The Technocrat

by bk

What’s the difference between the McCain Campaign and the Titanic?

The Titanic had a band.

After the MI decision, I think it’s time to start watching for the rats jumping ship. That is a sure sign of a boat that’s going down. I know we’re not over the finish line yet but desperation has a way of feeding on itself and I think we’re approaching that point faster than we may realize, so it’s just a matter of looking for the tell tale signs.

Here is the video that inspired my post: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWCGzS7E_IM

by db

When it comes to international travel, I’m the bizarro Barack. Sweat drips from my forehead as I haul tail down some concourse, inevitably the wrong one; I dehydrate with endless cups of bad airport coffee and I’m only over-hydrated when all nearby facilities are closed for cleaning; I check bags the day the conveyors break and don’t when I have a bottle of cologne with me that’s a half-liter too big to scan. Yep, I’m that guy. Sen. Obama: No mess here. This is one presidential candidate who travels well.

I knew this was going to be a well-organized tour. The Obama advance team, from where I sit, has always been stellar: signage in the right place, audience well-positioned, mikes set to the right levels. But a trip through the middle-east and europe is no multi-county tour of Ohio. Plus, with wall-to-wall coverage guaranteed, there was little room for error. Thus far, you could not have asked for a better executed trip.

The icing on the cake, though, has been the McCain’s non-stop carping about, of all things, the media’s supposed infatuation with Obama. Beside the fact it sends a clear-cut signal you have nothing to talk about and are drenched in increasingly visible flop-sweat, it’s just plain sad. What makes it more pathetic and laughable is that it’s coming from John McCain. This is a guy of whom Chris Matthews recently said “We are his base.” That’s right. The media is McCain’s base. No matter how egregious the gaffe, they are always there to skip over the embarrassing moments. No matter how blatant the flip-flop, they crown him with the title “maverick.” It doesn’t matter that even to this day (and I mean that seriously — there were two serious screw-up’s from McCain today both under-reported), they give him every benefit of the doubt. No. That’s not good enough for the McCain people. They decide their coverage isn’t good enough. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.

But that’s all good.

Don’t tell the McCain campaign they could be spending this time explaining their plans to get the country out of the economic abyss it’s enjoying or whatever it is that “Dr. Phil” Gramm feels we’re whining about. Nope. Let them go on bashing the media. I’m sure that will help cut through the noise of the million some odd people who will show up to Sen. Obama’s speech in Berlin or the fact the Prime Minister of Iraq pulled the rug out from under their “endless surge” strategy. It may do neither, but at least it would display some seriousness about his positions on the issues and, who knows, it might change some voters’ minds. But do me a favor, don’t tell them that. Tell them it’s all the media’s fault.

by bk

In light of the 4 polls out this week showing Barack re-establishing his lead in national polls, I’d like to thank Jesse Jackson. Far from cutting Barack’s nuts off, I say he has provide Obama with the Sista Soulja moment he’s been needing.

Hmmm Trying to pivot to the center? What better opportunity than having an icon of the left all pissed off at you. And better still, it was the kind of dirt Fox loves. So Fox and the rest of the MSN play in the dirt, which is job #1 at Fox, and help Obama pivot all at once and because it’s not a policy shift, there can be no flip flop charge. It’s just Barack Obama defending himself from the left for a full news cycle for all to see.

A special thanks to Jesse for his timing, right in the heart of the the post-primary, pre-convention center shift. Could hardly have been better.

“It’s a TV show. If you can’t handle TV questions, how are you going to stand up to Iran, and North Korea, and the rest of the world?” - Tim Russert, quoted by DC Fishbowl (via PoliticalWire)

Tim. Come on. First, you should know better than to parrot not only a standard Republican line, but the line of Fox News’ own Roger Ailes, who commented in March: “The public knows if a journalist’s question is unfair. They also know if a candidate is impeding freedom of speech and free press. If you are afraid of journalists, how will you face the real dangers in the world?”

Does anyone, and I mean anyone, truly believe Fox News’ domestic coverage* isn’t swung to the far right? Just a quick scan of MediaMatters‘ compendium of Fox News mistaken coverage reveals that all these “mistakes” and “omissions” conveniently slam or otherwise malign Democrats. There are over 1,800 incidents documented, some minor, some not so much, but a theme develops throughout: Fox News editorials, which are plenty from morning to night, and live news coverage almost always spotlight, support, and pet the Republican view while slamming, questioning, or demeaning the Democratic perspective.

This is not to suggest the other networks are angels on this score or should suffer questions of bias going in another direction, but it is to suggest this: Fox News is a mouthpiece for the Republican party and the administration. It is well within their right to produce it and even more so the right of its loyal viewers to watch it. That does nothing to take away from the fact that it is a network narrowly produced to target a narrow audience — one disproportionately Republican and one disproportionately, perhaps not entirely coincidentally, misinformed according to a recent report.

So, you have a network that maligns Democrats or mis-names, mis-titles or otherwise manages to miss them or their points entirely in any debate scenario that has, without a doubt, the fewest Democrats among its audience of any network. So, why, exactly, would any serious Democratic presidential feel the need to appear on its debate?

This debate is designed by Ailes, and his beltway power-circle friends like Russert, to validate Fox News as a legitimate presence on the media scene. It’s not. There are legitimate news outlets like The Wall Street Journal that manage to effectively and consistently separate opinion from journalism. Until Fox News manages the same, no Democrat should feel the need to grace them with their presence, presidential candidate or otherwise.

* I happen to know a Fox News international correspondent and have viewed her coverage as well as that of her compatriots on that side of the house. (Web-based, selective viewing, mind you.) Based on those cursory views, I can honestly suggest the international coverage lacks the partisan patina that glows from their domestic political coverage.