Permanent link to MTA daily media news

THESE MEDIA & POLITICS POSTS WILL GET SHORTER AFTER TODAY, I PROMISE, and I’ll get back to regular posting of all the daily sections.

Matt Davies (Matt has a great retrospective slideshow of his cartoons on the 2008 Democratic primary)

Obama Meets Clinton at Feinstein’s House (by Taylor Marsh)
According to The New York Times, Senator Feinstein was asked if she heard “shouting.” Seriously? Where do they get these reporters?

Before the speech: ‘Everyone’s going to be monitoring every syllable.’ (by Lori Price at Citizens for Legitimate Government)
MSNBC’s GOP foot-soldier (and Coup 2000 palliator) Timmy Russert, speculating on whether Hillary Clinton will surrender hard enough.
Remember when Bill Clinton could never apologize enough?  I had a really bad case of déjà vu on Saturday.

Clinton Democrats (by Anglachel)
Hillary gave a brilliant, powerful, astute and compelling speech [Saturday]. It was not actually a concession speech, though that was part of the mix. It was a challenge to the media, the corrupt and co-opted blogosphere, to the petty backstabbers of the DNC, and, yes, to every rank-and-file Democrat, no matter who they supported in the primary. What we watched [Saturday] was Hillary laying out, in pitch-perfect detail, a vision of the Democratic Party that justifies its reason to exist, identifies the people it must represent, and outlines the conditions under which it may legitimately hold power. Those who hold to this vision are Clinton Democrats.
Click here to read a transcript of Hillary’s speech on Saturday.

A Great Speech (by Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft)
Hillary Clinton did something that is very difficult in my opinion, she made a great speech out of a concession endorsement speech. Why? Because she conceded nothing on the issues nor in any way discounted what she and her supporters accomplished. And then she endorsed him, but the endorsement was not the standard stump endorsement. It was an intelligent, rational, respectful argument to her supporters for why she was endorsing Barack Obama. she would speak to the issues and punctuate her line with “and that is why we must elect Barack Obama President.”

They just can’t let us have our moment (by Lance Mannion)
ABC’s Jake Tapper and George Stephanopolos just interrupted Hillary’s speech to tell us that when she mentioned Barack Obama’s name they heard some boos. I didn’t hear any myself, but what does it matter if a few nitwits booed, assuming they were even booing Obama and not the idea that Hillary was finally giving up?  Apparently a lot to Tapper and Stephanopolos. As I was storming out of the room in a rage to write this post, they were still gassing on and on about what a problem Obama’s going to have uniting the party. It’s a great day for Democrats but the Insiders have to ruin it for us, because it’s important for us all to know that everything’s bad for the Democrats, even a celebration. By the way, the moment they chose to interrupt her was while she was championing the Democratic message.  Can’t have the audience thinking this election might actually be about something, can we.

So much for reaching out to us ASAP (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
After working hard all morning accepting the support that Clinton gave him, after all of the heavy lifting he did last week by accepting the gifts that the RBC gave him, Barry went golfing.
Howard Dean, however, DID reach out to us immediately.  Within SECONDS.  To ask for money.  I told him I may consider donating to the Democratic Party once Barack Obama has crawled on his belly like a reptile to beg forgiveness of Hillary Clinton and her supporters for how he and his supporters have treated us.

“And we get?” (by lambert at Corrente)
Still waiting for the word on that from Obama.
The only reason Obama crossed the finish line first is that he was carried across by the party Clinton haters.  And that is a FACT.  Those leaders and their candidate will have to make some serious concessions before their guy gets my vote.  He’ll have to earn it the old-fashioned way—by a serious move in favor of progressive solutions, not this mealy-mouthed crap he’s been peddling.  My support beyond just my vote will cost even more.  See below, for some ideas, Senator Obama.  Your supporters have called me a whore, so I demand payment for my vote.  If you want my SUPPORT, it will cost you even more.

This is how the unity pony works…. (by garychapelhill at The Confluence)
Obama has consistently told those of us who have been loyal democrats our whole lives one thing: “you’ll get nothing and like it”. He expects us to vote for him without even paying lip service to us. The cries of “what about Roe v Wade” and “McCain wants to stay in Iraq 100 years” are all we hear. They want to make us feel guilty about not voting for him rather than address our concerns as loyal party members. In fact, they have actively purged many of us to satisfy their new base of African Americans and liberal elite.
With Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress, they could stop whatever they wanted to stop, even with McCain as president.

Well, Senator Obama, the ball is in your court now (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
Did you get the message, Barry? We have principles, issues, causes. We are not yielding one inch. You may have gotten to nomination with the help of your frat boys and your Villagers and your libertarians and your theoretical-liberals-as-long-as-we-don’t-have-to-live-in-the-same-neighborhood-*sniff* fauxgressives and ignorant young college students who don’t remember the nineties. But you aren’t going to win it unless you get down on your knees and convince *US* that you are willing to adopt her causes as your own. She just told you that you will have to work hard for a change. She just told you to be inclusive. She just told you to accept responsibility. Can you do it?

