December 13, 2005

12/13: All Took Up

The execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams occupied most of the discussion last p.m., after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) and then the SCOTUS declined to intervene, and then this morning after it was carried out. We'd venture to say that most bloggers -- or at least most bloggers weighing in here -- label themselves anti-death penalty. This includes many conservatives, who are against it for either religious or libertarian reasons. However, they reserve their ire principally for the anti-death penalty left, whose reasons are different, and for Williams' most vociferous defenders. But even on the left there is little sympathy for Williams and less support; most pay lip service to their opposition to the death penalty but add that Williams was never a strong candidate for clemency.

Meanwhile, an internal conflict at the Washington Post over online columnist Dan Froomkin brings out his many defenders. The dispute pits Froomkin against the Post's WH reporters, who believe his opinionated column is too easily confused with the objective reporting they hope to be known for. First raised by the ombudsman this weekend, the story by now offers liberal bloggers another chance to criticize the Post, which some feel goes too soft on the WH.

In other news: Pres. Bush's speech gets some grudging praise but not all that much talk, the SCOTUS will decide what to do about TX redistricting, something may or may not be happening behind the scenes re: SCOTUS nominee Samuel Alito, and we present our latest Blogger Spotlight.

DEATH PENALTY: Oh Well, There's Always Mumia ...

Center-right Althouse: "Personally, I'm opposed to the death penalty, but I can't understand why this person deserves it less than others who don't get clemency. Fame shouldn't be enough. Having famous supporters shouldn't be enough." Balloon Juice has similar sentiments. Lefty Atrios makes comments similar to Althouse, and turns his focus to Cory Maye (see 12/12 Blogometer), agreed across the blogosphere to be unfairly convicted and sentenced to die." Liberal MaxSpeak does the same, under the header "CORY SI, TOOKIE NO." Scott Lemieux gives the flip-side of Althouse's formulation: "But if we're uncomfortable about executing him, the lesson should be to oppose the death penalty for everyone, rather than arbitrarily saving a few people based on factors that ultimately have little or nothing to do with fundamental justice."

Patrick "Patterico" Frey says "forget" Tookie: "Remember instead his victims: Albert Owens, Yen-I Yang, Tsai-Shai Chen Yang, and Yu-Chin Yang Lin. Tonight should be about honoring their memory, and bringing justice for their deaths." Michelle Malkin doubts that Tookie's advocates could name any of the victims.

TalkLeft's Jeralyn Merritt posted an image file with the text "An eye for an eye leaves the world blind." Header at Comments from Left Field: "Six Time Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Set To Die Tonight." The Next Left calls Schwarzenegger "incredibly undiplomatic": "His death is a painful setback in the fight against gang violence. Worse, Schwarzenegger's statement of decision is largely focused on insulting Williams fight against gang warfare."

' Liberal Booman Tribune's Susanhu had been hoping for clemency, and warns of rioting: "To our friends in large cities, especially Los Angeles, stay safe." Black conservative Juliette Ochieng: "Now we'll see whether the idea -- planted by Big Media -- that blacks will riot over anything, even over the execution of one who made some of their neighborhoods a warzone, is a true one. I say no."

James Wolcott: "No former movie action hero -- or Yale cheerleader with enough psychological baggage to sink the African Queen -- should be entrusted with the power of life and death over his fellow citizens. These are essentially frivolous, uninformed men playacting blue-suited roles of grave responsibility." Mark Kleiman on Maye, for Huffington Post: "This case is an interesting test of the power of the Blogosphere. Though the apparent injustice is two years old, it seems to have attracted exactly zero attention in the mainstream media ... Unless bloggers can somehow attract the attention of mainstream media outlets, or of the politicians whose statements the mainstream media will treat as news ... then the story is going to die, and so, probably, is Cory Maye."

