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I had to laugh after reading the Villagers proclaim Michele Bachmann the winner of CNN’s GOP debate in NH simply because she was able to present herself as somewhat normal. And as many others wrote, she stole the spotlight because she announced on the podium that she was indeed running for President. Wouldn’t any normal person viewing the debate have thought she was already running since she was part of the debate? Michele Bachmann’s star turn Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann came into Monday night’s presidential debate in the Queen City as an unknown commodity. She left it as the most talked-about candidate in the 2012 GOP field. Bachmann stole headlines at the start by announcing that she had filed to run for president — skipping the exploratory phase entirely — and then proceeding to command the stage in the first hour of the CNN-sponsored debate with quotable answers on every question asked of her. The crowd assembled at Saint Anselm College broke into spontaneous applause after several of Bachmann’s answers. And others were impressed that she has 23 foster children. It’s a good thing to be a foster parent, but if anybody in the Beltway Media paid attention earlier, they would have known that and probably reported on it when she started making noises about jumping in the race. She is the head of the Tea Party Caucus in Congress and yet this still seemed to come as a surprise. What we heard from the media since the debate is that she prepared well and had her answers down pat, but what we haven’t heard from the MSM is what her views have beensince she’s been in office outside of bashing Obama. They do know that she shares the same voters that Sarah Palin does. Bill O’Reilly was suggesting that she would make a good VP pick for someone like Romney as he talked to Dick Morris last night because members of the House never get elected as President. Morris agreed with that but only because he believes she hasn’t been vetted yet and there might be downside when the oppo research starts while Romney has already been through that process. That’s the main reason Conservatives hate Romney. The major reason Senators and members of the House have problems running for the Oval Office is because they take many, many votes in Congress which leaves a record that their rivals use against them. President Obama used Hillary Clinton’s vote on the Iraq war as a big tool against her since he never had to take that vote and could later say he would have voted against it. It’s Politics 101. Anyway, Bachmann is as extreme as it gets and it’s not like she’s been hiding it. When she went McCarthy on Chris Matthews and told him that there are anti-American members in Congress and we should investigate them , it became an Internet sensation for lunacy. Before FOX News created the Tea Party, she was considered wackier than Rick Santorum and Dan Webster put together . In other words, she’s the perfect Ralph Reed candidate. The Daily Beast did a little digging into her past and Michele Goldberg wrote up a bio that highlights her extremism: Bachmann’s Unrivaled Extremism Bachmann honed her view of the world after college, when she enrolled at the Coburn Law School at Oral Roberts University, an “interdenominational, Bible-based, and Holy Spirit-led” school in Oklahoma. “My goal there was to learn the law both from a professional but also from a biblical worldview,” she said in an April speech. At Coburn, Bachmann studied with John Eidsmoe, who she recently described as “one of the professors who had a great influence on me.” Bachmann served as his research assistant on the 1987 book Christianity and the Constitution, which argued that the United States was founded as a Christian theocracy, and that it should become one again. “The church and the state have separate spheres of authority, but both derive authority from God,” Eidsmoe wrote. “In that sense America, like [Old Testament] Israel, is a theocracy.” Eidsmoe, who hung up the phone when asked for an interview, is a contentious figure. Last year, he withdrew from speaking at a Wisconsin Tea Party rally after the Associated Press raised questions about his history of addresses to white supremacist groups. In 2010, speaking a rally celebrating Alabama’s secession from the Union, he claimed that Jefferson Davis and John C. Calhoun understood the Constitution better than Abraham Lincoln. Reading Eidsmoe, though, some of Bachmann’s most widely ridiculed statements begin to make sense. Earlier this year, for example, she was mocked for saying that the Founding Fathers “worked tirelessly” to end slavery. But in books by Eidsmoe and others who approach history from what they call a Christian worldview, this is a truism. Despite his defense of the Confederacy, Eidsmoe also argues that even those founders who owned slaves opposed the institution and wanted it to disappear, and that it was only Christian for them to protect their slaves until it did. “It might be very difficult for a freed slave to make a living in that economy; under such circumstances setting slaves free was both inhumane and irresponsible,” he wrote. She’s so nutty that she once called the cops on an ex-nun who tried to talk gay rights with her in a bathroom. TNR believes as I do that she’s the Tea Party darling because she’s melded free market fundamentalism with religious conservatism : Bachmann is a cutting edge religious right conservative, espousing an apocalyptic free market fundamentalism that’s become virtually indistinguishable from the apocalyptic Randian worldview of the party’s libertarian wing. Bachmann spent months addressing Tea Party rallies where she focused primarily on economics. What she’s done like the rest of the social conservatives these days is adopt Ayn Rand and Milton Friedman’s economic theological principles and incorporated them into their many forms of Evangelical Christianity and that will help her in the GOP primary. Here’s a few of her greatest hits since the news media apparently needs me to do some research for them. Michele Bachmann’s economic ideas might be more cruel than Paul Ryan’s Michele Bachmann Pushes Planned Parenthood Sex Trafficking Lie During Ralph Reed’s Wingnut Conference Michele Bachmann blames her reading of articles for getting everything wrong Bachmann’s Iowa Debacle Minnesota GOP invites anti-gay death metal preacher to give opening prayer Bachmann claims NATO killed 30,000 civilians in Libya Michele Bachmann Refuses to Walk Back Gangster Government Comments Michelle Bachmann gives voice to the right’s darkest impulses Michelle Bachmann warns of politically correct re-education camps for young people Congresswoman Bachmann “We Would Do Well To Humble Ourselves Before God!” Bachmann has said Dems didn’t want her to be the first woman President so she was criticized, but here are a few more i nsane rants for your viewing pleasure: Remember when you told Glenn Beck that the census was used to round up Japanese Americans during WWII ? or when you said that health care reform was undesirable because if everyone had access, lines at her doctors’ office would be too long; or when you claimed that “Flying Imams” attended a victory party for Keith Ellison or when you complained about “re-education camps for young people” or when y ou introduced a bill blocking the US from ever joining a global currency .

