The Smithian

May 21st, 2013

‘Too bad that Republicans don’t sing the praises of the First Amendment when the White House is held by the G.O.P. In fact, they do the exact opposite…’

…In fact, they did the exact opposite when the Republican administration does the exact same thing that is now at the center of the Obama scandal involving the Associated Press—that is, seizing phone records of reporters. (Please note: The issue here isn’t whether they are right or wrong. What I’m talking about is the utter hypocrisy of the G.O.P. on this matter.) Let’s take the most important disclosure of a classified program that occurred in my lifetime: the 2005 article in The New York Times that revealed the existence of the program to allow the government to wiretap Americans and others in the United States without a warrant if it was part of a national-security investigation. Somehow, I don’t remember Republicans banging the First Amendment drum when that story came out— instead, they were calling for reporters to be charged with treason, which could have led to them being executed.

bold, ours. more, here.

May 19th, 2013

thesmithian

…no real connection has been directly made between these scandals and the president. And, I’d say, he’s buoyed somewhat because the economy here is better than any in Europe—and less vulnerable than Japan’s current Keynesian jolt—and because he’s still a broadly liked president…the press corps needed a storyline, rather than just three stories. But sometimes the line falls apart for lack of evidence (at least among the non-GOP base).

Andrew Sullivan, at TDD, in regard to the fact that

CNN finds what Gallup does: no impact on the president’s approval ratings, even as Americans do take the current scandals seriously

May 19th, 2013

thesmithian

'Nicely played, Republicans—always and ever abetted by the mainstream media. We need to hear from ABC News about this. [Chief White House Correspondent for ABC News Jonathan] Karl’s problems aren’t going away.

He regrets “inaccurate” Benghazi email but says his story based on it “still entirely stands” Really. ABC News?

May 17th, 2013

thesmithian

The right thing to do here is for ABC to reveal the source that fed it bogus information. This is what should happen for two reasons: 1) it should happen to demonstrate the consequences of feeding bogus information to ABC, and 2) it should happen to demonstrate that there is something of a campaign among Republican congressional staffers to wound an elected president with bogus information, because (as I think we would all agree) that’s a helluva news story, too. (Those of us who remember ABC’s performance during Whitewater are not optimistic, by the way.) Ball’s in your court, folks. Who do you really serve? The country, or the liars in your BlackBerries?

Charles P. Pierce, at Esquire

May 17th, 2013

thesmithian

…no matter what a reporter is willing to do, if a government is willing to subpoena her phone records, then sources are going to be less willing to talk—it’s the chilling effect, a cliché but a truth, too. And it’s an effect that can take hold deeply and perniciously in an atmosphere of national threat. We can’t let it, because this particular threat—terrorism—and the war on it are open-ended. We could be suspending our civil liberties forever.

Margaret Talbot, at the New Yorker

May 16th, 2013

thesmithian

'...the challenging question in this case is not so much whether the mere issuance of a subpoena is some form of ham-fisted government abuse, but whether we believe anybody—whether private individuals, the media, or the government—has any right to keep secrets in the first place.' —David von Ebers

May 16th, 2013

thesmithian

In fact, we are witnessing the resegregation of the American media.

Farai Chideya, at The Nation

May 16th, 2013

thesmithian

‘On Tuesday, it looked like we had three possible political scandals brewing. Two days later, with much more evidence available, it doesn’t look like any of them will pan out…’

…There’ll be more hearings, and more bad press for the Obama administration, and more demands for documents. But—and this is a key qualification—absent more revelations, the scandals that could reach high don’t seem to include any real wrongdoing, whereas the ones that include real wrongdoing don’t reach high enough.

more.

May 16th, 2013

thesmithian

‘Following months of media calls for deficit reduction, cable news channels spent just over 7 minutes reporting on a revised Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projection that the 2013 deficit will decline by more than previous estimates…’

Broadcast network news evening shows did not cover the new report.

May 15th, 2013

thesmithian

‘…someone initiated an outrageous abuse of IRS powers. We need to find out who and how and fire those who went over the line…’

…And this genuine scandal is tied to the non-scandal of Benghazi and the genuine debate about how far the DOJ should go in punishing leakers of classified information. Individually, only the IRS affair seems a genuine scandal…But drama is the stuff of pageviews. And the chattering classes can only take a no-drama president for so long.

more.

May 14th, 2013

thesmithian

'...by and large, cable news guests are presented as experts. They tell us what the news means, how to assess partisan claims and counterclaims, what policy ideas to take seriously and what to dismiss. The fact that white men are dramatically overrepresented should come as no surprise—white men are dramatically overrepresented in just about every category of elite and opinion-shaper—but it sure is a powerful reminder of how, literally, white men's voices are more likely to be heard in our politics and culture.'

May 9th, 2013

thesmithian

…it’s getting to the point where, if another pundit tells me that the president’s primary failure is that he hasn’t been able to persuade congressional vandals to drop their spray-paint cans and back slowly away from the subway car of government, I might start sending Rahm Emanuel a card every year on Political Carnivores Day.

Charles P. Pierce, at Esquire.

May 9th, 2013

thesmithian

‘I’m not a Benghazi expert. I’m willing to entertain the possibility that there’s something here that the media aren’t telling me. But before I evaluate the case, I need to see some concrete charges. My challenge to conservatives is to tell me, very simply, the following:’

(1) What, in your view, was the crime?

…

(2) Who failed competently to perform his or her job, in which concrete ways?

…

(3) What information was covered up, and how? …

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The Smithian

‘Too bad that Republicans don’t sing the praises of the First Amendment when the White House is held by the G.O.P. In fact, they do the exact opposite…’

‘On Tuesday, it looked like we had three possible political scandals brewing. Two days later, with much more evidence available, it doesn’t look like any of them will pan out…’

‘Following months of media calls for deficit reduction, cable news channels spent just over 7 minutes reporting on a revised Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projection that the 2013 deficit will decline by more than previous estimates…’

‘…someone initiated an outrageous abuse of IRS powers. We need to find out who and how and fire those who went over the line…’

‘I’m not a Benghazi expert. I’m willing to entertain the possibility that there’s something here that the media aren’t telling me. But before I evaluate the case, I need to see some concrete charges. My challenge to conservatives is to tell me, very simply, the following:’

She is every woman.

@danamo

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