Clay Waters

Clay Waters is director of Times Watch, a division of the Media Research Center (MRC) that tracks the liberal bias of the New York Times. You can follow Times Watch on Twitter and Facebook.

Author Articles

Reporter Glad "American Macho" of Bush Era on the Wane

Reporter Alan Feuer on the paper's City Room blog: "It's safe to say that with the Bush era behind us, the American Macho - responsible for Blackwater and 'Mission Accomplished'- is on the wane."

Did Bill Kristol Jump Or Was He Pushed?

Conservative writer Bill Kristol has filed his last column for the Times, ending a year as the lone voice of conservatism on the Times' op-ed page.

It's OK to Be Proud of America Again

Plus John Ashcroft vs. Eric Holder & Bad Press All Bush's Fault

A Times Turnaround? Freed Gitmo Prisoner Linked to Terror Makes Front Page

Issue that were starkly black and white during the Bush administration, like the necessity of closing down Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have suddenly become nuanced now that Obama is in the White House.

The Times Ignores March for Life for Second Year Running

A few dozen left-wing activists protesting Rev. Rick Warren were worthy of a Times story plus a large photo. But when tens of thousands marched in D.C. at the pro-life March for Life, they were ...

The Times Throws a Hip Party for Obama, With Its Own Obama-Style Logo

Times metro reporter Sewell Chan "assured the Daily Transom that, specially-designed logos not withstanding, the paper maintained its objectivity throughout the day, and that nothing ...

Ashcroft vs. Holder: A Tale of Two Vote Delays

Double standard? "Democrats...hardening their opposition" to John Ashcroft in 2001, but Senate Republicans are now "denying President Obama the chance to have a key member of his national security ...

Barack Obama, Saving Science from the Bush Dark Ages

In Times world, that apparently means acceding to any left-wing "scientific" recommendation on stem cells, global warming, and sex education.

Good Riddance to Bush's "Ideological Certainties," Says David Sanger

Reporter David Sanger used Obama's inaugural address to regret how Bush "went to war in the Middle East but rejected the shared sacrifice of conservation."

Obama's Very Name a Soothing Mantra in Difficult Times

Reporter turned editorialist Francis Clines: "The new president's name, simply his name, was just the restorative the enormous crowds needed." And a lead editorial takes cheap departing shots at ...

Rev. Rick Warren Hounded by Gay Protestors - and the Times

Shaila Dewan devotes almost half of her story to a gay rights protest outside the Atlanta church where Rev. Rick Warren was marking Martin Luther King day.

Goldilocks Obama?

"...he has been a font of cool confidence, never too hot, never too cold, seemingly undaunted by the magnitude of troubles awaiting him and unbothered by the few setbacks that have tripped him up."

Michelle Obama's "Proud of My Country" Comment Again Dismissed

Just a "rhetorical stumble" used by "conservative" bloggers and columnists to attack her as "unpatriotic."

There's Even Hope for Pro-McCain Oklahoma

Kirk Johnson: "Not a single county in Oklahoma stirred from the orderly phalanx marching behind Mr. McCain, the senator from Arizona who was the Republican nominee....But that staunchly ...

Times Spins Bad Economic News Out of Good Military News

Desperate young men "lured" by the military? Lizette Alvarez: "As the number of jobs across the nation dwindles, more Americans are joining the military, lured by a steady paycheck, benefits and ...

On Front Page, Obama Now Being Praised for Reading

Book critic Michiko Kakutani writes that "Mr. Obama's love of fiction and poetry...has not only given him a heightened awareness of language. It has also imbued him with a tragic sense of history ...

Excusing Obama's Forgettable Race Speech: It Was Big on YouTube

Katharine Seelye defended Obama's eloquence: "Mr. Obama's speech in March in Philadelphia on race, for instance, was not instantly quotable, but was memorable for the fact of it and praised by ...

Times Reporter: OK to Be Proud of America Now

Helene Cooper on the "suddenly hip" D.C.: "It's even cool to wave the Stars and Stripes."

Inauguration Hypocrisy: NYT Chided Bush Gala, but Obamans Free to Party

What happened to the paper's 2005 anti-Bush criticism of a "lavish inaugural celebration in a time of war"?

Neil MacFarquhar, Still Taking Sides in the Middle East

Reporter Neil MacFarquhar sneaks in his trademark Palestinian advocacy in a story about Susan Rice's Senate confirmation hearings.