Permanent link to MTA daily media news

For as long as necessary, I will preface each Media & Politics post with the following information:

I AM NOT A REPUBLICAN.  I have never BEEN a Republican.  I never INTEND to be a Republican.  I do not WANT to be a Republican.

I AM NOT A RACIST.  I wasn’t a racist when I voted for Barack Obama in the 2004 primary for U.S. Senate.  I wasn’t a racist when I voted for him in the 2004 general election.  I wasn’t a racist when I became tremendously disappointed in his refusal to stand up for progressive issues, except for the few times when we constituents forced him to. I will not be a racist WHEN I VOTE FOR CYNTHIA MCKINNEY FOR PRESIDENT.

So don’t threaten me with your post-partisan, post-racial, manipulative, coercive HATE MAIL.

Things That Are Awesome (by Maya at Suburban Guerrilla)
The Daily Show’s pre-RNC billboard in MN:

CNN Breaking News (via email)
President Bush, Vice President Cheney to skip Republican convention because of Hurricane Gustav, White House says.
GOOD MOVE, White House.  Very smart move.  Now the convention doesn’t have to deal with the two of you.

Actually? I’m glad I don’t have to explain this (by katiebird at The Confluence)
Because some things are just beyond reason. The title of this video is Foul Don Fowler Amused by New Orleans Hurricane. [Click through to watch it.] And Michael Moore thinks it’s funny too.

Daily Presidential Tracking Poll Sunday, August 31, 2008
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday—the day before the Republican National Convention is scheduled to begin—shows Barack Obama ahead of John McCain by three percentage points both with and without leaners. That’s exactly the same edge Obama enjoyed a week ago on the eve of the Democratic National Convention.

McCain’s choice of running mate is hardly known (Washington Post)
JUNEAU, Alaska — In two short years, Sarah Palin moved from small-town mayor with a taste for mooseburgers to the governor’s office and now – making history – to John McCain’s side as the first female running mate on a Republican presidential ticket… She brings a strong anti-abortion stance to the ticket and opposes gay marriage – constitutionally banned in Alaska before her time – but exercised a veto that essentially granted benefits to gay state employees and their partners. “She stands up for what’s right, and she doesn’t let anyone tell her to sit down.” McCain said in introducing her to an Ohio rally. “She’s exactly who I need.”

Maverick Mom (by digby)
I wouldn’t be too smug about Palin. She’s got something about her that the people who know her really like. She has an 85% approval rating up there [in Alaska], which includes quite a few liberals. Her western state appeal is an amalgam of right wing populism and libertarianism, something that shouldn’t be discounted among swing voters who might also find her to be an attractive working mom who manages to run the state while taking care of her snowmobile champion husband (Arctic NASCAR) and their five kids. (A politically incorrect friend of mine in Alaska called the ticket “The Maverick and the MILF” and it may work better than we think.) I don’t think that many Hillary followers will vote for an anti-choice zealot, but there is no point in unnecessarily suppressing the female Obama vote by thoughtlessly pushing buttons that don’t need to be pushed.
THEY’RE NOT LISTENING, Digby.  Hands over their ears, singing “la la la la la la” at the tops of their lungs.  Showing their hate at every opportunity.

Conservative calls Palin a home run (Hot off the Trail, McClatchy)
John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin is a hit with conservatives if the reaction veteran conservative guru Richard Viguerie is any indication. “McCain has chosen to balance his ticket with a principled conservative.  Governor Palin’s life story is one of sticking to principle.  She is living proof that a person can take on the corrupt political establishment – including corrupt leaders in her own party – and achieve great things,” Viguerie said. “There’s an old expression in politics: Go along to get along.  Not this time.  The selection of Sarah Palin is one big kick-in-the-pants to the corrupt establishment in both parties.”

Smart Tactical Pick? (by pollster David Johnson, posting at Political Wire)
Sarah Palin may be one of the smartest tactical moves made by the McCain Campaign and the Democrats should be very careful in their line of attack against her.  Depending on how she is defined at the Republican Convention she could be a game changer. Barack Obama is underperforming among female voters in the key states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Wisconsin in our polling… The Obama line of attack against Palin may further alienate voters in these states.  By attacking her as being a Mayor of a small town of 9,000, the Democrats open themselves up to charges of elitism and revive the “bitter” comments that Obama made in his race against Hillary Clinton… Finally, by attacking Palin as being inexperienced the Obama Campaign may actually help bolster McCain’s own arguments of inexperience against Obama.
And in fact, Fred Thompson got some heavy licks in this very morning on CNN.

Putting Clinton, PUMAs and Palin in Their Place–The Pundits Don’t Skip a Beat (by InsightAnalytical)
I watched Morton Kondracke, Juan Williams, David Gergen, and then heard Michael Savage all shrieking about Sarah Palin’s inexperience. And then they launched into the “one heartbeat away from the Presidency” fear card as if they’re hoping John McCain might croak any minute. Morton Kondracke’s condescension simply dripped all over the place…it was really so obvious. He was literally squirming with discomfort and had to resort to being snide. Do I sense Palin is threatening their masculinity?  What asses!!!
But any criticism of Palin, in regard to her inexperience, is also a criticism of Obama, only much more gigantically bigger.  Because he wouldn’t be a heartbeat away from the presidency, he’d be THE PRESIDENT.  This had to be a Karl Rove pick.  There’s just so much nuance in it, and I don’t think of John McCain as a very nuanced guy.

Lance Mannion has an astute analysis of the choice, though he’s worried about never having received the carrier pigeon announcing it.  Ed Kilgore also sees the danger for Democrats in mocking Palin. John: south of Melrose observes, “The sexist bile of the the DNC, Obama, and the pods is REALLY in the docket now. What idiots Dean, Brazille and the DNC are.”  Anglachel: “This is a dangerous political choice for Democrats, in great part because of moronic responses by PB 1.0 [the so-called progressive blogosphere that delighted in vicious hatemongering against Hillary Clinton] that belittle and underestimate her.”  Speaking of the inexperience issue, Big Tent Democrat opines, “Tim Kaine, who has exactly the same experience as Palin, was treated by the Media and the Dems as a serious and acceptable potential pick, it opens up charges of a double standard. ”  Easton McNeal reports that in a message asking for money, a female Democratic member of Congress said that Palin is, “no Hillary Clinton. She’s Dan Quayle in a dress.”  And madamab at The Confluence points out what the two choices for vice president tell us about the candidates picking them.

For pure dumbheaded inability to see the advantages in the selection of Palin, and failure to understand Rovian headfakery, read Steve Soto at Crooks and Liars.  Jeralyn falls into the inexperience trap, and so does Rahm Emanuel.  Joe Conason brings up the dreaded T word: “McCain’s Palin pick is the epitome of tokenism”.  Earth to Joe: TALKING ABOUT TOKENISM REMINDS US OF TOKENISM IN THE APPOINTMENT OF OBAMA AS THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE.  Honestly, smart people can be so dumb sometimes.

Obama/Biden Palin Comparison (by garychapelhill at The Confluence)
McCain … has just told the biggest voting block in the nation that while they may have disagreements on issues, even issues that are extremely important to a lot of women, he acknowledges their importance to the governance of this nation, and lets everyone know that he believes a woman is capable of governing the most powerful nation on Earth.   And in my opinion that’s a big deal.  Why?  Because for all of their boasting about being progressive on women’s issues, the Democratic Party has shown through their actions that they don’t buy what they themselves are selling.
And Palin hasn’t been friends with even one unrepentant home-grown terrorist.

As GOP’s Palin campaigns, Obama ad calls her a distraction (McClatchy)
WASHINGTON, Pa. — Republican John McCain showed off his vice presidential running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, in this key battleground state Saturday as Democratic rival Barack Obama’s campaign aired a new TV ad urging voters not be distracted by McCain putting a woman on the GOP ticket.
Yep, unimportant.  A distraction.  Why don’t you brush her off your shoulder, Barack, the way you did Hillary.  Or flip her the bird.  It was so classy when you did that.

This must stop, Obama said, describing the past twenty years (by Bob Somerby at the Daily Howler)
[Thursday] night, Obama threw down the gauntlet. Before the fall campaign began, he offered the public a framework for viewing the campaign’s contents. Some distractions concerning Obama have involved issues that smack of patriotism; [Thursday] night, he said “the times are too serious” to allow such distractions to prosper… And he said it has to stop. It doesn’t have to stop, of course, just because we’ve been handed this framework. But now that Obama himself has said this, fiery fellows at your “liberal journals” may decide to repeat what he said. You see, these are the types of fiery players who wait until it’s safe before speaking. They like repeating what others have said–preferably, somebody famous.
And how have those fellows at the “liberal journals” responded?  Why, to attack the Republican soon-to-be nominee for vice president, of course, in much the same way they trashed Hillary Clinton.

Alter channels Burton, and Kos becomes freeperland 2.0 (by garychapelhill at The Confluence)

[T]he truly nasty rhetoric [is from] the cheetah [Daily Kos] boys.  Take this diary from Kos…: “Palin’s faked ‘pregnancy’?  Covering for teen daughter?…” Not only is this kind of slander below even the most disgusting low-life freeper [frequenter of the right-wing FreeRepublic.com], it only gets worse in the comments sections. “I think the bigger story here is why Sara was doing Fetal Genetic Testing at 4 months. Was she considering an abortion potentially?” So if you don’t agree with her politics its ok to speculate about the most obscene things and demand to know if she considered an abortion?
Remember when Hillary’s eight years at the power center of the world wasn’t considered experience?  When she was just President Clinton’s wife?  When she only won her senate seat because people were sorry for her in the way Bill Clinton treated her?  When she was “likeable enough”?  When we could nominate “a woman, but not THIS woman”?  When Obama could give Hillary the finger and be applauded?  When he could play at a rally “99 problems but a bitch ain’t one”?  This kind of crap is from your self-proclaimed liberals, America.  These are the people who tell us we MUST vote for Barack Obama because he will be the savior of our reproductive rights.  As if the Democratic-controlled Congress has no choice in the matter.

THE PAST WEEK… (InsightAnalytical)
I haven’t gone to the ORANGE site [Daily Kos] in months, but was compelled to see for myself the post questioning whether Sarah Palin as the mother of her Down’s Syndrome baby or whether it belongs to one of her teen-age daughters. Classy.  No matter that someone has provided a picture of Palin while pregnant (scroll down).  The original post still sits there.

They just can’t help themselves, can they? (by lambert at Corrente)
Here’s the very first comment from The Obama 527 Formerly Known As Daily Kos on McCain picking Sarah Palin for VP: “The Old Man and the She”… It’s a two-fer! Sexist and ageist! Well done. Here’s the sixth comment: “You think McCain maybe misunderstood… that just because she’s his ‘running mate’ doesn’t mean he gets to mate with her?”…  Lest I be accused of cherry-picking comments, Kos is a community site; the comment ratings are there exactly to reinforce Kos community norms. The screen dump for the first comment shows a rating of 16+; the uprate count is now 95+. The sixth comment is now uprated at 24+. Sexism is a community norm at Kos. QED.

Sarah Palin: Bring on that Moulitsas-brand misogyny! (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)
From a tactical point of view, Governor Sarah Palin was the best choice available to John McCain. Her negatives — the relative inexperience, the brother-in-law thing — won’t matter to swing voters… She’ll thrill the fundamentalists, and even those who disagree with her views on abortion must admire her devotion to principle. She does not support same-sex marriage but implemented same-sex benefits in Alaska — which means that her position essentially mirrors that of John Kerry. (Added note: Her position also matches the current stance of Barack Obama. Which, to be fair, he may change again tomorrow.)

Her personal story is certainly more impressive Obama’s. She achieved a powerful office while raising five children, including one with Down’s syndrome. By contrast, Obama was told: “Here’s a pot of money; take 18 months to write a book.” And even then, he dawdled… All that is necessary is for Cheeto-head [Daily Kos] “progressives” to continue alienating Clinton supporters by indulging in loud misogyny. And lo! They are doing just that. “what creepy eyes that woman has!” “Straight Outta’ Stepford, baby.” “What a witch.” “pouty lips..She probably had her lips Lipoed !”

Saturday Night Free For All (PUMAPac)
I learned today that one of the anti-puma hate sites has posted personal and attacking references to Diane Mantovalous and me and others. They have also tried to dig into the pasts and personal lives of other Pumas. They have also attacked my mother. Listen up Pumas, if you are in any way public as a Puma be prepared to have any and every embarrassing, disparaging, and damaging fact from your life publicized and ridiculed.
Click through to read some of the hate mail.

Full Disclosure (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
[Regarding the above excerpt:] I have to say that I am not surprised.  Given the way the Obama campaign has run things this year, it’s just par for the course that they would set out to harm us in our personal lives.  But I am no worse nor better than any other American.  I am a law abiding citizen, try to stay out of trouble and keep to myself… In any case, attempting to destroy the lives of private citizens simply because they do not agree with you is pretty low.  Funny that it is coming from the Democrats this year since the Republicans have nothing to fear from us.  Unless there is a Rovian ratf%^*ing operation underway.

Scratching Post Saturday Night – Democracy is more important than my LadyParts (by sm77 at The Confluence)
I will support DownTicket Dems even if they were a participant in the Death Of Democracy in the Democratic Party - because they will ensure that McCain and Palin’s power do not go unchecked.  And numbers say that in 40 years and 5 Republican presidents with very conservative Supreme Court majorities haven’t turned over Roe v. Wade, so why should they now?  Obama stole a campaign and attacked with his rabid cyber-dogs and cultlike supporters in the media.  What makes you think he’s going to protect MY rights as a woman after he let misogyny be the main weapon to suppress dissent?  Democracy is much more important to me than my uterus, so go do your job instead of deciding what my ladyparts should be doing/thinking.

Anybody Want a Stuffed Unity Jackass? Anybody? (by LisaB at No Quarter)
The Democratic party has no values other than staying in power. Equal rights for women became unequal pay in the Obama campaign and an organized effort to get a strong female candidate to leave the race early. Support for the LGBT community morphed into Obama not having a picture taken with the mayor of San Francisco and the effort to remove a gay state legislator in Alabama. Ending the war turned into talking mean [and] funding it anyway… Holding the Bush administration to account turned into taking impeachment off the table and holding hearings, instead, on baseball. Post-racial politics became a 20+ year association with the likes of Rev. “God-damn-America” Wright and Father “There was a whole lot of white people crying” Pfleger…

Who are these people? What do they believe in? You know, I don’t care. They won’t tell me the truth anyway, and I don’t trust them. Any moral authority the party enjoyed as a result of its “core values” is long gone. This is not the Democratic party I used to know, and I’ve outgrown them.

Fair is Fair! (by myiq2xu at The Confluence)
[A]nyone who supported Barack Obama in whole or in part because of his race, cannot criticize anyone who supports Sarah Palin in whole or in part because of her gender.  Fair is fair… If the Democratic leadership had not been infected with CDS, they would have given Hillary the Presidential nomination that she both deserved and rightfully earned, and had he run a clean campaign they could have selected Barack Obama as her running mate. Had the Democratic leadership done so, both candidates would have blasted the glass ceiling to smithereens in November, and a more experienced Barack Obama would be perfectly positioned to follow Hillary into the Presidency eight years from now.  That would be sixteen straight years that the Oval Office was not occupied by a white man.

But the Democratic leadership was too full of hatred for the Clintons, and Barack Obama too arrogant and impatient to wait or to allow a woman to go first, so John McCain and the GOP have seized the golden opportunity presented to them.  Until [Friday] morning I thought John McCain would more likely than not defeat Barack Obama in November.  Barring any unseen developments, I am now certain of it.

I Approve the Entertainment Value of This Campaign (by Arthur Silber at The Power of Narrative)
Some strategist working for McCain (and McCain himself perhaps) is one devious and crafty bastard. By selecting Palin, all the ugliness of the Democratic primary is dredged up again — and this time it may both turn off some Democrats and redound to the Republicans’ benefit. It’s the devil again! So we can look forward to someone like Keith Olbermann telling us that Sarah Palin is just like that crazed woman played by Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction — but this time, after she got religion. It’ll be awful, but it’s entertainment!

Hillary’s Delegates in Denver – Gloria Allred (by Alegre)
Gloria Allred – feminist attorney and all around @ss-kicker … fought like hell to point out the unfair treatment of Hillary and her supporters, and called on the DNC to conduct a full and open roll call of the delegates for the record.  She also turned up to a California state delegation meeting with a gag in her mouth after they refused to let her speak to other Hillary delegates.
Please try to imagine what might have happened at the convention if Barack Obama’s delegates had been treated this way.

Basic Instinct (by Anglachel)
To take up my previous posts about how Republicans will focus on Affirmative Action, not race, in this election, choosing Palin allows the Republicans to present an argument that they are not racist or sexist, but that they oppose unjustified promotions above your pay grade… The general election is now in doubt for the Democrats because Obama has spent most of a year kicking the Clinton Democrats, the base of the party, to the curb. His refusal to even consider our candidate for the ticket shows he puts his emotional satisfaction ahead of the political needs of the party. The campaign’s first reaction to Palin was an attack on the person, exactly in the mode of their hateful attacks on Hillary – sexist, disdainful, mocking, and crude. This doesn’t speak to the Democratic base and it only riles up the Republicans to defend their candidate.

IF YOU’RE NOT FOR MCCAIN-PALIN…….YOU’RE SEXIST (Chicago Against Obama, a Republican site)
-If McCain-Palin poll numbers drop…….well…I’m going to blame it on sexism
-If anyone calls Sarah Palin inexperienced………we know they are sexist
-If Sarah’s middle name is mentioned…….sexist
-If someone asks about Sarah’s preacher…..or close associates……..you better believe they’re doing it because they hate women……

What Palin Said About Clinton (by Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft)
There has been a lot of coverage in the Left blogs about comments made by Sarah Palin about Hillary Clinton. And let me be clear, the comments are bad. But I think it is important to state precisely what the comments were. Too often the Left screams about deceptive misquotations…, so I think it is important not to live in a glass house. So here is what Palin said, in pertinent part: “…[F]air or unfair and I do think it is a more concentrated criticism that Hillary gets on so many fronts, and I think that is unfortunate, she does herself a disservice to even mention it…” Palin accepts that Hillary Clinton suffered from sexist coverage (something the Left blogs have NOT accepted. See John Aravosis for instance) but that Hillary should have sucked it up. Pretty bad stuff. But she did not call Hillary a whiner or deny that Hillary faced sexism.

