Permanent link to MTA daily media news
I seldom recommend “must reads”, but the two excerpts below, if not the entire posts they come from, are absolutely essential reading for every progressive and/or liberal and/or Democratic-leaning commentator:
Media Bias (by Susie at Suburban Guerrilla)
Some very smart people on the media bias panel I moderated yesterday… The most interesting part to me was [Media Matters’] Eric Boehlert’s take on how the blogosphere is handling the primary… What’s happening online now is potentially dangerous: HRC has gotten dreadful press, not fair, “gotcha,” and so on — there’s a portion of the blogosphere that has ignored that and there’s a portion that has encouraged that. It’s dangerous because the media criticism has to be consistent and relentless, and we can’t very well say, “You can’t go after our candidates … except this one.” I get nervous about pushback regarding disingenuous coverage - our response needs to be, “You can’t treat Democrats this way.” When people in the left blogosphere are quoting an anonymous Matt Drudge source, it makes me nervous. I noticed that after he said this, only half of the audience clapped…
I’d been chatting with Eric the night before, and he told me he’d been interviewing Clinton bloggers for a book about how bloggers are affecting the 2008 presidential campaign, and was “shocked” to hear again and again that people felt they could no longer speak freely in the blogosphere. “I’m not,” I said. I told him most of the bloggers I know are appalled at the present state of affairs, and that they’d basically been bullied into silence. (Which I find ironic - white working class Clinton voters are called “Archie Bunker types” by Obama supporters, and yet the Clinton supporters are the ones being told to “Stifle yourself!”) He said he was astounded at the venom those bloggers described, and had already collected so much material, he was thinking of making it a separate book.
Why calling out misogyny matters (by zuzu at Feministe)
[A]llow me to explain why calling out the misogynist shit thrown at Hillary Clinton, even if you think that Clinton is a party-destroying, warmongering succubus feeding at the corporate teat, is important… It’s not so much that I’m defending Clinton (though I think she’s getting an unfair shake in the media and in the blogosphere, and that annoys me), but that I’m calling this shit out because this shit hurts women. Women like me. Women like many of you. Women like your daughters, your sisters, your mothers, your friends, your spouses, your SOs. If it’s okay to dehumanize a US Senator and presidential candidate as “that thing” or dismiss her as “that bitch,” or set up a 527 called “Citizens United Not Timid” (aka C.U.N.T.) to “educate the American public about what Hillary Clinton really is,” then we now have an environment in which it’s okay to dehumanize, demean and diminish ordinary women because they’re women.
And what has been the result of all this denigration? See below.
Gallup: Obama has 10-point lead over Clinton — largest this year (On Politics, USA Today)
Today’s Gallup tracking poll puts the Democratic nomination race at Barack Obama 52%, Hillary Rodham Clinton 42%. That’s his largest lead of the year, Gallup says. “The latest results are based on Gallup Poll Daily tracking conducted March 27-29.
Hillary, reassessed (by Richard M. Scaife, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, thanks to Deb at Buck Naked Politics)
More than most modern political figures, Sen. Clinton has been criticized regularly, often harshly, by the Trib. We disagreed with many of her policies and her actions in the past. We still disagree with some of her proposals. Sen. Clinton came to the Trib anyway and, for 90 minutes, answered questions. Her meeting and her remarks during it changed my mind about her. Walking into our conference room, not knowing what to expect (or even, perhaps, expecting the worst), took courage and confidence. Not many politicians have political or personal courage today, so it was refreshing to see her exhibit both. Sen. Clinton also exhibited an impressive command of many of today’s most pressing domestic and international issues. Her answers were thoughtful, well-stated, and often dead-on.
BuzzFlash went nuts over this example of how Hillary Clinton can impress her former enemies, claiming that she had joined the right wing. But BuzzFlash and others are ecstatic when Barack Obama TALKS about working with the other side. Of course, the examples of Obama’s actually doing so are few and far between. Nor does BuzzFlash seem to be upset when Obama invokes Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush as models for his foreign policy. At least Scaife admits here that he disagrees with many of Clinton’s policies.
Knife Job (by Lynne in Lakeland at Liberal Rapture)
Frank Rich does a knife job on Senator Clinton today. It’s horrible that she “lied” about being under sniper fire in Bosnia. Why would he mention that the pilot took evasive action to avoid sniper fire? Why would he mention that everyone on the plane was instructed to sit on their flak jackets to avoid sniper fire? There’s really no point in Mr. Rich doing anything whatsoever to aid Senator Clinton.
