April 04, 2005

4/4: RIP, JPII

No surprise here: The big topic of discussion in the blogosphere over the weekend was the passing of the Pope John Paul II. While much of the commentary are sincere reflections on the pope's life and lessons to be drawn from it, the event also became the impetus for occasional score-settling. Bloggers on the left argued that conservatives conveniently neglect to consider JPII's opposition to the Iraq war in their appraisals; both the left and right found reason to criticize weekend's the TV and newspaper coverage. Conservatives seemed to be covering this more than the left, leaving the left (in aggregate) a bit more room to comment on other stories.

Also afoot: lefty bloggers continue to discuss how to approach House Maj. Leader Tom DeLay; an interesting exchange between the conservative RedState and the Washington Post's Dan Froomkin; and an alarming rumor (emphasis: rumor) about the health and political future of Sen. Jim Jeffords (I-VT).

TRACKBACKS: Popepourri

Where the blog swarm is headed, who's taking part, and what they're saying:

• The number of websites -- left and right -- linking to and discussing JPII's death is overwhelming: New Donkey; Change for America; Eschaton; BuzzMachine; Oliver Willis; Talking Points Memo; Stephen Bainbridge; Right Wing News; OxBlog; Marshall Wittman; Dave Winer; Shot in the Dark; TVNewser. Catholic National Review's The Corner and evangelical radio talker Hugh Hewitt devoted most of their coverage to the Pope.

  >> A small sample of the comments: Kos: "Just remember, as Republicans try to embrace the Pope as part of their efforts to woe Catholics to the Dark Side, that the Pope was a fervent opponent of the Iraq invasion and was staunch death penalty foe." Lefty prof Juan Cole makes a similar argument, calling JPII "an inconvenient man, whose moral vision would be upsetting to the US Republican establishment if it were taken seriously." Liberal James Wolcott: "Fox News didn't even wait for the Pope to die to start politicizing his death."

  >> Galley Slaves takes issue with Slate's take on the Pope's passing: "In a word -- Counterintuitive!" Right-leaning QandO dubs Christopher Hitchens a "necro-heckler" for his Slate essay on JPII's "sins."
  Conservative Power Line and liberal Crooked Timber both note the New York Times' first posted article on the death of JPII contains the following paragraph: "need some quote from supporter". Power Line's John Hinderaker: "The Times' criticisms are ready to go, a few good words for the Pope are an afterthought.

• Plenty of buzz on the liberal blogs about a Houston Chronicle-reported Zogby poll showing DeLay losing support over the past year in his TX 22 CD. The linking: ThinkProgress; Talking Points Memo; Skippy the Bush Kangaroo; The Moderate Voice.

  >> Post title at People's Republic of Seabrook: "And It Couldn't Have Happened To A Nicer Demagogue." Charles Kuffner: "If this were an episode of 'Behind the Music,' it would be at the point of the show where the bandmembers talked about how their boozing and womanizing were starting to catch up to them."

  >> One of the few right-leaners to weigh in is at blogHOUSTON: "For quite some time -- but certainly in the last year -- the House Majority Leader has taken the best shot of pretty much any lefty or lefty sympathizer one wants to name ... If anything, the fact the Majority Leader's numbers haven't deteriorated any more than they have provides further anecdotal evidence of the decline of the Chronicle's influence and reach."

• Also popular in the liberal blogosphere is Michael Kinsley's column in the Washington Post (note: the Los Angeles Times version is not linked nearly as often: Post links; Times links) citing statistics that show greater prosperity under Dems. Links: The Mahablog; Wampum; Stanford Democrats; The Bite; Armchair Genius.

  >> Most takes are just this side of gloating; Amygdala writes: "If you're going to vote for spending money, you might as well at least let it be spent on the needs of the poor, the low-income, and the middle-class, and on public infrastructure, rather than on public debt, credit card companies, and the profit margins of the wealthiest."

DELAY: What Comes Next?

