Permanent link to MTA daily media news

Barack Obama 2.0 (Political Wire)
President-elect Obama’s political team “is quietly planning for a nationwide hiring binge that would marshal an army of full-time organizers to press the new president’s agenda and lay the foundation for his reelection,” the Los Angeles Times reports. “Organizers and even Republicans say the scope of this permanent campaign structure is unprecedented for a president. People familiar with the plan say Obama’s team would use the network in part to pressure lawmakers — particularly wavering Democrats — to help him pass complex legislation on the economy, healthcare and energy.”

Obama makes pitch for ideas, e-mail addresses (AP, thanks to sm77 at The Confluence)
WASHINGTON – Barack Obama’s high-tech bandwagon is rolling on, combining information on inauguration events with a pitch for cash to pay for them. The president-elect’s aides told supporters Wednesday that they could learn by e-mail about community service projects around the country tied to his swearing-in Jan. 20; that they could receive updates by cell phone on traffic and events in the nation’s capital; that the best of their ideas on how to govern, submitted on his Web site, would get his attention. In the process, the Obama team collected more data about potential supporters and donors.

Obama-Biden Transition Team (via email)
Dear Carolyn, We wanted to tell you about a new feature on Change.gov which lets you bring your ideas directly to the President. It’s called the Citizen’s Briefing Book, and it’s an online forum where you can share your ideas, and rate or offer comments on the ideas of others. The best-rated ones will rise to the top, and after the Inauguration, we’ll print them out and gather them into a binder like the ones the President receives every day from experts and advisors. If you participate, your idea could be included in the Citizen’s Briefing Book to be delivered to President Obama. Visit the Citizen’s Briefing Book now and share your ideas.
So I’m a sucker.  I keep hoping like hell that somehow, some way, those entrusted with carrying out the people’s business will actually care what we the people think is our business and what we want carried out on our behalf.  I once thought MoveOn was a vehicle to make that happen, and it turned out to be another top-down hoax.  And if it’s OUR input that will guide policy, why does Obama thinks he needs to sell it to us?  See below.

Obama heading to Ohio to promote stimulus (AP)
WASHINGTON – Barack Obama is going back on the road — even before he’s sworn into office.
This is exactly how Bush tried to sell his policies.

A scary analogy (by Paul Krugman)
Mark Thoma: “I think the stimulus package is like driving up an icy hill. If you don’t have enough momentum from the start and fail to provide enough “stimulus” to get the car over the crest of the hill, you can slide all the way back to the bottom, crashing into things along the way and ending up worse off than when you started…” I’d add that there may also be a political tipping point: if the stimulus package is too weak, conservatives will pile on after it fails to deliver, claiming that the whole concept has been discredited.
It’s what conservatives do best: Throw a wrench in Democrats’ plans and then blame Democrats for the failure of those plans.  And Democrats just keep participating.  One has to wonder if Democrats aren’t just as willing as the conservatives to have the plans derailed.  Kabuki on the Potomac.

The Party of No Ideas (by Joe Conason)
Would it be rude to ask whether the Republicans have any new proposals to save the country from this worsening recession? The question arises not because anyone expects the minority party to burst forth with creative ideas, but because conservatives in Congress and the media seem so determined to thwart or stall the economic stimulus plans of President-elect Barack Obama… [T]heir real message is that the best thing to do for America is to do nothing at all, except to maintain or worsen the inequities of our tax system… [I]nertia is the right’s program, whether we listen to the Republican Congressional leaders, the Heritage analysts or the conservative pundits. They are determined to sabotage constructive action by the new administration. They cannot let go of their ideology, regardless of the pain that will be inflicted as the recession deepens.
But we’re supposed to be all lovey-dovey and bipartisan now, Joe.  Didn’t you get the memo?

More on PEBO’s get-togethers with columnists of various stripes (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
Drudge is providing a transcript of a CNBC interview of Larry Kudlow who dished about [Tuesday] night’s dinner. After reciting the guest list, Mr. Kudlow effuses of the President-elect — he “is charming, he is terribly smart, bright, well-informed, he has a great sense of humor.”    Mr Kudlow says that he told a lot of jokes that Mr. Obama laughed at. ”I said ‘You took my best people from the program. You took Austan Goolsbee,’” Kudlow told CNBC. “He laughed and said, ‘They’re good men.’ I said, ‘But Mr. President,… why did you leave us Robert Reich,’ who i adore, and he laughed and said, ‘I want somebody fighting for me, Larry.’”
Because the most important thing for a president is to keep the right-wing media amused.

