CNN's Rick Sanchez lowering the bar on journalistic standards

I wanted to add to Digby's rant about Rick Sanchez on CNN this evening. In an earlier post I lamented the loss of jounalistic standards and ethics and Sanchez just made a bid for being its poster boy this evening. There is no doubt Sanchez was proded by some fringe winger of the GOP to get his questions out about Europeans liking President Obama being a liability. This just adds to the lunacy the wingnuttia keeps trying to put in the MSM that somehow the United States is a lone island of morality in a global sea of decadence and socialism. I have Republican family friends that can't say "Europe" or "France" (especially France) without using the word 'Socialist' in conjunction with an utterance of their name.

At first this was inexplicable to me as to why they felt the enmity and hatred was deserved until I realized that Europe (again, especially France) never really cared for Reagan and really hated GW Bush. Funny thing about the effects of that unilaterialism thing. Not only does it show disrepect to your allies, it tells them they aren't as righteous and good as we are (i.e. see Iraq and the Middle East).

Today I was listening to the BBC explain to an American journalist how the U.K. hangs on every action the U.S. takes regarding Anglo-American relations. Every nuance is intensely covered and written about extensively such as the perceived slight toward Gordon Brown during his visit here back in early March over the White House's gift of 25 DVD's. The U.K.'s "special relationship" with the U.S. is taken very seriously and includes a diplomatic dance unlike relations with any other country in the world (including Canada & Mexico).

There is no doubt Sanchez got twittered with that queston to Blitzer. There is also no doubt where it came from either.

Two reasons why the newspaper industry is in decline

I know the reasons for the newspaper industry's troubles have been discussed over the past year by any number of so called experts. Atrios points to the poor business model they used along with Athenae's rant about unchecked corporate corruption. As a former member of the industry itself for over 15 years I have my own explanation. Yes, I agree whole heartedly with both Atrios and Athena but only as it pertains to piling on to the real reason . And that real reason is simple enough: they stopped being journalist and began morphing into dictation machines. No matter who was sourced and/or quoted they were done so without question. It didn't matter what happened in the past or what was said. It only mattered for that moment. This journalistic "whiteout" whereas professional ethics and standards were thrown out the window was done so at the expense of accountability ensuring they were percieved to be "fair and balanced." No matter how ludicrous one side sounded regarding any issue it was treated with equal footing when contrasted with an opposing view. Eventually this practice of acting like cheerleaders for the local, state and the federal government without question comes at a huge expense: your credibility. Now journalist are seen to be no better than used car salespeople for their trouble. What a surprise.

Even now they don't get it. The MSM is still clueless why they are perceived as such. But make no bones about it. It is the reason they are dying. Why listen or read it if it isn't credible? (Like printing rants about weapons of mass destruction without calling them on it for proof or why it is a variable in the equation historically). Add to that the lousy business model as Atrios points out and you have an industry in deep trouble.

I think newspapers are a community necessity. Local government without a watchdog leads to corruption and bad policy. Once that voice and watchful eye is gone the bad times aren't just here to stay, they'll get worse.

NBC Nightly News' Chuck Todd getting it wrong - - again

Earlier this evening NBC Nightly News' Chuck Todd, NBC White House Correspondent, compared President Obama's firing of GM CEO Richard Wagoner (Ok, he insisted he resign) with Reagan's firing of PATCO (Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization). Where do they find these guys? President Obama insisting that Wagoner step down after tanking GM during his decade at the helm is being compared to a union striking for better working conditions, higher pay and shorter working hours in a critical profession keeping our skies safely managed and known for intense professional burnout? What a complete idiot. For one thing, Reagan fired over 11,000 employees and broke a union in the process which was no doubt a wet dream for the right. Part of Reagan's "legacy" is firing and breaking a union where the profession experienced intense professional burnout due to the tremendous pressures of the job.

Chuck Todd seems to be demonstrating on a daily basis he has no clue to the substance of his so called "reports." I used to be impressed with his political analysis. But his skills as a reporter and connecting the dots on what he's reporting is sorely lacking. When you can't fill David Gregory's shoes, you've got a problem. If Gregory was any more of a light weight he'd be floating.

