Failed Media

So first, a correspondent with Politics Daily whinges about Michelle Obama's recent vacay in Spain. Read the whole article and tell me it doesn't have an air of chip-on-the-shoulder.

The first lady is traveling with a small number of friends, who arrived on their own. While Mrs. Obama pays for her personal expenses, taxpayers pick up the costs of three shifts of Secret Service details and other security and support staffers, plus most costs associated with her Air Force plane.

One thing that irritates me about that is the misleading "taxpayers pick up the tab" piece. First, Michelle Obama would have Secret Service protection if she vacationed in Disney, New Orleans, San Francisco, or the U.P. She has them when she goes shopping. She has them while just sitting in the White House watching TV. Second, it makes it sound like there is extra expense involved. There may be extra expense for, say, a hotel room for 3 shifts-worth of Secret Service agents, but in terms of the agents themselves, there simply isn't. It's not like we have big plastic boxes of Agent Xs waiting to be purchased, unwrapped and turned on when she needs an escort. These are agents getting a paycheck, watching her that day or not.

She is now at a world-renowned resort while the jobless rate is high and the economy is still struggling. By doing so she is tempting a backlash. Mrs. Obama is highlighting the beauty of Spain's Mediterranean coast before her weekend visit to Florida's coast later this month to encourage tourism in areas not impacted by the BP oil spill.

The East Wing argues that Mrs. Obama is not an elected official and, as a private citizen, is free to focus on her family and friends. Still, what she does will be perceived by the public one way or another -- the East Wing has to know that. Mrs. Obama has gone to great lengths so far to avoid any controversy in her tenure and as a result has popularity ratings in every poll much higher than her husband's.

There is so much wrong with her statements. The jobless rate is high, therefore Mrs. Obama needs to stay home too? And drawing a parallel between Spain's coast and Florida's in the wake of the disaster is a false comparison. It's simply silliness to try connect the two. And of fucking course she is more popular than her husband; she's not the one making the decisions he is! Jesus, people hired this correspondent??

She then contradicts herself in her assertion that Mrs. Obama is somehow highlighting the beauty of Spain's coast by listen Michelle's 8 vacation destinations this summer. #7? "Aug. 14: A first family weekend planned on the Florida Gulf coast. The first couple have been trying to draw tourists to the area in the wake of the BP disaster."

The journalist's next article is more whinging. My favorite part is in the 1st paragraph where she says "questions are being raised about the cost to taxpayers," whereby she links to her own article wherein she asked the question herself. Great, top-notch journalism. People are asking questions! Who? Me!

Says the article: "ABC did a piece Friday morning about Mrs. Obama and Sasha buying matching sundresses, the ritzy resort they visited and the heavy coverage of the visit by Spanish media." OK. Great. My wife went to Traverse City and spent gobs of money on expensive beer and chocolate. The worse part is the insinuation that the lavish spending spree is linked to taxpayers. She is betting we forgot that one days earlier, this same journalist acknowledged "Mrs. Obama pays for her personal expenses".

We also get the same criticism meme the author is trying to create: "And while Mrs. Obama and President Obama have tried to encourage tourism in Gulf Coast areas not impacted by the BP oil spill, she is highlighting the beauty of Spain's Mediterranean beaches before the first family travels to Florida's Gulf Coast on Aug. 14 for a weekend stay." Really?? On purpose??

Ah! Finally the comparison I was waiting for. Lynn Sweet delivers the goods: "Mrs. Bush's true personal trips were hiking vacations in national parks with female pals."

Fancy-pants Michelle takes personal trips with no official duties to lavish resorts. Plane-Jane Laura, however, sensing the mood of the electorate, took her dutiless trips to our glorious national parks.

And then? Ms. Sweet publishes what amounts to a grudging apology! Included in the apology are gems like: "A reason Mrs. Obama stayed at the ritzy Villa Padierna in Marbella was security, I was told. Agents were able to secure the lush resort and a nearby beach." I really like how she works "lavish" in just one more time to make sure we get the point that she didn't stay at an Econolodge. She admits herself, as do Secret Service guys, that one reason you stay at 4+-star resorts as a President is because they are very, very easy to secure, allowing Secret Service to use the already-robust hotel security at an upscale joint.