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NBC: Weiner Resignation Announcement ‘Showed Much of His Strength as a Congressman’

During Thursday NBC News special coverage of New York Congressman Anthony Weiner announcing his resignation, congressional correspondent Kelly O'Donnell remarked to Nightly News anchor Brian Williams: “Anthony Weiner showed much of his strength as a Congressman in what he talked about just now in trying to talk about a message that was something other than this scandal.” [ Audio available here ] After Weiner finished speaking, Williams wondered: “Kelly, was there ever any salvaging this? It's been – it's been said that if he'd been candid at the beginning he could still have his seat in Congress.” O'Donnell acknowledged how damaging the lying was, but then sympathetically observed: “The underlying nature of this type of scandal, which was so embarrassing, also made it very difficult for him to go forward because he has been mocked in a way that no one would ever wish on their enemy.”

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NBC: Weiner Resignation Announcement ‘Showed Much of His Strength as a Congressman’

During Thursday NBC News special coverage of New York Congressman Anthony Weiner announcing his resignation, congressional correspondent Kelly O'Donnell remarked to Nightly News anchor Brian Williams: “Anthony Weiner showed much of his strength as a Congressman in what he talked about just now in trying to talk about a message that was something other than this scandal.” [ Audio available here ] After Weiner finished speaking, Williams wondered: “Kelly, was there ever any salvaging this? It's been – it's been said that if he'd been candid at the beginning he could still have his seat in Congress.” O'Donnell acknowledged how damaging the lying was, but then sympathetically observed: “The underlying nature of this type of scandal, which was so embarrassing, also made it very difficult for him to go forward because he has been mocked in a way that no one would ever wish on their enemy.”

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Amid Media Heckling, Weiner Officially Resigns From The House

Click here to view this media Not a surprise now, but still the media circus reflected worse on them than him : A bizarre scandal, one that could only have happened in the social-media era, has apparently come to an end, as Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) announced on Thursday that he will resign from the House of Representatives. “I’m here today to again apologize for the personal mistakes I have made and the embarrassment I have caused. I made this apology to my neighbors and constituents, but I make it in particular to my wife, Huma,” Weiner said at senior center in Brooklyn, where he launched his political career with a run for City Council. I had hoped to be able to continue the work that my constituents elected me to do,” Weiner said. “Unfortunately the distraction that I have created has made that impossible, so today I am announcing my resignation from Congress. At least one person cheered when Weiner announced his resignation. The press conference carried a strange and distracted ambiance, as Weiner talked over repeated outbursts from a heckler, who yelled out such questions as, “Were you fully erect?” and “Are you at least seven inches?” before members of the press corps shouted him down. One reporter yelled out, “He’s not with us, get him out of here.” Andrew Breitbart, who helmed this targeted takedown of Weiner, was inconveniently in Minnesota (near where Netroots Nation was being held, go figure) during Weiner’s presser, so rather than usurp the podium as in the past, made sure to call into Fox News Channel to give his view. Can’t forget that it’s all about him, can we?