Cornyn & Bachman get their wingnuttia mojo on

Right wing loonies in the GOP seem to be a dime a dozen these days. But Sen. John Cornyn and Rep. Michelle Bachmann seem to be defining the benchmark for wingnuttia in general. While Cornyn proclaims that Minnesota could be years without a Senator while the state supreme court decides on a date to certify Al Franken's 225 vote win for the U.S. Senate you have Bachmann calling President Obama's economic policy nothing more than "economic Marxism." It's as simple as that. What amazes me is not the rhetoric itself but the certainty of her proclamation.

When Barry Goldwater ambled up to the podium at the Cow Palace in San Francisco on July 16, 1964 and uttered his nomination campaign speech's most famous line, "Let me remind you that extremism in the defence of liberty is no vice" I'm sure he never imagined a GOP evolving into what you see today. While Goldwater called out to a nation to adopt a non conciliatory policy tone with regards to defense policy Cornyn and Bachmann are calling for actions that go beyond elected outcomes. One only has to wonder when lines of decency will be breeched before a voter back lash kicks in.

Glorius Johnson's Democratic Party Two Step

Glorious be! Now that the redoubtable Ms. Johnson of the Jacksonville City Council has seen fit to switch parties I find it quite amusing that Lenny Curry, the local Duval County GOP chair, is shocked and dismayed that a party member has jumped ship after her war chest was filled with GOP funds. The "Dixie" loving African American certainly knows how to get attention and seems to know a thing or two about timing.

As I read the article the Suzanne Jenkins party switch came roaring back to memory as she too jumped ship with DCDEC funds after a famous tearful appearance before the party's executive committee . There was no doubt she had plans to run for mayor. The DCDEC chiar at the time, Clyde Collins, tried to warn her if she jumped the GOP would marginalize her and she would never be heard from again. Other than her seeming campaign to be Wal-Mart's personal Duval County representative not much has been heard from her since. Looks like Clyde Collins was right.

On the other hand I'm not sure what Glorious Johnson is looking to gain here. David Hunt of the The Florida-Times Union seems to be speculating that Ms. Johnson is going to make a run for mayor. The local GOP has a nasty habit of cutting off competitors at the knees once they've decided on a favorite making their primary nothing more than a rubber stamp for their chosen one. Though one can only applaud the efforts of the current local DCDEC chair, Travis Bridges, the Duval County Democratic party is still no where near being on the same level as the local GOP as far as organization and funding for local candidates are concerned. If the DCDEC wanted to employ the same practices as the local GOP seems to do regarding favored choices for a particular office, the local DCDEC is in no position to do so even if they were inclined. One thing for sure is certain. Glorious Johnson won't be marginalized by anyone, especialy the DCDEC.

All one needs to do is read the comments left on the FTU online story and see that many jacksonville residents still live in the day of Lester Maddox and his bigoted perspective on race desptie the racial makeup of the current POTUS. The odds are not favorable for her. It will be interesting to see how she does in a primary.

John Boehner speaks out

You can't make this stuff up. Yesterday on C-Span I was watching the House of Representatives Republican minority leader, John Boehner (OH - Rep #8), bloviate at length about Gitmo, out of control spending, and right to life policies. Suddenly Republicans are concerned about out of control spending? I must have missed the last eight years. His impassioned assertion about his right to life beliefs was yet another hypocritical moment considering his position on SCHIP. Those Republicans. For you when you are a fetus. Forgotten after the moment of birth. Yes, a typical "family values" politician.

The most striking thing though was his rambling about the closure of the Guantanamo Bay U.S. detention facilities. These guys are incredible. For eight years under Clinton they screamed "rule of law!" right up until he was impeached. Then the USSC imposed George W. Bush on us and they followed in lock step with his shredding of the U.S. Constitution and the Guantanamo detention facilities flying in the face of American ideals. Yesterday, he does a hand wringing routine about the fate of the detainees after the base closure. Here's a suggestion for the impassioned minority leader. Crack open a book on U.S. military history. Look up the case of George John Dasch and his military commission trial from WWII. Bring those detainees left to the United States and let them have their day in court under the provisions of our Constitution. It's worked for us for 200+ years to date.

An Aerial View of Inauguration Day 1/20/2009

Somehow even this aerial view of one of the most seminal moments in American history does not do it justice. I'm still in awe of how we have arrived at this moment. I still have memories of going to school in the 1st grade in segregated North Carolina. I'm still pinching myself to know that now race has been put aside as a barrier to becoming POTUS. This by no means marks an end to racial barriers across the landscape. But it does mean we are closer to a racial reconcilliation that Lincoln could only dream about.

