Tuesday, June 16, 2009

A Line is Finally Drawn in the Media’s Ongoing Palin-Bash

It may be of little consolation to the supporters of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin but we can now say there is an uncrossable line in the media’s ongoing Palin-bash: Jokes about her daughters getting “knocked up” at baseball games go too far. Some of us would have drawn the line months ago and for less offensive “jokes,” but at least the media now have a metric against which to judge their skits, sketches, and news segments.

The Philosophical Significance of Twitter: Consciousness Outfolding

As with any new phenomenon, a wave of curiosity, criticism, mockery, and adulation follows. The Twitter meta wave is cresting. Now, attention is focused on Twitter’s practical applications in the disputed Iranian election and its unique capacity to harness real-time events. In the larger picture, the most intriguing thing about Twitter is not how it is different from other online communication mechanisms, but how it is the same: one more technological innovation enabling the outfolding of consciousness – the collective turning-outward of human thought…

Monday, June 15, 2009

Consider This News

A few weeks ago I got a call from Patrick Hynes, my counterpart on this site, asking if I’d be willing to work with him on a new project. Patrick and I have been rivals for years, beginning with the 2004 presidential election when I handled John Kerry’s netroots outreach and he ran a prominent anti-Kerry blog. His site was a thorn in my side and problematic enough that at one point I resorted to doing oppo on him after he got hold of – and published - sensitive emails harmful to the campaign. Again, heading into the 2008 election, we found ourselves on opposite sides of a presidential race: he consulted for John McCain and I was an adviser to Hillary Clinton. Despite our ideological differences, a number of joint appearances at conferences resulted in an unexpected friendship…

Why No Biden Stimulus Apology on Morning Joe?

So the sitting Vice President says “everyone guessed wrong” about the administration’s increasingly unpopular signature policy on the most important one hour of public affairs television in the country and that network’s cable news arm says … nothing the next morning?

Scarborough Suggests Iranians in the Streets Inspired by Obama’s Cairo Speech

Joe Scarborough this morning repeated a stream of thought he initiated on Sunday’s Meet the Press: That the Iranians hitting the streets in reaction to the probably-fraudulent presidential election there were inspired by President Barack Obama’s Cairo speech on June 4th. Joe even went so far as to suggest the ruling clerics “were going to allow the moderate to win,” until they saw how powerfully Obama’s words played in Lebanon ...

Sunday, June 14, 2009

CNN Pressured Into Greater Iran Coverage

From the NYT: “Cable news normally serves as the front line for breaking news, but the channels largely took the weekend off as Tehran exploded in protests after Iran’s presidential election. The performance of the American cable news, especially CNN, spawned an online protest by thousands on Saturday and Sunday, showing that viewers can try to pressure news organizations about their coverage in real time via the Internet.”

Ya See, Conservatives are Funny

There’s nothing funny about Barack Obama, we’re told. But conservatives? That’s another story. Just ask David Letterman.  Or Anderson Cooper. Cooper has discovered a nifty workaround for that pesky “objective journalist” thing—photo caption contests.

Photo caption contests that belittle Republicans, of course.

Kurtz: A Different Standard for Palin?

Howard Kurtz on Saturday morning: “Most major newspapers haven’t covered the Letterman/Palin imbroglio, and it does make me wonder whether there’s a different standard for Palin.” Kurtz has been consistent in his criticism of David Letterman—specifically Letterman’s crack about Gov. Palin’s daughter (whether he was talking about 18-year old Bristol or 14-year old Willow is immaterial to Kurtz) getting “knocked up” at a Yankees game—so the major newspaper for which he works deserves a pass, perhaps. But as for the rest of them? Yeah, the silence is deafening.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Miss California Carrie Prejean Fired

Well, to much less fanfare than the last go round about whether or not she would keep her crown, Miss California Carrie Prejean has been stripped (oh dear, poor use of terms) of her crown and sash. It is not immediately clear why, though according to “documents obtained by FOXnews.com” the producers of the Miss California USA Pageant feel she has repeatedly breached her contract. In a bolt of irony, celebrity blogger Perez Hilton calls Prejean “small-minded” in a blog post of the latest development … right before he does a “happy dance” to celebrate her firing.  Now that’s small minded.

Contessa Brewer: Why Was Palin “So Offended”?

I can’t say I’m surprised by much that happens on MSNBC anymore and it’s certainly fair to say that John Ziegler walked into the interview with a chip on his shoulder, but did Contessa Brewer really ask him, “Why was she [Gov. Sarah Palin] so offended by David Letterman?”