Obama meets with liberal columnists (Politico)
Obama held a meeting with several columnists and liberal commentators [Wednesday] morning, following up on [Tuesday] night’s dinner with conservative writers, according to sources with knowledge of the meeting. The group included the Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne and Eugene Robinson, the Wall Street Journal’s Gerry Seib, National Journal’s Ron Brownstein, the New York Times Frank Rich and Maureen Dowd, The Atlantic’s Andrew Sullivan, and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, among others… “It was a pretty intense back and forth about a lot of stuff,” said one attendee, declining to get into specifics, since the meeting was off the record.
Marc Ambinder says that Paul Krugman was invited, but didn’t attend the meeting.

The Secrets That They Keep. (by Stateofdisbelief at The Confluence)
Using propoganda and faux pressure to promote the PEBO’s agenda has also been revealed as a strategy by MoveOn.org calling for the troops to swoop down on resistant legislators who seek to “deny” the Messiah his right to have his ideas rubber stamped. We’ve already been exposed to obvious and extreme media bias throughout the election that has eroded our trust in mainstream media.  These “secret” meetings with media from both sides of the political spectrum only further validate concerns that information being put forth through mainstream channels should continue to be viewed with a jaundiced eye.  The media used to be the protectors of the truth.  Now, in my opinion, they are the purveyors of propoganda…with their integrity purchased by the highest bidder. 

Obama Rates Higher Than Bush, Clinton (Political Wire)
Less than a week before taking office, President-elect Obama himself also enjoys very high ratings, with 71% approving of the way he is handling his transition, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. “On a series of measures — from being seen as easygoing and likable to being perceived as a good commander-in-chief — Mr. Obama rated higher than President George W. Bush or former President Bill Clinton did shortly before they took office.”

Bailed-out Wall Street helps float Obama inauguration (McClatchy)
WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama has spoken a lot about setting a new standard for ethics and transparency, and he issued an edict that his inaugural committee would bar contributions from corporations, political action committees, lobbyists, labor unions and foreigners. But as always seems to happen, big financial interests find a way to weigh in with a pile of cash. The watchdog group Public Citizen says nearly 80 percent of the $35.3 million raised by the Presidential Inaugural Committee to date has come from 211 wealthy donors, including a number from Wall Street firms benefiting from the mushrooming federal bailout.

London tabloid concocts the cost of Obama’s inauguration; Drudge cheers (County Fair, Media Matters for America)
London’s Daily Mail claims the cost of Obama’s inauguration is approaching $160 million: “By the time the final dance has been held at one of the many inaugural balls the costs for the day will be a staggering £110m.” Not surprisingly, the newspaper provides no attribution for the figure. (The actual cost is closer to $40 million.) But that doesn’t matter because Drudge has linked to the Daily Mail’s report and we’re sure reporters are on the phone as we speak.

Headlines I wish I’d never read (by lambert at Corrente)
“Obama Souvenir Sales Turn President-Elect Into One-Man Stimulus.”

Yes, We Can (Try to Hop on the Obama Marketing Bandwagon) — Part 2 (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
The inauguration of President Barack Obama will mean that Ben & Jerry’s will stop making butter pecan ice cream. That’s because the liberal Vermont ice-cream-makers are re-naming the flavor “YES PECAN!” which they describe as “An Inspirational Blend! Amber Waves of Buttery Ice Cream With Roasted Non-Partisan Pecans.”

Note: No pints of “Yes Pecan!” will be available — just scoops from tubs in ice cream shops. “The company is partnering with Common Cause, a nonpartisan, nonprofit advocacy organization founded as a vehicle for citizens to make their voices heard in the political process,” says the B&J press release. “Their Education Fund conducts research, education, and outreach activities.  Proceeds associated to the sale of ‘Yes Pecan’ will go to Common Cause’s Education Fund.”…

And just in case our previous blog on Pepsi’s curiously familiar new “O” didn’t convince you something was afoot, here are some images of Pepsi’s new campaign.

American Wife Author Sittenfeld Writes Serialized Inauguration Novella for Slate
Curtis Sittenfeld, author of last year’s Laura Bush-inspired novel American Wife is wading into fictional Presidential doings yet again. Tuesday, Slate started running All Along, This Was Supposed to Happen, a serialized novella about Barack Obama’s Inauguration.

Obama urges service around inauguration (AP)
WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama said Wednesday that he wants his inauguration to be about more than him; it should be about getting all Americans involved in community service.
And Obama’s service, to provide an example?  Nonexistent.  But one of the ways YOU can volunteer is to shovel horse shit for the inaugural parade.  See below.

Obama Team Aims to Go Green This Inaugural (by Sunlen Miller at Political Punch, ABC News)
With millions expected to gather on the National Mall Tuesday for President-elect Obama’s inauguration, the Presidential Inaugural Committee has teamed up with the Environmental Protection Agency to minimize the impact the festivities will have on the environment… Hundreds of people from among the 18,000 volunteers will be dispatched as part of a “green squad” to pick up trash and recyclables along the Mall and parade route. The National Parks Service (which protects the Mall) and the Trust for the National Mall have provided recycling receptacles up and down the Mall to help out.