A Dream Realized

There is so much to write about now. My mind is spinning with so much to say and write. My writer's block has been overcome by the tsunami of joy that has rained down over me. But for the moment while I collect my thoughts let me utter the words aloud as I type them:

To all the world, I present to you Barack Obama:

The 44th President of the United States

August 28th, 1968 in front of the Lincoln Memorial, Wahington D.C.
Martin Luther King, Jr. addresses the nation:

"I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true."

Down To The Wire

Well here we are a little more than 36 hours before the polls in Kentucky close and award the first Electoral College votes of the evening. Since the conventions I have found myself almost unable to post anything about the election this year after obsessing over it for the past four years. I had simply lapsed into a writer’s block mode as I opted instead to obsessively follow the state of the race on a variety of blogs on a daily basis. Now with a little more than a day and a half left to go I feel some kind of release to actually post.

So let me start with my prediction which is at this point driven by paranoia and fear tilting me to the most conservatively optimistic one I can conjure:

I actually believe Florida will slip out of Obama’s grasp. Even with McCain lacking a ground game here in the face of an Obama’s statewide juggernaut GOTV effort it won’t be enough. I had hopes a couple of weeks ago of him being in a position to steal Indiana, North Carolina and Georgia from their red state purgatory. Now I realize it just won’t happen. At one point I was even looking forward to Obama a position to crush this most vile version of Republicanism that has been mutating over the past 28 years into a party that preys on fear and paranoia justifying questions about one’s patriotism and whether certain parts of the country is included in a “real” America.

In these last hours I feel like Obama will still win but only barely. The last time I felt confident and sure of victory was in 1992 and 1996. Those were the only two times I have able to experience that feeling in my voting lifetime. As late as two weeks ago I had that same feeling now as I did in 1992. But with the new world of the Internet and polling technology being open to public scrutiny that has all changed the dynamic for me. I’m back to the hand wringing state I was before the primaries began in January. Even now that seems like a century ago. That’s how weird this dynamic is for me in this world of immediate information and hourly news cycles.

For me I can’t imagine a world where the American electorate would allow Sarah Palin so close to the reins of power. Yet, this is the same electorate that allowed an intellectually challenged and ideologically driven Governor from Texas to keep the reins of power in 2004. With that in mind I should not be surprised how close someone like Sarah Palin is to the reins of power. My memories of election nights gone past are mostly filled with vivid pain and disappointment that has seared them into my conscience as I tend to invest so much emotion into our national political outcomes.

I can still remember that horrible night in 1984 when I was living in North Carolina and driving home from an election watch party on a long and dark highway in the rural Piedmont area. Though intellectually I knew Mondale would be crushed Reagan once he overcame Gary Hart to sew up the nomination I had not realized how devastating it would still be. It can almost be compared to an immediate family member being on a long arc downward of a terminal illness that everyone knows what the final result will be and yet still be devastated once the moment arrives. As I drove home that night on that long lonely road after months of working on the Mondale and Gov. Hunt campaign where he unsuccessfully tried to unseat a racist Sen. Jesse Helms the emotions of it all finally overcame my cool and politically astute intellect. I realized what was happening and I pulled over to the side of the road and wept. As I sat there I couldn’t believe I was feeling this way but there it was.

It was more about the future than the election itself that horrible night. I realized with that win the Republicans had staked out a generational claim on the White House. I knew the country would eventually take a turn backwards toward a baser common denomination of the electorate and appeal to its fears, paranoia and prejudices culminating in someone like George W. Bush taking the reins of government and actually acting on them driving the United States into an intellectually dark period.
Now here we are within 36 hours to right that ship and I’m still not sure we will chose the correct path that will lead us into a new age of reason and intellectual honesty and instead keep allowing our base and dark emotional side of the body politic to decide our path to the future.

I find myself now realizing that if the aggregate persona that has been culminating over the past 28 years in the form of one George W. Bush cannot be overcome now with a financial disaster literally falling around us I can’t see another Democrat in the White House in what is left in my lifetime. The realignment or electoral shift will not be possible within the next two generations. Here’s hoping our body politic will let the better angels of our psyche prevail for the sake of my 2 ½ year old daughter.

