June 30, 2008

And However The Hell Many Years After It Went On The Air, FoxNews Has Done It's Job

From a story in today's WaPo: On the television in his living room, Peterman has watched enough news and campaign advertisements to hear the truth: Sen. Barack Obama, born in Hawaii, is a Christian family man with a track record...
Posted by baltar at 10:33 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 11, 2008

No patience for books?

Does the internet ruin books? For me, no, but it has ruined video and/or TV. If I click on a video and it's more than a couple of minutes long, forget it. For example, this clip of Bill Moyers giving...
Posted by binky at 12:24 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 21, 2008

He's Not Dead Yet

Just stop it. I'm sure I'm not the first to make this point, but would someone remind the national news that Sen. Kennedy is not dead? All these premature obituaries that are being run are just morbid. He's ill, but...
Posted by armand at 09:18 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

April 26, 2008

The Clintons As the Coreleones?

Wtf?!? Now the premise of this piece, that Hillary Clinton very well might win the nomination and that somehow that'll get decided by Kentucky shows that Eleanor Clift knows just as little about national politics as ever (and yet for...
Posted by armand at 04:40 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

April 23, 2008

So Has Big Media Covered How the Pentagon Played The Media Military Analysts?

Josh Marshall asks a good question in light of the big New York Times story this weekend....
Posted by armand at 05:02 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

April 21, 2008

The Shape of the United States - As Covered by the News

Via Sullivan, an interesting map of where news breaks - not entirely what I would've expected....
Posted by armand at 05:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Michelle Cottle's "Voices in Her Head"

Looks like this piece in The New Republic has something for everyone. For those looking for a reason to back Obama, it charts the backstabbing world of the Clinton campaign (really, would anyone want a White House staff like this?)....
Posted by armand at 09:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 20, 2008

Are the Presidential Debates Friendlier to Clinton or Obama?

Nico Pitney analyzes the questions that've been asked in the 4 one-on-one debates, and finds that the ABC debate was in a class of its own with its focus on alleged personal scandals. And, interestingly, Obama has been the target...
Posted by armand at 08:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Richard Mellon Scaife's PA Paper Endorses Hillary Clinton

Is it just me, or is that kind of funny? It's predictable, and probably doesn't matter at all in terms of the vote, but Mr. Vast Right Wing Conspiracy siding with the woman he long painted as a socialist dragon...
Posted by armand at 03:28 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 17, 2008

Last Night's Atrocity

So last night I went down to a local watering hole to watch the debate. I had a nice evening - as long as I didn't concentrate on the debate too deeply because, well, the whole spectacle was appalling. Josh...
Posted by armand at 11:59 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack

April 16, 2008

Pittsburgh's Big Paper Endorses Obama

Interesting. Maybe Moon or one of our usually silent readers could say if this was expected or not, but since I presume that Western PA should generally be strong for Clinton it's probably notable that its biggest paper is going...
Posted by armand at 10:27 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

April 15, 2008

Inter- not intra-

HT...
Posted by binky at 08:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 03, 2008

Matthew Yglesias and Ana Marie Cox Are in Town Tonight

I won't be able to go as I have other plans, but it looks like there's a fun collection of bloggers in Morgantown for a panel tonight....
Posted by armand at 04:14 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

March 25, 2008

Drum on the Media's Protection of McCain/Belief in His Cred

Exactly. It's a huge part of why McCain was always the strongest possible Republican nominee. No matter what he does, the media believes in him and his righteousness across a host of issue areas. It's a huge advantage for his...
Posted by armand at 10:21 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 23, 2008

Wrongness

I know everyone else means about the Iraq war, but I just have to confess, especially to Armand, that I was terribly wrong about Buffy being "teh suck."...
Posted by binky at 12:17 AM | Comments (11) | TrackBack

March 18, 2008

The AP's Fournier Blasts Obama's Arrogance

Errr, what the hell is this? He takes a string of jokes, and a comment by the candidate's wife (who is, not surprisingly, proud of him and thinks he is qualified to be president), and asserts that the Obama campaign...
Posted by armand at 10:26 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 16, 2008