Sorry Gang – I’m Just Not There Yet (by Alegre at the Democratic Daily)
I just can’t do it – not yet. I respect Hillary more than words can say and I know she did what she had to do [Saturday]… I’m not saying I won’t ever get there as far as voting for the guy goes. At this point BO might (might) get my vote in November if he ends up being our nominee. But he’s going to have to work damn hard to win my vote after the way he lied about Hillary, and remained silent as the media and even his own supporters and staff attacked her with some of the most bizarre and misogynistic load of garbage I’ve ever heard. As for Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi et al, I don’t think the DNC realize just what a serious problem they’ve created after the way they’ve treated Hillary. We don’t support a party that throws our candidate under the bus in favor of another. And unless they work their ass off to undo the damage they’ve done, they’re going to be hard-pressed to get our votes.
Oh, but Alegre, haven’t you heard?  We’re now dead enders (see below).  And according to some of the comments I’ve seen, we should be eating crow.  We should immediately turn on a dime and support the anointed candidate because you KNOW that’s just what THEY would do if Clinton had prevailed.

3 A.M. For Feminism (by Michelle Goldberg at The New Republic)
Clinton dead-enders and the crisis in the women’s movement. [Emphasis added.]
Also, Mike Finnigan was so kind as to name me specifically as a dead ender.  Thanks for the unifying epithet, Mike.  Why don’t you just take me into a room, and only you come out?  That’s what your candidate says he will do to Congress.

[Whoopin’ ‘em] (Political Radar, ABC News)
[A]t a town hall in Bristol, Virginia, … Obama met a 95-year-old African American man, whose daughter told Obama that he had waited his whole life for this moment. The man wobbled slowly to the stage and presented Obama with a maple wood walking stick as a gift. The presumptive democratic nominee, clearly feeling his oats, took the stick and said, “If members of Congress don’t pass my health care bill - I’ll whoop ‘em, I’ll whoop ‘em. That’s right, you better not mess with me, and I’ll have that stick.”
Of course, the Transcendent candidate already confronted Lieberman quite forcefully, so let’s see how well that kind of conciliation worked out.  See below.

Lieberman to head pro-McCain ‘organization’ (by Steve Benen at Crooks and Liars)
It’s hard not to get the sense that Joe Lieberman is just taunting Dems at this point. Lieberman doesn’t want to just burn the bridge to the ground, he wants to pour salt in the earth around the wreckage. Wednesday, Lieberman joined a conference call coordinated by a right-wing House member to bash Barack Obama. Yesterday, he announced the creation of what he calls a “new grassroots organization,” called, “Citizens for McCain.” From the letter the McCain campaign distributed today (no link available):

Monday: Obama Pod People (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
We last few remnants of the “shrieking band of paranoid holdouts” are now under attack… In the past day, The Confluence, Corrente, Reclusive Leftist, Anglachel and others have seen a number of pod people showing up in the comments.  They *say* they are regulars but for some reason, they speak the language of the converted… But this is forced.  It comes from some external source.  It takes on our identities but it is not one of us.  There’s no emotion.  It’s empty… [W]hy go the psychological warfare route?… Why not try to win us over with the force of the policy proposals, committments to our causes, understanding and acknowledgment of the principles we hold dear?…

But here’s an even better question?  Why bother at all?  We’re just little asteroids floating along in the blogoverse, our carbon footprints barely noticeable amidst all of the bigger and more numerous pieces of space debris.  The amount of attention now dedicated to bringing us into compliance seems inversely proportional to our importance. Or is it? Maybe you guys need us after all.

Speaking of the math and the RBC…. (by lambert at Corrente)
Is this right? “…[Clinton] had over 100 delegates from Florida and 73 from Michigan. If he got zero from Michigan and both states had been able to seat with full strength, she could have added over 86 delegates and he would have lost 59. Hmm, that brings her total to 1725 and Obama’s to 1707.” [Emphasis added.] Looks to me like the SDs did their job in the sense that they exercised their judgment, and awarded the nomination to Obama. That doesn’t make their decision illegitimate, I suppose… But the system that structured process that enabled decision? About as legitimate as the system that enabled Bush v. Gore in 2000. Start with the undemocratic nature of the caucus system, and end with stealing votes, and it’s hard to see how, over time, people — other than Villagers and the “creative class” [cough] can hold their noses hard enough or long enough to avoid the stench of decay.

If they really are the victors………………..  (by The Red Queen at Elizabitchez)
… then why are they trolling like jilted, psychotic ex boyfriends? It’s not just my blog that has had to turn the comments mod on because of trolls and stalkers… The fact that you continue to squall and fuss about Teh Rulz indicates that you know very well that the circumstances of his nomination are artificial. You need to accept that there is a big, fat asterisk next to Obama’s name in the history books… Threats, harassment, obsessive trolling, occasional moments of clarity where they try to act nice only to blow up the second a problem with the legitimacy of the campaign is mentioned. Mostly they act like assholes in the hope that eventually they will wear us down so we will give them what they want. Legitimacy and their manhood back. And the more they use these measures, the more entrenched we girls become in our decision to leave. And so they push harder, troll more, threaten more. And we become more entrenched.

