As Howard Kurtz outs another commentator on the administration payroll — this time, Maggie Gallagher and HHS — Dubya declares the gravy train for right-wingers has stopped. Aw, man, don’t y’all want to hear my price first? GitM sells out cheap. Did I mention lately how splendiferous I think the war in Iraq is going?
Category: Media
No Right-Wing Flunky Left Behind.
By way of a friend of mine, the Dubya education department gets busted subsidizing conservative commentator Armstrong Williams for good press on NCLB. I mean, really, wasn’t Fox News enough?
Capital W.
“I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it.” (For some reason, I’m reminded of Homer Simpsons’s cabin fever…”I have powers…political powers!“) To his credit, Dubya gives us fair warning in his press conference today about what to expect from the coming second term. Some choice Dubya quotes, via Value Judgment: “Now that I’ve got the will of the people at my back, I’m going to start enforcing the one-question rule. That was three questions.” or “Again, he violated the one-question rule right off the bat. Obviously you didn’t listen to the will of the people.” Also, by way of Looka: “I will reach out to every one who shares our goals.” The rest of us, it seems, might be in for some trouble.
Up (to no good) Sinclair.
The Sinclair Broadcast Group fires their Washington bureau chief, Jon Leiberman, after he makes his displeasure about their right-wing proselytizing known to the Baltimore Sun. Whatsmore, the wingnut network is playing hardball: “Sinclair would not waive his noncompete agreement, which means he cannot work for a broadcast outlet in any market that has a Sinclair station.” Hmmm…well, two (and more) can play at that game. Update: Sinclair buckles.
Start Spreading the News.
“We look back on the past four years with hearts nearly breaking, both for the lives unnecessarily lost and for the opportunities so casually wasted. Time and again, history invited George W. Bush to play a heroic role, and time and again he chose the wrong course. We believe that with John Kerry as president, the nation will do better.” The New York Times endorses John Kerry for President. Not much of a surprise, sure, but still worth reading.
He Fights for Us.
“CARLSON: You need to get a job at a journalism school, I think. STEWART: You need to go to one.” Sent to me by a friend in the program here, Jon Stewart and Tucker Carlson battle it out on Crossfire. (More here.) I wish I’d seen this live…the transcript is definitely worth a read. “CARLSON: You had John Kerry on your show and you sniff his throne and you’re accusing us of partisan hackery? STEWART: Absolutely…You’re on CNN. The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls.” Update: See it here, via High Industrial.
Fox News One Further.
So apparently the Sinclair Broadcast Group, a right-wing-flunky television conglomerate who previously refused to air a Nightline on fallen soldiers in Iraq, will show an anti-Kerry hatchet-job on its swing state affiliates in the next two weeks. Well, I must say, that’s quite an end-run around the equal time rule, if not a blatant misuse of the public airwaves. Perhaps the FCC can extricate themselves from their shock over Janet Jackson’s breast long enough to look into this.
Can We Get a Witness?
With CBS giving up on the Killian memos, both the NY Times and Salon try to refocus the story on the facts of Dubya’s disappearance. Still an excellent question…
(Draft)-Dodged Another Bullet.
Well, even Dan Rather is backing away from the Killian memos at this point, which obviously does not bode well for their authenticity. And as for the larger questions about where Dubya spent all those post-drug-test AWOL months in 1972…well, I’m sure the mainstream press will get to those in due time, aren’t you?
Letter Never Sent?
The dispute over the CBS memos rages on, with both sides digging in. I must say, the additional information offered by the Post does seem to suggest that the controversial Killian memos may in fact be bogus (although USA Today did independently obtain them “from a person with knowledge of Texas Air National Guard operations,” for what that’s worth.) Which, if so, leads one to wonder who out there could have been so base and stupid as to falsify these documents, when there’s already so much legitimate evidence of Dubya’s desertion. That’s the GOP’s racket, not ours. Still, I’m not yet 100% convinced.