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.