Dean and Pelosi Sabotaged Hillary (by Reba Shimansky, via email)
On “Meet the Press: [Sunday] on “Meet the Press” Chuck Todd NBC`s political director said that Hillary`s campaign was sabotaged by Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi because congressional democrats believe that the Clinton brand is bad for the party. This is ridiculous since Bill Clinton is the first democrat to serve 2 full terms since FDR and left office with record high approval ratings because times were good during his administration. And Hillary running for the Senate saved a democratic Senate seat from going Republican.

That is why the super delegates flocked to Obama while Hillary was running primary after primary during the last 2/3`s of the race. Hillary did not lose -Obama was anointed by the establishment. The Democrats have made a value judgment that the Obama brand is superior to the Clinton brand and therefore this is why I consider myself a former democrat.
Click here to read the MTP transcript.

I heard from a friend attending the Texas state convention that the Clinton supporters didn’t let the Obama supporters walk all over them.  The Obama folks seem surprised!  We’re supposed to roll over and play dead, don’t you know?  We’re supposed to capitulate immediately.  We’re supposed to relax and enjoy it.

DNC RALLY FOR DEMOCRACY in Denver, Colorado to coincide with the Democratic National Convention, August 24-26 2008
As Democrats, Republicans and Independents, we believe we have witnessed a DNC who, in their quest for power, has abandoned all democratic principles, and in doing so, has attempted to substantially weaken our Constitutional Rights, slapped the faces of those who founded, fought for and died for our great nation, and subjugated millions to their elitist left-wing agenda.
Actually, I think they’re wrong about the DNC supporting a left-wing agenda in choosing Obama, although we really don’t know for sure.  Obama’s past associations are with radical leftists and separatists.  But the vast majority of his campaign advisers are right wingers.  His policy prescriptions are derivative of other Democrats’ proposals with right-wing shit thrown in.  It’s quite a confusing mish-mash.

Reba Shimansky Talks to The Page (Mark Halperin at The Page, Time Magazine)

“I am very angry at the way Hillary has been treated by the Democratic Party during the last three months. When Hillary was winning the majority of the primaries, the superdelegates were flocking to Obama. The Democratic professionals wanted to please Obama more than Hillary because they valued his supporters more than Hillary’s. I have said that I would do anything in my limited capacity to destroy Obama’s candidacy (who I do not like because of his trashing of Bill Clinton and his accomplishments as president) and the best way to do that is to vote for McCain. It is an emotional not rational vote. My loyalty is to Hillary not the Democratic Party.”
Reba Shimansky is a renowned… Democratic pundit and activist.

Partisan (by Anglachel)
What did Hillary’s speech focus on? Getting power and retaining power in order to do right by her constituents. It really can be boiled down to that… To be partisan is to pick sides and fight for advantage in pursuit of a goal. Voluntary relinquishing of that power, which is what we have watched Pelosi and Reid do time and again, is simply stupid… So I chose to remain in my party and be a gadfly, returning fundrainsing letters with diatribes, nagging my Congress critters, making my dissatisfaction known, and being involved in thwarting the current corrupt regime… The Democratic Party leadership is acting in ways that damage the ability of the party to expand its power. In the end, all personalities aside, that is what matters. They appear to enjoy engaging in Republican tactics agaisnt their own members while getting screwed over by the Republicans on matters that affect ordinary people’s lives. It’s time for Democratic partisans to come to the defense of their party.

Don’t tell me how to hold my nose (by katiebird at The Confluence)
[O]n November 3, 2004 I promised myself that I was never, ever going to hold my nose and vote again. All those months we defended Kerry — all over the country Democrats just like me trying to explain to our friends and neighbors “what Kerry meant.” And for all I know getting it all wrong. ‘Cause who the hell really ever knew what he meant? And now Obama. Even without knowing if “The Tape” exists, I know exactly what it would mean to hold my nose for Barack Obama. It would mean spending the next five months explaining why Barack Obama’s shady friends are meaningless compared to the danger of electing John McCain… And if we can get past the shady connections, how do we explain his utter lack of qualifications? Somehow Obama managed to get through this entire campaign without any public acknowledgment that this will be his first serious job.

Keeping the pace to the finish line is a win for Clinton (by Mary Schmich, Chicago Tribune)
Thank you, Hillary Clinton. Thank you for not quitting before it was time… For her candidacy to matter as much as it might, for it to genuinely advance the possibility of a woman as president in some year before the ice caps melt, she needed to keep the pace all the way to the finish line, even if she didn’t cross it first… Hillary has not been a perfect candidate… What she has been is a tough, smart, energetic, passionate campaigner who attracted almost 18 million voters and ran neck-and-neck until the very end… This week CBS News released a poll on Clinton. It showed that seven in 10 voters think her candidacy will make it easier for other women to run for president. Seventy-six percent of Democrats said it would. So did 63 percent of Republicans. If she’d quit the race before now, those numbers wouldn’t be so high.