The Spain vacation put the first dent in her brand since becoming first lady. She was criticized for choosing Spain's Costa del Sol instead of the Gulf Coast, where tourism is hurting because of the BP oil spill; for going on another vacation when people in the U.S. face tough economic times; and for incurring taxpayer expenses for the trip.

She was criticized? By whom, may I ask? Why, you, Ms. Sweet. And Matt Fucking Drudge. This final "apology" article started thusly

Michelle Obama returned to Washington on Sunday from five days on Spain's Mediterranean coast, taking a mother-daughter trip with Sasha, 9, that stirred controversy. A White House source told me, however, that Mrs. Obama traveled to Spain to help a grieving friend deal with the death of her father.

.For the record, the "stirred controversy" in the quote above...is a link back to her own controversy-stirring original article.

The Main Stream Media: liberal as ever.

My favorite comment to Sweet's article: "I believe I detect a bit of envy and jealously in the comments I am reading. I am of the opinion that a public person can't win regardless of his or her choices in their private life..they are dammed if they do and dammed if they don't. Let a mother show her daughter a bit of the world."

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All is well, damnit

Some of you may have heard that President Obama came to give a little speech in South Bend last weekend. And despite my earlier predictions, there was no rioting, murdering, rapturing, or brimstone-based precipitation of any kind.

I didn't get the chance to see the speech live, but I watched it later that day. And as the President got to the part about the "controversy about my being here", I assumed he would dance around it, the way most politicians would ("I will keep an open mind, and thank you for your heartfelt thoughts").

Nope. He came right out and used the words "abortion" and "choice". He talked about his faith. He acnowledged that he holds a position that pisses off Catholics (and Notre Dame). He pointed to common ground held by both sides, and enouraged continued debate (even from those with whom he disagrees). He didn't brush it aside; he embraced it.

This, in a nutshell, is why this President is so hard for his opponents to deal with; he has the ability to address issues directly. He's Ali-like. He can stick-and-move, and avoid issues when he wants to... but if his opponent comes inside, he hits as hard as anyone. Conservatives and the GOP don't know when to challenge him, because every now and then he'll call their bluff, take the initiative, and hit back.

We saw it with the Reverend Wright stuff during the primary, and we saw it again this weekend. Just at the peak of what seems to be an organized push to make Obama seem extreme, he steps very publicly to claim the moderate ground. And because he sounds so good doing it, the average American says to himself, "THIS is the guy who's supposed to be so extreme?" And in winning the I'm-Less-Extreme-Than-You game, he wins the day.

For their part, the students handled themselves beautifully. Most were vocally supportive of the President's willingness to speak to them. Some participated in silent, symbolic protests (such as mortarboard drawings), but were nonetheless respectful. Even those who chose to boycott and protest outside were, by most accounts, peaceful.

The real trouble-makers were the non-students. They were the followers of a guy named Randall Terry who used this commencement as a chance to try to "shock teh conscience". They flew airplane banners of aborted fetuses. They drove truck-sized advertisements of aborted fetuses. They carried posters of (you guessed it) aborted fetuses. They pushed strollers with dolls covered in fake blood. Only three people made trouble during the actual speech, and NONE of them were students. Moreover, those protesters were shouted down with chants of "We Are ND" and "We Love ND".

For a better summary, I encourage you to check out Mr. Stewart:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
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Bravo, ND...

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Why Sportscenter Pisses Me Off

All I ask of Sportscenter is equal time.

I don't care if the bulk of your staff is clueless about hockey. Feign interest, pull together some clips, and let the post-game interviews do the talking for you.

I get that at this time of year, both basketball and hockey are in the midst of the playoffs. But for God's sake...for the sake of this still-thawing Michiganian...for the sake of many people who live above the Mason-Dixon line...I just ask for some equal airtime for hockey.

Last night, 20,000 fans packed into The Joe to watch one of the most storied rivalries in sports history play itself out. The game went into Overtime after a blazingly-fast 3rd period tie by the Blackhawks. The Wings won the game with a fucking textbook 3-on-1 play to smash the puck at a thousand miles an hour past a stunned Khabibulin, who to his credit made a valiant effort to stop a puck he couldn't see. The checking was furious. Abdelkader threw a Blackhawk judo-style to the ice. The Hawks played as fast and hard as I have ever seen a team play, and the Wings broke their back through attention to detail.

