Showing posts with label American Election. Show all posts
Showing posts with label American Election. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
A New Reality is Coming
A senior Republican Adviser to President George W. Bush was interviewed by Ron Suskind. This excerpt from Suskind's report tells us a great deal about the people and the mindset of the out-going American President and his administration. It also may be key to understanding why Americans will break the Republican hold on government tomorrow.
In the summer of 2002, after I had written an article in Esquire that the White House didn't like about Bush's former communications director, Karen Hughes, I had a meeting with a senior adviser to Bush. He expressed the White House's displeasure, and then he told me something that at the time I didn't fully comprehend -- but which I now believe gets to the very heart of the Bush presidency.
The aide said that guys like me were ''in what we call the reality-based community,'' which he defined as people who ''believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.'' I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. ''That's not the way the world really works anymore,'' he continued. ''We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.''
Excerpt from:
Faith, Certainty and the Presidency of George W. Bush
By RON SUSKIND
Published: October 17, 2004
Amazingly, this report explains so much about where we are on the eve of this election.
Why are we so hungry for change?
Why was a faith based know-nothing picked for VP?
Read this article and then vote.
If you're not American, read this article and then watch the election returns tomorrow. I promise it will make viewing more interesting.
The terms of political discussion in America have changed. The framing of political issues and American foreign policy are about to be re-modeled.
America's conservatives find themselves unable to persuade the populace with the language and ideology they have become addicted to.
Barack Obama is a master of modern political campaigning.
I read this article when it was first published and have seen it quoted and misquoted repeatedly. I post it here, in hopes that it will help make this touchstone bit of reporting on the George W. Bush Presidency more readily available.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Barack Obama 30 Minute Advert
More today from Tom Shales in the Washington Post Online
John McCain - Now with 50% More Negatives!
The big picture rhetoric of this campaign has been remarkably consistent.
Barack Obama has been driving his message of hope and change since the last Democratic Party Convention in 2004. He has been defining the political conversation in this country ever since.
He never surrendered this position against Hillary Clinton and he's forced the Republican Party off of it's own message so many times that it has had to re-tool it's campaign and relaunch it's strategy almost every week since August.
So on the day that Barack Obama stood on top of his winning position, John McCain tried to gain ground in typical fashion:
"Barack Obama's ideologically-driven plans to redistribute income will impose higher taxes on families, small businesses, and investors; expensive, rigid, job-killing health mandates on employers; energy policies that fail to promote domestic oil, natural gas, and coal, and will impose a massive Washington-driven regulation of everything from home furnaces to factories; isolationist trade policies that endanger one out of every five jobs; and massive new spending plans that that will burden the economy and saddle our children with debt. Barack Obama is change Americans cannot afford."
Does anybody else see that when McCain reflexively goes negative on his opponent he cuts his forward momentum in half? He has consistently reduced his ability to lead this election by actually presenting himself as an "alternative". Being alternative to the mainstream makes you number 2.
John McCain has falied to make this election about John McCain. He has made it a referendum on one issue:
Barack Obama for President, yes or no.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Choosing our Future President
The future is what this election is about. Here are a few thoughts about that.
If John McCain becomes president, he will take office at the age of 72. The oldest man to be elected president. His father and grandfather were distinguished US Navy admirals in WWII. John McCain himself served and did hard time in a POW camp in Viet Nam. That was a very long time ago. The America that greeted John McCain when he returned from Viet Nam must have seemed quite different from the country he left to serve. The Viet Nam war ended in 1975. Just think how different our world has become since then.
Now consider this:
If elected, Barack Obama will become our first post Cold War president.
He will be the first American President to mature in the the modern
post WWII/post Cold War era. That post war era may not have ended on Sept 11, 2001,
but a new era certainly began on that day and the fact that Barack Obama is not bound to the previous era but embarks in the new era is a decided plus. We can no more go back to calling on our post war success in this day and age than we can re-unite the Beatles.
I watched Senator Obama's speech, "A More Perfect Union" or, the "Race Speech" again last night online. If you have time, review John Kennedy's First Inaugural Address and see where Senator Obama's political roots are. Watch John Kennedy be the first President to address the people of the world live on television. His understanding and mastery of TV gave him command of the election and his message reached to the far corners of the world. (My first online search for a link to this speech hit on a Chinese server.) Senator Obama has internet skills John McCain doesn't even comprehend and Barack Obama already speaks to the world.
If he is elected, Barack Obama will be the first president who understands the internet the way Kennedy understood TV. He has built a solid campaign on the internet and has become the first candidate to figure out how to fully integrate his message across all new media.
If he is elected, Barack Obama will be the first African American president. He will be in the unique position of Rosa Parks and Jackie Robinson. Americans who responded to "no you can't" with "yes we can". And as such, he will be the first American president with the moral authority to face down the racist past of white America and the opportunistic bullying of soon to be irrelevant black nationalists.
If he is elected, Barack Obama will be the first modern liberal in America. He will be free from the cynical calculations of Democrats from the last generation. In a day when the word liberal no longer holds enough venom, and socialist or communist or anti American or terrorist must be used in it's stead, this will be no small victory for middle America.
If he is elected, he will be the first global citizen to be elected president.
James Garfield (1831 - Orange, Cayuhoga County, Ohio) was the last president to claim birth in a log cabin. Bu we've held fast to the myth of humble frontier beginnings ever since. Barack Obama has humble roots and humble beginnings that span America's modern frontier to the West - in the Pacific. Born in Hawaii and raised in Indonesia before coming to Kansas, Cambridge Massachusetts and finally Chicago Illinois. He has already seen the world Americans inhabit.
He will be the first visionary president since Reagan.
He will be the first "philosopher king" since Kennedy.
He will be the first president who sees the future in our time.
If John McCain becomes president, he will take office at the age of 72. The oldest man to be elected president. His father and grandfather were distinguished US Navy admirals in WWII. John McCain himself served and did hard time in a POW camp in Viet Nam. That was a very long time ago. The America that greeted John McCain when he returned from Viet Nam must have seemed quite different from the country he left to serve. The Viet Nam war ended in 1975. Just think how different our world has become since then.
Now consider this:
If elected, Barack Obama will become our first post Cold War president.
He will be the first American President to mature in the the modern
post WWII/post Cold War era. That post war era may not have ended on Sept 11, 2001,
but a new era certainly began on that day and the fact that Barack Obama is not bound to the previous era but embarks in the new era is a decided plus. We can no more go back to calling on our post war success in this day and age than we can re-unite the Beatles.
I watched Senator Obama's speech, "A More Perfect Union" or, the "Race Speech" again last night online. If you have time, review John Kennedy's First Inaugural Address and see where Senator Obama's political roots are. Watch John Kennedy be the first President to address the people of the world live on television. His understanding and mastery of TV gave him command of the election and his message reached to the far corners of the world. (My first online search for a link to this speech hit on a Chinese server.) Senator Obama has internet skills John McCain doesn't even comprehend and Barack Obama already speaks to the world.
If he is elected, Barack Obama will be the first president who understands the internet the way Kennedy understood TV. He has built a solid campaign on the internet and has become the first candidate to figure out how to fully integrate his message across all new media.
If he is elected, Barack Obama will be the first African American president. He will be in the unique position of Rosa Parks and Jackie Robinson. Americans who responded to "no you can't" with "yes we can". And as such, he will be the first American president with the moral authority to face down the racist past of white America and the opportunistic bullying of soon to be irrelevant black nationalists.
If he is elected, Barack Obama will be the first modern liberal in America. He will be free from the cynical calculations of Democrats from the last generation. In a day when the word liberal no longer holds enough venom, and socialist or communist or anti American or terrorist must be used in it's stead, this will be no small victory for middle America.
If he is elected, he will be the first global citizen to be elected president.
James Garfield (1831 - Orange, Cayuhoga County, Ohio) was the last president to claim birth in a log cabin. Bu we've held fast to the myth of humble frontier beginnings ever since. Barack Obama has humble roots and humble beginnings that span America's modern frontier to the West - in the Pacific. Born in Hawaii and raised in Indonesia before coming to Kansas, Cambridge Massachusetts and finally Chicago Illinois. He has already seen the world Americans inhabit.
He will be the first visionary president since Reagan.
He will be the first "philosopher king" since Kennedy.
He will be the first president who sees the future in our time.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Desperate but not Serious
I've kept off of politics for a while.
Mainly because I just burned out on the topic.
Call it fatigue.
But a quick re-set might be in order.
It seems the closer Obama gets to claiming victory, the more we all have to wonder about the potential for self destructive behavior among Clinton Democrats who swear, as God is their witness, that they'll never EVER vote for that...that...MAN!
Losing is hard. But losing a close race that meant something very special to many people is apparently much harder.
Senator Clinton voted for the war in Iraq. That is the crucial reason I reject her candidacy for President. Her twisted argument that votes in Florida and Michigan must count is another symptom of her problem.
Hillary Clinton has shown that she will do anything to win - except tell the truth.
She is still not desperate enough to candidly explain that she wants Florida and Michigan to count against Senator Obama so that she can justify her fight to win support within the party establishment. She is in "go for broke" mode to win the White House. Nobody really thinks this is about voter rights which she happily signed away before the primaries.
Clearly, somebody or something has got to take the blame for her defeat.
The usual suspects are already being rounded up.
Mainly because I just burned out on the topic.
Call it fatigue.
But a quick re-set might be in order.