Obama’s Priorities: War and Profits Over People (by Chris Floyd, posted at the Black Agenda Report)
It is not as if Barack Obama didn’t warn us where he was headed. It’s now official: Obama’s administration will target “entitlements” for budgetary “overhaul.” To the right, march! “The war machine and the financial markets will continue to be gorged and comforted in their wonted manner. Programs to help ordinary citizens, programs to enhance the quality of life for individuals and the well-being of society, will be the first – perhaps the only – areas to feel the budget axe.”

Freedom Rider: Black Reagan (by Margaret Kimberley at the Black Agenda Report)
When Barack Obama started praising Ronald Reagan the candidate’s apologists claimed he was just paying respect to a dead president. Now it’s clear that Obama’s affection for the raging old reactionary was heartfelt. With his latest pronouncements on cutting “entitlements,” Obama “has proven himself to be a true believer in the Reagan revolution.” The almost-president “is repeating the Reagan mantra about ‘reforming’ Social Security and Medicare or cutting their rate of growth” – music to Republican ears. If Obama starts slashing at Social Security, those “progressives” that have excused his rightward lunges will bear responsibility.

Eshu’s blues: Obama’s message to the world: Let the U.S. ruling class pound you in the face (by michael hureaux perez at the Black Agenda Report)
Obama is silent as the grave – Palestinian graves – about Gaza, but shoots off his mouth in what appears to be a prelude to war against Social Security. The “Herald of Hope and Change” shows a “cowardice” on Palestine that “is beyond appalling,” while huffing and puffing about how he’ll solve the problems caused by “that seven hundred dollars a month the disabled collect from Social Security and the few hundred many people get from the ‘entitlement’ programs of Medicare.” As long as the “markets” are “soothed” by his ever-rightward policies, Obama is pleased.

McCain buddy Graham has become an Obama policy player (McClatchy)
WASHINGTON — To look at President-elect Barack Obama and Sen. Lindsey Graham sitting side by side Wednesday and to hear them passing out praise, you wouldn’t know that scarcely 10 weeks ago they were at political war.

Obama Defends Geithner, Expresses Confidence in his Confirmation (by Sunlen Miller at Political Punch, ABC News)
President-elect Barack Obama [Wednesday] defended his choice for Treasury Secretary, calling for Tim Geithner to be confirmed even amid questions still lurking about his failure to pay the correct amount of taxes on time, and employing a housekeeper whose work authorization had expired. At his transition office in downtown Washington, D.C., the president-elect addressed primarily the tax issue, and said that while the problem is embarrassing to Geithner, personally it does not change his credibility. “It is an innocent mistake. It is a mistake that’s commonly made for people who are working internationally or for international institutions. It has been corrected. He’s paid the penalties,” Obama said.

Geithner slowed, not stopped by tax problems (AP)
WASHINGTON – Revelations that Timothy Geithner failed to pay some of his taxes have derailed Democrats’ efforts to install him quickly as President-elect Barack Obama’s treasury secretary, but senators in both parties say his tax problems won’t torpedo his chances for confirmation.

What’s the deal with treasury nominee’s tax mistakes? (McClatchy)
WASHINGTON — Tax errors that embattled Treasury Secretary-designee Timothy Geithner has admitted range from the complicated to the comical. Here are some answers to questions about his missteps.
Click through for details.

The Money-Changers (by Harold Meyerson, Washington Post, thanks to lambert at Corrente)
The people [Obama] appointed, say, to environmental positions have clear records of championing the environment. His CIA pick, Leon Panetta, has spoken forcefully against the agency’s use of torture. But to regulate banks, Obama has chosen people who have sided with banks against the public interest. They may be exemplary public servants once in office, but for now, they need to be viewed with the same wariness we’d extend to environmental appointees who voted against stricter fuel-economy standards or intelligence appointees who championed torture.

Critics of AG nominee say politics influenced him, too (McClatchy)
WASHINGTON — In 1997, then-Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder supervised prosecutors and agents in one of the most sensitive cases any of them had ever encountered: investigating the campaign contributions of a sitting president and vice president.

INSIDE WASHINGTON: Holder may reverse Bush secrecy (AP)
WASHINGTON – Attorney General-designate Eric Holder could set the tone for a more open White House by speaking out this week on Capitol Hill against Bush administration policies promoting government secrecy.

EPA nominee vows to put science ahead of special interests (McClatchy)
WASHINGTON — Lisa Jackson, President-elect Barack Obama’s choice to run the Environmental Protection Agency, promised Wednesday to lead the agency “with science as my guide” and not to allow political appointees to trump the advice of EPA scientists.

