Month: March 2012
Rove Pooh-Poohs Value of Endorsements
Endorsements don’t mean snot.
— Karl Rove, on a private conference call, using Sarah Palin’s backing of Newt Gingrich as an example.
Biden on GOP: ‘God Love Them’
I’ve been doing this awhile, and some of you have. I have never seen a time in my lifetime when Republicans haven’t tried to hide the ball, to use a sports metaphor — when they said they were ‘compassionate conservatives. We care about health care. We must preserve Medicare,’ etc. They’re not hiding the ball any more at all, guys. God bless them, they’re saying exactly what they believe. This is going to be the starkest choice the American public is going to make in a long, long time.
— Vice President Joe Biden, telling Democratic donors in Florida that he hoped the Republican presidential primary to continue for as long as possible, the Tampa Bay Times reports. Said Biden: “God love them, as my mother would say. I hope they have another 20 debates.”
Occupy Wall Streeters are Probably In the 1 Percent
1%
Looked at it in a global context, most Occupy Wall Street protesters are members of the 1%. Because the developing world is so poor in comparison with the U.S., the cutoff for the global 1% is an income of about $34,000, according to Foreign Policy magazine.
Trailer for Obama Featurette, “The Road We’ve Travelled”
The trailer for a 15-minute Obama campaign spot is out, while the full-length feature is set for release on March 15. I would think the Obama folks would wait until after the primary to start making his case to this extent but it looks like it will be a rousing short film whenever it arrives.
After Ad Stampede, Rush is a Few French Fries Short of a Happy Meal
Reality has never been Rush Limbaugh’s strong suit but his capacity for denial seems stronger than ever.
But one thing the man does know about is food, so we might have to accept his version of the effect of the advertiser exodus from his show.
The recovering drug addict has tainted the Rush brand to the point that the band “Rush” wants their good name back
…Limbaugh told his audience that the reports of advertiser defections had been greatly exaggerated by his opponents, and that the companies that pulled ads accounted for a small minority of the overall ad inventory on the 600 affiliates that carry his show.
“That’s like losing a couple of French fries in the container when it’s delivered to you at the drive-through,” Limbaugh said. “You don’t even notice it.”
I bet Rush does notice missing French fries but that’s neither here nor there. The fact is, at least 45 advertisers have (forever) pulled or (weaselly) suspended their ads from his show. As this goes to press, there is a big, blank hole on his web site where an ad used to be.
Breitbart Exits, Not with a Bang But a Whimper
Watch Obama Speaks at Harvard Law in ’90 on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
– T.S. Eliot, The Hollow Men
Three weeks before Andrew Breitbart’s sudden and unexpected death, he made what would be his final appearance on the national stage at CPAC, the annual convention of the right-wing fringe, in Washington. He’d apparently gone to CPAC to announce that his online propaganda outlet had finally done what the liberal media had failed to do — they had vetted Pres. Obama.
“I’ve got videos, by the way,” Breitbart told the CPAC crowd. “This election we are going to vet him. I have videos. I’ve got videos. This election, we are going to vet him from his college days to show you — why — to show you why racial division and class warfare are central to what hope and change was sold in 2008. The videos are going to come out. The narrative is going to come out.”
Fox News Schools Its Viewers: Rising Price of Gas Not the President’s Fault
One of the Republican Party’s propaganda narratives being driven on Fox News these days is that it is Pres. Obama’s fault that gas prices are rising. Actually, it’s even worse — Fox is pushing the idea that the president wants gas prices to rise.
This issue came up during the president’s news conference yesterday in this exchange with Ed Henry, the GOP-Foxbot embedded in the White House press corps:
FOXBOT: Related to Iran and Israel, you have expressed concern about this “loose talk of war,” as you call it, driving up gas prices further. Your critics will say on Capitol Hill that you want gas prices to go higher, because you have said before that will wean the American people off fossil fuels onto renewable fuels. How do you respond to that?
PRES. OBAMA: Ed, just from a political perspective, do you think the president of the United States going into reelection wants gas prices to go up higher? Is that — Is there anybody here [in the White House press corps] who thinks that makes a lot of sense?
It is unlikely that that exchange made it onto the air on Fox News yesterday, which could explain why, in his concession speech last night after losing all the Super Tuesday primaries but one, Newt Gingrich felt free to lie about what the president said:
NEWT GINGRICH: And I thought today, in one of the most shallow and self-serving comments by a president that I’ve heard in a long time, he was candid in his press conference. He said, “You know, I’m really worried about higher gas prices because it will make it harder for me to get re-elected.”
I did not make this up.
Actually, Newt, you did.
Flushing the Rush
It is wrong to speak of advertisers’ bravery
For dropping Rush after comments so unsavory.
It’s not good for product branding
To be perceived to be one standing
Behind Limbaugh’s especial kind of knavery.