She Was a Front-runner, and She Stood Up For Women’s Rights (by K.A. Geier of The G Spot, writing at The American Prospect)
Clinton has always been staunchly pro-choice, but her feminist agenda went far beyond that. Clinton has been a strong advocate of expanding the Family and Medical Leave Act, guaranteed paid sick leave, promoting workplace flexibility, and outlawing workplace discrimination against parents. She has also championed universal pre-K and high-quality child care, providing reproductive and other health care services for women in the U.S. and greater access to reproductive health care overseas, fighting AIDS in the U.S. and globally, and expanding women’s opportunity as a tool for global economic development. But the part of Clinton’s feminist policy agenda that I particularly appreciate has been her efforts to strengthen anti-discrimination legislation… If Barack Obama wants to win the support of Clinton’s legion of female supporters, the best thing he could do would be to wholeheartedly adopt Clinton’s feminist policy agenda, and speak out frequently and forcefully in favor of laws and programs that protect the rights of women.

What Hillary Won (by Gail Collins)
Nobody is ever again going to question whether it’s possible for a woman to go toe-to-toe with the toughest male candidate in a race for president of the United States… Her campaign was messy, and it made some fatal tactical errors. But nobody who sent her a donation could accuse her of not giving them their money’s worth. For all her vaunting ambition, she was never a candidate who ran for president just because it’s the presidency. She thought about winning in terms of the things she could accomplish, and she never forgot the women’s issues she had championed all her life — repair of the social safety net, children’s rights, support for working mothers. It’s not the same as winning the White House. But it’s a lot.
I often disagree with Collins, but she’s spot on here.

Clinton’s Real Victory (by Marie Wilson, founder and president of the White House Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that aims to advance women’s leadership)
Clinton’s candidacy has brought unprecedented visibility to women’s leadership. We may at times have disagreed with her campaign tactics, her voting record or her political maneuverings… But whether we liked Clinton the person or Clinton the candidate pales in comparison with this unassailable truth: Her candidacy has helped change the political game forever. Now it’s up to the rest of us to do our part — by encouraging women’s leadership in every shape and form… This race does not end with Hillary Clinton’s campaign. By helping to fill the pipeline with a critical mass of diverse, well-equipped women, Clinton’s candidacy has changed everything about the future of leadership in this country. And that is a legacy of which she — and our nation — should be proud.

Vital election courtship (by Jill Zuckman, Chicago Tribune)
[A]fter wrapping up the Democratic nomination in a long and bruising battle against a popular female politician, Sen. Barack Obama will begin his general election push trying to attract women voters who feel a keen sense of disappointment that Sen. Hillary Clinton will not become the first female president next year… [A]ccording to a new poll from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, Obama’s image among white women has declined dramatically as he has clashed with Clinton. Just 43 percent of them hold a positive opinion of Obama, compared with 56 percent in late February.
To me, the galling part is not that Hillary could have been the first woman nominee or president, it’s that she was pushed out of the race, and her male opponent given extra points by the supposed referees, in order to beat her.

Clinton Bloc Becomes the Prize for Election Day (by Jodi Kantor, New York Times)
With Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s ending her campaign for the Democratic nomination, the presumptive nominees are moving to claim her followers, especially her signature bloc, the millions of women who cast primary votes for her. Senator Barack Obama’s campaign is positioning itself as the rightful heir to these Democratic voters… “The wounds of sexism need to be the subject of a national discussion,” the [party] chairman, Howard Dean, said in an interview… [Long-time feminist Gloria] Steinem advised that Mr. Obama deliver the same sort of ambitious speech about sex that he did on race. An aide said the campaign was considering such an address.
You know, I REALLY don’t want Obama to deliver a speech on sexism.  He has run a purposefully sexist campaign, and I’d think a whole lot less of him (hard to imagine, I know) if he did that.

Come up with better reasons or shut up. (by John: south of Melrose at Liberal Rapture)
Clinton supporters came to her initially because of her experience. We liked her. We did not - in large part - become fervently committed to her until the media and Obama’s campaign began to trash her… As the dust settles it is entirely possible that some Clinton voters will re-look at Obama. As the year went on it became clear that Clinton voters wanted meat and potatoes answers. All the massaging by the media after Iowa did not change that in some states Obama must have in November… Even with all those wins, there is little evidence that Obama convinced any voters beyond those who “consume” politics on the most basic level. In fact, Obama, the man, has not been sold. Obama, the myth, has been. It worked in caucuses and a few primaries. It will not work on the most committed Clinton voters… I don’t know who will win the election. I do know this: unless you can give me legitimate reasons why I should help elevate this man to the White House - I wish you’d just shut up.