VA nominee Shinseki vows to clean up agency (McClatchy)
WASHINGTON — The retired general selected to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs pledged Wednesday to modernize and overhaul the veterans’ disability and health-care system, which is straining to serve soldiers back from Iraq and Afghanistan as well as those who served in previous wars.

Vilsack eases through ag secretary confirmation hearing (McClatchy)
WASHINGTON — Agriculture Secretary nominee Tom Vilsack sailed through his Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday while pledging enthusiastic support for federal purchases of fruits and vegetables.

Agriculture Dept. nominee to push food for poor (AP)
WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama’s nominee for secretary of agriculture said Wednesday that if he is confirmed he will work to boost the economies of farm communities, promote nutritious foods and help poor families put meals on the table.

Obama EPA will investigate coal ash sites (AP)
WASHINGTON – The Obama administration will immediately begin to assess the hundreds of coal ash disposal sites at power plants across the country in the wake of two spills in Alabama and Tennessee.

Homeland security pick didn’t complete state plan (AP)
PHOENIX – Six years after President-elect Barack Obama’s choice for homeland security chief created a detailed security plan for her own state, key provisions remain incomplete. Firefighters, paramedics and other first responders at disaster scenes still can’t always communicate by radio without calling in special equipment, and criminal records still aren’t fully available electronically.

The Obama orphans (The Cable, Foreign Policy, thanks to campskunk at Alegre’s Corner)
[S]ome Obama campaign foreign policy volunteer advisors — many of whom put in long hours for no pay, taking career risks no doubt in part with the hope that should the long-shot junior Senator win, their hard work might eventually be rewarded — are finding themselves on the outside looking in, and not sure where they should knock.  In conversations over the past couple weeks, sources have told The Cable that something has definitely changed about their relationship to Obamaland since the campaign ended. The transition’s inner circle has become excessively secretive, closed, and far from transparent with them about the process for appointing people to jobs.
Hey, when you’re no longer of use…  It’s a lifetime pattern for Obama.

Senate panel backs Clinton as secretary of State (AP)
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday voted overwhelmingly for Hillary Rodham Clinton to become the next secretary of State, endorsing President-elect Barack Obama’s promise to take U.S. foreign policy in a new direction. The action paves way for a full Senate vote after Obama takes office on Jan. 20. Clinton is not expected to hit any major roadblocks, with Republicans and Democrats alike praising her acumen on the issues.

The Corrupt Clinton Foundation – Part 3 (by eriposte at The Left Coaster)
[Previous posts: Part 1, Part 2] Today’s Clinton Foundation post comes courtesy of the Associated Press’ Sharon Theimer who has a story “Clinton Acted on Concerns of Husband’s Donors”… I decided to take the information in Theimer’s story and put that in table form to make it easier to understand. Here is the essence of the story and the table summarizes it graphically… [Click through for the specifics.] [T]here is absolutely no evidence here of any corruption or conflict of interest. I understand that the Republicans and the newsmedia are going to continue to flog the story of the Greatest Conflict of Interest on Earth, but I have to say this is getting pretty absurd and every story like this only makes their case look worse, not better.

Still searching for Politico’s ”land mines” (County Fair, Media Matters for America)
You remember, the ones Politico breathlessly announced were awaiting Sen. Hillary Clinton at her SOS confirmation hearing. Turns out, not so much. FYI, Howie Kurtz at the WaPo didn’t like Clinton’s confirmation hearing–too “dull.” He especially didn’t like her ”monotone” voice. (If somebody can recall Kurtz commenting on a male cabinet member’s voice during a confirmation hearing, please send a link. Thanks.) It was disappointingly ”dull” because of course, confirming the incoming Secretary of State is supposed to be all about providing entertainment for the Beltway press corps, right?

Chris Matthews eats crow (County Fair, Media Matters for America)
Chris Matthews, this morning: “At 11 this morning, Senator Hillary Clinton of New York will also take the floor to say goodbye.  That’ll be an emotional moment because everyone knows Hillary Clinton earned that Senate seat and very much loves that place.  In fact, is loved a lot in the Senate.  She has really become one of the members of that Senate club.” Of course, some people haven’t always been clear on that.  Chris Matthews, for one.  Last January, Matthews said of Clinton: “[T]he reason she’s a U.S. senator, the reason she’s a candidate for president, the reason she may be a front-runner is her husband messed around.” That comment eventually led to an apology from Matthews, after it sparked renewed focus on his lengthy history of on-air sexism. 

