The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Old School in the New Media: Crime, Scandal & Alyssa Milano Lesbian Kiss

Posted on | October 25, 2010 | 10 Comments

“When I was a kid reporter at the LA Times in the 1960s, some of the veteran photographers and reporters regaled me with tales of how they used to sit in their cars with motors running, radios tuned to the police band, so they could be first on the scene of a gangland slaying or a spouse-stabbing, the bloodier the better. . . .
“There was serious stuff in the papers, too, like Korea and the Cold War and polio vaccine, but much of that was available to everyone and left to the wires to report. The premium, then as now, was on speed.”
— Paul Steiger, Ralph McGill Lecture, Henry Grady School of Journalism, University of Georgia

Thanks to Jack Lail for that useful lecture in a post titled, “Free enterprise just hasn’t been good for journalism.” And I’m afraid the comment by Professor Glenn Reynolds — “Maybe this explains their attitude toward capitalism” — gets the causation exactly backwards.

It is the anti-capitalist attitude that causes the failure of journalism, and not the other way around.

How many journalists have I worked with since 1986 who are no longer working as journalists? Short answer: Lots. Probably even most of them.

Some of them just found other lines of work where they could make more money. Some of them were laid off, victims of mismanaged news organizations. But a lot of them drifted out of an increasingly competitive news environment because they never really had that fire-in-the-belly appetite for competition.

Despite my natural-born laziness, I always understood that news is a business. The newsroom staff is an expense. The revenue comes from advertisers who want the attention of readers. Therefore:

  • The journalist’s value to his employer is directly connected to his contribution to the business of attracting readers.
  • The story is more important than the writer, because the writer is less important than the reader.
  • Advertising will follow the reader.
  • Attracting and satisfying the reader — as the ultimate consumer of the product — is the whole business of journalism.

The stuck-up snobbery of those who don’t appreciate these basic facts of the news business, who feel entitled to a living as a professional journalist because they imagine themselves to be pursuing a calling more noble than the pursuit of profit — well, to hell with all that.

Let ’em join the Peace Corps, if they think journalism is some kind of philanthropic endeavor.

Did you know that this video clip of Alyssa Milano in a lesbian kissing scene has had 1.6 million views? Read more

Category: Celebrities, Fear & Loathing on the Way to Florida, R.S. McCain School of Journalism, Scandal, Sex, Shoe Leather Fund

Murray Campaign HQ Is Rocking Tonight

Posted on | October 25, 2010 | 2 Comments

by Smitty

The effort to liberate VA-8 from “Gentleman” Jim Moran’s reign of error continues apace. The candidate is fresh off of a news conference to answer the mail on the 06 October offensive remarks Moran made.

Murray momentum grows. The bus is stocked and fueled. It will be cruising the district, spreading the word that there is a better way than Moran’s approach.

The phones are fully staffed by the most awesome talent available:

Tellingly, it appears that Moran has withdrawn from tomorrow night’s penultimate debate. Brave, brave, brave, brave Sir Moran! The Murray campaign is not confident that Moran can muster the fortitude to support the final debate.
This blog empathizes with Moran’s staff and hope the résumé work goes well for them.

PATRICK MURRAY for U.S. CONGRESS
Jim Moran: Because debating peasants is such a bore.

Category: Jim Moran, Patrick Murray, Tabitha Hale, Virginia

TARP Watchdog Report: Administration ‘Manipulated’ Data to Hide AIG Losses

Posted on | October 25, 2010 | 3 Comments

They tried to “hide the decline,” so to speak:

In a scathing 338-page report released today, a federal watchdog exposes the failure of the 2008 Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) bailout and suggests Treasury Department officials engaged in a politically motivated attempt to hide losses at bankrupt insurance giant AIG with “manipulated” data.
“Treasury should have disclosed that it had changed its valuation methodology and should have published a side-by-side comparison of its new numbers with what the projected losses would be under the auditor-approved methodology that Treasury had used previously and will use in the future,” says the report from the office of Neil Barofsky, special inspector general known as SIGTARP. “This conduct has left the Treasury vulnerable to charges it has manipulated its methodology for calculating losses to present two different numbers depending on its audience.”
One set of numbers about AIG losses was released in “early October as part of a multifaceted publicity campaign touting the positive aspects of TARP,” the report says, while a second set of audited numbers was provided to the GAO for a November release. . . .

Read the whole thing. Looks like Barofsky’s got ’em caught red-handed, and Tim Geithner might get his long-overdue tossing under the Obama bus. Big hat-tip for the Twitter tip from Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge, who says:

“If after all this disclosure Geithner does not resign, well, America truly will have the Treasury Secretary, not to mention administration, it deserves.”

Indeed.

UPDATE: Nobody gives a damn, I guess. Drudge is headlining a story about Treasury bond yields (!) and another about the ballooning deficit, but seems not to have noticed this news that the Treasury Department has been caught cooking the books.

Sigh. At least  it’s not being completely ignored:

UPDATE II: The Obama administration’s efforts to suppress economic bad news has been abetted, of course, by the media. Kudos to CBS News for this surprisingly straightforward “60 Minutes” feature on the ugly realities of unemployment:

More commentary at The Underground Conservative. Meanwhile, Nancy Pelosi might want to get some cheese to go with this whine: “We haven’t really gotten the credit for what we have done.”

Don’t worry, Nancy. If the Democrats get wiped out on Nov. 2 — “Five Signs Your Party Is Doomed” — I’m sure you’ll get lots of credit for that. The guy in the White House has plenty of room for you under his bus.