My Obama yard signs stolen

A couple of weeks ago I finally got around to putting up a couple of "Obama for President" yard signs up in my yard. My house sits on a corner log so I got a sign for both sides. As I was putting them up I pondered how long it would take before they were either defaced or simply stolen. As I live in a neighborhood where registered Democrats are a distinct minority I figured it would not take long. For two weeks I was pleasantly surprised as I pulled in to my driveway noting my signs were still intact. Just yesterday I was thinking as I was pulling in from work maybe I was just being too cynical as the sun seemed to glint off of the bright blue color of my side yard sign nearest my driveway. That was yesterday.

This morning as I sleepily stumbled out into my yard to retrieve my paper my cynicism was validated. Both signs were gone. They were just stolen by someone who actually wanted the signs. They only took the sign itself leaving behind the wire frames. It was their subtle way of telling me that not only did they not want the signs - - they didn't want me to have them either in this "GOP" neighborhood.

I'll be on my way this morning headed out to get two more signs. Looks like the yard sign war is on.

Palin Sequestered From Press?

Sequestered? Several blogs are reporting the McCain campaign is putting the word out she will not be available to the press between now and the election. Really? Here's what I think this is really about: expectations. This is so Rovian and transparent. Once the MSM has had a while to raise hell and enough time passes to give Palin enough room to take a crash course in McCain economics and foreign policy a surprise appearance will be announced either on FOXNews or a print interview with the Washington Times/NRO/WSJ and she will easily clear a very low bar and everyone in the MSM will tell us how wonderful she conducted herself. I swear Rove can make Machiavelli look like a member of the Peace Corps.

Jeez.

Sarah Palin's RNC Speech

Last night was a moment for Palin to introduce herself to the nation and show she is just an average American mom who happens to be the Governor of Alaska. Maybe not someone you'd like to have a beer with (ugh, I hate that insulting comparative) but rather someone you could relate to on a personal level. I guess she started off doing that but as the speech went on (...and on and on) she pivoted and went after Sen. Obama. That's what nationally known V.P. candidates are supposed to do. Sen. Biden was nationally known. Yes, he did a brief biographical intoduction of himself but it was perfunctory and then he lit into McCain and the GOP. As for Ms. Palin she is compelely unknown to voters who don't follow politics like we do and tune in to see what all the media frenzy is about.

I was going to take the time and review the speech myself but over at fivethirtyeight.com contributor Nate pretty much spoke for me in this nice final analysis:

"The way to evaluate a speech like this is by what people are going to remember in the morning, and the only thing that people are going to remember about this speech in the morning is that she went after Obama - a lot -- and that at times it seemed fairly personal. It was almost kind of fun at first -- I don't think people saw it coming, and she got three or four really good lines in. But then it became too much -- sarcastic and mean spirited. Everything else -- the outsider stuff, the family stuff, the media critique -- is going to be forgotten about. In fact, the Republicans will look like whiners if they go after the media after that speech.

I don't think the Republicans are doing as good a job as the Democrats were doing about pairing their speeches to the strengths of the speaker. It's as if they wrote seven or eight speeches, and drew lots to determine who would deliver which one. So you have Mitt Romney -- one of the wealthiest men ever to run for office -- critiquing east-coast elitism, and Mike Huckabee -- who is an economic populist in disguise --critiquing big government, and Sarah Palin -- who voters don't know one iota about -- critiquing Barack Obama's biography."

I could not agree more. As far as I'm concerned this new tact of taking on the MSM is a deadender for them. We on the left complained for awhile during Ronald Raygun's tenure and then threw their hands up at the end of Clinton's two terms and created our own infrastructure.

Nate's post drew a comment that I think really sums up the outcome we can expect as the campaign unfolds:

"Steven said...
Nate,
I think you are right. My wife, who knows next to nothing about Palin (just like the rest of America...), watched the speech and told me, "She sounds really mean." I guess that's one feminist Palin's not winning over...."

We'll see but I think she just pushed away the independent female vote whom she was supposed to woo by her selection. Instead she just fired up a shrinking, rabid evangelical base with a martyr complex. I thought it was ironic the night before Bush referenced the "angry left." Last night with Palin following Guiliani it looked like a pretty "angry right."