It seems the closer Obama gets to claiming victory, the more we all have to wonder about the potential for self destructive behavior among Clinton Democrats who swear, as God is their witness, that they'll never EVER vote for that...that...MAN!
Losing is hard. But losing a close race that meant something very special to many people is apparently much harder.
Senator Clinton voted for the war in Iraq. That is the crucial reason I reject her candidacy for President. Her twisted argument that votes in Florida and Michigan must count is another symptom of her problem.
Hillary Clinton has shown that she will do anything to win - except tell the truth.
She is still not desperate enough to candidly explain that she wants Florida and Michigan to count against Senator Obama so that she can justify her fight to win support within the party establishment. She is in "go for broke" mode to win the White House. Nobody really thinks this is about voter rights which she happily signed away before the primaries.
Clearly, somebody or something has got to take the blame for her defeat.
The usual suspects are already being rounded up.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Greetings From Canada
First things first. I'm currently blogging from Prince Edward Island, Canada. A place few in the western US have heard of. PEI is the smallest province in Canada and it casually lounges off the East Coast across from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. (Think Maine and go north east.)
I'm four time zones east of LA and one time zone east of New York. I don't have a TV. Just dial up internet and the CBC radio (think NPR). I also have the the local weekly newspaper (The Eastern Graphic)which doesn't have much good to say about the prospects for the island's principle industries of fishing, farming, tourism and the Liberal Provincial Government.
Why am I here? Check the Dunn Creek Farm blog. I'll be updating that after scribbling some notes on Canada and the US election.
* * * * *
CANADA'S ELECTION COVERAGE
Coming here has made me realize just how thoroughly the media in the States have sucked the air out of the room by hyperventilating over the minutia of this election.
Wow, I can breathe again! No talk radio. No 24 hour spin channels, just news summaries on the hour and a full half hour national news broadcast at 6:00 PM.
I woke at 6 this morning to the news that Obama had crushed Clinton in North Carolina and that she had barely won a squeaker in the early hours in Indiana.
CBC had a no nonsense, "just the facts" report with some sound bites that
told me what I needed to know. Obama sounded jubilant while Clinton said, "He wins one then I win one - this election is so close!" Yeah. Except that it isn't.
To Canadians who don't live in our media bubble but are very much interested in the election there is really only one issue. The Bush Presidency is nearly over.
The locals here (think white, working class) are surprised that America has been effectively supporting a black guy named Barack Hussein Obama over Hillary Clinton. One gets the feeling that this shouldn't be possible in the America they know so much about. "Can he win?" I was asked. "He's winning." I said.
* * * * *
HILLARY - THE GIBBERISH IS WEARING THIN
From what little I've been able to see here, the facts already on the table are making it clear that time is running out for the plucky little non-elitest, "just like you" former First Lady and independently wealthy Senator from New York.
After news that she "lent" herself another 9 million dollars of her egg money to stay in the race (how's that feel Chelsea?) she keeps stumping for the no-win issue of Michigan and Florida and contrary delegate math that says she ought to invest in a hedge fund and get back to work in the Senate.
I can't help but gloat a bit that the candidate which smeared Obama as elitist decided she could afford to write a 9 million dollar personal check to the campaign. How'd that turn out for Mitt Romney?
Obama has now erased her delegate gain in PA, increased his popular vote margin, won another state and keeps raising more money with an effective organization. What's left for her to show us? A graceful concession would be nice.
I'm four time zones east of LA and one time zone east of New York. I don't have a TV. Just dial up internet and the CBC radio (think NPR). I also have the the local weekly newspaper (The Eastern Graphic)which doesn't have much good to say about the prospects for the island's principle industries of fishing, farming, tourism and the Liberal Provincial Government.
Why am I here? Check the Dunn Creek Farm blog. I'll be updating that after scribbling some notes on Canada and the US election.
* * * * *
CANADA'S ELECTION COVERAGE
Coming here has made me realize just how thoroughly the media in the States have sucked the air out of the room by hyperventilating over the minutia of this election.
Wow, I can breathe again! No talk radio. No 24 hour spin channels, just news summaries on the hour and a full half hour national news broadcast at 6:00 PM.
I woke at 6 this morning to the news that Obama had crushed Clinton in North Carolina and that she had barely won a squeaker in the early hours in Indiana.
CBC had a no nonsense, "just the facts" report with some sound bites that
told me what I needed to know. Obama sounded jubilant while Clinton said, "He wins one then I win one - this election is so close!" Yeah. Except that it isn't.
To Canadians who don't live in our media bubble but are very much interested in the election there is really only one issue. The Bush Presidency is nearly over.
The locals here (think white, working class) are surprised that America has been effectively supporting a black guy named Barack Hussein Obama over Hillary Clinton. One gets the feeling that this shouldn't be possible in the America they know so much about. "Can he win?" I was asked. "He's winning." I said.
* * * * *
HILLARY - THE GIBBERISH IS WEARING THIN
From what little I've been able to see here, the facts already on the table are making it clear that time is running out for the plucky little non-elitest, "just like you" former First Lady and independently wealthy Senator from New York.
After news that she "lent" herself another 9 million dollars of her egg money to stay in the race (how's that feel Chelsea?) she keeps stumping for the no-win issue of Michigan and Florida and contrary delegate math that says she ought to invest in a hedge fund and get back to work in the Senate.
I can't help but gloat a bit that the candidate which smeared Obama as elitist decided she could afford to write a 9 million dollar personal check to the campaign. How'd that turn out for Mitt Romney?
Obama has now erased her delegate gain in PA, increased his popular vote margin, won another state and keeps raising more money with an effective organization. What's left for her to show us? A graceful concession would be nice.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Screw it - I'm Moving to Canada
Yes friends, I am moving the blog to Canada.
Why? Because I can. And because free health care and cheap lobster sound good to me.
Also because I own an organic farm on Prince Edward Island and it's time for spring planting. So I'll be packing up the studio gear in California and heading for the Great White North.
Yes, Canada. The other first world North American Democracy that doesn't care what Stephen Harper says. Harper decided to become a Bush Conservative as Bush himself hit a new low in approval ratings.
So I'll pick up the blog in a few days - when I have a chance to hear what CBC Radio 1 has to say about American politics. That ought to be pretty good reading here.
And before you feel all cocky about being home in the States while I plant produce in the north...Canada owns more oil and natural gas than almost anybody. That means my farm is valued in petro dollars while your So Cal condo withers in a market so depleted that your hourly wage hovers just above third world status.
It's not like I'm going to get rich growing organic produce. But I will have plenty of cheap food to eat this summer. And as soon as global warming makes it possible to grow wine grapes, citrus and palm trees, or somebody decides to start another global war, I'm gone for good!
Why? Because I can. And because free health care and cheap lobster sound good to me.
Also because I own an organic farm on Prince Edward Island and it's time for spring planting. So I'll be packing up the studio gear in California and heading for the Great White North.
Yes, Canada. The other first world North American Democracy that doesn't care what Stephen Harper says. Harper decided to become a Bush Conservative as Bush himself hit a new low in approval ratings.
So I'll pick up the blog in a few days - when I have a chance to hear what CBC Radio 1 has to say about American politics. That ought to be pretty good reading here.
And before you feel all cocky about being home in the States while I plant produce in the north...Canada owns more oil and natural gas than almost anybody. That means my farm is valued in petro dollars while your So Cal condo withers in a market so depleted that your hourly wage hovers just above third world status.
It's not like I'm going to get rich growing organic produce. But I will have plenty of cheap food to eat this summer. And as soon as global warming makes it possible to grow wine grapes, citrus and palm trees, or somebody decides to start another global war, I'm gone for good!
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Wright: No Longer Preaching to the Choir
I saw Rev. Wright on Bill Moyer's Journal.
I heard excerpts from his following remarks to the Press Club.
The man is currently a fish with no water. In his church he could howl out a fiery sermon, call for an AMEN - and get it every time. Now removed from his pulpit he stands at the national podium. And the AMENS aren't coming from mainstream Americans who aren't used to getting on their feet and shouting out in church. In the public forum, we're conditioned to watch passively as media delivers his message. Then we turn to one another and say, "Oh dear."
* * * *
Obama Checked.
The white queen is in play and Obama finds he must sacrifice his black bishop.
This isn't good. He has lost the offense and is losing on defense.
* * * *
The Conservative Double Standard
Remember Ted Haggrd?
You should remember him:
"President of the National Association of Evangelicals"? Can we talk about the white church?
This guy even had access to President Bush and White House Policy Decisions:
Judicial appointments and STEEL TARRIFFS? Do YOU see anything wrong with this picture?
I'm sure Haggard wore his flag lapel pin and never said, "God Damn America"
He just repeatedly hired a male prostitute and did meth.
One of these preachers ought to cost somebody an election. Kind of odd that it won't be the white guy. I guess it's because he's a good American.
* * * *
UPDATE 4/30/08
John Nichols absolutely nails it in The Nation:
Wright, Jefferson and the Wrath of God
I heard excerpts from his following remarks to the Press Club.
The man is currently a fish with no water. In his church he could howl out a fiery sermon, call for an AMEN - and get it every time. Now removed from his pulpit he stands at the national podium. And the AMENS aren't coming from mainstream Americans who aren't used to getting on their feet and shouting out in church. In the public forum, we're conditioned to watch passively as media delivers his message. Then we turn to one another and say, "Oh dear."
* * * *
Obama Checked.
The white queen is in play and Obama finds he must sacrifice his black bishop.
This isn't good. He has lost the offense and is losing on defense.