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Weiner Resigns: Will Media Lament His Departure?

Update: 14:30: Weiner made it official moments ago with these words: “I had hoped to be able to continue the work that the citizens of my district elected me to do, to fight for the middle class and those struggling to make it. Unfortunately, the distraction that I have created has made that impossible.” Earlier post follows… Now that his wife has returned to the country, embattled Democratic representative Anthony Weiner is expected to resign his position as a member of the House of Representatives, despite his earlier refusal to do so: Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) will resign from his seat in Congress, heeding calls from President Barack Obama, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and dozens of other congressional Democrats, sources confirm to POLITICO. The resignation ends nearly three weeks of tumultuous political controversy since the New York congressman sent a lewd picture of himself over Twitter which he claimed at first was a result of a hack, and later admitted he had sent himself. According to two sources, Weiner made up his mind to resign Wednesday night, and shortly after began making calls to inform them of his decision. Weiner called DCCC chair Steve Israel — who had also called for his resignation — on Wednesday night at the White House picnic to inform him and Pelosi that he had decided to resign on Thursday. Exit questions: How much media moaning about alleged ” puritanism ” with respect to Weiner's obscene online activities will we hear from the left-of-center media? And how many weeks will CNN wait to pair him up with his fellow disgraced New Yorker Eliot Spitzer? After all, he seems to be in need of a co-host. # # #

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Anthony Weiner resigns over Twitter photo scandal

New York congressman finally steps down as US Democrats try to limit impact ‘Weinergate’ has on 2012 presidential race Twenty days after the scandal dubbed “Weinergate” erupted with the sending of a sexually suggestive photograph on Twitter, a rising star of the Democrats was forced to resign his congressional seat in the face of pressure from the highest levels of his party. From having been ranked as a possible future Democratic leader and the frontrunner to become New York mayor in 2013, Anthony Weiner’s fall from grace is spectacular and close to complete. He has spent his entire adult life in politics, having been elected in 1991 as the youngest councillor to serve in New York city then aged 27. True to his character as an abrasive and at times antagonistic politician, Weiner, now 46, at first tried to lie his way out of the sex scandal he had provoked by sending lewd photographs of himself to several different women. When the rightwing blogger Andrew Breitbart revealed his actions on 28 May, Weiner initially claimed his Twitter account had been hacked into, later changing his story to say he wasn’t sure whether the images of a semi-naked man were of him. After further revelations emerged virtually every day of his sexually charged interactions, he went in front of the cameras on 6 June to admit that he had been involved through cyberspace with at least six different women. But even then he refused to stand down from his New York seat. The fall-out from the billowing scandal rose to the top of the Democratic party. On Monday, President Obama said that “if it was me, I would resign”. Bill Clinton has also taken a direct role in pushing Weiner. The former president has reportedly been “livid” about Weiner’s behaviour, despite Clinton’s own history of sexual peccadilloes. The Clintons are intricately linked with Weiner and his wife Huma Abedin. Bill Clinton officiated at their wedding, Abedin is a close aide to the secretary of state Hillary Clinton, and Abedin’s best friend Doug Band is Bill’s top adviser. “The decision for Weiner to go was taken on a presidential level, by the existing and a past president,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a Democratic consultant who has worked on campaigns for Bill Clinton. “It was a straight political decision.” The views of Abedin, who is pregnant with their first child, were also likely to have been crucial. She returned on Wednesday from a trip to the Middle East with Clinton and was in discussions with her husband before his announcement. Weiner’s resignation was made on the day that party leaders had been preparing to strip him of his powerful positions on congressional committees — a move which would have further humiliated and weakened him. The official line taken by party leaders such as Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic chief in the House of Representatives who has called on him to resign, was that the scandal was distracting attention from important political debates such as the economy. But the timing of the imbroglio has also been deeply painful for the party, coming as it does in the middle of a sensitive period in which the coffers for next year’s presidential race are being filled. Key fundraisers have been heard complaining that donors were being turned off by the salacious revelations. Weiner might have found it easier to weather the storm in the face of relentless media exposure and ridicule had he had more friends within the party hierarchy. But his famously outspoken and irascible style earned him few mentors within Congress or the White House. Despite the almost universal pressure on him to go, there remain those in the party who lamented Weiner’s passing as a prominent liberal politician who was prepared to speak out on core left-wing principles. “He was a firebrand, an independent voice. Yes, he was a little quirky and he had an ego, but at least on the issues that liberals care about he was upfront,” said Democratic strategist Victor Kamber. Weiner now faces a bleak future. With no training as a lawyer or media figure behind him, there is nowhere obvious for him to go, unlike Eliot Spitzer, the disgraced former governor of New York who is now a CNN presenter. Sheinkopf predicted it would be at least 10 years “if ever” before Weiner could contemplate a comeback in politics. He said: “What does a person who has spent every day of his life in politics do after a fall like this? It will be a welcome relief for him to be out of the political spotlight for a while, but after that he’ll miss it.” Anthony Weiner US politics Democrats Barack Obama Bill Clinton New York Ed Pilkington guardian.co.uk