Seven local mayors endorse Clinton
Seven Indiana mayors are throwing their support behind U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, her staff announced Friday afternoon.
You saw this all over the media, didn’t you? No? I wonder why.
Play of the Day: Clinton’s a Stone fan
Call her a Honky Tonk Woman: Hillary Rodham Clinton is a big fan of the Rolling Stones… Clinton said she attended her first Stones show as a high school senior in 1965, and has been a few times since. She praised Mick Jagger, the band’s 64-year-old lead singer, and said she admired his work ethic. “If you go to a Stones concert today and I have been, it’s just amazing,” Clinton said. “He has this incredible presence. He is very disciplined, he works out, and he’s incredibly devoted to what he does.”
Former Sec. of State Tells Jon Stewart Why Hillary’s Experience Matters (by D. Cupples at Buck Naked Politics)
After watching Former Secretary of State Madeline Albright speak last week, I Googled her and came across a Daily Show interview from February, in which Jon Stewart asks Albright about Hillary Clinton’s experience. Albright is not on Hillary’s campaign but does support her. Most crucial to Albright is Hillary’s experience on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Hillary’s numerous trips to other nations, and her knowledge of the Iraq war and U.S. veterans.
Click through to watch the video.
Kneecappers (video)
It’s HILLARY-OUS.
Projection: Clinton Wins Popular Vote, Obama Wins Delegate Count (by Michael Barone, U.S.News & World Report )
The Clinton campaign has taken to boasting that its candidate has won states with more electoral votes than has Barack Obama. True. By my count, Clinton has won 14 states with 219 electoral votes (16 states with 263 electoral votes if you include Florida and Michigan) while Obama has won 27 states (I’m counting the District of Columbia as a state, but not the territories) with 202 electoral votes… By my count, based on the 2007 Census estimates, Clinton’s states have 132,214,460 people (160,537,525 if you include Florida and Michigan), and Obama’s states have 101,689,480 people. States with 39,394,152 people have yet to vote. In percentage terms this means Clinton’s states have 44 percent of the nation’s population (53 percent if you include Florida and Michigan) and Obama’s states have 34 percent of the nation’s population.
Can Someone Please Explain…. (by And Ostroy at the Ostroy Report)
How is it that Sen. Hillary Clinton has the reputation of a highly shrill, polarizing, divisive, unliked, self-serving narcissist who’s single-handedly destroying the party while Sen. Barack Obama is calm, cool, collected and lauded for his incredible ability to inspire, unite and bring together the masses…yet they are separated by a mere 2.5% in popular vote and by just 8.5% in delegates. Seems to me that, judging by the facts and not partisan spin, they appeal to voters virtually equally. I guess love is blind. As is the mainstream media. Kudos to the Obama camp for creating the most overblown myth since “War hero John Kerry can’t protect us from terrorists but the draft-dodging Alabama-AWOL George Bush can….“
Don’t Stop Campaigning (Washington Post editorial)
THE GROWING chorus among some Democrats and other interested observers for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) to get out of the race for the Democratic Party’s nomination for president is troubling. We’re not promoting Ms. Clinton over Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), or either of them over Republican Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), for that matter. A time may come when someone should gracefully bow out. But their extended contest informs the electorate and serves to battle-test them both. We don’t see why the process should be short-circuited when millions of votes are yet to be cast and two qualified candidates believe themselves to be the best potential Democratic nominee.
Women push back in support of Clinton
Amid mounting calls from top Democrats for Clinton to step aside and clear the path for rival Barack Obama, strategists are warning of damage to the party’s chances in November if women - who make up the majority of Democratic voters nationwide, but especially the older, white working-class women who’ve long formed the former first lady’s base - sense a mostly male party establishment is unfairly muscling Clinton out of the race.
MI/FL And The Popular Vote (by Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft)
On George Stepanopoulos’ show, Ed Rendell represented the Clinton campaign and John Kerry represented the Obama campaign… It seems clear that the Obama camp has completely backed down from the “Hillary should quit” campaign. That’s good. Now they are engaging the the winning metrics. Especially the Michigan and Florida issues. Frankly, I think Kerry did as well as he could with a tough hand. Rendell has become quite adept at this though and he talked “popular vote,” the will of the people and MI/FL. For me the Clinton argument is better than the Obama argument. But I have been for revotes forever. An aside, Rendell does a great job asking for a positive campaign when asked about Bosnia. Well done Rendell.
