Poynter Online - Forums: "If a newspaper prints something that is wrong, there should be a correction, and if something is unclear to the point where it suggests something that is not true, then there should be a clarification. And yet so far the Post has offered neither.
"Why not?"
Deborah Howell, the Republican, who is now, nominally, the ombudsman at the Washington Post, used her column recently to smear two Democratic Senators, implying that they are implicated in the Abramoff scandal.
One reason why scandal piles upon scandal, without a political storm raging is that the corporate right-wing media IS the corporate right-wing media, the once great, once liberal Washington Post included. The Post's conservative Republican publisher hired a Republican as ombudsman, and she has done her job. Don't expect either a clarification or correction.
The only sensible course for Democrats and patriots is to advocate the total destruction of the Media.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Corruption and the Republican Machine
Hullabaloo: "It is hard to overemphasize how important this Abramoff scandal is. It's not just 'gotcha' politics. This Republican political machine is one of the most corrosive forces this country has ever seen. They are literally stealing huge sums of money from the taxpayers, sometimes blatantly for personal financial gain, as with the Dukestir. But in a larger sense they are blatently using our money, the people's money, as the primary way to fund their party and keep it in power. The exposure of this scam has shaken the foundation of their long term strategy.
"The combination of their proven undemocratic impulses with their propensity for thuggishness and corruption has made the modern GOP one of the most pernicious political factions in our history. Putting an end to their shakedown racket is a necessary first step to breaking up their coalition and restoring some sanity to our two party system. "
"The combination of their proven undemocratic impulses with their propensity for thuggishness and corruption has made the modern GOP one of the most pernicious political factions in our history. Putting an end to their shakedown racket is a necessary first step to breaking up their coalition and restoring some sanity to our two party system. "
A Power Outage on Capitol Hill - Newsweek National News - MSNBC.com
A Power Outage on Capitol Hill - Newsweek National News - MSNBC.com: "What if we faced a constitutional crisis and hardly anyone noticed?"
Indeed. The Alito hearings have disappointed. The Democrats in the Senate are, mostly, a long-winded, useless bunch of blow-hards. All they had to do was shut their cakeholes, ask simple, straightforward questions, and let Alito talk until he said something.
The Senators did not have to ask about hypotheticals; they could ask detailed questions about his controversial cases. Just get him to talk, and talk and talk, until he made some mistakes.
How hard could that be? Too hard, apparently for the deluded Joe Biden. What a tool!
There will be no Storm, with this bunch.
Indeed. The Alito hearings have disappointed. The Democrats in the Senate are, mostly, a long-winded, useless bunch of blow-hards. All they had to do was shut their cakeholes, ask simple, straightforward questions, and let Alito talk until he said something.
The Senators did not have to ask about hypotheticals; they could ask detailed questions about his controversial cases. Just get him to talk, and talk and talk, until he made some mistakes.
How hard could that be? Too hard, apparently for the deluded Joe Biden. What a tool!
There will be no Storm, with this bunch.
Thursday, January 12, 2006
James Wolcott on why we have no storm
James Wolcott: Lanny Davis: Looks Liberal, Tastes like Chicken: "Everyone knows the Abramoff scandal has 'Republican' stencilled on every side of it and if you won't/can't use it to jump all over the Republican Party and the DeLay machine, what the hell are you even doing in the Democratic Party? As more details surface, the Abramoff cesspool is going to make the K-Street crowd and their Republicans on retainer look even worse than they do now, and here's Davis waving the white cocktail napkin of surrender and urging preemptive pullback. Beltway Dems like Davis and the DLC crowd don't want to politicize the Iraq war, or the Alito hearings, or the Katrina clusterfuck, or the NSA spying scandal; they shy away from every prospective fight and prevent any ongoing debate or controversy from gaining traction. Just as Jack Murtha's bombshell was gaining momentum, in droops Joe Lieberman to back up the president with a gift-wrapped testimonial. "
Daou: This, then, is the reality:
The Blog | Peter Daou: THE (Broken) TRIANGLE: Progressive Bloggers in the Wilderness | The Huffington Post: "This, then, is the reality: progressive bloggers and online activists -- positioned on the front lines of a cold civil war -- face a thankless and daunting task: battle the Bush administration and its legions of online and offline apologists, battle the so-called “liberal” media and its tireless weaving of pro-GOP narratives, battle the ineffectual Democratic leadership, and battle the demoralization and frustration that comes with a long, steep uphill struggle."