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‘Tea Party’ Freshman Joe Walsh Rips Into Chamber of Commerce’s Donahue for Threats Over Raising Debt Ceiling

Click here to view this media From Think Progress, it looks like there’s a GOP civil war erupting after the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Tom Donahue made some not so veiled threats to Republican freshman House members who don’t want to raise the country’s debt ceiling. Illinois Representative and resident blowhard Joe Walsh and the Tea Party Patriots co-founder Mark Meckler appeared on Neil Cavuto’s show on Fox and laid into him. GOP Civil War Erupts: Tea Party Freshman Rips Chamber CEO Tom Donahue : This week, though, Chamber of Commerce CEO Tom Donohue may have ignited a civil war within the GOP. Many Tea Party freshman within the House Republican caucus have said that they will not vote to raise the debt ceiling , which would force the U.S. to default on its debt obligations. In fact, many said that raising the debt ceiling would be a “ betrayal ” of the platform that they ran on. But Donohue sent a message those freshman during a speech before the Rotary Club of Atlanta: Fail to raise the debt ceiling and “ we’ll get rid of you .” Today, Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) appeared on Fox News, where he tore into Donohue for threatening House Republicans: I found Tom Donahue’s comments outrageous, tone-deaf, totally establishment, and doesn’t understand at all where we’re at right now …If Tom Donahue is more comfortable having Nancy Pelosi as Speaker next year because he wants to get rid of all of us tea party, fiscally-conservative freshman who came here on a mission to save our kids from the debt we’re placing on their backs, then fine. He can have Nancy Pelosi as his Speaker. A Chamber spokesman later said that Donohue was joking and that the comment was merely part of “ pleasant and humorous banter going back and forth” between Donohue and his audience. But Walsh said during the interview that he wasn’t buying it. And many other GOP freshmen aren’t either. Unfortunately for the rest of us, it looks like John Boehner is having some trouble controlling his members in the House as the GOP continues to play this dangerous game of chicken, with way too many of them pretending it would be acceptable and would not wreck the world’s economy if the United States were to default on our debt obligations.

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Guardian and Observer to adopt ‘digital-first’ strategy