* * * *
The Conservative Double Standard
Remember Ted Haggrd?
You should remember him:
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The megachurch founded by Pastor Ted Haggard said Tuesday he has prematurely ended a "spiritual restoration" process begun when he was fired for sexual misconduct.
Haggard was fired from New Life Church and resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals in November 2006 after a former male prostitute alleged they had a cash-for-sex relationship. The man also said he saw Haggard use methamphetamine. (Fox News)
"President of the National Association of Evangelicals"? Can we talk about the white church?
This guy even had access to President Bush and White House Policy Decisions:
WASHINGTON - As president of the National Association of Evangelicals, the Rev. Ted Haggard has advised the White House on issues ranging from judicial appointments to steel tariffs.
But he also sought to widen the agenda of Christian evangelicals into areas the Bush administration - and many of his Christian brethren - would rather avoid.
Haggard resigned as president of the association, which says it represents about 30 million evangelical church members, and took a leave as senior pastor of the 14,000-member New Life Church in Colorado Springs amid allegations that he paid a gay former escort for sex and drugs.
Although he had been active in lobbying for conservative Christian causes before, Haggard's profile rose after he became head of the NAE early in 2003.
He made frequent visits to the White House and was included in a select group of religious leaders briefed on the administration's agenda during a weekly teleconference with White House staff, a session meant to "feel the evangelical pulse," he's said.
"We have direct access (to the White House)," Haggard told a Wall Street Journal reporter shortly before the last presidential election, adding that he could take a concern to the president through staff and get a response within 24 hours. - Rocky Mountain News
Judicial appointments and STEEL TARRIFFS? Do YOU see anything wrong with this picture?
I'm sure Haggard wore his flag lapel pin and never said, "God Damn America"
He just repeatedly hired a male prostitute and did meth.
One of these preachers ought to cost somebody an election. Kind of odd that it won't be the white guy. I guess it's because he's a good American.
* * * *
UPDATE 4/30/08
John Nichols absolutely nails it in The Nation:
Wright, Jefferson and the Wrath of God
In more ways than Republican and now Democratic critics seem prepared to admit, Wright is the embodiment of an American religious and political tradition of challenging the country's sins while calling it to the higher ground that extends from the founding of the republic. No less a figure than Thomas Jefferson -- who constructed that wall of separation between church and state but who worried a good deal about questions of the divine -- worried openly about the retribution that would befall a nation that permitted slavery.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Losing The Clinton Legacy
The truth is that Hillary Clinton is a good candidate.
The truth is that Hillary Clinton wouldn't be running for President if her husband had not been President.
The truth is that the latest kerfuffle isn't about small town America or what Obama meant to say about the voters of PA.
This whole skirmish is about the shot Senator Obama took at Bill Clinton.
Did you get that?
This is all about the legacy of Bill Clinton.
Barack Obama is set to cast a long shadow over President Clinton as a leader American Democrats revere. And that leaves Bill Clinton forever defined as a less important figure who was impeached for getting a blow job in the Oval office.
By saying that rural America has been skidding into despair for 25 years Senator Obama erased the Clinton Presidency.
The greatest gamble for the Clinton's isn't just losing an election. At stake here is nothing less than the Clinton legacy. It's now becoming clear how high the cost of staying in and losing the race may be for the Clintons.
UPDATE:
Maureen Dowd makes this same point really well in an April 13 column of the NYT
UPDATE: 4/14/08 6:48 PDT
Karl Rove created the strategy of "God,Guns and Gays" he used it to bring out the evangelical vote in 2004.
The truth is that Hillary Clinton wouldn't be running for President if her husband had not been President.
The truth is that the latest kerfuffle isn't about small town America or what Obama meant to say about the voters of PA.
This whole skirmish is about the shot Senator Obama took at Bill Clinton.
Did you get that?
This is all about the legacy of Bill Clinton.
Barack Obama is set to cast a long shadow over President Clinton as a leader American Democrats revere. And that leaves Bill Clinton forever defined as a less important figure who was impeached for getting a blow job in the Oval office.
By saying that rural America has been skidding into despair for 25 years Senator Obama erased the Clinton Presidency.
The greatest gamble for the Clinton's isn't just losing an election. At stake here is nothing less than the Clinton legacy. It's now becoming clear how high the cost of staying in and losing the race may be for the Clintons.
UPDATE:
Maureen Dowd makes this same point really well in an April 13 column of the NYT
UPDATE: 4/14/08 6:48 PDT
Karl Rove created the strategy of "God,Guns and Gays" he used it to bring out the evangelical vote in 2004.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Words Mean Things
Oh, who can forget Hillary Clinton alleging that Senator Obama had nothing to offer but words.
And I seem to remember predicting that certain Conservative radio voices would trip over their tongues and be unable to negotiate the rapids of race in the political stream of consciousness that is American talk radio.
Well, I was surprised to notice this week that the first casualty on the talk radio front wasn't one of the Conservatives, but one of the loudest voices on the Left.
Randi Rhodes has left Air America over remarks she made at an affiliate event in San Francisco. Oh, the irony. Air America - prescribed antidote to the controlled message of Corporate media did the corporate thing and gagged it's most popular talker for being offensive. And after they checked with attorneys who defined the word exposure and the word slander, they did the mental math that says: exposure plus slander plus offensive equals suspended.
So she quit.
Now, I don't know what the Clinton campaign said or did. But Hillary Clinton is a lawyer. She knows lawyers. Lawyers know how to fire off threatening letters like my kids know how to mess up the house. It comes with the job. So let's assume there were words between the campaign and Air America about the words used by Randi Rhodes.
I know I once said some things I shouldn't have about an ex-girlfriend and I said them on an afternoon radio show when I was a top 40 DJ. I didn't call her a whore...exactly...and I didn't mention her name. But I wasn't prudent or kind.
And if she ever finds this post I hereby offer my apologies and I beg her pardon.
On the day I made my remarks I found out I that I had threatened my job and my employer. Her new boyfriend showed up to defend her honor. Jim Ranger was an old school broadcaster; a Reagan Conservative who built his broadcasting business as a local owner. He sat in his private office and listened to the story he was told by the offended party and promised the man he would deal with it. The plaintiff continued hotly and at one point made a legal threat - at which point he was shown the door and loudly told to get lost.
Later I heard a few quiet words from Jim explaining that what I had done was wrong. He told me it was wrong because my career, my interests, the interests of the business he owned and the community we served were bigger than whatever I thought I needed to say about one woman. A little self control - in my own interest - was all he asked me for. And we never spoke of it again.
Aside from the fact that Air America has made a lot of rookie mistakes and has indulged itself in plenty of poor programming choices made by people who aren't career broadcasters, it has now made the huge mistake of not standing up for it's flagship talent in public. They sacrificed their credibility and the ability of other hosts to continue to speak freely. Why? Because somebody lost their nerve.
National talk radio is hardball. Trash talk is part of the game. Talk radio will continue. But Air America has again proven that it isn't ready for the major leagues.
And Randi? To quote Good Morning Viet Nam, "You're mean. And this is just radio."
And I seem to remember predicting that certain Conservative radio voices would trip over their tongues and be unable to negotiate the rapids of race in the political stream of consciousness that is American talk radio.
Well, I was surprised to notice this week that the first casualty on the talk radio front wasn't one of the Conservatives, but one of the loudest voices on the Left.
Randi Rhodes has left Air America over remarks she made at an affiliate event in San Francisco. Oh, the irony. Air America - prescribed antidote to the controlled message of Corporate media did the corporate thing and gagged it's most popular talker for being offensive. And after they checked with attorneys who defined the word exposure and the word slander, they did the mental math that says: exposure plus slander plus offensive equals suspended.
So she quit.
Now, I don't know what the Clinton campaign said or did. But Hillary Clinton is a lawyer. She knows lawyers. Lawyers know how to fire off threatening letters like my kids know how to mess up the house. It comes with the job. So let's assume there were words between the campaign and Air America about the words used by Randi Rhodes.
I know I once said some things I shouldn't have about an ex-girlfriend and I said them on an afternoon radio show when I was a top 40 DJ. I didn't call her a whore...exactly...and I didn't mention her name. But I wasn't prudent or kind.
And if she ever finds this post I hereby offer my apologies and I beg her pardon.
On the day I made my remarks I found out I that I had threatened my job and my employer. Her new boyfriend showed up to defend her honor. Jim Ranger was an old school broadcaster; a Reagan Conservative who built his broadcasting business as a local owner. He sat in his private office and listened to the story he was told by the offended party and promised the man he would deal with it. The plaintiff continued hotly and at one point made a legal threat - at which point he was shown the door and loudly told to get lost.
Later I heard a few quiet words from Jim explaining that what I had done was wrong. He told me it was wrong because my career, my interests, the interests of the business he owned and the community we served were bigger than whatever I thought I needed to say about one woman. A little self control - in my own interest - was all he asked me for. And we never spoke of it again.
Aside from the fact that Air America has made a lot of rookie mistakes and has indulged itself in plenty of poor programming choices made by people who aren't career broadcasters, it has now made the huge mistake of not standing up for it's flagship talent in public. They sacrificed their credibility and the ability of other hosts to continue to speak freely. Why? Because somebody lost their nerve.
National talk radio is hardball. Trash talk is part of the game. Talk radio will continue. But Air America has again proven that it isn't ready for the major leagues.
And Randi? To quote Good Morning Viet Nam, "You're mean. And this is just radio."