The change we need (by TA Frank, The Guardian, thanks to Alegre)
No one thought Al Gore would be a loveable president, but, after eight years in the White House, he has gotten truly tiresome. The droning voice, the purchase of an eco-friendly robot dog, the campaign for carbon-free diamonds – all these things were hard to take, and he has been way too smug about reversing global warming. I think we’ve gone too far in the opposite direction, especially in light of the glacier that recently crushed Wasilla. I think I started to dislike Gore when he stirred up a media storm after the Feds broke up the terrorist ring conspiring to fly airplanes into buildings back in 2001.
Click through to read more of this hilarious take on what might have been.  What should have been.

Bush set to say farewell to the nation (AP)
WASHINGTON – President George W. Bush’s farewell speech is more than a goodbye to the nation that elected him twice. It is his last chance in office to define his tumultuous presidency in his own, unfiltered terms — a mission that will keep his fire burning even after he fades off to a quieter life.

Bush’s Most Fateful Day (Political Wire)
Craig Crawford: “As we ponder George W. Bush’s final week as president, what was his most fateful day in office? One is that day in August of 2001 when he got word in a national security intelligence briefing that terrorist Osama bin Laden was planning a major attack. Thirty six days later the warning came true.”

Where Did Bush Go Wrong? (by Steve Chapman, Chicago Tribune, a conservative)
Bush undervalues his negative achievements — even leaving out the current recession, which in all fairness is due largely to factors beyond his control. As he contemplates his memoirs, he might make use of the following cheat sheet to keep track of his biggest and most inexcusable failures:
Iraq. Bush insisted on fighting a war that didn’t need to be fought…
Afghanistan. The president was right to go after the Taliban. But the Iraq invasion meant shortchanging the war we had to fight…
The Budget. Bush represented the alleged party of small government, yet under him, federal outlays exploded…
Executive power. Conservatives are supposed to believe in strict limits on government power, but Bush pushed incessantly to expand the prerogatives of the president. He asserted the right to ignore laws banning torture and restricting wiretapping…

All these blunders were not accidental. They were the product of this administration’s peculiar combination of arrogance, power lust and incompetence. Those qualities have not abated. Bush leaves us with the rule of law in shreds, the budget out of control, two interminable wars and the public yearning for change.

Missing White House E-Mails Traced, Justice Aide Says (Washington Post)
A Justice Department lawyer told a federal judge [Tuesday] that the Bush administration will meet its legal requirement to transfer e-mails to the National Archives after spending more than $10 million to locate 14 million e-mails reported missing four years ago from White House computer files. Civil division trial lawyer Helen H. Hong made the disclosure at a court hearing provoked by a 2007 lawsuit filed by outside groups to ensure that politically significant records created by the White House are not destroyed or removed before President Bush leaves office at noon on Tuesday. She said the department plans to argue in a court filing this week that the administration’s successful recent search renders the lawsuit moot.
Just as Bush leaves office and can’t be impeached—WHAT a coinkydink!

Bush: ‘I Don’t Give A Darn’ What Americans Think Of Me (Think Progress)
The Bush administration has acquired a well-deserved reputation for ignoring the public’s will. Last March, for example, Vice President Cheney famously told ABC’s Martha Raddatz that he doesn’t care about the public’s views on the Iraq war. In part because of this disregard for the public, President Bush leaves office with the lowest approval ratings in modern history — 34 percent. In an exit interview [Tuesday] with Larry King, Bush made clear that he is quite happy ignoring the public, saying that he doesn’t “give a darn” that Americans simply disdain him.
Click through to watch the video.

Cheney On Whether Iraq War Was Worth The 4,500 Americans Killed: ‘I Think So’ (Think Progress)
In an interview airing tonight on PBS’s Newshour, host Jim Lehrer asks Vice President Cheney about the U.S. soldiers who have lost their lives in the war in Iraq. Cheney shows little remorse… Cheney’s comments mirror those of other conservatives, such as House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), who said that the lives lost in Iraq have been a “small price” to pay, and right-wing commentator Frank Gaffney, who declared that all these troops “did have to die” in Iraq… The Iraq war has decimated the readiness of the U.S. military, radicalized insurgents in the Middle East, and strengthened many of America’s enemies. As David Sanger of the New York Times notes, the war also “occupied so much of the attention and the resources of the top levels of the U.S. government that we ignored much bigger threats, short-term and long-term.”

NY Republicans want to force vote for Senate pick (AP)
ALBANY, N.Y. – Republicans in New York’s Legislature are pushing for a special election to fill the expected vacancy in the U.S. Senate instead of allowing Democratic Gov. David Paterson to make a unilateral appointment through a secretive process.

Franken Camp Makes Another Run at Election Certificate (CQ Politics)
Democratic candidate Al Franken won’t take “no” for an answer when it comes to being certified the winner of Minnesota’s long-running Senate race against Republican Norm Coleman.

