Permanent link to MTA daily media news

Randi Rhodes calls Hillary voters “white trash” (by ryeland at MyDD)
I hope Nova M Radio is happy with their new talk show host, the Left’s own Rush Limbaugh. Randi Rhodes is a disgrace and an embarrassment to Democrats, and I can’t imagine why any organization (political campaign or business) would want to be associated with her hate-filled rhetoric. In the first five minutes of her show [Wednesday], Randi let this one go: “The Clinton campaign describes Hillary’s voters as older, white, and undereducated. Or as we called them in my neighborhood: white trash.”
So Randi, was I white trash when I voted for Obama in the 2004 primary?  Was I white trash when I voted for him in the 2004 general election?  Or did I become white trash only after I was tremendously disillusioned in him as my senator?  With all due respect, Randi, I think the trash is on the other foot.

From Shakespeare’s Sister, three generations of very beautiful “white trash”:

With Michigan, Florida, Clinton claims popular vote lead (Detroit News)
Searching for votes here the day after her decisive Pennsylvania win, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton claimed before a cheering downtown audience that she now holds a lead in the popular vote over Sen. Barack Obama… I’m very proud that as of today I have received more votes … than anybody else,” Clinton said. “It’s a very close race, but if you count as I do the 2.3 million people who voted in Florida and Michigan,” Clinton said, she leads.
Real Clear Politics has the numbers.

$10 million?! (by lambert at Corrente)
For a campaign that everybody who is anybody says is so poorly runMR SUBLIMINAL They didn’t hire me as to disqualify Hillary for higher office, this number is not too shabby: Her finance director, Jonathan Mantz, told the same donors that between 10 p.m. Tuesday and 2:35 p.m. Wednesday, the campaign brought in $10 million, including contributions from 60,000 new donors… Granted, the campaign was running on fumes; but there’s also a certain courage to throwing everything onto the table—and then being rewarded.

Gene Sperling: The MVP – Another Reason To Support Hillary (by Taters at No Quarter)
Gene Sperling, chief economic advisor to Hillary Clinton [, is] brilliant, highly respected, well liked and in the Clinton administration… Mr. Sperling is credited as being the driving force behind paying off the nation’s deficit – therefore balancing the budget – and taking us into a surplus. Remember that?… He also worked hard with then First Lady Hillary Clinton on S-CHIP. They share a similar work ethic and a passion for doing heavy lifting on complicated, detailed work. He’s known for burning the midnight oil when other souls have gone to bed. Oh yeah, Sperling also helped the Dems beat back President Bush and the GOP’s attempt to privatize social security.

Although he can “wonk” with the best of them – one of the many reasons I like him is his ability to make plain to us layfolks topics such as health care and economics. Our “girl” has that same ability and in my opinion couldn’t have a better person as her senior economic advisor.  Listen to his interview with Marketplace.  And if you want to check out what true progressive economics can be you may wish to read this piece by Mr. Sperling regarding a Universal 401K. The damage done by the current administration will take serious work to repair - but with hard work it is doable. Hillary Clinton is ready to lead and has the best team available.  And Gene Sperling is a big part of that team. 

Hunter gets his knickers in a twist and other amusements (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
Dear media, give it up. No one is listening to you anymore. You can try and try and try to make her look like the most vicious harpy in the world but for some reason, voters don’t believe it. They think she’s a mensch. And she did it with much less money. Oh, you can try your coordinated attack against her. Yes, the coordination is obvious. You’re all saying how relentlessly negative she was. But it isn’t working. She’s going to take this fight all the way to the convention if she has to and we’ll be behind her every step of the way. The bloom is off of Obama’s rose. You did the best you could. If you insist on yelling your heads off about her, you too Big Boyz, more and more the public is going to think you’re not tethered to reality. The damn voters will do as the[y] damn well please.