If there is no storm, it because the Democratic narrative generator is broken. As I have written, the essence of a political storm is a morally-instructive narrative to the voters, connecting political actions and the consequences, manifest in events.
Bush invades Iraq for no good reason; Bush screws up reconstruction in Iraq; Bush fails in Iraq and America suffers as a result of Bush policies. It is as simple as that.
But, as Daou points out, the Democrat story-telling machine is badly broken. The events are there: the U.S. has failed in the "GWOT", failed in Iraq; the economy is growing only for the corporations and the very rich; the President has broken the law, deceived the American people about the most serious matters, failed to respond to the devastation of Katrina; the Republicans have corrupted the government . . . . Events are there. But, the Storm seems to have receded, because the Democrats cannot muster a compelling narrative.
If there is no storm, it because the Democratic narrative generator is broken. As I have written, the essence of a political storm is a morally-instructive narrative to the voters, connecting political actions and the consequences, manifest in events.
Bush invades Iraq for no good reason; Bush screws up reconstruction in Iraq; Bush fails in Iraq and America suffers as a result of Bush policies. It is as simple as that.
But, as Daou points out, the Democrat story-telling machine is badly broken. The events are there: the U.S. has failed in the "GWOT", failed in Iraq; the economy is growing only for the corporations and the very rich; the President has broken the law, deceived the American people about the most serious matters, failed to respond to the devastation of Katrina; the Republicans have corrupted the government . . . . Events are there. But, the Storm seems to have receded, because the Democrats cannot muster a compelling narrative.
don't confuse me with facts!
Michael Bérubé Online: Anne D. Neal, of the conservative American Council of Trustees and Alumni, on the conservative campaign against liberal bias and discrimination against conservatives on college campuses: “if there are only a tiny handful of complaints from students, then colleges should bear the burden of explaining why more students aren’t coming forward to say what we all know is true. That’s the way the system should work."
Perhaps there is hope that the long rise of conservativism has, at last, reached its high point and is receding.
Perhaps there is hope that the long rise of conservativism has, at last, reached its high point and is receding.
Saturday, January 7, 2006
Daily Kos: Cook's early 2006 outlook
Daily Kos: Cook's early 2006 outlook: "While a huge wave could bring us control of at least one chamber in 2006, the odds are against it. "
Charlie Cook is a nominally "non-partisan" Republican, who handicaps the Congressional races. He is feeding the conventional wisdom, which says that the Democrats will not win control of either house in Congress. He predicts Democratic gains of two to four seats in the Senate, and a gain of four to nine seats in the House, just short of a majority in both chambers.
It is a discouraging meme, which Cook is creating, and kos is re-inforcing. The mid-terms will be the last time the Democrats can run "against" the Worst President Ever(tm), and they are projected by experts to remain impotent!
It would be a sad storm, indeed, which could not affect the election results!
Charlie Cook is a nominally "non-partisan" Republican, who handicaps the Congressional races. He is feeding the conventional wisdom, which says that the Democrats will not win control of either house in Congress. He predicts Democratic gains of two to four seats in the Senate, and a gain of four to nine seats in the House, just short of a majority in both chambers.
It is a discouraging meme, which Cook is creating, and kos is re-inforcing. The mid-terms will be the last time the Democrats can run "against" the Worst President Ever(tm), and they are projected by experts to remain impotent!
It would be a sad storm, indeed, which could not affect the election results!
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