Lefty Eschaton: "I think he's about right - it is probably at its apex, especially if they (and, please please do) keep clinging to Tom DeLay instead of throwing him overboard before he brings them all down. The only we we'll get a massive conservative crackup is if they spend the next 18 months pushing [Terri] Schiavo-esque issues onto the media and the rest of us. But, I think their recent behavior in the Schiavo case, and the probability that DeLay will cling to power for at least a few more months will lead enough people to decide enough is enough."

Liberal humorist PatriotBoy photoshops DeLay's face onto a picture of Jesus Christ, titled "Republican Jesus."

ELECTIONS: The Hillary Paradox

TNR's &c., comments on Sen. Hillary Clinton (D) in light of a recent New York Times article: "Hillary is doing yeoman's work ... repositioning both herself and the party on issues like abortion and national security." But "the right can always launch a nasty smear campaign against her, which then gets the backs up of people on the left, who rush to her defense ... thereby undercutting her carefully crafted image as a moderate. I'm just not sure how she avoids this."

The DNC's Kicking Ass blog cites an American Prospect recap on RNC chair Ken Mehlman's visit to Howard Univ.: "No one was allowed in the room who didn't pre-submit a question, and there were hardly any students ... in the audience. Seems to me that Ken's a little scared of what some people might ask him, if given the chance. In fact, the one person who did make it through, tried to ask about RNC voter intimidation, and was tackled by security."

Personal Democracy Forum reports that the SF Board of Supvs. "will soon vote on a city ordinance that would require local bloggers to register with the city Ethics Commission and report all blog-related costs that exceed $1,000 in the aggregate. Blogs that mention candidates for local office that receive more than 500 hits will be forced to pay a registration fee and will be subject to website traffic audits, according to Chad Jacobs, a San Francisco City Attorney."

VT-based conservative site Dwinell Political Report writes: "Something is wrong with Jim Jeffords health. That is an opinion, not a fact. Listen in to his appearance on Vermont Public Radio's Switchboard program ... and make your own call. More: "Your editor has known Jeffords for five decades. He has campaigned with him. He has campaigned for him. He has had him over to his home. Never the most articulate, Jeffords has nonetheless changed. His speech patterns, music, rhythm, lexicology, and context are very different and do not contain his or anyone's normal or natural linguistic ability." One source says that he "was in a meeting with friends and associates of Jeffords and when Jim came into the room, he said, 'Gee I do not know any of you.'" More: "Normally, DPR might take a shot at Jeffords, ridicule him, or challenge him. Not this time, this is sad."

PULPIT POLITICS: Schiavo

Liberal criminal law blog TalkLeft uses the Schiavo case as a jumping off point for a discussion of the death penalty. Kausfiles reacts to a Zogby poll showing 79% of Americans wanted Schiavo to be fed: "OK, now I'm convinced Americans were in favor of removing Terri Schiavo's feeding tube."

Left-leaning Feministing responds to Gov. Rod Blagojevich's (D) move to require IL pharmacies to "accept and fill prescriptions for contraceptives without delay.": "Who says that I can't have an imaginary relationship with Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich? My stalking tendencies aside, this man f---ing rocks." Cross-posted to NARAL's Bush v. Choice.

Mark Noonan at Blogs for Bush, on a Gallup Poll showing an "all time high" 68% opposed to gay marriage: "As for myself, I'd prefer not to amend the Constitution regarding marriage; but I believe we'll eventually be forced into it by the anti-democratic efforts of the gay marriage proponents." An aptly-titled post by Asymmetrical Information's "Jane Galt": "A really, really, really long post about gay marriage that does not, in the end, support one side or the other."

BLOGS VS. THE MSM: Going After Froomkin, Matthews After Stolberg

RedState's "trevino" posts an e-mail exchange between himself and Washington Post's Dan Froomkin. Last week RedState's Patrick Ruffini called Froomkin's "White House Briefing" column "second-rate hackery." While "trevino" says he doesn't "adhere to the general conservative thesis of an ipso facto hostile media," he concurs with Ruffini that Froomkin is too consistently hostile to the WH and notes Froomkin family Dem donations. Over several e-mails, Froomkin denies "partisanship," and while he concedes the media often is sometimes "oppositionist," he sees his role as an "'accountabilitist' (if that were a word.)"