Her attitude was similar to that exhibited by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi: “‘Yes, there was sexism,’ Pelosi told a group of reporters… Pelosi also said that she has been a victim of sexism, ‘all the time. But I just think it goes with the territory.’” I found Pelosi’s statements to be bad too. I found the denials of sexism, and the ignoring of sexism to be incredibly bad on the Left, particularly in the blogs. Let me put it this way, most of the Left blogs are the wrong messengers for attacking Sarah Palin on this statement.
Click through to watch the Pelosi video.

Saturday: Truth and Consequences (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
[Myth:] You’re all going to vote for McCain because he picked Palin and it’s all identity politics. Truth: Not necessarily.  Some of us will never be able to cross that ideological divide.  But Palin was the deciding factor for a good many people…  McCain did something that the DNC refused to do- honor women voters.  As Chicago Dyke said: “More than anything else, she is a clear warning: someone in the McCain campaing has a brain. Bigger than Rove’s, bigger than McCain’s. Fear that, if you long for Democratic victory this fall.”

More than anything else, we want to punish the DNC for turning its back on voters who went to the primary polls in good faith to vote for Hillary Clinton… Our delegates were harrassed and intimidated, our persons and characters insulted and derided, our candidate of choice, a brilliant, energetic, dedicated public servant, reduced to a figurehead of “your time has come and gone”.  We were told in no uncertain terms that OUR chance to lead the country had slipped through our fingers in favor of a bunch of amateurish, idealistic, young thugs.
Of course, as I’ve said, I think that Palin WAS Karl Rove’s pick.

I own my vote and you own yours (by katiebird at The Confluence)
This is the year I learned that a lot of people think they can control my vote. It seems the country will completely fall apart if I don’t promise – today, yesterday – to vote for Barack Obama!  And the whole world is at risk if I even flirt with the idea of voting for McCain. Now I’m always interested in talking about it but, these people (people?) have the strangest way of engaging in these conversations that I’ve ever experienced. I’ve never been insulted so often for a vote I don’t intend to cast. You see, as of today I don’t intend to vote for John McCain.  I happen to believe that Barack Obama is unelectable making it a complete waste of a bloody nose for me to vote for him. Although at the rate this campaign is evolving, I could change my mind about that….

The New Agenda (thanks to Dr. Violet Socks at The Reclusive Leftist)
“If women want any rights more than they’s got, why don’t they just take them, and not be talking about it.” – Sojourner Truth
Dear friends in the feminist and progressive community:
We’re writing to announce the launch of The New Agenda, a new non-partisan group formed to promote women’s rights… Please help us get the word out about our group.  If you have a blog, please consider posting a link to us with a word to your readers about our organization.  Even better, we’d love to be listed on your blogroll.
To join:  JoinTheNewAgenda@yahoo.com
Media inquiries:  newagendapress@yahoo.com

A Green Perspective on the Democrats (The Nation)
The Democrats aren’t the only ones making speeches in Denver. Green Party presidential nominee Cynthia McKinney, the former Democratic congresswoman from Georgia, was in town to address a large “Stop the War” rally. Here’s her take on what Democrats are calling a “transformational moment” in American politics:

Our country has been hijacked and the Democrats have proven themselves to have been in on the plan. When it came to the Constitution, the Democratic leadership showed us that aiding and abetting illegal spying on us was more important to them than protecting our civil liberties.

When it came to war and occupation, the Democratic leadership showed us that financing an illegal and immoral war, based on lies, was more important to them than the people’s desire for peace.

And when the people, hurting from the financial mismanagement of this country, called for accountability for the crimes that have been committed against the people here, against the global community, against nature, itself, the Democratic leadership took impeachment off the table!
McKinney is the nominee that The Nation should endorse.  And Progressive Democrats of America.  And Democracy for America.  And every labor union.  And every other group that claims to be liberal or progressive.

56% now want a third major party (McKinney 2008)
Many adults in the United States are voicing support for a new option in the country’s political scene, according to a poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. 56 per cent of respondents believe the U.S. should have a third major political party… Earlier this month, former Georgia congresswoman Cynthia McKinney became the Green Party’s presidential nominee, declaring, “We are in this to build a movement… A vote for the Green Party is a vote for the movement that will turn this country right-side-up again.”

Permanent link to MTA daily media news

Cyclops and the Sirens to Open for Obama (by Pat Racimora at No Quarter)

Obama’s “Greek temple” Built by Britney Spears’ Set Designer (by bostonboomer at The Confluence)
Yes, Conflucians, it’s true… The Republicans are going to have a field day with this one.

[Thursday night’s] Message? (by Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft)
Um, so the message [Thursday night] is that Democrats like to go to concerts? And the “Yes, We Can” song? With Obama speaking cuts in the middle and big pictures of Obama? Not a good idea. In my opinion of course. I’m not following what this is supposed to be achieving tonight.

Good News and Bad News (by Susie at Suburban Guerrilla)
Pat Buchanan calls Obama’s speech the finest he’s ever heard. The bad news is, he liked it because “it isn’t a liberal speech.

Surface and Depth (by Anglachel)
Bill [Clinton] knows that trying to tie McCain to Bush won’t work. Gore and Kerry both lost running campaigns about being better than the other guy, because the other guy can and will (with the full complicity of the MSM, as the Incomparable Bob Somerby reminds us) trample our goodness into the ground. What the Big Dog did, what Hillary did, was tie both McCain and Bush to the fucked up political philosophy of the Right. They made the argument about more than a single administration – it is against the Republicans as such, from Reagan forward…

Listening to the current Democratic leadership, reading the triumphalism on the fauxgressive blogs, and particularly hearing the drumbeat for “bipartisanship”, I want to shake these fools out of their inability to recognize what has happened to the country over the last quarter century (actually longer, since Nixon forward)… They have eagerly taken on the superficial trappings of the Right – pandering to religious kooks, backing down on civil rights, abandoning even the pretense of social and economic equity, flatly saying they will not entertain an ambitious health care reform plan – and have no sense of the depth of change they could accomplish if they would trust to their own party’s philosophy.

Dems’ Big Blunder and McCain’s Big Chance (by Dick Morris)
Many political campaigns run against the wrong candidate. The opportunity to pick on a vulnerable target is so tempting that they are lured into attacking someone who isn’t running… That’s what the Democratic convention has been doing in Denver. They are so anxious to run against Bush, their animosity is so pent up, that they persist in running against a man who is not seeking a third term. In speech after speech, the Democrats knock the Bush record and then add, lamely, that GOP candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) is the same as Bush. Or they call the McCain candidacy Bush’s third term. It was no accident — or Freudian slip — when vice presidential nominee Sen. Joseph Biden (Del.) spoke of John Bush instead of George in his litany of attacks.
Here you go, all of you who rejoiced when Dick Morris attacked Hillary so hatefully during the primaries.  Here’s your payback.

MSNBC Host Rips AP Reporter’s Analysis of Obama Speech (by Greg Mitchell, Editor & Publisher)
NEW YORK In an unusually heated attack on a veteran political reporter by a cable news host, MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann laced into the Associated Press’s Charles Babington an hour after Barack Obama had concluded his speech in Denver on Thursday night. With rare exception, nearly all of the top commentators and reporters on the three cable news networks had hailed Obama’s speech as something new and powerful… So Olbermann was outraged that the AP’s Babington had written, in his analysis of the speech, just off the wire, that Obama had tried nothing new and that his speech was lacking in specifics.
Olbermann has to defend his choice.  He used his position on a cable network to viciously attack Hillary Clinton in order to help Obama steal the nomination.  Any criticism of his candidate has to be brutally attacked, to protect his investment.  How is this behavior different from those who let themselves be fooled into supporting the Iraq War, and now are still defending their position?  And why does a person who claims to be a journalist allow himself to fall in love with a candidate, to the point where he will defend him to the death?

Kangaroo Convention (by Dr. Violet Socks at Reclusive Leftist)
I’m not watching the convention. I can’t stand it. It’s embarrassing. It makes the Politburo under Brezhnev look like a beacon of democracy. It makes China’s National Party Congress look like an anarchists’ convention. They’re laughing at us in Europe; you realize that. Here’s the Grundian: “Obama wins make-believe Democratic party vote designed to be won by Obama”… Incredible. It wasn’t enough to have the usual fake roll-call vote; they had to interrupt it for a fake nomination-by-acclamation. And this after [Tuesday] night’s travesty of forcing the actual winner of the Democratic primaries — Hillary Clinton — to rally the party behind the crook who stole the nomination.

Possums on the scene in Denver are said to be wondering aloud why the convention doesn’t seem to be having an energizing effect on the country. Who in the hell do they think they’re kidding? Every sentient being in America knows that the Democratic Party is divided in half and that Hillary won the popular vote in the primaries. Tricking out the Pepsi Center to look like a Vegas lounge and having Nancy Pelosi lead the delegates in “kumbaya” is not fooling anyone. The only message the DNC is sending the country is, “We are complete and utter phonies.”

The Dirt on the Delegate Count (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
I just got off the phone with Michele Thomas of 300 Delegates and she and John West have some hair raising details about what went on with the roll call vote.  The connection wasn’t great so the details are sketchy but here’s the gist of it:
• The Obama camp went after the swing states.  Guess what?  New Jersey is now considered a swing state.  I’ve been saying this would happen for months.  John McCain could snag this state…
• Delegates report that they were harrassed by Obama whips shouting at them in the hallways to get in line or their political careers would be over.
• This one is interesting: The Edwards delegates voted in the morning for Edwards to keep faith with their voters but were told that they could change their vote in the afternoon if it was in by 4:30pm.  Some of them were planning to switch to Hillary.  But when they went to change their vote as they were told they could do, they were told that they wouldn’t be able to do it…
And it all transpired on national TV where the whole world was watching.

Hillary’s Orange Pantsuit (by Puget Sound Island Girl at That’s Me on the Left)
Everyone knew when Obama gave Sen. Hillary Clinton the finger. Even the Obamabots in the crowd knew and they loved his big F-You to Hillary… Well, when Hillary gives the finger to Obama, et al. it is done in such a classy way that I am sure the Obots missed the big “F-You!”… [Tuesday] night Hillary came out in her orange pantsuit and I giggled about the possible subliminal message… Orange is the symbolic color of the Ukrainian Revolutionaries who protested the “selection” of the President in a rigged election. There was massive corruption, voter intimidation and direct electoral fraud. Sound familiar???? In the end the Orange Revolution was successful. There was a re-vote that was watched by world observers (that’s what we needed here!) and Yushchenko became the President. I guess only “rigged” elections in foreign countries get world outcry.
If you’re doubting The Finger episode, read this.

Random post-convention thoughts (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)
Obama’s speech: I thought he spoke well. But how can I believe him? He lied about NAFTA. He lied about campaign finance. He lied about FISA. He lied about opposing the war during his Senate campaign. He lied about knowing Tony Rezko. He has lied incessantly. He challenged McCain to run a dignified campaign based on the issues, eschewing character attacks or “gotcha” moments. He made me so angry I nearly tossed a book at the television screen. Obama is the man who injected smear-based politics into the Democratic party…

I don’t think Obama will be the next president. But if I am wrong, expect a fairly quick impeachment, since Fat Tony [Rezko appars to be getting ready to sing. (More on that score soon.) So who should a Presdient Biden pick as VP? I'm thinking Gore...

Is Something Wrong? (by myiq2xu at Klownhaus)
Chris Bowers senses that something is wrong: “I am feeling really frustrated today. I am sensing that something is wrong with this convention, and that there will be no bounce. I don’t know exactly what we need to do to get a bounce, but I do know that we haven’t done it yet…” Well Chris, you’re in luck.  I think I know what ails you. The convention feels wrong BECAUSE IT IS WRONG! It’s your conscience that is bothering you, and the feel of bad karma.  It’s guilt and the feeling of impending doom… This Democratic convention will live in infamy.  And karma is a bitch.

Tom Toles

What's missing from the Democratic convention? (by Glenn Greenwald at Unclaimed Territory, Salon)
[A]s competent, well-executed and even dramatic as the Convention has been, … there is almost no mention of, let alone focus on, the sheer radicalism and extremism of the last eight years… More politically damaging still is the absence of any truly stinging attacks on John McCain… The GOP assaults on Barack Obama will be — have already been — even more vicious and personalized, which means by the end of their Convention next week, John McCain will be, by all accounts, an honor-bound, principled and courageous patriot (who, at worst, is wrong on some issues), while Barack Obama will be some vaguely foreign, weak, appeasing, super-ambitious, exotic, empty-headed, borderline un-American liberal extremist.

Democrats seem to be banking on the fact that the agreement which most Americans have with their policy positions, along with widespread dissatisfaction with the current state of things, will outweigh the effects of this personality war — a war which they, yet again, have allowed to be one-sided.
And when they do attack, they attack the wrong things.  Attacking McCain’s age will just alienate another whole segment of the population.  Pretty soon there will be no one at all left under the big tent.

Democrats Proudly Plan to Play AGE Card in Toledo [Friday] (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
Democrats are eagerly sending around a story from the Dallas Morning News, reporting that “mischievous Democrats” are planning on meeting Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in Toledo tomorrow, on McCain’s 72nd birthday, with a cake with 72 candles on it… This coincides with a Democratic convention week where speakers are trotting out all sorts of senility-conjuring language when describing the GOP nominee: “old,” “tired,” “asleep at the switch,” and “kindly Old Doc McCain.”

Daily Show: Howard Dean goes “inside John McCain’s brain” (by SilentPatriot at Crooks and Liars)
DNC Chairman Howard Dean appeared on The Daily Show Wednesday night and got in a not-so-subtle dig at John McCain’s age. “Dean: ‘Is there a delay [in the audio feed] here? I think there’s a delay. It’s like inside John McCain’s brain.’”

Schumer Hits Conservatives For Launching Petty Attacks: ‘When People Are Hurting, It Doesn’t Work’ (Think Progress)
Today at the Democratic National Convention, Sen. Charles Schumer stopped by the Big Tent and ThinkProgress was able to speak with him about whether the “fundamentals of the economy are strong,” as Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has stated. Schumer pointed to the decreasing buying power of the average U.S. family and criticized conservatives for launching petty attacks while ignoring the real issues facing Americans.
Chuck Schumer is wrong.  They do work.  It’s the only thing the Republicans have, since they’re wrong on all the issues.  But the attacks work.  The Democratic leadership is living in a dream world.  Again.

Obama/Ayers Update: Obama Campaign Unleashes “Turbas” on WGN Radio Host (by Steve Diamond at No Quarter)
Chicago is home to a retired conservative University of Chicago professor named Milt Rosenberg who hosts an evening talk show on WGN radio… [T]he Milt Rosenberg show was the subject of a wave of hostile attacks from followers of the Obama campaign because Milt had the nerve to put on his show Dr. Stanley Kurtz, a journalist and conservative intellectual who writes for National Review Online. Dr. Kurtz has been writing a series of articles on Obama and, in particular on Obama’s political activities while in Chicago… Caller after caller to WGN read off talking points provided them by the Obama campaign alleging that Dr. Kurtz, and by implication and sometimes directly, Milt Rosenberg, was “smearing” Barack Obama and finding Obama “guilty by association.”  They also accused Kurtz of lying.  Yet, when pressed for specifics, these callers had none…

[I]t is a hard fact that Ayers and Obama knew each other well before the time the Obama campaign has stated in the past.  And clearly Obama well knew that Ayers was not just a guy from the neighborhood as he stated on national TV… For whatever reason, Obama chose Ayers as an ally at a critical point in his career.  The post at the CAC was big step up for the young lawyer.  Obama, though, could have made other choices. He could have said no to Ayers.  But they worked together on school reform for years, then on juvenile justice issues and then on the board of the Woods Fund.

Denial (by Arthur Silber at The Power of Narrative)
[Many] will tell us, we must still vote for Obama and the Democrats (the “more and better” ones, that is), because –
The Democrats will end the occupation of Iraq [Oops, strike that.]
The Democrats will never wage war on Iran [Oops, strike that.]
The Democrats won’t engage hostilities with Russia [Oops, strike that.]…
because…because…because…be…cause…b e c a u… Oh, I remember. Because McCain is crazy! And he’s old! But Obama and the more/better Democrats are sane and young! And the sane, young Democrats are also fully committed to, embody and advance the authoritarian-corporatist state at home and the insanely aggressive interventionist foreign policy!… Decisions, decisions. But we have a choice! Is this a fucking great country or what?

McCain Camp Statement on Obama’s Nomination Acceptance Speech (The Page, Time)
“Tonight, Americans witnessed a misleading speech that was so fundamentally at odds with the meager record of Barack Obama. When the temple comes down, the fireworks end, and the words are over, the facts remain: Senator Obama still has no record of bipartisanship, still opposes offshore drilling, still voted to raise taxes on those making just $42,000 per year, and still voted against funds for American troops in harm’s way. The fact remains: Barack Obama is still not ready to be President.”
Anglachel has warned us.

New McCain Ad — Remote Control  (by Charles Lemos at By The Fault)
The McCain campaign released a new ad today entitled “Remote Control” showing a television running scenes of a world in turmoil with an inset quoting Democratic leaders on how Senator Obama is too inexperienced to be President. The ad is a 60-second spot.

McCain picks a running mate (Hot off the Trail, McClatchy)
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain has decided on a running mate, but campaign officials were being mum Thursday night about who it is. Those officials said they weren’t going to reveal the identity of McCain’s Number Two Thursday night because they didn’t want to step on Barack Obama’s moment at the Democratic National Convention, where he spoke to more than 75,000 people at Denver’s Invesco Field at Mile High. McCain was in a hotel room in Dayton, Ohio, Thursday night. He will introduce his VP pick Friday at a rally in an indoor basketball stadium in Dayton.