But this morning, as I blazed away on the exercise bike watching Sportscenter, I noticed the next 2 stories in the queue were the Lakers/Nuggets game, followed by the Blackhawks/Wings.

I had 15 minutes left of my 30 minute torture.

11 minutes and 38 seconds were taken by the basketball game. As "highlights" they showed what amounted to every fucking basket scored in the 105-103 game, and some of the baskets they showed from 3 or 4 angles. Then, the showed Kobe Bryant's bragging throughout an entire post-game interview. Then, the Sportscenter talking heads went on about every shove, push, bump and uncalled foul. Then, more highlights of bumping, pushing and uncalled fouls. Then some final words about the game from the talking heads. This was Game 1, by the way.

Then, they cut away from the talking heads to 2 guys who talked about the Wings game. They gave Game 2 of this series 3 minutes and 40 seconds. They showed all 5 goals of the game, one after the other, from one angle, just once, in rapid succession. Thy provided us with a closeup of Osgood, and a post-game closeup of Byfuglien looking mopey. Then, on to baseball. No post-game interviews. No talking head analysis.

THEN...during the Top 10 plays segment, they showed 1 from the Nuggets game, and 6 fucking dumb-assed baseball plays whereby a fielder runs and makes a diving catch. ALL THOSE PLAY LOOK THE FUCKING SAME. Just some fielder, like every other fielder in fucking every baseball game played yesterday who ran and made a diving catch. I swear, they just randomly pick 5 or 6 of those and throw them up there. AND IT'S NOT EVEN THE PLAYOFFS.

The Wings game got 1 highight from a game full of them. It was the winning OT goal. It weighed-in at #6. #1? A fucking diving catch in the outfield in some baseball game. Not even Byfuglien's through-everyone's-legs-and-past-Osgood goal made it. 2 "Top 10" plays were wasted on a "funny" Shaq color commentary and Labron James making a basket while sitting on his ass. Khabibulin and Osgood stood on their fucking heads blocking light-speed shots, and Top 10 Play #9 was Shaq being fucking "funny."

[/grouse]

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The Hypocrisy of Experience, Teenage Pregnancy, and Sexism.

Thank goodness for the real journalists. (on comedy central)

Unfortunately it wouldn't embed, but watch here.

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From McCain to Russia with Love.

You may have already seen this as it is about a day old. It requires no set up. Please listen and comment.

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Much Ado About Nothing

So, as some of you have heard, Cindy McCain runs a huge beer distributor. Her family has for decades.

But whether or not this represents some sort of huge black mark against McSame's campaign? I think this article is a little overblown. I just don't quite see the controversy here.

That said, it would be unprecedented is Cindy McCain continued in her ownership of a "lobbyisng organization (to the extent that any bona fide business is a "lobbying organization")"...but that is purely specualtive in this article. I would think she would have the good sense, as would McCain himself, of finding a way to at least on-paper shift ownership.

Hensley, founded by Cindy McCain's late father, holds federal and state licenses to distribute beer and lobbies regulatory agencies on alcohol issues that involve health and safety.

It has opposed groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) in fighting proposed federal rules that would require alcohol-content information on every package of beer, wine and liquor.

Its executives, including McCain's son Andrew, have written at least 10 letters to the U.S. Treasury Department, contributed tens of thousands of dollars to a beer-industry political-action panel and hold a seat on the board of the powerful National Beer Wholesalers Association.

Meh.

Sure, it's yet one more example of the guy who supposedly distances himself form lobbying instead being intimately connected with lobbying, but even this isn't very damning. This is not even a sole-Republican "lobbying" outfit. The liquor and beer industry owns Democratic legislators every bit as much as Republicans. In Michigan (still trying to find the Free Press article), every legislator but one or two benefited from direct and indirect contributions from the beer and wine industry.

I think there are way bigger fish to fry than "outting" McSame's beer industry wife as some sort of liability. Don't make this the argument, guys. Keep it to Republicans' absolutely dismal foreign policy and national security policy.

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