Of interest, because it pertains to the supposed scalp-hunting competitions between the left- and right-wing blogospheres: Soxblog posts a lengthy consideration of the firing of apparent Nazi prof Jacques Pluss from Farleigh-Dickinson Univ. in ND, and the reaction at lefty blogs including Daily Kos. The lefty blogs describe it as an issue of "academic freedom," but the conservative blogs -- and at least one commenter on DailyKos -- note that the prof was dismissed for chronic absence, and the school didn't know about the Nazi "associations" until after. Ace of Spades HQ: "My only gloss on this is that I really do understand how investigative reporters get swept up in a story, and want a story to be true. This was such a minor little thing -- at most, we'd be able to say 'Ha-ha, Kos and Atrios are idiots,' which isn't exactly bringing down Eason Jordan -- and yet we both wanted this to pan out."

MSNBC's Chris Matthews comes under fire from Michelle Malkin on for saying Terri Schiavo's father looked "giddy"; and from NR's Katherine Lopez at The Corner for arguing with a priest about clerical celibacy.

Power Line's Scott Johnson, on the New York Times' "predictably fawning profile" of Sen. Robert Byrd: "Byrd is indeed a valuable link not only to the Senate's past, but also to the Democratic Party's history as the party of slavery, segregation, and opposition to equal treatment of blacks. Times reporter Sheryl Stolberg obviously loves Byrd's cornpone constitutional shtick in favor of filibustering a Republican president's judicial appointees. It's a shame that Stolberg exerted no effort to put Byrd's shtick in the context it merits."

The Left Coaster posts part 8 of an ongoing series: "How the Liberal Media Myth is Created."

On a positive note: Conservative bloggers Malkin, Eric Pfeiffer, and Spoons Experience all have kind words for a eulogy by Newsweek's liberal Eleanor Clift for her husband, Cleveland Plain Dealer's Tom Brazaitis.

BLOGS VS. THE WORLD: Volcker Wagon

Roger L. Simon posts a fourth in his "Special Investigation" series on the UN's Oil-For-Food scandal and the Volcker Report, and writes: "People are watching these investigations from all over the world. Many of them have illuminating stories to tell. Some of them even know the truth."

DOMESTIC ISSUES: Minute By Minute

Dem blogger Oliver Willis, who has promoted Dem "branding" in the past, presents a new ad/poster concept saying "A Good Judge May Be The Only Thing Standing Between Your Privacy And These Guys" -- above pictures of conservative activist Randall Terry, DeLay, and Maj. Leader Bill Frist -- and closes: "Support Good Judges. Preserve The Filibuster."

The Nation's Marc Cooper traveling to AZ with conservative commentator Bay Buchanan and Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) to cover the "Minutemen" border watch. He reports there may be less than 100 participants: "And as this is mostly a media-inflated story and with the Pope sucking up all the media oxygen, so to speak, this whole Minuteman show might be headed for premature collapse."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: DeLay Measures

Note: This is a new feature for the Blogometer, where we'll attempt to locate a point that goes against the C.W. or we think could gain more traction.

Liberal Hullabaloo disagrees with the "hands-off DeLay" sentiment: "While I appreciate the 'don't fire 'til you see the whites of their eyes' strategy, after some thought I've decided that it's probably a good idea for the Democrats to put pressure on Delay right now. As a matter of fact, I think it will ensure that the wingnuts continue to support him and that he stays in the news and in his post well into the 2006 election cycle."

LEST WE FORGET: Won't Get Fooled Again?

Wizbang notes that online conservative rag WorldNetDaily got suckered into believing an April Fools post by celebrity gossip site Defamer that claimed CBS was "rushing" a Schiavo biopic (starring Keri Russell and Dean Cain) into production for the May sweeps.

Posted by at April 4, 2005 12:17 PM