The intellectual wing of the Democratic Party? WTF? (by lambert at Corrente)
Classic “creative class” [cough] bullshit from BooMan: “Hillary Clinton has managed to seriously get under the skin of the intellectual wing of the Democratic Party.” What a shame for the people that BooMan imagines to be “intellectuals.”… Privileged, self-congratulatory, and at least as likely to be wrong as right: AP: “Clinton, though, showed signs of eating into two groups Obama normally controls as the two split college graduates and whites under age 30.” Of course, I imagine those with college degrees who voted for Clinton aren’t really intellectuals….

The Elites Have Always Been for the Elites (by BDBlue at Corrente)
Today is not the first time the New York Times has urged elites to step in and stop people from destroying the country by voting. From the 1915 New York Times Editorial on the proposal to give women the vote: “The question involved is not new, all the arguments of the suffragists are old and were long ago refuted and sent to limbo. Their ceaseless and noisy agitation has not developed a single new idea. Woman suffrage would result either in a needless political muddle or in a social and political turmoil which would tend to weaken the State, to stir up discord in society and in the home, and would put obstacles in the way of progress which the wisest statesmanship might fail to overcome.”

Keith [Olbermann], what are we talking about here exactly? (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
Given the recent behavior of your network regarding inappropriate remarks, I don’t expect that this latest stupid comment will get you much more than a slap on the hand. But I think we all have to examine it in order to understand what it is you actually meant… I interpret your statement to mean that you would like a superdelegate to take Hillary Clinton into a room and somehow intimidate her, you don’t specify how, to drop out of the race and that at the end of this process, only one of them, preferably the superdelegate, would emerge. I find [t]his scenario to be unrealistic. It is much more likely that the superdelegate would find himself won over by Senator Clinton’s intelligence, professionalism and energy. But the question that remains unasked is why would she not be able to come out of that room on her own in *your* scenario?

Barack Obama is a leader or is aspiring to be one. And now is the time for him to step up to the plate and both reject and denounce your offensive and socially unacceptable comment. It is time he defend the rights of his wife and daughters and his future female constituents to live and work in peace and safety without fear of intimidation or harrassment. It is time for Obama to condemn this comment and request that you be reprimanded and be forced to apologize to Senator Clinton and the women of this country. It is time for Obama to say that he will not tolerate violence or discrimination in his administration. We would expect no less from a president.

Stupid pundits (by lambert at Corrente)
Nags: “The big question about Barack Obama from the very beginning has been, Is he safe?” said Peter D. Hart, a Democratic pollster not affiliated with any campaign… No, that hasn’t been the question at all. At least among uncreative, class-less types like myself, the big question has always been this: Is he real? Is he asking for my vote on the basis of policy? For many of us, after consideration, the answer has been no.

Protect and Deflect (by John: south of Melrose at Liberal Rapture)
When [Obama] botched the [Pennsylvania] debate he signaled to his supporters, via his middle finger, how they should react. Blame ABC. Blame [Clinton]. Protect and deflect. Confronted with his association with Wright he gave the illusion of confronting it head on. The result of the speech on race had the effect of negating any intelligent conversation – not inviting it… At the end of the Obama nightmare – and there will be one – I believe the first order of the day will be the evisceration of the lethal and irresponsible media. Olbermann and Huffington should be put on a rickety skiff beyond the horizon for starters. We need to wash our hands of the mindless and misleading elements in the “entertainment as news” media complex. We must demand fair and objective information or democracy is dead, dead, dead.

Obama Congregants: Waaaaa! Leave Barry Alone! No More Debates! (by Uppity Woman at No Quarter)
It seems that the debate scheduled for April 27, 2008 has been abruptly cancelled… According to the state party’s press release, the reason for the cancellation is sort of, but not really, this: “time constraints and logistical issues associated with such a large, national event.”… Concurrently, Obama supporters at a Raleigh NC event did what they do best. They chanted… They chanted “No More Debates!!!” Word has it that this rally was held at the same venue where Obama flipped Hillary the bird. Obama wasn’t flipping birds this time though. He was riling up his infantile base to get him out of another debate he can’t handle

