Cajun Boy: It's sad to think McCain has more houses that I have open tabs in Firefox. Diamond John McCain also owns more homes than Tom Cruise and Paris Hilton combined. (sorry for that visual.) But maybe he didn't hear right and thought they were asking about his combs.

Submitted to a Candid World: Elitism: Cultural or Financial?

His Vorpal Sword: The Democratic Nominee and the Republican Ignominy

Threading Water: Terrorist Alert!!!

Hosted by Blue Gal who continues to serve the revolution while Mike is staying here, ahem. But I'm the lucky one who gets to go to a little sumpin' sumpin' in Springfield, Illinois this afternoon...

We’re well past the point at which congressional Republicans have jumped the shark, but let’s pause to appreciate the fact that at least one leading GOP lawmaker is now looking to a fake ad by a 27-year-old heiress/reality-show star as a serious source of public policy.

The lines between celebrity and politician blurred into a haze Thursday at a Republican news conference, as one congressman began pushing Paris Hilton’s “plan” on energy.

“Let’s bring up the Paris Hilton plan,” goaded Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas. [...] “Even Paris Hilton had an energy plan that she’s talking about,” said Burgess, seizing a chance to make Democrats look lackluster on the issue.

The Texas congressman tried to put Hilton in the Republican camp, claiming her words mirrored current GOP legislation known as the “No More Excuses Energy Act”. But, while that proposal does allow offshore drilling, a congressional summary shows it does not contain tax credits to encourage new automobile technology.

For crying out loud, Paris Hilton is not a policy expert. She wasn’t seriously offering an energy proposal for members of Congress to embrace as an actual solution.

For that matter, Hilton’s fake ad talked about using expanded coastal drilling to “carry us until the new technologies kick in,” which doesn’t make any sense, since even the Bush administration and McCain’s policy aides concede that we’re about a decade away from new coastal drilling having any kind of effect on the marketplace. And even then, we’re talking about pennies on the gallon. There’s nothing to actually “carry us” at all.

And yet, we actually have an elected member of Congress announcing, “Let’s bring up the Paris Hilton plan.”

It’s as if Republicans are going out of their way to appear ridiculous. On purpose.

Our Future: Seventeen months ago, Rick Perlstein wrote an essay predicting exactly how the 2008 campaign would go down. Turns out the only thing he didn't predict was the Paris Hilton reference.

Tomgram: Thomas Frank on Washington's Lords of Creation

collateral: The next crisis to hit our sinking ship of state may be a pension fund debacle that, had we stuck to a sensible tax policy, could have been avoided.

Mock, Paper, Scissors: The MPS Guide to GOP vice presidential candidates. In a handy print-out and keep format for further reference, it brings you the Pro, the Con, and the Baggage for each of the whispered candidates!

earthfamilyalpha: Change I Can Believe In

OFF THE BEATEN PATH: Morning Martini, Conservative Truths, Montreal Simon, WTF Is It Now?!?

Scary that she sounds smarter than the guy who has been in the Senate for 20+ years.

I'll see you at the debates, bitches.

Download | play Download | play (h/t Heather)

Many of McCain's Media have grown disenchanted with their BBQ and doughnut buddy over some of his recent tactics and Stephen Colbert agrees that the "Celeb" ad may have backfired in an unintended way. To him, it highlighted a far more attractive potential nominee:

Last week, Senator McCain unveiled a new attack ad called "Celeb". Jim:

[runs snippet of "Celeb" ad; Voiceover: "He's the biggest celebrity in the world. But is he ready to lead?"]

Exactly. Electing a celebrity is something the Republican Party would never do. Now, critics are saying this ad appeals to the lowest common denominator and that it smacks of desperation. The ad even led to a furious phone call from Paris Hilton's grandfather. Apparently, when he heard McCain had made a video with Paris, he assumed the worst.

Yes, the entire media is calling this ad a mistake. For once, they are right. Which brings us to tonight's Wørd. We the People. Folks, this ad is a disaster for the McCain campaign. Sure, it gets its facts right. For instance, the fact that all celebrities are exactly the same. So, clearly there's no difference between Sen. Obama, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears.

First, all of them are hounded by the press. They all look great on camera, and all three were professors of Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago. They had very popular classes. And who can forget Paris's stunningly honest memoir, Cash From My Father? So, everything in the ad was true, but it was still a mistake for McCain. Because while I already knew I'd never vote for Barack Obama, I didn't realize how much I'd love to vote for Britney Spears. She would be the perfect Republican nominee.

As the McCain ad proves, she's just as qualified as Barack Obama and she's got the same strong policy positions as John McCain.

[video of Britney Spears: "I think we should just trust our President in every decision that he makes." ]

What a maverick. Of course, they aren't exactly the same; I think Britney knows the difference between Sunnis and Shi'ite. Plus Britney has got the necessary toughness. McCain may have been a prisoner of war for five years, but Britney was a Mouseketeer. Plus, Britney appeals to young people, and southerners and she's very pro-family.

So I say, Republicans, it is not too late to draft Britney. Imagine the thrill at the convention when she accepts your nomination and then tongues Kay Bailey Hutchinson. Sen. McCain, because of your own ad, your only hope is to accept this nomination while wearing an albino snake. If nothing else, it will make you look tan.