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Reconstruction - Est. April 9, 1865
Today is the Fifth Anniversary of the Fall of Baghdad to US troops. I just heard that on Fox News Radio. I noticed they didn't bother to cloak it either. The days of referring to "coalition forces" are long gone. Just think, we could have declared victory and left Iraq on April 10th, 2003.
Today is also the date of General Robert E. Lee's surrender to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, VA.
April 9th, 1865 was Palm Sunday. The Federal Government declared victory and then left all of our people to negotiate what victory meant for the next 150 years.
It's easy to forget that Federal occupation and martial law lasted until 1876 in some southern states. The war ended with no real plan for economic rebuilding of the south (although private capital "investment" from the North was seen as a solution) and there was no Federal plan for freed slaves except - KEEP 'EM IN THE SOUTH!
April 9th was not really the end of the Civil War. More accurately it was only the beginning of Re-construction and the evidence says we're not done yet. The closing military act in our Civil War was not only the first surrender of an American Army, it is an event that is connected to us by parallel lines of American ideology and culture that compete for control of the country to this day.
A huge emptiness - a vacuum - was created by the collapse of slavery and the south.
In Iraq, we've tried to launch Re-construction DURING a civil war. And when we leave, we will leave a new vacuum in a region full of conflict and violence. So how will we leave? How long will re-construction take in Iraq? How will it be accomplished?
This is a huge topic that I think bears directly on the assumptions people have about this war and this election. I hope to explore this more as time allows in future. But I'm in no hurry. This topic will be alive for another 100 years.
But let me close with these thoughts about our country. The difficulty for America isn't just race, it is culture. Obama isn't just Black, he's a Yankee. But if he is able to win the popular vote across most of the states in November it could finally be said that our Civil War is over.
The issues of race, politics and culture will be forever changed.
Today is also the date of General Robert E. Lee's surrender to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, VA.
April 9th, 1865 was Palm Sunday. The Federal Government declared victory and then left all of our people to negotiate what victory meant for the next 150 years.
It's easy to forget that Federal occupation and martial law lasted until 1876 in some southern states. The war ended with no real plan for economic rebuilding of the south (although private capital "investment" from the North was seen as a solution) and there was no Federal plan for freed slaves except - KEEP 'EM IN THE SOUTH!
April 9th was not really the end of the Civil War. More accurately it was only the beginning of Re-construction and the evidence says we're not done yet. The closing military act in our Civil War was not only the first surrender of an American Army, it is an event that is connected to us by parallel lines of American ideology and culture that compete for control of the country to this day.
A huge emptiness - a vacuum - was created by the collapse of slavery and the south.
In Iraq, we've tried to launch Re-construction DURING a civil war. And when we leave, we will leave a new vacuum in a region full of conflict and violence. So how will we leave? How long will re-construction take in Iraq? How will it be accomplished?
This is a huge topic that I think bears directly on the assumptions people have about this war and this election. I hope to explore this more as time allows in future. But I'm in no hurry. This topic will be alive for another 100 years.
But let me close with these thoughts about our country. The difficulty for America isn't just race, it is culture. Obama isn't just Black, he's a Yankee. But if he is able to win the popular vote across most of the states in November it could finally be said that our Civil War is over.
The issues of race, politics and culture will be forever changed.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Poison Penn
Washington Post: Clinton's Chief Strategist Steps Down
"Moneyball" only works if you study the right metrics and the game remains static.
For a Moneyball campaigner like Penn, humanity is only a metric and his combative style blew out the good work Candidate Clinton did to humanize herself in debates with Obama.
The Post comment that he kept running toward the general election proves what I've believed; that Clinton has been running to the right instead of running to win the Democratic base. Penn is THE reason the party is split.
I worked in a ratings driven business for years and I learned a lot about reading surveys - the polling data of the commercial market. I also remember being pounded by consultants with numbers that "proved" things I knew were at best unprovable and at worst, dead wrong. In general terms, these statistics are impossible to argue with. So the executives smile and nod and you got automated radio stations programmed by people a thousand miles from your home.
Oh, the Humanity? I don't see any relevant numbers on that.
When he signed up with Hillary Clinton as chief strategist, some Democrats were concerned about his relatively hawkish views on foreign policy -- he is staunchly pro-Israel and centrist -- and his tendency to keep an eye toward the general election rather than on the primaries.
Penn, a sometimes rumpled and often argumentative figure, struggled from the start with the awkward management structure of the Clinton campaign. Tensions escalated with each of her defeats: Some complained that he was too data-driven and obstinate, and he was blamed for the failure to "humanize" the candidate in the early days of the race.
"Moneyball" only works if you study the right metrics and the game remains static.
For a Moneyball campaigner like Penn, humanity is only a metric and his combative style blew out the good work Candidate Clinton did to humanize herself in debates with Obama.
The Post comment that he kept running toward the general election proves what I've believed; that Clinton has been running to the right instead of running to win the Democratic base. Penn is THE reason the party is split.
I worked in a ratings driven business for years and I learned a lot about reading surveys - the polling data of the commercial market. I also remember being pounded by consultants with numbers that "proved" things I knew were at best unprovable and at worst, dead wrong. In general terms, these statistics are impossible to argue with. So the executives smile and nod and you got automated radio stations programmed by people a thousand miles from your home.
Oh, the Humanity? I don't see any relevant numbers on that.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Rush Pounds The Table
“When the law is against you, pound the facts, when the facts are against you, pound the law, and when they’re both against you, pound the table”.
Rush Limbaugh isn't working for John McCain for President.
He's working against any liberal (including John McCain) for President.
RUSH: I'll admit it. I don't know what the hell McCain is saying, other than he's spouting some liberal stuff in this speech at Annapolis today about the haves and have-nots. I agree with all that. But I will say this: If he's going to lecture the American people about who they need to be, he might be just a little bit off the mark. Let him attack the liberals (which he won't do). Let him attack the bureaucrats (which he won't do). Let him attack the judges (which he won't do). But the American people, generally, are the people who make the country work. It's sort of way off to start criticizing the American people in general. Look, I will admit I'm confused. If he can't give a speech where we can understand what he's saying, then it isn't a very good speech.
I know that emotion. I voted against George Bush.
Conservatives are stuck with a weak candidate and there's nothing to do but pound the table.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
We'll Know... When They Know
I'm not in any hurry to see the primary run end.
It's been useful for a lot of reasons. We've already had a good look at who the candidates are and the Democrats have the best chance in years to pick a winner.
I'll bet you that Obama raised 10 million dollars more than Clinton in March.
The 20 point polling gap that showed Clinton thumping Obama in PA is closing fast. I read minutes ago that she is still leading. The story is that Obama is still gaining.
That 10 point shift leaves a lot less daylight to run for in terms of delegates, in terms of fundraising and in terms popular vote margins. She currently leads in none of those categories and the polling says she's loosing momentum.
I'll bet the news that the Texas delegates are all counted and Obama got more didn't help.
I'll bet her campaign already knows what will happen.
The superdelegates won't have to make their pick if the polls keep moving at the same speed. It'll be a statistical tie by race day (you should excuse all that implies) and that won't get it done for her by any measure.
The money will dry up.
The calls to drop out will get louder
And a North Carolina stomping will end it.
If you think this has been ugly...you ain't seen nothing yet.
It's been useful for a lot of reasons. We've already had a good look at who the candidates are and the Democrats have the best chance in years to pick a winner.
I'll bet you that Obama raised 10 million dollars more than Clinton in March.
The 20 point polling gap that showed Clinton thumping Obama in PA is closing fast. I read minutes ago that she is still leading. The story is that Obama is still gaining.
That 10 point shift leaves a lot less daylight to run for in terms of delegates, in terms of fundraising and in terms popular vote margins. She currently leads in none of those categories and the polling says she's loosing momentum.
I'll bet the news that the Texas delegates are all counted and Obama got more didn't help.
I'll bet her campaign already knows what will happen.
The superdelegates won't have to make their pick if the polls keep moving at the same speed. It'll be a statistical tie by race day (you should excuse all that implies) and that won't get it done for her by any measure.
The money will dry up.
The calls to drop out will get louder
And a North Carolina stomping will end it.
If you think this has been ugly...you ain't seen nothing yet.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Race in the Context of America
When I started to blog on the rhetoric of this campaign I had no idea who I might "meet" or find as an inspiration or reliable source.
I had no idea that Barrack Obama would be leading us into a national discussion on race. In fact, I could easily spend the next few minutes writing my conviction that Barack Obama is already leading this country and that the election is the formal means of confirming that we know who our leader is.
But rather than read my take, I invite you to read what contributor Ray McInnis has collected for your review:
Taken together, in the last few days we have witnessed an assemblage of statements about the wright affair that puts black religion into a historical context that -- for me at least -- is long overdue.
for example here is a link to a bacgrounder about wright et al in the latimes and, below that, another link from nyrb:
The Los Angeles Times does something many Obama supporters have been asking the media to do for weeks: put Rev. Wright in some context. "Examining the full content of Wright's sermons and delivery style yields a far more complex message, though one that some will still find objectionable. For more than 30 years, Wright walked churchgoers every Sunday along a winding road from rage to reconciliation, employing a style that validated both. 'He's voicing a reality that those people experience six days a week,' said the Rev. Dwight Hopkins, a professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School and a Trinity member. 'In that sense, he's saying they're not insane. That helps them to function the other six days of the week.'"
the pasted extract below, for example, comes from a piece by elizabeth drew in nyrb: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/21231
... Right on top of the Ferraro episode came—not coincidentally, some observers think—the release on television of some particularly inflammatory statements by Obama's pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright—"No, no, no. Not God bless America. God damn America." Such preaching is not uncommon in black churches and Wright's is milder than some others. That Obama attended Wright's church—the biggest and most influential black church in Chicago, a church that had done a lot of civic good—does not at all signify that he shared these particular pastoral views. Obama has had no part in the angry-black world. The controversy over Wright was not a new issue, and Obama had dropped him from giving the convocation speech at his announcement that he was running for president....
