June 01, 2005

6/1: In Too Deep

The Hotline's Blogometer takes the daily temperature of the blogosphere. For more information on the thinking behind this feature, go to the end of the story.

In case you haven't heard, "Deep Throat" is retired G-man W. Mark Felt. In case you have heard, there are a few other interesting stories floating around the blogosphere this a.m.: the "Krugman V. Okrent" fight is out of the promoters' (bloggers') hands now, as the New York Times' Paul Krugman and Daniel Okrent spar at nytimes.com; a FNC bureau chief reveals that the network is biased against "lefties"; Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) is rumored to soon announce she will challenge Gov. Rick Perry in the GOP primary; Pres. Bush's presser gets attention thanks to another "Bushism"; Dem soul-searching continues, as the brand-new TPM Cafe looks like the new focal point this ongoing discussion. Besides, everybody knew it was Mark Felt.

TRACKBACKS: We All Felt Down

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

• The link of the day yesterday had to be the PDF of the Vanity Fair cover story, although the more widely-linked version is the AP version posted by MSNBC story and linked by the Drudge Report early in the day. Naturally, related stories in the Washington Post get a lot of attention.
  
  

  >> Many bloggers simply link with little comment. Some express initial caution (Burnt Orange Report, ironic detachment (Amygdala) and satisfaction (Corrente). On the other hand, Ace of Spades HQ calls it the "biggest news of the day that I could give a rat's ass less about."
  
  

  >> A few focus on the effect Watergate had on the press: Right-leaning Dean Esmay observes, the "entire Watergate affair kicked off an obsession with scandal by the press in Washington. It also started the long, nasty, and irresponsible trend toward greater and greater use of anonymous sources." Ed Driscoll suggests "the press has never recovered from Watergate.," bringing the same "war against President Bush and America's war on terror -- but with disastrous results for the media..." Moderate liberal Bull Moose Blog: "It is ... ironic that last week at this time America was lamenting a government leak that proved to be at least partially false. Now, we are celebrating the mother of all leakers who brought down a crooked President."
  
  

  >> At the Huffington Post, Bernstein ex Nora Ephron writes that she knew it was Felt for years, that she figured it out for herself, that she told people, but no one listened. Wizbang itself hosts the PDF of the Vanity Fair story, has links to relevant video, and a wealth of trackbacks showing other bloggers linking to the post.
  
  

  >> Also of note: The Wikipedia "Deep Throat" page has been updated over 200 times in the past 24 hours as the story has turned around entirely. Here's the last pre-Felt version. And here's the new one.

BLOGS VS. THE MSM I: More Accurately, MSM Vs. Itself, With Bloggers Cheering On The Fight

The New York Times' Okrent and Krugman have debated their disagreements on the Times' public editor site. Krugman to Okrent: "If Mr. Okrent was unsatisfied with my explanations in these and other cases, it was his right to demand a fuller explanation, and, if he was still unsatisfied, to say something specific in his column." Okrent to Krugman: "For a man who makes his living offering strong opinions, Paul Krugman seems peculiarly reluctant to grant the same privilege to others. And for a man who leads with his chin twice a week, he acts awfully surprised when someone takes a pop at it."

• JustOneMinute describes the "all-too frequent nature of these Krugman discussions -- you're wrong, Krugman's right, your're wrong, Krugman's right, okay, you may be right but it is a minor, nit-picking point."
• Krugman critic Donald Luskin praises Okrent and lists more Krugman "howlers," staging a contest to declare the "most outrageous Krugmanisms."
• Liberal Matt Yglesias: "I think the whole concept of ombudsmen and public editors is deeply, deeply misguided. You would need to be superhuman to do the job properly, and that's why nobody who takes these kinds of jobs winds up doing them properly."
• Econobloggers Robert Waldmann, Andrew Samwick and Brad DeLong debate Okrent v. Krugman.
• Dan Gillmor: "The Times should put this in the paper. It probably won't."

