While we here at Chez 10K have been distracted by the TV (for weeks, really — first by the Olympics and then by the Democratic and Republican conventions, respectively), the creative among us have been churning out the videos. Here’s a sampling:
The National Press Club, which claims on their website to have standards and skills, appears to be determined to play court jester in today’s media. Nate has the details, including thier spokesman calling a Pulitzer-prize-winning critic a “cretin,” their decision to host a press conference for a lunatic and criminal, and — get this — that they have Jeff Gannon (George Bush’s favorite gay escort!) blogging on their site.
In the meantime, the AP has gone completely insane, and wants to charge bloggers who quote their articles. Here are some of the people following the story:
- Boing Boing: AP expects you to pay to license 5-word quotations
- AmericaBlog: AP is now lecturing you about how the Internet works
- Michael Silence and R. Neal: AP wants to meet with the media bloggers association
- AmericaBlog: AP: This is journalism, Part II
- Kos: More AP foolishness
- Godless Liberal Homo: Some Alternatives to AP
- Crooks & Liars: The AP walked right into a buzz saw
- Oliver Willis: How Dumb Is The AP?
- Oliver Willis: Media Bloggers Association And The AP Story
I spoke to a lot of journalists about how I should speak up here. And all the journalists said “Craig, Your duty is to speak truth to power. That’s what you do, you hold the truth up for everyone to see, that’s your job.” I’m sorry. I don’t see it that way. That’s your job. You’re journalists. I’m a late night television show guy. I make up crap that isn’t true then I say it on TV. I’m like Fox News. I’m not a journalist.
– Craig Ferguson at this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner
<sigh> I think maybe the United States has, with the obvious exception of Helen Thomas, the dumbest press in the free world.
I’ve gushed before about Rachel Maddow’s coolness, so it comes as no surprise to see her fan club numbers exploding after her brilliantly smooth smack down of Joe Scarborough this past week. You can watch the video or read the transcript over on Crooks and Liars, or just watch below:
Rachel Maddow tried to point out the fallacies in Joe Scarborough’s glowing, fact-free praise of John McCain on MSNBC’s Race For The White House.
The Scar continues to spew this ridiculous media narrative that John McCain is a “maverick,” completely disregarding the myriad of flip flops the aging Arizona senator has made over the past year. Rachel tries to put him in his place, reminding him that McCain has been pandering to the right on all the major issues including permanent tax cuts, immigration and torture, but all Scarborough does is tell her that she doesn’t understand the Republican party. True dat, since she is the lone voice of reason and we all know that facts have a liberal bias. Scarborough loves to steamroll Mika Brzezkinski on his morning show, but as you’ll see from this video, his bullying style gets him nowhere with Maddow.
Why we haven’t impeached these jackasses is completely beyond me, but failing that, perhaps it’s time to let this administration, and their lackeys in the press, know that we are not amused by their incompetence and corruption. Or, to put it another way:
In this clip, Keith plays us George W. Bush’s latest massive self-embarrassment, singing a fucked up song about all the crap he’s done wrong as President. He basically laughs about the destruction of a major city and the shredding of the constitution. It’s not a howl.
Happy March, everyone! Here’s the chatter from the internet in the past day or so…
Barack Obama: he reached out to the LGBT community this week, and then later took a step further, calling homophobia “unchristian.”
John McCain: his campaign bus is filled with lobbyists and he’s having all kinds of problems with those pesky campaign finance laws. And now he’s making smoochie face with a scary, bigoted, catholic-hating wingnut and end-times kook (yeah he really is that charming), James Hagee, and he refuses to take it back (and he was warned about this!).
Tim Russert: has one set of rules for Democrats and another set for Republicans? But is anyone really surprised? There’s a reason he’s Cheney’s favorite press patsy.
George W. Bush: incoherent as ever, garbled, out of touch, and not at all self-aware (did Bush really think it sent the wrong message when Reagan had summits with Gorbachev?!?).
Jack Kingston: refuses to wear a flag on his lapel! Why does he hate America?
Rush Holt: calls Bush a “miserable lying twit” — and calls him on his disingenuous FISA theatrics.
Three Families of Privilege: the Windsors, the Romneys and the Bushes. (btw, how much do you think Harry hates Drudge?)
Prisons: More than 1% of Americans are incarcerated. I’m thinking we need to keep the violent offenders locked up, but a lot of those people could be supporting themselves, instead of being burdens to the taxpayer. I’m sure we could do better than we’re doing now.
Autism and immunizations: another perspective.
Final thoughts: what people don’t say on their deathbeds.
Here’s the buzz in the aftermath of Wisconsin and Hawaii:
First, here are the raw numbers from Wisconsin:
John McCain defeated Mike Huckabee 219,652 to 147,742. Meanwhile Barack Obama defeated Hillary Clinton 635,693 to 444,604. Hillary got more votes than McCain and Huckabee combined! Or, as Miles pointed out, “[i]f he were running in the Democratic primary, McCain would have come in a distant third.” WOW. The turnout was also massive in Hawaii.
Hrrrmm… the the evidence is in. Barack Obama must be Jewish.
Oh, I wish I was making this up, but I’m not. The falafel-loving centerpiece of the Fox”News” lineup, Bill O’Reilly, has actually been talking about lynching Michelle Obama (update: more from devilstower).
Clinton has her own 527, and they’re shifting in to high gear! See the first ad here!
Media strategist Mark McKinnon is currently advising McCain, but will he stay in his post if Obama is the nominee?
John McCain takes us back to the fun days of the Bob Dole campaign (read the speech!)! Also, McCain blames Obama for the fact that Bush is attacking Pakistan.
Bush’s approval rating has reached a new low, at 19% (that’s an historic low!). And you really do have to wonder what that 19% is thinking!
The Big Dog says Hillary will either be made or broken in Texas and Ohio.
And, finally, where are the feminists? [update: here they are! (via HP)]
When I posted some YouTube links on Sunday, I made one glaring omission (from the second bullet in the list, of course). I failed to include this cringe-worthy performance from Dana Perino. Only a member of the Bush administration could be so gigglingly proud of her shocking ignorance, and only the Bush team would excuse such a sad admission of incompetence.
The right wing noise machine is now swiftboating a 12-year-old. They’ve even called his home and harassed his family. And Michelle Malkin (famous plagiarist) even showed up in person! How scary is that?
(UPDATE: if you’re wondering why the right wing is going after a kid, here’s a theory, and here are some more thoughts about the ugliness.)
Fortunately, some kids are ready for them.
And in the meantime, the Bush administration is doing what they can to help out Al Qaeda:
Unbelievable. Seriously. Leaking national security info to Fox News and destroying a year-long surveillance of Al Qaeda should put someone from the Bush Administration in jail. We are in greater danger because of the continued incompetence of George Bush and his minions.
Again.