BUSH: The Qs Have It

Bush's speech got relatively little play on either side of the aisle yesterday, and it was his opponents who weighed in with the most commentary. Right-leaning Bush critic The Cunning Realist gives Bush credit for taking questions, and suggests he do it again: "The speech was read by a tired, wooden robot. The questions were fielded by a passionate, introspective, knowledgeable chief executive who had no need for notes, scripts, or cues. I didn't agree with much of what he said, but Bush was persuasive and clearly in command of the subject matter." Arianna Huffington was also surprised and impressed by Bush's handling of the questions, but otherwise saw him as a "deluded cockeyed optimist." No More Mr. Nice Blog asks: "Does anyone else think it's weird that the Bush speechwriting shop simply copied five paragraphs from last week's speech and plopped them into today's speech without really changing a word?" One of the few, conservative WILLisms put together a Warholesque print of Bush at the speech, with an extended quote.

Early this a.m., Kausfiles noted Rep. John Murtha's (D-PA) quote in Newsweek -- "If they'd talked to me, it wouldn't have happened" -- and compared it to then-Speaker Newt Gingrich's part in the gov't shutdown in '95: "Gingrich publicly suggested he wouldn't have provoked a government shutdown if he hadn't been made to use the rear door of President Clinton's plane. Gingrich was widely denounced as a petty crybaby. How is what Murtha told Newsweek any different?" Last p.m., James Taranto had made the same point: "The difference between the two incidents is that Gingrich's 'tantrum' didn't endanger national security. But how is it that their respective fits of pique led the media to make Newt a goat and Murtha a hero?"

THE ALITO NOMINATION: A Specter Of Reversal?

RedState's Leon H: "Sources close to the Alito confirmation process are telling RedState" that Senate Dems "are attempting to get" Senate Jud Cmte chair Arlen Specter, "at least privately, on their side. By raising the abortion issue, Democrats hope to persuade Arlen Specter to help resist the effort to confirm Alito." The sources say Dems want Specter to press Alito on abortion, as he would make a more credible critic. Leon H adds: "Thus far Senator Specter has not gone for the idea. But, a couple of judiciary committee staffers are fearful that Specter just might be too agreeable with the Democrats behind the scenes. As I have said before, this is exactly the sort of situation in which I would fully expect Arlen Specter to betray his party. We will see if it pans out that way."

Daily Kos' Armando suspects that National Journal legal columnist Stuart Taylor "will be leading the conservative charge" for Alito, whom he refers to as "ScAlito." He zeroes in on Taylor's critique of "mindless liberal" complaints about Alito's record in part by highlighting instances of non-liberals making critical statements about Alito, and in part by invoking Taylor's abortive plans to go work for Ken Starr in '98.

REDISTRICTING: Merry Gandering!

TX Dem Charles Kuffner wants it to go forward, but acknowledges "it's too late for any court to give redress for this wrong, if it decides there was one. You can't give the defeated Congressmen their incumbency back, so even if you reinstated the old boundaries, most of them would be as big an underdog in a rematch election as any other challenger." SCOTUSblog's Lyle Denniston writes, the case is likely to focus on "both the broader question of whether mid-decade redistricting is ever allowed constitutionality, when a valid plan is already in effect, and the more particularized question of whether mid-decade redistricting is allowed when it is done for purely partisan purposes." Bark Bark Woof Woof: "It will be interesting to see if any of the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee will ask Judge Alito about his views on redistricting. He will dodge it, of course, but still it would be fun to hear how he avoids tipping his hand." Univ. of WI-Madison law prof Ann Althouse: "Setting a standard for the judicial scrutiny of gerrymandering is a problem that has dogged the Court. But as long as it is staying in the business of monitoring political redistricting, it seems necessary for it to take a case of this importance. Perhaps it will use this occasion, however, to set a clear standard for bowing out of these controversies altogether."