Also, folks, Drew's piece, is the best "quick and dirty" summary of the events associated recently with the jockeying between obama and hillary throughout the campaign. Drew writes as an "inside-the-beltway" washington dc resident, but at heart she's like the rest of us, passionate about getting behind obama so that we can get some real change in DC.
This week, Obama seems to have his groove back -- in everything except bowling -- and while some calcified conservatives are determined to get traction out of the wright imbroglio, American voters have concluded that Obama is not infected by his association with what is considered wright's inflammatory rhetoric
funny how -- in life -- events taken unusual turns, often emerging in the opposite direction that was intended.
after typing out the sentence above i began searching for historical parallels,to prove my point, but one doesn't readily come to mind. examples are out there, though
however, check this out:
in the 1940s, when governor of CA, earl warren, approved the enforcement of executive order 9066, in 1942 -- the order that interned the japanese on the west coast, because it was feared that they would assist the japanese war effort against the US -- it was held that he was merely behaving like a conservative.
later, after eisenhower appointed warren chief justice, warren made it his historical destiny to have the supreme court approve "brown vs board of education" in 1954, which out-lawed segregation in schools.
consider the spectacle of, over a short decade, 1942 to 1952, someone going from predictable conservative to "over-active liberal", and thus become detested by conservatives
(historically, it is well-known that eisenhower made a deal with warren, who was himself consider a run for president: "if you don't run, I'll appoint you to the first vacant seat on the supreme court", eisenhower told warren. later, though eisenhower lamented about the appointment: "worst damn mistake i ever made in my life!".)
its is one of my unfilled intentions to check out a warren bio and find out more about this conservative's change of heart, but so far never have
I had no idea that Barrack Obama would be leading us into a national discussion on race. In fact, I could easily spend the next few minutes writing my conviction that Barack Obama is already leading this country and that the election is the formal means of confirming that we know who our leader is.
But rather than read my take, I invite you to read what contributor Ray McInnis has collected for your review:
Taken together, in the last few days we have witnessed an assemblage of statements about the wright affair that puts black religion into a historical context that -- for me at least -- is long overdue.
for example here is a link to a bacgrounder about wright et al in the latimes and, below that, another link from nyrb:
The Los Angeles Times does something many Obama supporters have been asking the media to do for weeks: put Rev. Wright in some context. "Examining the full content of Wright's sermons and delivery style yields a far more complex message, though one that some will still find objectionable. For more than 30 years, Wright walked churchgoers every Sunday along a winding road from rage to reconciliation, employing a style that validated both. 'He's voicing a reality that those people experience six days a week,' said the Rev. Dwight Hopkins, a professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School and a Trinity member. 'In that sense, he's saying they're not insane. That helps them to function the other six days of the week.'"
the pasted extract below, for example, comes from a piece by elizabeth drew in nyrb: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/21231
... Right on top of the Ferraro episode came—not coincidentally, some observers think—the release on television of some particularly inflammatory statements by Obama's pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright—"No, no, no. Not God bless America. God damn America." Such preaching is not uncommon in black churches and Wright's is milder than some others. That Obama attended Wright's church—the biggest and most influential black church in Chicago, a church that had done a lot of civic good—does not at all signify that he shared these particular pastoral views. Obama has had no part in the angry-black world. The controversy over Wright was not a new issue, and Obama had dropped him from giving the convocation speech at his announcement that he was running for president....
Also, folks, Drew's piece, is the best "quick and dirty" summary of the events associated recently with the jockeying between obama and hillary throughout the campaign. Drew writes as an "inside-the-beltway" washington dc resident, but at heart she's like the rest of us, passionate about getting behind obama so that we can get some real change in DC.
This week, Obama seems to have his groove back -- in everything except bowling -- and while some calcified conservatives are determined to get traction out of the wright imbroglio, American voters have concluded that Obama is not infected by his association with what is considered wright's inflammatory rhetoric
funny how -- in life -- events taken unusual turns, often emerging in the opposite direction that was intended.
after typing out the sentence above i began searching for historical parallels,to prove my point, but one doesn't readily come to mind. examples are out there, though
however, check this out:
in the 1940s, when governor of CA, earl warren, approved the enforcement of executive order 9066, in 1942 -- the order that interned the japanese on the west coast, because it was feared that they would assist the japanese war effort against the US -- it was held that he was merely behaving like a conservative.
later, after eisenhower appointed warren chief justice, warren made it his historical destiny to have the supreme court approve "brown vs board of education" in 1954, which out-lawed segregation in schools.
consider the spectacle of, over a short decade, 1942 to 1952, someone going from predictable conservative to "over-active liberal", and thus become detested by conservatives
(historically, it is well-known that eisenhower made a deal with warren, who was himself consider a run for president: "if you don't run, I'll appoint you to the first vacant seat on the supreme court", eisenhower told warren. later, though eisenhower lamented about the appointment: "worst damn mistake i ever made in my life!".)
its is one of my unfilled intentions to check out a warren bio and find out more about this conservative's change of heart, but so far never have
Monday, March 31, 2008
When They Give Up, We'll Stand In
Interesting news from Iraq...
Excerpted from this story in the Christian Science Monitor.
There ya go. A surge that works for BOTH sides! The Diem government of South Viet Nam couldn't have handled it any better.
I wonder how tempting it is for John McCain to think that he's the guy who can re-fight his war and FINALLY get it right. That's a pretty sad thought really. This is a man who's defining moment in life involves bailing out during a combat mission to face injury, capture, and torture. Don't tell me he doesn't still wake up screaming. I still freakin' dream I'm a DJ.
How tempting will it be for Senator McCain to use our army in Iraq to exorcise his personal demons? How tempting will it be for him to believe that he can finally redeem what was lost at such a painful price?
GOOGLE THIS!
I use Google Analytics to monitor traffic on this blog. It's free and it easy to use. Thanks again to those 1000 or so who have visited in the last few weeks, especially including our friends in the UK, Canada, the EU and Australia/NZ for stopping in. You're welcome to comment on the election and add your prospective.
Contributor Ray McInnis Adds:
YouTube reveals video analytics tool for all users
News release: "...we're releasing YouTube Insight, a free tool that enables anyone with a YouTube account to view detailed statistics about the videos that they upload to the site. (You can see this...announcement on the Google blog and on the YouTube blog...) This tool will help anyone who uploads videos to YouTube better understand and serve their audiences. For example, users might use Insight to tailor upload strategies to increase their videos' view counts and improve their popularity on the site. And partners who increase their videos' popularity also increase the number of monetizable views their videos get, and as a result, generate more revenue."
Topic(s): E-Commerce, Blogs, Search Engines
Today's blogging included a post on my other blog site:
Dunn Creek Organic Farm PEI, Canada
Stop in for a look.
Excerpted from this story in the Christian Science Monitor.
In August 2004, US and Iraqi forces battled Sadr's militias in Najaf, Iraq. It was billed as a crucial test of then-Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's ability to extend authority over a key city in Iraq that was controlled by armed militias. The Najaf showdown ended in much the same way this one did: a Sadr negotiated truce.
But this time, analysts say, the widespread instances of surrender among the Iraqi forces and the seizure of their equipment and vehicles by the Mahdi Army shows that despite all the funding and training from the US, Iraq's soldiers remain greatly swayed by their sectarian and party loyalties and are incapable of standing up in a fight without US backing...
...Militiamen also paraded in newly issued Humvees, which were taken from the Army in several neighborhoods, according to witnesses.
There ya go. A surge that works for BOTH sides! The Diem government of South Viet Nam couldn't have handled it any better.
I wonder how tempting it is for John McCain to think that he's the guy who can re-fight his war and FINALLY get it right. That's a pretty sad thought really. This is a man who's defining moment in life involves bailing out during a combat mission to face injury, capture, and torture. Don't tell me he doesn't still wake up screaming. I still freakin' dream I'm a DJ.
How tempting will it be for Senator McCain to use our army in Iraq to exorcise his personal demons? How tempting will it be for him to believe that he can finally redeem what was lost at such a painful price?
GOOGLE THIS!
I use Google Analytics to monitor traffic on this blog. It's free and it easy to use. Thanks again to those 1000 or so who have visited in the last few weeks, especially including our friends in the UK, Canada, the EU and Australia/NZ for stopping in. You're welcome to comment on the election and add your prospective.
Contributor Ray McInnis Adds:
YouTube reveals video analytics tool for all users
News release: "...we're releasing YouTube Insight, a free tool that enables anyone with a YouTube account to view detailed statistics about the videos that they upload to the site. (You can see this...announcement on the Google blog and on the YouTube blog...) This tool will help anyone who uploads videos to YouTube better understand and serve their audiences. For example, users might use Insight to tailor upload strategies to increase their videos' view counts and improve their popularity on the site. And partners who increase their videos' popularity also increase the number of monetizable views their videos get, and as a result, generate more revenue."