White Male Pundit Power (by Ari Melber, The Nation)
It’s still all about the white men. Hillary Clinton’s loss has renewed critiques that American political media is slanted, sexist and dominated by men. While Clinton and Obama broke barriers in the Democratic primary, swiftly dispatching white male Senators with more government experience, the race was still refereed, scored and narrated by white male commentators, an influential constituency in presidential politics. Pundits talked a lot about gender and racial progress during the campaign, of course, but the elite opinion media continues to employ, groom and promote a commentators corps that is disproportionately white and male.
Yes, and that very situation applies to The Nation, as well, despite the fact that it has a female editor in chief.

Signe Wilkinson (reprise)

Wall Street Bets on Obama for President (Capital Eye)
Wall Street seems to have selected Barack Obama for its own major investment this election cycle. Traditionally an industry that gives to Republicans, securities and investment companies have been pouring money into the coffers of both the Illinois senator and former Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, giving nearly $15 million combined to the two, according to Reuters, citing data from CRP.

A Dollar Deluge (by Steve Soto at the Left Coaster)
One of the benefits of developing a 1.5 million member donor list is that you can drown your GOP opponent in a two-month general election sprint. Politico.com ran a good story yesterday pointing out that Obama can use that list and those small donors to gather upwards of $300 million to smother McCain’s lackluster fundraising, even if McCain changes course and ditches public financing. Worse yet for the GOP, if Obama and Clinton were able to merge lists and allow Obama to pull large and small donations from the larger combined pool of Democratic donors, Team Obama could set up large operations in purple and even red states and force McCain to spend critical money just defending his electoral base.
Three problems with your theory, Steve.  One is the assumption that all the Clinton donors (lots of us small guys, too) will donate to Obama.  I, for one, will not.  The other assumption is that blitz advertising will work, without question.  I think Clinton’s victories in Indiana and some of the other states where she prevailed, despite Obama’s huge media buys, disproves that assumption.  The third difficulty is that all of you keep forgetting that George Bush will be using every area of government he has control over to get John McCain elected.  No paid media blitz can counter the effects of the full force of government used on behalf of one candidate.  It’s really distressing that no one will pay attention to me on this issue.  For example, see below.

Joschka Fischer: Why Israel will attack Iran this year (by lambert at Corrente)
[V]ia RGE Monitor… Good to know. Maybe this is why all those Air Force guys were fired…
Anyone following the press in Israel during the anniversary celebrations and listening closely to what was said in Jerusalem did not have to be a prophet to understand that matters are coming to a head. Consider[:]… “While Israeli military intelligence is on record as saying that Iran is expected to cross the red line on the path to nuclear power between 2010 and 2015 at the earliest, the feeling in Israel is that the political window of opportunity to attack is now, during the last months of Bush’s presidency.”

Rev. Wright dominated media’s presidential primary coverage. (Think Progress)
The Project for Excellence in Journalism has officially crowned Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) relationship with his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, “the dominant media story of the entire” presidential campaign, “by far.” Wright’s comments “received four times more coverage than any other theme or event throughout the campaign.” Reports of the superdelegate role and Obama’s so-called “bitter” comments were the second and third most covered stories, respectively. However, “[n]o other story line came close to attracting as much coverage as the Wright-Obama association, and most of it was negative.”
But that negativity didn’t affect Democratic voters much.  We’ll have to see how much it affects the general election—IF it continues.

On education, McCain & Obama may not be far apart (On Politics, USA Today)
Two top education advisers to Republican presidential contender John McCain and his Democratic rival, Barack Obama, took the stage together today in Washington at an event sponsored by the Association of Educational Publishers.

McCain Endorses Bush’s Illegal Wiretapping Program, Despite Saying President Should Not ‘Disobey Any Law’ (Think Progress)
The New York Times’ Charlie Savage reports that in a recent letter, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, top adviser to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), said McCain believes that the Constitution gave President Bush the authority to wiretap Americans “without warrants,” bringing him “into closer alignment” with the Bush administration’s views of executive power.

McCain: To Russia, without love (by Mark Benjamin, Salon)
John McCain and his national security advisor both want to get tough with Russia — but one of them got paid to say so. Does McCain have another lobbyist problem?

McCain Wouldn’t Vote For Everglades Because Of Pork But Will Fund Iraq At Any Cost (Think Progress)
During a conference call with reporters [Friday], the McCain campaign tried to push back against Florida environmental groups who have criticized Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) for opposing a bill that would have allocated $2 billion for Everglades restoration. The campaign claimed that the senator has strong environmental credentials and argued that he has “always stood for Everglades restoration,” and only opposed the 2007 Water Resources Development Act because it included “other spending”… But McCain’s argument that he often votes against causes he supports because those bills contain “wasteful earmarks” does not hold water.
Click through for examples.