Sleazy Tactics

That's what stands to be revealed in the discovery phase of a suit against the RIAA: Lybeck tells Ars that he'll be digging into agreements between the RIAA, RIAA member companies, MediaSentry, and the Settlement Support Sentry. Part of that...
Posted by binky at 04:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 15, 2008

Magazines

I seem to have an affinity (addiction) to paper magazines. I get a warm feeling having actual knowledge delivered to my house every week/month. And relatively cheaply, too. Yglesias and Ezra Klein (bigger blogs than this) started a conversation specifically...
Posted by baltar at 12:59 PM | Comments (13) | TrackBack

March 11, 2008

Dr. Laura: Mrs. Spitzer Needs to Please Her Man

I have to think that in a truly civilized society she'd be shunned, if not exiled. Instead, the fine folks at NBC give her a national stage on which to blame the governor's wife. I'm so happy I don't watch...
Posted by armand at 09:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

This thought occurred to me too

...and they did change the photo to a generic medical graphic....
Posted by binky at 08:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 05, 2008

Compared to Glenn Beck, John Hagee Is the Steady Voice of Moderation

Seriously, does Glenn Beck have pics of half of CNN's board feasting on babies? Because if not, how does the man keep his job? I mean really - "Is Barack Obama (or Hillary Clinton) the anti-Christ?"...
Posted by armand at 11:09 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 27, 2008

Somebody, Save Us From Tim Russert

Oy. He spends a ton of time asking a factually incorrect question in which he seems to confirm that Obama being anti-Israel is an idea to be taken seriously and be troubled about, and, yeah, you do have to wonder...
Posted by armand at 09:24 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 25, 2008

The Distorted Coverage of the Karl Rove/Don Siegelman Story

Scott Horton reports on the follow-up to the 60 Minutes story last night. The AP is running a misleading (and in part flatly inaccurate) story (who'd have thought that from the organization that employs Nedra Pickler!), and an Alabama station...
Posted by armand at 10:23 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 16, 2008

A String of Newspaper Endorsements for Obama

There's a good deal of debate about whether or not newspaper endorsements really affect voters' choices. But on the chance that they do, the Obama campaign has to be happy that recently their candidate has picked up the endorsments of...
Posted by armand at 02:01 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

February 09, 2008

Discovery Won't Air Taxi to the Dark Side

So we get season after season of the inane right-wing, pro-torture wet dream that is 24, but the Discovery Channel won't air Taxi to the Dark Side because it is too controversial. Could the American media be more pathetic and...
Posted by armand at 01:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 03, 2008

Halperin Digs at Russert's Show

So every Sunday Time's Mark Halperin runs down the Sunday hot air-n-pundit talkathons. So he does that again today noting what Clinton, McCain, Romney and Huckabee say on the various programs. And then he ends with this brief discussion of...
Posted by armand at 01:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 01, 2008

Glenn Beck Attacks "Juan" McCain

Can anyone explain to me why CNN doesn't fire Glenn Beck? I mean it's bad that the "most trusted name in news" prominently employs a non-reality-based racist - but even if an executive felt like overlooking that, why employ one...
Posted by armand at 01:30 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

January 24, 2008

John Gibson Gets Even More Repulsive Than Usual

Seriously, how do appalling, insensitive, insulting, braying jackasses like this moron and Glenn Beck keep national tv "news" jobs? Is corporate America really that disinterested in their own reputations, or the quality of their work? Guess so....
Posted by armand at 09:22 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 20, 2008

Drive By Truckers, 1/10 - 1/12, The 40 Watt, Athens GA

Yes, it's another review/discussion of the Drive By Truckers. It's (partially) my blog, so I get to do these things. The Drive By Truckers have released a new album (Brighter Than Creation's Dark); it's substantially better than 2006's "A Blessing...
Posted by baltar at 10:34 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

January 19, 2008

Chris and Keith

There's more truth in this than you'd think MSNBC would be comfortable with....
Posted by armand at 11:52 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 22, 2007

Does Robert Novak Employ Fox News Fact Checkers?

