9/26)

David Leonhardt goes on the defensive.  (9/17)

Reporters drowning in false equivalencies.  (9/5)

July-August 2024

British-American journalist Mehdi Hasan sums up the sins of The New York Times.  (8/31)

Political reporters continue to amaze with their transcription skills.  (8/7)

Just when you thought the New York Times political reporting couldn't get any worse.  (7/24)

Welcome to the Club!  New York Times Shawn McCreesh is Trump's latest victim of The Art of the Con.  (7/18)

Peter Baker conducts a master class in false equivalency.  (7/16)

June 2024

But it's OK for a serial liar, unregenerate fraud, wannabe authoritarian, and convicted felon to run for president.  (6/28)

New York Times might as well be on Trump's payroll. (YOU'RE HIRED!).  (6/28)

New York Times works overtime to normalize the 2024 presidential election.  (6/26)

Are the pollsters and political reporters making the same rush to judgment they did in 2022?  (6/10)

May 2024

Apparently, the New York Times is still focused on Donald Trump's "family man" defense.  (5/16)

Four New York Times reporters promote "family man" defense for Donald Trump in hush-money trial. (5/4)

New York Times courtroom reporters party like it's a black-and-white Raymond Burr Perry Mason festival.  (5/3)

When it comes to framing the 2024 presidential election, Peter Baker and the New York

April 2024

The New York Times perfects the technique of bending over backwards for Donald Trump.  (4/18)

10 -- count 'em -- 10 New York Times reporters help Trump pan for campaign gold.  (4/15)

New York Times, 4/12/2024, page A10:  Doomsday double bill.  (4/12)

Once again, a New York Times headline writer misses the mark. (4/1)

March 2024

Leave it to the New York Times to come up with an incorrect and exceedingly lame headline.  (3/8)

February 2024

Meet Natalie Brumfield, New York Times go-to for positives about Alabama Supreme Court decision on embryos.  (2/23)

January 2024

 Times get it terribly wrong.  (1/25)

2023

New York Times reporter Peter Baker ignores Jennifer Rubin's admonition to mainstream media.  (10/3)

2019

Like many others, New York Times reporter Peter Baker got snookered by William Barr's 4-page summary.  (4/19)

2018

Dear Peter Baker and Maggie Haberman, Next time please interview someone who doesn't have an ax to grind. (10/31)