Human brain appears ‘hard-wired’ for hierarchy
Human imaging studies have for the first time identified brain circuitry associated with social status, according to researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) of the National Institutes of Health. They found that different brain areas are activated when a person moves up or down in a pecking order – or simply views perceived social superiors or inferiors. Circuitry activated by important events responded to a potential change in hierarchical status as much as it did to winning money. “Our position in social hierarchies strongly influences motivation as well as physical and mental health,” said NIMH Director Thomas R Insel, M.D. “This first glimpse into how the brain processes that information advances our understanding of an important factor that can impact public health.”
Maybe this finding explains the Obamabots’ desire to follow a leader, regardless of policy!  Fortunately, a lot of us have overcome that hard wiring to a great extent.  I hope we are the ones to prevail in this election process.

Who’s Stronger in November Against McCain? (by Jeralyn at TalkLeft)
My own view is that Hillary Clinton is the stronger candidate in November because she is more likely to bring a win in Ohio, Pennsylvania or Florida, she wins in the big states, and she wins with rural, blue collar and women voters. Her win in PA yesterday was a mirror of her win in Ohio. Barack Obama simply is not connecting with these critical groups of voters… Here’s the latest electoral map for Obama. Here’s the map for Hillary.

Obama’s Sour “Apples to Apples”, Part One (by Paul Lukasiak at Corrente)
Barack Obama is hemmorhaging support against John McCain in states where Democrats can/should win in November. In the last six weeks, Barack Obama has been losing support, while Hillary Clinton has gained support, when matched against McCain. Much of Clinton’s additional support is from voters who were undecided in late February, and Clinton essentially “split” the “recent deciders” with McCain; as a result there is little change in her margins against McCain. But people who were undecided whether they preferred Obama or McCain are also making up their minds – and choosing McCain. As a result, Obama’s margins against McCain are looking much worse. This is true among all major demographic categories that were available for comparison – if Obama improves in a category, Clinton has shown greater improvement in that category. And in categories where Clinton is not doing as well as she was in February, Obama is doing consistently worse.

North Carolina excited to choose between Clinton and Obama
RALEIGH, N.C. – Not since 1988 has North Carolina had much of a voice in choosing a presidential nominee. Back then, it joined several Southern states to help pick Al Gore, a neighbor from Tennessee.
Excited?  Really?  See below.

The Despicable Repug Attack Ads on Obama Have Begun, Making Clinton’s “Dirty Politics” Seem Like Child’s Play (by Andy Ostroy at the Ostroy Report)
They call themselves ExposeObama.com, and they’ve just released their new ad, produced by Floyd Brown, the creator of the infamous 1988 “Willie Horton” ad that sunk Michael Dukakis’ Democratic presidential bid. It’s a shameful, reprehensible, race-baiting attack-ad shown in North Carolina that describes the murders of young people killed in Chicago gang violence and concludes by stating that Sen. Barack Obama, while an Illinois State Senator, voted against the death penalty for gang members convicted of murder. It’s quite chilling in its intentions. Another ad released this week is produced by the North Carolina Republican Party. In it, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright is featured in controversial sermon clips that of course include his incendiary “God Damn America” speech. The ad opposes the two Democratic candidates for Governor, Bev Purdue and Richard Moore, who’ve endorsed Obama. Hence, don’t vote for them because they support Obama, the supporter of hate. It’s a shockingly racist ad and is but a frightening foreshadowing of what’s to come for Obama should he become his party’s nominee.
And how will Obama fight these attacks?  Why, by channeling that great fighter of the right wing, John Kerry.  See below.

N.C. GOP releases Rev. Wright ad (Charlotte Observer)
RALEIGH — A new TV ad from the N.C. Republican Party tries to link two Democratic candidates for governor to Barack Obama’s controversial former minister… “My understanding is that the Republican National Committee and John McCain have both said that the ad’s inappropriate,” he replied, according to The Associated Press. “I take them at their word,” Obama said, “and I assume that if John McCain thinks that it’s an inappropriate ad, that he can get them to pull it down since he’s their nominee and standard-bearer.”
Yes, be gentlemen, why don’t you?  Play fair, doggone it!