After biggest unemployment jump in 22 years, McCain vows more of the same (by Steve Benen at Crooks and Liars)
On the economic front, the news is “ugly.”… [T]he McCain campaign was quick to issue a statement. After noting that the rise in unemployment is a reminder of the “challenges” American families are facing, McCain said: “…The wrong change for our country would be an economic agenda based upon the policies of the past that advocate higher taxes, bigger government, government-run health care and greater isolationism. To help families at this critical time, we cannot afford to go backward as Senator Obama advocates.”… In other words, we need to keep doing exactly what we’ve been doing. More of the same. Stay the course. Stick to the policies that got us into this mess, and wait for them to stop failing.

Primary Reforms (New York Times Editorial Board)
A guiding principle behind American democracy is “one person, one vote.” All voters should have an equal opportunity, regardless of who they are or where they live, to affect the outcome. The process should be transparent, the ballot should be secret, and there should be no unnecessary barriers to voting. Tested against these principles, both parties’ [nominating] systems fall short… Dianne Feinstein, the chairman of the Senate rules committee, which has jurisdiction over elections, says she wants to hold hearings next month on rotating primaries and related issues. Ideally, the parties would fix the process themselves, but insiders do not always have the interests of ordinary voters at heart. Whoever takes action, the goal should be a new and improved nominating process that reflects the will of the people.

Making Tony Soprano Proud (by Steve Soto at the Left Coaster)
When reports surfaced over the last several days that the Bush Administration was ramming a long-term security agreement down the al-Maliki government’s throat before their parliament or our Congress could intervene, US Ambassador Ryan Crocker denied it and said everything would be transparent. What he didn’t mention is that the Bush Administration is blackmailing the Iraqi government into signing the agreement by denying them access to their oil revenues held in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and is also preventing the Iraqis from converting those funds out of dollars and into Euros.

GOP strategy memo revealed: This is about ‘making political points’ and ‘finger-pointing over blame.’ (Think Progress)
At 11 p.m. [Wednesday] night, after Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) shut down Senate debate on the Climate Security Act by forcing the 492-page bill to be read in full, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) revealed the existence of a GOP strategy memo on the climate debate. The anonymous memo, provided to Reid “by a lobbyist involved in Republican strategy meetings,” explains that their climate strategy is “much more on making political points” than “affecting policy.” See the memo at the Wonk Room.
WOT a surprise!  That has been how Republicans influence policy for at least 16 years.  The fact that the Democrats STILL have no counter strategy makes me really wonder about their commitment to get anything done.

Bush Approval Down to 25% (Political Wire)
President Bush’s approval rating is at its lowest level ever, according to the latest CBS News poll. Just 25% of Americans approve of the overall job Bush is doing as President. Likewise, 67% disapprove of the job Bush is doing — the highest such figure in CBS News polls since he assumed office. Only Presidents Nixon (24%) and Truman (22%) have seen polls showing job approval ratings lower than 25% during their presidencies, according to Gallup Polls. President Carter’s all-time low was 26%.

Media Matters for America headlines

• LA Times editorial falsely claimed “unusually centrist” McCain “oppose[s] a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage”

• Wallace let Pawlenty falsely assert Obama has “changed his views” on whether Iranian Revolutionary Guard should be designated a terrorist group

• Stephanopoulos did not challenge Graham’s false suggestion that Obama “borrow[ed] money from” Rezko “to build his house”

• Ignoring reversal, O’Donnell said McCain “believes he’s stronger among Hispanic-Americans, especially because of his immigration stance”

• “[G]ullible” Fox & Friends escape lawsuit for repeating yet another false news story

• Levin, MacCallum falsely accused Obama of inconsistency on whether Iranian Revolutionary Guard should be designated a terrorist group

• Fox News’ E.D. Hill teased discussion of Obama dap: “A fist bump? A pound? A terrorist fist jab?”

• Hannity, Morris repeat refuted claims about the price of Obama’s house

• Wash. Post quoted Lungren claiming Dems plotting “largest tax increase” in history — but by his standard, that was the GOP

• G. Gordon Liddy smeared undocumented Mexican immigrants, claiming they “want to reconquer America, they say”

• USA Today uncritically reported McCain’s reference to Obama as National Journal’s “most liberal senator”

• CNN, Fox News falsely suggested Senate report finding Bush administration “misled Americans” about Iraq-Al Qaeda link was approved only by Dems

TV Networks Clash Over China’s Stringent Rules
Differences over a wide range of issues — from limits on live coverage in Tiananmen Square to allegations that freight shipments of TV broadcasting equipment are being held up in Chinese ports — surfaced in a contentious meeting late last month between Beijing organizers and high-ranking International Olympic Committee officials and TV executives — including those from NBC.

Bill Moyers: ‘Journalism in Profound Crisis’ (video)
The legendary journalist electrifies packed crowd at National Conference for Media Reform.

