Letters to the Editor
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How does this tour thing work, anyway?
Any chance of seeing you at Powells in Portland, Oregon?
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Please elaborate
So one has to find ways to achieve visibility for the book and its arguments without relying on the book's targets in the establishment press.
Your "minions" are open to suggestion.
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Half-way to a six-pack.
Congrats Glenn. I can't wait to get your latest.
Perhaps in the next week or so you can give us some background on what media is and is not contacting you.
I'd like to think by now that at least Olbermann would begin to have you on.
Are you getting any nibbles from the MSM?
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Members of the Same Club
Glenn writes so compellingly about the complicity of our media in the rise of Forces of Evil, a/k/a the modern conservative movement.
Watching Dave Letterman last night and taking in George W McCain's act it suddenly occurred to me: McCain is a media personality, like Letterman, but with no talent. In fact, as I thought about it, it seemed like McCain was like a local news anchor: glib enough to be on TV, and expert in reflecting the sensibilities of the audiences.
Indeed, McCain, like most Beltway-insiders, is principally a media personality, much like a diet guru, fitness expert, or hey -- right-wing Congressman. Members of this club are not interested in substance -- is HRC or BHO's the better health care plan? -- but are only interested in performing their roles as authoritative, trusted experts. How to get and stay in these roles -- by succeeding at a series of lesser jobs in lesser markets -- is their only real concern.
Was it really Walter Cronkite's insightful analysis that made him the most trusteed man in America, or was it his lush baritone and just-right Serious-Person demeanor?
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Cindy McCain, Homewrecking Whore!
I'm still waiting for some in-depth MSM coverage of the fact that Cindy McCain was a homewrecking whore who stole McCain away from his disabled 1st wife. Does the Family Values crowd really want a whore as First Lady?
Is it possible they're ALL hypocrites?
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book tour
Would love to see you at the Tattered Cover in Denver!
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Mock War Crimes Trial
I would like to see a mock or model war crimes trial of the administration and its leading actors. If one prestigous law school, such as Harvard, were to take it upon itself to act as the defense and another, say Yale, to serve as the prosecution, and every effort were made to give the defense the best possible opportunity to presents its case, I think both the process and the results would be of great interest to the public and could generate news coverage and debate. If anyone on this board is in a position to do anything with ths idea, please do.
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ask them about Bush
I haven't watched the interview with Cox but the next time a journalist complains that you're being mean and making their lives difficult. I would ask them what kind of coverage they gave Bush in 2000 and 2004, how many times his "manliness" was emphasized by the media. If they aren't personally guilty of overtly favoring (or fawning over) Bush, they at least know how many of their colleagues were and how much responsibility they bear for these actions. That should shut her/them up.
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Feminine Obama / Masculine Hillary
As a person who has done some study of sex discrimination and sex stereotyping, one of the most extraordinary things (well, only extraordinary to me) is how sex stereotypes pervade the media's coverage of the presidential campaign. Both Hillary and Obama are essentially taken to task by people in the media for supposedly crossing gender norms. Hillary is mocked for wearing pants suits and being pushy or overly aggressive - stereotypically masculine traits. Obama is mocked for being conciliatory and wanting to find compromise - stereotypical feminine traits. Democratic candidates, no matter the gender, are always mocked for failure to live up to gender norms. That is why, for me, it is so frustrating to here Hillary supporters claim that Obama is sexist or here Hillary try to show "strength" in the face of terror. And I admit sometimes I have to stop myself from criticizing Hillary for being "too ambitious" as if only males can aspire to the highest office in the land. The gender stereotyping goes beyond the media, although Glenn is correct in pointing out how they prop it up, but it is ingrained in the way we have to come to view the candidates.
They both are, and will continue to be, the victims of sex-stereotyping. And no matter how strong Hillary seeks to appear in the face of the grave terrorists threat, she will never be strong enough. Neither will Obama. Neither was Kerry, despite Vietnam service. And neither was Gore, despite serving as vice president. They will never pass the media or the right wing test, because the test is designed for the Democrats to fail. To buy in to their framing is to concede defeat.
Democrats/Progressives need to find a new way to frame the conversation and push journalists to end this gender identity coverage.
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Good God Cox
I can't believe this is the same person I used to love reading for her offbeat and blue take on politics (very critical of Republicans I might add). She's now just another Main Stream Muppet, totally in the tank.
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Glenn, nazilbaffer left this for you downstairs
In case you missed it. Michael Goldfarb over at the Weakly Blowhard
Torture Yoo Can Believe In
I haven't really been following this issue, mostly because I'm pretty sure that whatever the government is doing to these terrorists wouldn't "shock my conscience." Like my man Scalia says, sometimes you're going to have to take these terrorists and "smack them in the face." But, some folks are more easily shocked than I am, and they are in full moral outrage mode this morning with the release of a 2003 memo by John Yoo (now a professor at Berkeley!) approving "harsh interrogation techniques." Oh, the humanity!
Unfortunately, in a sad twist of fate, Andrew Sullivan has taken the week off, and so there will be no calls for a new Nuremberg trial featuring the prosecution of George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and everyone else Andrew doesn't agree with. But if you need your fix of self-righteous lefty demagoguery, Glenn Greenwald is a pretty good substitute with his post on "John Yoo's War Crimes."
http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2008/04/torture_yoo_can_believe_in.asp