BLOGS VS. THE MSM: A Froom With A View

In the 12/11 edition, Washington Post ombudsman Deborah Howell traced over the line between the Post proper and its website, which is run by Washington Post-Newsweek Interactive, with a thicker marker. Her reason: the WH reporters are concerned that Froomkin, whose column is titled "White House Briefing," is often confused for their work. And because Froomkin's opinions are readily discernible from the column, the Post reporters -- particularly John Harris, whom Howell quotes -- is concerned they could get pegged as a biased newsroom.

At washingtonpost.com's editor's blog, Froomkin defends himself: "There is undeniably a certain irreverence to the column. But I do not advocate policy, liberal or otherwise. My agenda, such as it is, is accountability and transparency. ... I was prepared to take the same approach with John Kerry, had he become president." Harris responds, in part addressing Froomkin's following: "It might be the case that he would be writing similarly about John Kerry if he were president. But I guarantee that many people who posted here would not be Froomkin enthusiasts -- or be so indifferent to the concerns I raise -- in that case." But for Harris, the title is the main problem: "The confusion about Dan's column unintentionally creates about the reporter's role has itself become an obstacle to our work." Froomkin brother Michael Froomkin points out that an avalanche of comments follow each of the above posts, and that they are overwhelmingly pro-Froomkin.

Indeed, Froomkin's left-leaning fan base turned out to support him: Josh Marshall, responding to a possibility raised in the Howell piece: "As for balancing Froomkin with a conservative blogger, can't we just match him with Jim Hoagland and it call it a draw? That would be pretty generous, I think." Hullabaloo: "Call it The Whorehouse Report. It amounts to the same thing." AMERICAblog is disgusted: "Of course, the non-budsman thinks Froomkin is too liberal, because, you know, at the Washington Post if you actually question the 'facts' the Bush administration puts out, before you publish them verbatim in a best-selling book or the editorial page, that makes you a 'liberal' rather than something more than a whore. That newspaper really is intent on pushing itself into irrelevance." Under the header "Ombud Sides With Stupid, Hits 'WH Briefing,'" liberal Garrett Graff comments at Fishbowl DC: "It seems all of the complaints could be easily fixed by one of those annoying disclaimers that are pervading society for the benefit of stupid people/ideologues."

On the other hand, centrist Justin Gardner thinks the WH pool has a point: "Also, since it's a daily column, the confusion becomes even be more pronounced. Sure, most of what Froomkin does is merely point to other reporting, much like us bloggers do, but that doesn't make it look any less official when it's at washingtonpost.com." == And conservative News Busters hopes the site adds a conservative, noting, "it's not just Froomkin, it's every political or cultural opinionator I can think of there -- Froomkin, The Nation alum Jefferson Morley, Terry Neal, Emily Messner, ... they all hail from left of center, some more than others."

WHITE HOUSE '08: I Am Sam

DaveGOP at RedState argues that ex-NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) should balance his moderate social policy positions by tapping Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) as his running mate. He counts a few other advantages: "He would be selecting a fellow Catholic to create a ticket that would appeal to the heavily Catholic swing regions of the country, the northern midwest and the southwest." And: "He would be giving strategic social conservatives one more reason to vote for him: to make Brownback heir-apparent for the GOP nod in 2016. Naturally, the Left would start a 'Vote Rudy; Get Brownback' campaign. Perfect."

MIDERMS '06: The Laffey Curve

Townhall's Tim Chapman is angered that the NRSC released a "dirty attack document" against conservative Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey (R), primary challenger of moderate Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), following his endorsement by Club for Growth. "The NRSC should not be spending its money against conservative Republicans... period." He wonders if the NRSC would still back Chafee if he has to run as an indie. In the other primary of the same race, RI Sec/State Matt Brown does an interview with Basie!'s Jonathan Singer.

Dem activist David Sirota writes that "despite all the hype" about OH SEN candidate/war vet Paul Hackett (D) "and the blogosphere's willingness to ignore serious questions about his candidacy," OH voters "in the real world see things quite differently." A poll shows Brown "absolutely crushing Hackett" in a primary. Sirota hopes the poll will convince Hackett to run again "against Congress's freshman crazy person," Rep. Jean Schmidt (R).