Click through for a link to the video.
Donna Brazile’s Breach Of Neutrality (by Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft)
The concept of appearance of impartiality seems to be a difficult one for some in the DNC to grasp. Not surprisingly, Josh Marshall is oblivious to how bad this looks: “An ostensibly ‘neutral’ member of the DNC has just taken a side in a fight that could be before the Convention. I can only hope no one plans to appoint her to any committee that has to make a decision at the Convention.
The Credentials Committee Contest (by Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft )
As of right now (based on already resolved state primaries),… Clinton will have 61.44 votes on the Credentials Committee… Obama will have 70.22 votes on the credentials committee. States I haven’t counted … make up 26.33 votes remaining. Thus, there is a razor thin margin here, where indeed Clinton has more of a chance in a credentials fight than Donna Brazille’s (incorrect) division of votes. With the 25 DNC members, and 26.33 members still to be elected in future primaries, a majority on the credentials committee can be had by either candidate. This is funny as hell. The rules are the rules you know. Now, will everyone please NOW get behind revotes for Florida and Michigan? Pretty please?
Karl Rove’s Rule #1 is to control the rules committee.
The Super Delegate Count (by Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft)
While it is true that Super Delegates can change their mind at any time up to the Convention, I have always supported counting the announced super delegates based on their stated public preference. Thus I think Chris Bowers’ post on that is helpful. But I would be remiss if I did not note that Chris flip flopped on the issue of counting superdelegates… What is different now? Why counting super delegates is now beneficial to Obama. Sorry Chris, but it is pretty transparent what changed your mind. You were wrong in February (when your view on this was based on what was best for Obama) and the reason you are right now is because you see counting the SDs as favorable to Obama. This is what the blogs largely are now - the place to find out what benefits the candidate favored by those blogs. It is a shame.
According to Newsweek, “it’s only fair to conclude” that the Obama campaign is not trying to flip Texas county convention delegates. (by Ann Althouse)
Newsweek blogger Andrew Romano looks into the evidence I brought up in this post yesterday — that my son (who is a Clinton delegate) and the 2 Clinton delegates he happens to know about, were sent a mailing by the Obama campaign urging them to vote for Obama at the county convention. Romano writes: “So I did some digging. This morning, I finally got to the bottom of the brouhaha–or as close to bottom, it seems, as anyone can get.” This better be good! MSM does “some digging” and gets kinda close to “the bottom” of it. I was just blogging the facts that I knew, by the way. It was Romano who wrote: “Apparently, Obama has mailed these postcards to all Texas county delegates, not just his own.” (Boldface added here and below.) Now, Romano has this: “Turns out that the Obama campaign was correct to claim that the Clinton delegate in question, Christopher Cohen, was misidentified on their working list as an Obama supporter…” [He] got a copy of a spreadsheet from the Obama campaign, and according to that, my son and those 2 other persons — just those 3! — are incorrectly coded. What are the odds?!
Obama people calling Hillary Delegates in Texas (video)
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee Booed by Pro-Obama Constituents (by SusanUnPC at No Quarter)
Here’s the description provided by the YouTube video-maker: “U.S. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee from Texas (D-Houston) gets booed at Texas Senate District 13 Democratic Convention on March 29, 2008. Though her congressional district is overwhelmingly in support of Senator Barack Obama for President, Congresswoman Jackson Lee is a superdelegate and supporter of Senator Hillary Clinton in the 2008 U.S. Presidential Race. When she took the stage, she had to wait a couple of minutes for the booing and Obama cheering to subside and kept remarking, ‘I’ll wait for you to stop.’”
Must be all that unity and transcendence at work. Click through to watch the video.
The next John F. Kennedy? (video)
Obama Overstates Kennedys’ Role in Helping His Father (Washington Post)
Contrary to Obama’s claims in speeches in January at American University and in Selma last year, the Kennedy family did not provide the funding for a September 1959 airlift of 81 Kenyan students to the United States that included Obama’s father… Obama spokesman Bill Burton acknowledged [Friday] that the senator from Illinois had erred in crediting the Kennedy family with a role in his father’s arrival in the United States. He said the Kennedy involvement in the Kenya student program apparently “started 48 years ago, not 49 years ago as Obama has mistakenly suggested in the past.”