Yes, Novakula still writes a weekend column, a short little thing with (would be) pithy attacks on Democrats, and against Republicans who don't tow his line. And I emphasize short and little, because since it is so short you'd think...
Posted by armand at 09:58 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 04, 2007

December 01, 2007

End Of Year Lists

Just an informational post: I found this website which is keeping track of a whole mess of "best of 2007" lists. Everything from books to music to architecture to stereo components. It's a work-in-progress, so new stuff gets added all...
Posted by baltar at 12:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 29, 2007

A Day in the Life of Covering the Hillary Clinton Campaign

Really, you kind of have to wonder why the weeklies and big papers and the networks bother to pay people to watch her from afar. And you've got to kind of wonder why the reporters put up with it....
Posted by armand at 08:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Campbell Brown, The Latest Right Winger to Join CNN, on MoveOn

The rabid Right's tendency to call CNN the Communist New Network or the Clinton News Network amuses me no end. Most of those CNN puts in front of the camera are no friends of the Democratic Party. The latest example...
Posted by armand at 07:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Actually, that's not such a bad idea

So, Roxanne links to this clip to make a point about Sully, and heaven knows I am no Bill Maher fan, but the last thing he says in this clip struck me as being on target, even though it was...
Posted by binky at 02:32 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

November 26, 2007

Baltar's Comment on the Writer's Guild Strike

via videosift.com Really; what more needs to be said?...
Posted by baltar at 10:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Media vs. Media: The latte label

Referring to this article, FDL scores it Whedon 1, NYT 0 : Reporters are funny people. At least, some of the New York Times reporters are. Their story on the strike was the most dispiriting and inaccurate that I read....
Posted by binky at 09:30 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 25, 2007

Fred Thompson Takes on Fox News

Nice. I'm not a Thompson fan, but I admire that he has the guts to go on Fox News and call them out on their coverage (which, yes, certainly seems to be biased in favor of Giuliani and against Thompson)....
Posted by armand at 12:56 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

November 16, 2007

While I wish this were true...

I think there are probably some missing variables influencing this report, and that we are looking at correlation, not causation: The poll by Harris Interactive, an independent research company, showed that 88 percent of people with a post-graduate education were...
Posted by binky at 01:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

I'll admit it

When I was in grad school, I would host parties where we ate cherry pie, drank coffee an agreed that the owls are not what they seem....
Posted by binky at 01:11 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Diamonds or Pearls?

The UNLV student says she's not to blame for the idiotic query that ended last night's debate. Instead it appears that the Celebrity News Network (well, when there's not some white chick in danger, or brown people to defame) was...
Posted by armand at 12:07 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

November 14, 2007

Maybe it won't be squid overlords after all...

Go read it all: John: ... no. We can still control our destiny, through elections.Tyrone: Like those voting machines are attached to anything --John: You always say that. But look,the Democrats won in 2006!Tyrone: Suuuuuuuure they did.John: What are you...
Posted by binky at 09:25 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 08, 2007

November 01, 2007

Waldman on Tim Russert and the Washington Media

Ever for those of you who don't delight in Russert-bashing, this piece is worth your time. Ours is a messed up system - and those who play a key role in messing it up somehow earn praise....
Posted by armand at 12:51 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

October 31, 2007

Lou Dobbs and Benjamin Wittes, Predictably Wrong

Governor Spitzer and Matthew Yglesias take a little time out of their respective days - here and here - to put two frequently maddening pundits in their place....
Posted by armand at 11:21 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

October 26, 2007

Is John Aravosis On Anyone Else's Last Nerve?

I don't read AMERICABlog all that often, and it looks like it's going to stay that way. Does anyone else find his anti-Obama crusade of late a bit over the top? I get his point. It's not good to have...
Posted by armand at 10:50 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

October 17, 2007

What Happens When The Atlantic's Bloggers Argue

The tone of this Yglesias post lightened my mood. He's so sure he's won (and he definitely appears to) he's retelling events like he's recounting a fight, punch by punch, completely assured of his play throughout,. And then he completes...
Posted by armand at 07:54 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 15, 2007

Hissss!!!!!

