Guardian - Oliver Burkeman - Campaign diary
While Democrats strain every sinew to show unity, anchormen covering the convention for MSNBC have descended into warfare with each other, live on air, which is much more entertaining. While right-leaning presenter Joe Scarborough was opining from the convention yesterday, his liberal colleague Keith Olbermann could be heard muttering "Jesus, Joe, why don't you get a shovel?" into an open microphone. When correspondent David Shuster, in conversation with Scarborough, pointed out the obvious - that Scarborough's a Republican - the host went ballistic, demanding to know which party Shuster belonged to. "I'm a complete independent," Shuster replied. "Oh, I feel so comforted by the fact that you're independent," Scarborough sneered. "I bet everyone at MSNBC has 'independent' on their voting cards." Come along, kids. If Democrats who disagree with each other can achieve detente, surely three opinionated blowhards hired to stir controversy on screen should be able to reach some kind of ... Oh, no, fair point.
When correspondent David Shuster, in conversation with Scarborough, pointed out the obvious - that Scarborough's a Republican - the host went ballistic, demanding to know which party Shuster belonged to. "I'm a complete independent," Shuster replied.
"Oh, I feel so comforted by the fact that you're independent," Scarborough sneered. "I bet everyone at MSNBC has 'independent' on their voting cards."
Come along, kids. If Democrats who disagree with each other can achieve detente, surely three opinionated blowhards hired to stir controversy on screen should be able to reach some kind of ... Oh, no, fair point.
Guardian - Melissa McEwan - Reader, my head exploded
I'm not sure what's happening with our trusty old talking heads in Denver. They seem to be stupefying even themselves with their massive emanations of bullshit. Even leaving aside the reports I've been getting from various friends and acquaintances in attendance at the convention (my favourite of which was the sighting of a bunch of kids wandering around with a big sign reading: "Jesus is my gay best friend") which provide some semblance of truthiness from ground zero, the media's heavy filter seems more glaringly apparent to me than usual, the desperate reach to jury-rig people and personalities into predetermined narratives more blatant than usual - and it's never particularly subtle to begin with. It's all so ham-handed and clunky and obvious. There's no grace or technique, not even a passing attempt at an elegant façade. It's just guileless, artless lies and total crap. The lack of pretense is almost insulting.
It's all so ham-handed and clunky and obvious. There's no grace or technique, not even a passing attempt at an elegant façade. It's just guileless, artless lies and total crap. The lack of pretense is almost insulting.
Karl Rove defending Bill Clinton from a disparaging Sean Hannity; Bill Clinton telling the thousands of conventioneers chanting his name to "please stop it, please sit down," so he could anoint Barack Obama; Joe Biden honoring his white-haired mother for telling him to bloody the noses of the bullies who picked on him; Obama telling Hillary Rodham Clinton that she "rocked the house" -- despite the best efforts of the television news outlets, it was a great night for Democratic television. Specifically, it was all so well planned, you almost couldn't believe it was the Democrats...
The traditional media is still at work in the copyroom with the headline: Democrats disappoint.
She's being far too polite.
Biden, whom I like in some respects, is a clear hawk and a centrist. His words on the Georgian crises don't display much appreciation for the history of that region, and the whole garbage about reclaiming leadership in the world, and all the things that Obama can do for us are really just nonsense. We need to just get back to respectability, and we need to do much work getting our own house in order. This will be just a start, and I'm not very happy with our standard-bearers, but they are worlds better than the other option. "I said, 'Wait a minute, Chester, You know I'm a peaceful man...'" Robbie Robertson
sounds like she wants her coffee black, unsweetened.
ah, the english, shakespeare and orwell.
has any other language have so much silky disingenuousness built right into its dna?
i'm not deep into italian and french to answer that... ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