Coleman: Start election lawsuit with absentees (AP)
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Republican Norm Coleman is proposing that disputed absentee ballots be the first issue taken up in his lawsuit over Minnesota‘s Senate recount.

Because they can (by lambert at Corrente)
Chris Bowers, quoting Elana Schor: “‘In the past 90 days, the Blue Dogs were mentioned 933 times in national press coverage according to Lexis-Nexis. The progressives were cited just 99 times.’ This gap in media coverage is not due to numbers, as there are over 80 members of the Progressive Caucus now, compared to only 51 for Blue Dogs.” Who’d a thunk?

Obama will end ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy — but not right away. (Think Progress)
On Friday, President-elect Obama’s incoming press secretary Robert Gibbs answered public-submitted questions on Change.gov. One of those questions was on whether Obama would repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” ban on gays serving openly in the military. Gibbs replied, “You don’t hear politicians give a one-word answer much. But it’s ‘Yes.’”
Click through to watch the video.

Obama backed marriage equality in 1996. (Think Progress)
Politico’s Ben Smith notes a new report in the Windy City Times showing that President-elect Obama supported marriage equality as recently as 1996. In a questionnaire filled out for a Chicago LGBT newspaper, Obama then wrote, “I favor legalizing same-sex marriages,and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages.” Obama now says that he opposes gay marriage, although he supports civil unions and has come out against a federal ban on gay marriage.
That must have been the questionnaire filled out by his “staff,” “without his knowledge.”

Most passing strange (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)
Riverdaughter and Corrente ask a damned good question: Why were Barack and Michelle Obama interviewed by French writers in 1996 — an interview recently published in Le Monde?… In 1996, the future president was not even a state senator — he was just a lawyer working for a rather shady firm connected to Tony Rezko. So why Obama? In the past, I’ve noted other strange examples of favoritism. The most striking example of this phenomenon occurred in 1981, when he made the jaunt from Occidental to Columbia. We are not told how he paid for these schools; he claims to have been down-at-heels in this time period.

More importantly, we are not told how Barack Obama paid for a very expensive between-school summer jaunt to Pakistan and India — a foray he neglected to mention in either of his memoirs… While in Pakistan, he was the guest of a very wealthy Pakistani power broker named Muhammadmian Soomro, who is now pretty much running that nation. Obama did not know anyone in the Soomro family. An “American friend” — almost certainly someone in the CIA or the diplomatic corps — told Soomro to help young Barry. Why?

Even stranger still, Michelle wouldn’t take a job until Barack interviewed the potential employer:
Next first lady no ‘plastic talking head‘ (AP)
WASHINGTON – Summer, 1991: An up-and-rising Chicago attorney, not yet 30, interviews for a job as an assistant to the mayor. The job offer is immediate. The attorney calls the next day. Not to accept, but to make a counteroffer: My fiance would like to meet you first.

Amy Siskind on CNN re: Ms. Magazine (by myiq2xu at The Confluence)
Click through to watch the video.

Thursday: The New Agenda takes on Ms. (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
[Regarding the appearance above:] For those of you who don’t understand what the fuss is all about, Dr. Violet Socks of The Reclusive Leftist and editor of The New Agenda blog has a post up this morning that gives plenty of reasons- in detail.  Here are some of them:
• He ran a campaign against Hillary Clinton that was suffused with sexism, from his own casually belittling comments to the unchecked misogyny of his supporters.
• He exploited 15 years of misogynistic antipathy towards Clinton, allowing his subordinates and enablers to paint her as a witch, a bitch, and a monster.
• He repeatedly referred to Clinton with sexist language: claws, tea parties, periodic moods, feeling down, “likable enough….
• He ignored women’s rights in his speeches, and delivered a major address on rooting out bigotry without even mentioning sexism…
• He never reprimanded his supporters for their astonishingly misogynistic attacks on Palin — just as he never reined in his supporters when they attacked Clinton.
Click through for much, much more.

Is PEBO Changing the Goal When it Comes to Capturing or Killing bin Laden? (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
In an interview with Katie Couric [that aired] on CBS Evening News [Wednesday], President-elect Obama uses new language when discussing how critical it is to capture or kill Osama bin Laden — language that seems to cast the capture or killing of Osama bin Laden as less critical than he once said it was.

