I guess NPR doesn’t think we can google their old stories to prove what a Hack they are.

Well, they’re wrong.  Here are two NPR articles that prove the political bias that exist at this ‘news’ organization.

The first was written on 13-OCT-2005 and the subject was President Bush’s approval rating.  It was almost a year since he was re-elected but his approval rating dropped to 38% from a high of 50% in January.

The second was written on 07-NOV-2013 and the subject was President Obama’s approval rating.  It has been a year since he was re-elected but his approval rating dropped to 39% from a high of over 50% during the 2012 elections.

Since both of these stories happened at about the exact time for two 2^nd term Presidents and the magnitude and timeframe of the decline in approval were almost identical you’d think these two stories would have the same conclusion that the President faces an uphill struggle and has much ground to make up in the coming 3 years of his 2^nd term.  But you’d be wrong because NPR isn’t about fairness and journalism.

Let me prove it.

Here are a few quotes from the Bush story from 13-OCT-2005 (emphasis mine):

“President Bush’s approval ratings are in a steep decline, according to a new poll by the Pew Research Center. The survey found that only 38 percent of Americans think the president is doing a good job, down from 50 percent in January. For the first time in his presidency, the numbers show most people think Bush will be judged as an unsuccessful president.”

“He has a lot of political problems,” said Kohut, “and as a consequence, the Republican Party, looking forward to the midterm elections, has a lot of problems… Every time a president is unpopular or is judged as performing poorly, his party takes it on the chin in the midterm elections.”

Now here are a few quotes from the Obama story from 07-NOV-2013 (emphasis mine):

“It seems obvious to say that a high approval rating helps a president, while a low approval rating hurts him. But here are five reasons Obama’s numbers might not be as troublesome as they sound.”

1 – He was never popular with Congress Anyway

“In other words, Obama has governed like an unpopular president even when he was popular.”

2 – Bad poll numbers are relative

“Sure, only around 40 percent of Americans think Obama is doing a good job. But Congress would love to have that kind of approval rating. They’re looking at single digits — and Republicans in Congress are doing even worse.”

“That makes some Democrats optimistic about their party’s chances in 2014, even though the party of the president typically loses seats in a midterm.”

3 – There’s not much purple on the Congressional map

“In the midterm elections, Obama’s approval rating can only really tilt the outcome in purple, or highly competitive, congressional districts. And there are fewer of those than ever before. Redistricting has wiped out swing districts in favor of safe zones for Republicans and Democrats.”

“Political scientist Baker says winning the 17 seats necessary to regain control of the House from Republicans “has always been an uphill prospect for the Democrats,” no matter what the president’s approval rating might be.”

4 – It’s a pretty narrow swing

“Although Obama is at a low point now, his approval rating hasn’t really varied all that much. After his initial election spike in 2008, his favorability numbers have settled into a band between the low 50s to around 40 percent. Not great, but not really terrible either — especially compared with his predecessor.”

5 – Obama’s done running for office

“Perhaps the biggest reason presidents chase high approval ratings is to win re-election. As Obama often tells audiences with evident relief, that’s not something he ever has to worry about again.”

The conclusions of these two articles aren’t even close!

When Bush’s numbers dropped it was terrible.  Bush’s numbers are in a steep decline, he will be judged as an unsuccessful President, he has political problems and Republicans will have trouble in the mid-term elections.  Pretty bad stuff!

But when Obama’s numbers drop the reaction to NPR is ‘meh’, no big deal.  He was never popular with Republicans anyway.  His numbers are better than the House of Representatives.  There will be no impact to the mid-term elections.   Obama never really was that popular anyway.  Obama doesn’t have to worry about re-election.  His numbers are better than Bush’s were!

NPR doesn’t think we see their bias.  They forget that the Internet is forever.