What If McCain Picks A Woman VP? (by Ronald Winter at Winter’s Soldiers Story)
Well, what if McCain does select a woman as his running mate? Personally, I think it would be the death knell for the Democratic campaign, based of course on the assumption that his selection is a good one and can stand up to campaign scrutiny… On a purely political level they also would certainly draw large numbers of Democratic women voters to the GOP in response to Barack Obama’s disrespectful treatment of Hillary Clinton. Then there’s the stage-managed sham called the Democratic Convention that was engineered to cloak the closeness of the Democratic race between Obama and Clinton… [I]magine what it would do, not just image-wise but in reality, for our party, and certainly for our presidential campaign team, if McCain was standing side-by-side with a Senator like Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Governor like Sarah Palin, or a CEO like Meg Whitman as his running mate and vice-presidential nominee.
Ron is a Republican, in case you hadn’t guessed.

Could hurricane delay GOP convention? (Hot off the Trail, McClatchy)
John McCain’s campaign suggested Thursday that the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul could be delayed next week if Tropical Storm Gustav turns into a hurricane and hits the Gulf Coast. GOP officials are looking to avoid any reminders of Hurricane Katrina and the Bush administration lackluster initial response to it. “Sen. McCain has always been sensitive to national crisis – in the 2000 race he postponed his announcement (to run for president) because of the situation in the Balkans – and we are monitoring the situation very closely,” said Tucker Bounds, a McCain campaign spokesman.

McCain campaign denies Goodman is ‘an advisor.’ (Think Progress)
[Wednesday], McCain health care architect John Goodman told the Dallas Morning News yesterday that there are no “uninsured” people in America because Americans have access to emergency rooms, which is a radical view of health care in this country. Now, the McCain campaign is trying to distance itself from Goodman, telling The New Republic’s Jonathan Cohn that “he is not an advisor“… But in July, when Goodman wrote a WSJ op-ed praising McCain’s health care plan, he was labeled “an unpaid adviser to the McCain campaign” by the paper.

Viewers Don’t Seem To Tune Out Overkill (by Joanna Weiss, Boston Globe)
Politics is serious business, and yet, what these conventions really are, besides free commercials for the presidential campaigns, are loud and rarefied gathering places for hobbyists.

The Best 2008 Political Convention Coverage Online (by Mark Glaser at MediaShift)
An interesting trend at the conventions this year is that it’s more difficult to tell the independent bloggers from the mainstream media bloggers. As traditional media embraces a multi-platform approach, including their audience in citizen media reports, the distinction between who deserves a media credential and who doesn’t has blurred like never before.

Media Matters for America headlines

• MSNBC airs “pretty smart” McCain ad congratulating Obama without noting attacks on the same day

• Cameron called McCain VP stories “erroneous reports” and said Fox News didn’t report them — but it did

• Medved interspersed clips from Kucinich’s DNC speech with clips of Adolf Hitler

• On Fox, Huckabee misrepresented Obama plans for health care, taxes

• AP misrepresents McCain’s positions on same-sex marriage, civil unions, abortion

• O’Reilly falsely suggested no abortion laws prohibit abortions in cases of rape and incest

• Noonan claimed Obama’s DNC speech at Invesco Field “has every possibility of looking like a Nuremberg rally”

• MSNBC’s Buchanan didn’t hear any DNC speakers say “the word ‘Guantánamo’ ” — but Kerry did, just as MSNBC cut to commercial

• In WND column, Corsi co-author Craig R. Smith called Obama “our first hip-hop president”

Judges consider whether FBI violated free speech
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A panel of federal appeals court judges pushed a U.S. government lawyer on Wednesday to answer why FBI letters sent out to Internet service providers seeking information should remain secret. A panel of three judges from the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments on whether a provision of the Patriot Act, which requires people who are formally contacted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for information to keep it a secret, is constitutional.

Trial set for Cuban punk rocker
Cuba has ordered the jailed punk rocker Gorki Águila, an outspoken critic of Fidel Castro and the Communist government, to stand trial Friday for “social dangerousness,” a charge that could carry up to four years in prison.

“Kill Bill O’Reilly” rap results in death threats
The rap trio East Coast Avengers say the threats they’re receving via e-mail and MySpace posts “all get about a D-minus in grammar and spelling.” In their “Kill Bill O’Reilly” single, the lyrics call for the Fox News star to “be hanged like Benito Mussolini and otherwise killed.”

AllVoices: New Prize for Excellence in Citizen Media
User-generated content may still be difficult to monetize, but it may be able to earn those users a bit of cash if it’s got some quality. New citizen journalism site AllVoices, which describes itself as an “open media site where anyone can report from anywhere,” launched its Excellence in Citizen Media program — where contributors can earn up to $10,000.

‘Times-Pic’ Katrina Anniversary Also Eyes Looming Storm
NEW YORK As the three-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina looms on Friday, it is not a surprise that the Times-Picayune of New Orleans would devote its entire Page One to hurricane coverage. But, with a strong tropical storm, Gustav, possibly targeting the city — and likely to spark some weekend evacuations — the paper is having to mix reminders of the 2005 storm with preparations for yet another potential devastation… In 2005, when the hurricane struck on the night of Sunday, Aug. 29, the Times-Picayune remained in its New Orleans home until the morning of Tuesday, Aug. 31. Most of the staff traveled to Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, about 80 miles north, where the paper operated for several weeks.
The Picayune did an amazing job in the aftermath of Katrina.

I Owe Anthrax Suspect an Apology (by Nicholas Kristof, New York Times)
Dr. Steven Hatfill sued me and The New York Times, along with others in the news media and the Justice Department. His suit against me and the Times was dismissed, yet even if I don’t have a legal obligation, I do feel a moral one to express regret for any added distress from my columns.

No Axings at Bloomberg Over Steve Jobs Obit
Will someone really get fired at Bloomberg over the accidental publication of a pre-written obituary for Steve Jobs, Apple’s ailing but still very much breathing CEO? A Bloomberg spokeswoman says no. “This was a routine update of his biography by the obits department,” says the spokeswoman. “It was not meant for publication and by mistake was put on the external wire instead of the internal wire for a moment.”

Outside Coming to Your TV in November
Outside’s editor Christopher Keyes recently mentioned the mag’s first foray into television: “We’ve got our first TV production coming out on the Travel Channel in November, which we’re pretty excited about, and we’re looking to develop a lot more television programming.”

Google To Get New Satellite Imagery From GeoEye (Mashable)
Unhappy with the quality of satellite imagery on Google Maps and Google Earth? You’re in for a treat: Google has signed a deal with GeoEye Inc and will be receiving imagery from their new high resolution satellite called GeoEye-1. GeoEye spokesman Mark Brender claims that the new satellite will provide the highest resolution commercial imagery available, at .41 meters in black and white and 1.65 meters in color. Yes, that means: stay locked inside your house if you want privacy, cause it’ll all be out there in high-res on Google Maps and Google Earth for everyone to see.

Comcast to make monthly Internet use cap official
NEW YORK (AP) – Comcast Corp., the nation’s second-largest Internet service provider, Thursday said it would set an official limit on the amount of data subscribers can download and upload each month.

AT&T’s Rivals Are Happy to Attack Over iPhone’s Network Woes
The debut of Apple’s iPhone 3G cellphones has been a public relations headache for AT&T, after complaints of dropped calls and poor network connections.

Amazon: No New Kindle This Year; ‘Sometime Next Year Earliest’ (Paid Content)
What a buzz kill … Amazon spokesman Craig Berman tells the NYT: “Don’t believe everything you read. … There’s a lot of rumor and speculation about the Kindle. One thing I can tell you for sure is that there will be no new version of the Kindle this year. A new version is possible sometime next year at the earliest.” He didn’t fuel any of the other fires, like the textbook version that’s the subject of so much speculation these days or the sleeker model predicted for months to arrive this fall.

Permanent link to MTA daily media news

Obama set to woo nation with historic speech
AP – Barack Obama stands before delegates and the nation Thursday — the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech — to accept the Democratic presidential nomination, the first black man to claim such a prize.
After having roughhoused the first woman who had a chance to claim that prize, and refused her the right to a full roll call for fear he might lose.

CQ Politics

Bush’s 2004 temple (Politico)
Barack Obama’s appearance in Denver won’t be the first convention speech framed by Greek columns – Republicans who are mocking Obama’s appearance haven’t mentioned it, but George W. Bush accepted his own nomination in 2004 on a set with a similar neoclassical theme.
Is this what Democrats want?  For Obama to be compared to George Bush?

McCain to DNC attendees: go Roman (Hot off the Trail, McClatchy)
John McCain’s presidential campaign issued a press release Wednesday suggesting what people should wear to Barack Obama’s acceptance speech Thursday at Denver’s massive Invesco Field at Mile High football stadium: togas. “Today, workers at Invesco Field are putting the final touches on the newest wonder of the modern political world – The Temple of Obama (”The Barackopolis”),” the McCain release said, sticking to the campaign’s strategy of trying to label Obama as elitist or “The One.” “It is upon this pulpit that Barack Obama will tomorrow night adress thousands of screaming, adoring fans.”
The McCain campaign is winning the humor war.

How Many at Invesco Field Will Be There Because They’ve Been Coerced?? Here’s a true example…. (InsightAnalytical)
My neighbors’ daughter lives in Denver, where she works for a union. She was told by her boss that she was going to have to go to the Invesco Field extravaganza “to represent the union.”  She was given  2 tickets. She asked everyone she knew to go with here, because she didn’t want to go on her own.  Friends, neighbors… NOBODY wanted to go. She finally found a woman, through one of her contacts, who was willing to accompany her. Is my neighbor’s daughter an Obama fan? NO. She will not be voting for him… And yet, she is being forced to go on the orders of her boss… Unbelievable?  Not this year, not from this Democratic Party and their candidate….

Quote of the Day (Political Wire )
“No, I never thought I would live to see it. I thought it would happen one day, but I never thought I would live to see it. It will be a great thing to have lived to see it.” — Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), quoted by CQ Politics, on an African-American accepting the nomination of a major party for president.

Obama’s Worst Enemies: Clyburn Still Stirring The Pot (by Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft )
The disgraceful Jim Clyburn, can’t keep his mouth shut: “Q: During the primary, you suggested that Bill and Hillary’s relationship with the black Democratic base had been irreparably damaged. Do you still believe that? CLYBURN: … I was around when the Willy Horton ads literally annihilated our candidate for president. That [sort of attack] didn’t start out with Republicans; that started out in the Democratic primaries…” Clyburn is simply a liar. By the way, he now falsely smears Al Gore with the Willie Horton lie invented by Republicans in 2000. Do us all a favor Clyburn, STFU.

Thursday: Democrats in Denver Elect President McCain! (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
In a show of shmoonity, Democratic delegates from across the country abandoned their voters and threw their support behind Barack Obama… The DNC has made a lot of new PUMAs this week.  And we are just getting started.  Darragh Murphy has plans.  We’re not going away.  We’re just getting started… The Love Train is headed into a tunnel where the light coming from the opposite end is another train with a big, bad GOP painted on the side.  I can hardly bear to look.

Here Comes The Sun (by garychapelhill at The Confluence)
We left Denver late last night.  After the atrocity of a roll call, we felt like we had to leave.  Of course after the vote was shut down after New York, my vote, my work in NC, my part in the democratic process was completely subverted… We arrived late in Cheyenne, around 11pm.  We were depressed, confused, and not sure where to go from here…  But then we awoke to the most beautiful sunrise coming up over the plains…  This is just the beginning for PUMA, and we have a lot of work to do… [J]ust like the song says, ”Here comes the sun and I say it’s all right…”. 

What this country needs besides a good five-cent cigar… (by Lance Mannion)
Long line at the video store the other night… I’m stuck at the end of it, behind a couple of college students.  Guy and a girl…
“You know who I really think I’ll vote for though?” she says to her friend…  “The Green guy.”
“What green guy?”
“You know.  The guy, he’s like always running?…  I mean, like the guy who’s like, you know?  Kind of a hippie?… I think we need somebody like that.  You know?  Someone who’s like all cool about things and everything.  Like if something happens, he’ll just get all laid back and be real cool and like everything’s fine, it’s no big deal and shit?  That’s what this country needs right now, I think.”
Click through for more.

The Statesman (by Susie at Suburban Guerrilla)
When I saw Joe Biden get himself rhetorically worked up about Georgia and make belligerent noises, I shut off the TV. I’m done with supporting imperialistic wars, and if the only “hope and change” we get is getting to “choose” which war is next, no thanks.

Biden speaks (by  Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)
Given the task of defending Obama’s background and experience, Biden did the best he could with what he had. It was cute to watch him portray Stanley Ann Dunham as a working mom raising two kids alone. Biden left out the part about Ann dumping young Barack with his grandparents while she went off around the world on a new-agey voyage of self-discovery. I giggled when Biden talked about all the people Barack helped in Chicago. How about those people who froze in Tony Rezko’s slum apartments? Obama did everything he could to make sure that his patron, crime boss Tony Rezko, got those lucrative contracts — and Fat Tony basically stole the money… Biden spoke well, but his portrait of Obama did match reality.

In case you missed it: Bill Clinton’s speech (On Politics, USA Today)
Here is former president Bill Clinton speaking tonight at the Democratic National Convention in Denver:
Click through to watch the video.

Get a Shovel? Hell Keith, Get a Brain! (by Larry Johnson at No Quarter)
Bill Clinton’s performance tonight was masterful. He reminded Democrats of what he accomplished in 8 years and graciously stated that the same could be true of Obama. Bill also set the bar very high for what Obama has to accomplish. Clinton is the master of the intimacy of the convention center, which allows him to make everyone listening feel as if he is talking to them. But he also framed the upcoming election in terms that surely has Obama’s advisors kicking themselves. Why? For starters they will have to reluctantly concede that Barack’s attacks on Bill Clinton’s Presidency were wrong. Bill has mapped out campaign themes for them. They now have to follow Clinton’s lead or look like the clowns they are.
I’m thinking that what both Clintons have done, with their speeches, is to challenge Obama to be a real Democrats, which so far he has shown no sign of planning to be.

Clinton Democrats (by Anglachel)
The opposition to Bill and Hillary is not that they have failed, but that they are all too effective at building a party that can fight. They have demonstrated what the Democratic Party could be if it believes in itself and its core values. The Republican nightmare is that their hate-drenched spell will wear off and the CDS [Clinton Derangement Syndrome] afflicted fools on the Left will get over their idiocy and embrace the Clintons for what they are – the core of the Democratic Party. The psychotic flight from what these two have done to defend and rebuild a party steamrolled and demoralized by the Movement Conservatives denies the Democrats their own best legacy.

Obama Losing Conservative Democrats (Political Wire)
The latest Gallup tracking poll finds Sen. John McCain inching into the lead for the first time this year. The key reason is that Sen. Barack Obama “has been struggling to maintain his Democratic base thus far in August” and “the problem seems to be with conservative Democrats.”… In addition, Obama “has mainly seen his support eroding among moderate and liberal Republicans, from 19% to 13% during August.”
He threw the liberals under the bus trying to appeal to these people.  That did a lot of good, didn’t it?

Deja Vu (by Susie at Suburban Guerrilla)
So much for that 50-state strategy: “We tried to get Plouffe to react to a spate of national polls showing a tightening race. ‘All we care about is these 18 states,’ he said. He repeated, with emphasis, that the campaign does not care about national polling. Instead, the campaign’s own identification, registration and canvassing efforts provide the data he uses to determine where to invest money and resources.”
Everything about Obama’s campaign has been a lie.  EVERYTHING.

Relevance (by Turkana at The Left Coaster)
Had Clinton been nominated, and had her campaign manager made such a statement, the shrillosphere would once again be flooded with derision about her team considering 32 states to be irrelevant.

If Obama Loses: A Response to Jacob Weisberg (by Bud White at No Quarter)
Jacob Weisberg’s If Obama Loses: Racism is the Only Reason McCain Might Beat Him in Slate …[claims] “If you break the numbers down, the reason Obama isn’t ahead right now is that he trails badly among one group, older white voters. He does so for a simple reason: the color of his skin.” This would be a shocking conclusion if it were true… Weisberg is wrong: Obama may lose because he conducted a despicable primary campaign, and he failed to offer a compelling economic message during the General Election.
Click through for more of Bud’s devastating critique.

Again about polls. (by John: south of Melrose at Liberal Rapture)
The country is primed for a Democrat. Why isn’t Obama ahead?
My guesses are simple:
1. McCain went at BHO hard for a month. It worked.
2. Obama is actually not very likable on close examination. Outside DNC circles and his most ardent fans there really is a “likability” gap…
3. Experience matters to voters. I don’t understand why BHO’s people don’t get this yet. Insisting that it doesn’t is dumb. It flies in the face of what all of us know. We may not realize it consciously but we all appreciate and take note of experience: from the diner cook to the physician. I don’t think BHO has enough experience to be President. But even I could have done a better job framing his small resume. Obama runs from his resume…
Opinions on most of my posts aside – this is going to be a fun 2 months.
The Rovian tactics are to hit your opponent on his strength and to run from your own weakness. But it’s not working for Obama.  You can’t win this kind of game unless you’re willing to go all out, as I’ve said before, and so far Obama hasn’t been willing to go all out.

The Democratic Convention, Day 2: Non-Transferable (by madamab at The Confluence)
As I listened to [Mark Warner] speaking, I was proud of all he had been able to do for Virginia. But it made me wonder – how does this relate to Barack Obama? Where is the list of everything he has done for Illinois? For his country? In a laughable bit of verbal slight-of-hand, Governor Warner would say “And so does Barack Obama” every few minutes, to make it seem that somehow, some way, Senator Obama was just as accomplished as he is. But it didn’t work, because accomplishments are non-transferable…[And this] year, my vote…is non-transferable.