Huffingtonpost Tells Liberal Democrats To Drink “Fix Social Security Now” Kool-Aid (by Barkley Rosser at EconoSpeak, thanks to Economist’s View)
Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson called posted yesterday on huffingtonpost “Why Liberals Should Want Obama To Take On Social Security Now”… They claim that Obama’s remark last week about looking at “entitlement spending” meant he wants to look at social security, and, of course, they buy the most moronic and hysterical projections about social security…

[A]s Obama’s campaign certainly knew, the big problem in entitlement spending is the sharply rising projections for health care costs, with the medicare fund already running the deficits that the social security fanatics keep freaking out might happen in 2017 or thereafter for social security. Health care may be harder, but it is far more important. And, as Bush discovered, social security is not all that easy, although perhaps these clowns think it is because they also have this delusion that somehow there is some solution that is not going to impact different age groups differently. Wrong… Of all the priorities we face right now, fooling with social security must be rock bottom, and at least the Obama campaign figured this out. Let us hope that the Obama administration remembers it as well after they get into power.

Why the Rush on TARP 2? (by Robert Scheer)
Why rush to throw another $350 billion of taxpayer money at the Wall Street bandits and their political cronies who created the biggest financial mess since the Great Depression? And why should we taxpayers be expected to double our debt exposure when the 10 still-secret bailout contracts made in the first round are being kept from the public? We don’t have time, President-elect Barack Obama’s key economic adviser Lawrence Summers insisted in a letter to Congress on Monday, promising that the new infusion would not be squandered as was the first installment. But given that Summers is personally as responsible for this meltdown as anyone, why should we trust him on this? Yes, it sounds wonderfully bipartisan that Obama is backing President Bush’s request for spending the money now, short-circuiting congressional inquiry, but it was just that sort of bipartisan politics that created this nightmare.

Here We Go Again… (by James Kwak)
The Wall Street Journal … is reporting that Bank of America will receive billions of dollars more in government aid, probably in a deal that looks something like the second Citigroup bailout… [O]ne price we are paying in these bailouts is the creation of a new tier of mega-banks that, because they are Too Big To Fail, have the competitive advantage of being essentially government-guaranteed. What we really need as a condition on TARP money is a new regulatory structure to make sure that these mega-banks do not abuse the oligopolistic position we have just handed them, and perhaps a commitment to break them up when economic circumstances allow. That would be considerably more valuable than a cap on executive salaries and corporate jets. But it will also be a lot more difficult to define and to agree on.

Too Big Not To Break Up (by Mark Thoma at Economist’s View)
[Regarding the excerpt above:] One thing, I would take the word “perhaps” of “What we really need as a condition on TARP money is … perhaps a commitment to break them up when economic circumstances allow.” These banks are too big not to break up, so unless there are very good reasons to allow them to remain so large, and I haven’t heard them, then they need to be downsized. (And if such arguments do exist, these institutions need to be regulated much more than they have been in the past, much as we do – or ought to do – with other non-competitive markets.)

FACT CHECK: Claims of bailout profits premature (AP)
WASHINGTON – Two key Republican lawmakers say there’s a powerful silver lining in the taxpayers’ $700 billion bailout of the financial system: It has already earned the government more than $8 billion in profit.

House votes health insurance for 4M more children (AP)
The House voted Wednesday to expand government-sponsored health care to 4 million more children of working families, making a down payment on President-elect Obama’s promise to provide universal health care to all Americans who want it.

Shorter James Gelfand: insurance companies are more important than America (by DCblogger at Corrente)
Mercury News “Daschle, the point man for Obama’s campaign to revamp the health care system, supports the concept of ‘a government-run insurance program modeled after Medicare.’ It would, he says, give consumers, especially the uninsured, an alternative to commercial insurance offered by companies like Aetna, Humana and WellPoint.”

Media Matters for America headlines

• Rove again mischaracterized quotation — this time falsely claiming Obama criticized stimulus bill as “deficit spending”

• Limbaugh falsely suggests Planned Parenthood mainly provides abortions

• Fox News’ Kilmeade wondered if Browner will “have a hard time getting confirmed” — but position doesn’t require confirmation

• CNN’s Brown, Yellin ignore Republican senators’ support for Geithner

• Hannity criticized gay Episcopal bishop for “partisan hatred,” but called partisan Rev. Falwell a “very dear friend”

• MSNBC continues to host Hitchens to target the Clintons

• Fox News’ Garrett ignores Fox’s own reporting that Republican senators support Geithner

• On Morning Joe, Buchanan did not acknowledge Bush official’s reason for saying U.S. military tortured detainee

• Bloomberg article headlined “Obama Faces Rebellion From Democrats on … Nominations” leaves out key facts

• Days after decrying those who say Democrats are “trying to turn us into communist Russia,” Beck claimed Obama “has Marxist tendencies”

• O’Reilly falsely asserted Holder “ordered” wall between CIA and FBI

Israel charges Palestinian reporters on Gaza story
JERUSALEM – Israel has charged two Palestinian journalists working for an Iranian TV station with passing classified information to the enemy, alleging they reported the beginning of the ground incursion into Gaza while the information was still under military censorship.