PLAMEGATE: Overlooked?

vidCrooks and Liars has video from MSNBC's "Hardball" where WaPo's VandeHei "revealed [more] ... than any of us would have thought possible" about the identity of the Plame leaker. He said: "We still don't know exactly where Karl Rove originally learned about Valerie Plame, that's still one of the mysteries. We know one of them he had heard it from was Hadley as sort of just chatter inside the office, but he had learned it earlier from some other place and we still don't know where that is."

Jane Hamsher: "I really had to pick myself up off the floor. Nobody batted an eyelash. Were Chris Matthews and Norah O'Donnell just so completely uninformed that they did not recognize what a bombshell this was? ... Did they not realize that up until now any knowledge of the mad gabbing and plotting had been limited to the Vice President's office? That other than the memo from Karl Rove following his conversation with Matt Cooper nobody had ever tied Hadley to the leak? I guess they did not want to appear stupid, but they wound up looking all the stupider for it."

THE MARCH OF BLOGS: The Wages Of Sin

As New York Times reports and AdRants clarifies, MSNBC's porn-related ads (see 12/12 Blogometer) are the largest ad buy in the history of Henry Copeland's BlogAds company. It's a minor controversy, as they had surely hoped. Simple Thoughts: "I am angry because when I initially accepted their Ad they were somewhat off-color but still acceptable. Now after accepting their ad they decide to switch it. That wasn't what I bargained for." Captain's Quarters isn't bothered by it himself, and he notes that some common T-shirt blogads appeal even more to the prurient interest, but he understands readers may feel differently. Ace of Spades HQ still thinks it's a miscalculation: "I'm not sure why MSNBC did this, though. You don't really need to go too over-the-top to interest people in tittilating material... and it sort of reduces, I think, MSNBC's credibility. This is the biggest ad-buy in BlogAds history, and they've kind of sold their network with one of the more aggressively-prurient ads to run on political sites." Meanwhile, TV Newser reports that MSNBC has axed its blog-focused show, "Connected."

MISCELLANY: Tales From The DarkSyde

• Markos Moulitsas announces the slate of front-page bloggers for '06: DarkSyde, Georgia10, McJoan, Superribbie and SusanG. '05 front-pagers including Armando and Hunter will still contribute on an occasional bases.
• On CNN last p.m., Air America's Sam Seder went opposite Christian activist Bob Knight. In a segment getting attention from the lefty bloggers, Seder satirically called for a "war on Christmas." Crooks and Liars has the video.
• A handful of conservative bloggers find reason to oppose the renewal of the Patriot Act in its current form. One isGlenn Reynolds , who identifies the problem of "Mission creep," noting that provisions to curtain meth are included in the bill. A little later, an anti-meth lobbyist wrote in to point out the meth rules were simply attached to the bill, not part of the Patriot Act itself. Reynolds concedes the point, but adds, "bills about the war, in a time of war, call for a degree of self-discipline that's lacking here."
• Yahoo reports, Diebold CEO Walden O'Dell has resigned for "personal reasons." O'Dell is the Bush Ranger criticized in '04 for saying he would deliver the election for Bush, even as his company was manufacturing voting machines. Liberal Brad Friedman of Brad Blog, which has been expects litigation over securities fraud and insider trading to hit Diebold soon. A source tells him, O'Dell's ouster "has the earmarks of an internal coup d'etat."
• Antipodean blogger Tim Blair rounds up news reports from the anti-Muslim/anti-immigrant riots in Sydney, Australia. Pundit Guy: "Prime Minister John Howard must get a handle on the situation as soon as possible. Australia doesn't need to rival or best the recent riots in Paris."

BLOGGER SPOTLIGHT: Pop Rox

Today the Blogometer talks to liberal Roxanne Cooper, who writes Rox Populi.

What is your full name?