Many Clinton Supporters Say Speech Didn’t Heal Divisions (Washington Post)
[W]hen Clinton stepped off the stage and the standing ovation faded into silence, many of her supporters were left with a sobering realization: Even a tremendous speech couldn’t erase their frustrations. Despite Clinton’s plea for Democrats to unite, her delegates remained divided as to how they should proceed… Perhaps the best example of the persistent divide in the Democratic Party came after Clinton’s speech Tuesday night. The lights went down in the Pepsi Center, and some influential Democrats left downtown for good. They planned to head for the airport and fly home, long before Obama accepts the nomination in a speech at Invesco Field on Thursday night.

“Zero Tolerance” means zero tolerance (by myiq2xu at The Confluence)

Righteous criticism of Barack Obama has been made by Hillary Clinton’s supporters and others because of his association with people like William Ayers, Tony Rezko, and Reverand Jeremiah Wright.  He has also been justifiably criticized for the misogyny, sexism and CDS-fueled abuse that has been directed at Hillary and her supporters from the fauxgressive blogosphere… Freedom of speech, religion and association require tolerance for different beliefs and opinions, but bigotry and discrimination are anethema to liberal/progressive ideology.  To be a liberal or progressive requires that  you have “zero tolerance” for any kind of bigotry or discrimination based on race, gender, religion, sexual orientation or national origin.  It must be denounced, opposed, and disassociated from…

You cannot be a little bit unethical any more than you can be a little bit pregnant.  You either are or you aren’t.  If you find out your group contains bigots, you must kick them out or leave. And you can’t wait until after the election either.  That’s zero tolerance.

Questions for Hillary Zealots (by Joe Conason, writing at Real Clear Politics)
As the Democrats convene in Denver to celebrate Hillary Clinton and nominate Barack Obama, a tiny minority of her supporters continues to behave petulantly. They whine, they bluster, they agitate themselves and each other. But what is it about Sen. Clinton’s repeated endorsements of her former opponent that they cannot understand? How do they honor her by undermining him? No doubt many of her friends still feel robbed, months after her gracious concession. With considerable justification, they believe that their woman ought to be accepting the nomination of their party this week, rather than the man who took it from her.
Well, you see Joe, you’re wrong about a few things here.  First of all, there are millions of us, not a tiny minority.  Secondly, we’re not behaving petulantly, we are OUTRAGED that this nomination was stolen.  We are as outraged as we were (and YOU were) when George Bush stole the 2000 election.  Third of all, this isn’t about honoring Hillary.  It isn’t about Hillary any more at all. It’s about justice.  And fairness.  And honesty.  And all those things the Democratic Party has shown unequivocally that it is simply not up to.

In a Show of Unity, the Democratic Party Decides to Agree with the Vicious GOP Lies about Democrats (by BDBlue at Corrente)
[F]or those counting at home, the Democratic Party has agreed that:
1) Hillary is a monster who will say anything to win;
2) Bill Clinton is angry, out-of-control, and a poltiical detriment;
3) Democrats have been hostile to people of faith;
4) The Baby Boomer counter-culture was un-American;
5) Harry & Louise were right about healthcare; and
6) The GOP’s racist attack on Michael Dukakis was Al Gore’s fault.
So basically everything the party has been telliing you for the past 20 years is a lie. The Republicans were right all along. Not only about policy, but about the evilness of liberals and Democrats. Welcome to post-partisan America.

I didn’t leave the party… (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)
…the party left me… When my party returns, I’ll be back. By the way — I predict that Barack Obama and his supporters will be sorry they ever stopped the roll call. The “What if…?” suspicion will always linger. Did they really think this move would bring unity? For the first time, I’m seeing PUMAs brag about donating to McCain… Oh, ya wanna see something cute? My DD: “Our nominee is doing well in the swing states.” Note that Florida and Ohio are no longer considered “swing states.” It’s getting dark, and all I hear is whistling…

Hillary Can’t Fix What Her Party Broke (by Froma Harrop)
[F]or Hillary’s angry backers, the issue is no longer what was done to her. It was about what was done to them. Democrats had turned on fellow Democrats, and although the arrows flew in all directions, the nastiest of the invective fell on the ladies who loved Hillary. That these loyal Democrats had been targeted made them nuts… The Democrats clearly have a hooligan problem. It was as though their left-wingers suffered a kind of Karl Rove envy. They wanted to go on the attack, demonize a Clinton and hurl abuse at the Clinton’s friends… The Rovian right never made that mistake with non-candidates. It reserved its thuggery for people who would never vote for a Republican…

Hillary is not about to abandon her power base. She ended her speech by exercising her impressive talent for bonding with the women who adore her. And anyone who listened closely could tell that there was no room in that relationship for Barack Obama. “You allowed me to become part of your lives, and you became part of mine,” she said. And: “To my supporters, to my champions, to my sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. Thank you, because you never gave in, and you never gave up.” Her story continues.

Of Pantsuits and Presidents (by garychapelhill at The Confluence)
[Tuesday] night was quite an evening at the PUMA HQ.  We gathered to watch Hillary give her speech, and in my opinion it was one of the most powerful ones she has given.  This was the speech that our Democratic nominee was meant to have given.  I just wanted to share the reaction of the viewers from HQ.  First of all there was this touching moment when Bill mouthed “I love you” to Hillary as she was set to begin…

The other thing that struck me was the message that Hillary seemed to be sending to the PUMAs.  I think Carville’s wearing the PUMAs the other day was just the first signal that they are with us.  Second was Hillary wearing the bright orange pantsuit, which of course was the PUMA action color of the day, and the color that all of us were wearing.  Then her reference to Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad.  She told us to never give up, despite the ridicule and persecution.  To top it all off, she actually referenced a post written by RD [Riverdaughter] called The Sisterhood of the travelling pantsuit.
Click through to see a video of the PUMA reaction to this line.

It’s No Longer Just About Hillary (by Froma Harrop)
The New Agenda’s agenda is to look out for women’s political interests where the Democratic Party and old-line feminist organizations had failed. The attendees reserved special fury for the Democratic National Committee and its passivity before the misogynistic carnival… The New Agenda wants to become a women’s-voice alternative for the National Organization for Women and NARAL, which they see as moribund and appendages of the Democratic leadership. Members note that when rapper Ludacris sang a pro-Obama ballad calling Hillary “an irrelevant b-,” the president of NOW didn’t get out of bed to complain.

Howard Wolfson Goes To War With MSNBC, Hammers Chris Matthews And Keith Olbermann (by Greg Sargent at TPM Election Central)
On Fox News just now [Wednesday] Howard Wolfson unleashed a broad attack on MSNBC and its top on-air personalities, slamming the network’s coverage of Bill and Hillary, hitting back at Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann for using his work for Fox to question his Democratic credentials, and blasting MSNBC as having been “taken over” by “antics.”… “I’m not gonna take any lectures on how to be a good Democrat from two people who spent the last two years relentlessly attacking Bill and Hillary Clinton everyday,” Wolfson said on the air moments ago, when asked by the Fox anchor to respond to some criticism of Wolfson on MSNBC [Tuesday].

Wolfson Rips Tweety And Olbermann (by Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft)
Here’s what’s weird to me – NBC pretends to have a news organization… What are they doing commenting on how good a Democrat Howard Wolfson is?

MSNBC Meltdown
Amid a spate of awkward on-air conflicts among MNSBC anchors at this week’s Democratic convention, some staff members say there are sharp internal disputes at the cable network over whether its opinion and personality-driven political coverage has crossed the line. “The situation at our channel is about to blow up,” a high-ranking MSNBC journalist said.

Democratic Convention Getting Good Ratings (Political Wire)
The Nielsen ratings for the first two days of the Democratic National Convention are out and they show a couple of interesting things:
• Hillary Clinton’s speech (26.0 million viewers) had higher ratings than Michelle Obama’s speech (22.3 million viewers).
• African Americans continue to watch the convention in a higher proportion than the rest of the population
• Almost five times as many people (26 million) watched Day Two coverage in 2008 vs. Day Two in 2004 (5.9 million) when only the cable networks covered the convention.

Denver police arrest ABC producer photographing contributors (McClatchy)
The Beijing Olympics were the most-watched event in television history, and it seems Denver’s police must have been some of the most avid viewers — they’ve clearly picked up some law-enforcement tips from the Chinese.

Open Thread: Police State Edition (by Alegre)
Code Pink’r slammed to the ground by Denver police.  Later taken away when she tried to talk with reporters.
Click through to watch the video.

Moving to the Center of Elite Consensus (by “an anonymous political consultant”, writing at JoeBageant.com)
Over the last many weeks we have all been subjected to endless news stories about Senator Obama’s campaign “Move to the Center”. Leaving aside the political illiteracy which underlines this phrase, the use of it reveals important clues about the rhetoric of electoral campaigns, whom they target and what they are trying to communicate. Put simply, what “Moving to the Center,” means is: moving towards power and money. “Moving to the Center” is not a move to where the center of public opinion is, but it is a move to the center of where elite consensus is. Once the boundaries of that elite consensus are understood, then we can comprehend the limits of our public choices and more importantly what will be allowed within the confines of our electoral system.
For more on the elites and their gaming of the system, read Arthur Silber.

Desperate Denver Journos Just Reporting on Each Other (Gawker)

There’s no news in Denver. At least, no news that couldn’t be reported by watching it on C-Span from the comfort of home. So what to do? Report on what all your fellow journalists are doing! So far, the single greatest example of this is HuffPo’s constant reportage from their own “HuffPost Oasis” in Denver. [Above], an unretouched screengrab from their front page today. The Oasis is remarkably popular with journalists, considering that we have no idea what goes on there but we don’t think it involves free booze. Wait, maybe we do know what’s going on there! “‘I feel relaxed!’ said a particularly refreshed Eric Alterman as he stepped away from a complimentary facial for a minute.

Meet Obama’s Media ‘Enforcer’ (Wall Street Journal)
As the Obama campaign enters a crucial phase, beset by tightened polling numbers and the prospect of a tough race for the next two months, [Robert] Gibbs has emerged as Sen. Obama’s advocate-in-chief with the media, and therefore the voters. The 37-year-old is in charge of shaping his message, responding to the 24/7 news cycle, schmoozing with the press and fighting back when he disagrees with its reporting — which has won him the label of “the enforcer.” Mr. Gibbs, who says he tries “to attract more flies with honey than vinegar” most of the time, confirms, “I work the referees a little bit if they’re unfair or inaccurate. The other side is working on them, too….I’m a protector of the image.”
Well, when image is all you’ve got, you’d better protect it.

Sidestepping the Media with a Text (Technology Review)
By harnessing social networks to distribute the news [such as the campaign’s text message to announce his VP choice], the Obama campaign ensures that many people will be getting it from a trusted contact who is also an Obama supporter… This is the best chance the campaign has to shape the conventional wisdom to its advantage. In terms of content, the announcement may yet be a damp squib, with an uncontroversial and unsurprising choice eliciting basically the same reaction everywhere. But as an exercise in piggybacking on social networks as national media outlets, this is a watershed moment.
As an exercise in mind control, this is a watershed moment.  It further enhances campaigns’ ability to isolate their adherents from any knowledge or understanding that is not coordinated and approved by the campaign.

John McCain Relaunches His Social Network. It’s Surprisingly Good. (by Adam Ostrow at Mashable)
The recently more Web-savvy John McCain campaign has re-launched its social network – McCainSpace – and it’s actually pretty good. The site is powered by KickApps, and includes standard social networking features like forums, groups, and plenty of user-generated content. What’s impressive about the new McCainSpace is the viral potential it unleashes for the campaign. For instance, the Groups feature includes a “Hillary Supports for McCain” – which, apparently there are still plenty of according to recent polls. There are also groups for McCain supporters in every state, allowing them to organize and discuss their campaign efforts. Meanwhile, all of the videos users upload are embeddable, meaning they can be spread via blogs and social networks.

The GOP Toolbar…the Latest Thing in Their Arsenal… (InsightAnalytical)
While Obama was messing with a text message which didn’t quite work out as planned, the GOP has come up with something else… a totally integrated system in toolbar format… I’ve never seen anything like this before … they tout the ability to get the latest news … but it’s clearly a fundraising tool made easy.
Click through to see the features.

Pickens’ wind-power mission takes him to uncharted territory (McClatchy)
DENVER — At 80, Dallas energy billionaire T. Boone Pickens wandered into foreign territory Wednesday, pitching wind power to 400 young bloggers, shaking hands with former political target John Kerry and generally enjoying his day as a guest Democrat.

GOP platform backs off pet issues to help McCain
Republicans are putting John McCain’s campaign priorities above some of their pet issues, including drilling for oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and denying citizenship to the U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants.

McCain team wastes no time (On Politics, USA Today)
As Democrats were still celebrating the nominations of senators Barack Obama and Joe Biden, Republican John McCain’s presidential campaign was alerting reporters to a Web video it just released. Called Remote Control, it brings back some of the tough things Democrats — including Biden — had to say about Obama in the past.
Click through to watch the video.

McCain ad calls Obama unprepared (On Politics, USA Today)
Republican John McCain’s presidential campaign calls Democrat Barack Obama “dangerously unprepared” to be president in a TV ad it just released. It says that Tiny will be going on the air in some battleground states.
Click through for the text and to watch the ad.

Swiftboating or Vetting? (by Bud White at No Quarter)
The Obama campaign is panicked that terrorist and Obama benefactor, Bill Ayers, has reared his ugly head into this campaign. The Obama camp sent an e-mail to their supporters which says: “Yesterday, the McCain campaign issued a statement effectively endorsing and echoing the latest baseless attacks sponsored by former Swift Boat funder Harold Simmons…” But is it really Swiftboating? There is a convincing case to be made that Obama is simply being vetted, something the media failed to do throughout his short national career. Regardless of what the e-mail says, the charges are all true and that’s why they are panicked.

Chuck Todd suggests Charlie Crist has a sham marriage. (Think Progress)
MSNBC pundits [Wednesday] morning discussed potential running mates for John Mccain and whether there is a “glass ceiling” for unmarried individuals in politics. After Andrea Mitchell floated Gov. Charlie Crist (R-FL) as an example, Joe Scarborough noted that Crist is engaged. Chuck Todd suggested the engagement may be staged so Crist can be Vice President.
Click through to watch the video.

Barr Only Presidential Candidate on Texas Ballot (Barr ’08)
Atlanta, GA – Bob Barr is slated to be the only presidential candidate on the ballot in Texas after Republicans and Democrats missed the Aug. 26 deadline to file in the state. ”Unless the state of Texas violates its own election laws, Congressman Barr will be the only presidential candidate on the ballot,” says Russell Verney, campaign manager for the Barr Campaign and the former campaign manager for Ross Perot.  “Texas law makes no exceptions for missing deadlines.” The Texas Secretary of State Web site shows only Bob Barr as the official candidate for president in Texas.

Media Matters for America headlines

Dick Morris: Biden ran for president “because of a menopausal midlife crisis”

Quinn introduced segment about Hillary Clinton by playing Elton John’s “The Bitch Is Back”

Despite lack of evidence, Fox News suggested Clinton’s speech was “more diss than endorsement for Obama”

AP’s Fournier counts the “I’s” in Clinton’s speech, but her focus was often outward

PolitiFact’s Adair falsely suggested his site found equal lack of truth this summer from Obama and McCain camps

On Fox & Friends, Trump claimed unchallenged that Obama plans to have “everybody … pay double and triple the taxes”

Brokaw misquoted and misrepresented Bill Clinton remark he described as “pretty provocative”

KSFO’s Rodgers: “With that screechy, fingernails-on-the-blackboard voice of hers, it is impossible for Hillary Clinton to deliver a great speech.”

Minutes after Begala debunked the falsehood, CNN caption claimed Casey “was denied a speaking role … because he opposed abortion rights”

AP “FactCheck” distorted Dems’ claim that McCain voted with Bush “90 percent of the time”

Fox News aired two minutes of Democratic keynote address, discussed Ayers instead

Malaysia blocks anti-government news Web site
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Malaysia has blocked access to a popular news Web site that often runs afoul of authorities for its sensational political reporting, sparking complaints Thursday that the government has reneged on its pledge to keep cyberspace uncensored.

Veoh Wins Copyright Infringement Lawsuit; Viacom-YouTube Next? (by Rafat Ali at Paid Content)
No, this isn’t the big one, but nonetheless an important precedent: A federal judge in San Jose ruled today that video-sharing site Veoh was not liable for copyrighted material uploaded to its site, dismissing an early 2006 case filed against it by Io Group, an adult video firm. The site pleaded its defense under the “safe harbor” provisions of DMCA copyright law, which meant it could be safe as long as it removed the infringing video when alerted by the copyright holder, which the judge said that Veoh was doing. Meanwhile Veoh’s suit against Universal Music Group is still going on.

Blogger arrested over leak of Guns N’ Roses songs
LOS ANGELES (AP) – A blogger suspected of streaming songs from the unreleased Guns N’ Roses album “Chinese Democracy” on his Web site was arrested Wednesday and appeared in court, where his bail was set at $10,000.

More Gloom For UK Newspapers, Web Gains Not Offsetting Economy (Paid Content)
The outlook for UK news publishers is as gray and overcast as this summer’s weather has been, as the latest earnings testify. Johnston Press, the country’s second largest regional news company with 300 weekly titles and 323 websites, saw pre-tax profit slump 18.1 percent… Meanwhile, Independent News & Media’s UK profit crashed 35.6 percent… It’s not that the publishers aren’t scoring online wins – web sales are up 52.1 percent and 23.3 percent respectively and the pair are continuing to invest in the internet. They’re just not making returns quick enough to offset what they forecast will become an even gloomier advertising economy over the next 18 months.

Bloomberg mistakenly publishes Steve Jobs obituary
An electronic gaffe at news outlet Bloomberg mistakenly sent an incomplete obituary for Apple CEO Steve Jobs over the wire on Wednesday afternoon, and a tipster promptly sent the soon-retracted file to gossip blog Gawker.

Retooled Trib Debuts in Sept.; Analysts Remain Glum
Chicago Tribune readers will get their first look at the paper’s redesign on Sept. 29, according to Tribune Co. Chief Operating Officer Randy Michaels. But on Wednesday, an analyst who follows Tribune’s debt noted that recent efforts to polish the paper or slim down its staff haven’t done anything to buff up the media company’s financial outlook.