Newt Gingrich: Left Wing Of The Democratic Party ‘Admires’ American Terrorists (by John Amato at Crooks and Liars)
Speaking to Sean Hannity on Fox News Friday night, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told the conservative pundit that “the left wing of the Democratic Party, frankly, kind of admires American terrorists.”

Feds: Witness says Rezko tried to oust Fitzgerald
In the midst of a corruption trial that has provided plenty of fodder for political cynics, prosecutors alleged that political insiders in Washington and Illinois claimed to be working to choke off a criminal investigation launched by U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald. At the trial of Antoin “Tony” Rezko, prosecutors revealed Wednesday that former Rezko confidant Ali Ata was prepared to testify that Rezko told him in November 2004 of a plan to pull strings with then-White House political director Karl Rove to have Fitzgerald fired… Rove denied the allegations, as did the two Republicans… The developments add political intrigue at a trial in which testimony has linked Gov. Rod Blagojevich to pay-to-play politics, highlighted Sen. Barack Obama’s long friendship with Rezko and held up an ugly X-ray of the sometimes malignant inner workings of Illinois government.

McCain dismisses equal pay legislation, says women need more ‘training and education.’ (Think Progress)
[Wednesday], Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) skipped the vote on the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which “restores the longstanding interpretation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act,” overturned last year by a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling. In New Orleans today, McCain explained his opposition to the bill by claiming it “opens us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems.” He added that instead of legislation allowing women to fight for equal pay, they simply need “education and training”.

John McCain gets tax-free disability pension
Sen. John McCain has long said he is in robust health and is strong enough to hike the Grand Canyon, but he also is receiving what his staff Monday termed a “disability pension” from the Navy. 

McCain visits poor Kentucky town to slam big government
INEZ, Ky. — In the heart of Appalachia, in the town where Lyndon Johnson declared the war on poverty but where poverty still reigns, John McCain told voters Wednesday that the government couldn’t solve all their problems.
Something tells me Karl Rove is not running this tour.

McCain Adviser Says McCain Is The One To ‘Stand Up’ To Big Oil (Think Progress)
In a Washington Post discussion [Tuesday], Eric Burgeson, environmental and energy adviser to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), was asked if McCain will “stand up” and support the elimination of “subsidies” to oil companies. Burgeson responded that McCain isn’t afraid to “stand up” to big business.. McCain has long delivered empty rhetoric about oil companies. In 2007, he said he would end “rifle-shot tax breaks for big oil.” But his proposals are giveaways for Big Oil and big businesses. McCain’s signature tax cut plan would deliver $3.8 billion to the five largest American oil companies, according to a Center for American Progress Action Fund analysis:

THE McCAIN BUBBLE…. (by Kevin Drum at Political Animal, The Washington Monthly)
Jon Cohn notes that despite the grueling, muddy, endless Democratic primary campaign — complete with Wrightgate, Bittergate, Bowlinggate, Tuzlagate, etc. — Gallup’s tracking polls that match up Obama and Clinton vs. John McCain have stayed as flat as Tom Frank’s Kansas prairie over the past month. None of this stuff has helped McCain by even a percentage point. He was stuck at 45% a month ago and he’s stuck at 45% today. Jon takes a guess at what’s going on: “That 45 percent figure represents a ceiling of his support.”
Perhaps, Kevin, but only absent a REALLY NASTY October Surprise.

A truth and reconciliation commission might help… (by lambert at Corrente)
dday at Digby’s has Ashcroft getting nailed by students on torture and the Geneva convention… What really makes me think an October surprise or an election cancellation is more likely than not is that these people know they are guilty of war crimes, of all kinds of crimes, and will do anything to avoid being held accountable.
As I’ve been saying.  As The City Edition has been telling us.

Media Matters for America headlines

• MSNBC’s Shuster, Carlson discuss purported “cackle,” laugh over “Hillary laughing pen” (video)

• Multiple choice: Of the following, which outlet covered two recent major national security stories — NBC, CBS, NPR, PBS, or … Comedy Central?