Okay, media, let’s see you play this up. Oh, and don’t forget that Obama has told at least one other lie about his father—and his mother. See below.
Barack Obama and The Audacity of Deception: The Manufacture of Progressive Illusion (by Paul Street at the Black Agenda Report)
Trying to sound authentically African-American during a speech memorializing the forty-second anniversary of the 1965 Voting Rights March at the Pettis Bridge in Selma, Obama claimed that his black (Kenyan) father and white (Kansan) mother married and conceived the future Barockstar because of the great Civil Rights struggles fought in Selma and Birmingham, Alabama… (Obama 2007). Wow. Too bad Barack Obama Jr. was born in 1961, two years before the famous campaign to desegregate Birmingham, three years before the Civil Rights Act, and four years before the famous Selma march!
When I first posted this information, someone pointed out the Hillary Clinton claimed that she was named after Sir Edmund Hillary, in honor of his climb of Mount Everest, which happened several years after her birth. I replied that Clinton has said that was what she thought for years, until her mother corrected her. But in making that claim, I doubt Clinton was pandering to the mountain climber vote the way Obama was pandering to the black vote in making HIS “mistake”.
Bob Casey: Liberal for a Day (by Jeralyn at TalkLeft)
Much is being made of PA Senator Robert Casey’s endorsement of Barack Obama. Some got so carried away they suggested Casey be Obama’s VP nominee. Others saw through that pretty quick. Where does Casey stand on issues? Here’s some of his positions:
He believes Roe v. Wade should be overturned and opposes embryonic stem cell research.
He supports Bush’s warrantless NSA spying program and thinks the Patriot Act is a vital tool and a necessary one.
He supports the death penalty and opposes legalization of all drugs.
On the war in Iraq, he’s been against a deadline for withdrawal.
He supported the Defense of Marriage Amendment and opposes gay marriage.
He supports teaching “abstinence plus” in schools and the posting of the Ten Commandments in government buildings:
Obama pastor praised for ‘unwrapping flag from cross’ (McClatchy)
The controversial Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., the former pastor of presidential candidate Barack Obama, was praised Saturday at a the State of the Black Church Summit in Dallas for provocative statements that some have labeled racist and others anti-American.
McCain’s ‘Maverick’ Myth Is the Media’s Creation (an excerpt from “Free Ride: The Media and John McCain” by David Brock and Paul Waldman, posted at AlterNet)
The bizarre tale of how the media turned a crooked Republican into the mirage of a principled politician.
PBS’s Frontline: Too Timid, Too Little, Too Late On Iraq (by Ray McGovern, Consortium News)
Frontline’s “Bush’s War” series verged on infotainment, bereft of substantive discussion of one of the most disastrous policy blunders in US history.
Middle Class on What Planet? (by Dean Baker)
The Washington Post reports on a new trend for middle class white families with children to live in cities. The fourth sentence tells us that: “In the national imagination, it [Manhattan] was a place of artists, musicians, socialites, Wall Street bankers — or of hustlers, runaways, addicts, murderers. But it was not on the radar of the typical white, middle-class couple as a place to raise children. Those who read a bit further will find that the median income for a white family with children living in Manhattan was $280,000 in 2005, roughly $300,000 in today’s dollars. That’s enough to place this family well up into the top 2 percent of the country’s income distribution. That’s not middle class by the usual meaning of the term. There may be more rich white people with children living in Manhattan today than a decade ago, but this article, which includes discussions of private school admissions advisers ($15,000 fee), 3000 square foot luxury condos, and nannies who specialize in twins, is not talking about middle class people.
Bush gets loudly booed at Nationals home opener (by SilentPatriot at Crooks and Liars)
Or maybe they were yelling “Boooooosh!”?? We report, you decide.
Media Matters for America headlines
• Brooks, Broder praised McCain’s rebuke of Bush-style unilateralism, but didn’t mention McCain’s past comments attacking allies who opposed Iraq war
• Despite McCain’s moves to placate GOP base, Fox News Sunday’s Wallace wondered how Dean could call McCain an “opportunist”
• Ignoring McCain’s reversal, Stephanopoulos let Lieberman claim McCain “was much more forward-leaning on immigration reform” than Clinton, Obama
Dith Pran, ‘Killing Fields’ Hero and ‘NYT’ Photog, Dies at 65
Dith Pran, the Cambodian-born journalist whose harrowing tale of enslavement and eventual escape from that country’s murderous Khmer Rouge revolutionaries in 1979 became the subject of the award-winning film “The Killing Fields,'’ died Sunday, his former colleague said.