Roxanne Cooper

What is your age?

42

Where did you grow up?

Southern CA

Where do you live now?

Washington DC

What is your occupation? Have you ever worked on a political campaign or for the mainstream media?

I'm the Director of Sales & Marketing for the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies (aan.org &AltWeeklies.com ). I interned for Mondale's campaign back in '84. I've spent most of my career working at alternative newsweeklies. Though I did have a three-year stint with Stars and Stripes in their Tokyo and Washington DC offices. So, no. I've never worked in mainstream media.

When did you start blogging and why?

I started blogging in the Spring of '04, mostly because I was intrigued by all the media attention blogs were garnering.

What has been your favorite post, or favorite story to write about, in that time?

My favorite project was an April Fool's stunt I pulled this year -- a parody of Michelle Malkin's site.

Describe your typical blogging schedule. And what is your average output?

Because of my busy job, I usually blog early in the morning or later in the evening. I pump out 2-3 posts a day.

Who is your favorite political blogger? Favorite non-political blogger?

I read different blogs for different reasons. Some of my favorites are Feminste, Michael Berube, Body and Soul, The Heretik, Whiskey Bar, Firedoglake, and Pandagon.

Is there such a thing as a non-political blog? I've always felt the personal was political. My favorite mostly-not-political blog is I Am Dr. Laura's Worst Nightmare. I also enjoyed reading Michele Catalano's A Small Victory when she was still publishing.

Who is your favorite mainstream media columnist?

I honestly can't think of one mainstream media columnist I couldn't live without.

What is your favorite television news program, either network or cable?

"The Daily Show," of course. I'm also growing fond of Olbermann. If anyone from the networks is reading this, I strongly suggest you look at moving more folks from the sports desk to news. Olbermann, Costas, even Gumbel are much better journalists than the current crop of talking heads coming up. I think that may have something to do with fanatical sports audiences and the fact that sports journalists know they can't snow them.

What MSM-produced websites (i.e. newspapers, magazines) do you visit on a daily basis?

I skim the BBC, NYT, WaPo, LAT and The Merc just about every day.

What non-MSM websites (i.e. blogs) do you visit on a daily basis?

AltWeeklies.com, of course. Romenesko, Atrios, Editor & Publisher, Media Post, and Arts & Letters Daily.

How often, or do you ever, read a newspaper in its dead-tree (i.e. print) form?

If we're talking MSM, I prefer reading longer pieces, investigative reports and long, narrative features in the dead tree editions. Since MSM has all but abandoned these kind of pieces, I don't kill a tree all that often.

How do you see the new media and old media affecting and influencing each other in the next five years?

When television first started, folks in that industry didn't make full use of the medium. It looked like the TV-version of radio. That's where I think online is today. Most of it is just a re-purposing of what's in print. Save a few links here and there. And the occasional Podcast or video. The medium hasn't yet become what it could be. Looking into the future, I think print and online versions of newspapers, magazines, etc. will complement each other.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Running Against Washington? Meh. Try Running Against The Consultants ...

A new blogad went up on Swing State Project this week, supported by FL House candidate Laura Leyva (D). Her pitch is a unique one. The ad's main caption reads: "My Consultant Said This Wouldn't Work." It then links to a fundraising page, where Leyva expands on the pitch: "My consultant thinks blogs are a waste of money. So we have a friendly wager going. I bet him the readers and supporters of Swing State Project would help us raise just $5,000 in two weeks. He, of course, said "not a chance." And he said if we raised $5,000 from Swing State Project, he'd pay for the ad himself! So I need your help."

LEST WE FORGET: Are You Dead Or Are You Sleeping?

FYI: 260.59 cans of Mountain Dew Code Red + The Blogometer = Death. How much of your favorite caffeine delivery system would it take to 86 yourself from the land of the living? Energy Fiend's "Death by Caffeine" calculator will tell you.

Posted by at December 13, 2005 12:29 PM

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