Ted

My friend Rob Humenik at Get Donkey! is a volunteer on the Dean campaign. He recently had the opportunity to ride along with some of the press corps covering the Dean rally in Houston. It’s well worth reading:

What was most interesting was hearing them interact with each other. I always had this silly stereotype of journalists trying to scoop each other and keeping their information to themselves, but these guys were the definition of pack journalism. What was scary was that a lot of them didn’t really seem to know what they were talking about regarding some of Dean’s policy stances, things he said at the speech, etc. I got the distinct impression that they were interviewing each other for information (instead of, say, the official campaign spokesman that was in the front seat). Honest to Pete, I heard one reporter ask another “How do you think Dean is doing,” and the other went on to answer how he felt Dean probably wrapped up the nomination when he decided against campaign financing, but the test will be if his appeal extends beyond the base of radical liberal supporters…” The exchange was followed by the sound of fingers typing on keyboard.

Dwight Meredeth and Mary Beth at Wampum are being kind enough to run the 2003 Koufax Awards to recognize the best in left-of-center blogs. I really enjoyed them last year, and I’m delighted that Dwight is volunteering his time again. They’re taking nominations now, so please feel free to contribute.

UPDATE: Because they’re not accepting nominations for their own posts, I wanted to take the opportunity to say that Dwight Meredeth’s post “Tell His Parents”, about Michael Savage’s cruelty about autism, is one of the very, very few blog posts that I’ve gone back and re-read months later.

Gary Farber has a thought experiment posted about a mandate requiring Congressional districts to be drawn to create districts that are as competitive as possible.

That is, the goal in drawing district lines would be that all districts be as evenly divided between likely Republicans and Democrats as is predictable. You know, the opposite of the way gerrymandering has been functioning, overall, since the days of Eldridge.

It’s obviously not going to happen, but it does set one a’thinkin.

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If the situation in Iraq is going to work out, it will be because of people like these.

The photos are well worth a look. The crowds don’t look huge, but it’s awfully hard to estimate crowd size from photos on the ground. In addition, the Iraqi demonstrators had to take a serious risk of being targeted as “collaborators” if they attended. (It’s also interesting to see firsthand how much of Baghdad could be mistaken for Los Angeles or Houston.) It does the heart good to see them.

What does John Lott have to do to get fired from the American Enterprise Institute?

UPDATE: Just a thought- in an unimportant way, Internet sock puppetry is pretty self-defeating. If I see a commentor defending him on a thread, there’s a big part of me that will wonder, “Is that him?”

UPDATE II: Sock puppetry: 1000 flowers bloom…

Without consulting my esteemed colleague, Doctor Krauthammer, I’m unable to identify the syndrome which best describes the kind of nut who would create a fake website and then mock the fictitious author of that website and the presidential candidate supported by the make-believe author.

Everyone knows that NBC’s Today Show is liberally biased. Which is why it’s interesting that in their segment on the manslaughter conviction of Rep. Bill Janklow, they didn’t use the word “Republican.”

Uggabugga has the audio file. I don’t think that I’ve ever watched the Today show, and I certainly wouldn’t try to use this as evidence of conservative bias. I used to have frequent arguments about the impossibility of “proving” media bias by cherry-picking examples from the hundreds of hours and thousands of pages of media produced every day. But given the intellectual integrity of the most prominent right-leaning media watchdogs, all I can say is: Live by the anecdote, die by the anecdote.

Regarding Robert Bartley, Wall Street Journal editorial page editor and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, you might be interested in this long, detailed article from the Columbia Journalism Review about the trustworthiness of the Wall Street Journal editorial page under his leadership. It’s well worth reading.

Just one example out of many:

In late 1994 (the WSJ editorial page) targeted Peter Edelman, then counselor to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, who was being considered for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia circuit. The Journal said that when Edelman was director of New York State’s Division for Youth in 1978, he ordered a one-week furlough for a seventeen-year-old who had knifed a girl during a robbery. While on his furlough, the youth was arrested on charges of raping, robbing, and trying to electrocute a sixty-three-year-old woman.

That the Journal’s charge was not true was eventually pointed out in a letter, published about three weeks later, written by J. Thomas Mullen, president of the Catholic Charities Services Corp. in Cleveland, who had worked with Edelman in New York. Under the structure of the agency, Edelman did not order transfers or furloughs, but he could override them, particularly when there was a concern about security, which he did in this case. But by the time he had ordered the boy picked up and returned to the facility, it was too late.

