The Defection of Real Clear Politics

I used to consider Real Clear Politics one of the best aggregators of political news and wide-range commentary in the Blogosphere. Not any more. The site, now aligned with Time magazine, has tilted to the Left, and readers should be aware of this. As evidence, I cite RCP’s own commentary on the most significant House races this fall.

Here is what RCP had to say, with an anonymous byline but a clearly partisan attitude, about TX-22, Tom Delay’s old district:

“The absence of public polling in this race is proof that it is over. This is Dem pick up #1.”

That's right, RCP is saying that if you don't hear anything, that must mean that the Democrat is winning. I live near Sugarland, and I can tell you that the best term to describe that sort of opinion begins with "crock". But wait, it gets more obvious. Notes dated August 31 include the following tell-tale smears:

“After initially being indicted by Austin D.A. Ronnie Earle, DeLay ostensibly perceived he could win reelection. His tepid performance in the spring primary, and – in all likelihood – soft internal poll numbers, convinced him otherwise.”

“This is the sort of condition we need to have to see a district as conservative as TX 22 go to the Democrats: either the Republican has to be under indictment or there has to be no Republican on the ballot.”

Only a Democrat would write tripe like that. It is neither valid as analysis nor objective.

AZ-8 is tabbed by RCPas “a pretty safe Democratic pickup”, despite that the polls cited constantly show Undecideds in heavy double-digits, and Giffords appearing to be closing fast with more than two weeks to go.

Once again, this is not analysis, but spin. It's not even subtle.

IN-08 is one more case where you have to look closely, and not just buy the headline. RCP shows the Republican down here by 23 points, BUT – the poll cited is an intermittent poll, not one of the major services. THOSE polls show a much tighter race, and the most prominent of the polls noted, Research 2000, shows a race around the margin of error, and Undecideds at four times the margin between the candidates.

The point is clear – for some reason, the people at RCP are deliberately spinning the contests as clear Democrat victories, when closer examination shows their evidence to be weak, even invalid with regard to the stated contention.

Real Clear Politics is still useful as a barometer. But it is clearly no longer a conservative barometer, or objective by any reasonable definition. This is a Democrat-aligned website, make no mistake about it.