Topic(s): E-Commerce, Blogs, Search Engines
Today's blogging included a post on my other blog site:
Dunn Creek Organic Farm PEI, Canada
Stop in for a look.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Super Sunday Blog Post
There's a lot here for Sunday reading, so grab a cup of whatever soothes your mind and spend a few minutes here in review.
This post contains links from contributor Ray McInnis, a few words about the Egg McMuffin and a Sunday funny from Bob Henderson.
Also an essay from yours truly plus a note from Paul McGowan at PS Audio and a listen to the first sound recording, made in 1860!
So lets dig in!
* * * *
First - The Election
This is what awaits Barack Obama.
I don't know where this comes from but be sure to guess that this kind of stuff will find its way to the MSM if Obama gets the nod.
Nativists whose mono-brow, mono-cultutural, anti-immigrant hairs are already raised are going to pounce on this stuff. Gee, I remember when it was only Mexicans and people from Eastern Europe who got this kind of treatment in America.
* * * *
Reuters Fudging -
The Original Headline on this link from Reuters:
"Obama:Clinton Welcome to stay in race"
is now, "Clinton says no intention of dropping out:report"
Who requested THAT distinction?
* * * *
REV WRIGHT AND WRONG
Here is a link to an easily found video clip from two pastors who spoke on camera after 911 to tell us that God was giving us exactly what we deserved. I don't claim divine insight so I'll have to guess that Jerry Falwell got the same message from God that Jeremiah Wright got.
* * * *
Why didn't Obama leave his church?
This isn't a question. It's an attack on the ambivalent American. Obama didn't leave. I didn't leave. You didn't leave. We have evidence from left and right, black and white that America is not God's little innocent in the world. So why do we stay true to a country so full of sin as to be Righteously punished by God? Why do we not flee our country even when our President demands we fight a war on questionable terms?
I know what preaching in America is about. I am descended from generations of Protestant ministers. It was our family business from the early 1800's until the 1970's when my grandfather passed away.
In the 1930's, my Grandfather was Pastor to Pennsylvania coal miners and unemployed factory workers in tiny towns throughout the Southeastern corner of the state. The Reverend Chester Warren Quimby was sent to minister to men and women and children left destitute by the Great Depression. His own family depended on the value of his service to the people. And he was often called at late hours to serve. He met the untimely death of a wife, the tragic loss of a father, a family disrupted by drunken violence, or the parents who felt they could not go on raising children in poverty.
He was man who was asked over and over again, "Why?".
I knew the Reverend Dr. Quimby and I know the strength that came from his faith.
He may not have "Damned" America but he knew America's shortcomings and he knew the suffering of his people. He knew that his own life depended on offering faith and hope and healing to his people and he labored for years to bring the people to his church for the mercy he believed was theirs.
When your life depends on filling the church in your charge, you must preach to the people in ways that will bring them to God. If you are the pastor of a Church in a Chicago ghetto, how will you preach to them?
Reverend Jeremiah Wright wasn't trying to save me. He wasn't trying to show me the way to Christ from my million dollar home or to bring me to salvation from the senseless poverty of wealth. He wasn't trying to build his church in the comfortable American suburb I inhabit.
Jeremiah Wright was like my Grandfather. He gave himself to a barren land in our country. He reached out for the lost, the poor, the dis-oriented, the cast off, the denied, the weak, the hopeless and those struggling to save their families from economic destruction. He spoke to them and they came to worship.
More in a link From Contributor Ray McInnis
And more from Ray with comments from a supportiveCondi Rice - deflected by a blogger from the right.
Ray Adds:
for me, anyone can rattle on like this, endlessly, i suppose, but still miss one point: that for rice to talk about race is the same as nixon going to china, and validating it as a nation worthy of america having relations with, or -- and this is of lesser import -- reagan talking with gorbachev.
in effect, rice's words make the imbroglio of wright-obama of much less consequence, meaning that when whites who might be driven from voting for obama over the wright issue, could reconsider, because a black america, conservative, is making it sound more legit.
OK, wading through these waters is tricky, but after teaching american cultural studies course for several years, discovered that it is part of the solution.
ideally, if you want people to change from thinking that blacks are not the victims they claim to be to thoughts more sympathetic to the idea that they do in fact suffer as "victims", here's how it works -- and it has to be through the heart, one person at a time -- you do it by having that person actually conduct his/her own research on a topic in cultural studies -- like the origin of the "one drop" rule -- filtering these things through their minds, and -- voila! -- the change in heart occurs, because they finally understand what oppression means.
ledeen may be correct about the change that has occurred already, but it is going to take a few more generations to give us the social conditions that level the playing field to the point wheree conservatives claim it is now.
* * * *
EGGMC1
Herb Peterson died this week. Herb took credit for the invention of the Egg McMuffin at his McDonald's Restaurant on upper State Street in Santa Barbara, Ca.
While I have no doubt that Mr. Peterson conceived and introduced said McMuffin to his friend and mentor Ray Kroc, I know some urban lore on the subject from having worked in that restaurant from 1976 to 1979. Store Manager, Garth Bench, once told me that it was McDonald's crew members who came in each morning to warm up the grills for the lunch time burger menu who innovated the McMuffin by cooking their own breakfast sandwiches in the McDonald's kitchen. Garth said he was one of those young workers who inspired Mr. Peterson. I was told that in 1978.
Having done much the same to create my own sandwiches at the same restaurant, I can understand how this might have been the case. We were once told in a crew meeting, "You guys should put as much care into the burgers you serve the customers as the stuff I see you creating for yourselves on break!"
McDonald's President, Ray Kroc, had a ranch just north of us in the Santa Ynez Valley. He actually showed up at our restaurant in his limo. And secret boxes of frozen test items were sometimes stored in our freezer. That and a whole lot of after hours nonsense, plus a late night visit from Fleetwood Mac made working for McDonald's pretty interesting in our little town.
I enjoyed knowing and working for Mr. Peterson at McDonald's. And I will forever be grateful for the training I received as a young employee at the Golden Arches.
And as a final note, Mr. Peterson was a guest in my studio several years ago as we created some local radio commercials for his local McDonald's restaurants. What a pleasure to welcome this man into my own small business. I credit him to starting me on my my way to success
* * * *
Paul McGowan at PS Audio sent me some news this week. Paul was an entrepreneur/amateur engineer at 99.1 KXFM in Santa Maria, Ca. a few years before I became a DJ there in 1981. I still have one of the first hand built PS Audio phono pre-amps that was installed at the radio station.
He sends story about the recent recovery of the first recorded audio from 1860!
Much of this month's newsletter will focus on the state of digital media in our high end systems. It seems appropriate, therefore, that we start this newsletter off with news of the discovery of the world's first optical recording (like a CD) that predates Edison's first recording by nearly 20 years!
This is the link to a New York Times article about the Phonautogram, an optical voice recorder invented in 1853 (17 years before Edisons patent of the phonograph) by douard-Lon Scott de Martinville of Paris.
Edison's system was entirely mechanical and used a stylus (needle) that was moved by the power of your voice, to cut a pattern into a wax cylinder. In our free DVD From Coal to Coltrane we show a later version of Edison's machine and describe how it works.
Martinville's Phonautogram worked in a very similar fashion, only instead of cutting a pattern into a wax cylinder the French inventor used the moving stylus to write on a piece of paper. He had no clue how this would be played back but he wanted to design a piece of equipment that could capture and archive the human voice and he succeeded!
The article has a link so you can hear the reproduction of his first work, now decoded after sitting in storage for 155 years. Amazing.
* * * *
Contributor Bob Henderson sends us Today's Funny:
This post contains links from contributor Ray McInnis, a few words about the Egg McMuffin and a Sunday funny from Bob Henderson.
Also an essay from yours truly plus a note from Paul McGowan at PS Audio and a listen to the first sound recording, made in 1860!
So lets dig in!
* * * *
First - The Election
This is what awaits Barack Obama.
I don't know where this comes from but be sure to guess that this kind of stuff will find its way to the MSM if Obama gets the nod.
Nativists whose mono-brow, mono-cultutural, anti-immigrant hairs are already raised are going to pounce on this stuff. Gee, I remember when it was only Mexicans and people from Eastern Europe who got this kind of treatment in America.
* * * *
Reuters Fudging -
The Original Headline on this link from Reuters:
"Obama:Clinton Welcome to stay in race"
is now, "Clinton says no intention of dropping out:report"
Who requested THAT distinction?
* * * *
REV WRIGHT AND WRONG
Here is a link to an easily found video clip from two pastors who spoke on camera after 911 to tell us that God was giving us exactly what we deserved. I don't claim divine insight so I'll have to guess that Jerry Falwell got the same message from God that Jeremiah Wright got.
* * * *
Why didn't Obama leave his church?
This isn't a question. It's an attack on the ambivalent American. Obama didn't leave. I didn't leave. You didn't leave. We have evidence from left and right, black and white that America is not God's little innocent in the world. So why do we stay true to a country so full of sin as to be Righteously punished by God? Why do we not flee our country even when our President demands we fight a war on questionable terms?
I know what preaching in America is about. I am descended from generations of Protestant ministers. It was our family business from the early 1800's until the 1970's when my grandfather passed away.
In the 1930's, my Grandfather was Pastor to Pennsylvania coal miners and unemployed factory workers in tiny towns throughout the Southeastern corner of the state. The Reverend Chester Warren Quimby was sent to minister to men and women and children left destitute by the Great Depression. His own family depended on the value of his service to the people. And he was often called at late hours to serve. He met the untimely death of a wife, the tragic loss of a father, a family disrupted by drunken violence, or the parents who felt they could not go on raising children in poverty.