GMG chief executive says newspaper group aims for ‘major transformation’ as he announces £33m cash losses for last year The Guardian and Observer lost £33m in cash terms last year, the chief executive of Guardian Media Group has said, as he committed the newspaper group to a “digital-first” strategy in which digital revenues would double to nearly £100m by 2016. Andrew Miller, giving a series of presentations to staff at the titles, said that the aim was to achieve “a major transformation” at the newspapers – including lifting digital revenues from an expected £47m in the current financial year to £91m in 2015/16 – because “doing nothing was not an option”. He warned that parent company Guardian Media Group could run out of cash in three to five years if the business operations did not change – although the company is able sell assets to generate more reserves – and said that the newspapers would aim to save £25m over the next five years – releasing funds to be reinvested in other activities. No plans for job losses were announced, and Miller indicated that the editorial budget for the Guardian, Observer and guardian.co.uk website network – which includes MediaGuardian.co.uk – would remain unchanged this year and next. However, any new initiatives – such as a planned move to create a US digital edition later this year – would have to be paid for from existing budgets. The Guardian, Observer and guardian.co.uk employ 1,500 staff across all departments and 630 journalists. The Guardian editor-in-chief, Alan Rusbridger, said that the newspaper needed to embrace an “open” digital philosophy in which it embraced contributions from beyond the ranks of its own journalists, and posed the question whether the titles could spend 80% of their focus and attention on digital. Rusbridger said: “Every newspaper is on a journey into some kind of digital future. That doesn’t mean getting out of print, but it does require a greater focus of attention, imagination and resource on the various forms that digital future is likely to take.” He also indicated that there would be a redesign of the Guardian’s Monday to Friday editions later this year. Based on research that showed that half of readers read the newspaper in the evening, the aim was to create a title that would be “as relevant at 9am as 9pm”. It would focus less on breaking news and instead aim to emulate “Newsnight not News at Ten”. Unaudited results for the year ending 31 March showed that revenues at Guardian News & Media, the immediate parent of the newspapers and guardian.co.uk, fell to £198m last year compared with £221m the year before, a fall in revenues that reflected a sharp fall in classified advertising. Recruitment advertising has fallen by £41m in the past four years. On an underlying basis, as measured by earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, the Guardian and Observer lost £22m, but the cash loss, a more accurate measure of financial performance, was larger at £33m. That is similar to last year’s level, when the newspapers made an operating loss of £34.4m. Miller said that Guardian Media Group’s financial portfolio “offers stability” and would help the newspapers navigate the transition to an increasingly digital marketplace without the need for significant overall reductions in costs. GMG had cash and investment fund reserves of £197.5m available, after a year in which the investment fund grew by £12m. GMG may also be able to access funds from Auto Trader, which produced unspecified “record profits” last year. A refinancing raised £150m for the business, which is jointly owned by Guardian Media Group and Apax Partners, and if there are no immediate investment opportunities for Auto Trader, that cash could be shared between the owners as a dividend. •

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Phone hacking: News of the World asks ex-judge to run compensation scheme

Sir Charles Gray to assess amount of damages in each case, as Lord Fowler demands public inquiry into scandal News of the World publisher News Group Newspapers has appointed a former high court judge to run its scheme to pay compensation to victims of phone hacking. Sir Charles Gray, who was the judge in the paper’s legal battle with former Liverpool footballer Bruce Grobbelaar, has agreed to be the independent adjudicator of the scheme. If victims choose to apply for compensation from NGN, a subsidiary of News International, Gray will assess how much a court would have paid in damages for each civil case, and the final settlement figure will be reached by adding 10% to that sum. This premium is designed to encourage victims to take part in the scheme rather than pursue legal action through the courts. The compensation scheme, which was announced in April , is designed to encourage victims to drop civil actions which lead to embarrassing revelations about the scale of the practice being made in open court. Former Conservative cabinet minister Lord Fowler said today in the House of Lords that there should be a public inquiry into the hacking affair. On Wednesday it emerged that Manchester United footballer Ryan Giggs is the latest public figure to begin legal action against the News of the World and it is likely many more will follow suit. The compensation fund, which could end up costing NGN’ ultimate owner News Corporation tens of millions of pounds, will be open to the two dozen or so people who have started legal action against the paper and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, who was on the News of the World’s books. Potential victims who have not yet started legal action but believe the paper has a case to answer will also be able to apply. NGN has already said it will also pay their legal costs. The company said it would set out further details of the scheme, including a start date, soon. The company has already agreed a £100,000 out-of-court settlement with Sienna Miller, plus her legal costs, and issued a detailed formal apology earlier in June , although that followed court action and was unrelated to the compensation scheme, which has not yet been set up. The paper admitted 11 stories had been obtained as a direct result of hacking into her phone. The News International chief executive, Rebekah Brooks, said: “We very much hope that the scheme will be used as a fair and efficient alternative to obtaining compensation through court action and satisfy successful claimants that we sincerely regret any harm caused.” Gray said he had reviewed the terms of the scheme and it “provides a fair, effective and speedy means for determining compensation”. He was the judge who found in favour of Grobbelaar when he sued the News of the World for libel in 1999 over its claim he was involved in match-fixing. The footballer was awarded damages of £80,00, but that sum was reduced on appeal to £1 and Grobbelaar was ordered to pay NGN’s legal costs, which totalled several hundred thousand pounds. Fowler told the Lords there should be an inquiry into the “conspiracy against the public”. He said it was “ludicrous to suggest that the editor of a national newspaper is not aware of where the information came from”. “In the past a journalist [former News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman] was actually given a custodial sentence for phone hacking,” he added. “Isn’t it the case that the editor is responsible for what goes in the newspaper and he also should be given a custodial sentence and indeed the proprietor and the board of directors?” News International maintains that senior executives did not know phone hacking was taking place. •