UN Rights Council Deplores Media Portrayal Of Islam (AFP)
The UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution deploring the use of the media to “incite acts of violence, xenophobia or related intolerance and discrimination towards Islam”.
The Hat of Moral Turpitude (by John Amato at Crooks and Liars)
It was the hat all along! I posted about Sebastian Horsley, a British author who was detained at Newark airport and then not allowed into America all because—he wrote a book that Lucille Cirillo, a spokeswoman for the New York office of United States Customs and Border Protection said didn’t meet the moral standards of the USA and he was therefore not admissible to our country. Now we find out a little more of the story: “To Mr. Horsley, who has in the past entered the country without incident, the recent fracas arose less from his past indulgences than a current one. In short, his very tall top hat. ‘It’s a stovepipe,’ he said, referring to the subspecies made famous seven score and seven years ago by Abraham Lincoln.”
Plagiarism-Detector Passes the Test: Judge Says Students’ Rights Not Violated (American Constitution Society)
A federal judge in Alexandria ruled this month that a commercial plagiarism-detection tool called Turnitin does not violate the copyright of students who are required to submit their papers through the service. Four high school students had sued iParadigms, which operates Turnitin, arguing that the company included their papers in the system without their permission.
Man! College students will have to write their own papers! Now THAT’s a hardship. I’m wondering why this tool isn’t used more to catch so-called journalists plagiarizing the work of others.
City Subpoenas Creator of Text Messaging Code
The creator of a mass text-messaging system used to aid protesters during the 2004 Republican National Convention is resisting releasing information on its users.
NAA Reveals Biggest Ad Revenue Plunge in More Than 50 Years
Total print advertising revenue in 2007 plunged 9.4% to $42 billion compared to 2006 — the most severe percent decline since the association started measuring advertising expenditures in 1950. Even Internet income is slowing.
Raising The Ante Again (by Philip Meyer, Nieman Watchdog)
The hunter-gatherer model of journalism is no longer sufficient. Citizens can do their own hunting and gathering on the Internet. What they need is somebody to add value to that information by processing it, digesting it, organizing it, making it usable.
Creating A ‘Primary Place’ For Citizens Online (by Jonathan Dube, Poynter Online)
New Hampshire Public Radio has spearheaded one of the more ambitious and innovative uses of the Web during the election so far.
Yahoo Launching Site for Women 25-54
NEW YORK (AP) - Yahoo Inc. is launching a new site for women between ages 25 and 54, calling it a key demographic underserved by current Yahoo properties. Monday’s launch of Shine is aimed largely at giving the struggling Internet company additional opportunities to sell advertising targeted to the key decision-maker in many households.
How to Walk the Talk of Tailoring Ads to Content
Anti-Smoking Group to Create Unique Execution for Each ABC Channel
Is the Ad a Success? The Brain Waves Tell All
Agencies and advertisers are growing more interested in neuroscience in their never-ending efforts to improve effectiveness.
Hollywood Dealmaker Safran To Bring Scripted Shows To Microsoft Xbox This Fall (Paid Content)
Hollywood producer and talent agent Peter Safran’s deal with Microsoft to bring digital entertainment to the Xbox Live system represents a major expansion for both… The Safran Company’s first programs should be available by the fall. The shows will be aimed at Xbox’s core audience of males aged 14 to 34, with an emphasis on comedy and horror, and average roughly 10 minutes in length. And because Safran is mostly interested in featuring his clients, who have included Sean Combs, Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Simpson, and Brooke Shields, among others, scripted fare will take precedence over reality shows.
Are you ready for Blu-ray 2.0?
When you’re shopping for a Blu-ray high-def DVD player, not all come with the same features. A new standard, Blu-ray 2.0, due out later this year, is equipped to access online content.
Sony films headed to mobile phones
LAS VEGAS (Hollywood Reporter) - Sony Pictures Television is looking to launch the first movie network on mobile phones in the United States.
3G iPhone launch seen in 2nd quarter
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple Inc is expected to launch a high-speed wireless version of iPhone in the second quarter and produce as many as 8 million of the devices in the third quarter, according to Bank of America.