Star Tribune submits cancellation notice to AP
The Strib will stop using Associated Press material in 2010. “We have the utmost respect for AP; this is not a hostile gesture by any means,” says managing editor Rene Sanchez. “It’s the beginning of an assessment of our business model, not the end.”

Despite Massive John Edwards Boost, American Media Pushing To Restructure Debt: Report (Paid Content)
The big John Edwards scoop isn’t itself enough to turn the tide for American Media, publisher of the National Enquirer, Star and other titles. NYP is reporting that CEO David Pecker is pushing (’at the 11th hour’) to refinance its massive debt load, hoping holders will accept a combination of cash and preferred stock equaling 20 percent of the company. The article suggests that the company is heading towards a “cash crunch” by February, if it can’t manage to restructure. So far, the plan is being supported by 33 percent of one class of debtholders and 51 percent of another.

Facing Cuts, Editors ‘Relax the Rules’ to Make Swift Changes
One change several newsrooms are making — many of them reluctantly — is sharing content. Among the first were a handful of Ohio papers, which began sharing stories earlier this year in large part to oppose new Associated Press rates. Since then, however, more papers are sharing in reaction to reduced staffing or cutbacks in statewide coverage or travel.

Will Huffington Post ever offer content that lives up to the hype?
That’s what James Rainey asks. Arianna Huffington tells him that another infusion of capital — $10 million to $20 million — is in the works to hire more reporters and editors and upgrade the site’s technology. Her goal is to beef up political and media coverage and put at least one reporter in each of two dozen cities by the end of 2009.

Online media can’t bridge quality gap
[Eric] Beecher, a former editor of The Sydney Morning Herald turned internet media entrepreneur, said yesterday that Fairfax Group’s decision to axe hundreds of jobs across its mastheads was another example of the commercial media abandoning quality journalism. He told ABC radio that with commercial funding for mass media drying up, it was important for politicians to support the notion of the importance of journalism in a democracy… [H]e warned that few observers had predicted the current threat to quality journalism. And with only a handful of media proprietors such as Rupert Murdoch, publisher of The Australian, still committed to the concept, it was in danger of disappearing altogether. .

Online journalism must free itself from the chains of advertising – and commerce
Philip Stone, in a piece about the difficulties papers have in reinventing themselves, has an heretical – and superficially challenging – thought. “Maybe that decision by the Philadelphia Inquirer to hold back most of the newspaper’s copy from its website except for breaking news until the newspaper has been distributed has some real merit.” He argues that NBC protected its franchise during the Olympics by ensuring that video did not reach the web until after it had been shown on TV, so, he asks, “isn’t that the same concept that newspapers should employ?”

The Onion Launches CitySearch Competitor
The Onion has launched Decider, a local entertainment site that includes interviews, event information, and restaurant reviews. The site is initially launching with content for Chicago, with plans to support more cities over the next few months. The site has a clean (albeit somewhat generic) interface, with integrated Google Maps pinpointing each reviewed restaurant and a calendar for upcoming events.

ABC, People Team Up for Weight-Loss Special
ABC has scheduled hourlong special Half Their Size: The People Magazine Weight Loss Challenge for Sept. 30 at 10 p.m. The show will focus on eight residents of Mississippi for a nine-month period to see how their lives change through diet and exercise. “Half Their Size” is a People franchise that began in 2002 and focuses on folks who desperately need to shed pounds.

Broadcast TV Holds Its Breath Waiting for Go from Marketers
Concern that Some Upfront Commitments Could Evaporate

ABC Adding Five New Shows to Lineup
Offerings Include Oddball Detectives, Plus Another Shot at ‘Cupid’

The WB’s Looks to the Web
Warner Bros. Television Group yesterday moved to cash in on audiences and ad dollars gathering around shows streaming on the Web with the launch of its new teen TV-themed Web hub, TheWB.com. The new site is a mix of original programming for the Web from the likes of big-name producers such as McG and Josh Schwartz, coupled with Warner Bros.’ back catalog of youth-oriented TV hits.

Anxious freshmen meeting first on Facebook
Filled with going-to-college angst, many incoming freshmen spent plenty of time this summer soaking up campus life and getting to know their roomies and classmates first on Facebook.

No, You Cannot Turn Facebook Into A (Decent) Movie (by Stan Schroeder at Mashable)
In what seems to be the worst idea in the history of television, West Wing writer Aaron Sorkin has his sight set on Facebook, claiming he’s interested in making a movie about the popular social networking site… Sorkin … sounds really enthusiastic and full of ideas about the project. “I honestly don’t know how this works, which is why I’m here,” he said. And if you did, Aaron, you wouldn’t be making a movie about it.

Lifetime Acquires ParentsClick Network
Cable Company’s First Purchase in Digital Space

MySpace Passes Yahoo as Top U.S. Internet Display Ad Site
Fox Interactive Media, which owns social networking site MySpace.com, has overtaken struggling Internet giant Yahoo Inc. as the top display advertising property in the U.S. In June, Internet users viewed 56.8 billion display ads on FIM sites, giving the News Corp.-owned company a 15.2% share of the total U.S. online display ad market, according to data released by market research group comScore.

Microsoft’s newest browser may block ads
SEATTLE (AP) – The next version of Microsoft Corp.’s Web browser makes it easier for people to surf the Internet without leaving a trace. Companies that sell advertisements online – including Microsoft – can electronically gather tidbits about Web surfers’ habits, and then use that information to help decide what kinds of ads to show. However, in the newest “beta” test version of Microsoft’s forthcoming Internet Explorer 8, which was made available Wednesday, a mode called InPrivateBrowsing lets users surf without having a list of sites they visit get stored on their computers.

Turn Your TV into a Start Page with YourScreen (Mashable)
YourScreen is a new service that is announcing its upcoming beta today, and it’s set out to enable you to turn a television into a start page of sorts. Designed for use within schools, companies, and at events, YourScreen is a custom option for displaying your content on televisions.

Permanent link to MTA daily media news

Hillary Approval up 6% in Gallup; Hillary 3% Better vs. McCain than Obama (by campskunk at Alegre’s Corner)
So, after all the slings and arrows hurled by the cheetos [folks at Daily Kos], what’s happening with Hillary’s popularity? She’s doing just fine, thank you. A Gallup poll released [Tuesday] shows her at 80% approval among Democrats, up six percent from when she suspended her campaign in June. Looks like the cheetos are all hot air… none of the real Democrats are listening to them.

And how is Obama doing against McCain? well… it ain’t pretty. Say goodbye to the tenuous lead Obama had over McCain in the daily tracking poll. The combination of the Biden bounce and the start of the convention put Obama down two points to McCain for the first time since May 25th, three months ago. [Emphasis added.] The Obama campaign lost their electoral vote lead last week, and now the popular vote lead. They must be sweating bullets. I wish I felt sorry for them, but… A CNN/Opinion Research poll conducted Aug. 23-24 found the [Clinton and Obama] running similarly in trial heats versus McCain, with Obama and McCain tied (47% to 47%) but Clinton having a slim but not statistically significant advantage over McCain (49% to 46%).

Quinnipiac: Swing States Get Tighter (Political Wire)
The latest Quinnipiac polls from three critical swing states are out and they show the presidential race getting tighter over the last two months.
Florida: McCain 47%, Obama 43%
Ohio: Obama 44%, McCain 43%
Pennsylvania: Obama 49%, McCain 42%
Said pollster Peter Brown: “Eight weeks ago, Sen. Barack Obama was on top in all three of these key swing states and that would make his election almost a sure thing. Times have changed and the election is now very much a tossup in these states. Sen. Obama needs this convention to give his campaign a jump start.”

Don’t Worry, Be Happy Redux (by Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft)
Eugene Robinson tells Dems not to worry… [But] Jimmy Carter led by 30 and won by 2. Dukakis led by 17 and lost. Oh by the way, Bill Clinton won easily… You see Gene, following YOUR advice, the Democratic Party seemed to be following a policy of trying to distance itself from the ONE GUY who actually WON Presidential elections. That worries some of us. Indeed, given your bad advice on this, I am not real happy right now with the political situation. I am worried.

“Get Over It Loser!” (by Alegre)
I’ve gotta tell ya folks, that is not how you build bridges, win over Hillary’s supporters and re-unite a party.  But that’s the kind of thing Hillary’s folks are hearing from BHO’s crowd in Denver this week, and the only way that’s going to stop is if The Chosen One takes the lead and tells them to knock it off. Take a look at what Ricki Lieberman had in her EW blast-out last night “A HILLARY VOLUNTEER WRITES: ‘…from the Denver war zone – donning my Hillary t-shirt tonight, I walked from 17th and Larimer to Union Station tonight to catch the light rail to my hotel. About a 15 minute stroll.  I was acosted no less than 6 times by people shouting “Hillary lost.”  ”Get over it loser.”  ”Why ya wearing that shirt, moron?” Etc.  All of the unwelcome comments came from people wearing Obama gear.’”

In conventions past, people proudly wore their “loser” gear.  When people saw my Clark t-shirts in Boston, it was “Hey!  Wes Clark!  GREAT guy!…”  It came to me, as I thought about crossing the street because a rowdy group of Obamaniacs were walking my way, that it is not Hillary’s responsibility to unite this party.  It is the responsibility of the person at the top of the ticket.  And he and his supporters with their cult mentality just guaranteed tonight that this voter will NEVER be on that unity bus.

What’s going on? Day 2 (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)

As I was marching through Denver in my suffragist white, someone handed me a purple sash commemorating the Vote for Women.  I was so happy and stepped it up shouting for Hillary at the top of my lungs.  It was a great day and there were a lot of marchers.  The line of Hillary signs seemed to increase as time went on.

Obama, Clinton camps working on hotel roll-call vote (Denver Post)
Supporters of Hillary Rodham Clinton furiously circulated petitions on the floor of the Democratic National Convention last night, hoping to stave off a plan to hold the convention’s roll call at breakfast Wednesday – out of the public eye – sources inside the delegations said… The move is being resisted by some Clinton delegates, who are busy tonight circulating a petition among delegates as the opening night of the convention, titled “One Nation,” gets underway. “We just want a roll call like you’re supposed to have,” said one of the delegates collecting signatures for the petition, who asked not to be named because of concern about friction within the party.
Afraid.  Obama is afraid.  That will be fodder for the Republicans, too.

Delegates Mad As Hell: Scramble for Floor Vote (by Lady Boomer NYC at The Confluence)
Clinton Delegates are pissed. The Clinton National Delegate Network, a grassroots movement of delegates is on the streets of Denver collecting signatures from Hillary delegates. This eleventh hour effort is being organized to ensure that delegates who were elected to represent the voters of each state can and will vote for the candidate they were pledged to. The DNC and Nancy Pelosi, the Chairman of the Democratic Convention, are doing everything in their power to make sure that does not happen. With Obama’s flagging support, according to the polls, running neck and neck with McCain, they are very worried that Hillary will get the nomination if a roll call vote takes place on the convention floor. That is why they are making the delegates have a secret hotel vote, instead of the floor vote that’s been done since forever. The hotel vote will purportedly take place on Wednesday morning, August 27, 2008…

Delegates have reported to us that Obama supporters are stationed outside of each delegation’s room with clipboards, ready to make sure that once again, despite their best efforts to represent their constituents (approximately 12,000 voters per delegate in the case of primaries, and 585 in the case of caucuses), that Hillary delegates and voters are ROBBED of their democratic rights.

Bill Clinton Lays Out Clear Message for Delegates! (by Matthew Weaver at No Quarter)
“Suppose you’re a voter, and you’ve got candidate X and candidate Y. Candidate X agrees with you on everything, but you don’t think that candidate can deliver on anything at all. Candidate Y you agree with on about half the issues, but he can deliver. Which candidate are you going to vote for?”—Bill Clinton. Of course, Bill added, “This has nothing to do with what’s going on now.” Clinton is clearly suggesting that the party and delegates are making the wrong choice in coronating Obama this week… It is refreshing to see that Bill has not given up on Hillary yet.  Also, this has to give Obama serious heartburn as he contemplates Bill at the microphone tomorrow.

Hillary Clinton speaks at convention. The press concocts a story (by Eric Boehlert at Media Matters for America)
Fact: Many in the press have portrayed Clinton’s planned convention address, as well as the fact that her name is being placed into nomination, as an unprecedented, heavy-handed power grab. Fact: It’s not. In years past, Democratic candidates who won lots of primaries and accumulated hundreds of delegates (sorry, Howard Dean and Bill Bradley) have always been allowed to address the convention and very often place their name into nomination. It’s the norm. It’s expected. It’s a formality. This newly manufactured media attack on Clinton is just the latest in a long line of press grenades thrown her way this year. But this time, she’s not the only victim, because the media’s concocted story line is being used to unfairly skewer Barack Obama, too. Consider New York magazine: “Obama Agrees to Roll-Call Vote for Clinton. Does That Make Him a Sissy?”
So keep on denigrating the Clintons, Clinton haters.  By doing so you’re helping to destroy the Democratic brand.  Your guy Obama will suffer from it.

Duty, Unity and Transcendence (by Anglachel)
I’m sitting here, still in awe of Hillary’s speech and of the woman herself… Many people have talked about Obama as a “transcendent” candidate, someone who is “post-partisan,” “post-racial,” calls us to something higher, and so forth. What Hillary did on that stage [Tuesday night] was demonstrate what true political transcendence looks like. Surrounded by heart-broken supporters, hateful detractors, an unflaggingly hostile media, and looking at the faces of her colleagues who have treated her in the most despicable way possible for months on end, she spoke passionately and without rancor to all of them. Her personal grace and decency were rivaled only by her political integrity and loyalty. She has transcended the brutality and cruelty visited upon her in this primary.
Watch Hillary’s speech at the C-SPAN archive.

The Clinton Speech (by eriposte at The Left Coaster)
Hillary Clinton is a class act. Not only did she reveal the candidate she was all year – at her fire-breathing, passionate and grounded best – she revealed for the umpteenth time that she is so much better than the liars, blowhards, freaks and miscellaneous politicians who smeared and attacked her and continue to do so even today (NBC’s Political Bottom-feeder Chuck Todd being just one of the crowd). She has now done far, far more than she needed to do for her former opponent… It’s way past time for the media and the haters in the blogosphere to stop blaming her for Sen. Obama’s problems. I don’t want to hear another word from anyone trying to insinuate that she is trying to derail Sen. Obama’s campaign. Not. One. More. Word.

THAT is What a Democrat Sounds Like (by Anglachel)
There is not a better, more knowledgeable, more capable, more inspiring person in politics today.

Hillary, All Class (by Larry Johnson at No Quarter)
After watching Hillary tonight I imagine the William Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, Reverend Michael Pfleger, Reverend James Meeks and Samantha Powers (ousted Obama advisor) wish they had backed her. This woman does not throw people under the bus. She is a person of integrity and sticks to her word. She sticks with people who, by their conduct, deserve to be abandoned. But she finds in herself the grace to forgive and look pass the sin. She promised to support the nominee, no ifs, ands, or buts. And she delivered. She gave Barack Obama everything he could want and much more than he deserves. But it is not enough. She is right about the issues. But we now know we cannot trust Obama on the issues. He has no core. He has no foundation. He has no fundamental principle. He is a man of convenience and opportunity. He is an ideological chameleon and will glom on to people he thinks can help him get ahead. This does not make him a bad person. He’s just a typical Chicago pol.

The Bright Line (by Pat Racimora at No Quarter)

President Clinton (by John: south of Melrose at Liberal Rapture)
Hillary came through like a champ. Obama should be rubbing her feet tonight. She is a person of class, integrity, grace, and fortitude. She will make a fine President. How despicable is it that the same people who called her a bitch, whore, cunt, and murderer on blogs all year now think we should vote for Obama “cuz she says so”. NO. Clinton supporters think for themselves. We read, assess, reason – then decide. We don’t drink kool-aid and become zombies. And, as a side note: Obama STILL has no business being commander-in-chief.

It’s Not About Hillary Anymore (by medusa at No Quarter)
If I hadn’t already been a feminist for the past 40 years, this whole primary debacle would be my conversion. Watching how it continues to be open season for shooting down Hillary, many people, not only women but especially women, have moved passed the primary and into a vast and airless realm of unreality. How has my party, the Democratic Party, become so corrupt? They use sexism to demean Hillary and ugly power plays to “defeat” her, as we saw in the RBC decision regarding MI and FL. Some of us are willing to forego our allegiance to the party because IT NO LONGER REPRESENTS US AND OUR VALUES…

With the brothers Roland Martin and Jack Caffetry lecturing the little wimin about our “petty personal issues,” the numbers of rebellious women can only increase.

Why I cannot do as Hillary asks (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)
Hillary Clinton asked for unity — but how can we unite with those who hate us? Never — NEVER before in my life have I ever been called a racist. Not until the rise of the Obots. They have called me that incessantly. I had to delete several such accusations this very day. Unity? Not possible. Not after the insults I’ve had to endure… This has nothing to do with Hillary: I was always lukewarm about her. This has everything to do with the monstrous supporters of Barack Obama. He’s a compulsive liar, a Liberatrian disguised as a liberal, a Chicago pol guilty of the same corruptions that brought down Duke Cunningham. His cult of personality has alienated me from my own party and left me with no options. Why the hell should I “unite” with people who refuse to apologize for spitting in my eye? Why do the Obots persist in the delusional belief that they can win hearts and minds by spewing insults?
Click through for many examples of the hate speech that comes from people who purport to be Democrats.

And Politico wondered (County Fair , Media Matters for America)
If Hillary Clinton would get booed by Obama delegates Tuesday night.  Sterling media insight, indeed.