Showings of Once More with Feeling featuring Rocky Horror-style audience participation have been killed by Fox. Not thinking about the new generations that could get turned on to buy seven seasons of DVDs, are they? More likely thinking anything they...
Posted by binky at 10:03 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

October 14, 2007

Colbert Replaces Dowd!

Okay, it's only for one column - but damn wouldn't it be great if it was actually permanent? I think I'd have to start reading New York Times op-eds again....
Posted by armand at 06:38 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 05, 2007

Lapel Pins?

Okay if egg-head types want to engage in meandering discussions of what is "patriotism" they can knock themselves out. But any news reporter, station or show that treats this brouhaha about what lapel pins Sen. Obama will or will not...
Posted by armand at 05:55 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 01, 2007

What is Barbara Walters Up To?

Debbie Matenopoulos, Star Jones, Elisabeth Hasselbeck and now this idiot? Is Ms. Walters the power behind some SPECTRE like organization secretly plotting to dumb down (and/or seriously annoy) America? And if not, why does she keep inflicting these people on...
Posted by armand at 09:59 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

September 30, 2007

Michael Medved on the Bright Sides of Slavery

I don't post much on the mendacious lunatic ravings of Coulter, Malkin, Hewitt, etc. because they are so fully untethered from reality that there doesn't seem much point. But every so often part of that crew writes something that's so...
Posted by armand at 02:38 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

I Don't Mind the Politics, I Mind the Lying.

It's a given that any administration has the right to use the executive branch in ways that benefit that party's supporters. That's the political "spoils system" bequeathed to us by Jackson something like 200 years ago. It's not necessarily pretty,...
Posted by baltar at 11:35 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

September 27, 2007

Tim Russert Was Moderating a Democratic Debate?

Uh - why? Who selected Darth Cheney's go-to Sunday morning bloviator for that assignment? And while I'm sure the competition is tough, this might very well have been the most ridiculous question yet asked in the debates. Bigoted much, Tim?...
Posted by armand at 07:28 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

September 21, 2007

Smacking NPR With "Childish"

Sweet. In a truly pointless interview on NPR, the French foreign minister just called the interviewer's question about "the French" not liking "the Americans" childish (making ridiculously broad assertions about millions of people, and containing no room at all for...
Posted by armand at 08:19 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

September 12, 2007

War Critic Soldiers Killed in Iraq

Do you think the punditocracy and tv blowhards will pay attention to their op-ed now that they are dead?...
Posted by armand at 09:10 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

September 10, 2007

NPR Revisits the Lackawanna Six Story

I knock NPR around a lot, so it only seems fair to note when I hear a story of theirs that's well done and that I learn something from. That happened today as they revisited the story of the Lackawanna...
Posted by armand at 08:54 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 04, 2007

"News"

Like many people, I use Google alerts to keep track of certain issues I follow. In most categories, I have signed up for tracking of blogs and of news. This morning, I was surprised to find a link to Hot...
Posted by binky at 10:59 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 27, 2007

Who Was on Face the Nation Yesterday?

Why that would be John and Elizabeth Edwards. Yes, both of them. I look forward to the similar shows featuring Anne and Mitt Romney, Jeri and Fred Thompson, Rudy and Judith Giuliani, and Bill and Hillary Clinton....
Posted by armand at 10:35 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 26, 2007

Bill Kristol Is Dumb as a Rock - Why is He Employed?

Still, the damage done by U.S. weakness in the late 1970s should not be underestimated. To mention only one event, our weakness made possible the first successful Islamist revolution in the modern world in Iran in 1979, in the...
Posted by armand at 07:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 22, 2007

Do you think they ever proofread at CNN?

