February 22, 2005

John Fox Sullivan
President and Group Publisher
National Journal Group
600 New Hampshire Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20037

Dear Mr. Sullivan:

As you may know, the St. Petersburg Times reported on February 19 that among the “lines that drew big applause” at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) were two comments by Michael Barone. According to the Times, Mr. Barone, referring to a potential presidential campaign by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, said, “She's already thrown her broom into the ring.” The Times also reported that Mr. Barone drew applause by referring to “John Francois Kerry.”

Mr. Barone, as you know, is author of The Almanac of American Politics, a publication of National Journal Group Inc. National Journal Group purports to be “committed to providing publications and services that are nonpartisan, reliable and of the highest quality” and describes the Almanac as "[t]he definitive book on politics and politicians."

I hope you will make an effort to confirm whether Mr. Barone made the comments attributed to him. Further, I ask that you consider the propriety of the author of a “definitive” book on politics, published by a “nonpartisan” media organization, speaking at a clearly partisan event such as CPAC and publicly deriding a U.S. senator as a witch.

Mr. Barone's reported comments at CPAC aren't the only time we've noticed comments he has made that seem inconsistent with National Journal Group's commitment to “nonpartisan” and “reliable” services:

• In his February 21 syndicated column, Mr. Barone wrote of the 2000 election: “We know now that, thanks to the news media consortium that recounted ballots in every Florida county, recounting under any method and any criterion they tested would not have overturned [President George W.] Bush's exceedingly thin plurality.” This is flatly untrue; as Media Matters noted, “the 2001 news media consortium study of the disputed ballots in the 2000 Florida recount found that there were at least four recount scenarios under which [Al] Gore would have won the state of Florida.”
• On the November 15, 2004, edition of C-SPAN's The Kalb Report, Mr. Barone “strenuously disagree[d]” that the use of Willie Horton by Republicans in the 1988 presidential campaign constituted “racial politics” -- even though observers from Kathleen Hall Jamieson to Colin Powell have noted the obvious racial implications of the ad. But Mr. Barone went further than merely disagreeing with this uncontroversial position; he called it “blood libel” to suggest that the Horton ad constituted “racial politics.” “Blood libel,” as the online encyclopedia Wikipedia notes, is an allegation term denoting accusations that a particular group -- often Jews -- practices murderous human sacrifice “and uses their blood in various rituals.”
• On FOX News on July 29, 2004, Mr. Barone characterized audience reaction to Senator John Kerry's speech at the Democratic National Convention as “They cheered when he zinged Bush and when he called for military strength, they were silent.” This was, at best, a gross distortion of reality; as Media Matters noted at the time, a review of the speech revealed that “while the crowd cheered at virtually everything Kerry said, his appeals for military strength and an aggressive national security policy were received with particular enthusiasm.” Also, the FOX News transcript of Senator Kerry's speech indicates applause following his calls for military strength.
• On the July 16, 2004, edition of FOX News' Special Report with Brit Hume, Mr. Barone accused Democrats of “really rooting against America,” which would presumably constitute treason, adding that “in some cases they would rather see America lose than Bush win.”

Again, I ask that you consider whether it is appropriate for the author of the “nonpartisan” National Journal Group's “definitive” book on politics and politicians to accuse Democrats of “rooting against America” and to compare a prominent Democratic senator to a witch.

Sincerely,

David Brock
President and CEO
Media Matters for America