He was man who was asked over and over again, "Why?".
I knew the Reverend Dr. Quimby and I know the strength that came from his faith.
He may not have "Damned" America but he knew America's shortcomings and he knew the suffering of his people. He knew that his own life depended on offering faith and hope and healing to his people and he labored for years to bring the people to his church for the mercy he believed was theirs.
When your life depends on filling the church in your charge, you must preach to the people in ways that will bring them to God. If you are the pastor of a Church in a Chicago ghetto, how will you preach to them?
Reverend Jeremiah Wright wasn't trying to save me. He wasn't trying to show me the way to Christ from my million dollar home or to bring me to salvation from the senseless poverty of wealth. He wasn't trying to build his church in the comfortable American suburb I inhabit.
Jeremiah Wright was like my Grandfather. He gave himself to a barren land in our country. He reached out for the lost, the poor, the dis-oriented, the cast off, the denied, the weak, the hopeless and those struggling to save their families from economic destruction. He spoke to them and they came to worship.
More in a link From Contributor Ray McInnis
And more from Ray with comments from a supportiveCondi Rice - deflected by a blogger from the right.
Ray Adds:
for me, anyone can rattle on like this, endlessly, i suppose, but still miss one point: that for rice to talk about race is the same as nixon going to china, and validating it as a nation worthy of america having relations with, or -- and this is of lesser import -- reagan talking with gorbachev.
in effect, rice's words make the imbroglio of wright-obama of much less consequence, meaning that when whites who might be driven from voting for obama over the wright issue, could reconsider, because a black america, conservative, is making it sound more legit.
OK, wading through these waters is tricky, but after teaching american cultural studies course for several years, discovered that it is part of the solution.
ideally, if you want people to change from thinking that blacks are not the victims they claim to be to thoughts more sympathetic to the idea that they do in fact suffer as "victims", here's how it works -- and it has to be through the heart, one person at a time -- you do it by having that person actually conduct his/her own research on a topic in cultural studies -- like the origin of the "one drop" rule -- filtering these things through their minds, and -- voila! -- the change in heart occurs, because they finally understand what oppression means.
ledeen may be correct about the change that has occurred already, but it is going to take a few more generations to give us the social conditions that level the playing field to the point wheree conservatives claim it is now.
* * * *
EGGMC1
Herb Peterson died this week. Herb took credit for the invention of the Egg McMuffin at his McDonald's Restaurant on upper State Street in Santa Barbara, Ca.
While I have no doubt that Mr. Peterson conceived and introduced said McMuffin to his friend and mentor Ray Kroc, I know some urban lore on the subject from having worked in that restaurant from 1976 to 1979. Store Manager, Garth Bench, once told me that it was McDonald's crew members who came in each morning to warm up the grills for the lunch time burger menu who innovated the McMuffin by cooking their own breakfast sandwiches in the McDonald's kitchen. Garth said he was one of those young workers who inspired Mr. Peterson. I was told that in 1978.
Having done much the same to create my own sandwiches at the same restaurant, I can understand how this might have been the case. We were once told in a crew meeting, "You guys should put as much care into the burgers you serve the customers as the stuff I see you creating for yourselves on break!"
McDonald's President, Ray Kroc, had a ranch just north of us in the Santa Ynez Valley. He actually showed up at our restaurant in his limo. And secret boxes of frozen test items were sometimes stored in our freezer. That and a whole lot of after hours nonsense, plus a late night visit from Fleetwood Mac made working for McDonald's pretty interesting in our little town.
I enjoyed knowing and working for Mr. Peterson at McDonald's. And I will forever be grateful for the training I received as a young employee at the Golden Arches.
And as a final note, Mr. Peterson was a guest in my studio several years ago as we created some local radio commercials for his local McDonald's restaurants. What a pleasure to welcome this man into my own small business. I credit him to starting me on my my way to success
* * * *
Paul McGowan at PS Audio sent me some news this week. Paul was an entrepreneur/amateur engineer at 99.1 KXFM in Santa Maria, Ca. a few years before I became a DJ there in 1981. I still have one of the first hand built PS Audio phono pre-amps that was installed at the radio station.
He sends story about the recent recovery of the first recorded audio from 1860!
Much of this month's newsletter will focus on the state of digital media in our high end systems. It seems appropriate, therefore, that we start this newsletter off with news of the discovery of the world's first optical recording (like a CD) that predates Edison's first recording by nearly 20 years!
This is the link to a New York Times article about the Phonautogram, an optical voice recorder invented in 1853 (17 years before Edisons patent of the phonograph) by douard-Lon Scott de Martinville of Paris.
Edison's system was entirely mechanical and used a stylus (needle) that was moved by the power of your voice, to cut a pattern into a wax cylinder. In our free DVD From Coal to Coltrane we show a later version of Edison's machine and describe how it works.
Martinville's Phonautogram worked in a very similar fashion, only instead of cutting a pattern into a wax cylinder the French inventor used the moving stylus to write on a piece of paper. He had no clue how this would be played back but he wanted to design a piece of equipment that could capture and archive the human voice and he succeeded!
The article has a link so you can hear the reproduction of his first work, now decoded after sitting in storage for 155 years. Amazing.
* * * *
Contributor Bob Henderson sends us Today's Funny:
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Drowning Woman Reaches for Point of Sword
Having been rebuffed by Barack Obama, it's only a matter of time before Hillary Clinton offers John McCain the number 2 spot on her "Dream" ticket. She and Bill have already endorsed him over Obama so why not seal the deal with a big wet sloppy kiss?
And the latest from Senator Clinton:
"Clinton Says She Would Have Walked Out On Wright"
She finds moral outrage in the weirdest places. Has the Weekly Standard endorsed her yet?
* * * *
CLINTON RUNS TO THE RIGHT
She knows that Senator McCain is vulnerable and she can beat him in the center by capturing white independents - voters who aren't coming to Obama in the numbers Democrats need to see for a run in the fall. She's aiming to prove to Super Delegates that she can win.
Her attacks on Obama are playing weirdly well in the Conservative media, but will they generate real support for someone that Conservatives love to despise? Or will they only fuel their ultimate goal - to burn their beloved Liberal witch at the stake in November?
It's either a brave and smart strategy, or a deceptive and unprincipled sellout. Either way this strategy could work if things were to stay static. But they won't.
Senator Obama probably couldn't win if the general election were held in April. A close second would be impressive but hardly satisfactory.
Senator Obama has made his campaign to the left and kept it there in all 50 states, raising millions of dollars and registering new voters in huge numbers. For Democrats, Senator Obama's strategy is just as risky as running to the right. His campaign depends entirely on convincing a huge number of people to vote.
In the mean time, the tar and feathers are ready. Tar to blacken Obama, and feathers to paint a big Liberal "L" on him.
* * * *
FCC likely to approve Sirius-XM deal, analysts say
Did anybody ask for 2 satellite radio channels in the first place? How about 1?
* * * *
Obama Word Game
Ray and I had a few laughs today using Google Search to play a fun new game.We entered "Barack Obama" plus any words we could think of.
Some examples that returned pages:
Barnyard
Stigmata
Tricycle
Bar Fight
Calliope
Cream Rinse
We never had a miss.
* * * *
Blogging to Stardom
Imagine being able to read the daily writing of Charles Dickens.
* * * *
Today's Funny:
"Role Models" from nationalbanana.com
And the latest from Senator Clinton:
"Clinton Says She Would Have Walked Out On Wright"
She finds moral outrage in the weirdest places. Has the Weekly Standard endorsed her yet?
* * * *
CLINTON RUNS TO THE RIGHT
She knows that Senator McCain is vulnerable and she can beat him in the center by capturing white independents - voters who aren't coming to Obama in the numbers Democrats need to see for a run in the fall. She's aiming to prove to Super Delegates that she can win.
Her attacks on Obama are playing weirdly well in the Conservative media, but will they generate real support for someone that Conservatives love to despise? Or will they only fuel their ultimate goal - to burn their beloved Liberal witch at the stake in November?
It's either a brave and smart strategy, or a deceptive and unprincipled sellout. Either way this strategy could work if things were to stay static. But they won't.
Senator Obama probably couldn't win if the general election were held in April. A close second would be impressive but hardly satisfactory.
Senator Obama has made his campaign to the left and kept it there in all 50 states, raising millions of dollars and registering new voters in huge numbers. For Democrats, Senator Obama's strategy is just as risky as running to the right. His campaign depends entirely on convincing a huge number of people to vote.
In the mean time, the tar and feathers are ready. Tar to blacken Obama, and feathers to paint a big Liberal "L" on him.
* * * *
FCC likely to approve Sirius-XM deal, analysts say
Did anybody ask for 2 satellite radio channels in the first place? How about 1?
* * * *
Obama Word Game
Ray and I had a few laughs today using Google Search to play a fun new game.We entered "Barack Obama" plus any words we could think of.
Some examples that returned pages:
Barnyard
Stigmata
Tricycle
Bar Fight
Calliope
Cream Rinse
We never had a miss.
* * * *
Blogging to Stardom
Imagine being able to read the daily writing of Charles Dickens.
* * * *
Today's Funny:
"Role Models" from nationalbanana.com
From Crackle:
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
A Change is Gonna Come
Theme Music for this post from, The Last FM, is Sam Cooke's, "A Change is Gonna Come".