Obama Camp in Snit Mode Over Carville’s Comments (by bostonboomer at The Confluence)
Incipient puma James Carville let it all out [Monday] night on CNN, criticizing “Obama’s Convention” for offering no positive message or even going a little negative on Bush and McCain. “‘The way they planned it tonight was supposed to be sort of the personal — Michelle Obama will talk about Barack Obama personally, Ted Kennedy was a very personal, emotional speech,’ Carville said. ‘But I guarantee on the first night of the Republican Convention, you’re going to hear talk about Barack Obama, commander-in-chief, tax cuts, et cetera, et cetera.’”… Oh dear! I guess Carville forgot that Clinton backers are supposed to STFU and spout the Obama party line. Will Obama order CNN to dump him again as they did during the primaries? The Wall Street Journal reports that Obama’s campaign is a bit PO’d at Carville right now.

Obama Told Clinton She Wasn’t Likely to Be VP, Give or Take (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
Our friend and travel companion Anne Kornblut takes a look in today’s Washington Post at how Obama signaled early on to Clinton that she was unlikely to be his running mate. Give or take… He didn’t want to lead her on.
But he lied to her supporters.  He kept telling us he was considering her.  Not that I wanted her to be vice president, but many did.  This guy is DESPICABLE.

The ‘Safe’ Convention (by David Harsanyi, Denver Post)
DENVER — For those of you who believe that the Hillary Clinton Uprising is a fairy tale concocted by a press in search of convention controversy, think again… [T]here is a noteworthy difference between Biden and Clinton: The loquacious Biden entertained the press corps for a handful of primary debates before dropping out; Hillary persuaded 18 million primary voters to support her. So then why not Clinton? If you erode your theme of “change” by choosing a longtime Washington insider, why not pick the one who can unite your party?… Biden is the “safe” pick. And for those who’ve dug deeper into Obama’s political career, you already know the junior senator from Illinois always makes the safe pick. The one thing that is certain, though, is that picking Biden over Clinton helps one candidate. And that candidate is not here in Denver.

Obama’s Choice of Biden: ‘The Devil Made Me Do It.” (by Glen Ford at the Black Agenda Report)
Flip Wilson’s comedic character “Geraldine” knew who to blame for her own indiscretions: “The Devil made me do it.” The same goes for Barack Obama who, his supporters are quick to explain, is blameless for his political sins and betrayals. The “white folks” made him do it, or “the polls” made him do it – but never the candidate, himself. However, it will be hard to find a devil to blame for Obama’s choice of Sen. Joe Biden – “as much a war monger as George Bush” – as his running mate. The fact is, Obama “was never a progressive – he just briefly played one to win points in an Illinois Democratic primary election six years ago.” Let the Devil be.

Death Match (II): The Hideous Horror of the Biden Selection (by Arthur Silber at the Power of Narrative)
Biden’s selection as vice presidential candidate has nothing to do with “change” or “hope”: this is the status quo of chaos, destruction and widespread death, with a vengeance… [B]y their own words and actions, Obama and Biden tell us that they will bring us another century of death and destruction, and war without end.

The Speedy Biden News Cycle: Hype, Meet Backlash
Megan Garber: For a moment, on Saturday, Biden was the golden boy — the running-mate-designate. But, then again, he was also the embodiment of the frenzied, frustrated speculation in which the political press had been engaging for the previous days/weeks/months. So, predictably, and faster than you can say “Scranton, Pennsylvania,” Hype met Backlash.

I Will Be Punished for Laughing So Hard (by Arthur Silber at the Power of Narrative)
Is it wrong of me … to find all this hysterically funny? “Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s big speech on Thursday night will be delivered from an elaborate columned stage resembling a miniature Greek temple… Some 80,000 supporters will see Obama appear from between plywood columns painted off-white, reminiscent of Washington’s Capitol building or even the White House, to accept the party’s nomination for president. He will stride out to a raised platform to a podium that can be raised from beneath the floor… Once Obama speaks, confetti will rain down on him and fireworks will be fired off from locations around the stadium wall.”

For the sole superpower on earth, we have to be the stupidest goddamned country that has ever existed. And one of the most vicious. Now that is a fucking terrifying combination.

CNN wins ratings war on first night of convention. (Think Progress)
TV Newser reports that CNN was the “big winner of the cable networks” last night, drawing an average of 3.7 million total viewers. CNN also beat a couple of networks. “At 10pmET, CNN drew 4.26M Total Viewers while ABC drew 4.17M and CBS drew 3.46M.” NBC was first of all networks with 4.71 million viewers. “Preliminary national television ratings data from Nielsen Media Research indicate that interest in the first night of the Democratic convention as covered by the three major broadcast networks was tepid, to say the least.”

Bloggers At Democratic Convention Plant Their Stake
Five hundred strong, Netroots workers in the Big Tent near Denver’s Pepsi Center gain camaraderie – and affirmation during the Democratic convention.

Some key Democrats stay clear of Denver
DENVER – Democrats ridiculed several Republican congressional candidates for planning to skip their party’s nominating convention in St. Paul next week. It turns out many Democrats are using the same strategy.

The Age of Katrina – Not Obama (by Glen Ford at the Black Agenda Report)
The more delusional Obama supporters behave as if “their candidate’s speech on Thursday will herald a crack in time, after which posterity will speak of Before-Obama (BO) and After-Obama (AO) eras, and the transcendental Age of Obama.” They draw straight lines from Dr. Martin Luther King’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech to Obama’s nomination acceptance oration. However, the event that far more accurately defines the age is Katrina, the unfolding catastrophe that descended on New Orleans three years ago, this week. Katrina is “the most dramatic manifestation of an implacable racism coiled deeply in the ruling structures of American society, primed to remove concentrations of Blacks from places of value.”

Obama and African American Ethnicity (by Marian Douglas-Ungaro at the Black Agenda Report)
The hoopla surrounding Barack Obama’s “historic” run for the White House leaves Marian Douglas-Ungaro cold. Barack Obama does not represent her ethnicity. “I am a Black American – a descendant of Africa and the slave trade, a descendant, too, of Europe and of Native people of North America; bred, born and raised in the Americas, specifically the USA.” Such is not Obama’s ethnic background. “Ethnicity is not solely race, nor vice versa.” If Obama is elected president, that will make history of a kind – but he cannot become the first ethnically Black American to hold the office, says the author.

Corsi’s 60-Page Response to Obama Over Biography
Jerome Corsi, whose bestselling anti-Obama book, The Obama Nation, has been widely dismissed since its publication as inaccurate and misleading, has written a 60-page defense of his claims that he hopes to post on the Web site WorldNetDaily later this week. Corsi said that his rebuttal will challenge, point by point, the strongly-worded “Unfit for Publication” pdf composed by the Obama campaign.

Nightline to Air Previously Unseen 2004 Obama Interview
ABC’s Nightline will air a never-before-seen interview with Sen. Barack Obama tonight. The exclusive interview with Ted Koppel took place hours before the 2004 Democratic National Convention in 2004, at which Sen. Obama made a well-received speech.

Gun charges expected in Obama plot
WASHINGTON – Three men who authorities feared were plotting to assassinate Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention are facing only gun charges — a signal that officials believe they never posed a real threat.

McCain Plans Veep Rollout This Weekend (Political Wire)
Sen. John McCain “is planning to rollout his vice-presidential nominee in three battleground states this weekend, with large-scale rallies planned for Ohio, Pennsylvania and Missouri,” according to Politico. “The GOP nominee-in-waiting will move to immediately change the campaign conversation from Barack Obama’s football stadium acceptance speech Thursday to the new Republican ticket, to be revealed at a noontime Friday rally in a Dayton, Ohio, basketball arena.”

McCain hits Obama with 3 a.m. ad (On Politics, USA Today)
Republican John McCain’s latest TV ad, released by his campaign moments ago, uses part of an attack ad that Hillary Rodham Clinton deployed against Barack Obama during the Democratic primaries — asking voters “who do you want answering the phone”…

Cynthia McKinney: Power to the People! Stop the War! (Black Agenda Report)
The Democratic Party “takes impeachment off the table,” finances “an illegal and immoral war,” fails to “even mention Hurricanes Katrina and Rita survivors in their Congressional agenda for the first 100 days,” and aid and abet “illegal spying on us” – yet have the gall to call themselves the party of “change” and “hope.” As Democrats prepared their corporate-financed nominating convention, Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney told protestors: “We declare our willingness to be radical in pursuit of peace and in our hunger for justice.  We can see clearly now who the real stickup artists are and that’s why we’re in Denver!”

How Unscrupulous Campaign Strategists Are Taking Advantage Of A Quirk In Our Brains – And What Reporters Can Do To Stop Helping Them (Nieman Watchdog)
Two brain experts offer ground rules for reporters who want to avoid becoming accessories to disinformation campaigns. Rule one: Stop repeating things that aren’t true.

Jon Stewart Lectures Reporters On Coverage
Jon Stewart took after the “established” media for getting too cozy with candidates and regurgitating campaign spin when it comes to political coverage.

Florida’s largest counties make switch to paper ballots (McClatchy)
With a few hiccups but no major headaches, South Florida entered a new voting era on Tuesday — an era that felt a lot like, well, a 10th-grade American History exam.

New Census numbers: 37.3 million living in poverty; 45.7 million uninsured. (Think Progress)
New numbers released by the the Census Bureau this morning indicate “the nation’s poverty rate held steady at 12.5%, not statistically different from the 12.3% in 2006. That meant there were 37.3 million people living in poverty in 2007.” The number of uninsured dropped to 45.7 million (15.3 percent of the population), down from 47 million in 2006.

“The swelling tide of toxic home loans is proving to be even more worrisome than initially feared” (by Dean Baker)
It would be nice if some of the people who get paid big dollars because they supposedly have high skills could acknowledge that they messed up. It would also be nice if the national media did not consider it part of their job to cover up for powerful people who messed up on their job. Yes, that headline is a a direct quote. It also is the sort of statement that has no place in a serious news article. The swelling tide of toxic loans is not proving to be more worrisome than feared. The problem is that the people who were supposed to be regulating the financial system did not know what they were doling… The NYT should be exposing the incompetence of people who were paid big dollars to know the housing and financial markets.

Media Matters for America headlines

• O’Donnell asked why not let McCaskill give a “red meat” speech at the DNC — McCaskill did, but MSNBC didn’t cover

• ABC falsely said McCain has never brought up Ayers, suggested McCain is separate from his campaign

• Savage: Democratic Party’s “membership is made up largely of minority blocs … that are all against the white person”

• NPR, CNN repeat falsehood that Casey was denied speaking role at ‘92 Dem convention “because of his opposition to abortion rights”

• Mark Belling guest host Fischer on Obama: “[T]he most dangerous candidate ever to run for the White House”

• Sean Hannity on “demoniz[ing]” Hillary Clinton: “That’s my job”

• Fox News’ Kelly asked whether Michelle Obama gave “her critics fodder” with word she didn’t say

FCC Anounces 80 City “We’re Not Listening” Digital TV Tour (by Bruce Dixon at the Black Agenda Report)
Digital TV means four to ten times as many channels for each and every broadcaster with no obligations to the public. The FCC quietly awarded broadcasters this colossal gift of public property worth $70-$80 billion during the Clinton administration back in 1996. In the 12 years since, under Democratic and Republican presidents alike, corporate broadcasters and their stooges at the FCC have diligently peddled the cover stories that digital TV is all about the advent of high definition television, and that the only nagging questions are how and whether enough converter boxes will be available for consumers who can’t or won’t buy brand new TVs. In a final act of brazen misdirection to conceal this grand theft digital, FCC Commissioners are scheduled to tour dozens of cities between now and February 18, 2009, doing a lot of talking, but not much listening.

FBI: Phone record seizure was miscommunication
WASHINGTON – The FBI did not abuse its authority when it seized the phone records of two journalists, according to the bureau’s top lawyer, who attributed the improper behavior to simple miscommunication.

Ex-bodyguard apologizes to Salman Rushdie
LONDON – Novelist Salman Rushdie won an apology Tuesday from a former bodyguard who attacked his character, a court decision the author hopes will set a new precedent for high-profile English libel trials.

Privacy Laws On Publication Of Photos Needed
The news that a Syrian man beheaded his 15-month-old nephew in a Jeddah supermarket in March shocked many, but for some the tragic events were made worse when Saudi newspapers published gruesome photos of the decapitated boy.

Editor Of Daily El Periodico Abducted And Drugged And A Journalist Assaulted Within 24 Hours
Reporters Without Borders voiced its support and called for stepped up protection for the staff of the daily El Periodico

Revealed: Britain’s Secret Propaganda War Against Al-Qaida
BBC and website forums targeted by Home Office unit

PTC Warns Brands to Steer Clear of CW’s ‘90210′ Revival
Attacks Network for Track Record of ‘Glamorized Drug Use,’ ‘Casual Teen Sex’

Bill O’Reilly Vs. Newsday
After Jenna Kern decided to write an Op-Ed piece for Newsday questioning whether shock jocks and hate speech contributed to the recent murderous shooting spree in a U-U church in Tennessee, the haters started to come after her.

Did NY Times Columnist Cross an Ethical Border? (by Jeff Bercovici, Portfolio)
Whether he’s buying prostitutes’ freedom or taking college students on a tour of African slums, New York Times op-ed columnist Nicholas Kristof isn’t the sort of journalist who worries about getting overly involved in the stories he covers. But did his crusading spirit cause Kristof to overstep the paper’s ethics guidelines?

Publicis’ Tobaccowala: Mass Media Is Far From Dead (But It’s Not Growing Either) (Paid Content)
Despite the rise of video-on-demand and targeted advertising, mass media is still a viable form and will likely remain so. But within mass media, only TV will continue to stand tall as radio and newspapers decline, says Rishad Tobaccowala, chief innovation officer at Publicis Groupe Media and CEO of Denuo, its new media consultancy. In a long interview with TVNewsday, Tobaccowala contends that broadcast’s strength lies in its potential to capitalize on the rise of digital. Still, he is quick to add that he’s talking about mere survivability for the most part. Tobaccowala: “Traditional mass media is not a growth business, and so to continue to resonate and be relevant, broadcast stations need to basically embrace digital media, including the Web. You’ll actually continue to have a healthy, viable broadcast business, but you have to accept it’s not growing, and it’s becoming less and less relevant to particular target audiences.”

Beam: The newspaper of the future may look like the Christian Science Monitor
Alex Beam likes the way the Christian Science Monitor explains the world in just 20 pages each day. “It is selective in what it covers,” he writes. “Its specialty is timely, analytical journalism, unleavened by the cynicism of the ink-stained wretch.” The paper’s financial troubles, says Beam, “instilled a much-needed sense of caution at Monitor headquarters.”

Chicago Tribune Redesign Prototype Boasts ‘Trib’ Nickname
The Chicago Tribune has long been nicknamed “The Trib.” But if a redesign prototype being passed around the Web becomes the final choice, that nickname will be a formal part of the paper. A new prototype offers a radical change to the Tribune’s legendary flag, with the older “Chicago Tribune” title in small letters at the top and a blown-up “trib” set in white against a black background.

WSJ should turn to media reporters for mag fodder
Moe Tkacik says there’s a great glossy magazine to be compiled from “the observations and interactions and amusing existential outtakes of Wall Street Journal Media & Marketing section reporters that don’t fit into the paper’s more traditional, Street-focused vision. …The Journal is, from a talent and institutional knowledge perspective, capable of making a good, funny, readable version of T — just by committing to the kind of magazine its reporters might actually read.”
Isn’t that what blogs are for?

New York Times Shocker: Online Ad Growth Stalls
July Results Show Drastic Drop to Just 1%

NYT Co.’s Gainesville Sun, Ocala Star-Banner merge news operations
News and copy desk functions, design, layout and pagination for the two papers will be done in Gainesville. Star-Banner and Gainesville editors, local news, sports, photography, online and business reporting staff members will remain in their respective newsrooms. The Sun’s Jim Osteen will become executive editor of both papers.

Philly Newspaper Staffers Vote to Forego Raises
Members of the union for newsroom, advertising and clerical employees of Philadelphia’s two largest newspapers have voted to defer a $25-a-week raise they were scheduled to receive Monday.

Local Papers in Denver, Twin Cities Splurge on Convention Coverage
Like their counterparts across the country, the local newspapers in Denver and Minneapolis-St. Paul have been cutting back as advertising sales dwindle. The next two weeks will be an exception: As the political conventions roll into town, the four major hometown dailies are planning lavish coverage worthy of the Olympics.

Headlines Not Intended for the Light of Day
A few online sites over the last few days have discovered stories that the Los Angeles Times never published in print or online. These were articles written ahead of time, as happens on those rare occasions when news could go one of several very specific ways, but were mistakenly indexed in search engines.

Cable Sees Convention Gains
Cable news was the big winner of the first night of the Democratic National Convention, with almost double the viewers tuning in for prime-time coverage on MSNBC, CNN and Fox Monday night compared with the first night of the 2004 convention, according to early numbers from Nielsen Media Research.

TNT Makes a Play for the Big Leagues
Media Reviews for Media People: ‘Raising the Bar’

Lifetime Sets Daytime Originals
Lifetime is launching its first slate of original unscripted programming for daytime, greenlighting a cooking show as well as two weeklong special programs, one centered on weight loss and the other featuring medium/clairvoyant Lisa Williams making her network return. The network has begun making an effort to add original programming during the day, when it airs mostly off-net sitcoms.

AMC programs offers movies for autistic people
Going to the movies isn’t the first choice of the Logsdon family when they’re looking for family entertainment.

YouTube screens “No End” doc
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Filmmaker Charles Ferguson is bringing his documentary “No End in Sight” to YouTube. An Oscar nominee for best feature-length documentary and winner of a special jury prize at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, “No End” casts a critical eye on U.S. decisions made during the early months of the war in Iraq, with government and military insiders relating their experiences. Between September 1 and November 4, the film will screen in its entirety on YouTube, becoming the first widely released feature film to play in full on the site.

mtvU Rolls Out 25 Sites Targeting the College Universe
mtvU, MTV Networks’ collection of TV and Web properties targeted to the college student universe, will today launch 25 Web sites dedicated to individual U.S. colleges. Through a partnership with local search specialist Zvents, mtvU is essentially looking to create a series of campus-insider versions of entertainment listings sites like CitySearch or Yelp for schools such as Ohio State University.