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Pelosi’s Net Worth Grew 62 Percent Last Year, Media Mostly Mum

You would think that in a tough economy with 9.1 percent of the population unemployed and most people seeing continued decreases in the value of their homes the revelation of a political leader experiencing a massive rise in her net worth would be newsworthy. Apparently not, for the following report about former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) stunning one year financial windfall published by the Hill at 12:46 PM Wednesday received almost no interest from so-called “news” outlets from coast to coast: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) saw her net worth rise 62 percent last year, cementing her status as one of the wealthiest members of Congress. Pelosi was worth at least $35.2 million in the 2010 calendar year, according to a financial disclosure report released Wednesday. She reported a minimum of $43.4 million in assets and about $8.2 milion in liabilities. For 2009, Pelosi reported a minimum net worth of $21.7 million. In this kind of economy with so many people struggling to make ends meet, such a story should have garnered a great deal of attention. Yet, despite this being prominently featured at the top of the Drudge Report shortly after the Hill published it, America's media collectively yawned. On television, the only report on this subject according to LexisNexis was done by Fox News's Sean Hannity Wednesday evening with guest Michelle Malkin. The on air news divisions of ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, and PBS completely ignored this stunning revelation Wednesday. I could also identify not one wire service report on the subject although the Associated Press did publish the following : New House Speaker John Boehner doesn't have as many millions as his predecessor, Nancy Pelosi, but like many new committee chairmen and other leaders, he has holdings in companies that have major financial stakes in the actions of Congress. For Boehner, that includes a portfolio of stocks in oil companies, financial firms, communication companies and pharmaceuticals. Holdings among other lawmakers include farmland, real estate and investments in high tech companies. When the Pelosis' assets were revealed, the AP chose not to divulge how much they had increased by: Former Speaker Pelosi, D-Calif., now the House's minority leader, also makes the perennial lists of Congress's richest. Much of her family's wealth is listed to her husband, Paul, including a commercial property in San Francisco valued between $5 million and $25 million. She reports as assets joint ownership with her husband of a home and vineyard in St. Helena, Calif., valued at between $5 million and $25 million. She's also a limited partner in residential real estate in Sacramento in the $5 million-$25 million range. Her husband reported capital gains of $1 million to $5 million last year from a sale of stock in Apple Inc. As for print media, they too were curiously disinterested in Pelosi's windfall. Most of the major papers skipped this news with the Washington Post doing the same thing as AP. Despite divulging what Pelosi's assets were at the end of 2010, the Post chose not to inform readers how much of an increase this represented from 2009: As she wound down her final days as House speaker, the estate of Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her husband in the Napa Valley bore financial fruit for the couple, literally. The estate, worth at least $5 million, provided the Pelosis at least $5,000 worth of grape sales from the vineyard, according to financial disclosure forms for 2010. Now House minority leader, Pelosi and her husband, Paul, a San Francisco real-estate magnate and financial investor, are worth a minimum of $42 million with holdings spread across property investments in northern California and a litany of Fortune 500 companies, particularly regionally-based high-tech companies such as Yahoo! and EBay. I guess the Post didn't feel it was important to inform readers this represented a staggering 62 percent increase in one year. From what I can tell, other than Fox, Drudge, the Hill, conservative talk radio hosts and bloggers, the only major news outlet that found Pelosi's windfall important was Politico : A broad look at congressional disclosures shows that lawmakers enjoyed major gains in the stock market, which posted sharp increases last year. Others enjoyed a bump in the value of their real estate holdings, especially on the two coasts, where housing prices generally were more stable than in other regions. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), for example, saw her minimum net worth soar from $21 million to more than $35 million. As for the rest of the media, it appears that a Democrat Speaker of the House seeing her net worth increase by 62 percent in one year as the rest of the nation struggled to make ends meet is just not newsworthy. Somehow I doubt that would have been the case if she had an “R” next to her name. Readers are advised that Fox News and MSNBC don't provide transcripts for all their broadcasts making it possible that other reports were done on this issue.

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