And that's The Wørd.

Scott Horton: Inside the Pakistan-Taliban relationship: Six questions for Ahmed Rashid, author of "Descent Into Chaos."

Things Younger Than John McCain: The Top 25 Posts

Street Prophets: Religious progressives say the darndest things

Helena Cobban: Defining 'winning'

David E's Fablog: In which he explains why Barack Obama is more like Keanu Reeves than Paris Hilton and why John McCain is So F*cking Pathetic.

The Satirical Political Report: Bush's 'Mission Accomplished' finally achieved: Iraq in Better Shape Than US

I did a podcast at Skewz.com recently. We discussed MBRU and the tired myth of the 'liberal media.' Also, congratulations to "Mad" Kane, winner of the 2008 Robert Benchley Society Award for Humor Award

A couple of weeks ago, as most of the political world knows by now, “Saturday Night Live” did a skit mocking the perception that news outlets were tougher on Hillary Clinton than Barack Obama. The Clinton campaign loved the skit, promoted it heavily, and Clinton began referencing it frequently, including in a nationally televised debate.

But could one skit — which, if ratings are any indication, was watched live by a small percentage of the population — really have a significant impact? Apparently, so. The NYT reported today that this one comedic bit put journalists on the defensive.

I think TNR’s Michelle Cottle response was exactly right.

Seriously? Can this possibly be true? I fear it is, and it makes me wonder why journalists are such pathetic dogs. Scold us, and we immediately go into a shame-faced crouch, start lashing ourselves like medieval monks, and become desperate to win back your approval. You are absolutely right: we were too soft on Bush in 2000; we got suckered into backing the Iraq war; we fixate on the horse-race aspects of elections instead of delivering you hours and hours and pages and pages of insightful policy analysis; every last one of us is a card-caring liberal; we care nothing for the truth and will repeat any old rumor that comes down the pipeline without regard to whether there’s any reason to believe it’s true; and, given our druthers, we would print nothing but naked pictures of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, preferably wrestling one another in a pit of chocolate pudding. For all this and much, much more, we are so very very sorry. Just please stop being mean to us. We’ll do anything. Seriously. We only want to be loved.

Gag. Hating the media is a great American pastime — like hating lawyers and politicians.... Forget snuggling up to Obama. If the media can’t take some gentle late-night ribbing without going all to pieces, that is the real embarrassment.

DKos:

It's a fact: Media conglomerates' labor practices are harming the quality of TV and radio news.

A CBS television newswriter says: "We take a lot of stuff from 'Entertainment Tonight.' We watch it at 6:30 and decide what to use."

Most Americans still get their news from "old media" like newspapers, TV and radio. There's concern about how Rupert Murdoch will gut the Wall St. Journal when he gets his hands on it. MSNBC Anchor Mika Brzezinski recently tried to burn a script on air in frustration over being asked to lead the day's news with a story about Paris Hilton rather than Richard Lugar's declaration that Bush's Iraq strategy is failing. Who can we trust to tell us what's really going on? Now, a new study of broadcast journalists from the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) gives an inside look at how the media conglomerates are destroying broadcast news quality with the same tactics other big companies are using against their workers.

The AFL-CIO has more...including a copy of the WGAE report. Take the time to read it; it confirms what we've been saying for years about the decline of journalism.

All-Star Salute to Mort Sahl

Albert Brooks was furious last Thursday night "and angry. And I'm confused. I don't know the people that produced this show at all. But I would strongly suggest that when they do an event like this again, they spend a little extra money and hire a real publicity firm to disseminate the information correctly. I was told that Mort Sahl passed away. So you can imagine my shock, my dismay, and quite frankly my disappointment, when I arrived here this evening and saw him standing there."

Despite having learned otherwise Brooks decided to read the "eulogy" he had written for Mort Sahl, who was at that moment looking up at him with a smirk from the second row of the Wadsworth Theatre near the campus of UCLA in Brentwood, CA.

This was same Mort Sahl who could always pull a politically pithy quote seemingly out of nowhere (or possibly out of the prop newspaper he kept under his arm as he performed). Here's and old favorite:

"Liberals feel unworthy of their possessions. Conservatives feel they deserve everything they've stolen."

Continue reading »

AttyTood:

OK, you can't say that CNN and its diplomatic reporter, Richard Ross, don't care about the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. In fact, just seconds ago "Your Trusted Name in News" just aired one of the few full-length reports I've seen on the situation in Darfur, or more accurately the situation on 42nd Street in Manhattan, since the story was merely an interview with a cab driver who happens to have immigrated from Darfur.

Apparently Tom Friedman, the Pulitizer Prize winner of global cabbie journalism, is advising CNN now.

I kept waiting for the twist in the story, but there was no twist. That was the entire story. CNN found a guy from Darfur who now drives a cab in New York. (Although, as I learned from the story, there are apparently 100 others like him.)

And yet, they could afford a helicopter to give us door-to-door coverage of Paris Hilton's return to LA County Jail.  I bet Ross put in a whole ten minutes trying to find a cabbie from Darfur...that's called being committed to true journalism. (/snark)