Dan Rather Hits Press Coverage of War — and ‘Corporate News’
Dan Rather, who was CBS anchor in 2003, offered a strong critique of the journalists’ performance in his speech to the National Conference for Media Reform in Minneapolis [Saturday]. Rather opened by admitting that, referring to McClellan, “Whatever his motives for saying these things, he’s right,” but he also recalled that some reporters did ask tough questions: “So how do we reconcile these competing reactions?

YouTube: New Reporter Channels Encourage Citizen Journalism (Mashable)
For a long time YouTube has managed to feel the love from a wide variety of people. From musicians to political theorists and comedians, the site has grown to be a large meeting place for voices around the globe. More and more, YouTubers have been using the site as a means for reporting events, debating about current issues that affect society, and sharing perspectives on different sides of stories that we may not hear from just watching cable television or reading a newspaper.

For New Journalists, All Bets, but Not Mikes, Are Off
Jacques Steinberg: Among the questions posed last week was this: in an era when anyone with a cellphone and wi-fi connection can make like Tom Brokaw, do the long-accepted conventions of engagement (like a reporter’s volunteering who she is without being asked) still apply?

The Web 2.0-Defying Logic of Drudge
Richard Siklos: As America enters a new political season, what is perhaps most astonishing about The Drudge Report is how unconventional it seems as a news site by today’s “Web 2.0″ standards. It doesn’t have all the online bells and whistles, yet, by any measure, Drudge is among the Internet’s most popular news sites.

A Shift in Real Estate Books
With the plunge in the housing market, publishers are updating their backlist titles and rushing out newly acquired manuscripts to advise consumers.

At Flagship ‘Chicago Tribune,’ Dismay, Confusion Over Zell Edicts
One day after top Tribune Co. executives decreed that pages would be torn from its newspapers and journalists would be subject to some measure of their productivity, the newsroom of the flagship Chicago Tribune Friday buzzed with dismay and, most of all, confusion.

Column inches (by Paul Krugman)
Memo to management: if you decide to follow the Tribune Company and measure productivity by looking at the “column inches of news produced by each reporter“, I’m sure, quite sure indeed, that I can find a way, possibly many ways, of padding out my columns with very, very, very long sentences that may contain very, very little substantive content, but have the very, very pronounced effect of using up a lot, really a lot, I mean truly a very, very large number of highly, highly rewarded column inches (which are equal to 2.54 centimeters, I am obliged — indeed would be paid — to point out.)
And will professors begin to be judged by how popular their papers are on the internet?  See below.

Now Professors Get Their Star Rankings, Too
Social Science Research Network offers nearly 150,000 full-text documents for downloading and allows academics to see how popular their writings are online.

APME Teams with 25 Dailies for ‘Earmarks’ Project
The Associated Press Managing Editors (APME) and some 25 daily papers have teamed up with AP’s Washington bureau for an unusual joint project that investigates congressional earmarks. The project, set to be unveiled this weekend, includes a four-story package produced by the AP and a congressional earmarks database that will be available to all AP members.

News Corp. Sells Macrovision Stake; Puts A Bad Investment Behind It (Paid Content)
This isn’t a surprise, since News Corp. was a key agitator of Gemstar’s sale to Macrovision… News Corp. has sold its 19 percent stake in the company, Macrovision confirmed this morning. The buyers were new and existing institutional investors, which should reduce the impact of a large chunk of shares hitting the market. Thus ends a terrible investment for News Corp., resulting in a loss of over $6 billion from its initial investment in Triangle Publishing back in 1998.

WSJ To Sever Ties With Breakingviews; Selling Its Minority Stake? (Paid Content)
The Wall Street Journal, now part of News Corp. is going to stop carrying the long running Breakingviews daily opinion columns in its paper, reports Guardian… WSJ’s relationship with Breakingviews had always been a point of contention among WSJ journalists, as this was the only third-party content that the paper carried in its opinion pages. When Rupert Murdoch came in, he reportedly didn’t like the arrangement either. Word is that he wants to build up an inhouse rival to Financial Times’ influential Lex column, and as part of that, he just hired away Thorold Baker and Liam Denning, two columnists for Lex.

Labels eye variable pricing for digital sales
DENVER (Billboard) - Arguably the No. 1 item on record labels’ to-do list for the year is, “Establish variable pricing for digital downloads.”

For Some Music, It Has to Be Wal-Mart and Nowhere Else
Highlighting the diminishing power of recording labels, Wal-Mart is stepping into the breach and making deals directly with artists.

8 Simple Rules for Mags to Succeed on the Web
Jon Friedman: Magazines are squandering a golden opportunity. That was my message last week when I spoke at the annual meeting of City and Regional Magazines here in this charming city on the banks of the Mississippi River. There is no excuse for magazine editors and publishers to be uneasy about the Internet. They talk as if it’s some strange, exotic instrument that nobody quite understands.