• MSNBC on-screen text falsely suggested Republicans wanted to pass Fair Pay Act

• Matthews purports to channel Dem party “grandee[]” in suggesting Obama pick Jewish running mate for “ethnic balance” to his middle name

• After lamenting absence of debate on “fundamental issues,” Lauer asked Clinton only about the race

• Following Buchanan’s comment on Clinton’s voice, Matthews warned: “Go the other way. You’re in the danger area”

• Wash. Post’s Cohen’s double standard: Clinton’s acts disqualifying, while McCain’s numerous inconsistencies and falsehoods are “understandable”

• Wash. Post’s Balz touted McCain’s “advocacy of comprehensive immigration reform” — which McCain no longer supports

• CNN has yet to note that, notwithstanding McCain’s criticism of Obama, McCain reportedly doesn’t expect Al Qaeda in Iraq would “be taking a country” if “we left” Iraq

China ties US for most Web users at 221 million people
BEIJING (AP) – China’s fast-growing population of Internet users has soared to 221 million, tying the United States for the largest number of people online, according to government data reported Thursday.

Google hands over data on suspected pedophiles to Brazil
Google on Wednesday handed over data stored by suspected pedophiles on its Orkut social networking site to Brazilian authorities, ceding to pressure to lift its confidentiality duty to its users, officials said.

Denmark evacuates embassies in Algeria, Afghanistan
COPENHAGEN, Denmark – The Danish Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that it has evacuated its staff from embassies in Algeria and Afghanistan because of threats after newspapers reprinted a cartoon depicting the Muslim prophet Muhammad.

Gitlin shouldn’t be writing CJR’s “Russert Watch,” says critic
Dan Kennedy concedes Todd Gitlin’s debut “Russert Watch” isn’t bad, “but look at this: Gitlin publicly announced his support for Barack Obama back in February. …Gitlin should not be doing this for the CJR, of all publications. Media Matters for America, maybe.” Care to respond, Gitlin and/or CJR?

Brown student nabbed after tossing pie at NYT’s Friedman
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman ducked pies tossed at him by two people who rushed the stage at Brown University just after he stepped to the microphone. “Friedman appeared uninjured and ready to continue his lecture, titled ‘Hot, Flat and Crowded,’ but audience members encouraged him to clean himself off,” writes Chaz Firestone. One student was apprehended.

Sulzberger outlines NYT Co.’s four-part turnaround strategy
Times Co. chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. told shareholders Tuesday that the strategy includes new print and online products, like an expansion of the T style magazines, which brought in revenue of $45 million in 2007, and cost-cutting, with a goal of reducing costs by $230 million by the end of 2009.

Lauren Rich Fine On Rupert Murdoch’s Newspaper Addiction (Paid Content)
Rupert Murdoch is – a) addicted to newspapers, b) addicted to power, c) needs to break the rules, or d) all of the above. Murdoch’s interest in buying Newsday, despite owning the New York Post, Wall Street Journal and 2 New York City TV stations has evoked a lot of emotion. It has all the makings of a power play to be the dominant producer of news and editorial to the New York region. It has the feel of a company determined to really step up the heat on the New York Times. It is a move that is completely in the face of the FCC. But, does it further his efforts in digital? Does it help his shareholders?

Brauchli wasn’t changing WSJ fast enough for News Corp.
News Corp. execs had been discussing the possibility of Marcus Brauchli’s departure as early as several months ago, reports the Journal. The execs felt they should give the managing editor more time to prove he could bring about faster the changes they wanted — but some changes didn’t come fast enough for them. In recent weeks, Brauchli complained he wasn’t always in the loop about new ideas, and on Tuesday he resigned.

McClatchy Reports Loss on Ad Sales Slump
McClatchy said it would buy back for cash up to $250 million of its public debt, much of which it took on in its ill-timed 2006 purchase of the Knight Ridder newspaper chain.