Category: Barack Obama, Economics, Inspectors General, Scandal

How Illinois Democrat Official Sue Walton Puts Down (Married Father of Four) Andrew Breitbart: ‘I Think He’s Gay’

Posted on | October 25, 2010 | 3 Comments

In general, I avoid the “liberals are hypocrites” line of argument that highlights episodes of Democrats engaging in sexism, racism and homophobia, because (a) plenty of other conservatives employ that argument, and (b) my feeling is that political correctness exaggerates the extent and/or danger of these postmodern “sins” against the Religion of Tolerance.

Sexism? American women are the most privileged women in all of human history. Homophobia? Every socioeconomic analysis I’ve ever seen shows gays in America well above average in education, career status and per-capita income. Racism? One of the reasons I’ve so often been smeared as a “white supremacist” is because I dispute the liberal narrative that depicts U.S. minorities as helpless victims of Caucasian oppression.

Given my skepticism toward these “sins” of political correctness, then, it ill behooves me to point the accusing finger at a liberal and scream: “RAAAAACISM!” (Remember: 5 A’s.) Being a crusader against bigotry just isn’t my thing. Prejudice is a permanent fact of human nature, and to run around denouncing other people as haters implies that one has a roadmap to Utopia where everyone holds hands and sings “Kumbaya.” Besides, in the Obama Age, becoming a raaaaacist is as easy as voting Republican.

These caveats aside, however, a thing of beauty is a joy forever:

Kudos to Andrew Marcus and his colleagues for identifying Illinois Democratic Party official Sue Walton as the OFA Astroturf organizer who thought the best way to argue with Andrew Breitbart was to say, “I think he’s gay!”

There are multiple layers of irony here, but time is short, there is much work to be done and so I won’t bother to peel this onion further. Feel free, however, to have at it in the comments.

Category: Andrew Breitbart, Democrats, Gays

Oh, The Preciousss, Preciousss Narrative!

Posted on | October 25, 2010 | 4 Comments

Smitty (h/t Gateway Pundit)

So much of the smoke and mirrorssuccess of the current administration, and the Men from O.R.G.A.S.M., is predicated upon an audience of willing dupes. For them, no good can come of this.

How is it that CBS wandered off the reservation? Also, given that this is 60 Minutes, how valid is any of it?
Centralization is the real problem. The religious leap of faith required to believe the Federal Government capable of being the Jobs Bringer is one that merits continual ridicule. DC should be chopped back, so that the States can sink or swim on their own merit.

Category: Video, Weimar America

Not Only Speech Therapy, But A Leadership Lesson

Posted on | October 25, 2010 | 7 Comments

by Smitty

This scene works not only from the standpoint of pedagogy, but also leadership. Would that the cool, thick-skinned control of the situation could be transferred to a few petulant politicians cluttering public office today.

Category: Video

After Squandering $12 Million in Campaign Cash, Charlie Crist Is Now Reduced to Role of Debate ‘Heckler’

Posted on | October 25, 2010 | 5 Comments

Yeah, everybody and his dog has already posted that video, but I just couldn’t resist the opportunity to point out how completely Charlie Crist has screwed himself and the GOP Establishment.

Less than 18 months ago, when Genius John Cornyn and the NRSC endorsed Crist — “Those treacherous bastards!” — polls showed Crist leading Rubio by more than 30 points. And while the grassroots rallied to Rubio, a lot of the Republican “smart money” went to Crist. It was not until January, after Scott Brown’s win in Massachusetts, that we saw the first poll showing Rubio ahead. By mid-February, after his rousing CPAC speech, Rubio was ahead by double digits and by the end of April, Crist quit the GOP.

Before he quit, however, Crist had managed to hoover up a crapload of that Republican “smart money.” By the end of 2009, Crist had raised nearly $9 million.

Now? Charlie Crist’s campaign is nearly broke — “running on fumes,” as the St. Petersburg Times reported last week. By the end of September, he had burned through nearly $12 million and had $1.4 million left for the 33-day home stretch of the campaign, while Rubio reported more than $5 million cash on hand.

Rubio is leading by double digits in the polls now and it is possible that Crist’s support could further deteriorate so that Sorry Charlie finishes third behind Democrat Kendrick Meek.

Twelve million dollars. Man, that “smart money” sure was dumb.

MARCO RUBIO for U.S. SENATE

Category: Election, Florida, Marco Rubio, Senate

Yid With Lid, Unexpectedly, Discovers Debate Bias

Posted on | October 25, 2010 | 2 Comments

by Smitty

Wednesday night at the beginning of a debate between Democratic incumbent Melissa Bean, GOP challenger Joe Walsh and Green Party candidate Bill Scheurer. The debate for Illinois 8th congressional district took place at Grayslake Central High School. While League of Women Voters moderator Kathy Tate-Bradish began explaining the rules of the debate an audience member raised his hand and (when called upon) asked if they were going to start with the Pledge of Allegiance. When she said no, the audience booed and almost all in the crowd of more than 300 stood and enthusiastically recited it anyway.

RTWT. The Lid goes on to expose Kathy Tate-Bradish as a partisan hack, Obama and ACORN tool, whose actions stand in stark contrast with the mission of, well, any non-partisan organization, as well as the common-sense guidelines that form the basis of public debate.

This blog decries the idiocy on display, and re-affirms its commitment to positive affirmations of national identity, for example, the Pledge of Allegiance. Joe Walsh, the GOP candidate in IL-8, gets a shout-out to the atrocious Tate-Bradish from his namesake:

And thanks to The Lid for the investigative reporting.

Category: Blogging, Illinois, Media Bias
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