BLOGS VS. THE MSM II: Now It Can Be Told

Slate's Tim Noah caught Fox News London chief Scott Norvell telling the European Wall Street Journal, in part: "Even we at Fox News manage to get some lefties on the air occasionally, and often let them finish their sentences before we club them to death and feed the scraps to Karl Rove and Bill O'Reilly. And those who hate us can take solace in the fact that they aren't subsidizing Bill's bombast; we payers of the BBC license fee don't enjoy that peace of mind."

• Moderate Andrew Sullivan: "The problem with the BBC's leftism is that it's publicly financed and Beebers are in denial about it. Neither problem afflicts Fox, to their credit. They're not in denial, as Norvell proves; they simply fib about it."
• Liberal MyDD's Chris Bowers: "While it is nice to hear a top Fox News exec make such an admission, the notion that Fox News is open about its bias is crap. Their two biggest slogans are 'Fair and Balanced,' and 'We Report -- You Decide.' I suppose even when being honest it is necessary for conservatives to spout off at least one flatist statement (you know, for balance)." [Note: Pseudodictionary definition of "flatist": "A member of the Flat Earth Society that believes no one under their control should stand out, all must be smooth and flat. All must be like sheep. A person who accepts the theory that all must be alike and does not stand out -- a conformer, or yes-man."]

BUSH: Who?

Lefty David Corn, on Bush's presser: "It's no surprise that Bush bobs, weaves and misleads. The real disappointment is that the hound dogs of the press corps do not challenge him when he does so."

Boing Boing, on Bush using the word "disassemble" when he meant "dissemble": "Even more ridiculous than Bush using the wrong word is the fact that the Chicago Tribune had the nerve to kindly correct his mistake when quoting him!"

Blogs for Bush links to the Pro-life LifeSite, which trumpets the findings of a recent FactCheck.org release, debunking the notion that abortions had risen under Bush. The erroneous statistics, attributed to a CA seminary prof, have floated around the blogosphere for some time. New York Times columnist Nick Kristof used them in a 3/05 column (see Michelle Malkin) and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) mentioned them again more recently.

IN THE STATES: Kay Won't Bailey On This Race?

Yesterday RedState reported, about Sen. Hutchison: "The following comes to RedState from a Texas political insider. Why KBH has made clear this choice is up for debate - it now appears that she has chosen to run for Governor of Texas against incumbent Republican Rick Perry. According to a highly placed source in U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison's camp, the Senator is likely to announce her intention to run for Governor of Texas on or about June 6th." Rick Perry vs. The World: "Nothing like anonymously sourced gossip!"

Meanwhile, a blogger at liberal MyDD sizes up the GOP candidates for TX SEN and promotes Houston atty Barbara Radnofsky as the best Dem candidate.

WHITE HOUSE '08: What About A Third Opinion?

Centrist Kausfiles, which along with the Los Angeles Times' Ron Brownstein, has been promoting the idea of an internet-based 3rd party candidacy, on the effect of such a bid by John McCain: "Polls show voters are dissatisfied with both parties, no? Ross Perot got 19 percent of the vote despite being labeled (unfairly or not) as wacky. That's a good base to start with. ... McCain would steal both moderate [GOPers] and moderate Dems. Suddenly the Republicans would too have to worry about the center, in a way they maybe wouldn't if they were just running against a Democrat." Kaus is reacting in part to poli sci grad student Brendan Nyhan, a frequent critic of the "centrist third party fantasy."

DEMOCRATS: Every Day Is A Day For Self-Searching

At the launch of TPM Cafe, Josh Marshall proposes for discussion, "What would we do?" if the Dems were returned to power. He later answers for himself: health care. Meanwhile, contributors Greg Anrig and Mark Schmitt discuss the role as an opposition party. Marshall Wittman asks: "I'm all for a militant opposition strategy toward the Bushies, but where is the theme in this pudding?"

Sirotablog deems an essay by DLC's Bruce Reed in Blueprint criticizing corporate influence in D.C. as "ironic" and "hilarious": "This is a sign progressives are winning the ideological battle -- when those who formerly argued against us have no problem simply dropping their arguments -- no matter how ridiculously transparent/opportunistic it looks -- to join us."