U.S. News Loses Weekly War as Sector’s Ad Pages Plummet
U.S. News & World Report, the longtime No. 3 weekly news magazine, is dropping to a biweekly frequency starting next year, effectively ceding its troubled category to larger rivals Time and Newsweek. All three traditional newsweeklies have already taken steps such as cutting paid-circulation guarantees as competition has increased and the news cycle has gone into hyperdrive.

More Channels Are Coming. Will Anyone Be Watching?
A new crop of digital channels are making their way into homes, and industry executives say that they have finally figured out how to get people to watch.

Small television stations struggling with digital conversion
For the average viewer, the transition to digital television will result in clearer pictures and better sound. But for Chad Giddens and other owners and managers of small, low-powered television stations, the conversion could force them to fade to black for many viewers.

No One Takes To TakeTV; SanDisk Closes Video-To-TV Service After Eight Months (Paid Content)
Sandisk has closed down its USB PC-to-TV video device TakeTV, along with its accompanying online service Fanfare, about eight months after it announced the service, reports NTV. The concept of the service was a simple one: a USB flash drive that can carry videos downloaded on a PC for playback on TVs, but as the NTV story points out, it ended up being a few steps too many to get the content onto TV, and then distribution and marketing remains the biggest hurdle on a physical consumer retail device like this. And then, Sandisk is not known as a content distribution player, nor did it have the chops to do enough content acquisition to make the Fanfare service comprehensive enough.

Who Will Rule The New Internet?
Josh Quittner: The winners of the platform wars stand to make billions selling devices, selling eyeballs to advertisers, selling services such as music, movies, even computer power on demand. Yet the outcome here is far more important than who makes the most money. The future of the Internet — how we get information, how we communicate with one another and, most important, who controls it — is at stake.

Akihabara Killer’s Plans Revealed In A Series Of Chilling Forum Posts (Mashable)
IDG News reports that the man who had killed seven people and injured ten with a knife in Tokyo’s famous Akihabara district had planned his deed on an online Japanese forum.

Microsoft Pulls The Plug On Free Classifieds Site Live Expo (Paid Content)
Micosoft is no longer accepting new accounts or listings to its two-year-old free classified service Windows Live Expo. The current listings will drift on until July 31, when the site goes down for good. As consultancy Classified Intelligence points out in an email alert, when Live Expo was rolled out in February 2006, it looked as if Microsoft could offer a real challenge to CraigsList and other listings sites like eBay’s Kijiji. But the service quickly came to be treated as an afterthought and was starved of any additional promotion.

To Create Its Hits, a Company Takes Its Toys on Tour
Bakugan Battle Brawlers, one of the hottest games in toy stores this year, owes its success to a marketing campaign straight from the Eisenhower era.

Beer makers increasingly turning to viral ads
ST. LOUIS (AP) - Anheuser-Busch is generating lots of buzz with an ad equal parts bawdy and hilarious, but you won’t see it on television, and it barely mentions the beer it’s advertising. Dubbed “Swear Jar,” the too-risque-for-TV ad debuted on the Internet in 2007.

Philly Media Holdings creates fake airline to test ad results
The fine print on the Derrie-Air ads at Philly.com (and in the print edition) discloses this is “a fictitious advertising campaign created by Philadelphia Media Holdings to test the results of advertising in our print and online products and to stimulate discussion on a timely environmental topic of interest to all citizens. …In other words, smile, we’re pulling your leg.” There are at least 18 fake ads in [Friday’s] Philadelphia Inquirer.

AOL’s Platform-A Expands to Europe (Mashable)
Platform-A has announced its European expansion…, aligning with the AOL advertising operations that are already in existence in Europe, including Advertising.com, Adtech and buy.at. Having been built on the success of AOL’s existing advertising programs, as well as a way to incorporate the recently acquired Tacoda and Third Screen Media, Platform-A was created with a global presence in mind. This advertising platform represents AOL’s shift towards a more unified ad-based model, which is a major change for a company that operated for years under a subscription service for users to access its Internet portal.

JetBlue’s LiveTV Buying Verizon’s Airfone For In-Flight Internet (Paid Content)
JetBlue’s LiveTV unit, which offers in-flight TV and messaging services, is buying Verizon’s Airfone, an air-to-ground telecom network, in a deal WSJ (via Reuters) says is to boost its on-board internet and email offering. No purchase price was given. JetBlue took control of LiveTV in 2002 and it now shows DirecTV, Bell ExpressVu, Foxtel and Austar channels on around seven airlines. There’s also BlackBerry messaging and Yahoo Mail.

T-Mobile sues Starbucks over AT&T Internet deal
NEW YORK (Reuters) - T-Mobile USA is suing Starbucks, saying the coffee shop chain secretly colluded with AT&T to offer free WiFi Internet access in its cafes despite an exclusive agreement with T-Mobile.

Amazon.com site fails for 2 hours, cause unknown
BOSTON (Reuters) - Online retailer Amazon.com Inc said its U.S. website was down for about 2 hours on Friday but said it was unsure what had blocked access to the world’s biggest online store.