Geraldine Ferraro resigned from the Clinton campaign today over comments she made to a newspaper reporter. I'm in the minority of Americans who gave Ms. Ferraro my vote when she ran with Walter Mondale in 1984.
Barack Obama deflected the comment citing "divisiveness" without making any explicit accusation of racism. Ferraro wasn't having any of it. She angrily declared she was falsely accused and then listed her liberal credentials on race, class and gender. Perhaps she was prodded by the cub-pack press which cares little for subtle distinction. Perhaps it was a shout out to the so called "Angry White Voter." If so, it was pretty well scripted.
This story isn't about Geraldine Ferraro. This story is about the change that is coming and the speed at which it is coming. The fact that we Americans aren't prepared for a national debate about race indicates how awkward and difficult change can be and how far we still have to go.
Ferraro is an experienced pol who supports her candidate. I don't think she is a racist. I suspect her intention was to help her candidate in a way that ought to be as outdated as the comments that nagged her run with Mondale. Perhaps she meant to play to the sympathetic emotions of older women who experienced change in the 60's and 70's. Perhaps she meant to make choosing Obama more difficult for whites - the way that some men made it difficult for other men to vote for a woman in 1984.
Her comment reminds me of the old guys I knew who objected to working with women on the basis that the "girls" were getting special treatment.
Ms. Ferraro, I wonder if you remember those days a little too well.
Geraldine Ferraro resigned from the Clinton campaign today over comments she made to a newspaper reporter. I'm in the minority of Americans who gave Ms. Ferraro my vote when she ran with Walter Mondale in 1984.
Barack Obama deflected the comment citing "divisiveness" without making any explicit accusation of racism. Ferraro wasn't having any of it. She angrily declared she was falsely accused and then listed her liberal credentials on race, class and gender. Perhaps she was prodded by the cub-pack press which cares little for subtle distinction. Perhaps it was a shout out to the so called "Angry White Voter." If so, it was pretty well scripted.
This story isn't about Geraldine Ferraro. This story is about the change that is coming and the speed at which it is coming. The fact that we Americans aren't prepared for a national debate about race indicates how awkward and difficult change can be and how far we still have to go.
Ferraro is an experienced pol who supports her candidate. I don't think she is a racist. I suspect her intention was to help her candidate in a way that ought to be as outdated as the comments that nagged her run with Mondale. Perhaps she meant to play to the sympathetic emotions of older women who experienced change in the 60's and 70's. Perhaps she meant to make choosing Obama more difficult for whites - the way that some men made it difficult for other men to vote for a woman in 1984.
Her comment reminds me of the old guys I knew who objected to working with women on the basis that the "girls" were getting special treatment.
Ms. Ferraro, I wonder if you remember those days a little too well.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
America's News Media - Ready For This Election?
Hillary Clinton "Kitchen Sinked" Obama.
That phrase, meaning she threw everything, including the kitchen sink at Obama, will now take it's place next to "Swift Boating" in the American lexicon of colorful political shorthand.
How does one "kitchen sink" an opponent? One waits until the 11th hour of a campaign. Then one flacks the press with a rapid fire combination of commercial messages, language and positioning. Insinuations and half truths are spun with opinions that would make a pit-bull dog pause for breath.
When the flack began to fill the airwaves on Monday I noticed how little journalistic work or editorial control was actually being done. The need for speed had disabled deliberation. The Clinton campaign announced it's story and the reporters of the commercial media dutifully flocked to Texas and presented it to Senator Obama in the form of questions at a news conference.
This is the sorry state of our "popular" news media during the most important Presidential election in a generation. And by the way, this isn't just about Senator Clinton. This is about how news organizations have covered national stories since before and after 911. She is merely exploiting their obvious weakness.
Let's say that someone in the Obama camp were to state tomorrow morning that Hillary Clinton made a deal with a Mexican Mafia associate to deliver votes in Texas. Let's say the claim was based on a statement made by a convicted drug dealer in a Mexican jail. Shouldn't a reporter check out the source before delivering an accusatory quote and demanding a response? If the story can't be confirmed as fact shouldn't it be obvious that she need not defend herself to the press?
There is a reckless and irresponsible trend that is damaging the electoral process.
Watch dogging the candidates and their claims is what the news media should be doing. As things stand, The Clinton campaign gets away with the airy claim that they are merely "vetting" their opponent. And why shouldn't they? We don't have editors who stop rumor mongering or reporters who check facts before filing stories. What we're getting is press releases and short attention span theater.
"....John McCain is old. Senator Obama: Is he half black or half white? And Hillary Clinton is a bitch. More after this..."
America's largest news organizations have lost control of the election story. If they want it back, they're going to have to become damn good journalists.
UPDATE 3.6.08 (8:29 AM)
More information has come to light about a Canadian story picked up by US media regarding The Obama campaign and NAFTA. This new report from the Globe and Mail (Toronto) says that Stephen Harper's Chief of Staff, Ian Brodie, said the Clinton campaign, not the Obama campaign had tried to reassure the Canadian government about NAFTA.
"OTTAWA — The leak of a confidential diplomatic discussion that rocked the U.S. presidential campaign began with an offhand remark to journalists from the Prime Minister's chief of staff, Ian Brodie."
"...Mr. Brodie said that someone from Ms. Clinton's campaign called and was "telling the embassy to take it with a grain of salt."
The story was followed by CTV's Washington bureau chief, Tom Clark, who reported that the Obama campaign, not Clinton's, had reassured Canadian diplomats.
Mr. Clark cited unnamed Canadian sources in his initial report.
There was no explanation last night for why Mr. Brodie was said to have referred to the Clinton campaign but the news report was about the Obama campaign. Robert Hurst, president of CTV News, declined to comment."
UPDATE: 3.6.08 (10:30 AM)
Check this out:
From ABC NEWS.COM - Political Punch by Jake Tapper - NAFTA Confusion
"Buried in a Canadian Press story about the NAFTA controversy is the intriguing notion that all of this began, as ABC News'Jennifer Parker has reported, with the Canadian Prime Minister's chief of staff, Ian Brodie."
Read the linked Feb. 29 story by Jennifer Parker. ABC News knew the story went from Ian Brodie to CTV.
That phrase, meaning she threw everything, including the kitchen sink at Obama, will now take it's place next to "Swift Boating" in the American lexicon of colorful political shorthand.
How does one "kitchen sink" an opponent? One waits until the 11th hour of a campaign. Then one flacks the press with a rapid fire combination of commercial messages, language and positioning. Insinuations and half truths are spun with opinions that would make a pit-bull dog pause for breath.
When the flack began to fill the airwaves on Monday I noticed how little journalistic work or editorial control was actually being done. The need for speed had disabled deliberation. The Clinton campaign announced it's story and the reporters of the commercial media dutifully flocked to Texas and presented it to Senator Obama in the form of questions at a news conference.
This is the sorry state of our "popular" news media during the most important Presidential election in a generation. And by the way, this isn't just about Senator Clinton. This is about how news organizations have covered national stories since before and after 911. She is merely exploiting their obvious weakness.
Let's say that someone in the Obama camp were to state tomorrow morning that Hillary Clinton made a deal with a Mexican Mafia associate to deliver votes in Texas. Let's say the claim was based on a statement made by a convicted drug dealer in a Mexican jail. Shouldn't a reporter check out the source before delivering an accusatory quote and demanding a response? If the story can't be confirmed as fact shouldn't it be obvious that she need not defend herself to the press?
There is a reckless and irresponsible trend that is damaging the electoral process.
Watch dogging the candidates and their claims is what the news media should be doing. As things stand, The Clinton campaign gets away with the airy claim that they are merely "vetting" their opponent. And why shouldn't they? We don't have editors who stop rumor mongering or reporters who check facts before filing stories. What we're getting is press releases and short attention span theater.
"....John McCain is old. Senator Obama: Is he half black or half white? And Hillary Clinton is a bitch. More after this..."
America's largest news organizations have lost control of the election story. If they want it back, they're going to have to become damn good journalists.
UPDATE 3.6.08 (8:29 AM)
More information has come to light about a Canadian story picked up by US media regarding The Obama campaign and NAFTA. This new report from the Globe and Mail (Toronto) says that Stephen Harper's Chief of Staff, Ian Brodie, said the Clinton campaign, not the Obama campaign had tried to reassure the Canadian government about NAFTA.
"OTTAWA — The leak of a confidential diplomatic discussion that rocked the U.S. presidential campaign began with an offhand remark to journalists from the Prime Minister's chief of staff, Ian Brodie."
"...Mr. Brodie said that someone from Ms. Clinton's campaign called and was "telling the embassy to take it with a grain of salt."
The story was followed by CTV's Washington bureau chief, Tom Clark, who reported that the Obama campaign, not Clinton's, had reassured Canadian diplomats.
Mr. Clark cited unnamed Canadian sources in his initial report.
There was no explanation last night for why Mr. Brodie was said to have referred to the Clinton campaign but the news report was about the Obama campaign. Robert Hurst, president of CTV News, declined to comment."
UPDATE: 3.6.08 (10:30 AM)
Check this out:
From ABC NEWS.COM - Political Punch by Jake Tapper - NAFTA Confusion
"Buried in a Canadian Press story about the NAFTA controversy is the intriguing notion that all of this began, as ABC News'Jennifer Parker has reported, with the Canadian Prime Minister's chief of staff, Ian Brodie."
Read the linked Feb. 29 story by Jennifer Parker. ABC News knew the story went from Ian Brodie to CTV.
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