The American Prospect's Garance Franke-Ruta has 2 posts at Tapped about how Dems must realize "how much ground their party has lost in the past two election cycles."

Liberal Daily Howler considers why conservatives are better spinners than liberals, and compares the Dems to the '78 Woody Allen film "Interiors," which he calls "thrilling -- if you find yourself thrilled by the self-involved anguish of a gang of Manhattan's top fops."

WAR ON TERRORISM: Fighting Words

Liberal Markos Moulitsas, on "Cheney" vs. "reality" in Iraq: "So we get withdrawal, leading to insurgent victory, or we get a draft. And nothing will kill this war effort more surely than even hints of a draft." He also posts about troop shortages and "chickenhawks."

Conservative Galley Slaves quotes Moulitsas calling the Pentagon leaders "gutless bitches" and adds: "Keep this in mind the next time a Democratic politician stoops to pay Kos homage."

INTRODUCING: Must Be Summer -- It's Getting More "Hot" All The Time

Yesterday witnessed the debut of Marshall's liberal TPM Cafe. This a.m. we have 2 new projects from established conservative blogs.

RedState, the conservative activist group blog, has started a new blog on their site, RedHot (or Red Hot). With the tagline "What's Happening. Now" it clearly aims to be about breaking news, but also serves as a place to trade quips. Extra-RedState participants include Karol Sheinin from Alarming News and National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru.

Meanwhile, ex-BC'04 webmaster/RedState contributor Patrick Ruffini has launched a 2008 Presidential Wire. The site comprises a (daunting) list of links to the latest WH '08-related stories in the left-hand column. Along the right, he tracks likely '08 candidates by their mentions in the last 24 hours, overall, and compares whether a candidate is "Hot on Blogs" or "Big in MSM."

TECHNOLOGY: Sometimes You Feel Like A Podcast, Sometimes You Don't

Edward Miller at Corante: "Why doesn't every single darn committee, subcommittee, whatever, have a podcast (in the future, broadcatch) of its hearings? Why isn't there a floor podcast? How long will it take Congress to get a clue?" Jeff Jarvis concurs: "I'll take it down a few levels and suggest that every town board and school board should be podcast. ... We should all storm our town halls and demand podcasts (and then politely explain what podcasts and iPods and the internet are)."

BusinessWeek's Heather Green at Blogspotting: "Faster access to digital transcripts, yes. RSS feeds for those transcripts, sure. But podcasts? When less than 4% of the entire U.S. population will be listening to podcasts by 2008, according to Forrester Research?"

MISCELLANY: Making A List, Checking It Twice

A Human Events list of the "Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries" draws scorn from the left and some libertarians -- especially for including J.S. Mill's "On Liberty. Libertarian The Agitator comments: "What's particularly amusing about the ... list, though, is that not only is each 'harmful' book linked to Amazon.com, it's linked with the Human Events Amazon associates tag, meaning that while these books may be evil, Human Events obviously has no qualms about making a buck or two from disseminating the ideas inside them."

• Libertarian Jim Henley defends Human Events' list-making, if not all their choices: "Had writing and reading no power to do ill, it would have no power to do good."
• Liberal Pandagon goes through the list, book by book. On Mein Kampf: "Okay, we know it has to be on here. Gloat away, mofos, and you'll be sorry when it's not on here in 10 years."
• Conservative Orrin Judd snarks: "Ulysses belongs on the list."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Just So

Eugene Volokh recalls "the old story about the ostracism of Aristides the Just" as a metaphor to explain why the typically pro-EU French electorate rejected the EU constitution.

LEST WE FORGET: The Secret Of His Success

The weeks-old Gawkerist, a satirical weblog taking Gawker Media and its founder Nick Denton as its target, closes with the final post: "Nick Denton Finally Pays Us to Stop Blogging"; the writer is currently serving as guest editor of the Denton-owned Gridskipper.

Posted by at June 1, 2005 12:00 PM