FCC Reviewing NBC’s Golden Globes Telecast
After receiving complaints about NBC’s Sunday telecast of the Golden Globes, the FCC is reviewing the program for possible indecency violations. Director Darren Aronofsky was caught jokingly making an obscene gesture on camera, and others salted their speeches with occasional off-color language.

China plans global media expansion: officials
BEIJING (AFP) – China‘s Communist Party wants stepped-up international propaganda to match the nation’s rising might, a move that would include new television channels and overseas newspapers, officials said.

News Media Run by China Look Abroad for Growth
China’s biggest state-controlled news organizations plan to spend billions of dollars to expand overseas as part of a government effort to improve the nation’s image abroad and to create respected international news organizations, according to people briefed on the proposal.

Billionaire Ex-KGB Agent to Buy London’s Evening Standard
Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev was on the verge of buying London’s Evening Standardnewspaper last night, after submitting an improved offer to Lord Rothermere, chairman of the paper’s owners Daily Mail & General Trust. An announcement is expected as early as today.

Village Voice Media Buys Tardy Social Networking Site
We hear Village Voice Media has bought a controlling interest in social networking site LikeMe.net. It’s clear what the alt-weekly chain’s hope is: That LikeMe will form the backbone of a viable internet strategy for the company.

Gannett to Furlough Workers for Week
The Gannett Company, the nation’s largest newspaper publisher, said on Wednesday that it would force thousands of its employees to take a week off without pay in an effort to avoid layoffs. Gannett said it would require unpaid leave for most of its 31,000 employees in this country.

Newspapers Move to Outsource Foreign Coverage
Tribune Co. is in talks for a deal to pay the Washington Post Co. to provide it with foreign and national coverage. Meantime, the New York Daily News has reached an agreement with a Boston-based start-up called GlobalPost to use the company’s network of part-time foreign correspondents.

Hearst Asks Seattle P-I Staff for Web Site Ideas
The Hearst Corp., which put the Seattle P-I up for sale Friday and said it will stop printing it in 60 days, took a preliminary step Wednesday toward the option of turning it into an online-only publication. Hearst is urging P-I staffers to: “Invent what journalism can and should be at a lean online-only operation.”

Publishing Goes Madoff Crazy With Eight Bernie Books in the Pipeline
There are at least eight people out there right now working on books about Bernie Madoff. Nine, if you count both of the authors of Catastrophe, the quickie biography that Beverly Hills-based press Phoenix Books is publishing in March.

Oprah’s Bulge, His Book, and Their Plan B
Just as Oprah Winfrey announced that she had fallen off the overeating wagon once again had hit 200 pounds, her diet guru Bob Greene’s new book, The Best Life Diet Cookbook, and the second edition of his earlier best seller, The Best Life Diet, were hitting shelves.

Still Hiring: Vice Adds 7 Staffers
While many publishers have been forced to make layoffs, institute hiring freezes or dial back their hiring practices, one unlikely magazine — the irreverent, free monthly Vice – is staffing up. The company has already made seven new hires in 2009, and says more are on the way.

New York Mag to Writers: You’re Keeping Your Jobs, Getting a Pay Cut
Media layoff stories are, depressingly, old hat by now (but be ready for more). Less common: tales of media companies asking their surviving employees to take pay cuts. But that’s what New York magazine, which laid off a few people at the end of last year, is doing with its core writing staff.

How Glossy Magazines Are Handling the Recession
Many magazines are frantically trying to stay alive. But doing so requires an unenviable high-wire act: how to hold on to their high-end advertisers, remain fun and diverting and escapist, and yet not alienate readers whose own wallets have become as emaciated as the January issue ofVogue.

Mag Wholesaler Jacks Up Fees
Magazine publishers, already reeling from a slowdown in advertising and circulation, have gotten slapped with word that the major distribution company Anderson News is about to jack up the rates it charges to deliver issues to retailers.

CBS Says Ratings Success Proves Network TV Viable
The chief programmer at CBS, the No. 1 U.S. network in prime-time ratings, said on Wednesday that its success proves broadcast television remains a viable business model despite a tough economy and challenges posed by the Internet.

Hannity Goes HD, Embraces New Media
For those who expected Hannity & Colmes minus Alan Colmes (who’s leaving the show but remaining at Fox News to work on other projects), they were in for a surprise. The new show, airing in one of Fox News’ new HD studios, looks very different from its predecessor — and its competition.

Anderson Cooper, CNN Tell Interviewers: No ‘Personal Questions’
Choire Sicha, who recently interviewed Anderson Cooper for the Los Angeles Times, was barred by CNN from asking any “personal questions.” What’s interesting about this is that a journalist employs a strategy with other journalists that is more expected from a celebrity than a newsman.