On hurricane Dean: On the Yucatan, tourist areas -- including Cozumel and Cancun -- dodged a bullet, but President Felipe Calderon expressed concern for some of the peninsula's poor Mayan communities. Remember this? BUSH: No. What I was referring to...
Posted by binky at 07:50 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

August 21, 2007

"Jordan on Politics"

This guy is a political analyst? One that the Hotline/National Journal refers people to? Oy. During Sunday's Iowa Debate Senators Biden and Dodd attack Obama. Why? Maybe just maybe Biden and Dodd know the race is over and are now...
Posted by armand at 09:19 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 15, 2007

The White House (Errr, Petraeus) Report on Iraq

Atrios thinks it's important that we keep it in mind that the "Petraeus Report" will actually be written by the White House. That's true. But I've got a question for the LA Times: Why make this paragraph - Despite Bush's...
Posted by armand at 09:33 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

August 14, 2007

Robert Kaplan Is Hot for Flyboys

Here Mr. Farley quite reasonably questions the utility of the B-2 and Robert Kaplan's style of ... journalism? Jingoism? Homo-eroticism? You can choose the word you think fits....
Posted by armand at 03:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 13, 2007

The (Liberal) Media Loves (the Creationist) Huckabee

If Scheiber is speaking literally (high-fives?!?), this is amazingly inappropriate. Of course if he's just conveying the general mood ... well that's still kind of problematic....
Posted by armand at 10:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

What of these claims that ATT censors political speech?

There has been quite a bit of attention paid to the recent censoring of Pearl Jam's performance. ATT claims that it was an error related to their policy of editing out profanity, but Pearl Jam and advocates of net neutrality...
Posted by binky at 09:35 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 12, 2007

Chris Matthews Likes Hot Chicks Who Give Him News

Could he be more creepy? It's no great shock that this loudmouth would be inappropriate or off-point, clueless or illogical, or, hey, just off in his own little world. But even by his low standards this is a "yikes" moment....
Posted by armand at 10:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 11, 2007

Is Stu Bykofsky Still Employed?

If so - why? If you owned a US newspaper would you feel comfortable paying someone to write columns that advocate mass murder? Aren't your advertisers and readers going to have a problem with that? Might not you as the...
Posted by armand at 10:58 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

August 07, 2007

Lurid, Stupid CNN

What sorts of fears and assumptions does this little headline tap into, eh? Woman's body found in NYU prof's bedroom Scary faculty, preying on America's youth, right? And then... Police found the decomposing body of a 20-year-old woman inside the...
Posted by binky at 10:00 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

August 06, 2007

Cokie's Being Cokie on NPR Again

Cover your ears! Banality after banality, arguing presidential campaigns are making cooperation in Congress difficult (to make her point she has an example ... that has nothing to do with the presidential campaign), failing to pronounce "Kos" correctly ... To...
Posted by armand at 08:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 05, 2007

Wilner on Early Veep Choices

As you know if you read this site often I tend to think very little of The Politico. But even by their feature-heavy, random-musing-of-their-minds standards this piece by Elizabeth Wilner is pretty weak stuff. She's excited about the possibility of...
Posted by armand at 09:08 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 14, 2007

The Politico (and Tony Snow) Makin' Stuff Up - Again

The Albritton's new political rag has produced some awfully shoddy product in its short lifespan. And today it looks like another one of their stories isn't really based in reality. Of course that hasn't stopped the right-wing noise machine from...
Posted by armand at 06:02 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

June 10, 2007

A Sunday Morning With the "Mainstream" (Republican?) Media

Am I the only one perplexed by the fact that this morning's talking head shows on ABC, CBS and NBC fail to feature even a single Democratic guest? Not even one? Only FoxNews was giving an outlet (such as it...
Posted by armand at 01:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 07, 2007

Paris Hilton

Let me get this straight: she get sentenced to 45 days, which is reduced to 23 (if she behaves herself), get special treatment (how many other people get to enter jail three minutes before midnight?), refuses to eat (uh, is...
Posted by baltar at 02:49 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

May 25, 2007

It's Frelinghuysen to the Resuce!

It's not every day a 61 year old Republican congressman gives chase and helps police