‘E&P’ To (Finally) Launch 2 Blogs Next Week!
Two new blogs, brought to you (at last) by E&P, will make their debut next week. So get ready to read, react, join in the fun and post your own comments at “Fitz & Jen Give You the Business” and belly up to the bar at “The E&P Pub” or throw a few darts. Only 125 years in the making!

Bookmarking Gets Distributed; Create Your Own Reddit on Your Own Domain (Mashable)
Is the future of social news distributed? That certainly seems to be the thinking at a number of leading names in the space, with Reddit today announcing that their feature for creating your own version of the site is being extended to let you host it under your own domain and fully customize the look and feel. The move follows news last week that Ma.gnolia was going open source, and word earlier this summer that Digg is working on their own offering to let users create their own custom social news sites.

Adobe Photoshop Elements Goes Online and Mobile
Adobe Systems has announced major updates to its Photoshop Elements suite of video- and photo-editing software, including online sharing and mobile-phone options. In beta now, the software is expected to be on retail shelves in early October.

Can Google Crack the TV Ad Market?
Google’s foray into television advertising is an important test of whether the Internet giant can use its wildly successful system of search advertising in the biggest of media channels. TV represents the company’s biggest hurdle to achieving its goal of building a broad platform for advertisers to run targeted ad campaigns, continuously changed based on metrics, across all forms of media.

TiVo to tie up with Entertainment Weekly: report
(Reuters) – Digital video recorder maker TiVo Inc is set to enter into an agreement with Time Warner’s Entertainment Weekly that will allow its users to automatically record shows suggested by the magazine’s staff, the Wall Street Journal said.

Apple’s ambitious plans for iPhone
The company plans to make at least 40 million iPhones in the next year; selling so many will hinge on global success and fixing connection glitches.

Amazon To Offer New Versions of Kindle e-Book Reader
Amazon will ship new versions of its Kindle e-book reader before year’s end. The original reader launched last November sold out in its first week and had Amazon scrambling to fill holiday orders. While sales have been brisk, estimates vary.

knfb Mobile Reader for the Vision Impaired
knfb Reading Technology is a parternship between Kurzweil Technologies and the National Federation for the Blind. The knfb Mobile Reader lets you take a photo of a printed page. The software then uses character recognition technology to convert it to text. Finally, text-to-speech technology is used to read the text out loud. According to its website, the software requires an unlocked Nokia N82 smartphone as its hardware platform.

N.Korea to suspend nuclear disablement
SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea said on Tuesday it will stop disabling its nuclear facilities and consider restoring the Yongbyon reactor that can make material for atomic bombs, accusing the United States of violating a disarmament deal.
The U.S.?  Violating a deal?  Hard to believe.

Buck Fush

Separate bombings kill at least 30 in Iraq
BAGHDAD – A suicide bomber in a car laden with explosives sped toward a group of police recruits in an Iraqi provincial town on Tuesday, exploding and killing 25 people, police and witnesses said.

Islamists protest in downtown Beirut
BEIRUT, Lebanon – Relatives of imprisoned Sunni Islamic militants in Lebanon have staged a protest in the capital Beirut demanding the release of their kin.

Israel shuts Gaza crossings because of rocket fire
JERUSALEM – Israel has ordered the Gaza Strip’s border crossings closed after militants violated a cease-fire by launching two rockets.

UN finds evidence 90 civilians dead in US-led strikes
KABUL (AFP) – A United Nations team has found “convincing evidence” that 90 civilians, including 60 children, were killed in US-led air strikes last week, the body’s representative in Afghanistan said Tuesday.

UN: Opium cultivation drops in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan – Drought and anti-drug campaigns helped slash Afghanistan’s opium poppy cultivation by 19 percent this year compared to 2007, but the country is still far and away the world’s leading source of the heroin-producing crop, the U.N. said Tuesday.

Malaysia’s Anwar heads for parliament after election victory
PERMATANG PAUH, Malaysia (AFP) – Malaysia’s opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim won a landslide victory Tuesday in a by-election to return him to parliament, and said he was on track to oust a weakened government.

Canada Conservatives move to avoid abortion debate
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada’s Conservative government, seeking to take the abortion debate off the table as it heads toward an election campaign, possibly as early as September 5, said on Monday it would strengthen penalties for violent attacks on pregnant women.

Russia recognizes breakaway Georgian regions
MOSCOW – Russia formally recognized the breakaway Georgian territories at the heart of its war with Georgia on Tuesday, heightening tensions with the West as the United States dispatched a military ship bearing aid to a port city still patrolled by Russian troops.

Mugabe jeered at parliament opening
HARARE (Reuters) – Opposition parliamentarians jeered and booed Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe as he reopened parliament on Tuesday in spite of their protests, but he said he was still hopeful for a power-sharing deal.

Sudan tightens grip on Darfur camp
KHARTOUM (AFP) – Sudan boosted forces outside a volatile camp for displaced people in Darfur on Tuesday, sparking fears of new armed clashes as residents prepared to bury dozens of dead from fighting a day earlier.

101 U.S. soldiers dead in Afghanistan so far this year. (Think Progress)
“The U.S. is now losing the war against the Taliban,” Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies wrote in a report Thursday. In Iraq, 239 U.S. soldiers have died this year, despite reductions in violence.

Bush opposes independence for 2 regions in Georgia
CRAWFORD, Texas – President Bush appealed to Russia’s president Monday to ignore the advice of lawmakers and refrain from recognizing Georgia’s breakaway regions as independent.

US-Russia chill threatens NASA space program
The chill left on US-Russian relations by Moscow’s military incursion into Georgia could spell problems for future US access to the International Space Station, US experts said.

Pentagon’s intelligence arm steps up lie detecting
WASHINGTON – The Pentagon’s intelligence arm is adding more polygraph studios and relying on outside contractors for the first time to conduct lie detection tests in an attempt to screen its 5,700 prospective and current employees every year.

Report: FBI saw mortgage crisis coming in ‘04
An FBI official recognized the gathering mortgage crisis as far back as 2004, and predicted confidently that the FBI could prevent the problem from growing as costly as the S&L crisis, the Los Angeles Times reports Monday.

Payment errors greater than projected for Medicare
WASHINGTON – A review of Medicare payments to suppliers of wheelchairs, oxygen machines and other medical equipment showed nearly three in 10 were made in error — about four times the rate previously cited by the federal government, investigators said Monday.

Number of uninsured drops; poverty holds steady
WASHINGTON – The number of people lacking health insurance dropped by more than 1 million in 2007, the first annual decline since the Bush administration took office, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday.

Sen. Ted Stevens: Prosecutors out to smear my name
WASHINGTON – Sen. Ted Stevens accused the Justice Department of trying to smear his character Monday as he prepared to defend his seat in a crowded Republican primary election.

Ex-Guantanamo detainees appeal to US Supreme Court
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Four Britons released from Guantanamo in 2004 after two years’ detention, requested the US Supreme Court to rule on the right of prisoners “to worship and … not to be tortured.”

Accountant beats IRS, opens door to refunds
WASHINGTON (AP) – It took seven years, but Charles Ulrich did something many people dream about, but few succeed at: He beat the IRS in a tax dispute… The accountant from Baxter, Minn., challenged the method the IRS has used for more than 20 years to tax shares and cash distributed by mutual life insurance firms to their policyholders when they reorganize as public companies. A federal court recently agreed with his interpretation.

DeLay might be cleared of charges
Money-laundering charges against former U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay and two indicted co-conspirators may be dismissed because the 2002 campaign finance case involved checks and not cash, a lawyer for DeLay said Sunday night… [T]he ruling … concluded that the state’s money-laundering statute — written in 1993 to combat illicit drug activity by focusing on the cash in the criminal transactions — did not apply to checks at the time DeLay is accused of laundering corporate money into campaign donations. The Legislature changed the law in 2005 to include checks.

Wall Street little changed after economic data
NEW YORK – Wall Street was little changed in thin volume Tuesday after a report indicated that consumers are more confident than analysts expected and oil prices rose on concerns about the path of Hurricane Gustav.

Gov’t home price index posts largest-ever drop
WASHINGTON – U.S. home prices fell 4.8 percent in the second quarter compared with a year ago, a new record low, according to a government report.

New-home sales rose slightly in July, prices fell
WASHINGTON – Sales of new homes rose in July, but still fell short of economists’ expectations, and home prices continued to sink.

Communities Become Home Buyers to Fight Decay
Using taxpayer and private money, Boston, Minneapolis, San Diego and a handful of other places are buying foreclosed properties to refurbish and resell them to developers and homeowners in an effort to prevent troubled neighborhoods from sliding into urban decay.

Consumer outlook up, worst may be over for housing
NEW YORK – Americans felt better about the economy in August, as a widely watched barometer of sentiment posted the biggest boost in two years amid falling gas prices. Meanwhile, two reports suggested that the worst may be over for the slumping housing market.

Criminals dumping weak US dollar for euro
OTTAWA (AFP) – The weakened US dollar has fallen out of favor with organized crime groups to pay for drug shipments or to settle scores, a Canadian government report said Friday. And if the greenback continues its slide in 2008, as expected, more and more criminals are likely to exchange euros for illicit goods, said Criminal Intelligence Service Canada in its annual report.  

Permanent link to MTA daily media news

Union Station protest at the MSNBC kiosk (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
We got ourselves a posse and went down to Union Station in front of the MSNBC kiosk.  We protested and shouted slogans (in NPR-speak) and completely drowned out the Obamaphiles.

We had a lot of support from passersby.  I was very encouraged that there were many sympathetic people.  I don’t think the Obama people knew what hit them.  They’ve had such a free ride for so long.  No one challenged them. no one was skeptical.  They have been handled with kid gloves like pampered little brats.  But in the face of all of the people they’ve been calling stupid, old women, they seemed oddly subdued. Chris Matthews made an appearance and stood there silently while some of us finally got a chance to tell him how we felt to his face.  The coward waited until we left before he came down from the stage to talk to the crowd.

Poll: More than half of Clinton backers still not sold on Obama (USA Today)
DENVER — Fewer than half of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s supporters in the presidential primaries say they definitely will vote for Barack Obama in November, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, evidence of a formidable challenge facing Democrats as their national convention opens here today. In the survey, taken Thursday through Saturday, 47% of Clinton supporters say they are solidly behind Obama, and 23% say they support him but may change their minds before the election. Thirty percent say they will vote for Republican John McCain, someone else or no one at all.”
So, of course, instead of honoring Hillary and wooing her supporters, they want to take away her roll call vote.  On this, the 88th anniversary of the day women were granted the right to vote, they are in the process of suppressing the delegates’ right to vote for the first woman to be a viable presidential candidate.  It’s almost cosmic in the level of insult.

Calling all delegates! (by Eastan McNeal at No Quarter)
The Obama / DNC rumor that ABC is tossing out (no roll call vote) is just that. A RUMOR! These are the same folks, along with the AP, CNN and MSNBC that told us that Hillary dropped out, just as the last primaries were being staged. Pay no mind to the fools behind the curtains. Do not call your friend or spouse who is in Denver as a Delegate and tell them to come home, it is over. It is not! Jezz! What ever happened to fair play?
There’s never, ever been any fair play where the Clintons are concerned.  Think about how manipulative and insulting it is to tell the media what someone else is going to do, to make that person do what you want her to do.

Stephanopoulos: No Roll Call Vote for Clinton? (Political Radar, ABC News)
“The whole idea of a roll call vote could be in flux at this point,” Stephanopoulos told ABC’s Charles Gibson on World News Sunday night. “The Clinton people here, they’ve said they wanted catharsis, they wanted that roll call, but they may not get it,” Stephanopoulos said, describing the decision as one being discussed at the highest levels of Clinton’s camp.  “They don’t want to be blamed for any trouble at this convention.”
Don’t you get it, Hillary?  YOU’RE GOING TO BE BLAMED NO MATTER WHAT!!!  May as well stand up and fight.  I’d rather be blamed for commission than omission.

Catharsis My Ass (by Larry Johnson at No Quarter)
I want to ensure you get a full taste of the “class” of the Obama team. Hillary has done everything in her power to encourage folks to support Obambi. Unfortunately, not even Hillary is that powerful. Most of us can not be swayed to back a guy who is so completely and fully unqualified to be President. Nonetheless, Hillary pressed on to support the “young God” and what did it earn her? This: [Click through to watch a disgraceful video, full of right-wing inspired hate points against Hillary.] Hillary has conducted herself with grace and intelligence (we expected nothing less). These Obama thugs? Not so much.

Monday: The Audacity (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
It really is astonishing to me that the media is missing one of the biggest stories of the whole election- the gaming of the convention itself.  This is going to be one giant caucus fraud and it’s going to be shown before a huge, televised, national audience and yet, the DNC and the Obama campaign are trying to force delegates into a final official vote before the actual roll call vote.  Do they think no one will notice? One reporter got a clue last night (though we’ll see if she actually follows up on it).  She said something like, “Aren’t they supposed to do that on the convention floor?  If the vote is official before they vote, isn’t that breaking the rules?”  Ding! Ding! Ding!

When Democracy returns to the Democratic party, so will we. Until then, PUMA! (by sm77 at The Confluence)
I stand by my Floridian voter’s opinion: “If a bank robber was caught stealing money and at their trial, they made a plea bargain to give most of the money back – it still doesn’t exculpate them from the crime they committed.  The robber should be punished regardless.  PUMA was formed to protest the DNC’s hijack of Democracy.  We want Democracy back in the Democratic Party, and you will not get our support and votes until our Democratic leaders start acting Democratically again.”

Clinton supporter says she was called ‘Uncle Tom’ (AP)
DENVER – A black delegate for Hillary Rodham Clinton says she was called an “Uncle Tom” by Illinois Senate President Emil Jones, one of Barack Obama’s political mentors.

Alegre’s Corner

Another Crisis Brewing for Obama in Illinois (by Charles Lemos at By the Fault)
The National Organization of Women (NOW) is calling for the resignation of the Illinois State Senate President, Emil Jones, after he called an African-American Illinois delegate for Senator Clinton an “Uncle Tom” for supporting her candidacy over Senator Obama’s. You can view the video here. Emil Jones is Obama’s first political mentor and his comments are yet again another demonstration how the Obama campaign and those closely associated with it continously play the race card.
Actually, Alice Palmer was Obama’s FIRST political mentor.  Of course, he repaid her by having her kicked off the ballot when he wanted her state senate seat.

Jackson Jr.: “No one wants an angry African-American man in the White House” (Politico)
DENVER – Barack Obama is in a situation similar to Jackie Robinson, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) said Monday at a Politico panel on race and the presidential election. Just as Robinson had to perform well on the field while ignoring racial taunts and refusing to hit back, Obama must do the same, he said.
And just which racial insults are you talking about, Jesse Junior?  I haven’t heard any at all.  Be prepared to hear a lot more from Jesse Junior, though, folks.  He helped engineer the baseless racist charges against the Clintons during the primary and strong arm African American superdelegates to put Obama out front.  He will be rewarded.  And HE IS an angry African-American man, despite the fact that he grew up privileged, as Jesse Jackson’s son.

U of I at Chicago readies to release records (AP)
CHICAGO – The University of Illinois at Chicago prepared for Tuesday’s release of 140 boxes of documents from a nonprofit organization Barack Obama served on that is linked to former 1960s radical William Ayers… Ayers, who teaches at the university, has a controversial past that some supporters of Republican John McCain want to highlight because of his past work with Obama. Ayers helped found the Weather Underground organization that took credit for a series of bombings, including nonfatal blasts at the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol four decades ago. Obama’s campaign has started airing a television commercial to try to counter an ad by an outside group that focuses on the Democratic presidential candidate’s ties to Ayers.
He’s not just running an ad countering the Republican ad, he’s actually trying to SUPPRESS their ad.

Obama seeks to silence ad tying him to 60s radical (AP)
DENVER – Barack Obama is striking back fiercely and swiftly to stamp out an ad that links him to a 1960s radical, eager to demonstrate a far more aggressive response to attacks than John Kerry did when faced with the 2004 “Swift Boat” campaign. Obama not only aired a response ad to the spot linking him to William Ayers, but he sought to block stations the commercial by warning station managers and asking the Justice Department to intervene. The campaign also planned to compel advertisers to pressure stations that continue to air the anti-Obama commercial. It’s the type of going-for-the-jugular approach to politics many Democrats complain that Kerry lacked and that Republicans exploit.
I can understand fighting lies, but I’ve seen the ad, and there’s no lie in it.  It’s on the home page of the American Issues Project website.  Watch it yourself and tell me if you find one.  In fact, this ad doesn’t even tell the whole story about Obama and Ayers.  I want you to think about that, friends.  Barack Obama is trying to suppress an ad that DOES NOT LIE ABOUT HIM.  His minions demanded the firing of Ron Fournier for writing an OPINION PIECE that DOES NOT LIE ABOUT HIM.  It’s downright frightening that he’s willing to involve the Justice Department (see below).  Totalitarianism can come from either the right or the left.

Obama to DOJ: Block terrorist ad (Politico)
Sen. Barack Obama has launched an all-out effort to block a Republican billionaire’s efforts to tie him to domestic and foreign terrorists in a wave of negative television ads. Obama’s campaign has written the Department of Justice demanding a criminal investigation of the “American Issues Project,” the vehicle through which Dallas investor Harold Simmons is financing the advertisements. The Obama campaign – and tens of thousands of supporters – also is pressuring television networks and affiliates to reject the ads. The effort has met with some success: CNN and Fox News are not airing the attacks.
And who’s helping?  Why, the reliably love- Obama- no- matter- what crew on the internets.

Netroots push back against MSM ‘bias’ (Politico)
Gone are the days when only the right howled about bias and malice from network anchors and star political reporters. What began roughly a decade ago as frustration from Democrats over coverage of President Bill Clinton’s impeachment and adulterous escapades has morphed into an informally organized rapid response network, ready to pounce on any and all perceived media slights against Barack Obama.

