Month: October 2005
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Breaking news: “Karl Rove’s garage turns out to be typical”
Yes, the Associated Press is reporting on the contents of Karl Rove’s garage. Weep for our civilization (via Drudge): He is “the architect” who steered George W. Bush to victory four times, twice as Texas governor and twice as president. But can Karl Rove organize his own garage? Can the master of Bush’s political planning
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Judy Miller: Hacktacular
Wonkette says what needs to be said about Judy Miller: The New York Observer reports that Miller dragged her feet on writing her own piece on the leak investigation for so long that the paper’s entire package (including the 6K word report on the paper’s internal investigation) was held from early editions. There’s a word
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Bogus 2% approval statistic
On today’s Meet the Press, Tim Russert was the latest media figure to hype the ridiculous 2% approval figure for President Bush among African Americans in the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll (PDF). This number is based on a tiny subsample — 89 people! It is not a reliable statistical estimate. But that hasn’t stopped
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Harriet Miers is memorable
No discernable philosophy: “We spent 1,200 hours together and I calculated that we addressed more than 6,000 agenda items, and I never knew how she was going to vote until she voted,” said Jim Buerger, who served with Miers on the City Council from 1989 to 1991. Buerger said Miers was something of a nonentity
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Ted Kennedy’s destructive direct mail rhetoric
I just opened a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee fundraising letter from Ted Kennedy that begins with this loathsome sentence: The reckless abuse of power by George Bush and his right-wing allies is an imminent danger to the nation and must be stopped. “Imminent danger to the nation” is a loaded phrase that is generally used
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Scott McClellan smears Helen Thomas
The White House is lashing out at journalists who criticize them again. As Richard Bradley points out on Huffington Post (via Alterman), the latest target is syndicated columnist Helen Thomas. Here’s an exchange from Thursday’s White House briefing: THOMAS: What does the President mean by “total victory” — that we will never leave Iraq until
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Michelle Kosinski plays Today viewers for fools
And people wonder why no one trusts the media (via Drudge): If Michelle Kosinski’s canoe had sprung a leak on NBC’s “Today” show Friday, she didn’t have much to worry about. In one of television’s inadvertently funny moments, the NBC News correspondent was paddling in a canoe during a live report about flooding in Wayne,
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Harriet Miers: Presidential editor
Former Bush speechwriter Matthew Scully offers a testimonial to Harriet Miers in the New York Times today that includes this passage about her work as staff secretary from 2001-2003: It is true that Harriet Miers, in everything she does, gives high attention to detail. And the trait came in handy with drafts of presidential speeches,
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A better job for Harriet Miers
Commenters claimed it was unfair for me to juxtapose Harriet Miers’ fawning letters to George W. Bush with the legal writings of Antonin Scalia. So let’s offer her a fairer playing field and consider her published writing instead. Take it away, David Brooks: Of all the words written about Harriet Miers, none are more disturbing
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Picture of the day: UNICEF’s Smurf-based PR
Apparently, it’s good politics to leverage pop culture just about anywhere. First, the New York Times reported that Venezuelan state television is using Darth Vader’s theme music from “Star Wars” to hype the supposed assassination threat to Hugo Chavez. And now AP is reporting that the Belgian office of UNICEF is using the Smurfs to