McClatchy and Hearst now share office space in Washington
Hearst moved its 20-person Washington staff on Monday. McClatchy Washington editor David Westphal says having Hearst competition nearby won’t be a problem. “They are a long way away from the McClatchy bureau side. We don’t expect competitive issues will be a significant concern at all.”

Online Writing (by Annalee Newitz, AlterNet)
The advantage of publishing online rather than in books? Nobody can burn the Internet.
But they can pull the plug, Annalee.  And they do.

BusinessWeek Online Banks On Reader Engagement; Adds Editor To Manage Efforts (Paid Content)
John Byrne, BusinessWeek Online editor-in-chief, feels most efforts haven’t really gone beyond the introduction of reader comments on stories. Aside from making comments appear more prominently across the McGraw-Hill site’s channel pages and stories, Byrne wants to elevate some of the most prolific commenters to the level of regular contributors like former GE CEO Jack Welch and CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo. Eventually, he told paidContent, some will be assigned opinion pieces to write—”we’ll pay them, just as we do any of our other columnists” and will also be brought into the editorial process, even helping to plan stories for the magazine… To help coordinate reader-reporters into the mix, BW.com has just hired Shirley Brady for the new post of engagement editor.

Wired editor: Our mission hasn’t changed over the years
“We’re NOT about technology — we’re about how technology is changing the world,” says Wired editor Chris Anderson. He tells Jon Friedman that the magazine has two objectives for all of its stories: “Amaze us, and tell us something we’ve never seen before, in a way we’ve never seen before.” WHY WIRED IS POLITICS-FREE: “I’m personally allergic to politics [and] people don’t come to Wired for politics.”

Animated Bambi Debate Arouses Pastoral Passions
A new book argues that Disney movies like “Bambi” inspired generations of environmentalists, while others criticize the films’ distorted views of nature and animals.

Couric’s “CBS Evening News” ratings fall to a record low
Katie Couric’s newscast attracted an average of 5.39 million viewers last week, placing it more than two million viewers behind the ABC’s “World News with Charles Gibson” (7.51 million). “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” ranked No. 1 with 8.17 million viewers.

News Corp. Hires World’s Second Best Hacker for Corporate Espionage (by Mark ‘Rizzn’ Hopkins at Mashable)
News Corp, the media conglomerate that’s parent to a number of New and Old Media properties including the Wall Street Journal, MySpace and Fox News Channel, may be subject to a stunning billion dollar civil judgement against them soon, based on the testimony of a hacker described by the Dish Network’s attorney Chad Hagan as one of the “two best hackers in the world.” The hacker in question, Christopher Tarnovsky, was allegedly hired by a subsidiary of News Corp to develop ‘pirating software’ designed to penetrate the security system of a rival satellite television source.

New York Times Opens Door to ‘Welcome Ads’
Website Visitors May Now Be Greeted by Full-Screen Interruptions

AOL’s Platform-A Answers ‘Spray And Pray’ Ad Sales With Spot Market System (Paid Content)
AOL’s Platform-A is unveiling Spot Marketplace, a service that aims to give advertisers a bit more selectivity when it comes to online placements, the company tells us. The new service is intended as a complement to its recently launched PubAccess inventory management tool for publishers in the Advertising.com network. Platform-A also hopes the new spot-buying service will help to separate the company from the “spray and pray” placement description that remnant ads sales are often derided by, since most advertisers have little choice over where their ads wind up in these systems. While this doesn’t offer the kind of specificity ad buys get on vertical ad networks, Spot Marketplace looks like it could narrow the field a bit for online marketers. Advertisers can use the new spot marketplace to choose inventory on a performance basis – either cost-per-click or cost-per-action – across such AOL-branded sites like Moviefone, as well as the publisher sites in the Ad.com network.

Vodafone in venture to boost mobile Internet
LONDON (Reuters) – British mobile phone group Vodafone said on Thursday it was linking up with China Mobile and Softbank to help accelerate the commercial deployment of mobile Internet services.