It was also too late for Edelman’s nomination. Under pressure from the right wing’s judicial attack machine, Clinton got cold feet, and Edelman’s name never went to the Senate…

“They were almost indifferent as to whether what they wanted to say comported with dispassionate factual reality,” says Taylor, who is now a senior writer at The American Lawyer.

This is one of those list-of-links posts. But first:

– Bush’s trip to Iraq seems to have driven a few good people insane. It seems likely that just about any President who had committed a large number of troops overseas would visit them over the holidays. This shouldn’t be much more controversial than lighting the White House Christmas tree.

Now we find out that Bush had his picture taken with a prop turkey that wasn’t actually served. Wow. I also have a confession- my third grade pictures weren’t actually taken in front of a sun-dappled woodland. The nice lady at Sears used a big poster as a backdrop.

It feels good to have that off of my chest.

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My friend Charles Kuffner has his list of the ten worst motion pictures that he’s actually seen. Here’s mine in no particular order, borrowing heavily from people who are funnier than me.

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That could have gone better, reflected the defendant. The pictures were all over the internet, and he had all but admitted on the stand that he was the only one who could have taken them. The trial had turned into a media circus, and the press was ready to hang him.

The judge came out of his chambers after only a few hours’ deliberation. No one could have predicted what would happen next.

“Will the defendant please rise”, called the bailiff. This is it, I’m done for, thought the defendant.

The judge spoke. “You have been accused of breaking and entering in order to photograph the plaintiff while sleeping. Furthermore, without her permission, you posted those pictures on your personal website. Several witnesses saw you leaving her house on the night that the photos were posted, and you have admitted that you are the only person with access to your camera, or to your website.

“Normally, these would be serious offenses.

“However, we must consider all the circumstances in this case. The plaintiff in this case has admitted to posing for a number of pictures which are unmistakably date-stamped as occurring after the break-in. In fact, several of these photos were for stories about this very case.

“If the plaintiff was truly interested in her privacy, it is clear that she would not have made this choice. Sorry, missy — if you’re really interested in privacy, you don’t do this sort of thing. Unless, perhaps, you’re a self-promoter first, and a victim second.

“I therefore pronounce this case bogus. You’re free to go.”

The judge was mobbed by reporters as he tried to retire to his chambers. One reporter managed to break past the struggling bailiff and ask, “Your Honor, you attended the University of Tennessee law school, am I correct?”

I don’t know how I missed this story.

– Maher Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian citizen, is on the terrorist watch list. This is apparently because of his association with another terrorist suspect, who is currently in custody. Arar has denied any connection with terrorism.

– He was traveling to Canada, where he’s lived for 15 years and has a family. He stopped in John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, where he was detained by U.S. authorities.

(Please do click through if you’re not familiar with this story.)

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Today, Howard Kurtz quoted a story about the discovery of the remains of Howard Dean’s brother in Laos. He then commented:

I wonder if the remains would have been found if Dean wasn’t running for president.

I have been trying all day to imagine what Kurtz could have meant by that, but everything I come up with is ludicrous. Suggestions are more than welcome. (via Atrios)

we learned that opponents of the Iraq war are unpatriotic ghouls who are glad when Americans die.

I actually got several variations on this theme, from antiwar types who always seem glad when people die in Iraq, so long as they’re Americans or our allies. They’re usually the same people who puff up if you “question their patriotism.”

I don’t question it. They’ve put its existence beyond question by wishing for America to lose.

Oh Brave New Media, that has such Pundits in it!

(via Matthew Yglesias)

P.S. Oh, and don’t try to excuse it by saying “he wasn’t talking about everyone who opposed the war.” Glenn Reynolds and Lt. Smash have taught me to see right past that kind of tricksiness.

8:00- 9:30 Breakfast (check ticket for meal time)

9:45: (Deck 2) Two Minute Sneer: Joseph Wilson, long-haired “Ambassador” (led by Jonah Goldberg)

10:00 (Lounge 1) Seminar:

Charges of Anti-Semitism = Real Ultimate Power!

Criticism of anti-Semitism isn’t just for criticizing anti-Semites anymore. The National Review has been a pioneer in aggressively pursuing charges of anti-Semitism, which can be an essential part of a conservative media strategy to get through the filter of the liberal media.

Many people feel uncomfortable accusing others of anti-Semitism without real evidence. We can help! Criticizing Israel, using the term “neo-conservatives”, opposing the war in Iraq, being French: Joel Mowbray and Donald Luskin will show you how these offenses (and many more) can be labeled “anti-Semitism” for a powerful rhetorical punch.

Donald Luskin also has a few tips on accusing a Jewish person of anti-Semitism without giggling.

(Note: Rod Dreher will fill in for Donald Luskin, after last night’s unpleasantness)

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