Let Us Praise the Trivial Stupidity of the Piddleroots! (by Arthur Silber at the Power of Narrative)
I hereby bestow upon the collection of cranially impaired, characterologically deformed, and intellectually stunted protoplasmic blobs heretofore known as the “netroots” a new designation: the piddleroots… That the piddleroots should congratulate themselves for their role in promoting [the "McCain's Mansions"] story reveals how pathetically small and stupendously dumb their approach and their aspirations are… Trivial stupidity: it’s what for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and every snack during the day. And now it’s the specialty of the piddleroots, who once ceaselessly and bitterly complained about that fact with regard to Republicans. But now that power is almost within their own grasp…ah, well.

Finally! A new way to say “Shut the fuck up!” (by lambert at Corrente)
Politico: “Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell was supposed to give ‘closing remarks’ during this afternoon’s Shorenstein Center-sponsored panel discussion with all three Sunday show moderators … but instead, he opened up a can of worms about bias in 2008 election coverage. ‘Ladies and gentleman, the coverage of Barack Obama was embarrassing,’ said Rendell, in the ballroom at Denver’s Brown Palace Hotel. “It was embarrassing.’”… At that point, PBS’s Judy Woodruff, who was moderating the moderators event, said: “Why don’t we let Governor Rendell sit down.” That was met with applause from the crowd of big-time media figures, which included Arianna Huffington, Gwen Ifill, Al Hunt, and Chuck Todd.
And those very same so-called journalists have helped the Republicans peddle crap about Democrats for at least 20 years.

EASY TO PLAY THE GAME HARD: (by Bob Somerby at the Daily Howler)
[Michael] Kinsley, the brightest man of the 1980s, is still a major American journalist—a major voice of the career liberal world. At one point in Saturday’s column, he offered a familiar old claim about one way our politics works: “KINSLEY (8/25/08): With so much going their way in this election, the biggest challenge the Democrats face is simple: The Republicans just play the game of presidential politics so much better. They play it with genius, courage, creativity and utter ruthlessness.”

“Liberal” journalists like Kinsley have peddled this framework roughly forever—even as their own journalistic conduct makes it a self-fulfilling prophecy. After all, it isn’t hard to “play the game better” when a lazy, indolent mainstream press corps is willing to peddle your twaddle for you, no matter how foolish your twaddle may be.

Inconsistencies undermine FactCheck report on Obama “birth certificate” (by Reuven Koret at Israel Insider)

The Annenberg Political Factcheck website has published photographs and an analysis of what it says is the “original birth certificate” of Barack Hussein Obama II. While the physical document depicted in the photos resemble the document image previously scanned and published by the Daily Kos website and Obama’s own “Fight the Smears” site in June, FactCheck’s case for authenticity and its claims to objectivity are undermined by a litany of process flaws, conflicts of interest and factual inconsistencies that raise doubts about its motives and methods of those of the Obama campaign…

The evidentiary and analytical shoddiness of the FactCheck report, both in terms of the dubious dating of the photos, the inexactitude in the circumstances of the shoot, apparent inconsistencies between the photos and the scan, and the failure to pursue the more significant, truly original, long form birth certificate, all point to the inadequacy of the proof presented to date to validate Obama’s claim to being a “natural born” US citizen. That question, it now seems, will need to be answered in federal court.

A Quick Note on the Phil Berg Case (by Larry Johnson at No Quarter)
Some are getting their shorts in a knot because I have not put up a piece on the Phil Berg law suit filed last week in Philadelphia challenging the candidacy of Barack Obama. The reason is simple. The case has been filed and there is nothing to report until the judge makes a decision and requires discovery. I wish Phil the best, but want to keep the focus on other issues for now. If the case moves forward we will cover it extensively.
Ditto from me.  I thought we would know something on Monday, but unfortunately not.  So I guess the Democrats will go ahead with the coronation, sad to say.

Kennedy passes the torch to Obama (McClatchy)
DENVER — Sen. Edward Kennedy’s appearance at the Democratic National Convention Monday night was designed to be both a farewell to the last Kennedy brother and a passing of the torch to Sen. Barack Obama as the leader of the next generation.
Earth to McClatchy: The torch does not belong to Ted Kennedy, and even if it did, he has no mandate from half of the Democratic Party to pass it on to the arrogant empty suit, Barack Obama.

“You Do What You Say You’re Gonna Do” (by Arthur Silber at the Power of Narrative)
I’m listening to Michelle Obama on the raydeeo. Did she just say, in extolling the blessed virtues of everyone she’s related to (speaking personally, you can take most of my relations, please) and in telling the American exceptionalist myth for the gazillionth time (that’s a white exceptionalist myth, ‘member?), that Barack reaffirmed for her the importance of doing “what you say you’re gonna do”? Did she actually say that? Oh, yeah, baby… I suppose Michelle is right, though. Give Obama enough money and/or underwrite a huge and hugely expensive Democratic folderol, and he’ll do exactly what his corporate paymasters demand. That’s not an American myth. That’s the American truth for the last century.

The Race Isn’t About Race (by Matt Bai, New York Times)
It would be naïve to suggest that race won’t figure in the election. But the danger for Democrats is that dark prophesies of prejudice could be self-fulfilling.  Ever since 2000, a lot of so-called progressives have proudly displayed a healthy contempt for less-educated white voters who cast ballots in defiance of their “economic self-interest,” as Thomas Frank argued in “What’s the Matter With Kansas?” (The widespread acceptance of Mr. Frank’s thesis is how John Kerry largely escaped the scorn that is ritually visited upon losing Democratic presidential nominees; the members of his party directed their exasperation at the voters instead.) But surely caricaturing a large subset of voters as ignorant has made those voters even less inclined to pull the lever for the Democrats this time around. All this talk about racism isn’t likely to help.

Obvious Injuries of Class (by Anglachel)
Obama and his backers in the DNC show once again that they cannot hear what is being said directly to their faces and they do not see has been written large on every political screen since New Hampshire… I’m talking about the Democratic leadership’s inability to understand how the simple facts of Obama’s personal history combined with the blatent favortism and machinations of the DNC on his behalf is being used to effectively undermine the campaign and, more importantly, the liberal policies of the party. To respond “Racist!” when the charge is “Unqualified!” is stomping right into the sterotype of how Republicans say Democrats use AFAC [affirmative action] – to place unqualified minorities into positions they have not earned, do not deserve and cannot perform.

This is the real mesage behind the latest attack ad trying to use Hillary. It was not primarily about whether Hillary said Obama was not qualified (Like Republicans care about Hillary? Puh-leeze…), but about getting the optics in front of the viewers – white person who is really well prepared pushed aside for brown person who isn’t. And with the Stevensonian fanaticism about race, they are providing all the wrong responses to this assault. The Republican campaign theme, now that Hillary is not on the ticket, is this: Look at the Democrats engaging in reverse discrimination with the office of the Presidency itself. If they will do this, they will stop at nothing to give your jobs away.

Obama Insists Clinton Was On Short List (by Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller at Political Punch, ABC News)
When Senator Obama chose Senator Biden to be his running mate on Saturday – it confirmed the suspicions of many that his former rival, Sen. Clinton, would not be chosen. But was Senator Clinton even on Obama’s short list? “I’ve tried to not have long discussion about short lists, long lists,” Obama told reporters at a press avail in Moline, Illinois, “But I’ve said publicly before and I will repeat again that Sen. Clinton would have been on anybody’s short list and I took her very seriously.” But was she on HIS short list? “I think you can draw that conclusion,” Obama finished.
I don’t believe him.

Joe Biden and the political establishment’s overriding goal (by Glenn Greenwald at Unclaimed Territory, Salon)
Whether rightly or wrongly, Biden is approved of and deemed to have Seriousness credentials by the political establishment because they perceive that he affirms those central precepts and they see his selection as a sign that Obama will, too. And there is much to suggest that that perception — at least as it applies to Biden — is correct. In an October, 2001 New Republic article, Michael Crowley recounted that Biden was continuously boasting that the terrorism bill sent to Congress by John Ashcroft (soon to be called The Patriot Act) was a replica of legislation that Biden had long advocated — ever since the Oklahoma City courthouse bombing

Joe Biden’s pro-RIAA, pro-FBI tech voting record (CNET)
By choosing Joe Biden as their vice presidential candidate, the Democrats have selected a politician with a mixed record on technology who has spent most of his Senate career allied with the FBI and copyright holders, who ranks toward the bottom of CNET’s Technology Voters’ Guide, and whose anti-privacy legislation was actually responsible for the creation of PGP.

Obama Aides Defend Bank’s Pay to Biden Son (New York Times)
During the years that Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. was helping the credit card industry win passage of a law making it harder for consumers to file for bankruptcy protection, his son had a consulting agreement that lasted five years with one of the largest companies pushing for the changes, aides to Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign acknowledged Sunday. Campaign officials acknowledged that the connection between the Bidens and MBNA, the enormous financial services company then based in their home state of Delaware, was one of the most sensitive issues they examined while vetting the senator for a spot on the ticket.

Biden has deep ties to Rezko accomplice (Chicago Sun-Times)
DENVER — No matter what help Barack Obama might get from Sen. Joseph Biden, his newly named vice presidential running mate won’t give Obama much cover on the Tony Rezko front. Biden has described himself as a 30-year friend of a key figure in the Rezko trial who’s pleaded guilty to a federal extortion charge in Chicago and is awaiting sentencing. When the Delaware senator began contemplating his own 2008 presidential run, he initially was helped by Chicago lawyer Joseph Cari Jr., who also served as Biden’s Midwest field director in his failed 1988 bid for president. In 2005, Cari admitted to taking part in an $850,000 kickback scheme that prosecutors say was part of a larger political fund-raising operation for Gov. Blagojevich overseen by Rezko, who was convicted in June of wide-ranging corruption involving state deals.

Why does CNN employ Alex Castellanos (Part XIV)? (County Fair, Media Matters for America)
Alex Castellanos is a Republican strategist best known for making Jesse Helms’ “Hands” ad.  He is reportedly advising the McCain campaign.  Somewhat inexplicably, then, CNN has hired him as a contributor.  One of his early “contributions” was suggesting Hillary Clinton would poison Barack Obama.  Another was suggesting it was accurate to call Clinton a “bitch.” At his new blog [Monday], former Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson caught Castellanos comparing Clinton to Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction.

The Convention Narrative So Far (by Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft)
I do not know how it looks from the ground in Denver, but on cable TV the story is All About The Clintons. As predictable as it was, apparently the fact that the Convention Narrative today is Dem Divided/What About The Clintons? comes as a great shock to the Obama camp and his supporters, both in the Media and on the blogs. Picking Joe Biden (who is only mentioned in passing on TV today), which was the best Obama could do once he ruled out picking Hillary, especially the way it was rolled out, pretty much guaranteed this result. Obama should have known this would happen, and assuming he did, he chose this path.

Obama’s Worst Enemies (by Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft))
David Sirota demonstrates how to do the most harm you can to Barack Obama: “The Clintons are doing everything they can to make this convention all about them – and to absolve themselves from the substantive criticism of both Clintonism and Bill Clinton’s behavior on the campaign. . . . No, Bill Clinton was not ‘painted as a racist’ – he was a racist during the campaign.” Nice work David. John McCain thanks you.

Ban on gay adoption cleared for Arkansas ballot. (Think Progress)
A ballot initiative “aimed at effectively banning gays and lesbians from becoming foster or adoptive parents” was cleared to appear on this fall’s ballot in Arkansas. The measure “would prohibit unmarried couples living together from fostering or adopting children.” Sen. John McCain has caved to the right wing on this issue, recently stating that he doesn’t “believe in gay adoption.” “I am for the values that two parent families, the traditional family represents,” McCain said recently, presumably indicating his support for the Arkansas initiative.

Some Hallmark stores refuse to sell Hallmark’s same-sex marriage cards. (Think Progress)
Last week, Hallmark began producing greeting cards that recognize the unions between same-sex couples. Soon after, the American Family Association announced that it was launching a protest of Hallmark, claiming that the company was “promoting a lifestyle” that is “unhealthy.” Now, the AP is reporting that seven Hallmark stores in Idaho are refusing to carry the new same-sex marriage card.

‘Imagine No Religion’ signs to go up around town
A national organization that promotes freedom from religion and separation of church and state is hoping to get Phoenix commuters talking with five controversial billboard ads that will go up this week. The Freedom From Religion Foundation, based in Madison, Wis., paid advertising company CBS Outdoor to put up five signs that read “Imagine No Religion.” The message on the billboards will start to go up Monday and will remain there for a month, said Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Freedom From Religion Foundation

Media Matters for America headlines

• With Obama’s VP selection, Kristol now concerned with Democratic Party’s “gender equity

• Contradicting his own book, Freddoso claimed “there’s nothing” in Obama’s record indicating he is a “reformer”

• Boortz: “Let’s ask Obama how many prayer rugs he has”

• Doocy father and son both ignore son’s report about some young voters’ knowledge of Obama

• Sean Hannity: “I think I was more fair to the Clintons”

• Juan Williams says Michelle Obama “sometimes uses” a “kind of militant anger”

• IBD reported that “[a]mid” acts of violence, Obama “phone[d] Odinga to voice his support” — but not that he said he urged negotiation

• Quinn & Rose guest host Pintek on Obama: “[A] monster and a liar” who believes “if a woman chooses abortion, she’s entitled to a dead body no matter what”

• NY Times again repeated falsehood that Casey was denied speaking slot at ‘92 Dem convention “because of his anti-abortion views”

IFJ Calls On China To Extend Media Freedom After Olympic Games
The International Federation of Journalists called on China to live up to its promises for a free media by extending media freedom after the Olympic Games period, following a series of attacks on press freedom.

Somali Government Says Hunting For Abducted Reporters
The Somali government said that a hunt has been started for Australian, Canadian and Somali journalists abducted near the dangerous capital of Mogadishu on Sunday.

Hezbollah TV Live In Australia (by Peter Veness, News.com)
The federal government must consider “creative” ways to tackle an anti-semitic satellite television station’s broadcasts being beamed into Australia.

Facebook cuts off Scrabulous after legal complaint
NEW YORK (AP) – A highly popular Scrabble clone already pulled from Facebook in the United States and Canada continued its tumble over the weekend as the online hangout extended its block of the game throughout most of the world.

That Pew Study Doesn’t Tell Whole Story on Younger Readers (by Maegan Carberry at Editor & Publisher)
Defenders of the millennial generation’s civic engagement had some explaining to do last week after a new Pew study indicated that a third of us don’t seek out any news on a typical day, including online media.

Haiku Nation: ‘Mini-Lit’ is Thriving
Jeremy Caplan: Short is in. Online Americans, fed up with e-mail overload and blogorrhea, are retreating into micro-writing. Six-word memoirs. Four-word film reviews. Twelve-word novels. Like traditional Japanese poetry, the new pop-culture haiku says a lot with few words. These days digital eloquence is defined by pithiness.

Moderation a Virtue? How 10 Top Sites Handle Online Comments
As the number of unique visitors to newspaper Web sites grows, newsroom leaders are contending not only with the challenge of monetizing their product but with how much moderation they can or should provide for their hugely popular user forums.

Los Angeles Times Media Group Joins in Launch of Real Estate Auctioneer ZetaBid
Searching for new sources of revenue, Los Angeles Times Media Group is getting into the real estate business. Today, Times Media Group and other partners will launch ZetaBid, a business that will auction foreclosed homes and other properties. The company will also run a Web site where the properties could be viewed.

Case Study: ‘Times Union’ May Cut 28 Pages Each Week
“Some of the feature sections are less likely to survive,” Editor Rex Smith said about how the page cut would occur. Other cuts may include the daily weather map, restaurant reviews, and some of the stand-alone business sections: “We are looking at content we don¿t provide uniquely, or do uniquely well.”

Beijing Olympics Most-Watched Event in TV History
NBC says it’s official: The Beijing Games has become the most-watched U.S. television event of all time. Through 16 days of coverage, 211 million viewers have watched the Olympics on NBC Universal’s broadcast network and cable channels, according to Nielsen Media Research. That’s 2 million ahead of the 1996 Atlanta Games, the previous all-time record-holder.

World News Kicks Off HD Expansion at ABC
ABC News is using the platform of the 2008 political conventions to launch a campaign of its own: a significant expansion of its HDTV offerings. On Aug. 25, World News with Charles Gibson and Nightline start broadcasting in 720-line progressive (720p) HD, first from the Democratic National Convention in Denver, then from the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul the following week.

Internet socializing keeps time with the music scene
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – As music lovers mobbed an outdoor stage, vying for views of Radiohead, Beck and other rockers, Keith McPhail enjoyed a prime view of the show from a couch in an Internet “living room.”

Learn guitar from rock gods on iVideosongs.com
The new website iVideosongs.com improves upon the Net’s vast guitar music lessons by having the actual recording artists teach you how to play their classics.

AARP Mining For Online Gold From Silver Set
AARP has long been the publisher of the nation’s largest magazines — by far — and now it’s flexing its muscle online. In April, AARP launched AARP Bulletin Today, a political news site targeted at some 89 million over-50 year olds in the U.S., roughly 40 million of whom are already members.

Discover’s Search For the Curious Webizen (by Steve Smith, MIN)
Core to Discover magazine’s strategy online is embracing the blogosphere. The company pulled into its orbit Phil Platt’s popular Bad Astronomy blog, which quickly became one of the site’s most popular draws. Discover management is lending a print brand’s prestige to a blogger and enjoying the traffic and stickiness that comes from grassroots loyalty.

Iraq demands deadline for pullout of all US troops
BAGHDAD – Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Monday no security agreement with the United States could be reached unless it included a “specific deadline” for the withdrawal of all American troops from Iraq.

There’s so much riding on it.
Jamiol’s World

After Pullout, Russia Envisions Long-Term Shift
MOSCOW — As the Russian Army withdrew most of its forces from Georgia, it was becoming ever more clear on Friday that Moscow had no intention of restoring what once was — either on the ground or diplomatically.  The West wants a return to early August, before an obscure territorial dispute on the fringes of the old Soviet empire erupted into an international crisis. But Russia’s forces are digging in and seizing ribbons of Georgian land that abut two breakaway enclaves allied with Moscow, effectively extending its zone of influence.